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Final Reflection
What did I do? What were my goals?
I did a bunch of stuff - here’s the most important bits.
Duke of Edinburgh - My goal for DoE was primarily to survive, as well as to attain the Gold award. I’m happy to announce that I succeeded in my first goal (just), and I’m about 80% of the way there to completing the Gold award, with just some logs left to write.
Singing - By the end of 2017, I wanted to have achieved Grade 8 singing, which I’ve done. This year I’ve been part of a lot more singing-related activities (C2B2, Showcase, the exam, and I’m currently part of the Sound of Music cast for the upcoming production in March).
THIMUN - I went to the THIMUN conference to both improve my public speaking skills and also gain some insight into real world International Relations, as I’m interested in studying this at a higher level. The fact that I put myself out there to do a speech on a topic I was by no means an expert on hopefully is proof enough to show that I’ve gained confidence in talking to a large group of people.
Penan Support - As part of the Penan Support CCA, I wanted to increase awareness of the issues that the Penan tribe face, not only to the school but hopefully to the wider community. The creation of our website is proof of this aim, and I believe we’ve been proactive in raising awareness.
House Council - I’m Deputy House Captain of Blackeye, and my personal goal was to increase our House Spirit. Making that extra bit of effort in our House Sports and also managing the bk.bants instagram account has been a success, and will hopefully continue throughout the year.
How did I think/ feel during the activity?
Duke of Edinburgh - Since being told that I qualified for the India trip all the way up until reaching Spiti Valley itself, I had some anxiety building up in me. It was such a new and unfamiliar environment that I didn’t know how I should feel. All I could think for the journey was that I was really, really cold. Once we reached Sagnam however things soon became routine. I’m still not over how different my life is compared to the Spitians’, but throughout the trip I reminded myself that different didn’t mean better or worse - just different.
Showcase 2017 - There were many times in the rehearsals for Showcase that I just wanted to drop out; either because I had too much schoolwork, or the hours were too long, or I just didn’t feel up for it. Some days I felt more confident than on other days, where I didn’t even want to do a mic test. The last few days I began to feel more enthusiastic: as things came together, I realised just what a show we were going to be giving.
Why was the activity worthwhile?
Penan Support - Penan Support is a worthwhile activity because I knew exactly who I was helping, and how I was doing it. Although I never actually met any of the women who wove the baskets, I knew their names and faces from tagging countless bags and baskets. Unlike with other charities where you have to put faith in the charity, the hands-on approach of Penan Support lets you directly impact people’s lives, which is something worthwhile by anybody’s standards.
Duke of Edinburgh - I have never experienced anything like the Gold expedition, and I’ll never forget the memories that I made. From the 18 hour bus rides to the daily grind at the Residential project, I learnt how to cooperate with people over extended periods of time, all whilst becoming closer through the shared experience.
THIMUN - Living in Brunei, the number of people our age (and who have similar lives/experiences) is fairly limited. THIMUN had over 1,000 students my age, most of whom were also from international schools. I met people from all over the world, and it was refreshing to have a reminder that my experiences are not isolated - there’s a bunch of others who’ve been in the same position.
What was the highlight?
Duke of Edinburgh - I’m tempted to say that the whole trip was the highlight, so instead I’ll say that it was coming home. Having no communication with our families for 2 weeks, it was a bundle of emotions when we all came through the Arrivals gates and were reunited with them - we could finally tell them about what a surreal experience Spiti was.
THIMUN - Meeting my gang gang was the highlight of THIMUN. Without my squad, I wouldn’t have been able to give my speech. Even though we’re from a bunch of different countries, I know that I’ll have a place to stay (and people to see!) if I ever (re)visit the Philippines, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Egypt…
Showcase 2017 - The countless hours of grafting culminated into an amazing end performance. After working with the girls for such a long time, we had inside jokes and references (like a certain someone holding their microphone upside down during the Saturday show) and there was just a general feeling of camaraderie that I won’t forget.
What was my biggest challenge?
House Council - The biggest challenge of stepping into the House Council is that you’re stepping into the old council’s shoes, and they had set pretty high standards for us. A lot of tutors left, even our Housemaster, and so on top of finding our feet as the new House Council we had to deal with the shifting vibe of the house itself.
Duke of Edinburgh - Working is hard, but walking 3900m above sea level is harderer. Altitude was a struggle to overcome, because it made every movement feel 10x more tiring. Sometimes it was only present if I did something physically straining, like run up a hill (stupid idea, kids), but others it was at the forefront in the form of headaches and slight nausea.
What did the activity mean to me? Should others do this activity? Why?
Duke of Edinburgh - This activity means far more to me than I ever thought it would. The memes, the mems, the (homestay) moms and of course the momos all made it an unforgettable experience, because it really put things in perspective: I was conscious that we were out of place in Spiti, yet for the people there it’s their daily lives. Should others do this activity? 100% yes. I like to think I matured over the 3 weeks, simply because I was exposed to something so different and a comparatively more difficult life to what I have now. I vividly remember coming home, looking around my room at the aircon, the multiple pillows, and the hot-water shower just behind a door and thinking “I have so much”.
