Hello

We are now into the 8th week of term, and I'll be back in the Motherland in 3 weeks.

The end of Week 7 was really quite eventful.

I had a TGIF lunch with some other Singaporeans at this restaurant KamFung. The Chicken Rice was absolutely sensational. The meal was, while a bit of a strain on my walled (7 pounds), left my hunger pangs well and truly satisfed.

TGIF part 2 (at night) was monopoly with some Singaporeans in my hall. Some people might find that sounding a bit sad, and fair enough, I would not have minded going out for some drinks or even a club event on Friday night. However, as it was a real blustery evening, I was quite glad to stay in my friend's room for a few rounds of the "Nice, Ruthless, Money-hungry family game". The company was exceptional, so were the Scottish Fudge and Chocolate Caramel Biscuits that we feasted upon throughout the game. Of course, a certain player (guess I shan't name her here, though people who know her won't be surprised about her behaviour) was quite comical, and really made the whole thing so much more entertaining. First, she asked (about the game),"In which direction do we move?" Then, upon landing on the property shoe owned during the game, she exclaimed loudly "280 pounds!", obviously mistaking the price of purchasing the property to be the same as the rental cost of landing there.

I had to rise pretty early on Saturday morning (9.30am, early for a Saturday) and take the tube to Liverpool Staion, because Saturday was Paintball Day! I was very much looking forward to this day. I met Justin and a few other LSE Cathsoc people, as well as people from the Cathsoc of other colleges. We took the train to Bellericay, which is 30 minutes from Liverpool Station, then took a leisurely 30-minute stroll through the small country town to the site. The weather that day was magnificent. It was a bit chilly, but the sky was nearly cloudless and the sun was out, so we were quite glad to soak in the great weather for that day.


A shot of the road leading to the Paintball Centre. Really scenic. A lot nicer than Notts if you ask me, due in large part to the Sun's conspicuous presence.


Upon reaching Delta Force, we were given a safety brief (sounds like NS), issued cover-alls and helmets (sounds even MORE like NS), then told to wait for our turn (Now that sounds too much like NS, it's scary).


When the game started, it was actually quite fun. We were split into two teams (some of us combined with other school kids), and we had 3 different missions. For each mission we would either defend or attack, so that's 6 games in all. I shan't go into the details of the missions, just tha they were indeed quite exciting and realistic. For example, the "village" mission had real huts for us to hide in. Ok, maybe it's my first time playing Paintball.

The not so fun part was getting hit by the paintballs. They left marks on the coveralls (which soaked through and stained my jacket underneath). Besides, they really hurt. My left arm still has a bruise from that afternoon.

The games finished at about 4. Having changed, we made our way back to the station. This time, the sunset was spectacular. Unfortunately, I'm not a skilled photographer.


This was taken in the morning, just outside the paintball place.


This was taken at 4pm on our way to the train station, when the sun somewhat started to set.


The view of the railway from atop a bridge. The sun sets very quickly, evidently.

So Saturday was quite a unique experience for me. Hall dinner was pretty good, Spaghetti with Cream Chicken sauce. Unfortunately, as I did not have lunch that day, my hall dinner was digested by the time it was 9pm, so I went to China House to buy some Beef Hor Fun. For 3quid50, it was a great deal.


Accompanied with XO Sauce!! And a can of coke.

Sunday was the Academic Mass. It was the first time that I attended a Mass celebrated by a Cardinal. It was a massive event, with at least 10 other co-celebrating priests and one co-celebrant Bishop. And the choir was, as usual, in fine form. Church music was of the highest quality, and the homily was quite good was well. For someone who was quite old (on the wrong side of 70 as Cardinal Arinze put it), he seems like a witty chap. My favourite part was when he said something like "If we have to attend too many meetings, we become BORED members." A page out of my book it seems.



Some photos of the Cathedral after mass ended. Really magnificent. I guess it might not compare to Notra Dame or Sacre Coeur of Paris, but it is a gem of a building in it's own right.


His Eminence shaking hands / giving blessings after Mass.


Miguel! The Spaniard in Cathsoc. He's a pHd student reading Finance, and he's a member of Opus Dei. They're obviously not what they're portrayed to be in the Da Vinci Code.

After Mass, we had some wine at the Cathedral hall, then we made our way to Chinatown (again) for lunch. This time, it was Wong Kei. I had duck rice, which was ok for 4quid. Probably the cheapest in Chinatown, though quality-wise there are several other better joints.

Alright, this post and the previous 2 pretty much sum up my entire week 7. Hope the read has not been too monotonous.

Will talk about week 8 soon. Maybe I should just abandon this "week-counting system". We'll see how things go

Good night.