Friday, June 29, 2007

TGIF!

11:57 PM

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Friday, June 22, 2007

CIP second day...

Friday, 22 June, 2007

*Warning: another long post…

Cerebral Palsy Centre

I woke up at 7.45am today. I got on the 8.30 train and made my way to Pasir Ris MRT station. When I arrived, Jovis was already there. We waited for Lee Yan and off we went to take bus 358. This time, we got it right. We alighted at the correct bus stop.

We reached there around 10am. Nadine and Priya weren’t there yet. They were gonna be late so we started without them. We signed in and this time, we were given Volunteer tags.

As told from last week, Mr Raymond was not gonna be there so it was another guy called Mr Don who was ‘guiding’ us the whole day. The 2 Day Activity Centre classes were having their breakfast when we came. Their food this time was Jacobs crackers mixed with Milo or some cereal like drink. I gave food to the same boy I fed last week. His name is Fariz or Fazli. I’m not too sure. Jovis and Lee Yan were feeding the others as well. It’s the same thing again. He gives that ‘mmmmm..’ sound that tells me that he likes the food. And I was like ‘say AAAAA….open your mouth..’. After that, we wheeled them to the DAC classrooms.

At first I was in the other class but then Mr Don asked me to go to Mr Raymond’s class where Jason was. He wanted me to accompany him there. So I said hello to him. He’ll say Hi back. He was playing the same toy again. I think it’s his favourite. I’ll show the picture. Andrew on the other hand was drawing. He drew all of us. Although last week I felt a little comfortable talking to them, this time, it felt like natural. I just stepped in and just talk to those who can talk. To those who can’t, I just smiled or just say Hi. The whole room wasn’t quiet. Some who communicate through making noise just made noise. They’ll start biting their fingers and all that. It’s just them. We can’t do anything.

Not just that, we also helped to hang this doraemon door thingy which apparently, we hanged it onto the ceiling. We did a lot of talking to Andrew today. And we joked around with them. Before we knew it, it was lunch time. We wheeled them to the canteen. I fed Fazli again. He ate rice with pieces of eggs and long beans. The portion was very small though cuz they don’t eat a lot. I did the same thing again…’say AAA..open your mouth..’. Knowing that he’s malay, I spoke to him in malay once in a while. Too bad he just can’t respond. His drink was Marigold Yoghurt drink. I’m trying to be as detailed as possible here. Jovis had a tough time with one of them who won’t want to eat. We then wheeled them back to their classrooms.

Me and Priya waited for Andrew. He was not that strong so he walked very slow. To our surprise, the people there can be mean too! They called him bodoh and some other stuff. We just told him to not listen to those people. Mean huh? Then there was this guy who was using those walkers with wheels. His legs were really boney and thin. He walked a little and fell. We could help him but Mr Don said that he should learn how to get up on his own because if he falls down at home, who’s gonna be there to help him? True.

After lunch was their rest and relax session. Jason got to lie down and sleep. The rest of them just sat down on their wheelchairs. I was attending to Andrew the whole time. I watched him play and draw. As I had to do 3 more hours of CIP unlike my other members, they went home earlier. After 1.30, I was left alone with the rest of the clients. Other stuff I did was read a storybook to both Jason and Andrew. The story? Pinocchio. The story was weirdly different than what I thought. Jason laughed at my reading saying that the way I read it was funny. Wow!? Hehehe…a few times when he’s bursting into the laugh he would spit his saliva. It rained on me a few times too! Hehehe…But he was nice to realize it and said sorry. Aw…Then I took out these alphabet cards and taught them to read it. Andrew was tired so I told him to rest first lah. Jason was listening but I noticed he gets distracted easily-just like us!

At around 3, it was time for their tea break actually but they didn’t get to eat. The reason? Well, Mr Don told me that the parents don’t want their kids to grow too big. Some of them were really skinny but some of them were a bit fleshy. Some parents they overfeed their children and so that was what happened to Andrew, Mr Don said. I found out that Andrew has diabetes and another disease. So we sat there and waited for their buses to arrive to take them home. Mr Don told me something really meaningful. Do the right thing but do it right or something like that. He told me that some of them although they can’t talk, they can hear you and understand what you’re saying. I sat there and thought about all the things he told me. I then go meet Andrew who was already in the van. I said my goodbyes and gave him a high 5!...I also said bye to Jason and told him to take care. It’s feels kinda sad that it’s our last day there. I told them if I have time, I’ll be back there. I certainly would want to go there again some time. Can’t believe that’s the end of my 10 hour CIP. I didn’t feel that it was a burden or a waste of time. In fact, it’s a great experience!...

End of Recount.

Here are the pictures: (To Yami: Don't cry ok?)










Cya!

