Christmas plans, then off to China!

Greetings dear readers!

After having not blogged for the last few months, I'll just have to summarize what has been happening. It pains me to say that things haven't gone too well university-wise; I didn't pass my second attempt at teaching placement at University High. This means that in a few weeks I have to face an Unsatisfactory Progress Committee and submit to them a letter stating why I should be allowed to continue, if I want to. There are three possible outcomes after they review my situation, two of which I regard as favourable for me: 1) Continue the course with no conditions; 2) Continue the course with conditions imposed; or 3) Terminate the course.

Besides this sad state of affairs, I am pleased to report that the Dream of Gerontius concert mentioned in my previous post was a big success. The friends I invited all said they enjoyed it, even if I needed to explain the synopsis to them afterward. There were a few hiccups in the live performance, but otherwise we received glowing reviews. Much credit must go to the orchestra, considering the difficulty of the instrumental parts and the limited rehearsals they had to get everything together.

My musical attention now shifts to the much-anticipated Carols in the Cathedral, two concerts performed in traditional English style at St. Paul's Cathedral on December 19 and 20. I've enjoyed the traditional musical repertoire of Christmas since childhood, and I'm hoping this will become an annual event for me.

There's just one problem - time clashes with work at Big W. As you can imagine, this time of the year is extremely hectic for all of us. I'm not sure about other retail stores, but Big W has what's called a "blackout period" in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In this time period, nobody is allowed to take leave, except in the most extreme circumstances. I have a shift this Friday evening which clashes slightly with concert rehearsal, and also a shift scheduled at the same time as the concert on December 20. I'm going to ask my store manager tomorrow morning about whether I can negotiate these two shifts. I only pray that he gives the OK.

In the meantime, I have also been preparing for something very special that is happening shortly after Christmas: A TRIP TO CHINA!! This means that I need to print and fill in a visa application. I can only assume this is for security reasons. I will depart with another family on 27 December to Hong Kong, and then from there catch another plane to Xiamen, which is where we will be spending most of our time. I will return to Melbourne on February 1, which means I have the opportunity to again celebrate Chinese New Year in a place where it is observed as a public holiday!

In case you don't know, Xiamen (also called Amoy) is a port city in Fujian province which is located roughly between Canton (Guangzhou) and Shanghai, and directly opposite Taiwan. It is regarded as one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities in China today, and many overseas Chinese trace their heritage back to this place, especially those in South-East Asia. Xiamen is also the birthplace of my dad, and this trip is the manifestation of my wish to visit the city, especially after the visits of my grandma's siblings last year.

Besides Xiamen, there have also been plans to visit Shanghai, Hong Kong and Kinmen. Kinmen is a series of islands just off the coast of Xiamen which actually belong to Taiwan. Direct travel between these islands and mainland China was only just opened ten years ago.

Although I'm very excited about the trip, I'm also nervous because my Chinese is not as good as it should be, especially in what should be my mother tongue, the Amoy dialect (known in Chinese as 閩南語 or 廈門話). Fortunately, my grand-aunts and -uncles there can also speak Mandarin. I look forward to seeing how much I have learned when I return to Australia!

In case I don't post again beforehand, I wish you all a safe and blessed Christmas with your friends and family. Enjoy the presents and the food, but also remember the reason for the season - Jesus Christ, of course!

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Gearing up for Gerontius

Greetings, dear readers

It's good to be back after a hiatus of nearly two months. A fair bit has happened, not to mention winter turning into spring. A quick postscript on the Beethoven event which I mentioned in a previous post. The concert, named Beethoven Nine In A Day, took place on Saturday 20 August at the Melbourne Town Hall, and was a stunning success.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) stage crew did an amazing job of cramming around 400 singers of SIX different choirs from around Victoria on the Town Hall stage. The choirs that participated were:

• MSO Chorus;
• Royal Melbourne Philharmonic;
• Melbourne University Choral Society;
• Box Hill Chorale;
• Heidelberg Choral Society; and
• Ballarat Choral Society.

There were also around 50 sign-language performers "singing" alongside us. To cut a long story short, being part of a mega-choir concert was an amazing experience, the best quote coming from MSO's concertmaster Wilma Smith after the concert: "f...ing awesome!!"

Tomorrow, MUCS will be back at the Town Hall for another concert, this time with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic (RMP) Choir and Orchestra (who are actually hosting the event) and the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Choral Society, to perform Sir Edward Elgar's masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius.

