Its been two years since I started to do karate! Looking back, I definitely grew more confident and more skilful in every training. This December 9th, I participated in the yellow black belt to green belt grading, which is definitely the hardest one that I have encountered so far. However, due to my diligent practice before the grading, I passed with a high mark. I am soon going to be a green belt!
I practised calligraphy and Chinese ink drawing since the age of 4 to somewhat 10 years old. Also, calligraphy classes were compulsory in my previous Chinese school. So this activity is essentially a way to connect to my past and my roots. Although the materials used are different from before (before I used better ink and has a serious setup that looks like this: 
but now I’m writing with water on reusable scripts. )
I practised mainly the style of “kaishu”, which is the common font used in everyday life for the Chinese. It is also the entry level style of practice. At first, during the practices, I thought it would be very boring because this is nothing like my practices before. However, when I started to write, I actually felt at peace and mindful. My stressful thoughts of University and assessment disappeared momentarily. That is the moment when I thought I understood why the ancients once said that calligraphy both trains the mind and the heart. Although some strokes are extremely hard to write, I didn’t give up practising.
After this experience, I actually considered picking up calligraphy again by training with a master when I graduate.
Yesterday was my last session for the service. Looking back, I feel that this service has become an essential part of my grade 11 experience. I have learnt how to interact with many different types of people, rediscover the happiness when we play games from my childhood together, and most importantly, get joy from the smiles on their faces. I have also brought in different materials for activities such stamps and colourful paper to provide our clients with different options. As the year progresses, the individual clients have also grown more familiar to us. Thus we have also developed our session plans based on their needs and preferences. The dancing activity is a real success as it engages our clients better than usual. The more I get to know the clients, the more I appreciated their friendliness and innocence. However, we should also treat them with respect as they are also individuals with dignity, just like us. Throughout this activity, I have developed respect, session planning skills and also communication. These are important skills that I could utilise in my daily lives. I am really glad that I took up this service and I will miss my clients greatly.
I am still working towards the goal of achieving an ARSM diploma, however, it is delayed due to the intensity of the school work and other circumstances. I haven’t had much time for practice nowadays, however everytime I tried to improve upon the weaker parts of the piece, or improve on certain smaller techniques.
After half term, I have gained a much more thorough understanding of my job and is more able to facilitate the communication between the three parties involved in this GC.
We have been through our major event of the year, which is the Chinese New Year GC event. It was a test of the effectiveness of our leadership team, and after the events, we also reflected on the activities conducted and the merchandise sold at the event, to improve the event for next year. We have also encountered minor problems regarding finance. The service department thought that we were selling Starbucks vouchers, which is unethical and directly making the profit although it is for an NGO. It is proven to be a misunderstanding between the two as we used the Starbucks vouchers as prices for a chopstick marble game for the participants. However, I and the co-chair solved this problem in collaboration with the service department, and they also have given us advise on how we could improve our presentation of the GC goals at events.
I think my CAS experience links to the Learning Outcome 4, as I am able to show perseverance and commitment this CAS activity, and also LO7 because we are also considering the actions of our choices and actions on both sides while helping the others. It also links to LO2 because I am able to develop better communications skills in the process.
Here is an example of our meeting notes:
I have completed several smaller paintings since the last reflection, and my teacher suggested that we can move onto bigger scaled paintings as this will challenge my composition skills and it will also allow me to demonstrate the details in the painting.
In this painting, I plan to use mixed media, such as pencil, acrylic and oil painting. I have just planned out my composition and laid out my entire canvas. The canvas will approximately be 1.2 meters.
This experience links to LO3, 4 as I am initiating a new CAS experience while extending it from the older ones that I have done before, and it also links to LO2 because I am challenging my self by moving on to produce art pieces on a bigger canvas.
I hope that I will be able to meet more of the criteria for Learning Outcome 4 as I feel that I haven’t been demonstrating enough resilience previously, but now I have a few techniques in mind to maintain my commitment and to improve my performance on the pieces. In my next CAS reflection, I hope that there will be improvements both in terms of mentality when I face the tasks and my performing skills.