The Bubblegum and Lime

18th National LaSallian Leaders Convention 2008.
BARE in mind that this review of the 18th National LaSallian Leaders Convention is from personal experiences plus maybe a little added things that are from other people with little memory of it. Upon reaching there, we were greeted by friendly OTs, as far as I remember; Tammy the cute photographer, the other Ben & a Bro. from Singapore who asked us how we Sarawakians got here. Obviously the answer was "planes" but I was tempted to answer "we rode here on dolphins with our luggages on our backs ..." :)

" Is there any pure breed from Borneo?!?! "

To get everyone to know everyone, we had icebreakers and games after the welcoming, and I noticed that every game, every sharing and every groupings, we were all grouped randomly in order to get to know everyone. And I remember on the first day we were introduced to reflections and the voice of which I only realised that the voice was actually Prita at the end of the convention haha! :) So the second day was all about breaking personal walls and sessions of course includes lots and lots of sharing and one of the most touching stories came from John O. , it was about a boy who had an arguement with his mum about a handphone, all because he bought it himself. His mum took his handphone because he was using it excessively and neglecting his studies.

" It can be a powerful experience. "

He was pissed with his mum and demanded money in return by putting a note by her bedroom door. However his mum came to his room and gave him back his handphone saying that if she had the money, she would give it to him instead of the handphone so he could concentrate on his studies. But instead she gave him back his handphone and telling him that she hopes he studies hard and does not neglect his studies even though he has his handphone back. The arguement ended with his mum giving him a kiss. It was one of those moments where he was just speechless. His mum passed away shortly after. That's as far as I can remember John O.'s story, and I couldn't believe he'd admit that the boy is actually him, he's definitely a tough cookie.

" For them the question is 'will we eat today?' , but for us, the question is 'what will we eat today?' "

There were 3 workshops to choose from, and I had chosen Movement instead of Drama and Mime. Choulyew was with me in Movement. So our speaker, Michael thought us dance moves from the 30's to the 90's and played the pillow game, where you have to use your imagination to do something to the pillow. But the catch is, you are going to do whatever you did to the pillow to the person on your right. I was being used as a camera and i rode Sarveen as a horse, a rodeo :) Phew thank god i knew that coming, or I'd be doing something silly, like someone as far as I remember, he was unzipping and using the pillow as a toilet bowl for shitting and peeing. Not so fancy doing that on the person on your right. Especially if the person on your right is a gal haha! :) Next, free time that day was filled with silly jokes and games, coming from Singapore and Kuching, my my these people have alot of weird stuff going in their heads. Joy was all over the lobby.

" Am I sexyyyy?!?! "

By the way, there was this walking around the LaSalle Centre blindfolded and barefoot with no one to hold. My experience from this blind walk was; I did feel a little fear, having no one to hold on to and not knowing whats ahead of you because you can feel sand on your feet, plants all around you, chairs and tables as obstacles and you never know if there is a drain coming right ahead. But what I learnt is that, in times like these, you need t trust the people around you, those leading you in front if you actually had someone to follow behind, and you need to trust those who tell you what to do and where to go. Well, except those who say "The next obstacle is going to be hard, if you to quite now, you can do so ..." I'm happy I finished the whole walk being blindfolded! :) Later was the Heritage Play,

" ... shota shota! ... my firsth everr chineseh moviee ..."

one of the best plays I have ever seen! Just pure inspiring! :) The next day was all about breaking society walls, reaching out to people in the society. We had to present our exposure trips, so we shared about the one we went in Kampung Stutong. What strucked me most was the fact that it was a pretty run down kampung in the middle of BDC area. I mean, why so run down when everything around it is luxurious, it's like the people there are very much neglected. Okay, even some houses need wooden bridges to get there, and those bridges look like they are about to fall anytime.

" How many of you would invite someone you don't know to your house and let him them sleep with you? "

In the afternoon we had more of Movement, playing about and exploring the body. No, I dont mean exploring the body, body!! I mean exploring different positions of the body, being creative, all these in doing mirroring. Hehe, trust me, this one is fun. But too bad for me cause on that day my creativity wasnt kicking. Next the "Hi LaSalle, Yes LaSalle, Tell LaSalle" game was kinda interesting. We had to say that with the people on our right and left and those who made mistakes will add a dot on their heads. The more mistakes you make, the more dots you have on your forehead, and was definitely laughing at Brandon saying "Yes six dots?" to Jason. Hilarious! I had only one dot. "Hi LaSalle, Yes One Dot, Tell LaSalle." :) And then finally, the workshop presentation. We had to create a story out of a dance, by using the movement of your body. Rather different from Mime and Drama.

" ... they're just ... sexually-imbalanced."