Although Elgar objected to its classification, The Dream of Gerontius is regarded as an oratorio. An oratorio is like an opera or musical, the big difference is that oratorios tend to be religious in character, and there are no costumes or acting. The most famous oratorio is Handel's Messiah, from which we get the beloved Hallelujah Chorus. Gerontius ranks alongside Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elijah as one of the Big Three when it comes to oratorios performed in Britain.

Although it had a difficult beginning, The Dream of Gerontius is now recognized as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, work in English music history. To go into what makes this such a great work would take far too much time. Here I will simply present a brief history of the work, and then go into some detail about the amazing music, for which Gerontius is rightly loved and admired.

The Dream of Gerontius is presented in two parts, which are usually performed without an interval. The whole work runs for approximately 100 minutes; Part One is about 35-40 minutes and Part Two around 60-65 minutes. Gerontius is actually a poem written in 1865 by John Henry Newman, a Catholic priest who was originally Anglican. Elgar, a devout Roman Catholic, was familiar with the poem and had considered setting the poem to music for some years. He finally started work on this project in response to an invitation to compose a piece for the Birmingham Triennial Festival in 1900.

The story revolves around the soul of Gerontius, an ordinary Catholic whose name is derived from the Greek geron, which means "old man". In Part One, he prays for deliverance from the agony of death with his friends before finally giving up the ghost, which brings Part One to a close. In Part Two, Gerontius' soul is escorted by a guardian angel to face righteous judgment at the throne of God. Along the way he passes jeering demons and glorious angels, before his soul is cleansed in one fell swoop of seeing God. Finally, the angel settles Gerontius in the lake of Purgatory before bidding farewell with the promise of glory at God's second coming.

The premiere of Gerontius at the 1900 Birmingham Festival is one of the most famous disasters in music history, and it didn't help that the original chorus master had died just days before the performance. From my conductor's narrative of the event, the performance ground to a halt at least FOUR times, most of it I suspect at the tricky and truly hellish "Demon's Chorus". Elgar was so distraught by this apparent failure that he swore never again to write a sacred piece.

Thankfully, many critics could see past the failings of the performers and could see the genius of the composition. A German conductor, Julius Buths, arranged for a German translation of the work and premiered it in Dusseldorf in 1901. This time, it was a success. Eventually Gerontius would return to England, where it still faced considerable adversity because of its strong Catholic tone.

England in 1900 was majority Anglican, and Catholics were often treated as second-class citizens. As one composer derisively noted, the work "stank of incense". That Gerontius has survived intact to this day is testament to the intensely spiritual power of the music, which I shall explore in the next post.

Before I finish, a quick congratulations to the Geelong Football Club, who defeated Collingwood this afternoon to win their third premiership in five years. Very impressive.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!

Now I will share my thoughts on what makes Ode to Joy such a memorable work. There is just so much genius contained in this work, that I won't be able to cover all the things I could possibly want to say.

To start with, and this may be obvious for most of you, have you ever noticed how music written in a major key tends to be happy and uplifting, while music written in a minor key tends to be melancholy and sober? Note how this movement begins in D minor and ends in D major. It is as if Beethoven is saying through his music, "Despite the many hardships I'm going through, I know that in the end, I shall overcome."

When I think about it, the first thing that strikes me about the main theme of Ode to Joy is how SIMPLE the melody is! It is such a well-known tune that many people today take it for granted, but just think about it. It consists really of only five notes (concert pitch D, E, F#, G, A), and is played up and down on the scale (F#, F#, G, A, A, G, F#, E, D, D, E, F#, F#, E, E...). For me, this is the defining trademark of any famous melody; it should be singable and easy to remember!

The next thing is a musician's ability to set music to words. Beethoven is more known for his instrumental works. But what he achieved with Schiller's text is enough to elevate him into the company of the greatest songwriters, guys like King David, Elgar, Brahms, Schubert, Bach, Mussorgsky, Handel, Puccini, Purcell and others.

Like any good songwriter, Beethoven pays attention to the rhythm and stress on particular words and phrases. After all, German was his mother tongue. But what sets this piece apart is how Beethoven captures the spirit of the words. A masterpiece is made special by moments of magic, and Ode to Joy contains several such moments.

In that regard, the opening chord of the Finale is worth a mention here. It is a sudden, jarring chord. For the musically minded, the chord is an octave of B-flat over a tonic D-minor chord in the first inversion. This has the double effect of setting the mood and, for the uninitiated listener, shaking him/her out of any remaining complacency. The musical term for this effect is dissonance, that is, a clash of sounds.

This is just one of the various musical techniques Beethoven uses to maximum effect. Other techniques include ornamentation and variations of the main theme; layering of voices to build up key chords; syncopation (especially in the contrapuntal movement at the start of the Fifth Phase); and combining different rhythms (for example, triplets on quavers).

