Tsubasa wo Kudasai

I found this song on an anime called K-ON! . To me, the tune is very nice and words quite meaningful. Below, I linked some videos from Youtube, everyone's favourite tube. hehe.

This is the modern version of the song for the anime. I don't think it was played like this in the anime but I not sure. The characters played a slowed down version in the first episode. But still, nice. :P Btw, English lyrics at the right hand side in youtube...click 'more info' to see it. :P



Now this is where it gets interesting. Apparantly, it is not a new song. It was actually a Japanese folk song. This video is not the original of original but it is the slowed version..which i believe is close to the original.



Now, it gets more interesting. Below is a video on the exact same song but sung by an italian choral group! cool, eh?



The last bit of nice stuff. Hayley Westenra also sang this song...in English! the words are not exact translations of the original but they carry almost the same meaning.



Cool, eh? hehe. very nice song. :P

Musing

You have heard it said, "Give a man a fish and he is full for a day but give him a fishing rod and teach him to fish and he will never go hungry." But I tell you, "Do not merely stop there. Teach him how to make a fishing rod."

-UNOwen-

Canada Pics...

...are not here. :P Find them at my facebook picture albums. hehe. enjoy. :P

Ian

Prelude: Canada Part 2

However, I have come to realize one thing. All the 21 years of my life, I have been in a protected Christian environment. All the while, my parents made sure I can attend church. I have been surrounded my Christian friends in the various Christian fellowships and in church. MCKL was a Christian establishment. Nilai University College had many Christians around. Now in the University of Waterloo, it is a different story. I have entered the secular, the ‘worldly’. Here, everything goes. Homosexuality is approved. They even have their own official group. Free sex is condoned openly. They even have a section in the university newspaper on how to use sex toys for better enjoyment. And they don’t tell you, “You should not have premarital sex”. But they tell you steps on how to handle the responsibilities and how to handle the emotional and mental side of it. Partying is rampant. I have a friend who stays on campus residence in one of the houses. She said that her housemates partied long into the wee hours of morning. Some were drunk until they puked in the front lawn.

I have yet to discover the whole of UW (University of Waterloo) to say anything much but this is my preliminary assessment. So how does this affect my Christian life? I am out of the comfort zone. I am now in a real war. A war, not just to protect myself from being influenced but to spread the true gospel of Christ. Does this mean I was not in a war all this while? On the contrary, I was. But this war is different. I am in a different land with different cultures and different practices. I was comfortable in Malaysia. Here, I can’t afford to be.
What disturbs me the most is the lack of Christian influence the past week I was in UW. I don’t see Christian groups doing anything anywhere. Maybe I missed them, maybe I did not. As I said, I have yet to get in touch with the Christian groups so I have yet to see what they are up to. I will update more on this matter as I observe more.

As some of you know, I almost went to Liberty University, a Christian university where a couple of my dear friends are there now. If I did go there, I would benefit from a Christian environment and I would still grow. But God has his own sense of humour and put me in UW. Is this a test? Is this a training session to make me grow stronger by putting me to more trial? I don’t know. I can’t say. Who knows what God has in store? But I can say that he has provided me all the way. Even the fact I can enter UW was something I didn’t expect as it is the top university in Canada. Even when I am here, he gave me friends, those who travelled with me as well as Malaysian senior students to help me out. Without them, I’ll probably be quite lost at the airport and in Canada. Even my landlord and his wife are a good and kind couple. Non-Christians. I guess God knew what was most essential at this point in time. Because of his providence, I can say that he has something in store. But what, I do not know.

So...yeah..that is all from me for now. I will update more as time goes by. On a brighter note, the scenery here is great. Will upload some pictures soon. The people here are friendly and helpful.

Soli Deo Gloria.
Ad majorem Dei gloriem.
*********
"We take the path less travelled." Eldar Ranger, Dawn of War

Prelude: Canada Part 1

This is going to be a long post so i am splitting it in two. hehe.

Hi all! Greetings from the Red Maple leaf land: Canada. :P I have been in Canada in for about a week now and I can say it is an exciting yet nervous adventure.
All the while, people say to me, “Wow. You are going to Canada? Very cold leh...”. And I found out they were not kidding. It really is cold here. And guess what...it is still autumn! I don’t know how to survive winter. Would be an interesting adventure, eh? I have my warm clothes all ready. Now just have to gain some fats for insulation.

I am attending University of Waterloo and the campus is huge. Huge I mean HUGE!! Heck, me and my friends need a map just to find our way around. They have a thing for abbreviations. Names of buildings such as William Tatham Center become TC and so on. Kind of cool but you have others such as DC, MC, SLC, etc. So...yeah...it can get a bit confusing.

The university offers many services to students and one of them that appeals to me the most is the student ID or known here as WatCard. You may be saying, “Haah..? Student ID only what...can do what o?” Hoho. It is much more than just an ID for university. First, with the WatCard, I get to travel on the local bus routes for absolutely free. And the bus routes are long, spanning whole of Waterloo town and nearby Kitchener town. And the buses arrive on time.

Secondly, it is a debit card. I can load some money inside and it is credited to my card. I can then use the card to pay for food at food shops in the university grounds. All they do is swipe the card and the cost of the food is deducted from my preloaded value. Neat, huh? Thirdly, it is used in borrowing books as well. They just scan the card and I am done. They don’t chop or write anything...just scan and go. Coolness.

How about my spiritual journey here? Well...I haven’t met up with the Christian fellowships yet. I will be going for the universities club and societies day to find out more. But I have met up with a group of Christians working to help international students adjust to Canadian life. One of them is taking me to church this Sunday. So, I have yet to see how the churches are here in Canada.

Irony

Well...what do you know. I am going to leave the airport in about 30 mins time and i have internet access from home. I have waited close to a month and only now i get it. This is gotta be a joke. :P Thank the Lord for humor. :P

O well. I'll be going for now. hehe. like i said, i'll post updates here whenever i can.

ad majorem Dei gloriem.

Ian

The Time is Nigh

Durr...I am still accessing net from the cybercafe, as I am doing now. Sigh...

Anyhow, I am leaving for Canada in about 2 days time...for a holiday! I wish. :P Nah...to continue studying. I'll be there for 4 years...maybe not going back to Malaysia during those 4 years. Sigh...i'll miss everyone. I'll miss the usual way of life. Sigh....

But i'll be back. 4 years is a short time, eh? I'll update my 'adventure' here, in the annals. I'll try to update as often as possible. :P

Post in the comments or in the chatbox, yeah. :P

ad majorem Dei gloriem. [there is a reason i put this...:P]

Ian