NYAA Outdoor Education Reflection – Houseboating in India

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In October of 2019, I was lucky enough to be able to go to my home state of Kerala, India for about a week, which is known for its beautiful coastline and dependence on marine ecosystems and environments due to its geographical locations. I think that this trip made a huge impact on me in a lot of different ways; compared to the other outdoor activities that I had done, this one hit a lot closer to home because it is where most of my family is situated and where my father has grown up. To understand how important the environment there was to them while they were growing up, and how activities like house-boating were so influential in how they perceived the environment and their habits in terms of taking care of the ecosystems in the region felt like a real eye opener for myself because it showed me that while we may have followed different paths in life, the environment can contribute to all of our lives in some way. I was able to go on a houseboat tour which was accompanied with an instructional tour guide that taught us about some of the different types of marine ecosystems in the area and how the fishermen depended on the seasonal changes in order to determine which fish would be around the area and in how much quantity. We also understood how by supporting the local houseboat tourism industry we were funding the livelihoods of a lot of the fishermen, who actually caught fish that was used as food for the guests on the houseboats. It was interesting to see how interconnected all the systems within that specific environment were, and how supporting one endeavour would prop the other up. What was also interesting was that we were able to stop at a rural community along the way and interact with some of the residents of the village that we had stopped at. Being able to see how dependent these communities were on the water source that was the river flowing through the village was contradicted by the large levels of plastic that we saw in the ocean which was rather disconcerting. To be able to see the huge contradiction of understanding how important the water source was to the village, and then to see the high levels of plastic in the water compounded with severe water pollution that already troubles the region really opened my eyes to the efforts that we have to take in order to understand the responsible disposal of waste and the positive outcomes it can have in the lives of those that are so heavily dependent on the marine environment for their survival and wellbeing.

NYAA Outdoor Education Reflection – Ziplining in Canada

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In December of 2019, I was lucky enough to be able to visit Canada for the winter and go on a few wilderness trips as well. The most interesting of these trips was when my family and I spent a day at the Niagara Falls, an environment that is so different to the one that I have grown up in for all its geographical and meteorological differences that do not resemble Singapore in many ways. We were able to go on a zip-lining trip that encompassed a full excursion of some of the most prominent waterfalls in the region, while also learning a bit about the ecosystem and the biodiversity that inhabited the region. We were also able to understand some of the downsides of the development that had been going on in the region for infrastructural upgrades, being so close to the USA’s border as well. For example, beaver dams and habitats in some of the surrounding water bodies had been torn down as a result of urban development to accommodate increasing numbers of tourists as well as the redirection of river routes to create some roads as well. This was detrimental to local beaver populations who have had to relocate their habitats to deeper within the woods surrounding the falls as well. Being able to zip-line above the line of the waterfalls gave me a bird’s eye view of the area and I was able to notice several construction sites along the route as well that had been clearing out some of the woods for urban development projects. It was really good to get this view because I was able to visually understand the extent to which a prioritisation of urban development has encompassed conservation efforts in the region. Understanding this as a problem, I was able to go back to my hotel that day and really do some extensive research to see how Niagara Falls has coped with increasing tourist numbers and the kind of effect that has had on rural communities but also some of the flora and fauna in the region. To be able to visit a region of the world that is so intrinsically different from the region I have grown up in really highlighted to me that the importance of environmental conservation and consideration is something that is universal and not specific to a certain group or region, showing its further importance in our societies.

NYAA Service – 3 Month Reflection (November to January)

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I was able to join a new service and I chose to join Music Therapy with Apex Harmony Lodge. What the service does, is to find songs from the 1950s and onwards that were popular in Singapore and then present them in a certain way to some of the dementia patients that they converse with at the Lodge in hopes of stimulating some sort of memory or cognitive response to the music. Being a part of this service, I have felt as though my skills of conversation have been heavily improved and I have understood how different people may require different forms of communication in order to exchange ideas and messages. From going to helping out in a day care, to a cerebral palsy centre, to an old age home, and now to a dementia home, I have been able to understand how when we converse with different people the manners and methods of our communication change and adapt in the necessary manner in order to ensure that we fit in with the environment we are in as smoothly as possible and I think this is an extremely important skill.

