tired after the trip...
sigh...back in singapore....feels good...but totally missed the people in philippines sia...sigh...also looking at a few reflections...hmm...sigh again~~ my english aint that good...but i will still reflect...
can really say that i learnt alot throughout this trip...i made things happen...i wait for things to happen...of coz....i see things happen too....who doesnt?? anyway, i also see things happening around me...awareness got a little higher (although people say that my awareness is zero)...i think im far better than before liao...but its quite tiring to be aware of what is happening around me every second...very tiring i can say...
this trip wasnt really counted as a success...we were supposed to set up IT lab for the people there...but we didnt manage to, due to some unforeseen situation...but we still managed to transfer IT skills to the people at SPED school and popcom...while transferring skills to them...we get to interact with them too...i personally havent taught at popcom before...coz have been assigned to teach at SPED school...a class of like 11 people...but there's always like 6 or 7 students only...hee...i gotta say, the students there get distracted real easily...i remembered the very first lesson we had with them...we were offered food and drinks...it seems more like a interacting session...a get-to-know-you session...they are so friendly...so enthusiastic in learning too...basically, most of them already know some basics of the microsoft office...so its quite ok to teach them...from what i remembered, they are such keen learners when it comes to microsoft powerpoint...so passionate i realised too...coz when we asked them to create a powerpoint on their own...they created stuffs like "Mother's Day" or things that gotta do with love...so passionate subjects...envy their passion for one another...there's this grandma, Elsa...always with a camera....always touched by her smile...and not to forget Hose, who brought us to the wet market to buy the cheapest ingredients...and of coz other teachers there who helped us in one way or another, such as Glenda and Vanessa etc...
also like what peiqi said...we have unknowingly called SPED school, the place given to us to stay for the 2 weeks, as our home...we will unknowingly say "hey...time to go home le!"...enjoyed the times when we go for groceries shopping as a group...then we all go home to cook...also buying things that our home lack, like rubbish bags, detergent, washing detergent etc...we cleaned and cleared up the place...making it like our home, as we will be staying there for 2 weeks...we had our meals there...we sleep on the hard floors there...bathe there...we shit there...we had our reflections there...during our free time, we played..frisbee...basketball...we slacked...we napped...we nagged at one another...sometimes, we complained to one another about this and that....some of us even broke down and cried...well...i did....for something i shouldnt have said...being childish and saying things without thinking of the consequences...purely stupidity too...but well....we all grow up through learning from our mistakes....so i learnt a lesson...
well...my stay in the hospital was also memorable...not much people get to stay in hospital while overseas lar...hmm...but well...not that i want to...high fever plus allergy...sigh...anyway, i got to see the responsibility of the nurses and doctors there...there's this 19-year-old male nurse, Chriss...the one who attended to me...well...chatted a little while...got to understand how their working life is like...he kept saying that he wants to come to Singapore to work...cant imagine he's only 19 years old, and already full of ambitions...looking at myself...hmm...20 years old...unemployed...sigh~~
the homestay was also very new to me...too bad we didnt get to spend more time with them...a night is definitely not enough, i can say...but through this only night...my host, Donna, was really hospitable...even the hyperactive 5-year-old niece of hers...totally showed the hospitability of filipinos...even prepared a room for us...showing full friendliness, although we are like total strangers to them...the only thing i regret not doing is to take a photo with them...gosh...how can i forget...well...i did forgot...sigh~
i remembered the time when we were at SIF...we were asked whether we will give more or receive more?? hmm...i think that time my answer was that i will give and receive the same amount...but i realised...i received really more than i have given...the filipinos have taught us alot of things without us realising it...well..some of us certainly have given more than they would have given...going over their limits...doing things that they would never imagine they will do in their lives...full of admire for them too...i guess sometimes i wont even go to that extent to do such a thing for a person..."never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game"...some quote i heard somewhere...neber to give up...something that i kept telling myself throughout the trip...but i guess i kinda stress myself too much...but i feel that i have shown more leadership skills than i would have...quite a great achievement for me...some people bring out the leadership in me...some people helped mi in leading...some people work with mi to lead...there are so many different categories of people...
some participants of this team made mi realised that i dont appreciate the life im living...there are people who have a far worse life than mi and they are stronger than mi...there's yuanping...who really changed a lot from before the trip, to during the trip, to after the trip...she has an improve in her attitude...there's lek...who made mi realised that life can still goes on even if it gets a little rough...i admire her...for her braveness to carry on her life despite her illness...there's the AG gers...they made mi change my thinking of typical home girls...intially i thought girls from such homes wont be too good...but i was wrong..totally wrong...these AG gers made mi feel the love in Andrew and Grace Home...there's the Teach Me people...they made mi change my thinking of differently-abled people too...gotta admit that before this trip...whenever i go on the road and see such people...i will tend to give them a second, or even a third look...the way the walk...the things they do....but after i interact with them...i realised that they are the same as us...now, when we go out with them...when i see people staring at them...i would just feel like telling them not to stare...because they are normal too....but in some way, i cant...anyway, there's also navin...the guy whom we thought brought us alot of problems...but he made me understand that life is never easy...i feel that the Teach Me people has taken a big step by being on this trip...being more independent...as i was saying, nobody's life is easy...life is full of ups and downs...sometimes when something happen...a scar will be left there....so it wont get back to normal again that fast...but with the willingness to forgive and forget...things might get better...also, i get to see the true selves of the yep people...including myself...there's good and bad...there's happy and sad...there is bound to be...
well...i feel that the facilitators did quite a pretty good job in guiding us...they have been through a lot too i guess...also, they have taught mi alot...directly and indirectly...but sometimes...they do things without telling others the reason why they do it...which makes it kinda tough for both us and them...it would have been easier if we were told ba...anyway, its also good...they got us all thinking...brain cells improve alot...hee...this trip has made mi tired physically and mentally...a very tiring trip indeed...
the memories will remain in mi...the experiences...missed the philippines people...missed the yep team...wishing that we could go back one more time...this time maybe to fulfil the initial objectives of our trip...that is to build the IT lab...or maybe just to visit the people there...to just have fun and enjoy ourselves...
- lina -