House Council - I wanted to leave a mark on Blackeye before I left school, and thought the House Council would be the best way to go about this. At first I wasn’t sure how much I could do as Deputy House Captain, but soon realised that everyone in the council has to bounce off each other for support. Others should do this activity because even if you’re not the most extroverted, organised, or whatever trait that’s assumed to be needed for a leadership role, the House Council is the perfect place to make a change to a smaller section in JIS, which could then be projected into the wider school community - like at the Peace Day Juice Bar.
The Learning Outcomes
Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth:
Singing [Creativity] - Performed in Showcase as a mezzo-soprano, contributing to the harmonies of the group songs in Showcase 2017 (I Will Survive/Survivor, Rockabye, Who Run The World)
Penan Support [Service] - Used writing skill to draft the information needed for the Penan Support website. Developed a skill in design whilst creating posters for various sales (football funday, Shoebox project, etc.)
Challenges undertaken:
Duke of Edinburgh [Action] - Constructed a greenhouse in a group of 15 people at high altitudes, learnt to cope in an unfamiliar environment and be independent whilst at the homestays.
Singing [Creativity] - Achieved Grade 8 singing, performed as a group soloist for the first time in Showcase.
THIMUN [Creativity] - Got up in front of an audience of strangers to deliver a 1 minute speech on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones.
Shed Sweepers [Action] - Played football and netball as part of a team having never played either sport competitively.
Planned a CAS Experience:
Penan Support [Service] - The Shoebox Project was executed by students (we sent the emails, collected the boxes and later sorted them). The website was also our own project, and is currently being updated and managed by us.
House Council [Service] - The Great Blackeye Bake-off involved over 6 teams competing for pride and honour. It was coordinated entirely by the House Council, with us booking the room, getting the 1st pace trophy engraved, deciding the criteria for judging and of course being judges ourselves. The Peace Day Juice Bar was also an experience that was led by students for students, and was hugely successful in generating sales - the profits of which went to the school’s chosen charities.
Shown perseverance and commitment:
Singing [Creativity] - Was part of C2B2 and Showcase, both of which required a significant amount of extra rehearsals (after school and on weekends) in order to give such a high standard end performance.
Duke of Edinburgh [Action] - The Duke of Edinburgh Gold award requires participants to commit to a Skill, Service and Physical activity for at least an hour every week for a year. By taking part in the award, I have been doing all of these activities weekly.
Worked collaboratively with others:
Singing [Creativity] - The productions that I’ve been in have needed me to work with others, sometimes in small groups (e.g. the Inventors in C2B2, the Bellas in Showcase) and others in groups of over 50 people. This meant I had to be wary of others and recognise if they were struggling with something so that we could address the problem.
THIMUN [Creativity] - The resolutions that were debated were the result of different delegations combining with their allies and creating resolutions from scratch.
Shed Sweepers [Action] - Teamwork was essential to us winning Football Funday, as we had to communicate with each other so that everybody was clear as to what needed to be done.
Engaged with issues of global importance:
THIMUN [Creativity] - The issues on the agenda were taken from topics that were debated in General Assemblies of the real United Nations. As such, they were contemporary, modern day issues that the world is currently facing: for example, there is currently an issue of piracy in the Straits of Malacca, which was debated on in GA1.
Considered ethical implications of my actions:
Duke of Edinburgh [Action] - Although an isolated place, Spiti is affected by the forces of globalisation, namely tourism. This is having both negative and positive effects: although it is generating income, it’s also generating unsustainable amounts of waste, and a lack of infrastructure means they are not being disposed of properly. To mitigate our personal impact, we used Life Straws rather than buy bottled water; Life Straws filter water in the bottle itself.
Penan Support [Service] - The Penan Tribe is just one of many tribes whose lifestyles are threatened and being eroded. By learning more about the Penan, I also learnt more about the efforts being made to preserve indigenous culture, and the issues that they face.
New or extended skills:
Singing [Creativity] - Increased confidence in singing in front of people. Learnt to belt (sing loudly) as it is an intrinsic part of performing.
THIMUN [Creativity] - Better public speaking skill and ability to argue rationally, from delivering a speech and making multiple POIs.
House Council [Service] - Learnt how to engage an audience online with the Blackeye instagram account. How? Memes.
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Speak out 2017
Speak Out is an annual competition for public speaking, and this year I represented Blackeye.
I’ve had quite a few opportunities to practice my public speaking this year, and I thought I’d put it to use - even though it was also pretty scary (I can’t ever shake that), I’m really proud of myself for putting myself up on stage and just doing it, as I knew I’d regret it otherwise.
We’re encouraged to talk about things we’re passionate about, so I decided to talk about myself.
I wanted to address the issue of identity, which, as an international school, is something that people at JIS don’t really have much of. I used my experience as a biracial kid living in a culture completely separate to that of my races to highlight something that most of the people in the room had probably questioned at some point in their lives - where are they actually ‘from’.
