Back from Europe for slightly more than a week now, and I'm still acclimatising to the difference in time zone and the way my body clock is kinda tipsy. I find myself awake up till 5am these few days, then I sleep in for most of the day until 1pm?? Or maybe it's just my late nights that are reversing my sleeping routine. Anyway, much has happened since I'm back, the biggest thing being the two consecutive worship leadings last Sunday at corps and at Gracehaven. One of the craziest because of the lack of preparation and two in a row on the same day and it was practice from 8am to 8pm the entire day. But God's good as always, and it was fantastic.

Trying to plan ahead in time of all the things that I need to do for the second half of this year. And, trying my hand at sorting and editing the photos from Europe so that I can start showing people! I'm quite pleased with the film photos which are already developed. Most of the unpleasant ones were due to incorrect shutter exposures and camera shake, if not they've captured what I wanted to take actually.

Okay time for bed, before I turn zombie and start biting people.

Back from the holidaying in Europe and from the World Youth Convention in Sweden. I'm mightily upset with the false promises of cold weather, because all of the Europe summer is anything but. My long sleeve clothes were brought in vain, one sweater stayed permanently in the suitcase and the other was hardly used and eventually lent to someone else who needed it more. But God's been great, I enjoyed every blister on my feet and every tired-and-lack-of-sleep moment. The convention in particular, exceeded all expectations that I once previously (and myopically) had. Great to interact with people all over the world and worshipping God alongside in the ranks of the Salvation Army. They are some of the best people that I've met in my life, and again, I'm thankful for the way the Spirit works. Much to learn and much to go on in my experience.

It seems like each city trumps the other as we go along, so in that order, the cities that I enjoyed most was Stockholm (nice people), Amsterdam (nice countryside and city landscape), Berlin (nice directional ease), and Paris (nice charm).

I'm off to bed, to conquer jet-lag. I'm lost on all the social networking sites, but that doesn't really matter. I've gotta go right back to preparations and work. But first, I need my guitar back.

Berlin holds much splendour, with so much more colour and vitality and quotidian lifestyles that makes it much more worthwhile than ancient Paris. Was at the Berlin Zoo yesterday, then we tried to cram 3 museums in four hours due to some free passes after 6pm. And today we went out to Sachsenhausen concentration camp for the day.

Weather is hot, it finally exceeded 30-plus degrees since we arrived in Europe. And when I'm not battling the weather or trying to conquer the sights, I've been trying to get inspired and see things from a photographic angle! Hahaha thanks to Ming Hui and Kar Leong, I've got a film camera at my disposal, and I'm into my fourth roll of film now. My compact digital just fails at capturing the wonders of the architecture, but I'm too lousy at the film camera also. And when I'm not doing any of those, I'm trying to catch up on the life of Anne Frank. Got the book at the Holocaust memorial a few days back, in preparation for the Anne Frank museum visit in Amsterdam!

Alright. Travelling there tomorrow. What will the Dutch bring now?

We headed up to Germany, and in Berlin now eating currywurst and German pastries everyday. Was exploring the city itself today and was out in Potsdam today. Potsdam was kinda like Versailles haha. And, we tried to watch Germany versus Spain at Bradenburg Gate just now, but we kinda decided that it was too crowded and the screen was too small and people were getting drunk everywhere. So we headed to a smaller open field and watched the first half, and caught the second at our hostel common room. But for all our hype and support, Germany lost =(

Never mind we'll be in Amsterdam and rooting for Holland in the finals!

In Paris for the last two days now, and apart from getting disoriented on their metro after we land, it's been quite excellent so far. Got a view of the entire city from the Arc, was at the base of Eiffel, walked the entire length of Champs-Elysees. And today was museums free entrance day, so was at Louvre and d'Orsay, but I kinda felt that all the million dollar art-pieces were fleeting past me just like that. Hahaha dunno how to appreciate! But the museums audio guide helped somewhat. And as a last minute decision, we went out to Versailles unprepared, but managed a very rushed tour of the palace, and soaked in the sun at the gigantic park.

Hahaha they say traversing down Paris by foot is a surrealistic experience, but I've got blistered feet and sore muscles and I've never felt more alive because every step I take is a wince of pain.

Off to Berlin tomorrow. What will the Germans bring?

Travelling to Europe in another 9 hours or so? And I'm in a frantic pre-holiday frenzy because I'm trying to see if there's anything that I left out or haven't done before I go! I'm like trying to print out all the stuff that I think might come in handy in the midst of travelling, and I'm trying to recall if there's anything I've yet to settle. Hahaha. Maybe I should just give up la, just disappear for three weeks and come back then sort out the mess again. Not particularly excited yet! It hasn't quite hit me, but I think by tonight I will feel like a true blue tourist and lalalalala I'm gonna have fun!

And Founder's Day service is in 5 hours! Again this is one big thing that jitters me. I remember the last combined service on Good Friday, I came down with this massive attack of doubting and I was unnerved by the amount of people that came, even though the congregation size was somewhat like a Sunday service? A bit unlikely coming from me, especially when I've led worship so many times and I'm numbed to the stage frights. But of course it goes without saying that the Lord will be amidst the entire proceedings tonight. All the way!

Okay. Gotta do the chords for later's worship. I'm utterly unprepared.