BUSY STREETS//

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welcome

yo, world!

the hustle and the bustle,
between me and the city,
destitute of refuge
a turn to return.

post #95: OEP

Monday, January 22, 2007

this is written really formal cause this is supposed to be a report submitted to my teacher. haha.

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OEP Report

By: Joel Yap (2.2)

The Overseas Education Programme at Malacca had been a huge success. On the 13^th of January, 6 buses set off for a long ride on the bus. We preceded to the customs at the checkpoint, before heading towards our first stop, Muar Agro-tourism Park, which had been a really muddy experience.

There were four activities lined up for us – kayaking, crossing the river, raft building and the obstacle course. The crossing river activity had been one which would build you confidence because we were made to cross a river by crossing with a rope. We had to try to balance well, control our nerves and excitement before we actually managed to cross the river. It took me two times before I calmed my nerves and was able to cross the river. Some people who were good at balancing just needed one time to cross the river.

The next activity had been the raft building. This really tested our team-building and co-operation skills. If we lacked communication, this would clearly been seen in the faults in our raft, and this could even lead to miscommunication. Fortunately in our group, we had kind of good communication skills so our odds of failing will be slimmer. We managed to co-operate and also bond well as a group, this really helped us a lot in this activity. It somewhat gave us the advantage as some of the other teams were arguing with each other. After building our raft, the next step was to test it out, to make sure that it could actually work and move around. It was quite fun transporting people into the raft, the middle-sized people had to go in first before the smaller people, and the bigger-sized people after, followed by the middle-sized people again. This was to ensure the raft would be balanced, and would not sink. Although my group did not win this activity, I did enjoy myself and it had been such a learning experience.

Unfortunately, due to too much time spent at the other stations, we did not manage to kayak in the end. Most of us were rather disappointed as we were looking forward to kayaking. While we were having our break, a un-ACSian-like incident happened. Some students were playing a fool with their food, an unsightly experience. The students took an uneaten apple that they did not want and just threw it on the ground. This is really unethical. They should have thought about the children suffering in Cambodia, and recently Malaysia-those children that were caught in the flood, not alone just do not have food and shelter, but some even lost their loved ones and come to think of it, they still do such a thing.

After the wonderful time spent at Muar Agro-tourism Park, we finally arrived at our hotel, Jalan Puteri Resort. I did not have too high hopes of our hotel but to my surprise, it was actually quite a comfortable and beautiful resort. It was pretty quiet and serene for a hotel in Malacca. I thought more people would have been there, but other than ourselves the hotel had quite few outsiders. My roommate and I shared a room which boasted mouth-watering scenery. I definitely enjoyed my room and the company of my friend in the room. It had been a pleasant experience staying there.

The second day had been more sight-seeing and somewhat less action. It had been quite interesting as there were quite a number of learning points and opportunities. My favourite museum was the one at the A’Famosa. There was much knowledge in there for us to discover. There were some interesting stories told by the tour guide and she also said some of the palaces, other than a place where the royalty stay, it was used as a place to settle lawsuits. It kind of ensured the daily running of the city.

The highlight of the day was the Batik Art Affair. It was a very fun and it was such a learning experience. It was very fun doing the hands-on part but it was also interesting to learn about the history-how it came about, the real process on how they do the waxing and things like that. I think I enjoyed the hands-on part the best. It was an experience that I could bring back home. I think my artwork was very simple but I liked the fusion. It had been really fascinating. We would use the paintbrush to paint on the cloth and wax. I really enjoyed this experience. If I had a chance to do this again, I would gladly take up the opportunity.

Towards nightfall, we proceeded towards Joker Street – one bustling, noisy and lively street. We set off into our groups and started walking around the street. Our group decided to have some local Malacca Chendol. It had been really flavoursome. It was best eaten when it was cold, just before the ice starts to melt. I tell you it was yummy! After the scrumptious treat, we chose to start walking around the place. We were briefed before that it was quite dangerous to flash your money and belongings around so we took extra caution taking care of our money. There was paraphernalia of objects, ranging from clothes to stickers. The things there were really cheap and reasonable. Although most of us just bought things for ourselves, the main purpose of this outing was to actually scout for object to be brought back to Singapore for our very own Charity Bazaar.

The third day had been quite a humbling one. We started the day of with a ‘Malacca Heritage Trail Treasure Hunt’. It was quite exciting and fun. I thought it would have been much more fun but it was just looking for information. The first few stops had been quite exciting but towards the end of the hunt, it seemed to get more boring. People seemed to be losing interest, some people were starting to skive, and we were not working as a team. This probably caused our downfall. This was the most probable reason that we lost. We could have done better if we worked together and co-operated. Despite failing, I did enjoy myself quite well.

The lunch was not really good. People did not really enjoy the meal, and I was no exception either. I felt that the food could be better and tastier. It was probably the middle of our trip and we miss our home cooked food, got a little sick of eating the same thing repeatedly.

After lunch we began on our CIP hours at the Salvation Army home. It had been a very humbling experience. There were different activities we were assigned to: washing cars, sweeping the grass, getting to know the children in the home, spending time with them etc. I was assigned to wash the vans. We were told that we were supposed to wash around 8 vans but in the end, we just washed around 4 vans. I guess for the first time washing a van, I think I did a decent job. It was quite fun and yet again, a learning experience.