Doing Speak Out enabled me to do some research into this feeling I’ve had since I was young, and I learnt that a Sense of Belonging is very much real thing and in fact, very important. In this instance, I didn’t mind that I didn’t win - I felt it was more important to have the experience of doing a speech to such a large audience and to expose those who weren’t aware to this issue that we face every day of our lives.
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THIMUN 2017
Since term 1, I’ve been attending MUN sessions in preparation for The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) conference in Singapore. It involves schools from all around the world coming to Hwa Chong Institution, representing various different countries in 6 different General Assemblies tackling different issues.
I was the delegate of Greece in GA1 - International Peace and Security. Issues on the agenda included preventing terrorists from gaining weapons of mass destruction, combating sexual violence in conflict zones, and the issue of blood diamonds. Heavy stuff.
As in the United Nations, MUN is all about diplomacy, and working with other delegates to try and make a resolution that everyone will agree to and that actually addresses the issue at hand. We split into groups according to the 4 different topics on the agenda - I went to the one about terrorists as I had done prior research and felt I could contribute most to that debate.
this picture was absolutely genuine and 100% not taken for the sole purpose of adding it to our CAS blogs
After making resolutions and submitting them, we moved on to debate time. This was the most fun and most challenging part of THIMUN, as there was so much to think about. We had to make sure we always recognised the proper code of conduct, such as avoiding personal pronouns, not directly communicate with the speaker, and using the proper terminology/phrases. The conference was vastly different to the MUN CCA at school, as the people here had been to multiple local conferences and thus knew their stuff. As a result I was a little intimidated and scared to put myself forward for speaking. I started small, putting my placard up for doing Points of Information (POIs) and then later trying to get recognised for a speech. Emphasis on the TRYING. Despite putting my placard up every chance I could, the chair seemed to overlook our little skwad and aLWAYS picked the delegate of Croatia. Luckily, with the help of my gang gang - who united over our love of terrorists/WMDs and spicy memes - I was recognised for the very last speech of the conference. I was shook. Literally, I was shaking as I made my speech, but I done did it.
THIMUN allowed me to extend my public speaking skills further, as well as learning about diplomacy and giving me the opportunity to meet a bunch of people from Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Singapore and Dubai who are *almost* as cool as me.
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International Day 2017
All the big ‘Days’ are our last now that we’re in Year 13, so Renee and I decided we’d set up our own stall at the International Day fair this year: fortune telling.
This largely involved palm reading and tarot card reading, to answer all those questions that people didn’t know they had. It required a fair amount of creativity, as we had to learn the nuances of fortune telling as well as the art of improvisation in order to invest meaning into the readings. We had to book a stall and decorate it properly, which meant setting up a bedouin tent type stall made up of two Display Boards as walls and a large cloth as our roof; coupled with pillows and ‘Zen Meditation - 10 hours’ playing, we manage to create an authentic(ish) atmosphere which hopefully attracted people to come see what it was all about. As for new and extended skills, I learnt how to read people’s head line, life line, heart line, and determine what element they were (Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, Metal) - whether or not you believe in it, it was an interesting insight into the fortunetelling beliefs that have been around for ages since Ancient China.
Ethically speaking, we had to make sure that the people who bought our services ($1 per reading, which went to the Pusat Ehsan charity) that this was just for fun and that we were not practising black magic, which is a taboo in Brunei.
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The Royal Visit (Penan Support)
In addition to the glorious Shed Sweeper victory on Saturday, this weekend was equally eventful on Sunday, with the much anticipated Royal Visit.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex came to visit JIS to see what sorts of activities were offered at the school - including Penan Support. Amongst others, I was picked to represent the CCA; we were to explain what we did, and why we did it.
It was a bit of a daunting prospect at first, and there was a lot of nervous energy as we waited for HRH, but ultimately it went off without a hitch and we were able to fully detail our activity. As we only had a set amount of time, we had to make sure that we were efficient - this meant we had to decide beforehand who would talk about what so that points weren’t repeated and everything could be covered before handing off to the next charity. As always with representing Penan Support, I had to make sure that I was up to date with my knowledge of the tribe, and to put across the message, I made a brochure which could be taken away by any of the royal squad and hopefully read at their convenience - where they could learn more about the tribe and also were given the website address. As part of the Royal Family, there were certain customs that we were required to appreciate when addressing Prince Edward, such as referring to him as ‘Your Royal Highness’ and making sure we were polite and well presented.
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SHED SWEEPERS @ FOOTBALL FUNDAY WASSGOOD
The mighty mighty Shed Sweepers made their comeback at Football Sunday 2k17. And this time we had matching shirts.
Having never ever played football before, I was a little apprehensive about Football Funday being my initiation. However with a supportive bunch around me, I had a go, and I’m really glad I did.
I didn’t know the rules of football (besides the fact that you play with, yknow, your foot) or the regulations, so that was a bit of a challenge. After watching the first few games however I began to pick up the basics and felt ready to play. I subbed in as Goalie for the games that I played; I felt this was where I could be most effective as I’m not very good at Attack. To make sure I was actually doing my job, I watched the ball at all times, so that I wouldn’t get surprised when the players were suddenly down on my side of the pitch. Off-side, the team collaborated to make sure we were the most loud and had the most team spirit, making up chants and fully using our speakers to play absolute bangers.
