I woke up this morning to the first day of August. July had been such a taxing month – a month that was painfully long, a month where I felt my life was put on hold and I could hardly focus, a month that I couldn’t wait to close off. Yet there were many good things that happened in July, and I have woken up this morning to the end of it all.
The major event in the month was of course, my move out of Marine Crescent into Melville Park. I have been in my new home for four nights now, and I’m just about slowly settling in. It’s the little nitty gritties like finding the right key or finding where to place that rack in my room that’s still not quite right. But the weather gave me a good welcome on the Sunday morning when I arrived, and this is what it looked like:
Before I left, I had a trusted colleague come round to do a photoshoot of my place at Marine Crescent. I guess there is now a bitter love hate relationship with this vintage flat, which is so beautiful in its originality yet quite a nightmare to deal with on a daily basis. I was so glad that he came round to document my last days at the flat, as the photos really captured the way I felt – a mix of nostalgia and liberty that was all a bit tongue-in-cheek. I hope whatever he does with these photos will make us both famous.
I was also in Hong Kong and Macau for six days where I had an absolute blast of a time exploring the two cities on my own. Hong Kong had been such a long time coming for me, while Macau has always been on my travel bucket list. This trip was the first in a while where I was on a tight budget – so I went on business as a backpacker. Could one ever be a business backpacker? Now that’s something to think about.
As soon as I arrived home, I was out and about in Tiong Bahru shooting the new Acts TV, a monthly announcement video for church. I had the pleasure of working with the very talented beauty blogger Roseanne Tang, Daniel Zhang and Xu Weiyi. The week after saw me at Family Life Conference by Jack and Alta Hatcher, renowned speakers and pastors from Christ for The Nations in Dallas, Texas. The couple taught me so much about married life and the different seasons in marriage. I guess ‘till death do us part’ is no joke then.
As it’s the Ramadhan fasting month this July, I couldn’t miss out on not paying a visit to the annual Ramadhan bazaar in Geylang Serai, which is fast becoming an annual ritual for me. I had my cravings of Ramly Burger (though it’s a poor attempt compared to those back home in Malaysia), keropok lekor and cempedak goreng before heading to another pasar malam in Tampines with a friend.
Wan Phing Lim 