Today marks the last day of the module 1TDPS, and I will have 1 less module to deal with this semester, meaning 1 day of holidays (might be able to clear my driving course on Tuesdays) after the June holidays. The presentation went very well, though therewere a couple of hiccups along the way, but not as bad as I have expected. That, was the first time I took part in a presentation that lasted for an hour, in formal attire. Ok, that adds on to the list of "firsts" which I told everyone in the room during the reflections section. Went for lunch, before going to West Mall with Joel and Joey by cab. Met Ronney, went to Subway, before I left in a hurry fr the drivng centre. Started the Basic Evaluation Test 5 minutes late, but I finished it in 5 minutes. Checked the test till there was 15minutes left and decided that I was getting bored looking through the same questions for over 20 times. Submitted, found out I had 91%, which meant a pass, and left for West Mall. This time, I went on foot. Call me crazy, but today's walk was nothing compared to the near 6-hour hike I had on 1st January. Met up with the same group at 5.30pm, and this time, Xing Dan and Tricia were with them. Went to slack till 6pm before heading home. Anyway, let's get on with the sixth day of the trip, which also meant the last day of service to the kids at Candau-ay Elementary School, and the closing of a new chapter.
We have come to the sixth day of the trip, and sadly, another new chapter in our lives was about to come to a close. That morning, myself, together with a few others, decided we would walk to the school. As usual, Joey led everyone in the warm up, and we played some games. We then went on with our reflection session with the students, before they were released for a break. I went with Ivan and Mierco to the roadside stall to pay for their food and drinks. I felt that, it was the least I could do before I bid them farewell. After returning to the classroom with them, John brought us guys to take a look at the progress of the dirty kitchen. It was nearly complete!
Finally, it was time to bid the children farewell. It was painful to even think of doing so at first, but nonetheless, we had to say goodbye sooner or later. I was reluctant to leave the school. I very much wanted to stay behind with them as well. However, we had other plans. We could not afford to waste anymore time. There were other children who needed our company, even if it was going to be just an hour or a day spent with them. I made a promise to Dellwen, Mierco and Ivan, that I would see them again in future, whether is it going to be soon or somewhere in the future.
Shortly after lunch, there was a change in leaders for the afternoon. Samuel was going to take charge of our brainstorming session with the staff and principal of Malaunay Elementary School. Once there, we went straight to the principal’s office, and we began with the meeting.
As there was still some time left before the closing ceremony after we returned, we decided to head back to the river for another small adventure, except that this time, we would head downstream. I learnt the songs we would be using for our closing ceremony as we went on, to make full use of the time and peace. We passed houses along the way, and we came across a retired teacher and his neighbours who were at the backyard of their homes. They were really hospitable people, and they never hesitated to welcome us! What I least expected was, the teacher actually apologized to us that he was not prepared to provide anything for us, which he would have done if he knew we were coming! When we were about to leave, he said that we were free to go as far as we wanted, and cautioned us to be careful, for the rocks there were hard and sharp, and the area was badly damaged by a recent flood. With that, he thanked us once again for visiting, wished us a pleasant journey, and hoped that we could return in future to Dumaguete. Unfortunately, we preceded only a little further, before a large obstacle blocked our path. Yet another part of the restraining wall of the river had collapsed, destroying our hopes of venturing further. We turned to look at the river, however, there were insufficient rocks for us to use as stepping stones. As we did not have enough time to go further, we started taking photographs, before heading back to the centre to make our final preparations for the closing ceremony.
That night, we had yet another different style of dinner. We were having a restaurant style dinner, and were served by waiters, though it was still a buffet dinner. That night, was the night of the nights I spent at Dumaguete. The team leaders and teachers gave their addresses, Mr Chan as well, and we also performed two songs for the educational representatives, as well as the teachers and principals from the two elementary schools which we visited during the course of our trip. Later that night, we went over to Mr Saceda’s residence once again, for a sing-along session. It was the longest and the best session we had.
Out of fear I might not be able to wake up the next morning, I decided to stay up the whole night. I went star gazing, spotting a shooting star. The stars in the night sky were something that could not be seen in Singapore. That was something I would miss once we left in the morning.
Tomrrow's post would cover our return journey back. Anyways, tomorrow is the first day of the holidays for me, and it happens that it's also the only day I would be bored. The only thing I want to do badly is wake at 5.50am, and go for a jog between 6.15 and 6.45, before continuing with games and stuff, napping from 3 to 7, before having lunch, and sleeping the night from 12.30am to 12pm the next day, just for tomorrow. Friday and Saturday would leave me awake for at least 36 hours, with 2 barbeques on 2 consecutive days. Sunday, I'll have to give my room a major facelift. The current situation is so bad that you might want to consider taking up life insurance bfore entering. Just joking. The room seems as though the place was the aftermath of a magitude 6 earthquake.
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