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Saturday, December 20, 2008
Post Trip Reflections - Bing Hao
2:35 AM 3 weeks have passed and I thought I should get started with my reflection before I lose all my thoughts. Be prepared for a very long reflection haha, coz I think I will probably digress a lot. Yunnan still feels like a dream to me lol. I still remember how I was at LT1 with leonard listening to a talk by our seniors about their Yunnan trip last year. That was when I came to know about TOOP. At that time, what immediately came to my mind was this hk drama called “天涯侠医The Last Breakthrough” and somehow it became my motivation to join this trip. Thinking back, I really wonder how I manage to get through my TOOP interview and Leo husting talking about Africa and this particular drama-.- I must really thank the teachers for giving me this chance although I handed in my application form late. No matter how mentally unprepared I was b4 the trip, when I’m at the village, I know I will never regret coming. I can still recall almost everything that happen from the airport all the way until the village in Yunnan, yet these memories seem so blur now because I don’t know what I felt at those time. At first when I heard that we are staying in a farmer’s house instead of the school, I thought I was a bit sad (now is of course a different story). It was not because of the living environment but for the fact that the school is on top of the hill and if we stay there, I can wake up every day to see a whole piece of field and mountains(x However, everything turns out better than I thought. The people there were especially sincere, warm and hospitable! (Maybe it is because we are from other country and we are doing something for them, to be practical - monetary wise. But no matter what, I choose to believe that they are truly nice people and those tears were real.) Without the teachers, students, villagers and tian shu’s family, I guess our experience there will not be that great. Come to think of it, perhaps because we stayed in tian shu house instead of the school, we actually learn more about their village life and their farming culture. To think that before that we didn’t even expect to end up in a farmer’s house; I mean we could actually choose to stay in the school, or the teachers could. And yes I think life is the same. Every time we make choices, we won’t know what we may actually get in the end. But at the same time, there is no right or wrong choice because what really determines is what you do after u made the choice. Maybe I can say that if we stayed in the school, we might experience or gain something else, but no point. There are too many ‘ifs’ in life, and there are so many factors affecting each situation. I shall move on. Actually since the first day, I already wanted and wondered whether we could climb up those mountains around the area, and I was very glad that we did it the next 2 days, with the help of tian chao and tian bo(= The hiking we had on the 3rd day was especially memorable. I know that some of us were a bit unhappy with the long and tiring walk but at least we were all quite satisfied and proud that we survive it. I mean only when you walk then u realizes how big the place is. To be honest, we should think for tian bo also because the night before, when I told him about the hiking, I can tell how eager he was and how much he wanted to bring us around. Although we didn’t manage to reach the destination, at least we tried our best, so no more ‘if’, haha. I also remember this incident when tian shu met his son tian bo around his school area and wanted to give him money to spend but he didn’t accept it, saying he have enough to spend. I know it’s just a very normal scene, but it was kind of heartwarming. I thought tian bo is really different, he is very sensible, really. I come to that conclusion not just because of this incident. Next about tu qiao primary (= Like what Ms Koh told us, actually the most important service that we provided for them is the money, the donation. And I thought the other stuffs seem more like a cultural exchange because we learn and experience things like weeding while they learn about our culture by interacting with us. Our driver told me that too, he said we’re there more like a tour and experience kind of thing. Since I talk about service and stuffs, I shall also mention the day where Dr Tan brought us to this rehab centre or something. It kind of made me come to reality, to realize that being a doctor, helping people, saving lives is not easy. I mean I never thought of becoming a doctor or a hero saving lives but I guess now, my dream to Africa is more for the wild and nature! (x Okay back to topic. In my opinion, what really made the bond that we have with the tu qiao kids is basically their sincerity. It made that one week seem more than it was, not just seem longer but also more meaningful. I think the last 2 days were especially emotional, and I believe it wouldn’t have been so if they didn’t cry. The harder they cried the more reluctant we were to leave, and the fact that we probably will never see them again really sadden the whole thing. Just hope that they will remember us and study hard (I should say that to myself><). Oh and my favorite girl from p4, I just realize she is holding on to a handphone in a photo! Lol but please I don’t ‘like’ her or anything, just thought that she is very different and want to treat her like a younger sibling because I have always been the youngest in the family and I always wanted a younger sibling that I can care and protect(x In a way, actually we have so much to say because of the rather vast difference btw the lives there and our lives in Singapore. But no two places are similar and so I thought we should not compare directly and ask why it is like that here but not there. Because like I said, there are many factors affecting a situation which we do not even know. If everything could be known, then we won’t be having global recession now-.- We may lead a better and richer lives in Singapore, but their simple lives can also bring happiness; we may have a lot of stress with school and work in Singapore, but they may also have a lot of worries about their harvest, their future education or even what to eat and wear tomorrow etc. There are always good and bad to everyone’s lives, so we should not come to conclusions when what we did was to bring along our ‘good’ (e.g. money, camera, handphone, heat packs…) to experience their ‘good’ (their carefree lives). Perhaps that is why we didn’t suffer enough, lol, but that’s not the point also; we’re there for service learning, so at least we really learnt something there. Anw I thought this whole paragraph can be dedicated back to me because I think I’m like the one who is constantly missing the carefree life in Yunnan and asking myself why Singapore can’t be the same =.= Oh well, talking about all these just make me miss those times even more ><. I never knew of a place where u can just leave your doors unlocked at night and leave your belongings hanging around but never go missing, but now at least I know of one… Now that we are back, all the cooking, animals, mountains, tu qiao, stars, people, basketball, weeding etc… can only be left as memories. This trip is really meaningful for most of us and we should make it more meaningful by applying what we learnt there back here. For me, I should really work hard like my p6 kids in tu qiao! Hmm okay I am stuck and don’t know how to continue already :/ Although I still have a lot of thoughts but I guess the rest are more for myself. Sometimes I wonder how long our team will stay bonded together, but I guess no matter what, this memory we share will make us always remember each other!(: I know my reflection is very long and I'm sorry if some are crap, but yes i shall end here xD Bing Hao 19/12/08 |
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