A young child was trying to sit up on the hand rail outside a supermarket, and the father instantly said "later you fall down then you know."
I was thinking would it have been more useful if the father had taught the child how to sit properly without falling off instead. He won't always be around to make sure that the child doesn't fall all the time, would he?
It's natural that parents want to protect their children from harm, but does this means that the child should not try out and merely follow what the parents say? Thinking back about the kids from Cambodia, they seem much tougher mentally and physically compared to local kids. None will cry even if they had a hard fall, but just laugh it off. Perhaps we need to rethink the way we train the kids here.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
PSK 09 Part 3 - The Paintings
Day 4 - 6:
After the weekend, most of the people have adjusted to the place, and we finally are able to start off our first objective - to repaint the youth centre.
With the help of Sreymom, a staff at the centre, we were able to get all the materials needed for the paintings.
The tough part of the painting was not the painting, but the scrapping of the peeling wall. That part took us half a day, causing 2 cut fingers. Luckily at the end of the first day of painting, we were able to scrap the walls and whitewashing it once. Some of the kids also help up, or they really did most of the work, thanks to them. Goodbye to the existing murals.
I didn't help up much on the second day of painting(day 5) since I was the cook for the day. The dinner soup was a ultra salty ABC soup, which I had to add gallons of water to dilute, thanks to ???. We were able to complete the paintings on schedule by the third day(day 6).
Nice new murals, done by Star.
After the weekend, most of the people have adjusted to the place, and we finally are able to start off our first objective - to repaint the youth centre.
With the help of Sreymom, a staff at the centre, we were able to get all the materials needed for the paintings.
The tough part of the painting was not the painting, but the scrapping of the peeling wall. That part took us half a day, causing 2 cut fingers. Luckily at the end of the first day of painting, we were able to scrap the walls and whitewashing it once. Some of the kids also help up, or they really did most of the work, thanks to them. Goodbye to the existing murals.
I didn't help up much on the second day of painting(day 5) since I was the cook for the day. The dinner soup was a ultra salty ABC soup, which I had to add gallons of water to dilute, thanks to ???. We were able to complete the paintings on schedule by the third day(day 6).
Nice new murals, done by Star.
Monday, December 28, 2009
PSK 09 Part 2 - Familiarity
Day 2:
Narong and Theavy were the first two familiar faces who dropped by. Both have grown, especially Narong, who had really grown taller, and maybe a little bit more mature and his voice has started to break. Apart from that, they were still pretty much the same, coming early in the morning and leaving late in the evening.
After breakfast, the whole team visited the market again so as to fam them with the market area. The rest of the day was mostly spent interacting with the two regulars since not many people have come yet.
Day 3:
Breakfast for today was porridge(soggy rice since it was a bit too dry). Oh well, still bearable to eat. After breakfast, and since it's a Sunday, the youth centre is closed for the day, we're free to go to the market again. A few of the members decided to stay behind after the trauma of the previous market visits =)
Just outside the market, someone suddenly called out to me from behind.
"Chit Chin!!"
I can sense the joy in the voice. It was Nirowat, as most people spell the name that way. It's the hip hop king! He's also grown much taller. After the brief exchange of greetings, we parted and met back at the Youth Centre. He brought along a friend named Chanma too, and Sorlick came too. Sorlick was probably the only one who's not grown taller, lol..
After lunch, I received a shocking news from one of the members. And due to personal issue and choice, she had decided to leave the team and return to Singapore. She was accompanied by two others who brought her Phnom Penh, before taking the flight back to Singapore on the following day.
Prior to her departure, we took a few group photos. We're officially down to sixteen strength.
Narong and Theavy were the first two familiar faces who dropped by. Both have grown, especially Narong, who had really grown taller, and maybe a little bit more mature and his voice has started to break. Apart from that, they were still pretty much the same, coming early in the morning and leaving late in the evening.
After breakfast, the whole team visited the market again so as to fam them with the market area. The rest of the day was mostly spent interacting with the two regulars since not many people have come yet.
Day 3:
Breakfast for today was porridge(soggy rice since it was a bit too dry). Oh well, still bearable to eat. After breakfast, and since it's a Sunday, the youth centre is closed for the day, we're free to go to the market again. A few of the members decided to stay behind after the trauma of the previous market visits =)
Just outside the market, someone suddenly called out to me from behind.
"Chit Chin!!"
I can sense the joy in the voice. It was Nirowat, as most people spell the name that way. It's the hip hop king! He's also grown much taller. After the brief exchange of greetings, we parted and met back at the Youth Centre. He brought along a friend named Chanma too, and Sorlick came too. Sorlick was probably the only one who's not grown taller, lol..
After lunch, I received a shocking news from one of the members. And due to personal issue and choice, she had decided to leave the team and return to Singapore. She was accompanied by two others who brought her Phnom Penh, before taking the flight back to Singapore on the following day.
