•:*:• Senior Year CAS •:*:•

•:*:• Senior Year CAS •:*:•

Hey internet peeps, I'm back! And guess what? That's right, it's around that time of year when I have to write up new CAS goals... and this time the goals are for Senior Year! Such excite, much wow (no sarcasm intended). I'm really quite excited to get a lot out of CAS this year so full steam ahead!

So yeah, first things first, if anyone knows where the quote on the top of the page came from ( "before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" ) well then, love and hugs and much kudos to you because yes, Captain America 2 : TWS was epic :D I reckon it was the best Marvel Phase 2 movie by far, but, I haven't watched Guardians of the Galaxy yet so I wouldn't know. I can already tell that this is going to be a great year aside from my ramblings :)

Now, uhhh, where was I with the CAS stuff? Oh yeah, I have to make my goals! Cool beans. To begin with, considering that I have a good idea of what I want to do for Action already, I think I'll write about that before moving onto Creativity and Service. Here goes...

*:•Action•:*

This year I really want to make the most of my opportunities with sports so I'm planning on trying out for at least one sport every season. I'm thinking of beginning with Volleyball, preferably SAISA, which is a sport I've never played competitively before. Still, I don't mind since I have casually played it with my friends and have enjoyed the sport. Hopefully this will give me a chance to undertake new challenges and develop new skills. I'd also like to take the opportunity to work with a brand new group of people which is an added bonus.

For the next season I was thinking of joining SAISA Football. I've played footy for as long as I can remember, since grade 6 I think which is a pretty long time since I've played it every year since I began. I'm hoping that if I make the team this year it'll help increase my awareness of strengths and areas for growth. It'll also be me showing perseverance and commitment toward the sport given how long I've played it for. I honestly can't wait for footy season because it is my one true love when it comes to sports <3 I normally play Defense, usually center or left, so I've already started getting my fitness up for it (after a lazy summer) by running with my dog an hour every day. I really really really want to make this team even if I don't make volleyball.

This could be me... if only I watched the World Cup :P

(And no, I don't watch FIFA, I only play footy)

The final season I will be playing will be Badminton again, hopefully, but that will depend on when exams are and how my studies are going given hat Badminton season is quite close to the final IB exams. I'd hate to trip up on my exams just because I was playing around so it'll have to be a well thought out decision. I'm also considering Basketball, a sport that I've played on and off, as well as Throwing in Track and Field but meh, I stopped playing them because I didn't like them so I don't want to go for them unless I can't make another team. So that's my backup plan...

*:•Service•:*

For service there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will sign up for Alzheimer's Association again. That group was the first activity I did for CAS here and was so far the only activity that really connected with me. I just felt so much for the Alzheimer's patients and connected with some them on a level that makes me feel compelled to go back and continue helping. It's hard for me to explain but this service activity is one that I looked forward to every week and I want to keep looking forward to it this year.

I think that this year in Alzheimer's will be a great year as Anjleen has asked me to help in planning and initiating activities for the group to do with the patients. As the only Sinhala speaking student of the group I feel like I could help get some of the Sinhala speaking ladies more involved in the activities and I hope to do so more and more this year. I'll also be directly tackling an issue of global importance given that Alzheimer's is a condition that every country in the world is faced with and really is something that people should me made more aware of.

Somewhat along those lines, I suspect that whilst working in this service group that I will come face to face with ethical implications specially in the way we present the condition and handle the patients. We have to keep in mind that the patients are people, with feeling, and not lose patients when they repeat the same things. I need to learn to gently steer conversation away from certain topics and refocus the Alzheimer patients attention on the task at hand. It's often hard for me to be patient because I need things done as soon as possible but at the same time this is a good challenge for me as it helps me identify areas for growth. It's a challenge I'm willing to take however given that it's a cause I'm passionate about.