Throughout this movement, Beethoven challenges the performers, whether musician or singer, with passages that extend them to the absolute limit. I'm not quite qualified to talk about the difficulty from a musician's perspective, but I can give you an insight into the challenge Beethoven lays down to the chorus. To paraphrase my Facebook status, this is not music for mere mortals but sublime music worthy of only the best musicians.

There are a few factors that make Ode to Joy such a challenge to sing. As the saying goes, "The genius is in the details". First, there are passages which, for effect, are pitched at the upper limits across all voices (especially the sopranos). On top of that, Beethoven inserts little "traps" throughout each chorus part ready to catch out the complacent singer. However, it is these "traps" that help to make the choral movement special.

These "traps" include sudden change of volume (mostly loud to soft); pauses and changes of tempo; awkward melodic lines (bar 318 for the tenors and bars 675-6 for the altos are notorious examples); and different points of entry for the voices (as in the above-mentioned layering technique).

For some, another factor is the German language, unless you're singing in another language. However, the original Ode to Joy loses some of its power when sung in another language, especially English. This is where having learned German to an advanced level has been so helpful for me.

Before I finish, I want to talk briefly about my favourite part of Ode To Joy - the Fourth Phase (Seid umschlungen, Millionen!). I have already talked about how Beethoven writes the music perfectly to fit the words as chorus and orchestra gradually rise and rise in pitch until the end of the Phase where the phrase Über Sternen muss er wohnen! ("Surely He dwells above the stars!") is sung, the first time in a declarative fortissimo.

But the second time, when the chorus sings pianissimo, is when the whole piece reaches its emotional apex. As anyone who has sung in a choir will know, it is much easier to sing loud than soft, especially a sustained note at the top of one's range. Pianist and music scholar Robert Winter describes the desired effect of this moment in better words than I could:

[With] a serene sense of both eternity and expectation, first the orchestra, and then the chorus, hover at the edge of the stars. Time seems to have been suspended indefinitely.

And that's all I can think of for now. I can't believe I just wrote three massive articles about one music piece. Then again, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is no ordinary piece of music, and I hope I've enhanced your appreciation of it.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Tochter aus Elysium...

Now I will attempt a brief synopsis of the Finale. I try to use layman's language for those who aren't too good with their music terminology. It may also help to listen to the music as you read this, so that it makes more sense.

The movement is set in the key of D minor and the tempo given is very fast (Presto). It begins with a loud and frantic fanfare before recapping the main themes of the previous 3 movements. It is as if the composer is sifting through and then discarding them, in search of something better.

That "something better" emerges soon afterwards with the main theme of Ode to Joy being played softly by the cellos. It is then repeated and built up until the rest of the orchestra is involved. Then suddenly, the frantic fanfare from the beginning returns to signal the end of the First Phase and introduce the vocalists.

Before I go on, there are two things to be aware of:

• Beethoven originally intended to include Ode to Joy in his Tenth Symphony, not the Ninth. You can read about it here. Even after including Ode to Joy in the final stages of the symphony's development, Beethoven still had some reservations. I guess we should thank God for changing Beethoven's mind. Remember, he died before starting proper work on the Tenth Symphony, so we may never have had the Ode to Joy in the first place!
• Schiller's original An die Freude poem (link here for the lyrics with translation) contains nearly 20 stanzas of verse and chorus! Beethoven fortunately chose only the first five stanzas or so for his purposes.

The baritone soloist kicks off Phase Two with a plea to change the music (O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!) to something more joyous sounding. The main theme is reintroduced as the baritone sings the first verse (Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium...) straight and solo.

The chorus (except for the sopranos) makes its proper entrance when it echoes the last four lines of the first stanza in unison (Deine Zauber binden wieder, was die Mode streng geteilt...).

The rest of the soloists now join the baritone for the second verse and third verse, singing the verses as a quartet. The chorus (now including sopranos) echoes the last four lines of each verse, and then bring Phase Two to an end by repeating of the final line of the third verse (Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.... vor Gott... VOR GOOOOOTT!!!)

Then there is a brief silence before the Third Phase begins. The key changes to B-flat major and the time signature becomes 6 quavers per bar (6/8). The double bassoon heralds what music analysts call a "Turkish" march. If you listen carefully, you will recognize that the tune is actually a variation of the main theme.

Strangely and sadly, the image that comes to my mind as the march begins to play is instead that of a big Nazi parade. In a side note, those of you who've seen Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange will probably remember this music being used in the Ludovico Technique scene.