My first and last Football Funday was a great success. Did I mention we won?
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Peace Day 2017
Our last peace day was definitely a memorable one, for two main reasons: the House Juice Bar and the Peace Day assembly.
House Juice Bar
The weeks of planning and organising have come down to today, where four houses including Blackeye collaborated with each other to run the Juice Bar. As this Peace Day’s theme was promoting Good Health and Wellbeing (Sustainable Development Goal #3), we made sure that the juices we were offering were organic, natural, and like, super healthy. This meant adding a LOT of fruits and vegetables, so we ended up with 2 juices: a rhubarb and ginger juice, and an apple, orange and cucumber juice. Having 4 houses meant have 4x the number of people to coordinate, so this was a bit of a challenge. However, thanks to the magic of Google Drive and WhatsApp, we were able to make rotations for manning the stalls and organised to leave classes early to prepare the ingredients - which involved so many fruits.
The entire event was led by the House Councils. The only involvement of HSMs was to give us money from the house budgets to buy the ingredients - but even then, we had to decide what ingredients we needed and how much of each. I had never given much thought into just how much needed to be thought about when planning an event - I can only imagine how much more would be needed for the people coordinating the entire Peace Day. props to you, Mr P.
Peace Day Assembly
I was given the opportunity in this assembly to represent the Penan Support CCA. This was a chance to promote the service as well as give some information to the school about why the Penan need our help and where their donations are going. Doing this allowed me not only to extend my public speaking skills but also find out answers for myself, as even I wasn’t sure what we did with the money made from sales. I learnt that this goes into sponsoring children in Penan villages, paying for school fees, supplies and transport.
Although I was a little bit nervous getting up in front of the whole Upper Years and later Middle Years, I’m definitely glad I did it and would absolutely do it again, given the opportunity.
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The Penan Support Website (Ongoing Project)
A project initiated fully by students in the Penan Support CCA is the creation and maintenance of an online presence.
We felt that, as most people get their information online, some form of website and social media presence would be really useful for bringing awareness to Brunei, and possibly even to the outside world. The idea was that we would use the website for two things: advertising products and giving information about the Penan and the issues they face.
As far as I know, my writing is pretty good, so I volunteered to help draft the information that would be put on the website, explaining who we are, what we do, and why we do it. This was quite fun job, as it meant I had to delve a little deeper into the history of the CCA as well as into the current struggles that the Penan face. We used a Google Doc so that everyone could access and edit it where required, as the job of creating a website couldn’t be done by one person and needed collaboration between anyone involved. We made sure that people used their strengths and skills to make the website as clean and aesthetic as possible: Alissa used her camera to take professional shots of the bags, for example.
The reason behind the photographs on the website is so that we can show the world what handicraft the Penan can do, and why it’s worth saving. Currently their lives are being eroded by Palm Oil plantations that are encroaching onto their land, forcing them to assimilate into Malaysian communities. As the internet is accessible to everybody, we hope that the website will be useful for anybody who wants to find out more about the Penan, but also how they can help.
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House Frisbee [7 September 2017]
The first house sport this year is House Frisbee! I was a bit worried as to whether or not I’d actually be good at it, but as it turns out, nobody really is.
As this year’s house council has been focused on making Blackeye super united and house spirit-y, we cut up orange slices and also brought a speaker to play the BKBeats playlist - a mix of anything to do with Black, Yellow, or the Black Eyed Peas (get it) - which you can follow here:
BKBeats
It was really satisfying to just get out and play a fairly light-hearted sport with all these lovely ladies - we even ended up winning a couple rounds, even if we didn’t actually place overall. I learnt two forms of catching the frisbee (’catch and snatch’ and the crocodile snap) which, although I was usually unsuccessful in actually getting the frisbee, were new skills acquired nonetheless. I also had to communicate with my teammates, so that we weren’t all condensed in one area but actually spread out to make sure each member of the opponents’ team was being defended. Overall it was a valuable experience which could probably be considered both an activity and a service - the house council had to coordinate with each other and make sure emails were sent out, girls were drafted, and spare t-shirts were brought to ensure we got those points for full house kit.
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JIS Orientation Day [28 August 2017]
As part of Year 2017-18′s House Council, the Blackeye girls and I decided that we wanted to make sure that any new Blackeyes felt welcome and enjoyed their first day at JIS. We decided that we would come to school on the Monday (the day before school starts) to welcome the new students and bring them around school. A couple of us even went one step further to bake cookies beforehand, so that each Blackeye got one on arrival - I’m not the best chef so this was quite the challenge. The aim was to show the undoubtedly nervous bunch that there was nothing to worry about, and that they were joining the best house there is.
