project coast2coast part 2

17 dec 2006 - day 3
woke up at 7ish as usual. breakfast and back to FH for formal lessons. the main part of our project is more on the interaction aspect (not building houses or whatsoever)

main focus of project:
1) healthcare lessons - washing hands, brushing teeth, etc.
2) creative classes - origami, kite-making, colouring
3) murals painting - to decorate the library in their new dormitory.

2nd day at FH. we still have 100 kids with us cos' the darruseleum team ( a muslim grp from spore) hasn't arrive. we started the day with telematches which were a blast. the kids were really enthusiastic and spontaneous. i always wonder where did they get all the energy from.

yet, the most starking thing is that they rem most of our names (or recognise our faces). they greeted us with such enthusiastic waves and warmth that you might(will) not receive in spore. the girls held onto you hands and say how happy they are to see you again. they treat you like one of their own. just a simple smile from you means so much to them. and just a simple smile from them means so much to me.

after the telematches, my group (kavi, me, cher, yh and alvin) took this group of boys for healthcare classes (they are under our care for that day). who will know that the boys will sing and dance with us when we asked them to do so (there were a few that were in their teenagehood where the so-called rebellious stage is).

had creative classes after that. origami folding!!!
i never experienced so many guys surrounding me!!! ahahah!
i was supposed to teach the older boys to fold cranes, boats and balls. haha. i had loads of fun. some were really quick in picking up, some gave up halfway, some volunteered to help their friends, some just accepted the help. overall, i had loads of fun :D

i am pretty impressed with the older guys cos' i always thought that if i were them, i would be so bored of folding cranes over and over again.

lunch at some cafe (high-class one). no more nasi goreng/ mee goreng!! ((:
we had padang for lunch (again!) but it was really nice. there was taps around the cafe for us to wash hands k!

murals class. was quite chaotic. the kids just paint whatever colours they wanted. some turned out fabulous, some were disastrous.
murals ended early so we played MONKEYYYY!!!!! :D
was super hilarious! the kids used the ball and hit the "monkey's" head!

met ira, our team mate from jakarta.
met imar, isnar and freddy too, our interpreters for the day.

went on a disaster-site visit. saw the ship that was brought 5km inland and now, it's too big to be removed. according to the locals, no one knows how many bodies are under that ship. saw a few kids on the ship who went thru tsunami and lost their parents. there was scars on them and they showed us they living squatters. (you would have imagine how bad it is)

next to ulee leue, the most hit area by the tsunami.
too much to be said. too much awe. too much destruction. too much devastation.

had a&w for dinner. a break from too much grief.
A&W! HOW MANY OF YOU MISS A&W? cos' i miss a&w so much!
i saw the first flushable toilet at a&w too! oh! and the first chinese and caucasian family!

back to wisma. debrief and everything :D
washed my own clothes for the first time!

the highlight for the day:
CUT OF ELECTRICITY!
which means there will be a cut on water supply (since the water is generated by generator)

went to sleep in the living room. communal sleeping in the living room!

did i say that the mosquitoes are rampant?
so we burnt mosquito coil, stick mosquito pad on ourselves, spray mosquito repellant but the mosquitoes just won't buzz away. (in fact, it was buzzing around our ears!)

i kept scratching, kept hearing others scratching. woke up, scratched, slept. and this cycle continues until qinying decided to go into the room and slp so i got promoted onto the sofa.

and the 2nd highlight came!
EARTHQUAKE!!!
my sofa started shaking first (i was wondering who was kicking it) then the whole house started shaking. glasses were clanking and everything. then it stopped. had no idea who asked us to evacuate the house to the porch area. then we sit on this giant carpet, with no electricity, no water and A LOT OF MOSQUITO BITES!

but wait, the porch area was better than staying in the living room cos' it was much airy and cooling. so we sat, waited and complained about the no. of bites we have for the night for like 15mins before there's no more tremors and stuff.
and I FINALLY GET TO SLEEP!
the night just can't get any worser.

i've a confession to make, when my sofa was shaking (in fact throughout the whole incident ), the notion of an earthquake didnt strike me until we evacuated the house. i was like "HUH! who's shaking ar!" i never thought of evacuation or anything. haha.

18 dec 2006 - Day 4
woke up after that dramatising night and according to song,
i sleep-talked -_-"

no trip down too FH today. went to leung batar's kindergarten. (the 2nd team built it).
met the LP3I girls. (a computer school in aceh)

interaction with the kids. taught them chicken dance. played a few games and time for them to go home.

lunch with LP3I girls were like a mini cultural exchange. i showed them pictures in my phone of singapore and they tell me more about aceh.

painted fence for the rest of the day for the kindergarten.
KAVI IS SUPER HILARIOUS! :D and the fence turns out NICE! ((:

dinner was packed back. nasi/ mee goreng with ayam again.
but bernard and qinying made nice barley drink for us :D

cher loves mlb too :D

film screening. film on post-tsunami. the adults taught the kids (affected by tsunami) to use the video cam to film their lives. (act as a distraction to their grief)

19dec 2006 - day 5
back to FH! :D the darruseleum team has arrived. the LP3I girls were back!

one grp stayed at home to cook lunch and dinner for us. (we are splitted into 3 grps)

had creative classes first then mural painting.
did sponge painting for creative class! :D i love mine! agung (LP3I guy) drew manga for me!
and i conducted the mural class :D (3 cheers for annie!) was quite slack lah! cos' the darruseleum girl did the translation for me, so i just need to action a bit only.

lunch at home. the cooking team cooked pasta!! :D
it was their (LP3I students) first time eating italian pasta!

some LP31 girls like it, some didn't (agung threw away his after one mouth!)

was late when we went back to FH for the 2nd part of the day. so the darruseleum team took the 100kids. so in the end, we assisted them in their activity.

didn't turn out too badd. was the photographer for the session! :D

had a short introduction session with the darruseleum team!

OH! did i tell u that they got really cute (malay) guys in the team? girls too! :D

dinner was nice. like wedding dinner. ten course meal lah!

hk behaves like some wedding photographer too!

oh. i miss home that night (i wrote it in my diary)

was really tired that night too.

homesick and fatigue make annie a moody girl.

alright. this entry is getting a little long. i can still go on and on.

but shan't bore you all with a lengthy entry.

so stay tune for project c2c part 3 ((:

mungkin nanti
perhaps later