Mime did movements based on the lyrics of their songs, and drama did a little sketch, a sketch whereby the main actor wasnt speaking but instead other people spoke for them. I think the mime with the song "bad day" was the best performance :)

" ... superman kinda thing ... "

Service Learning was next, after all the talks and sessions, it comes down to the real deal. I went to Yayasan somethingsomething Insan Istimewa where the residents were more of a down-syndrome kind of people. I noticed that some of the down-syndrome people were taking the role of an assistant caretaker, who someway or another took care of the rest, eg. send them their lunch plates. One of the hardest part of it was communication, they either speak mandarin, cantonese or they dont speak at all. I was with this old lady who didn't speak a single word, and she gets amused by us taping her hands and swinging it around, and she would just look at you and smile. I did that for about 45 minutes, and I wonder how she gets amused by that for that long, haha.

"AWESOME."

I fed her her lunch next and after that it was time to go back to LaSalle Centre. A LaSallian-Olympic style games were next and we played typical games, I was expecting something better than running with a spoon in my mouth and a pingpong ball in the spoon. Something more like everyone getting from one end to another on a bunch of chairs. Later that evening, Solidarity Lasalliana was something pretty unique, something like a mega-reflection. A reflection where we all read a letter from LaSalle himself.

" Grace is like the wind, those who open the sail only will move forward. "

To me it was a pretty sad letter because we had to think back of the past few days, the stories we heard, the things we've done, and that evening's dinner was a bit different. We ate only plain rice and cabages, alongside a cup of plain water. Different in the sense that we ate yummy meals for the past few days with second helpings.

" This is not the end, this is the begining. "

The meal that evening resembles the meal that most poor people would eat; simple plain rice with salt and another dish, usually some vegetables. What I liked about the meal that it was in pure darkness, we ate under the moonlight in the basketball courts. Next we were brought to a showroom with a video recording, for a real life experience of people by the streets begging you for money, people scared and alone. It does actually get you thinking.

" Ah Czhai! Mummy cook chiken rlice fo yu! "

There was a leaf plate with 3 things on it, lime, sugar and bittergourd. Part of our meal I'd say, and those little things on the plate brought us to the bitter times we had when we argued with loved ones, the bitter sights that we've seen, the sour moments of our lives and the sweet memories that we have encounteted, may it be with friends, family or people you dont even know. A reflection. After that we ate a spoonfull of rice, all of us, from the same pot :)

" FREE HUGS."

Everyone seemed to knew that the 4th day was going to be a memorable day, and I remember people hugging each other and taking photos even before the Cultural Night. It was all mingles throughout that day. So just before the big night, we were putting on our traditional costumes, and unlucky me who hasnt got a cawat to put on. I'd rather be in that compared to being in some ugly, smelly black outfit that didnt even fit me in the first place. I kinda liked Daniel's golden cloth though.

" NO MORE FREE HUGS. 10 CENTS PER HUG. "

And yes, I still rather have my cawat falling off instead of that outfit. Cultural was pretty much filled with everyone dancing all nite, with Varun doing a second shot at his movies. Oh wait, I didnt tell you about his chinese movie he did at the begining of the convention. It was hilarious because of its cheap shot movie, very chinese-like where everything is done with minimal spending of money.

" There's this little boy who asked me to kiss him on the cheek, and that's just what I did ... They just need someone to show them that someone cares. "

His second shot was more of a musical. By the way, the Singaporeans did a very good job on their Pretty Woman song. And getting to join them on the dance floor was pretty amusing and fun! haha! :) Well, so I realised that some of them had actually danced that in a previous occassion, so they thaught the dance to the rest. HILARIOUS DANCE! :)

" I went to St. Xavier's, then to St. Michael's, then to St. Joseph's Kuching, then to St. Joseph's Singapore, then to St. Patrick's, then where did I go next? "

At the end of the nite, everyone was hugging, taking pictures, writing affirmations, playing wasabili in the wee hours of the nite, drinking coffee twice to stay awake, late nite chitchats, and practically no one was asleep until about 5.45am where after that, the lobby was pretty much empty haha :) As the hugging part, I dont think I hugged everyone of them. but I can say I hugged alot of people I dont really know. It's funny to see guys hugging guys in this occassion. I suppose the only reason for guys to be a bit ghay and hug other guys is when they have experiences like these, a once in a lifetime experience. By the way, after that was more dancing and literally dancing in one line circling the room haha! :)

" ... why are we waiting?! why are we waiting?! ... "

Next day, our day was cut short. We Sarawakians had to leave pretty early. It was all tears. Really. I was teary having to leave such an experience like this. Partly because Daniel and Gabriel was hugging each other in tears. And I'd remember Sanjee going ... "c'mon man ..." ... Pretty hilarious thinking about it now. Probably he was one of those who stayed out helping us with the luggages and waving goodbye as we head for the train station. Almost missed the train by the way haha! :) What I've learn? To be more open minded and with that, I'm sure the world needs a little more help. Break Walls, Build Bridges! :)