The tenor soloist now enters with the next stanza "Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen..." before being joined by Tenor I and II and the Basses. A brief musical interlude follows before the main theme returns in its original key of D major. The whole chorus launches into a rousing rendition of the first stanza (Freude, schöner Götterfunken...) and repeats the last four lines of the stanza before the Third Phase ends quite abruptly.

The Fourth Phase marks the introduction of a new stanza and hence a drastic change. The time signature - previously 6/8 - turns into 3 minims per bar (3/2). The tempo slows to walking pace (Andante). The key signature becomes G major and the indicator of the mood is majestic (maestoso).

On the third beat of the first bar, the trombones and other low-pitch instruments give a one-beat cue for the male vocalists who boldly sing "Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!"

What follows, right up until the end of the Phase, is simply divine. To match the key lyrics in this Phase (Überm Sternenzelt muss ein lieber Vater wohnen), the music moves up into an emotional plane seldom matched anywhere else in music history. At the end of the above-mentioned lyric, in which the music has been climbing into a higher range to depict movement towards the heavens, the mood suddenly changes again as the final chorus (Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?) is introduced.

The key changes from G major to G minor. The mood becomes "devout" (as indicated in the score), and the expression becomes hushed. But slowly the music again rises, this time to an even higher plane than before, until it reaches it peak at the end of the Fourth Phase when the chorus quietly repeats the last line "Über Sternen muss er wohnen". This amazing moment, underscored by woodwinds, strings and timpani playing on a sustained chord, results in what I like to call "sublime suspense".

That suspense is broken with a burst of energy and a return of sorts to the main theme in the Fifth - and final - Phase. The time signature changes from 3/2 to 6 crotchets per bar (6/4). The key signature returns to D major, the original key of the main theme, and the tempo is marked as fast (Allegro).

The chorus sings a contrapuntal movement. In layman's terms, this is a complicated sing-off between two or more voices. The sopranos sing a modified version of the main theme with "Freude, schöner Götterfunken..." while the altos are singing "Seid umschlungen, Millionen..." before the male voices enter with more of the same. To the untrained ear, it sounds like chaos but, this being Beethoven, it is orderly chaos, madness with a method.

After a brief reintroduction of "Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?", and recapping of "Alle Menschen werden Brüder" to affirm the human brotherhood message, the rest of the Phase is a roller-coaster joyride (Freude, schöner Götterfunken!) as the chorus and orchestra go all-out to a triumphant ending.

Whew! This has turned into a not-so-brief synopsis. And I have barely scratched the surface of the genius of this masterpiece! I will leave my impressions for the next post.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Freude, schöner Götterfunken...

Greetings, dear readers!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be taking part in a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as part of the chorus for Ode To Joy. This concert forms part of the Beethoven Festival, which will be hosted by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) next month at the Melbourne Town Hall.

Last week at MUCS rehearsal we obtained copies of the Finale and eagerly began practicing the chorus. Since then, I have been listening to the symphony many times (especially the chorus part) and reading along with the score.

I have long known that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is one of the greatest musical works of all time. But it's not until you perform it or experience its power in a live concert that you even begin to appreciate the sheer depth of God-inspired genius contained in it.

Although I will focus here mainly on the Finale, I recommend listening to the first 3 movements, which are all as sublime as the last one. To use a Biblical analogy, you need to refer back to the Old Testament in order to fully understand the New Testament. In the same way, a deeper appreciation of the Ode To Joy starts by identifying the key themes of the previous movements and the gradual progression of ideas leading into the chorus.

First, let me set the context about this Meisterwerk and the man behind it. It is well known in the music world that the Ninth Symphony had been years in the making, right from the time Beethoven first considered setting Friedrich Schiller's poem An die Freude to music in 1792 to its Vienna premiere in 1824. Like reading the initial character developments and plot outlines of an author's novels, it would be interesting to observe the development of the main themes of the Ninth Symphony in Beethoven's various sketchbooks.

Like Brahms, Beethoven laboured over his many of his works, drafting and re-drafting his music again and again until he was satisfied with the final product. I have visited Beethoven's birthplace in Bonn, which is now a museum. There I was able to view some of his written manuscripts. I have immense respect for Beethoven's poor publishers, because much of his music writing resembles a bombsite on paper. It is seriously THAT hard to read!

The Ninth Symphony is the only one to emerge from the final decade-and-a-half of Beethoven's life, his previous symphony being completed in 1812. By 1814, Beethoven had become almost totally deaf and had withdrawn from performing. Over the following years, Beethoven would suffer some bitter blows that would break any other person. Besides deafness, he suffered, among other things:

• loss of income due to the devaluation of the Austrian currency;
• various physical ailments;
• the loss of some loyal patrons through death and bankruptcy; and
• a legal wrangle with his sister-in-law over the custody of his nephew, which caused everyone much grief.
  