Towards the end of the day, we were at the Tesco Departmental Store. It had been quite interesting as it had been our first time shopping in Malacca. Unfortunately, the shopping variety was very small and then we did not manage to shop much over there. There had been one huge departmental store and a few stores here and there.

The following day, the 4^th day was an exciting day. There was some talk on food, some shopping and a long-awaited cooking competition – one where cooking potential will be realised. Hence, we started the day of with the talk on food by some guy named Mr Kenny. He was dressed up in some female traditional costume, as I think he was involved in some TV show which required him to where the costume. He told us a bit on his Peranakan culture, the history and also a bit of cooking tips. He told us about the language as well, which was a mix of Malay, Hokkien and Chinese, so in one sentence you would hear different languages, but all of it would add up to Peranakan. He also shared with us on how you make a dish – the ingredients, the preparation, the method etc. We even managed to sample his food – It had been really mouth-savouring. It was quite interesting to hear him speak about it. For once, I actually listened and enjoyed the speech.

We then proceeded to the Makota Shopping centre in our little groups and started moving around. We had lunch at MacDonald’s before strolling around in our groups. It was really good time to bond and build our friendships and camaraderie. The variety of shops there had been a lot better than the other shopping centre that we went to the previous day. We just walked around, maybe buy a thing or two and then shop for our ingredients that were needed for the cooking competition. We had kind of a miscommunication in our team, something that destroyed the whole team due to some people who were not in the team but wanted to help out. This person really pissed the team off, it infuriated us, as we thought: Why does this person want to help out when he is not in our team? Who does he think he is? When did he become part of the team? This really made most of our team mad. This caused our team’s unity. We then became so disunited, not together, not working as one, working as individual people, alone.

This lasted until the cooking competition itself. Everybody just did not seem bothered, 1 hour into the competition; we still did not start cooking. The preparations took up most of our time. It was so horrible, everybody was arguing. As a team leader, I was supposed to break up their fighting, or war or words, but I just did not do anything. The arguments were getting louder and louder, until our Class Teacher took over. She just told the whole team to shut up. It was too noisy. She had to break up the “fight”. From then onwards, we just started working together, finally. We paid more attention, showed more commitment and focus. We showed that we actually care about the competition, not just sitting down sulking. We managed to whip up a dish which was amazingly quite good. It looked quite appetising. I kind of enjoyed the food. It originally looked like it would fail but I thought actually, we might stand a chance winning. Anyway, we were 2 men down because the both of them were ill. Even though we had the shortage of man power, I think we did a reasonably good job, I am actually quite proud of my team, we managed to come together, despite our differences, to co-operate, be united.

I was supposed to represent my team in the talk. One team member from each team was made to give a 1 minute speech about the food you have prepared, and talk about the fusion, why this dish is considered a fusion, how the dish is made, how it was prepared, and things like that. I was very nervous during my speech. It was totally impromptu, I did not know what to talk about so I just spoke what I felt was right to say. I mentioned a lot on resemblance, like the presentation (the prawns were actually in a circle surrounding the inside). I said about how the circle would be like representing unity, as one group, as one class, as one school, working together towards one goal, one ambition as in the school anthem, it is mentioned that ‘our hearts, our hopes, our aims are one’. I mentioned things like that in my speech, although trembling at most parts; I still think I did quite an okay job, rather mediocre though. At that point of time, I imagined us standing on the stage in school going up the stage receiving the prize from Dr Ong, shaking his hand.

On the final day of our OEP, I was kind of happy and excited, but sad in a way. We are like going to have to part ways, and it would not be so much bonding after all, quite saddening, but from another point of view, it is like almost over, I can finally go home, spend time with my family and friends, and celebrate my birthday (which is 1 day after OEP ends). It was quite a fun time throughout the four days that I was there. On the final day, other than travelling back, we had a fieldtrip to D-Paradise, our last outing at OEP.

D-Paradise is a place of nature, where there are lots of animals – mostly birds, plants too – I remembered there was some cactus garden, and that there was also a pond when there were a number of water lilies. I recalled that there were many things to do there, and there was a show there too. In the beginning, there was a place for us to test some freshly grown fruits. The food tastes really good. Not only is it tasty, but there was a great variety of fruits. It was very juicy and savoury. It was one of the best fruits I had tasted in my life. There were papayas, rambutans and many other fruits. I like the papayas the most! It tasted really good. After that, we ventured around the Village. It had really beautiful sceneries. We had visited and viewed many animals there, such as giraffes, ostriches and many other animals. Midway, we went to watch a show there. It had been rather fascinating and it made me absorbed in the show. There were these performers on stage doing different dances. They danced around shirtless, wearing some costumes. It was quite interesting to watch the same people do different dances, to see how fast they actually change out of their costumes. At the end of the performance, all of us were invited to join them on stage and to dance with them. It was quite funny to actually see our ACS boys dancing, as clearly it was a rare sight. I tried dancing along too; it is quite funny when I dance as I cannot really dance well.

After the experience at D-Paradise, we finally headed home towards Singapore. OEP was a really fun-filled time, where we learn a lot and get together as a class to bond together. On top of that, we got to know each other, and this had been a really special time where we would laugh together, cry together, have fun together and suffer together. OEP 2007 at Malacca had been one OEP which I will never forget, one that will stay with me for the rest of my life.