Marriage at 22

This week has been a restful one for me. Classes have officially ended,
with exams coming up over the next 3-4 weeks.

I've had privilege to lead worship twice this week - once at the Uni of Bath Christian Union meeting yesterday, and once more in Christ Church, Weston super-Mare,
with Andy last Sunday. The congregation have been very friendly and welcoming to me.
Sunday was a bit o milestone for them as they finally put up projector screens in their church! Andy went through quite a period of 'campaigning' for the screens. Its still a temporary setup though, held up by prayer and bits of strings. Apparently you need a permit from the Church of England to drill a hole in your building, which could take a while to come through! Christ Church is still a very traditional, largely elderly Anglican church nonetheless. I'm glad to have introduced the congregation to a different style of worship. Usually their songs are quite stop-start, with intermittent pauses for announcements, Bible readings and prayer. Medleys and songs that flow right through seem to be quite uncommon in English Churches.

We had tea with a very friendly and chatty group of Andy's neighbours. I'm pleased to have met Jason (a 22 year old mechanic who tunes Rolls Royce engines for Airbus!) and his fiance Steffie. Both of them are into music too, and they lead worship at their church. They are such a lovely couple. I understand that they are going to get married really soon! Marriage at 22!? (Btw, Steffie's only 18)

But before anyone makes any hint of moral judgement, let me set the record straight that getting married early is not something to be frowned upon in this culture. Steffie graduates from music college this monnth, so both of them are of working age. Considering that Jason and Steffie have been going steady for 3 years now, they are both mature enough to acknowledge that its time for God to take their relationship into a higher level. In fact, praise the Lord! For marriage is fast becoming a dying institution in the UK now, that its so common for the current generation to cohabit, have kids and not even think about marriage! Trivia: 45% of all children in the UK are born to unwed couples. No wonder society's in decline.

Evidently, the UK culture is very different from Asian culture. Unlike us who move out only when we get married, the kids move out of their parents' house the moment they turn 18, or go to college. In some sense, British youths are forced to grow up faster. So really, marriage at 22 is no big deal. Suddenly, the fact that my RI buddy Joel is getting married at 24 in October this year is not such a big surprise after all.

And to think that I just turned 24 last week!

(The Brown Family - Jason & Steffie are in the middle)

An unconventional birthday celebration

Thank you everyone for your birthday greetings!

The chaos caused by the ash cloud was a blessing in disguise for me. The travel frenzy led to Ryanair slashing their prices down to as low as 3 pounds per ticket. Suddenly, it was cheaper to jet across Europe than to take a cab to school.

And so I found myself spending my birthday in Krakow, Poland, ‘celebrating’ it in a rather unconventional way in Auschwitz – the Nazi concentration camp that housed the gas chambers which claimed the lives of 1.5million Jews among many others. Walking through the compound made me sick in the stomach. It’s unthinkable how cruel mankind was during that time. The whole experience made me look at my birthday in an entirely different light, seeing how blessed I was to be born in Singapore in this generation and not 60 years ago during WW2. Although we so often tend to complain about life in S’pore, I’m thankful that the struggles and problems we face are nowhere as near to the life-and-death hardships that the Jews had to go through then. All our worries seem so trivial. It was a poignant moment. Not the happiest way to celebrate a birthday but very meaningful nonetheless.

I’m back in Bath now. Tonight I had a potluck with my fellow exchange friends. It was nice to have Asian food all over again. I cooked mutton curry =) And my friends were so nice to surprise me with a cake and a Bath Rugby jersey. I’m so gonna miss them and exchange. Exams are coming in 2 weeks which means it’s time to hit the books. It also means that my time in the UK is fast coming to an end! Sigh =(