The biggest challenge for me this year, was that I had never experienced communicating with someone who unfortunately suffers from dementia. What made it even harder was that we were online due to the pandemic, and it was quite hard at some instances to keep the concentration of the client with us. Saying this, however, our adaptability was tested and we were able to come up with some interesting solutions to the problem posed to us. For example, if the client was not responding to the song we were playing, I would pick up a guitar and then start to sing and play along. This elicited a much more active response from the client and it showed that there was space for adaptability and change in our plans, and that sometimes spontaneity can be the best solution. It also showed me that there is always a possible solution in the face of challenge, and that to persevere through a challenge to find a solution is a crucial character to have, something very transferrable across my life.

When I joined this service, the one thought I had in my mind was that initiatives like this were crucial in reducing inequalities that our world still faces. I feel as though certain groups of people, especially those who may be underprivileged or suffering from illnesses/old age, are susceptible to certain forms of discrimination and stigma and have witnessed this myself in our society and in other societies. Being able to take part in such an initiative means that I can do my best to try and bridge the generational gap experienced between the two generations and understand that the first step to defeating social inequalities is by taking the effort to communicate and connect with those of different backgrounds.

CAS Reflection – Music Therapy with Apex Harmony Lodge (Service)

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This year, I was able to join a new service and I chose to join Music Therapy with Apex Harmony Lodge. What the service does, is to find songs from the 1950s and onwards that were popular in Singapore and then present them in a certain way to some of the dementia patients that they converse with at the Lodge in hopes of stimulating some sort of memory or cognitive response to the music. Being a part of this service, I have felt as though my skills of conversation have been heavily improved and I have understood how different people may require different forms of communication in order to exchange ideas and messages. From going to helping out in a day care, to a cerebral palsy centre, to an old age home, and now to a dementia home, I have been able to understand how when we converse with different people the manners and methods of our communication change and adapt in the necessary manner in order to ensure that we fit in with the environment we are in as smoothly as possible and I think this is an extremely important skill.

2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

The biggest challenge for me this year, was that I had never experienced communicating with someone who unfortunately suffers from dementia. What made it even harder was that we were online due to the pandemic, and it was quite hard at some instances to keep the concentration of the client with us. Saying this, however, our adaptability was tested and we were able to come up with some interesting solutions to the problem posed to us. For example, if the client was not responding to the song we were playing, I would pick up a guitar and then start to sing and play along. This elicited a much more active response from the client and it showed that there was space for adaptability and change in our plans, and that sometimes spontaneity can be the best solution. It also showed me that there is always a possible solution in the face of challenge, and that to persevere through a challenge to find a solution is a crucial character to have, something very transferrable across my life.

6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

When I joined this service, the one thought I had in my mind was that initiatives like this were crucial in reducing inequalities that our world still faces. I feel as though certain groups of people, especially those who may be underprivileged or suffering from illnesses/old age, are susceptible to certain forms of discrimination and stigma and have witnessed this myself in our society and in other societies. Being able to take part in such an initiative means that I can do my best to try and bridge the generational gap experienced between the two generations and understand that the first step to defeating social inequalities is by taking the effort to communicate and connect with those of different backgrounds.

 

NYAA 3 Month Reflection – Healthy Living (November to January)

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The last 3 months have been spent in the gym doing some weight training workouts while also continuing my running regimen. Under Coach Sul, who supervises me at the gym, I have been able to direct my workouts to a standard required of those undertaking National Service and have attempted to condition my fitness in the most appropriate way possible for this as well. Furthermore, the improvements that I have made this month have really helped with progress I have made in my runs, for example. I was able to complete a 10km run, while also hitting a personal best on a 5km run. I feel like some of the effects of training in the gym have allowed me to maintain a consistent exercise schedule and find inspiration in setting goals for myself that I really strive to achieve with hard work and dedication, something that the course of this award and the healthy living component have really cemented in me.