*:•Creativity•:*

I've decided to sign up for creativity only when the Drawing Club rolls around toward the end of the year because I haven't really seen anything that catches my eye. However, if I do find an interesting looking group in the ASA choices I might just sign up. I guess you'll have to wait and see what happens. Whatever I do end up choosing, specially if it's a drawing initiative then I want to focus on exploring issues of global importance and their ethical implications through the use of art. You know, if it's possible. I guess I'll have to just update/edit creativity as it goes along :)

So little peeps, it's time for me to go for my run and do some (more) bio -_- I guess I'll catch you next time so hang tight, stay awesome and heil hydra ;)

(I swear if you get these references I will love you forever <3 )

☜♥☞ Final CAS Reflection ☜♥☞

☜♥☞ Final CAS Reflection ☜♥☞

So I finally got all the pictures to do this post~!

(On a side note, some of the things on this aren't my 

scheduled creativity activity but it was still a 

learning experience so I decided to put it in)

Alzheimer's Service:

As you can see, these are the photos from the beginning of the year right till our last service. I only just realised how much we've done and I think it's amazing that we really got to get down to level with this issue of global importance because it's a rare opportunity we have to do this.

These were really creative activities we did as part of the Alzheimer's group. We had every thing from baking cookies to painting cloth which in itself is a brand new thing to do, a new skill to learn.

 

And then we had dancing which wasn't really action but it was movement nonetheless. 

With this we had to work collaboratively with each other in order to make the dance

a success and quite often we ended up having to practice a few times which showed 

perseverance and commitment to the activity we chose to do.

To be honest, I wasn't here for the beginning of the year to write down proper goals for the service activity, however, I knew that I as a person tend not to be able to socialize as much as others and I had hoped in taking part in this activity, I would be able to reach out to others and connect with them. I like to think that I have fully achieved this because just from the monthly visits, I have made friends with some of the patients, two of whom that remember me after a few minutes of conversation. That in itself was a huge deal for me and made me feel so proud of all the work we've done.

 The two top pictures show planning and initiating activities when we sat down every Thursday to discuss our previous Alzheimer's visit and plan for the next one. Below those is a picture of the entire group, the people that we had to again, work collaboratively in order to get the best out of our meetings.

 Creativity:

For creativity I've been continuing with drawing club which is, as always, one of the best activities that I signed up for. Lately I've been moving away from my comfort zones and exploring areas for growth by working with poster paints and not only sticking to my usual pencil/charcoal combination. Here's the latest piece I've done (you can see my art supplies in the background~!) :

As you can see, the first sketch I did for the piece began in black and white pencil which simply highlighted my awareness of strengths and weaknesses, strengths mostly in this case. Then came the actual painting in black and white poster paints which was completely new and a great way of  improving weaknesses and developing new skills by way of using new media for my art. Also with new skills, I worked on the blended shades for the woman's face and contrasting, block shading for the man which was a new concept for me. This was the final product, not as great as I'd like it but not too bad nonetheless.

The previous piece I did was the best by way of developing new skills  because the piece below is a mixed media piece using watercolour paint, masking tape, tracing paper, watercolour paper, liner pens, sharpie and even normal pencil. It was just a huge experiment in figure (human figure) and I think with this piece I truly managed to achieve my goals.

So yes, this picture was the most important for me not because I liked how it came out particularly, but rather because I achieved my goals of working with new media forms that truly tested my skills (try drawing on masking tape!) and explored perspective in human anatomy which is actually something that I'm freaking happy about :D

Action:

My final action post can be found in the link below but this an extract from it...

I am, forever grateful and so flipping thrilled that I had a chance to play for the school team on such an international tournament. Through badminton not only did I manage to increase awareness of my strengths and areas of growth, but I also got to show perseverance and commitment  all whilst undertaking new challenges. I developed new skills and learnt to work collaboratively with others which means not only my own team but all the other teams, coaches and referees. I really had the time of my life. Through the wins and losses and deafening cheering, through the ups and downs and laughs and tears, I regret nothing. I made friends with some of the most amazing people I've had the pleasure of meeting both on and off the court, learnt what true sportsmanship is about, improved my game for the benefit of myself as well as the team and even learnt to wake up on time to make our practice schedule! So many things done and none of them do I regret.

 Other:

So, this is the post that isn't strictly school approved creativity but I thought it was good creativity nonetheless... so I decided to put it up :)

Have you ever watched Star Wars? Perhaps you're a fanboy or fangirl. Either way, you must have heard of May the Fourth Be With You~! It's this one day (May 4th) where people dress up in Star Wars type costumes and just go out to Cosplay. There's not a big following for this in Sri Lanka but hey, it was worth a shot, so a couple of my friends and I decided to try it out. This is what we got.