8:38 PM

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Hey...!!

This post will be all visual...

Enjoy!


Iqah and Me when I paid her a visit to her workplace..(picture taken by my mum..not a good photographer huh?..)


You guys must've seen this already..but i really like this one...cool stuff you can do with photoshop!


This was what I did using my phone..it turns out that the editing functions are way cooler than my previous phones...=)

I guess that's all for now..
I'll be going back to the Cerebral Palsy Centre tomorrow...
Expect a long post again!!!

bye!

9:44 PM

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

100 Questions

9:14 PM

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

CIP!!!

*Warning: this post might bore you. For your own safety, you might not want to read it. But if you still want to, then try to understand my language.

Cerebral Palsy Centre

I got up at 7.40am..supposed to be 7.30am..but what the heck..
I took the train all the way to Pasir Ris. Along the way, met Jovis in the train.

10am
We took bus service 358. It was really weird. The first round we took it, we didn’t see our landmark-block 640. We didn’t have to get off because apparently, the bus went on another round. The first time it turned right. Now, it’s to the left, to the left. Having never been to Pasir Ris, I and my other members didn’t really know there was such a system. Anyways, we were 40 minutes late by the time we reached the centre. We alighted 1 bus stop before the supposedly bus stop. Luckily, it wasn’t that far. Moving on. When we got to the place, we thought it was closed.

Initially, we thought it was just a school. But the sign said “Cerebral Palsy Centre”. And then we looked down and saw people inside. So, we were not at the wrong place and it is opened. We got to the office-there was a sign that said “Visitors please report to the office”. We signed in and got visitor tags. Wow! We then moved to level 4 to the administration office to meet Ms Melissa – the lady I’ve been contacting through email with for the last few weeks. To our surprise, she didn’t expect our visit. She didn’t check her mail. That’s why. Plus, she went on a 2 week MC and only came back today. While we were waiting for her, Jovis and Lee Yan took a few pictures and I took the school’s magazines and brochures as evidences that we were there. She then brought us to the 1st floor where we were introduced with an instructor- Mr Raymond. He is the ‘teacher’ for the Day Activity Centre. His ‘clients’(students) were in the multi purpose room playing games with some Bedok Town secondary students.

He brought us to see the Day Activity Centre classrooms. It was nice. It looked like a kindergarten classroom but it was really beautifully decorated. He told us about the toys that he make for his students. There were photos on the walls. What’s unique about the toys are they look really simple. As in they were like toys for babies. But it’s actually for the teens-adult students. There were inspiring words on the walls. Artworks done by the students. He gave us an idea for our presentation.

 Tie your 2 thumbs together with a string and try sorting out papers. It’s not easy.

We were then brought to the Workshop area. There, the people were doing tasks like folding paper bags, glueing them together. Packing CNY cards, computer, air con parts etc. Although some of the tasks are quite easy to normal people, it wasn’t and it didn’t look easy for them. For some of them, their hands will bend and they can’t like straighten it you know what I mean. It was great that they could understand us. Like I asked one disabled lady what was she really doing. She told me the papers she was cutting were for packaging. It took quite a while for me to get it. But it was cool cuz she wasn’t angry or what. Jovis and Lee Yan then tried to do their job. It looked scary but let the pics speak for itself. The person who actually let Jovis and Lee Yan try out were happy to see us. We can tell. He was smiling and laughing all the way. It’s quite touching to see these people laugh actually. It’s like when they laugh, they laugh for real unlike us. We can fake our laughter..right?

We then went back to the multi purpose room again. We watched as the Bedok town sec students played pass the parcel with them. It did look like only the sec students were enjoying the game but then again, it’s hard to tell what the clients are thinking rite? Well…most of them were on wheelchairs. Some look at you and smile. Some don’t. Some just stare at you. I remembered there was this one guy who was sleeping. And then I saw a bedtime stories book on his lap. Haha. Ironic. We just stood there and watch cuz we didn’t have anything planned for them. At around 12, they were wheeled out one by one to the canteen as it was lunchtime. Me and my team members went to Elias Mall(Never heard of it? Haha..neither have I) and ate at McDonald’s. We came back around 1.30.

