barrow in furness

After a long flight, am still having the jetlag and having only a day to move in a whole living room-ful of stuff into a 1st floor flat, I've started my 4th year in this wonderful place, this idyllic retreat, this bucolic residence, a veritable heaven-on-earth called Barrow In Furness. If anyone is in the mood or has too much free time on their hands, please do the good deed and send a mail to

CAR2A Carley House
Abbey Way
Barrow In Furness
Cumbria
LA14 1BP
UK

And you'll make a certain medical student's life that much better. Am going in with a bang straight into paediatrics. SHOWED my ignorance earlier this morning already when asked to define urinary tract infection. My holiday-rusted mind struggled to come up with a definition suitable to the occasion (it was handing-over session with a consultant hearing patient reports from the doctors on the previous shift) and he caught me out, polite laughter sounding as he did so. Lots of other stuff to read up on...which makes this short break at the library pretty guiltifying.

Good news is, edward's applying for broadband and should get it fairly soon. we're getting to know the other people on rotation, all of whom seem a nice friendly bunch, if a little prone to over-imbibement. haha! Btw the next big attraction is a beer festival in nearby ulverston this weekend which is receiving no end of attention here.

Else, all still normal and in my email list today heard good and bad news from people back home. Keep me in prayer as I keep you guys too. Wil be heading out looking for a church this weekend and hope to see a bit more of barrow than i have at present. Hopefully my next post will be from a nice fast wifi connection.

What I've Been Doing 2

From my testimony in Prof Paul Chen's church last Sunday about the visit to the Jehai Orang Asli (indigenous people of Malaysia):

It was my first time:
- Going on a trip with so many females (Prof and me being the only males)
- Sleeping next to a professor whom I'd previously only seen way up front in a huge lecture hall
- Going on a 6 hour drive constantly either praying, singing, or sharing stories
- Praying and sharing my testimony in Malay

What I've come to know in some small way:
- The needs of the Orang Asli; education, a source of clean water, better housing being some of the more pressing ones
- That in a mission field, one has to be prepared for anything. As in each of us were given specific tasks to do ranging from snail gathering to mapping to dispensing medicine to praying for the sick, but everyone was doing everything by the end of the trip
- That I often believe in God for only what I can possibly see Him doing, nothing more
- That I don't have to look far abroad for a mission field


More of an exposure than a real mission trip, and I was really pleased to meet the group of IMU CFers who are going on the next trip to the Jehai village. Friendly bunch of people with a lame streak; but radiating an expectancy and excitement about going into the field...not many of those left.

Not going to upload any photos here as I'm a bit dubious about the wifi connection in Vista, but will put them up soon. Ditto for the Penang photos.

Penang was great to eat in, and Grace's aunt's place was the nearest I've been to a ski resort. Beef noodles, kuay teow, fried chicken skin, Hokkien mee; you will all be missed sorely. The company was good too, especially sarah who probably has a few extra strands of gray hair from rushing us to one foodie place after another. And thank God we made it without a scratch from the motorcyclists who seem a breed apart in Penang.

Things are winding down nicely, and after a movie with Sarah and Cindy, I'm gearing up towards my last few weeks at home.