If ever there was a candidate for a broken vessel that God used to transmit inspiring music, it was Beethoven. It is astounding and somewhat sad to consider that while on earth, Beethoven was never to hear the final product of the Ninth Symphony, except in his own mind. One only hopes that he is indeed in heaven, basking in the amazing sounds of the angelic orchestra and chorus!

Another thing some might not be aware of is that Beethoven did not intend for the Ninth Symphony to be his swansong. The London Philharmonic Society commissioned Beethoven to write a Ninth and Tenth Symphony. Plans for the latter were under way before he died.

In the next post, I will provide a brief synopsis of the Finale. Then I will give my own personal thoughts about the Ode to Joy chorus from a listener's and a performer's perspective.

Hooray for Holidays!

Greetings, dear readers

After an eternity away from the blogosphere, I have finally returned - free from formal study and assessment for nearly two months. I just had my clinical praxis exam (CPE) this afternoon, a 15-minute presentation which combined the three core semester subjects - learning, teaching and pedagogy (LTP); social and professional contexts (SPC); and Language and Teaching (L&T), followed by 10 minutes of questions from a 3-member panel of lecturers/tutors from those subjects.

Now that's all over, I need to reflect on what I've learned in a very hectic semester of study and work experience at Carey Baptist Grammar, which finished just last week. To put it simply, I've learned that:

• there's a lot more to teaching than simply rocking up to class with a bunch of materials and being friendly with your class.
• planning as early as possible is critical, and painful as it is, you need to take the time to do it!
• sometimes you need to remind the students in class who's boss, even if it means shifting students to another part of the classroom.
• you must go through the material you're about to teach your classes and become familiar with it. Because if you're not, should it surprise you that your students will catch you out?
• most importantly, always have your learning goals and objectives clear for every lesson!
  

I'm sure there's a lot more I've learned in the last few months, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

At the moment, these are the activities I have lined up for my winter holiday, in no particular order:

• Book tickets to see Carey Baptist Grammar Middle School's production of Sound of Music
• Catching up on sleep
• Reading a load of books I've ordered via Barnes & Noble - when they arrive
• Tidying up my room
• Choir rehearsals on Wednesday nights
• Watching a replay of the Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona
• Late-night Wimbledon
  
• Showing my cousin Hwee Yen around town when she arrives next month
  

On 22 May - three Sundays ago - Melbourne University Choral Society (MUCS) had their first concert of the year at the BMW Edge in Federation Square, performing English Baroque composer Henry Purcell's semi-opera King Arthur. We had two performances - one in the afternoon and another in the evening. The dress code required me to go shopping with Mum a week out from the concert to find a good suit. The Dom Bagnato we bought was expensive; I ended up paying Mum back $600, but at least I now have a nice suit to wear to formal outings.

Considering that our maestro Andrew Wailes had a hard time getting scores together for the orchestra musicians in time for the live performance, I think we put on a decent show. Not surprisingly, the evening performance was better than the first, and I can now hardly wait to get the CD of our concert! At the end of the evening concert, I went around like a little kid getting autographs on my score from Andrew, the soloists and other choir members. I see it as a sort of symbolic signing-off on a job well done!

With King Arthur now out of the way, we're turning our attention to Beethoven's epic 9th Symphony chorus An die Freude and Sir Edward Elgar's choral masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius. To give you a taste of what's coming, I have included the link to the climax of Gerontius, the part where the choir sings Praise to the Holiest. Both Beethoven's Ninth and Gerontius are absolute B-E-A-S-T-S to perform, but when everyone rises to the occasion, the effect can be heavenly. I'll definitely be doing my part to ensure it's going to be like that!

OK, that's it for now. Cheers and God bless

Easter Break Update

Greetings, dear readers!

I hope this post finds you in good health, spiritually and physically. I am currently on Easter break, and boy do I need it!

My last three weeks before the break were hectic to say the least. I had two assignments due each of those weeks, and on top of that I had to prepare lessons for my teaching placement at Carey Baptist. While I somehow managed to submit my assignments on time (one with only 15 minutes to spare), my preparation took a back seat and I paid a hefty price for my lack of organisation. There was one day where I was to teach all three of my classes - a Year 7 and Year 9 German class, and a Year 11 English Language B class. The Year 7 and Year 11 classes were 80-minute periods, and because I was underprepared I spent the whole day running around frantically trying to get stuff together. Needless to say, my teacher mentors weren't exactly impressed.

