Bhutan Culturama

Culturama is very exciting as always I mean! However, this year, there is something even more special because the 3rd year I am doing culturama, but the first time I am representing another cultural dance from another country than Cambodia! I mean last, and last years, I don’t really find it challenging because I was doing my own traditional dances which I already know before. However, this year, I really feel the difference and similarities of the diversities of UWC traditions and cultures. So, this was very thrilling!

Currently, I am really enjoying my culturama team in general. Because we are such a small group consists of only of 9 people, we really do get to know and close to each other better. The environment was just very healthy and positive. Just like Bhutan, the country, our team rather focus on the gross national happiness rather than any other factors! 🙂

Since we are all very close, sometimes we are not very focused in learning the dance and kind of getting lazy a bit for a while. This is not too good, because the performance is in a few weeks time and we are representing the face of the whole school. Hence, we better give and perform our best. Therefore, I think what I need to focus right now is to remind others and myself to balance out when to joke around and when to be serious and learning the dance as well as collaborating ideas as to how to improve the dance to its best perfection!

You can get a preview clip as to how our dance would look like in a clip below!
Enjoy and please come support us in Culturama~ !!!

Posted in CAS

Sundac Service

Sundac is a local service that our school has collaborated together so that we can interact and help in away with their clients who are with intellectual disability. It’s to some extent a very new experience for me. Because, I have been in this similar kind of service before, I used to work with people with Alzheimer’s, or intellectual disability or elderlies…etc where you are in a situation where both partners don’t know each other and don’t speak the same language and you have to find other ways to communicate.

However, what’s new to me is that instead of us going to their place and do the service after school about 30 minutes, they come to our school instead and do the service for almost 1 and a half hours. We actually sat down and ate lunch with them and moved on to activities that we do in the plaza. Of course, in an unusual place with strange people who you don’t know before must be really overwhelming for them and would obviously make them kinda scared and not really open to you. For example, in one activity, when we have to stand in a circle and hold someone’s hand, I asked one of the client whether he wants to hold my hand. However, he rejects me! I was pretty sad actually, however I just maintained my smile and continue the activities smoothly.

Later on in the activity, some of the clients actually came to me and ask me to hold their hands which is very nice! So, what I learn is that sometimes your good intentions might not able to get through. And you can do nothing about it, you don’t have to pout or stress about it. You just have to be you and continue to do good, and eventually they will open themselves up and accept you.

I think one magic moment is when one of the client speaking in Chinese and I actually understand what she was saying. Then, we just had a conversation together and it was beautiful. I think she suddenly feels more closer to me and vice versa even though it was not a very deep or complicated but just a very simply basic conversation.

One interesting thing as well after we’ve conducted this service twice is that although we all do the activities out in the open during lunch time where a lot of our friends were passing by, I felt like I didn’t see them at all. All we do were just staying happy in the moment and be with the clients, which is really nice!

After all, I think the service is going good so far, we’ve had couple successful sessions with the clients where all of us are seen to be laughing happily while also helping them with their motor skills. What I want to focus on next time though is to become even more close and comfortable with them more like by knowing all of their names, and not afraid to hold their hands and talk with them even more.

Below are just some of the photos and videos that is taken during our activity sessions with them!

English First FOA

Hello there! As far as I know, I’ve always been in English B (3 years). So for all this time, I always feel that my English is not as good as others, and I kind of accept that, too. I just admire anybody who uses such big words. I look at them in awe. Still now, I have so much appreciations to those who takes English HL Lit, because I just never imagine myself doing it.

Well, anyway, this year, the first IB year, I am in English A. To be honest, I was really scared in the end of last year when choosing the subject and the beginning of this year. I am afraid that I am not good enough. And you know, confidence is a real big factor for you to succeed sometimes. However, as I started couple of the classes, I gained confidence, I started to joke around which makes myself comfortable, which allows me to collaborate with the class quite well. It’s like a chain of reaction. And not to mention my English teacher, she’s really helpful. I am very glad I am in her class. I think she’s going to save my next 2 years in English.

So now, we get to the main idea of this post. I just had my first FOA ( Further Oral Assessment ). And I have to say I feel so good about it! I mean if there is one thing that I am confident in in English is presentation, debating or just any kind of public speaking. I just love it! I almost feel like I can control every situations and emotions in split seconds with just my speaking and body language! I mean I used to have my bad ones too. But you know, the main point of this post is that I feel satisfied with my first English FOA! And I hope that this would lead to even better results in the future.

Overall, I would love to improve in general as public speaker and as a writer. By the way, this is the link to my presentation (just for the evidence: too bad I didn’t record it)! Colloquial Singaporean English

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