The thing about Cosplaying in Sri Lanka is that getting merchandise is hard. It's near impossible to be honest and with the work we end up doing for school and extra-curriculars, it's hard to even get time to go merch hunting. So the only option for Cosplayers is to make their own gear. For me, this was a way to increase awareness of strengths and areas for growth because I know (from previous Cosplaying experience) that I can make weaponry, armour, whatnot but costume making is incredibly difficult for me. 

In doing May the Fourth I had to undertake the challenge of making Anakin Skywalker's robes (before he turned to the Dark Side) which was undertaking a new challenge. The making of the light-saber however, was pretty easy because I do make swords, knives and other such equipment. The robes got to me though, it was a lot harder than I reckoned it would be... 

(note; I'm not in full kit here as these pictures were taken after the actual event)

The best part, I thought, was the face make-up though. Anakin has this scar on his face and I really wanted to make it look like a fresh scar, like he was just cut up so I had to play around with face paint for that. I developed a new skill by doing this because never had I ever done face-paint before. I thought it came out pretty well though despite the several washing on a putting on sessions I had to endure. It was so worth it though~!

Till next time, rock on little dudes \m/ 

۩۩.. A Slightly More Serious Affair..۩۩

۩۩ . . . A Slightly More Serious Affair . . . ۩۩

... getting down to business...

Creativity  
..........(¯`v´¯)
...........`•.¸.•´
.........(●̮̮̃•̃)..(●̮̮̃•̃)
......... /█\ ♥/█\

 I believe that in my pursuit of art (my version of the pursuit of happiness) by joining the after-school Drawing Club is one of the best after-school activities I've ever joined. I've been drawing privately for several years now, for as long as I can remember really, and in actively continuing this activity and taking time out of other commitments to continue drawing and painting shows how much art means to me. It shows how seriously I take my painting (no-one touch my art supplies!) and displays perseverance and commitment. As well as carrying through with  my initial attempts at making fabulous new art, being in the Drawing Club also meant that I have a chance to develop new skills.

This is actually a really great thing in my opinion because quite often I stick to what I can do which is honestly one of my biggest faults. It limits creativity! I use a lot of pencil and charcoal and sometimes watercolours because that's what I'm used to but in going to this club I've had the opportunity to try new media and play around with new concepts. The Drawing Club also makes me well aware of areas for growth because I'm starting to focus on human figure and anatomy. In drawing the (realistic) human figure I have to perfect posture and perspective and build upon the basics I already have from cartooning.

Here's the first picture I completed at Drawing Club:

This is actually an... I don't know... it's a strange picture. When it first started out it was done in a variety of HB pencil with delicate shading like I always draw people but then it kind of escalated. I mean that in a good way, how I grabbed crepe paper and meshed it into the colours you see, but it was a sort of breaking experience because if you look closer the jawline of the face says 'No Fumez Pas'. That's 'No Smoking' in French, somewhat of a touch subject for me because my dad smokes. It's cool though, that in discovering a new media I discovered my true feelings about this issue...

Anyway, I hate how you can't feel or even really see the texture in this but the original thing has ridges and bumps over the colour and the mess of black whilst the woman remains smooth. It was actually a really cool experience making this because even the outline of the woman was done in crepe paper rolled up and set to the right shape using copious amounts of glue.

I'm really excited for the next class as well though 'cus I can't wait to explore more art and figure drawing. I already know the concept of what I basically want to do, I just have to do it~!

Action:

......(\_/)
......( '_')
..../""""""""""""\======░
/"""""""""""""""""""\
\_@_@_@_@_@_/

Hey, hey, hey guess what?
 I figured out my action :)

So the plan is this... given that I go running with my dog every other day for at least an hour I figured I could count that time as my weekly action hours~! I was thinking I could also take some cool pictures of my neighborhood if I see anything worth photographing so I'd stay creative whilst on the run. This won't be an entirely new activity for me, running that is, but it'll be considered undertaking a new challenge because I could improve how long I run for as opposed to walk for. Say I start at 5 minutes running at 55 mins walking, I'll try to even out that ratio eventually by setting a 50/50 ratio as my goal.