On the day itself, I got to know the new girls’ names and a bit about them: what year they were in, where they were before, etc. I most enjoyed the quick tour of JIS that we factored into the day, as it meant the new students got a real tour rather than a sugar-coated one. Additionally, meeting the new Year 12s was interesting, as they seemed to have the same kind of doubts and worries that I remember having when I first joined sixth form. I’m glad I was there to reassure them that it’s not as scary or overwhelming as it might seem, and that they’d fit into the JIS way of life really quick. As there were so many girls, the three of us had to divide ourselves up to make sure there was an even ratio and that nobody was overlooked; it required a bit of planning but overall I think we were successful in our goal. :)
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Term 3 Reflection
For your comfort, here is a summary of the stuff I done did this term, and a bit of last term because I can’t remember when exactly Term 2 became Term 3.
Learning Objective 1: Increased awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth
Activity: Going to India for my Duke of Edinburgh award was such an eye opener into just how beneficial doing Bukit Shahbandar is for endurance. Although the altitude was definitely a bit of an obstacle, all those weeks of hiking up and down hills meant that I wasn’t sore after any section of the final expedition. Whilst my fitness was good and the trekking was fine, I noticed that strength is definitely not my strongest (haha, pun intended) asset. Lugging mud bricks to and from the greenhouse made me realise that I was getting tired more quickly than others; if I want to grow in this area, I’d need to start doing more physically straining activities in the future.
Service: I think that by putting in that little bit extra effort, I’ve shown that I am able to make Blackeye have more House spirit. Just by showing enthusiasm with the face paint and sliced oranges, or actually showing up to support the house can have a huge effect on morale, so I want to keep this up next term as I think I can improve it even more and hopefully get the girls in the house to feel a bit more closer to each other.
Learning Objective 2: Undertaking new challenges
Creativity: Singing has definitely been my biggest challenge this year, and I think that I’ve tackled it head on. Grade 8, as the highest level, is naturally difficult, but I passed with merit whilst balancing my workload and other activities. Although I’m still not sure I could get up and sing solo in front of an audience just yet, doing Showcase put me on stage for the first time; at first I was getting anxious over singing one line for a mic-check but by the end of it I wasn’t nearly as bothered.
Activity: Endured an 18 hour bus ride with the same 30 people? Check. Travelled along the Rohtang Pass, one of the most dangerous roads in the world? Check. Adjusted to lower levels of Oxygen? Check. Trekked to the highest post office and beyond? Check. India was full of challenges, and I like to think that, given that I’m alive today, I overcame every single one. As I mentioned earlier, the altitude was the hardest thing to adjust to, as every single action required more effort. Nonetheless, once the initial headaches and queasiness passed, the high altitudes were just part and parcel of the whole expedition, and we just got on with it.
Service: Planning and executing the Shoebox drive had its challenges in organising the school. We relied on the houses to read our emails and follow our instructions, but inevitably there were some hiccups, and things didn’t go to plan. I had to go out and buy extra supplies which could be used to pad out boxes which were looking a bit sad, or the items were inappropriate. The challenge, essentially, was dealing with a large group of people, and we overcame it by using their contributions as a base point before adding our own items to fit the specifications.
As part of the upcoming House Council, it was also a bit of a challenge to step into the shoes of our predecessors - especially as they’re still at school to judge us. Fortunately the council was very supportive and gave us advice on how to be effective in running Blackeye; they agreed that we needed more House spirit, and so that was my challenge. As said in the bit above, I think I successfully achieved this given that it was the end of the year and everyone’s already pretty tired!
Learning Objective 3: Planned and initiated activities or part of an activity
Creativity: One of the best things about Showcase this year was that one of our songs was effectively directed by the girls. As it was inspired by Pitch Perfect, we did it acapella - although we had Miss Marieta there to play supplementary chords in rehearsals so that we could stay in tune. We wanted to make it as true to the original as possible which involved tediously rewinding videos on Youtube after every action and watching so many choreography tutorials. Eventually we figured that the original was too complicated and set about improvising; every girl paired up with another to produce a sound, and it actually turned out pretty good! We also had to choose costumes, being mindful of Brunei’s censorship laws, which was a challenge in itself because everybody needed to be able to bring something appropriate. The final performance did have some errors (like people holding their microphones upside down) but all in all I’m really proud of what we did.
Service: The shoebox drive was an amazing success that we organised ourselves. It was raised that the kids didn’t have basic toys, supplies or hygiene products, and we in the Penan Support group found a way to help alleviate the problem. Collecting over 200 boxes shows that what we did was well received by the school and involved a huge number of people - I definitely think this should be at least an annual if not regular thing that we can do.
Learning Objective 4: Collaborate with others
Creativity: Almost everything in music requires you to work with other people. For my exam, I have to be mindful of the piano, and to make sure that I’m not stepping out of time or pitch. For Showcase, I had to take on parts of songs that I wasn’t all that familiar with so that we produced a good sound when all the parts were put together. It’s not just singing, either - the orchestra, sound technicians and backstage people all work collaboratively to make Showcase such an amazing event.
Action: Duke of Edinburgh hits every single LO. For LO4, it happened on both the expedition and in the residential. In the expedition, it was us against altitude fatigue. I think everybody was empathetic towards anyone who was feeling a bit off, and so we were able to support them through copious amounts of panadol, rehydration salts, and snacks. At the residential, we all had a role to perform with the intention of constructing a greenhouse. The teamwork needed us to communicate with each other so that the work was evenly divided and everybody was comfortable with their job.