Prior to her departure, we took a few group photos. We're officially down to sixteen strength.
PSK 09 Part 1 - The return to SKYC
Day -1, 0:
After 4 months of preparations, the team is finally leaving for Cambodia. On 9 Dec, sm, kl, sy, hl, and me met in school to transport our barang barang to the airport, and camped overnight at the airport. The night was long, but luckily we had each others' company.
The flight was at 6am, so during the long interval, we had time to travel to terminal 2 to buy ya kun and mcdonald supper.
We had to transit at Siem Reap Airport which was a bit weird since Phnom Penh was closer to Singapore. Anyway, while boarding the plane after the transit, I saw my sec school music teacher and she was just a seat in front of me. Seemed like she was returning to Singapore from her holidays. How small can the world get?
We reach Phnom Penh at around 8.45am, and went straight to the hotel for a short break. Like last year, the first meal there was KFC. Soon after lunch, we head off to the Central Market, and most people came back with loads of goodies. The team name was unofficially renamed Team "North Face" after more than half the team bought a new Northface bag at the market.
Day 1:
After a good night rest at the hotel, we had breakfast at one of the Chinese Restaurant near the hotel and checked out of the hotel soon after. But before we head to Prey Veng, we had to do more shopping at another market. This time, I bought a Adidas shirt, which was really handy throughout the trip.
I was mostly asleep during the two hour trip to Prey Veng. Upon reaching, we had lunch at another Chinese Restaurant before going to the Youth Centre. When we were finally at the Youth Centre, what I saw wasn't the familiar crowd of kids, but some youths using the new internet services. Not the lively sight I was expecting.
The first day at the youth centre turned out rather uneventful as the team gets settled into the quarters. The first trip to the market actually disgusted some of the people :p, and the first night was filled with some screaming, lol.. Probably just need some getting use to.
After 4 months of preparations, the team is finally leaving for Cambodia. On 9 Dec, sm, kl, sy, hl, and me met in school to transport our barang barang to the airport, and camped overnight at the airport. The night was long, but luckily we had each others' company.
The flight was at 6am, so during the long interval, we had time to travel to terminal 2 to buy ya kun and mcdonald supper.
We had to transit at Siem Reap Airport which was a bit weird since Phnom Penh was closer to Singapore. Anyway, while boarding the plane after the transit, I saw my sec school music teacher and she was just a seat in front of me. Seemed like she was returning to Singapore from her holidays. How small can the world get?
We reach Phnom Penh at around 8.45am, and went straight to the hotel for a short break. Like last year, the first meal there was KFC. Soon after lunch, we head off to the Central Market, and most people came back with loads of goodies. The team name was unofficially renamed Team "North Face" after more than half the team bought a new Northface bag at the market.
Day 1:
After a good night rest at the hotel, we had breakfast at one of the Chinese Restaurant near the hotel and checked out of the hotel soon after. But before we head to Prey Veng, we had to do more shopping at another market. This time, I bought a Adidas shirt, which was really handy throughout the trip.
I was mostly asleep during the two hour trip to Prey Veng. Upon reaching, we had lunch at another Chinese Restaurant before going to the Youth Centre. When we were finally at the Youth Centre, what I saw wasn't the familiar crowd of kids, but some youths using the new internet services. Not the lively sight I was expecting.
The first day at the youth centre turned out rather uneventful as the team gets settled into the quarters. The first trip to the market actually disgusted some of the people :p, and the first night was filled with some screaming, lol.. Probably just need some getting use to.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Exam 7 finally over
Today is the last day of examination for me, summing up the semester with 2 papers.
The highlight of this semester's examination was my last paper. It's a level 4 CS module and really, ought to be really hard, right? It turned out the module only had 5 sets of lecture notes, and it's grading is 30% project + 70% final exam, with the topics of the 3 exam questions spell out to us in the final lecture.
The paper for the module was even more pro. 9% of the module fell on 2 yes/no questions, 5% on a true/false question, and the rest mostly one-line answers. I almost broke into cold sweat seeing people scribbling in their papers, when I only had around 70 words on the script I had handed in. Hopefully what I wrote made sense. If not, it's another module down the drain.
The highlight of this semester's examination was my last paper. It's a level 4 CS module and really, ought to be really hard, right? It turned out the module only had 5 sets of lecture notes, and it's grading is 30% project + 70% final exam, with the topics of the 3 exam questions spell out to us in the final lecture.
The paper for the module was even more pro. 9% of the module fell on 2 yes/no questions, 5% on a true/false question, and the rest mostly one-line answers. I almost broke into cold sweat seeing people scribbling in their papers, when I only had around 70 words on the script I had handed in. Hopefully what I wrote made sense. If not, it's another module down the drain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
