Today's going to be on the second day itself. Anyways, have decided to just do one posting for each day, so as not to bore people who dislike reading stuff more than 8,000 words long in one shot. So, there you have it, the second day of the trip:
2. Day Two
Early in the morning the next day, I felt surprised that, although it was only 5.45, the sun was already out! I soon figured that though Singapore and the Philippines share the same time zone, the time which the sun rises and sets are different! The sun rises early, and sets early in the Philippines.
After breakfast, we visited Malaunay Elementary School. We were presented with a warm welcome ceremony shortly after arrival. After Joey led everyone in the warm up, the group of 80 children was broken down into eight groups of 10, each group accompanied by two facilitators from the team. Soon, we were underway with our games planned for the children.
We were led to a classroom for lunch before we carried on interacting with the children through singing and dancing with them, talking to them and playing games like volleyball and soccer. The day at the school ended in torrential rain, and we had to return to the centre to prepare for the next activity in line for us that day.
During the facilitation of the station for Scissors Paper Stone, one of the four game stations, I realized that although the children wanted to have fun, they were rough as well. It was the same for the Captain’s Ball station. Although it made us facilitators and station masters worry for the safety of the children, the children took things in their stride. Even when a child fell and hurt himself during the game, he just took it lightly, and went on with the game. Back home in Singapore, one would expect the child to break down in tears upon falling, whether or not he was injured. During the lunch break, while some of us stayed behind for a game of Captain’s Ball, the children joined in as well! We also had a hard time keeping up with their pace when we ran with them. It wasn’t very surprising to see them being very physically fit as well, for there were numerous steep slopes that led up to the school. That’s nothing to the people who live on the hill, the students and teachers who go to school on foot daily. Wow.
What touched most of us, was when the buses we were on left the school, there were children running after our buses, as though they wanted to continue the day of fun with us and did not want us to leave so soon. It was a painful, yet memorable experience.
At 4pm that afternoon, we visited the urban city area of Dumaguete City. The pace of life there is very fast, with much life and vibrancy, compared to the neighbourhood where the centre was located, where things were very laid back, and where there was lots of peace and quiet. For a short moment, it felt as though I was at Singapore’s Orchard Road. We went shopping and exploring the area for about an hour. It was 6pm when we had our dinner at a Chinese fast food restaurant. Although the food did not taste like the original from Singapore, I felt back at home just by looking at the menu.
Anyway, today was a rather short day. Had the best sleep since the second night spent at the centre. No dreams, which were a good thing, but at the same time, ito me, it's a signal that something bad might happen the next day. Today, woke up after 11 hours of sleeping at 1pm. Went for brunch, and stared at the computer screen for practically the rest of the day. A day of relaxation after finishing the first part of the module the night before at 11.28pm, approximately 31 minutes before the deadline. Hopefully I would not annoy anyone when I say that, I completed everything without final checks at 3pm, at the new cineplex near Bugis with Joel and Gerald. We had wanted to go to the National Library, firstly to experience the G force of the lifts followed by intensive study. The moment we entered, the female guard asked us why were we at the library. Ironic, for people obviously went to the library for educational purposes. The library's closed on public holidays. So, I'm back to enjoying a day of holiday with nothing in mind, only pure relaxation. Did nothing, except doing random stuff and gaming. Of course, I got bored halfway. Great thing it's almost a new day, and it will soon be time to restart my engines after letting them run for 40 hours since Thursday morning without rest. Tomorrow, it's going to be more research and compilation, though not as intense as what was done over the past week. So, that would mean more opportunities to make detours while heading to the destination in mind.
I'm so looking forward to the next day, for without much to do, I'm as good as an aimless wonderer.
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