Service: The house council is a mix of lots of different people, and we need to be able to work together if we want anything to get done. It’s not just the Blackeye council either: we worked with Ibis for the Leadership training and every other House council to plan for Peace Day.
Learning Objective 5: Shown perseverance and commitment
Creativity: The fact that I was staying at school until 7 on some nights doing Showcase rehearsals, or having extra lessons on weekends in preparation for my singing exam is a testament to the commitment needed for this activity. I think a lot of people assume that, providing you know the song, you can just walk on stage on the day of the performance or the exam and just sing, but there’s a lot more behind the scenes that isn’t appreciated.
Action: The Duke of Edinburgh award requires you to do at least an hour of a Skill, Service and Activity every week; luckily this fits in quite nicely with CAS. I log my activities each week with a little paragraph detailing what I’ve done - this usually includes what I did, what I learnt, and what I’d do differently next week.
Learning Objective 6: Global significance of activity
Action: Stepping out of Brunei and into a remote Himalayan village is already pretty global, as my action was not focused on the local. I also think that by participating in the Duke of Edinburgh international award I’ve been supporting a global cause to get kids outside and doing things that are beneficial to their own communities.
Service: There are hundreds of tribes that are facing or have faced similar issues like the Penan: the Iban, the Ibequois, etc. All of these societies have been or are at risk of being eroded due to other civilisations encroaching onto their land. By being part of the Penan Support group, I would hope that I am showing that these tribes are not facing the struggle alone: there are people who care about their cultures. In the future, I think that we can make this support more public, possibly through the use of social media.
Learning Objective 7: Ethical implications of your actions
Creativity: The ethical implications of my creativity has stemmed from the local customs of Brunei. With fairly strict censorship laws and rules on how to dress and behave publicly, I had to be aware of how I was presenting myself when performing; how I dressed, what I said, how I behaved. In short, the ethical implications of performing were in cultural sensitivity, so as not to offend anybody watching.
Action: At first, I thought the ethical implications of going to Spiti Valley would be ensuring that I behaved appropriately and didn’t inadvertently offend the homestay hosts. Whilst this was true (and I made sure to familiarise myself with local customs, such as leaving some food on my plate to show I was full), there was also the ethics of actually going there. Tourism has had a bit of a negative impact on Spiti, as they cannot cope with the waste generated by tourists. We started to be part of this problem in the amount of bottled water we consumed daily - where do the empty bottles go? Thankfully, Ecosphere had a solution: Lifestraws!
Service: When dealing with the issues of the Penan, it becomes a bit paradoxical: we want to preserve their culture whilst at the same time we are introducing our own ways and products to do so. For the shoebox drive, we made the decision that any items donated should have minimal knock-on effects on the tribe: for example, giving spray deodorant would pollute their environment and mosquito spray would make them less resilient to the bugs.
Learning Objective 8: New or extended skills
Creativity: In doing my Grade 8 singing exam, I had to make my voice familiar with the technicalities. I had to increase my stamina and improve breathing techniques so that I could be strong on long notes, whilst also taking into consideration the general feel of the pieces. I have a tendency to be quite impassive about most things, so one thing I had to improve was the way in which I expressed the piece I was singing. I also think my pronunciation in German, Italian and French has improved.
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THE MAGICAL ADVENTURES OF SPITI AKA DUKE OF EDINBURGH GOLD EXPEDITION [23 June - 13 July 2017]
disclaimer: this post contains a schmidt-ton of photos and babbling
omg
The end of June saw 30-something of us set off on one of the most incredible journeys in the world ever. It took 4 days just for travelling, starting with a plane from Brunei to Singapore, then Singapore to Delhi.
Then came an 18 hour bus ride from Delhi all the way up to Manali, Himachal Pradesh. Although I was asleep for a vast majority of this part of the journey (the bus seats fully recline), I was awake for the moment we passed through Punjab - my home state. The last time I went to India was when I was 2, so I don’t remember much, but it felt almost homely seeing so many Punjabis and Sikhs. This was also the case in Manali, where there were many tourists from Punjab. As we were a big group, many people were interested in why we were there, and I even got to test out my Punjabi with some of them. It was at this point where I realised my Punjabi is not as good as I had originally thought, so that’s something I should probably work on...
See how we all have the same bracelet? That’s bc we’re secretly one big family
Anyways! After the 18 hour journey, we had what should have been a 10 hour trip over the Rohtang pass (one of the most dangerous roads in the world, dontcha know), but actually turned out to be 16. This meant spending 16 hours with the same 8 people in a confined space. And it was C O L D. Luckily, I had prepared us with 15 hours’ worth of absolute bangers, which you can listen to in the link below.
Click Here for the Best Playlist You Ever Did Hear
Fast-forward to our Residential Project! The main reason we came to Spiti Valley was because, due to its geography and location, it has an extreme climate and is cut off from the world for 6 months of the year simply due to snow. As such, the Spitian people need to be self-sufficient for these months, and so we came to help the village of Sagnam build two greenhouses.
