Saturday, December 16, 2006

Here are some photos taken in Cambodia!!

This is one of the murals that we painted. Basically it's self explanatory. HEHEX.

Now let's talk about living conditions..

Our single toilet. Filled with lizards and toads. I think I bathe with this particular toad for a few days. It was really quite small and smelly till Wan Fen and I did a great job by cleaning it with lots of detol hence it smells wonderful and clean.

This is the place that the girls sleep in. It's a two storey dorm. I sleep on the first level which is a good thing as upstairs it's damn hot and smelly. They say it's abecause of this Narnia cardboard that is locked up. Apparently the foul smell came from deep within. But no one dared to open it up and check it out, not even on the last day. So I guess the mystery of the small will continue..

This is where we all crouch down to wash our clothes with our bare hands. Appparently I was just merely wetting my clothes and not really washing them as my mum had to wash them all twice before they were clean. And I had to throw away all my PE t-shirts too as the paint I spilled on them tainted it badly.

Now this is the place we hang our clothes. The building behind is the library that we were supposed to sleep in at first. But we obviously didn't.

Cooking area! Initially it was just this empty area and we had to buy everything on the second day. Look closoly and you can see 2 stoves. Well, those are the stoves we used to do cooking! It was really great fun cooking but at the same time it was stressful. Afterall we had to cook for 22 people wihtin a time limit! Over the right you can see paint cans and maybe some paint brushes, those are of course our painting materails. We paintd like mad, scrap like mad and plastered the walls like mad. After 14days of work I think we are all certified construction workers! The first time we scrapped the walls we dug holes in the wall 'cause we were inexperienced but practise makes perfect and we soon mastered the art. HAHA.

One of the cutest little girl there. She's one of a pair of twins. They are called Channee and Channaa. They are mute and they love Ze Tong. He's their fathercare. LOL.

OUr favourite! BaoOo!!! HAHA. He's totally cheeky and sweet and cute at the same time! He's one of the 3 toddles there together with Channee and Channaa.

More photos next time! =))

~ { 11:17 AM }
In Your hands;

Monday, December 11, 2006

Currently patiently waiting for Bleach to load on Youtube. Actually not that patiently so I decided to update my stagnent blog.

YVIP camp taught me a lot. The fact that I went to the camp without any prior knowledge of what is instored, except for the little snipplets of information I got from Sylvia, make me feel very brave. HAHA. But I guess I was looking forward to meeting new people and learning new things. The part about meeting new people was satisfied to the maximum. I was out of my comfort zone yet I felt as though I have known some of the people there forever. Melissa was one of my best buddy and even till today we still hang out together LOL cause we are from the same group: Timun. For those who don't know Timun is cumcumber in Malay. I think I'm very fortunate to be under Gary and Renuka, my Team Facilitators also known as TF. They rock our group.

The first day was fine, our group didn't really stand out. There were groups that were already damn high on the first day: La Lang, where Cassie and Adeline are in. Cassie and Adeline are our (Mel and Me) toilet buddies eversince we met each other at the staff toilet in Greenridge the first time we took a bath. On the first day I didn't have much of a voice but communication was still wonderful between me and everyone else. Wonder how I survived.

ON the first night my parents send a Miracle medicine to Greenridge for me. LOL. I think it kinda cured me and I got my voice back! Whee! Second day had station games. Totally rock man. Timunb bonded then I guess. Such is the power of teamwork. Then on the third night, campfire, the Timun spirit was ever so high.

The courses conducted throughout the camp was really beneficial. It made me undertsnad the disabled to a greater extend. If only I had gone for YV before setting out to do my PW, maybe I'll be able to do it much better. But nevermind, I still have a long way to go so skills that I've picked up in YV will stick with me forever!

Went out with some of the YV people on Sunday. Went to this cool place called Mind Cafe which Kim Min was trying to tell me about but I dismissed her, claiming that playing board games can only mean one thing: boring. LOL. But how wrong I am. I spend almost 3 hours playing the same game: I'm The Boss. Oh man, I suck at it as I was the loser but we all had one heck of a time arguing. As for me, I think I enjoyed myself watching and listening to arguments! Hey, you get to see your friend's true colours!!!!! Darius the cunning. Xue Ping the sly and fierce! HAHA. Edward, Chang Loo and I, the passive and peace lovers! Fun Fun Fun.

Today was first day attachment at Sunlove Home for the Intellectually Imparied. It wasn't what I expected, that's all I can say. More next time. Off to Bleach watching again. Yes Gabriel addiction is bad.

~ { 11:11 PM }
In Your hands;

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Back.

Tired. Having a sore throat now. I think I lack sleep. Tomorrow is off to camp again for 4 days. But I'm looking forward to it.

Cambodia was so much better than I expected and 17days was not enough. 2 weeks at the orphanage, I saw a lot and the legions of intangible gains are most precious. Busted 90USD shopping. Fortunately I still managed to save 10USD as it's not really nice spending so much.

Don't really know how to describe my trip to Cambodia. Words are not enough. I think this experience will change the way I look at life forever. After Cambodia, I find that even simple nitty gritty things are precious in my sight. Take the example of running water. I'm not asking for clean running water, just running water. The fact that the oprphanage is located at the outskirts of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, makes one ask: If our living conditions are far worst off than that in Singapore, then what about those villages even further from the city, even less developed?

I think many of you do not know about the Pol Port Regime otherwise known as the Khmer Rougue Regime. It was a period from 1975-1979 which was one of the darkest periods in Cambodia. Many people were massacred unknowingly. It was far worst than Hitler's persecution of the Jews, at least many people from all over the world were more or less aware of what he was doing. But during the Khmer Rouge, no one out of Cambodia were aware of this massive killing of people and evn the Khmers (Cambodians) were kept in the dark.

I love Angkor Wat, who doesn't. Anyway it was chimerical. To get to the top you had to climb narrow steps that are almost vertical. It was tough but we all did it! Horray!!! Climbing down was via the new route they constructed that was much easier and there were railings on the side to help us along the way. I love the breath taking views from the top. For once I get a bird's eye view not from the top of some modern buiilding but an ancient temple. We caught the sunrise and sunset at the Angkor Kingdoms too. We had to we ran up to catch it. We were rather late so we had to dash up the hill, the legions of tourist flocking to the hill to catch the sunset didn't help. But fortunately, we managed to reach the top in time for the sunset. It was amazing, I have never seen such a beautiful sunset. Come to think of it, I have never seen a sunset! I'm glad I saw my first sunset at Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Coming down, it was too dark to see and Wan Fen and I thought that everyone has already gone down so we rushed down. To our horror we coudln't see anyone and it was way too dark to find our way around so we stood by the road helplessly looking out for our friends and the bus. The whole team came to our rescue when they shouted our names. Man, that was scary. Imagine what will happen if I really did lose myself at Angkor Wat, well at least I have Wan Fen.

Anyway one thing about Cambodia is that it gets dark very early. Rather the time is slower by an hour so by 6 everywhere is damn dark. Plus, there are no street lights or anythings like that in Cambodia so it's really quite dark.

The food that my group prepared was awesome.

So much to say but feeling really tired and having this sore throat now so I shall sleep. Will post the photos that I took soon! =D

~ { 8:30 PM }
In Your hands;

Monday, December 11, 2006

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Kick Me

My Shadows

Someone come talk to Me

De Lonely Past

Saturday, December 16, 2006