Proper preparation for a beginning teacher is mentally taxing, but the alternative is far worse, as I have learned the hard way (as mentioned above). After this break, I will be embarking on a two-week block placement at Carey, where we will get our first experience of full-time teaching. Among other things, I need to compile a mini study unit for my English Language B class, and get my lessons for my German classes prepared for at least the first week of the block placement.

On the weekend of 16-17 April, I went on a rehearsal camp with MUCS up in Mount Evelyn Recreation Camp. I had just completed my last assignment - for the time being - which enabled me to relax, enjoy the camp and focus wholly on the music. To my (and the conductor's) delight, we not only had fun, but progressed ahead of his expectations. The concert we were rehearsing - Henry Purcell's King Arthur - will be showing on Sunday 22 May at the BMW Edge in Federation Square. There will be two concerts - one at 3 p.m. and another at 8 p.m. Contact me if you want tickets! I have ten - five for each show.

A few days later, I quietly celebrated turning a quarter of a century old. My mum took me out to Rasa Malaya, an established family favourite restaurant near our place. Then in the evening I went to see an act at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival - MY STRUGGLE* by German stand-up comedian Henning Wehn. Herr Wehn is based mainly in Britain, but this was his second time in Melbourne, having last come in 2009 with compatriot Otto Kuhnle.

* In case you don't know, MY STRUGGLE translates into German as "Mein Kampf", the name of the infamous book written by Adolf Hitler, in which he outlined his ideals for Germany.

Easter has fallen rather late this year, and on Good Friday I was pleasantly surprised to hear a sermon about the thief on the cross who came to salvation. The other thing that made an impression on me was the way Jesus responded to requests from different people. First, the way he responded to the thief. I'm quoting from the English Standard Version, Jesus' words are in red:

Jesus, Truly, I say to you
remember me you will be with me
when you come today
into your kingdom in Paradise

Then on Easter Sunday, Josh Teo shared a message at youth service in which he highlighted Jesus' responses to the skepticism of his disciple Thomas:

Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails see my hands
and place my finger into the mark of the nails put your finger here
and place my hand into his side put out your hand, and place it in my side
I will never believe Do not disbelieve, but believe

The season is again ripe for weddings. Tomorrow I will be attending the wedding of two friends from church, Ning and Wendy. And then on Friday is the "big" one. I'm talking, of course, about Prince William and Kate Middleton. Although I don't know the couple personally, and it is just another wedding, I do nonetheless wish them well in their marriage. I also don't know how important our Lord Almighty God is in their lives. I'm sure that most of you know that when William eventually becomes king, he will also become head of the Church of England.

So my prayer for the royal couple is - besides having a long and prosperous marriage - that they will pursue God and what He wants for them as a couple and as individuals - to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with [...] God (Micah 6:8)" and to "rejoice always, pray without ceasing, [and] give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18a)"

Cheers and God bless

Hello Carey, and Goodbye Facebook!

Greetings, dear readers!

This may be my last post until next month, as I have some big assignments for my uni course due at the end of the month. I'm now into the fourth week of my accelerated Master of Teaching course at Melbourne University. Every week, there has been so much information to absorb, on top of the assigned readings and the above-mentioned assignments.

Last week, I started my professional placement (i.e. "work experience") at Carey Baptist Grammar School in the eastern suburb Kew. This elite independent school was founded in 1923 with the support of the Baptist Union of Victoria, hence the name Carey Baptist. Initially a boys-only school, girls were admitted in 1979 at VCE level. The school became officially co-educational five years later.

Also, as some of you are aware, I have decided to deactivate my Facebook account indefinitely. This Monday was my last day until probably the mid-semester break. Two days in, there have been no "withdrawal symptoms" yet. My decision to deactivate was brought on mainly by two things: 1) The risks that Facebook poses for school teachers and 2) the amount of time wasted when I could be doing something more productive.

In other news, I am pleased to inform you that I have obtained a scholarship from the Victorian Department of Education's Graduate Pathways Scheme! This is the first scholarship I have received, and the $6000 will be enough to cover my board ($1200), public transport ($1000) and food budget ($3000) for this year. Also, I can now truthfully say that I am a qualified TESOL Level III instructor! I received the certificate last week, after finally submitting the self-evaluation on my practical teaching.

If this all hadn't already convinced me that I was in the place where God wanted me to be, the decisive confirmation came in the most amazing and unexpected revelation last Friday. While chatting to my teacher mentor for German, she happened to mention that she lived in my suburb. I pressed her further with more questions and eventually realized that she lived WITHIN SIGHT OF MY HOUSE! Needless to say we were both in a state of slight shock. Even better is that she has offered to give me lifts to Carey when I have placement. I still have to get up early, but it certainly beats taking public transport!