CAS Project – Project Week Summary Reflection

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Investigation

The investigation process consisted of us doing a ton of research on the location that we would want to go to. We also had to decide the manner in which we wanted to layer our trip, deciding to have an equal balance between fulfilling a service component and an activity component on our trip. We originally thought about a whitewater rafting trip to Nepal, but that proposal got rejected. We then shifted focus to SE Asia, where we found that a good decision would lie between Lombok or Rawa Island. We finally ended up deciding to go to Rawa Island after doing research and finding out that our activity component could encompass the service component as well in a diving trip.

Preparation

The next step for us was to actually start preparing our experiences. We did this by calling one of the representatives of OrcaNation, which was the organisation that we were going to be working with in staying at their dive centre and helping with some conservation efforts too. Their representative came to our school and we signed some waiver forms before we had a discussion about the manner in which we wanted to plan our trip as well as how we wanted to incorporate the elements of service and activity in our weeklong expedition. We were also able to sign up for some diving lessons in a local pool that were required in the wake of travelling to the location, and also do some research and booking a bus to the ferry terminal in Malaysia from which we needed to board the boat to the island. Overall, this part of the process was heavily based on logistical planning and we were able to keep on top of things, for the most part.

Action

Unfortunately, we could not undertake the action part of our project week trip… due to the COVID pandemic, we were not able to go through with our plans.

Reflection

Although we were not able to go through with the action part of our trip, we were able to have plenty of opportunities to reflect on the process of planning. I think that we all understood the importance of independence and organisation in the process leading up to the action part of the project, because it was paramount that we all understood how to collaborate effectively. Since I am also undertaking the NYAA award, I found that there was ample opportunity for me to reflect on the planning process, and I was able to document the first half of the process that we undertook, such as meeting with our teacher supervisor as well as the diving centre representative. Being able to continuously log evidence for our planning stages made me understand the importance of self organisation as well as collaboration and responsibility sharing, in that we each had an equal role to play in planning this experience and making sure it would be a cohesively enriching experience.

Demonstration

The demonstration, or being able to show the lessons that we have learned from this experience, really shone through in the rest of the academic year I felt. I think that being able to understand the importance of self management, independence and collaboration really showed me why something like the ATL skills are important to the IB course. I feel that I was able to implement these ideas of teamwork and self organisation into the projects and group discussions that we had to do during the rest of the school year. Although we could not go on our project week expedition, I definitely think that the independence I had to show in helping to plan this trip as well as the collaboration skills I needed to help my teammates in shared responsibilities has been something very transferrable to daily school life as well.

Heart of Darkness (P2)

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  • No one is doing the work of being alive except Marlow and Kurtz
    • brick-maker, pilgrims sitting around and doing nothing
  • The futility of death, and life
    • life is nothing but an attempt for one to learn things about themselves
    • were we really worth enough for us to find excitement in a tangle with death?
  • Kurtz starts out as a man of values, recognises the horror, yet still does bad things?
    • to be a good person, yet do bad things at the same time?
    • a product of his society that blocks out individual desires?
    • chiaroscuro: the coexistence of light and dark
  • Sublime vs Banal
    • Kurtz could not see the flame of the candle but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe
      • he was not afraid to embrace the reality, he understands the horror, he experienced it all, came back and judged for himself, did not fall prey to the lies of civilisation
      • Marlow respects his truth telling at the end of the day
  • Is Marlow a preacher, or is he merely telling his story?
    • He is not forcing this wisdom that he has on anyone
    • It is your decision to choose to see the light
      • Is that wise or weak?
    • The futility of the situation
  • We have been hidden by the true nature of evil because society and civilisation has created enough institutions to hide the truth
    • we have created a world where we have created tenets of society that keep our evil nature at check
    • in the wilderness, there is nothing around us to harness this evil; our true desires, our innate sense of evil comes out in this unrestricted landscape where we are free to take certain actions

There’s a certain Slant of light (320)

