Post-trip reflections =P

yay!! brand new day! haha fell asleep at 630am and woke up at 230pm.... *YAWN* baked a marble cheesecake!!! ahhaha quite challenging man... wonder of its edible... oh well i will know it tmr when i eat it! it's chilling in the fridge happily now =P

hmmm feels much better after spending 6.5 hours in the wee hours this morn writing down my myanmar experience. liberating!!! i'm ready to tuck my memories away and get down to attack pressing matters like orientation, flag-day etc... *groan* oh yar! was going to organise a proj somanassa get-together for tmr, but not evryone has replied yet... *thinkthink* hope it will materialise!

ah, inevitably, i feel a need to sum up my feelings for the trip. think some team members don't feel as enthusiastic about what we've done as much as some others, probably becos what we are doing may seem inconsequential and of little impact to the villagers... i especially recall the debate btw mich and ah-ma in yangon before we set off for the village... but i guess i agreed with ah-ma, that whatever we do, at least we are trying hard and putting in our best effort. never mind that the rewards may not balance the effort, i guess what matters is that baby steps are being taken, knowledge is being passed on, relationships are being established, help has been extended. i feel that when we embark on this kind of trips, we should not dwell too much on whether the benefits we bring to the village is enough to make worthwhile the financial spending and the painstaking planning we did. as long as we have maximise our resources and minimise wastage, i would say that the effort has been worthwhile. it's through these trips that we learn more about what we can do, what we should have done and how we can do it better next time. like for snakebites, i realised what we had planned to teach them initially seems rather foolish cos they may know even more than us. but that doesn't mean that ALL of the people know what to do in the event of snake-bites. i feel that there's unfinished business if majority knows but the minority is left in the dark. it's even more important that we educate the school-children cos as zhimin says, we are like "superstars" so they are more likely to listen to us and are probably more receptive to what we have to say... it's a start! i tink the only regret will be that things like art lessons only take place when we are there, after which the art supplies are locked up and lie forgotten, out of reach of the students who love to paint. well i guess such things are beyond our control, it's up to the school teachers to arrange the school curriculum, but oh! the joy of seeing aspiring artists at work the 2 precious weeks we were there! to the seniors who seem rather dejected and think that things could have been better, i can only say that i think you guys have really done an amazing job. =D i'm really looking forward to going back next year!! yay! =D

as i was baking my cheesecake, i was thnking about the little things i remembered about each individual... like huiting, who's always ready to perk us up with her boundless energy and will always match her clothes before we set off for school... sijin who will scream at all things flying and never fails to scream in her sleep etc... hahha =D mavis who will always wake up at the stipulated time and loves to sing boyband songs... poor sharon who's always the last girl to crawl into her slping bag due to her countless treasurer duties and calls us her jukebox... xinyi with her never-ending agonising over her inability to tie a longyi that will stay up and who always help me wash my cup when i sprained my ankle... mich who helped me carry my million ton bags when i was ill... shaofeng who bravely bandaged my smelly ankle for me each day and is ever busy dispensing diarrhoea pills etc... kok wee the pedophile hahha and the shepherd who always escort the sick back home...lao ban with his classic lao ban pose and inborn heroic streak that makes him the catcher of praying mantises and all things that fly/crawl, not forgetting his suspiciously familiar shirts that looked...erm. =P jeremy with his welfarish nature providing us with layer cakes to munch on and his fervour towards the skit competition... yew sen the team leader who's always bullied by everyone and never fails to bully me when i was sick in the hope of spurring me on to get well... zhimin the Most Loving Mother who tends to the sick with an awe-inspiring energy and who knows all sorts of burmese words and songs... rita the special girl who likes sadistic movies and drinks hooch to cure her coughs hahaha... weijing who's always with her and is super cute! (enjoyed the skit lesson lots!) ah ma aka belinda who's just soooo ah-marish and will sing top of the world when she accompanies me to the ein thar... claudia my diarrhoea partner on the plane!!! haha and her autographed air-sickness bag... =) yunxin whom i used to tink resembles claudia alot! meizhen with her ever sweet smile and thx for making me my ai xin niu nai! longfang who looks super decent but... erm. hahaha mebbe not after all!!! ek khoon with his super loooooooonnnnng hair!!! and his hairband!!! gosh. =P enhao aka xiang cao aka papa who will make a super good dad in the future!


and our burmese friends... aung hein with his ever cheeky smile and multi-expression face! chews betel nuts non-stop and become a totally different guy when his beloved is around hehehe. soe thiha! his "i can do it!" and charlie chaplin's moments when he say " silence pls..." and proceeds to play golf i tink wif an umbrella... not forgetting his own cheer and his bandaged toes... phyo phyo! very sweet girl who's a very good caregiver of the sick even if she herself isnt feeling well... nyi hmwe and his scandal with xinyi hehehe... aung phyo who loves to take photos with huiting haha =P kaung zaw who's a super considerate motorbike rider, always slow down when the road's bumpy! okkar! with his numerous imitations of the way sijin walks and huiting's expressions change... ye naing win! who introduced us to "dogaro" and got us hooked... lin tun and tay zar who will laugh throughout the night at dunno what they won't disclose leh! and tay zar's dream of marrying a tall and ugly girl (can't be lah haha)... ni ni and nyet nyet who are super sweet!! alec who let me had a most thrilling and exciting motorbike ride ahha! john whom i didnt get to know very well who chaffeured us around... nilin whom i only got to know when i fell sick... gopal who became the guinea pig as i pretended to be a first-aider... sue! aung hein's girlfriend who has a really sweet smile! missed walking in the pagoda hand-in-hand with her and sharon... the cookhouse uncle with his ever-ready smile and who always teach me new burmese words! the very nice nurse who came to put me on drip and the doctor who told us alot of thgs...

hmmmm tink after penning down all my thoughts i should not worry about forgetting my myanmar experience bah!! had a really fabulous time, felt very carefree and happy at all times... and was really great to know so many new friends! ok time to bathe and continue my vcd marathon of meteor garden... watched with my mom just now... sobbed buckets!!! sigh. hope that mavis and agnes had wonderful bdaes today!! and that huiting had a good first day at work!!! yay!

till when i feel inspired to write again... =D