About Batam and a Headache

I've just came back from a short retreat to Batam. We stayed in Batam Beach View Hotel. The view there is really pretty and I like the service at the hotel--friendly & helpful staff who would go out of the way to help you.

We had 2hours of R&R and I took some photos at the beach. The beach is amazing, absolutely nothing like the beach in Singapore. The sandy area is covered with shellfish, crabs and small fishes. When you stand at the shore and keep very quiet, you can hear them move around. It's indescribable, seeing glimpses of the wonder of God's creation. It's something you don't get to experience very much in the concrete jungle that is Singapore.



It was an enjoyable retreat, with all the ingredients of a good planning retreat--relevant sessions, a good mix of sermons and relevant discussion and feedback sessions, good food, a nice hotel, great view, enough sleep and nice R&R.

Everything was nice, except the boat ride back =( The ferry got stranded in the middle of the sea 15min into the journey. The engine dieded and we were stranded there for a good one hour. I was trying my best not to be sea-sick. They sent another ferry to pick us up from there and we had to transfer to the other ferry in the sea @_@ I felt quite sick, but i didn't puke. This morning I heard from my colleagues many drama stories on the high-sea that happened during that fateful 1 hour. One of them fainted, another was soooo sick that she had to be wheel-chaired out when she reached land, and yet another was holding on tightly to her husband so that she could walk out of the ferry properly. So drama, huh?

Anyways, Saturday was an awful day. After being stranded in the sea for an hour battling sea-sickness, I was picked up at 8pm and was told that Marshall was due to be put to sleep on Sunday, so we went to my granny's to take a last look at him before Sunday. However, as my cousin carried him for his last walk, his tumour started to bleed profusely and as mentioned, we had to rush him to the vet a day earlier than planned. It was heartwrenching but necessary. We all cried buckets, and even now, we still tear when we see his pictures. So, yeah. Dealing with sea-sickness + a death of a family pet = buckets of tears and a throbbing headache that lasted til 2am on Saturday night. We were at the vet from 9:30pm til 10:30pm, just crying and crying and trying to come to terms with his end.

Was talking to another friend on msn about her shetland sheepdog who is facing some health problems and we could empathise with each other's heartaches. Dogs are truly a blessing from God, with all their varied personalities and quirky habits. My uncle just bought a new Sheltie today from VivoCity, a tri-coloured handsome prancing doggie who looks a lot like Marshall. We love him already, but he's not and will not be a replacement for Marshall. It's exciting to start anew with this new baby though.. My uncle is going through the toilet training and we're trying to get it to recognize its new name. My uncle told us many many times to not spoil it with too much affection, but seeing how we're all trying to get our turn to carry it in our arms, I think this will be one pampered pooch ; ) Seeing how we loved Marshall to his very last breath, I know that this is one lucky dog to be in this family already =)