And yes, these two labradors will be my running partners for 30 minutes each...
At least I'll have something to run for~!

Service:

(\__/)
(>’.’< )
(")_(")

I'm pretty sad to see our Alzheimer's Service activity drawing to a close but on a positive note, we have one more visit before we finish up I reckon. We've already planned and initiated an activity for this meeting by agreeing to draw out seasonal festival (summer, winter, autumn and spring) themed picture posters for the Alzheimer's patients to colour. I think this is a great activity to carry out because the elderly people really enjoy painting and colouring and they quite like it when we're there to talk to them whilst they take part in the activity. I suppose I'll be showing that I can work collaboratively with others  here when I have to maneuver around and with my fellow students and in helping the patients.

The biggest thing I like about Alzheimer's Service is that we really get to be up close and personal with an issue of global importance each time we reach out to help make the day brighter for the patients. Since Alzheimer's can affect anyone, anytime, anywhere, it really is a condition that people need to know how to handle. In taking part in this Service activity I get to understand how to communicate with Alzheimer's patients and this knowledge will, hopefully, prove useful in other countries and in other situations.

Beyond that, the Alzheimer's Service Group also offers a chance for me consider ethical implications in my everyday life. Do we not, as the younger, more able, more apt generation, have a duty to help the elderly, those who may be hindered in any way and/or need assistance? I like to believe that we as people have the responsibility to reach out to those that need a friendly and and I am glad to say that Alzheimer's offers me a chance to do so.







Mark my words, I'll be back in this service next year no doubt~!

 
Picture Post~!


Real quick, before I finish this post, I do believe I owe you some picture spam for my previous Action activity (which would have been SAISA Badminton if I'm not mistaken). I just have a quick note before we get down to the actual pictures...

I am, forever grateful and so flipping thrilled that I had a chance to play for the school team on such an international tournament. Through badminton not only did I manage to increase awareness of my strengths and areas of growth, but I also got to show perseverance and commitment  all whilst undertaking new challenges. I developed new skills and learnt to work collaboratively with others which means not only my own team but all the other teams, coaches and referees. I really had the time of my life. Through the wins and losses and deafening cheering, through the ups and downs and laughs and tears, I regret nothing. I made friends with some of the most amazing people I've had the pleasure of meeting both on and off the court, learnt what true sportsmanship is about, improved my game for the benefit of myself as well as the team and even learnt to wake up on time to make our practice schedule! So many things done and none of them do I regret.

Well, that was a fairly long note for a short note...
On to the pictures~!

 Our amazing team whom I have grown to love <3 And of course Mr. Andreas and Mr. Pradeep who were awesomesauce coaches~!

 Us girls, chillin' like villians... What a motley crew! Love 'em to death :P

 Chillin' like villians between games :)

 Just casually floating in mid-air . . . :D

 I don't even know...

 My doubles partner (Sam) who may have graduated this year but will always be in my OSC memories. We click!

 Sam in action, ain't she pro? :D

 I don't even... I don't know what to say about this except I'm sorry for whoever had to photograph me :P

 And all the OSC buddies :)


Huuuge thanks to Celina who took all the amazing SAISA pics.
Give her some love guys <3


 .(....\............../....)
. \....\........... /..../
...\....\........../..../
....\..../´¯.I.¯`\./
..../... I....I..(¯¯¯`\
...I.....I....I...¯¯.\...\
...I.....I´¯.I´¯.I..\...)
...\.....` ¯..¯ ´.......'
....\_________.·´

Peace out and rock on little dudes XD

(In case anyone was interested : in the time it took to write this post I went through Fall Out Boy's 'Save Rock and Roll' album three times. Three whole times on repeat. It's a great album in case anyone's wondering. I recommend it.)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Plans for the Rest of the Semester Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

 Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Plans for the Rest of the Semester Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Wait, before we begin, do you like my butterflies?

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Teehee, I really like them :)

........ (●̮̮̃•̃)..(●̮̮̃•̃)

......... /█\ ♥/█\ 

.... Creativity:

Sooo... guess who joined Drawing Club?

Yupp, I did :)

I'm actually really excited for this because quite often I don't have enough time to just sit down, relax and draw y'know? But now with this activity I'll be able to really dedicate some of my time to quality drawing.