Please continue to pray for me as I tackle the assignments and other tasks I need to do this month!

Cheers and God bless

P.S. A quick shout-out to my sister-in-Christ Marina Zhang, who is on her 12-month round-the-world trip: Hope you're having a wonderful time in Africa and taking lots of photos!

Thoughts on taking up teaching

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (James 3:1, ESV)

Greetings, dear readers

As some of you know, my formal training as a school teacher begins tomorrow. You may wonder why I began my post with that Bible verse. Well, when I was considering what to write, this was the first verse that came to my mind that gives instructions or warnings for teachers. I think this verse is appropriate for secular teachers as well as religious teachers. All teachers have a great deal of responsibility in setting a good example to their students, besides disseminating knowledge about the world around them.

On Friday I attended the welcoming session for those graduates undertaking the Master of Teaching (Secondary) at the University of Melbourne. The staff have left us in no doubt about the task ahead of us, as we plunge head-long into a challenging year stuffed full of readings, assessments and teaching placements. Having not studied full-time for quite a while, I am looking forward to the coming weeks with excitement and dread. However, as I was doing a small tidy-up of my room (I'll need to get through it properly on Wednesday and Thursday!), I found an article that I had written in the booklet of my last church youth group camp. That was in 2007, to date the most exciting year of my life. My mind went on a stroll down memory lane as I read it through. I'll share here the article I wrote. The theme of the camp was FEAR NOT, and the title of my devotion entry was Godly Fear - The Type of Fear We Ought to Have:

Two of my favourite books in the Bible - Psalms and Proverbs - talk about godly fear in great detail. One verse that may be familiar to you comes from the first part of Psalm 111:10 - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This is repeated in the first part of Proverbs 9:10, so it must be very important! There are many other examples of the benefits of godly fear, including being blessed (Psalm 112:1), but I don't have space to list them all here. (I might try that in another post, hahaha!)

So how does one put godly fear into practice? In my opinion, godly fear is first of all believing in your heart and then humbly acknowledging to God that He is loving, all-powerful and, above all, that He is sovereign, i.e. He is in full control, even when we don't think He is. In my life, I have seen that when I fear the Lord and commit my fears to Him, that He will help me overcome them. I still remember when computers were scary. Unlike most of you, I didn't have the privilege of growing up in an IT-savvy home, and while I could do the basic functions, beyond those I remember panicking whenever I pressed a key or mouse-clicked on something that I didn't know how to fix. It wasn't until I was provided with a laptop in Year 7 that I was able to play around and figure out the different functions. Now the only thing I fear about computers is if they crash!

Another fear I used to have was taking public transport. Before I started going to uni, I had only ever been on public transport once or twice, and never by myself. So I committed this fear to the Lord, and now taking public transport has become second nature to me. Nowadays I would say that my main fear is the future. I'm not surprised if it's the same for you. It's quite easy to get carried away worrying about career, status, family and environmental issues among other things. But I'm trusting God to see me through this fear, as long as I fear Him. Basically, I'm saying that when you truly fear God, you don't have to fear anything else!

Do YOU fear the Lord? If not, will you start to fear Him today?

Although this was written nearly four years ago, it still rings true for me today. I need to remember throughout this year to get into a habit of spending time with God and entrusting my daily concerns to Him. There's no doubt that the going this year will get VERY tough in patches, but the following years won't get any easier. But with each new challenge that arises, I can rest assured that God will be there to walk me through it.

I have briefly set out below how my week will look. I have registered to continue Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) and will see how I cope with the workload through the year. This year is a special year for BSF, because for the first time, they are including the book of Isaiah into the study cycle. Also, I intend to join Melbourne University Choral Society (MUCS) this year as my main extra-curricular activity. Singing is good for the soul, and it will provide me with a worthwhile diversion from my studies. This is what a typical study week will therefore look like:

Monday - Four lectures at uni from 9am to 3pm. Then BSF in the evening
Tuesday - My longest day. Four classes - one lecture, one seminar, one workshop, and one tutorial - starting at 9am and finishing at 6pm. Then church small group in the evening.
Wednesday - Two seminars, then MUCS rehearsal from 6.45pm to 9.30pm.
Thursday and Friday - My professional practice days (the official term used for "school placements"), which begin a few weeks after classes. I have a few Friday seminars throughout the year as well. I have yet to find out which schools I have been assigned to.

In light of all that I've said, please pray that God helps me manage and organize my time, as well as focus and be disciplined in my studies. I would greatly appreciate your prayers throughout the year. Believe me, they help A LOT! And of course, don't forget that I'm here to pray for you guys too.