The two biggest challenges in the residential were hygiene and exhaustion. Hygiene was a struggle simply because we relied on wet wipe showers to clean ourselves, which never fully got rid of the dirt. As we were over 3000m above sea level, many of us also had issues with altitude sickness, which ranged from headaches to vomiting to hallucinating. Although I only mildly felt the altitude in occasional headaches, none of us were fully prepared for how it would affect our stamina. Because of the lower oxygen levels, every action required much more effort. At one point, we saw what must have been at least a hundred cows, sheep, goats and donkeys being herded back to the village; being stupid, a bunch of us decided to run from our campsite and up the slight hill to the road side. OH MY GOD. We were so out of breath that we had to sit down. This was also true for the actual trek: I’d say that the Silver and Bronze expeditions are actually more physically straining, but simply because of the high altitude our Gold trek took just as long.
Although our worksite was a 15 minute’s walk from the campsite, it was definitely prettier.
Once there, we had to work with each other and divide up the jobs - this could be stressful after a while as there were always grumblings that someone wasn’t pulling their weight. We tackled the issue by rotating jobs every day, and trying to look out for each other to see if anyone was struggling from altitude fatigue. I’m really proud of how we did all look out for each other: I think the fact that the experience was all so unfamiliar to all of us meant that we could really empathise with each other, even with people you’d not normally talk to. This could be seen in my homestay, in which I stayed with two girls outside my close friends circle. They were lovely of course, and we had a lot of fun making Momos (think dumplings but with curry flavoured potato in them) with our Homestay dad, and watching their grandchildren play games on our phones. It was such a strange juxtaposition - we were in a very traditional Spitian house with thatched ceilings, dung-fueled stoves and low benches (which you knelt behind and used it as a table), and then the children were using a smartphone. This was probably the biggest reminder I had that our lives differed so vastly.
The challenge at the Homestay was the language barrier, as neither . We had all become well versed in saying “Julley!” (hello!) to anybody we walked past, but that was the extent of our Spitian. I’ve always liked languages and figured that, since my Punjabi was a lost cause, I’d try giving Spitian a go. I took every opportunity I had to note down any signs with Spitian-English on them, and compiled quite a list - here’s a few main things:
Julley - Hello
Zansung - Thank you (informal)
Thu Ze Che - Thank you (polite)
Man Lay - No Thank you
Shimbotak - It’s tasty
Khamzang Yot Tah? - How are you?
Khamzang - I’m well
Min Chi Yin Nah? - What’s your name?
Mui Minla Surina Serat - My name is Surina
Yot Tah [Woma/Khara/Cha/Chu] - Do you have [Milk/Sugar/Tea/Water]
Cham Yinna? - How much is it?
Dhemo - Surina (beautiful)
The trip was such an eye opener. I remember coming home and looking around my house and thinking about how we have so much. I’ve always thought that I lived a comparatively simple life to some of my friends, but spending 3 weeks in as remote a place as Spiti Valley really put that into perspective. They don’t have much, but they are happy with their lifestyle - but tourism is disrupting that. Land is being used for commercial snow-pea farming instead of subsistence farming for the villagers; plastic bottles are generating huge amounts of waste that they cannot feasibly manage; radio towers are even interrupting sparrow mating calls and affecting their population. We get so caught up in our own issues of not having wifi to tell our families about our experiences that we forget what implementing such infrastructure could do to the Himalayan communities. If I’ve taken anything from this trip, it’s that there’s disparity in lifestyles but that’s okay. Not everywhere needs the same complex systems and technology we’ve come to take for granted. And, actually, it was really refreshing to be able to disconnect for so long.
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Leadership Training (19 June 2017)
I’ve been given the responsibility of Deputy House Captain of Blackeye, and today all House Captains and Deputies were asked to meet in the Boarding House canteen for some leadership and teambuilding activities.
The main aim of the day was to get us communicating and working with each other effectively to succeed in the various games and activities. For the most part, it was all a bit of fun, but there was definitely a feeling of cohesiveness between us - particularly Blackeye and our brother house, Ibis - as we were united in competitiveness. And, in true Blackeye spirit, we’d do our best to do the most with the least effort. One game involved hints surrounding Dracula, wherein the teams had to trade facts to determine the earliest time you could kill him. Complicated stuff. BlackIbis found the most effective way to get ahead was to lie avoid telling the whole truth to other teams... unfortunately that was the tactic of a lot of other groups, too. Still, all in good fun (and we won anyways, just saying).
The second half of the session was devoted to us getting to know our team and our new House Mistress, as our previous House Master is taking on a new role in the school next year. We were able to exchange ideas and already begin planning the year ahead - particularly the next event, which will be Peace Day. We wanted to make sure that whatever role Blackeye takes in the Peace Day events will be impactful and having this day to plan so early in advance was really helpful - it also made me aware of how much I can actually do as part of the leadership team.
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Grade 8 Singing Exam (19 May 2017)
I did it :)
This Friday I took my Grade 8 singing exam, and I passed (with merit)! Going into the exam room was nerve-wracking to say the least, and I could feel my voice shaking as I did my technical pieces. However fortunately, my teacher (who was also my accompanist and thus was able to listen to my pieces) said that my nerves actually gave a vibrato to my voice, which is a good thing!
