Right now, as I attempt to trace back till the very first day Project YELL began, it felt like it has been such a long journey for me, and to some extent, a surprisingly rewarding one for me, especially during the trip itself, which posed as a turning point for me.
I will touch slightly on the pre-trip events, which I skipped like 50% of the meetings and activities due to my lack of commitment and high level of disinterest. Basically at that particular episode of the journey, because my mentality and attitude were poor, I couldn’t actually recall any meetings or activities which I felt were interesting or helpful. Yeah, quite bad but oh well, that really isn’t the main point.
Then time seemed to zoom by again, and before I knew it, we had already reached the Kunming Airport in Yunnan, China. In the beginning of the trip, it felt tremendously challenging for me to step out of my comfort zone and adapt to the communal living (in Wan Lv Qing Primary School), especially the ‘toilet’ there. I remembered myself nearly to tears when I first saw the state of the toilet there, not feeling sad for the people there, but immensely regretful that I actually signed on for this. But I was indeed surprised by myself, that after 1-2 days, I actually grew used to doing my business there! And amusing or what, the frequent toilet trips created many chances for me to interact with the other girls of the team, who mostly were strangers to me initially, and eventually, friendships were formed.
In fact, the visit to the Da Po Village was a meaningful eye-opener for a brat like me who doesn’t understand what hard life and poverty literally mean. The trip to the wet market, the visits to the villagers’ huts (and even helping them carry out daily chores of e.g., plucking off dried corns), gathering of firewood together with the children of Wan Lv Qing Primary School, and through the short conversations with them (that they had to take 3 hours to reach school by foot!), provided me with numerous new insights and broadened my perspectives about my life. Moreover, the very simple, yet sincere expressions the adults and children gave (esp. the letters the kids furiously, continuously wrote for us before we left), kind of changed the very skeptical mindset of mine originally.
Then came the ‘crisis’ which happened in the midst of the trip, where a handful of us became sickly, and when there was a particular night when we had to ‘evacuate’ the seemingly uninhabitable ‘hostel’ to a hotel (where I thought the facilities were really good). Throughout the entire frenzy, I was left in a mild state of shock as such a predicament never ever did come across my mind. But that particular night was unforgettable and the unique experience really got me thinking about how things flow can never be within our means and control, and we always have to be mentally-prepared, learn to be quick-thinking, spontaneous, and more essentially, composed and emotionally strong in moments of uncertainty and tension.
The few schools that we actually visited, regardless of them being one-stop, over a few days or involving naughty and disrespectful students, to me, generally there was a common point – that we had to do very minute and apparently effortless things to us to bring genuine smiles and laughter across the children faces. And because I could somehow share their happiness, it actually made me recollect past perceptions of myself being very insignificant and useless in the world (of smarty pants and realistic and competitive people), completely untrue. Because to the kids, I have become an important source of joy, so simple, yet so wholeheartedly, so touching.
Another important lessons gained is never to judge people by appearances, which I have an extremely high tendency to since eons ago. Undeniably, which seriously astounded me, there are people within the team who are genuine, giving and always putting-people-before-self, namely a few, whom till now, I am grateful for. And as I learnt to open up to the rest of the girls mainly, to befriend without guarding against them, or to be exact, without bearing any forms of 戒心, I realized myself being able to infused into their social circle more easily, and that being with them can too, be really enjoyable (and unlike what I thought of to be of different frequency). I guess at the end of everything, it really has to do with the manipulation of my way of thinking and the attitude I choose to carry with me. Quite a life-changing value I learnt I must say, as it kind of convinced myself to put down my guard against people, and learn to be accept them less conditionally.
Yups, project YELL (sounds odd) has been the most life-transformational experience for me, and I am really glad to have made another new 20+ friends, whilst growing closer to existing ones like Yeechuin. I am darn glad I didn’t quit halfway, but have persevered till now and have gained thus much, and grown as a person. Yeah, we will go back again as facilitators again right right right??? :D
I will touch slightly on the pre-trip events, which I skipped like 50% of the meetings and activities due to my lack of commitment and high level of disinterest. Basically at that particular episode of the journey, because my mentality and attitude were poor, I couldn’t actually recall any meetings or activities which I felt were interesting or helpful. Yeah, quite bad but oh well, that really isn’t the main point.
Then time seemed to zoom by again, and before I knew it, we had already reached the Kunming Airport in Yunnan, China. In the beginning of the trip, it felt tremendously challenging for me to step out of my comfort zone and adapt to the communal living (in Wan Lv Qing Primary School), especially the ‘toilet’ there. I remembered myself nearly to tears when I first saw the state of the toilet there, not feeling sad for the people there, but immensely regretful that I actually signed on for this. But I was indeed surprised by myself, that after 1-2 days, I actually grew used to doing my business there! And amusing or what, the frequent toilet trips created many chances for me to interact with the other girls of the team, who mostly were strangers to me initially, and eventually, friendships were formed.
In fact, the visit to the Da Po Village was a meaningful eye-opener for a brat like me who doesn’t understand what hard life and poverty literally mean. The trip to the wet market, the visits to the villagers’ huts (and even helping them carry out daily chores of e.g., plucking off dried corns), gathering of firewood together with the children of Wan Lv Qing Primary School, and through the short conversations with them (that they had to take 3 hours to reach school by foot!), provided me with numerous new insights and broadened my perspectives about my life. Moreover, the very simple, yet sincere expressions the adults and children gave (esp. the letters the kids furiously, continuously wrote for us before we left), kind of changed the very skeptical mindset of mine originally.
Then came the ‘crisis’ which happened in the midst of the trip, where a handful of us became sickly, and when there was a particular night when we had to ‘evacuate’ the seemingly uninhabitable ‘hostel’ to a hotel (where I thought the facilities were really good). Throughout the entire frenzy, I was left in a mild state of shock as such a predicament never ever did come across my mind. But that particular night was unforgettable and the unique experience really got me thinking about how things flow can never be within our means and control, and we always have to be mentally-prepared, learn to be quick-thinking, spontaneous, and more essentially, composed and emotionally strong in moments of uncertainty and tension.
The few schools that we actually visited, regardless of them being one-stop, over a few days or involving naughty and disrespectful students, to me, generally there was a common point – that we had to do very minute and apparently effortless things to us to bring genuine smiles and laughter across the children faces. And because I could somehow share their happiness, it actually made me recollect past perceptions of myself being very insignificant and useless in the world (of smarty pants and realistic and competitive people), completely untrue. Because to the kids, I have become an important source of joy, so simple, yet so wholeheartedly, so touching.
Another important lessons gained is never to judge people by appearances, which I have an extremely high tendency to since eons ago. Undeniably, which seriously astounded me, there are people within the team who are genuine, giving and always putting-people-before-self, namely a few, whom till now, I am grateful for. And as I learnt to open up to the rest of the girls mainly, to befriend without guarding against them, or to be exact, without bearing any forms of 戒心, I realized myself being able to infused into their social circle more easily, and that being with them can too, be really enjoyable (and unlike what I thought of to be of different frequency). I guess at the end of everything, it really has to do with the manipulation of my way of thinking and the attitude I choose to carry with me. Quite a life-changing value I learnt I must say, as it kind of convinced myself to put down my guard against people, and learn to be accept them less conditionally.
Yups, project YELL (sounds odd) has been the most life-transformational experience for me, and I am really glad to have made another new 20+ friends, whilst growing closer to existing ones like Yeechuin. I am darn glad I didn’t quit halfway, but have persevered till now and have gained thus much, and grown as a person. Yeah, we will go back again as facilitators again right right right??? :D
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