That They May Know: G&D: Ice Cream in Oxford

God is faithful, God is good - when I'm lonely and thinking that I'm missing out on all the fun, formal dinners, drinking and pub crawling, He sends me friends even when I wonder whether I'm worthy enough to be called God's child. He is ever so amazing, and He has provided me beyond my imagination and expectations! Phillip was right: "When God gives, He gives above and beyond whatever you can imagine or ask for."

Even when I sin.

And I'm talking about tangible blessings. :)

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Today I decided to stay all the way and help out at St. Ebbes - I went to clean the kitchen again with this bunch of awesome guys, and well, it helps to alleviate the work stress. Many hands make quick work indeed! We started off at about 7:50 pm, and expected to finish at 9:30 pm, but it turns out we finished cleaning the dishes, pots, pans, mugs and kitchen at 9:15 pm!

So we did the usual, but this time I've photos of new friends:

Isaac, from India

Here's Isaac (I couldn't catch his full name, but I'll get it eventually!), from India, and here he is, posing for a shot as he polishes off the leftover seafood curry that the church cooked for the fellowship tonight. He's a really optimistic and cheerful guy, and it's quite nice being around him. He's a real extrovert! Really interesting to talk to - we talked about Indian cuisine, Singapore and lots of other stuff like songs and such. :)

David Lee (left) and Franz (Right)

David's parents are from Taipei, Taiwan but he grew up in England and received an education here - speaks really good English and decent Chinese, but he doesn't know Min Nan Yu (闽南语), which I thought was quite a big waste, but well, his good English more than makes up for it! Oh, and he's a boxer from the featherweight class too, awesome!

Franz is from China, and he's Hokkien! We conversed in Hokkien and Chinese while cleaning up, and it really made me feel closer to home! Franz's a really gentle person, both in speech and demeanour, and he has a good sense of humour. He even sang Aya's (Liu Han Ya, 刘翰雅, a famous Taiwan entertainer) famous song, Hong Dou (红豆), replete with her trademark dance moves!

Chris, Physics DPhil, 4th Year, Irish

Well, that's his profile, and isn't he a cheery guy? Haha! Yeah, he's this genius who's been studying in Oxford for 8 years (because it is the best University in UK after all!), and he's doing Theoretical Physics! He's my cell group leader at the St. Ebbe's fellowship every Monday night. :)

And here's a shot of the local student population (not the international students group, which I'm part of) from behind the kitchen doors:

Oxford University Students at St. Ebbes

And of course, here's everyone cleaning up:

Hardworking People

And Isaac never fails to strike a charming pose:

Isaac the Charmer

After the church cleanup, Isaac, Chris, David, Franz and I decided to pop by an ice cream cafe for some ice cream! Yes, in the freezing night at 9:30 pm, we decided to go for an ice cream attack! Heh. And we've all heard of B&J's, but that's from Vermont, USA - in Oxford, and only in Oxford, they have their very own G&D's:

George & Danver's Ice Cream Cafe

And well, here's their menu:

Menu at G&D's

And of course I had to have the Dulche de Leche flavoured ice cream - it's an Italian classic, and in case you don't know, it's actually caramelized condensed milk! Really powerful and nice, and well, you don't get it often in Singapore, because all you have in Singapore is caramel flavoured ice cream, which well, isn't quite the classic:

Dulche de Leche Ice Cream

Other Ice Cream Flavours

Well there were another flavours as well, so you can have a look above; and below is a close up of the menu they have:

Menu at G&D's (Close Up)

I decided to treat myself and I had a Cookie Monster, which essentially was a huge scoop of ice cream right smack in between two huge pieces of double chocolate chip cookies: