Today can be considered eventful as we finished a number of activities. Firstly, we managed to discuss some of the fund raising ideas, which is..... good and now i shall move on the main point.
The first game about building the bridge with newspapers, I must admit that I had reservations about the possibility of building the structure that fit the requirements. I mean, 0.9m high and 1.2m long, plus it has to be free standing and be able to withstand 500g, creating it must be an engineering feat that is only reserved for brillant engineers-to-be to achieve. It doesnt help much that I am not a physics student.
However, as the activity progresses and seeing the enthusiasm of my other group members, I started to stop being so skeptical and did whatever I could to materalise the plans. There were problems and doubts about the plan along the way but we manage to constantly improvise. After rolling stacks of newspapers and taping rolls of newspapers, the moment of truth was when we did a trial test. We released our grip on the newspapers and….. not only did the bridge stood, the water bottle stood pompously at the center of it and there was just this sense of self-accomplishment that drowned me. We did it, we did it. It was something out from nothing. The feeling of completing something that I thought was near-impossible was simply magnificent. The most meaningful takeaway from this activity is that no matter what the goal is, easy or hard, we must always attempt to reach it with our best efforts and no less.
Hoho, now I shall ramble on to the second activity about lunch. $1 to provide each person lunch, now that’s an activity I have not participate in before. I guess it was a really good move for the two teams to work together to achieve synergy rather than be competing against each other. So we were off to a good start by being able to share ideas and come up with the best to stuff everyone with food. There was a substantial amount of debating in the beginning but when we were at the food market, everything went on smoothly and systematically.
“We will get the yong tao foo”
“We will get the eggs and vegetables”
“ We will get the rice”
I was responsible for the rice and somehow we struck gold on our first store. With Jacquelyn’s marvellous bargaining the price for each packet of rich was cut from 50 cents to 30 cents (: Another point I picked up is the necessity to do away with self consciousness and daringly ask for a lower price or for free stuff. Hahas. Anyway, like different cells that make up a multi-cellular organism, division of labour does wonders, allowing the task to proceed efficiently and also leaving us with extra cash.
Back to school and cooking. I hardly cook; in fact I have always been afraid of hot oil in pans. So I did whatever I could contribute, pluck the beansprouts, wash the utensils, peel onions, prepare the table and crowd around the brave souls frying and marvel. I guess in Yunnan, I will have to face my enemy- the hot oil, so I guess I had better start loitering around the kitchen to watch my maid cooking. Once again like the first activity, we accomplished the challenge, despite everyone (am I right to assume this) being a greenhorn at cooking. Kudos to all of us for managing to work together to come up with lunch - yummy, tasty and filling lunch. From this activity, I learnt about the importance of working as a team to achieve a common goal.
Oh wells, that’s the end of today’s activity. I must conclude that it is fulfilling and we have certainly gotten to know one another better (((:
Amanda
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