Sunday, June 19, 2005
malacca! :)
ellooo.. was quite sian to go blog e entire malacca trip, but thought i shld.. haha coz really learnt alot! from e kids kae.. haha it's all in this entry.. btw all these 3 entries were written on e day itself, and guess wat? on e hotel tissue paper :) haha but it's STRONG kae.. cld write with norm pressure.. haha.. ya anw enjoy :)
9/6/05
first day of trip! we set of from home at ard 7, reached church alittle aft 7 30.. ya gathered there.. and 1, being e only youth and 2, i'll b taking these kids, i tried to talk to them la, and guess wat? they aced e 'dao e teen' test la.. they jus turned away regardless my question :( ya jus then saw jia hui and jia en arrive in church, put dwn their stuff for later's camp, while jh atteneded to her sis' cut at e back of e heel.. ya then they both rushed off, coz jh had paper and je had to work, both had to be at respective venues by 9.. so ya, and then i was back in e world of 'kids-n-adults, n no youths'. ya we finally set off, journing was long and was v tempted to sleep, but so tt my dad wont sleep during e drive i stayed up to alk along e way.. ya we stopped at pagoh for a short break, then into malacca town for lunch at this restaurant.. food was good :) ya then we reached e hotel soon after.
there we gathered at the meeting room, where there was e 'opening ceremony', then went to individual rooms. man they were really nice and bigger than usual hotels :) hav a small bar-like area in each room :) but a walk ard e hotel seemed to kill e elation.. e swimming pool and gym were pitifully small, gym having less than 10 workable equipment :S, swimming pool water seemingly clean but suuuuper murky.. cant seem things infront of u, lyk v cloudy :( ya, and e aerobics room which i'd so eagerly wanted to see was under 'renovation'. e door was open, so cld see e inside but there were things inside so cant go in.. diaoz.. other than tt it really looked lyk a dance studio, lyk my old dance studio.. well really la aft e tour got more and more unimpressed wif e hotel.. but e worst was when i found out tt i had faulty bathroom taps!! wahhh, had to use a mug to bathe coz e knob to change e water flow from e tap to out from e spray was missing; flushes were also another prob.. ya.. ohh, and joelle came up to me during opening ceremony and stuck wif me throughout until even jus now during e break for e kids to rest she came over and sat wif me.. :) ya. well dinner was relatively gd, then e children's prog.
honestly i don rber everyth from e beginning to e end of today's session, but it was overall pretty okay and manageable la. liu chuan dao was able to control e crowd v well, then aft e session e teachers met to discuss more stuff for tml and tt's it..
10/6/05
hmmm. how do i start today's entry? i donno, it was jus a pretty action-packed day.
breakfast, then e children prog. quite okay ba.. then lunch.. haha ya then joelle and joseph gathered in my room, where we played heart attack.. ya then aft tt we went dwn to e meeting room where we played some family games.. yupp, then my dad and i went to e gym.. quite sad la, we had to take turns running on e treadmill.. haha ya then went to meet e other kids in e pool. woahhh it was a total different experience. usually i'll b lyk swimming 'on myself' with others, but today? i had kids clinging onto me.. haha. jasper was trying to show me how well he cld swim, etc.. yupp was quite fun for a change la..
hmmm then aft tt bathed, and went for dinner.. quite okay la, then last children's session! ya, ended on quite a high note.. then we sent e kids off for e durian feast.. haha they ordered lyk i think 60kgs of durians? haha.. but e teachers stayed behind to discuss some marks la..
ya i realized tt i actually did learn alot from this camp. thru this camp, tho short, i've learnt abt humility; i've learnt how to communicate wif e kids. i learned to lower myself, my knowledge, to that of a comfortable level for them.
ohh, and when i first saw e teachers lowering themselves thru various ways, eg miao lan lao shi willingly acting e 'chipmunk' hopping ard, li yun lao shi speaking to the children very slowly and soothingly, i was quite 'uh, i don think i'd b able to do that' but what i really admired was e kind of willingness to go out of their norm behaviour, to reach to these kids.
for wat?
i personally felt e sense of achievement, e sense of joy when these kids come and play, joke, smile wif u, when they readily listen to you. no i'm not saying we're doing all these for e sense of power, rather, tt we can b an effective bridge btwn God's word and them.
but why were e experienced sunday sch teachers willing to do all these? humility, and only thru God can we find fulfilment and true joy.
wat are we pursuing? have we let other wordly causes determine joy and fulfilment?
but yupp, i must say, this camp had allowed me to really learn more abt humility, and made me think abt my choice of pursuit.
haha yupp, i must also mention, i've grown to love these kids more. they're more than jus a bunch of ill-behaved kids, but they are children of God waiting to b loved and showned true love. and when i change my perspective of them, i tend to regard them of higher importance than my own desires. lyk when we were swimming i really wanted to work out and do a few laps myself, but joelle was clinging onto me and jasper was trying to show me how well he cld swim, i had to give up my own desires and accompany them.
ya, i've been their teacher, yet these kids have been my teacher too. it was really a touching and enriching experience. :)
11/6/05
day we return home.. in e morn at abt 6 40 my dad and i went dwn to e pool to swim.. swam 30 while my dad swam 50 laps.. too long nv swim la.. yaa.. not bad le rite :)anw ya then when we got out of e pool cld see e kids lyk looking dwn.. when we went for breakfast many came up to me and was lyk 'i saw u swimming'.. haha ya, then was free time, where many kids gathered in my sis' and my room to watch cartoons.. aft tt since joelle and joseph wanted to swim we went dwn.. and i became wat they called their 'seahorse'. their combined weight was heavier than me, so i was lyk lugging both of them here and there, according to where they wanted to go.. well aft tt we had to pack up and go for closing ceremony in e meeting room, and we gave out the tokens of appreciation to teachers and e committee. gave e kids their 'cert' and respective groups respective prizes.. ya then e kids went up to 'perform'. i missed it coz one of my v young group members wanted to go to e toilet so i had to bring her. another example of e need to give up own desires.. :) really wanted to watch them recite la. ya anw aft tt we took a group photo, then lunch.. last lunch then everyone dispersed.. quite sad la it was so fast. then it was jus travel travel travel.. reached spore at abt 8 30, went dinner wif e rest, then got home ard 10 plus. ya tt was it.
but i really miss these kids la. these 3 days had been really fulfiling, and ahhhh i donno how to describe. but ya it was good, and double good.
ya.. tt's all.. :)
xiao jo
@ 10:59 PM
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