From the examiner’s report, I need to work on technical facility. Whilst I don’t want to make excuses, I think the whole exam environment and me being nervous may have played a part in that (the examiner described it as ‘tentative’) as I started to overthink things. Whilst that could have helped bump up my overall points, I’m really happy that I achieved a merit and, as Grade 8 is the highest grade, I can now focus on singing for fun rather than always working towards a grade. Taking aural classes definitely helped when it came to the theory test, and I now have a good basis for comprehending music and all the technicalities that I may need to know in the future: dynamics, time signature, articulation, all that.
The biggest challenge was definitely the sight-singing. Unlike with other sight-readings I’ve been forced to endure in clarinet or piano in the past, I can’t read the note, interpret it as ‘C’, move my fingers to the right positioning and the note magically comes out. In sight-singing, you have to be able to pitch the note in your head and then sing it, and if you’re wrong, well... you get 3 out of 10 for it. So now that I’ve established what my strengths and weaknesses are in singing, I can start wearing down the bits I’m not so good at and be happy knowing that there are some things I can do.
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Celebration of Achievement [24 May 2017]
Celebration of Achievement is the annual awards and Year 13 graduation ceremony at JIS. As the year 13s were preoccupied with... well, getting awards, this was the first opportunity the new leadership team (House captains and deputies) had to manage an event and make sure it ran smoothly.
I was tasked with ensuring that our principal was welcomed and seated where he needed to be. This also included making small talk and offering a programme of events and tea/coffee. Once this task was completed, I busied myself with helping the other students in their jobs, as some looked a bit overwhelmed. I helped usher parents in from the foyer into the auditorium and reminded them where their seats were; I think some of the other students were a bit nervous about talking directly to parents and instructing them on what to do, though I had no problems with that.
Having to communicate with such a big group of people to make sure the night ran smoothly got a little complicated at times, but the evening went well and really gave me a taste of what next year will be like! In addition to all that, I also took it upon myself to give our Blackeye girls a huge cheer when it was their turn, as it was the last time they’d be around before going on study leave. 💔
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House Basketball [13 April 2017]
This week’s House Sport was basketball, and I thought I’d try it out (despite having never played before). Naturally, with our MVP Shing, Blackeye actually did exceedingly well. But as a team we played cohesively and communicated effectively to make sure that the ball stayed with us, and I think that majorly contributed to our success.
Most importantly in my own opinion, however, was the team spirit we had. I’ve been given the responsibility of Deputy House Captain, and one of the things I really wanted to improve about Blackeye was our vibe as a team - because unfortunately, we’re seriously lacking in that particular field. The way I proposed we did this was through face paint: yellow and black, of course. Every team member and supporter got a yellow and black stripe on both cheeks, and a yellow nose for good measure. Suddenly, our team looked like exactly that: a team.
I was a bit apprehensive to actually play, so for the first half of the matches I busied myself with touching up face paint and applying it to any late arrivals. I summoned up the courage to play midway through one of the matches by subbing in for one of the players in defence. It was a bit of a struggle to remember that I was playing basketball and not netball, which meant I could run with the ball (provided I dribbled it too), but after a few hiccups I actually got in the swing of things, and we ended up winning that match! Fatin and I also took time out of school to cut up orange slices (somehow I don’t think lemons - which are more Blackeye in colour - would’ve been as well received) so that we were super motivated and had something refreshing after playing. We qualified for the finals with a 5-2 win against Whistler, so yay for that. :)
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The Nude, The Ugly, and the Genetically Modified: Lunchtime Lecture [18 April 2017]
As it’s Earth Week, the school is focused on our impact on the planet. I was given the opportunity to speak in front of the school about the various problems we face today when making choices about the food we consume in the lunchtime lecture. I personally talked about the massively important issue of excessive Food Packaging... the solution being ‘Nude’ food. As I take Environmental Systems and Societies, I already knew a bit about the harm that excess packaging can have on the environment and was keen to share the facts with the school.
Giving a lecture meant I had to do further research into the topic, and I was surprised at just how harmful our packaging habits really are. Everything from the chemicals that leech out of them to the packaging design as a whole has an adverse affect on our environment, which is in a bad enough state as it is (Thanks, Trump). Whilst talking about the issues is good, taking action is even better. We teamed up with the Eco-JIS club to wear down encourage the canteen staff to abandon the plastic containers and wrappers (which are used on everything from sandwiches to plastic bags containing 5 grapes) in favour of reusable plates, cups, and much more environmentally friendly banana leaves instead. I don’t know how long it’ll last, but it’s a step in the right direction anyways!
It was a really fulfilling experience to both plan and execute a project about something as all-encompassing as food, but I’d like to think we were successful. Teachers, friends and even Dennis made an appearance to support the lecture, and we did what might possibly have been the biggest Kahoot at school to date. I’d never had the chance to give a talk to such a large audience, and - even if our options are somewhat limited in Brunei - I think it’s safe to say we gave them a lot of food for thought (pun absolutely intentional).
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