With Drawing Club I'll be able to sped time working on my techniques like water colour ('cus I'm pretty handy with those) but I'm actually looking forward to exploring some new media. For example, I want to start a study in ink and paper mache and make a series of pictures (probably faces and figures) with that.

I also plan on working on my figure drawing, how to draw people in poses with a focus on anatomy because I believe that the human body is one of the most beautiful, complex natural structures. A pastel colour study that isolates muscle groups or a poster colour one that focuses on dark and light would be ideal/

Basically, I want to further the techniques I've already learnt and learn how to do more with different media as with the paper mache and texture.

(\_/)
(°.°)
c(")(")

Action:

I'm actually very mildly concerned about this to be honest. I know my action is covered by badminton but after this tournament badminton is done. That means that I'll have no action hours :O

I mean. it really shouldn't be a problem considering that I go out running with my dog every other day and I'm usually out for and hour or so, but it's not really supervised action so I'm not entirely sure where that's headed. I'll have to find a trainer or something to sort out action unless my mom can sign off on it...

I guess I'll have to figure something out for next time...

๑۩۩.. ๑۩۞۩๑ ..۩۩๑

Service:

Ah yes, Alzheimer's. There's nothing to say really since our meeting is at the end of today but I'm afraid that I'll have to miss this one because I have to take my host people from Chennai home. We're going to be discussing next week's visit thought so I don't think I'll miss much. Other than that we'll be discussing the movie night, which again I'm not there for because of SAISA so there's really nothing for me to do either way. I guess I'll update with the next visit :)

.(....\............../....)

. \....\........... /..../
...\....\........../..../
....\..../´¯.I.¯`\./
..../... I....I..(¯¯¯`\
...I.....I....I...¯¯.\...\
...I.....I´¯.I´¯.I..\...)
...\.....` ¯..¯ ´.......'
....\_________.·´

Rock on dudes, I'll post more later :D
( and yes, the promised picture post is coming )

I must admit though, that this post was mostly there for me to fiddle with all those little symbols 'cus I'm strange like that. Pictures make me happy XD

✉ Service and Action Update ✉

✉ Service and Action Update ✉

☼ Alzheimer’s Service Visit ☼

a.k.a : the tea party

This month for our Alzheimer’s Center visit, we planned to have a tea party for the patients. We organized food like cucumber sandwiches and cupcakes and cream crackers as well as organized tea from the center itself. We even printed out little menu cards and dressed in black and white to be pretend waiters and really get into the mood of the ‘Sunshine Café’ as we called our little venture.

For my part, I was in charge of making and baking 60 to 80 tiny chocolate and vanilla muffins. I set up my day so that I could bake the day before the trip and then ice them in the morning before our actual visit. In the end, I managed to make about 70 cupcake (40 chocolate and 30 vanilla) all prepared and given to the group the morning of the visit so that they wouldn’t be stale or soggy.

  The actual activity, in talking to the ladies and being their waitresses, was a hit. The older people liked pretending that they were in a hotel and they found it funny that we were serving them, playing along. I guess it might have reminded them of their childhood and pretend games. Most of the ladies were happy to eat anything they were given and one of them (my favourite Francesca again ~ ! ) even wrapped up a few cupcakes to take back to her friends which I thought was amazingly sweet.

Once the feasting died down, it was time for us to dance! ABBA songs were played on a little CD/radio player and with a little coaxing, some of the patients were willing to dance. I think this was a good experience because this time around, there was a new lady called Rosemary, younger than the other patients, who was convinced that she couldn’t dance. With a little nagging on my part she finally got up, took a risk, and walked onto the dance floor. It was awesome to see that she was willing to step out there and for the rest of the dancing time I spent with her busting a move and getting the other ladies to join in. It was actually a lot less embarrassing and a lot more fun than I thought it would be!

The day was rounded off with a rousing game of snakes and ladders and a memory (picture matching) game. It was really cool to see how the patients were happy with some of the smallest things like finding a matching pair of pictures, or climbing a ladder in snakes and ladders. Whilst playing the board games I got talking to the patients and Rosemary told me that what we did was a great thing, especially for the older patients as it brought a lot of joy and fun into the life. She kept commenting that it made everyone happy and that it was something that was unusual and interesting.

