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29Sep08

The weather forecast for the week is not a sunny one. It drizzled in early morning, and in the photo, you can see the morning mist.

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28Sep08

Sunday. With Tracy, we went to New Apostolic Church, but for this Sunday only, they have changed their worship to the afternoon at 3pm. The service is in Dutch. So we decided to worship on our own. We also visited the central to take a look at the Tilburg Culinaire, a food fair of Tilburg food. There were lots of wine and oysters and fine dining. We just took a look. Back in the halls, we celebrated two birthdays together. One of our coursemates said she is very touched because this is the first time she is celebrating her birthday!

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27Sep08

A very exciting and full day indeed. One of our lecturers invited us to her house. She lives in another part of the province, s'-Hertogenbosch, also called Den Bosch. Some of the interesting photos are: A public toilet stand for Men only; a bakery Jan de Groot that is very popular and has a continuous queue; canals; open market; busker; yummy seafood salad; the town's attraction St John's Cathedral; the Bosche Bol chocolate coated cream ball-cake; Hannie's house; Allure - a shop selling ceramics made by persons with special needs; a retirement housing; and delicious strappwafel, waffels with toffee syrup.

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26Sep08

Praise The LORD! After losing my bike key - I had been going round to various places to ask if a lost key had been turned it. I had been looking at the paths that I took for classes. All without avail. However, all the time I was committing the matter into ABBA's hand and praising Him.

After class in the morning, we had a 2hr break before an arranged lunch. A group of us, including Maria, a Dutch national, met in one of our residences. We were talking about studies and schedules, when I asked Maria to ask her husband how would a local solve the problem of losing one's lost bicycle key. She said she needs to take a look at it in order to describe it to her husband.

As I was walking her to my flat to show her my bike - we passed by a van with 2 workers who were fixing some electrical equipment in the flats. Maria suggested we ask the guys to help. She spoke Dutch with them and coaxed them to render some help - And praise GOD, they obliged and managed to break off the lock! Without damaging any other parts of the bike! Hallelujah! It took 20mins as the bike was made in Netherlands and the quality of locks is of excellent quality.

ABBA was orchestrating the whole encounter to help me solve the problem! And just when I wasn't anxious about it, His serendipitious grace put all the pieces together! (I had enquired) - engaging a locksmith to come and release my bike will cost me nothing less than E$120! (more than the bike itself) (The shoe-key man said I might as well leave the bike there and buy a new one). Nevertheless - my ABBA had a much better solution - praise Him!

Our lecturer arranged for a lunch cum visit to a restaurant Huis van de Wereld - House of the World - where they employ former refugees, and work with other agencies to highlight world issues - such as, deforestation, green energy, wars, natural disasters, etc. - that may be reasons why people abandon their homeland to seek refuge in other countries. The green tea'bag' that I was served with is very innovative: tea leaves in a foil stick with holes. The stick also serves as a stirrer.

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25Sep08

Took a bus to central. I had lost my bike key (only one, as it was a used bike). The bike key I'm referring to is the one for the 'ring' type of lock that is already built into the bike for the rear wheel. I had wanted to duplicate it earlier, but the shop closed at 5 and I arrived slightly late after classes are over. So I had Tony Wok stirfry Chinese food. I committed the loss into ABBA's hand, and trust that by His grace, He can work out the solution for me. On the way home, I realized that Dutch people can bring their pets onto buses. This lady had an obedient and lovely dog. When I reached home, it seemed like the bike looking at me forlornly, saying: I'm yours, yet I'm not yours ... because without the key, you can't use me.

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24Sep08

Had a wonderful day visiting Hondsberg School - a segregated special school with an associated residential centre - for pupils with severe intellectual disability and ASD. Saw many similarities with my previous workplace. Can you identify the Time-Out Room. And do you see the point of sale cash register that they use to train the pupils in socio-money skills?