Upon returning to our flat in Yew Tee, we discovered moulds all over due to the 9 months of absence, a gigantic stack of letters and correspondences, and many things to sort out in order to resume our daily life. So we started an early spring cleaning and delightfully thrown or donated away tons of extra stuff. We needed a car to get around and bought the first car that we viewed. Alvin took over the white Suzuki Vitara SUV on the 8th day upon our return. There were many friends to meet and catch up with but the priority went to those kind friends who ordered the Beadwear necklaces from Children's Garden Home.
4 Dec 2011: Jin's NTU Mates Reunion
Old friends catching up after many years is always a heart warming affair. Some of Jin's NTU Gang - Michael and Henry - gathered at Henry Toi's home to celebrate his 50th birthday. Henry also invited some of his old pals from secondary school to Army buddies.
We all had a joyous time reminiscing over old photos that showed their youthful faces, funny hairdos and completely outdated fashion!
5 Dec 2011: Sorting, Labelling & Packing BeadWear from Children's Garden Home
We lugged back 8kg of Beadwear made by the children of CGH. Now it was time for Robyn to sort them out, print and attach labels and pack them for Alvin to drive around and deliver to the kind buyers before Christmas.
Robyn engaged her good friends like Faith, Yee Khoon, RanXuan to help sort and pack the Beadwear.
> Our guestroom became the packing factory with beadwear necklaces stacked all over the floor!
9 Dec 2011: Visit to the Dentist
After a year's absence from dental care and with loads of chocolates, Robyn needed a drill-and-fill operation in the dental chair.
Sorabh in Singapore
We met Sorabh Gupta at the Art of Living Ashram in Bangalore in March 2011. He later kindly sponsored the prizes for the art competition we organized at the Tribal Schools in Jharkhand, India.
Sorabh happened to come to Singapore for a somatic coaching workshop and so we met up. He is a professional who helps senior executives and leaders of organizations undergo transformation from within. We talked about using clay art as a transformation medium so Alvin brought him to Clay-Street Studio to experience clay moulding as a creative expression.
Something will cook up from here... : )
18 Dec 2011: Charity Yoga for Children's Garden Home
On this Sunday morning, Huay Lin shared with the class the knowledge of yoga and conducted a wonderful yoga lesson. We gave a talk about our seva experience at CGH and raised a total of S$2,630 for the children. It was so meaningful a morning for everyone. Thanks!
Huay Lin's yoga class is always enjoyable and we always improve with her guidance.
The donors were given a Beadwear necklace handmade by the children from CGH as a token of thanks.
22 Dec 2011: Unity Secondary School
Today was Robyn's registration for her secondary education at the Unity Secondary School. We met Robyn's form teacher, Mr Siva, and purchased her books, uniform, etc. We particularly like the school's slogan:
In less than 2 weeks' time, Robyn would be starting her Secondary One education, after one year's break in schooling. It's gonna be fun!
29 Dec 2011: Avita Year End Party "Royale"
Thanks to Moses and Sylvia of Children's Garden Home who gave us our African costumes, we immediately wore them to good use at our Royale Night at Avita.
This ultra fun party was a grand celebration to end 2011 with fun, prizes and warm friendship at Avita. Everyone dressed to 'kill'.
Alvin won the best dressed African king while Amy Liew was crowned the Indian queen.
'Princess' Theingi was mad when I innocently mistaken her outfit to be that of a witch!
The real and beautiful princesses: Victoria, Cassandra, Robyn and Julianna.
The Scent'al World family group photo with everyone in Royale outfit.
Welcome 2012 with Hope & Love
Question: Dear Guruji, what is your message for the New Year? What should we focus on for the coming year?
Sri Sri: A better world!
Our service should be focused on a better world and a better society. And in personal life, have a strong conviction and faith that all is well and good is going to happen. According to the Vedic calendar, you must have heard that this is the last year of the Mayan calendar and Doomsday is going to come. There are many movies about the World coming to an end. I am telling you nothing is going to happen and the world will continue. According to Vedic Calendar, from March 2012, this year is called ‘Nanda’. ‘Nanda’ means happiness; the year of happiness. First comes happiness and the year that follows is called Victory. You will be happy and victorious, so do not worry. Resolve to do some good work in society and spread knowledge. You will see by end of next year more and more people will turn to spirituality. All those engaged in terrorism will be cornered and people who are in violence, their strength will be reduced. It will happen and you are a part of that happening.