Cheers and God bless

Looking back on my Big W experience

Later today, another sub-chapter in my life story will close when I clock out for the last time as a rostered staff member at Big W Doncaster, and maybe the last time for good.

It has only been in recent days - as my final shift draws nearer - that I've taken some time to reflect on two-and-a-half years with one of Australia's biggest retailers. I will always remember this job as an answer to desperate prayer for a part-time job with regular hours, something I had been pleading with the Lord for several years.

But thanks be to God for His sense of purpose and timing. When I landed my job at Big W, I had just begun studying part-time. This made it easier to arrange work hours, which had been a problem when I had tried to look for previous work. God's timing had also shaped my attitude to be one of immense gratitude at having a job, small as it was. I also came into the job in the knowledge that it was to be a temporary "stepping-stone" job, a necessary path to something bigger, which I now know is language teaching.

From the hectic preparation for store opening, learning how to recover a section of the store (I can still hear our inaugural store manager, the great Marcelo Camargo, saying "bay by bay" in his wonderful Brazilian accent!), through to the hustle-bustle of the various yearly sales and stocktakes, I have gained valuable work experience. The skills I have developed - teamwork, being able to work unsupervised and adapting to a constantly changing environment - will no doubt come in handy when I start full-time work in the education industry. Then there are also the colleagues whom I will miss when I leave, but can still keep in touch with on Facebook, haha. Thanks to you all for making my time at Big W unforgettable.

After work tonight, I will be heading to Box Hill to check out the Chinese New Year festivities. Sadly, Australia doesn't observe Chinese New Year as a public holiday. This year it falls on Thursday 3 February, so celebrations will be taking place this weekend and also next weekend. This coming year is the Year of the Rabbit, my Grandma's zodiac. Traditionally, people born in the year of the Rabbit are said to symbolize graciousness, good manners, sound counsel, kindness and sensitivity to beauty. My Grandma definitely embodies all these traits, but most importantly she has used these qualities to build and raise a godly family. I hope this will be a special year for her, especially when she becomes a great-grandmother in May.

Finally, I want to wish well the contestants of the Australian Open singles finals - Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, and Kim Clijsters and Li Na. May the best players win!

Thanks for the memories, Big W!

A new year, a new start ...

Greetings, dear reader(s)

First let me wish you a belated Happy New Year. I hope 2011 will be a year of excitement, prosperity and growth for all of you. It certainly promises to be such a year for me. After cruising through 2010 and letting it pass by, one of my resolutions this year is to TRY and make the most of the days God has given me.

I've also resolved to develop better discipline and self-control. One practical way I've decided is to limit my food budget to $3000 for the year, which breaks down to $250 a month, or less than $60 a week. On top of that, I'm going to start paying monthly board of $200 to Mum.

That already amounts to $5400 out of my budget for 2011, not including other things like church offering and transportation. But I'm not worried about where this money will come from, as God will provide for my needs like He always has.

A large piece of 2011 fell into place on Monday, when I received an offer to undertake the accelerated stream of the Master of Teaching (Secondary) at Melbourne University! As it turns out, it's a good thing I didn't follow Mum and my siblings to Malaysia, as I have to rock up to the Parkville campus tomorrow to formalize enrolment stuff.

As it is, Mum needn't worry about me or Dad at all, as we're not starving. Far from it! We have brought Grandma over for dinner most nights (as Grandpa is now in aged care) and usually end up cooking way too much.

Now I want to turn my attention to the recently completed Ashes series. Cricket haters, look away now! This hasn't been the first time Australia has lost a Test series at home 3-1, but it's the magnitude of the losses that really hurt. All three losses were by over an innings (the Australian football equivalent of getting beaten by 100 points or over), and the losses in the 4th Test in Melbourne (which I went to with some friends on Day 2, and saw Jonathan Trott teach the Aussies how to bat) and the 5th Test in Sydney meant that for the first time, Australia had lost consecutive Test matches on home soil by more than an innings. I'll put the rest of my thoughts in another posting for those of you who are getting bored.

So to sum up, it will be a busy, exciting year with the intensive Master of Teaching at Melbourne, but also expecting a visit in July from my cousin Hwee Yen, Fifth Uncle's (五舅) youngest daughter, and another cousin, my First Aunt's (大姨) second son Pau Han and his girlfriend from Holland later on in the year. Despite the anticipated busyness, please pray that I'll remember to put God first in all that I do.

Before I sign off, I want to convey my support to those who are battling the horrendous floods up in Queensland. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this very trying time, and rest assured that the rest of Australia is aware of your plight and doing all it can to help.

Cheers and God bless.