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“There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference –
Where the Meanings, are –
None may teach it – Any –
‘Tis the seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air –
When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, ’tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –”
The use of the word “slant” juxtaposed near light, seems to represent some lie, some facade created by the afternoon sunshine of winters. One would usually associate winter with darkness and the lack of light, yet Dickinson has used light in such a way that we feign away from trusting it as we usually would. Its comparison to the ‘Heft of Cathedral Tunes” perhaps shows Dickinson’s feeling of being weighed down upon, with some sense of despair that the light of a winter afternoon causes her just as she feels when hearing the tunes in a church. There is something deceptive about sunshine during winter, because winter in itself represents darkness and a lack of light. It gives us a sense of “Heavenly Hurt” – ironic, because coming from the Heavens, one would connote feelings of joy and purity to this light. Dickinson recognises how it may not take a physical toll on us necessarily, but that where it really matters, inside us, our souls and our minds, is where it takes a toll. It is represented as the arrival of despair, being the “Seal Despair” – it is something that takes over our landscape and has been sent by the conqueror that is the Air, thus its representation as an “imperial affliction”, as though it is somewhere that is does not belong. The landscape and darkness comes together with silence with the arrival of winter, and Dickinson notes how, when it goes, it leaves behind a landscape full of death and gloomy despair. Dickinson has seemingly used vivid imagery to create groups of images; the Cathedral, Slant of light, Heavenly Hurt, Seal Despair all represent ideas of religion, whereas the Winter Afternoons, Air, Landscape, and Shadows represent the natural world. It shows a combination, or a collaboration, rather, of the supernatural world and the real world.

Heart of Darkness (Pg 15)

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This page represents the isolation Marlow feels, in being the only one who has not fallen prey to the idealistic conception of colonialism, and knows it for what it truly is. His “isolation amongst all these men” with whom he felt no common ground, as well as the “uniform sombreness of the coast”, kept him in some sort of facade, almost wanting to drive him mad. The African coast looking so sombre, yet so inviting, shows the uncertainty and enigma around the journey that is faced by Marlow. Marlow seems to represent the idea that the advent of colonialism is something that is inviting when you are apart from it, but it is something cruel and horrific in nature once you become a part of it. The uniformity of the men on his ship, as accompanied by the way in which the coast looks, communicates a sense of normality that is far from the truth of colonialism, as Marlow discovers in the succeeding pages when he reaches his destination. Marlow recognises the sound of the waves as something that “had reason, had a meaning”; he understands why the waves make those noises, and that there is a reason for that. This is juxtaposed against the sombreness of the coast, to show the uncertainty and preoccupations facing his journey to the African coast.

When Marlow sees the African men rowing the boat down the coast, he does something rather surprising and out of character for him, in that he humanises them as a comparison to the men he is on the boat with. His crew mates lack uniqueness in that they are all motivated by a single desire; that of greed, masked by the lies of civility, and this has dehumanised them to the point of generalisation where Marlow uses his disconnection with them to represent his disconnection from the rest of society. While his description of the men holds racist connotations, such as their “grotesque masks”, he notices their “wild vitality” and “an intense energy of movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast”. Their presence, just like the waves in the ocean, can be explained with reason; simply because this is where they are from, and this is their home. It is once again used to show how unnatural the white men venturing into this foreign territory seems; unlike the African men on the boat, there is nothing about them to signify a sense of purpose about their African ventures.

Marlow and these men have come to Africa to know the unknown, but Africa resist being known. The man-of-war that fires into absolute nothingness shows Africa’s resistance at being known, and drives those who try absolutely crazy. Marlow makes note of the “incomprehensible” nature of the ship firing into a continent, after which “nothing could happen”. He sees this as a “touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight”. Likewise, one of the men of his ship attempt to assure him that there are in fact native “enemies” hiding out in the woods somewhere, trying to justify the man-of-war’s actions. It once again shows the illusion created by the Westerners themselves; they believe the black man is their enemy, when in fact the desires created by their own greed that ultimately drive them insane are their true enemies. It shows a unity of civilisation, in the sense that Marlow is a part of this civilisation who are all so insanely misdirected in their representation of the Africans as enemies. They fail to see that the horrors of colonialism are caused by themselves, and the inability for the white man to see this, regardless of whether he is French or British, shows a common sentiment being echoed by Marlow; the idea that the true desires of colonial practices are hidden by the illusion of fighting the enemies of civilisation.