When we were there again, Mr Raymond split us into 2 teams. Nadine and Priya were in another DAC class, and me, jovis and lee yan were in his class. We didn’t really do much helping to be frank. He was nice to actually tell us a lot of things. During the time from 1 to 3pm, they were having their rest and relax session. Basically..just RELAX! But then around 2pm, some of them were brought out one by one to change their diapers. Yup..they wore diapers. In a class of about 12 people, only 4 of them could communicate verbally. I realized they were just like any of us. They too have their own cliques. Like there was this group of 3 guys- Lucas, Andrew and Jason. Mr Raymond told us that they would actually joke with one another and they care for each other. Like just now when Lucas went to the toilet and didn’t bring his water bottle, Andrew told Mr Raymond that Lucas forgot his bottle. Like-you know. THEY CARE!!! We learnt a lot from Mr Raymond. He showed us this girl whose body is really soft and weak. And then he got this boy to stand and he showed us that his legs are still weak. He actually looked sleepy. Hehe. But Lucas who’s kinda like the chairman of the class was really active and friendly. He would try to tell us something and we’ll listen closely and then he’ll just stop there and don’t finish the sentence. He wasn’t like scolded or what lah but Mr Raymond jokingly tell him “Aiya…finish your sentence lah” LAUGHS!!! He’s also the only one in the class who can type using the computer! He actually wrote journal entries about his outings. His English is even better than some of us! Oh, another thing, they communicate in English, mandarin-dialect, and even Singlish. Lah, leh, lor! See, everyone uses it!

When it was about 3pm, we asked Mr Raymond is there anything we can do because we haven’t really did anything to help. So we helped by pushing their wheelchairs out of the classroom and to the canteen for their tea break. Mr Raymond asked Jason who was quite loud like literally to ask us to help him. At first he was like “CAN YOU HELP ME TO THE CANTEEN??” or something like that. Mr Raymond told him that it was scary and fierce and asked him to say it nicely. We laughed. He asked again. And so I volunteered to wheel him out. Just to test him, I asked him to like lead the way. And then when we got to the canteen, I wasn’t sure how to lock his wheelchair so I asked him to do one side and show me how to do it. He did it. He even asked me whether I’ve had my tea break. I answered ‘Ok lah’. TOING!!! What kind of an answer is that? So silly of me.
We then got the chance to actually feed them. Oh, by the way, their menu was red bean bun mixed with soya bean milk. Im not sure if that’s a really nice combination but I guess it should be. We had to make sure that we give them the food in small pieces making it easier for them. I fed this malay boy who can’t communicate verbally. It really touched me when he just went ‘hmmm’ deliciously! You know what I mean? As in when you like the food u’ll go ‘hmm’ or something like that right? So it was like that lah. It felt satisfied because wow..i made him enjoy the food! You know that kind of feeling.

After that, we watch them leave the place in their vans. Andrew, who was very big sized had trouble getting on the van. It really hits you on the head. It might be very easy for us but it’s not for him.

Oh, the students that we met right, their between 17-30+…but they look like kids.

After they all went home, Mr Raymond took the time to bring us to see the rooms where they do their exercising and all that. It’s really interesting to learn about what they do.
Nothing much about this. Better to see the pics.

Overall, the experience was an eye opener. They are afterall just like us. The only difference, we make them to be different. Mr Raymond shared with us a few experiences he had when he brought some of them out like in the MRT or public places. People like stay away from the clients. It’s WRONG!!! For me personally, I’ll feel so touched and feel so blessed. They’re really happy people. They don’t worry about school projects. Their life is simple. By the way, Cerebral Palsy Centre is such a peaceful place and it’s much better than SP. I’ll be going there again next Friday to finish my 5 ½ hours of CIP and I’m kinda like looking forward to it.

Sorry for this very long post. It’s actually supposed to remind me about whatever happened today before I forget.

=)




Some of the toys they have.

Me and the client I gave food to.

Jovis trying to hammer. She was afraid she's gonna hit the guy's hand.

12:06 AM

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Monday, June 4, 2007

update from school!

Hola~

In school now...
having a 5 hour break as usual...
And guess what? I woke up late AGAIN!!!
I slept at 3.30am last night...
was watching Fear Factor-gross...=(
I thought I could wake up at 6.30...
Surprisingly, the alarm did go off...
I guess I didn't hear it...=(
I woke up at 7.59am, 1 minute before my lesson starts..darn
I managed to arrive at 9am though...=)

Anyways, I was with my group members doing our FOM project...
Glad that it's almost done..=)
I'm not yet nervous about the presentation tomorrow..
But I'm sure my legs will shake, my heart will go to my mouth and have butterflies in my stomach...
I hope it will go well...

Oh, just had a phone conversation with Jays...
She might want to interview me for her project!
WOW...
AN INTERVIEW!!!
HAHA

Well...I might be interviewed..not will..

In 2 days time, I'll be having my first school performance..
YAY!!!
It's about time to launch my career...
Hmm...not really...
I'll be performing a musical number...
Shouldn't say what I'm gonna sing yet...

SO..here I am..
sitting on the bench...
Passing time..
Not studying...
Not doing homework...

Here's a photo of what I did last week during my DTP lesson:



HAHA!!!

SEE YA!!!

the confessions of a teenage drama prince

=)

2:47 PM

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