Part Two... at long last

Here is the second part covering the rest of the topics from my previous entry.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this year marked my paternal grandfather's 100th birthday (according to the Chinese calendar, which actually means he's only 99 when converted into the Western calendar!). To celebrate this wonderful occasion, we first held a private family dinner at which Amy - one of my second cousins from Sydney who got married last year and is expecting her first child in December - was able to make a special appearance, much to the delight of my grandparents. A few days later, our family hosted a Special Thanksgiving Service at our church where we invited friends and acquaintances to share in the celebrations. There would be another pleasant surprise awaiting Grandpa as two of my distant nieces from Singapore, Diana and Ros, were able to make it to Melbourne especially for the service. Not surprisingly, the auditorium was packed.

There were numerous musical items, as well as a special slide show with photos of Grandpa over the years, some of which I hadn't seen before. We had a few people coming up to me and my cousin Jacob after the service telling us how much we look like Grandpa when he was young. I mean, come on! What else do you expect, we being his grandchildren??

After Dad gave a moving testimony about the time God miraculously healed Grandpa from back pain a couple of years ago, various members of our family banded together as a choir - something like the Von Trapp Family Singers, only a little bigger - to present a medley of four songs, each in a different language. The songs were What A Friend We Have in Jesus (至好朋友就是耶穌) in Amoy Hokkien, 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (信靠耶穌真是甜美) in Cantonese, Amazing Grace in English, The Gift of Knowing You (這一生最美的祝福) in Mandarin. There was also a song that popped up regularly during the service, and has since become a personal favourite of mine. The song is called Jehovah's Blessings Abound (耶和華祝福滿滿), a Christian song in the Hokkien dialect composed by a Taiwanese group called Stream of Praise (讚美之泉). For those of you who can read Chinese, I've posted the lyrics for reference:

田中的白鷺鷥，無欠缺甚麼。
山頂的百合花，春天現香味。
總是全能的上帝 每日賞賜真福氣，
使地上發芽結實，顯出愛疼的根據。

耶和華祝福滿滿，親像海邊土沙，
恩典慈愛直到萬世代。
我要舉手敬拜祂，出歡喜的歌聲，
讚美稱頌祂名 永不息。

You can view the video here. One of the comments for this clip is a Chinglish translation, which is hilarious and almost makes no sense:

Tanaka, white egrets, no lack of what.
Peak of the lily, spring is fragrant.
God Almighty always reward one lucky day,
Seed germination to the ground, showing the love of pain is based.
Lord bless full, pro-earth, like sea sand,
Grace and mercy through all generations.
I want to raise their hands to worship him, the joy of singing,
Praise His name forever praise interest.

Here is my attempt at a proper translation:

The white egrets in the field lack nothing.
The lilies of the mountain-tops burst forth their fragrance in springtime.
All this is the work of the Lord God Omnipotent, who bestows real goodness every day,
He displays the source of his affection by making the earth bring forth its fruit.

Jehovah's blessings abound, like the sand on the shore,
His grace and compassion extend to all generations.
I will lift my hands to worship Him, sing a joyful song,
Praise and exalt His name without ceasing.

After some consideration and discussion with parents and relatives, I have decided to resume full-time study next year. I have applied to study a graduate diploma in secondary teaching, specializing in ESL (English as a Second Language) and LOTE German (Languages Other Than English). I have submitted applications to Melbourne and Monash University, and will find out on January 10 which course I will be doing. I will be happy with either course, but it will be a massive jolt to the system to resume full-time study, especially as I've applied for the intensive stream, which means I can finish the course in one year, but it will be very full-on and I was warned at Melbourne Uni's information session that I won't have much of a life next year. Anyway, that's something to worry about later.

Before I end this post, a grudging congratulations to the 2010 AFL Premiers - Collingwood. Even though I wanted St. Kilda to win, there was no denying that Collingwood deserved their victory.

Cheers and God bless