Fourteen days; ChiangMai; OCSP 2014.

Being half slothful and half addicted to anime, I've been procrastinating in producing my reflection on the two weeks long overseas service learning. And also because so much had happened that it's hard to compress everything into a clean and neat post. Though to be very frank I would like to confess that I did not find this trip as life-impacting as I thought it would be on me, and that I felt I wasn't much of a help to them. Yes the kids had fun and they cried when we left, it was all heart-wrenching to see their tears, but something seems to be missing in this picture.

Part I - Education.

Ok uhm education, huge challenge due to communication barrier, my thai knowledge during the first week was beyond pathetic. And also that I din't feel teaching was a new exposure for me since I've been giving quite a number of tuitions back in Singapore. What's more the thought that I was teaching a group of thai kids english when we have no idea what each other is saying could be disheartening at times. And during the trip I figured that I can't get very well with younger kids, while some were swinging the kids around taking selfies together, I prefer to fade away in a corner and be the camera woman instead. Hence self-discovery from education: If I were to become a teacher, I will be teaching in secondary level at least.

And also that I didn't feel as attached to these students on the last day like the rest, though I appreciated a lot from this sweet looking grade 5 girl with the name of Yiwa who made me hearts almost everyday and gave me biscuits and a heart keychain on the last day. Made me felt a little special and also a bit of guilty that I could have probably give a lot more in teaching. Working with different people on days made me understand them better and see both sides of a person. Though at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure I won't be closely knitted with quite a number of them. It was a whole different feeling from being part of np back in the secondary school days. Bonds getting harder to form as we grow older isn't it? 

Part II - Construction. 

Construction on the whole was a total of trying-my-best-to-make-my-presence-useful and let-me-do-so-I-can-burn-calories-Yay. We assisted the villagers in Lamphun to build a pretty basic training centre. Our job scope was simple and clear since we weren't trained construction workers, spent most of our time mixing cements from scratch, 20buckets of sand 20 buckets of gravels 1 bag of cement powder and water, and all need left is arm power to stir the mixture together, now that was something new, things that I'm likely to not do in Singapore. 

Part III - Homestay. 

I was 'allocated' to stay with our Ocsp Chairwoman, blessing in disguise upon knowing that we were on the complete far off opposite side from most of the others. Our host mum's house was in the middle of a huge garden with self-sustaining thai herbs, jackfruits, mangoes and many more, I was overjoyed on the first day for to be honest, I excepted more rundown make-shift shelters kind of households. The house in the garden was a dream house for me except what I did not prepare for was the swamps of flies on the night that it rained, the scene was stunning I have never seen so much flies all at once in my life and eventually we dined in the darkness with multiple flies floating on our dishes and soup. Now that's a pain from staying within a garden. I was also fortunate enough to pop by every host families after school just to tag after our Chairwomen and probably seen much more than the rest. Nights spent in Lamphun were splendid, we popped by people's house for birthday party, we went their Pasar Malam style Wed night market, we cooked Mee hoon kweh for our host mum, we visited Tian's last year host family, we had friendship night on the last night whereby we flew the 孔明灯 under the starry starry sky. The sky was clear and it was the first time I've seen so much stars, someday I will lie under that pretty sky for a night and never get sick looking at it.  Thankful enough that our host mum is a handicraft teacher in the school, she dolled us up for friendship night, pretty Northern thai traditional dress, but holy, I was stuffing under the thick dress, rolling around taking photos that night. 

Everyone there seems hospitable and friendly, which some brought up that they felt warmth there like never before in Singapore. Despite knowing that we Singaporeans could be like motionless zombies on the street staring only at their electronic devices, I believe that if we were to be hosting, we will definitely not lose out neither. Many times people are just too self-protective to be kind to others, or at least that's what I think. Kekeke. The only regret I had for the trip was that I wish I spoke better thai, good enough for a decent conversation with our host mum, to let her know how grateful we are for everything she cooked and did for us throughout our homestay. 

Part IV - Personal attachments. 

Second oversea trip with Hazel Tan, and the trip would not have been as interesting without you. :') Guess that's the closest friend I had apart from being with Tan, someone that I'm comfortable to be with and laugh loudly together with throughout the trip. Thankful for this trip that again, brought us together and if possible, I would try to pop over if I could next sem. I don't know if is my own poor time management or that it's really hard to maintain friendships in Uni. I did met a few really nice people to talk with but sparing time out, making an effort to find them personally has always been a challenge for me. But again I'm really contented with the few I have close to my heart. 

Last but never the least, got to know Tan better through the trip, and sometimes I wonder if that's actually the most practical part of the trip considering that most likely I won't be in close contact with the rest let's say in 5 years time. And this trip has altered, or rather presented a different side of Tan that's unseen of. Not to the jaw-dropping extent of seeing him hugging and swinging with the children, but surprised enough to see him acting stupid with his dramatic body movements while teaching the upper grades Facial expressions, considering that I always felt that Tan was someone that's rather image-conscious and social-conscious. ;O It was fourteen meaningful days together and I enjoyed the elephant ride so much teehehe, the three second ride in Singapore zoo was nothing compared to what we had in Chiangmai, though I talked to a volunteer from the states at the elephant farm and she was quite reluctant to review how the elephant were trained, probably things that she don't want to be reminded of and on the other hand, somethings are better left unsaid. Ohwell, humans are cruel the way they are. It's a world only for the strongest amongst all.  

On a side note popping by a Agogo bar was something new, in life there are much more things to experience, things unheard unseen unknown of. Thailand is full of wonder and lust, currently top on my most interesting South east asia list, not that I have been many in the first place. Ladyboys and Pingpong girls, till we meet again. :') 

To end off, Ocsp was a good experience, albeit not something I will devote my time for again. For I think should I really have the heart to help, to give back to the society, let's start from helping people around us, before we even extend our help to people far out there.