In asking her about dressing up and fancy dress she simply laughed and said that would be nice… next time maybe, I think?

Most definitely!

➹ ISAC Badminton ➹

in regards to the upcoming tournament

Well, I haven’t talked about badminton for a while now have I…? Hmmm, I haven’t talked about it very often actually… so here goes ~ !

First up, we have our ISAC tournament coming up on Friday. Like this Friday. Which is to say that on the 25^th through to the… ummm… 27^th, we’re going to be playing the first proper tournament. Honestly, I’m a little worried because despite all the training we’ve done, we’ve never seen the other teams play so we don’t know how good or bad they’ll be. Singles will be tough, girls’ singles less so (since you have a partner to cover your back after all!) and mixed doubles will be… interesting to say the least as we’ve spent the least time practicing mixed. 

You know what, I take my original statement back, I’m really worried, and nervous, about the entire tournament. Despite every competition I’ve taken part in, despite having experience, it’s always daunting to have to actually compete and it’s harder still when it’s you and your wits, your judgment, and no-one else to back you up as in singles. *shudder* I’d hate to make a fool of myself, or even worse, make a fool of our team by fouling or something equally stupid y’know?

Anyway, on a more positive note, I got a new racquet a while back, lighter than my previous one (which was about 5 years old :P ) and I can see a difference in my playing, how I need less strength for the same shot and how it feels like the racquet is simply an extension of my hand. It feels natural and I’m hoping that works for my advantage… 

And I’m rambling. 

Ehem…

Other than that, we’ve been doing some last minute training for specific weaknesses such as short serves and smashes and I think it’s been helping. Working with the coaches (and the awesome tatted parent ~!) has really helped with improving specific parts of our playing as well as given us the confidence to play with and against better players.

Here’s hoping that we do well this week!

[ I do realize that this was a wholly writing post so I'll put together an entirely picture post for next time :) ]

✧ ✦ Of my Goals and Learning Outcomes in CAS... which are apparently quite important ✦ ✧

¤ Introduction ¤

Sooo, I figured that, after talking to Mr. Lockwood, that I need to actually list out my individual goals and learning outcomes for each of my CAS activities. Apparently that's how it works so here goes my attempt at voicing what I want as an outcome from my CAS experience. In case anyone is confused by the formatting it's all separated out by activity.

Goals are spades ♠
Outcomes are clubs ♣

(If you didn't realize by my earlier posts, I'm pretty specific on formatting my posts so excuse all the symbols and fancy things but they make me happy ^^ )

 

♥ Alzheimer's Awareness ♥

Creativity and Service at it's finest

♠ 

to better myself as a listener and care-giver by keeping the patients amused
to learn to care for the elderly in their harder times as they've cared for us 
to learn respect and patience and guidance when dealing with the elders
 to be able to handle this type of situation in the future without hesitation
 to be able to interact with, support and understand Alzheimer's patients

♣

confidently approaching and talking to the elderly without feeling awkward or shy
overlooking able-ism in its many forms and not discriminating based on the elders memory span
gaining a sense of responsibility towards the old and ageing in our community
raising my own and others awareness towards the global issue of Alzheimer's

Through the Alzheimers Awareness service project I want to better myself as a person by helping out with some of the less fortune elders in out society. I want to understand how to care for these people and be better prepared for a situation in the future where I may find myself similarly equipped to handle such a disorder.

For the Creativity part I will be focusing on how we go and dance for the elderly and how we initiate and take part in crafts making such as paper bowl painting and making paper mache bowls for the enjoyment of the Alzheimer's patients.

❉ Badminton ❉

Action for all

♠
to better my own badminton prowess with focus on more skilled shots such as drops and smashes
to learn to judge the character and strength/weaknesses of a player to better my game
to help other players better themselves whilst training and in practice
to learn respect on and off the court as well as sporting manners
 to be able to be a appreciate a loss as much as a win

♣

playing a game or set to the best of my ability regardless of the opposition
playing to the best of my skill level, always, but pushing my boundries
taking mistakes and making them lessons learned
learning to trust partners in a doubles team
criticizing myself to do better

As well as getting fit, my goal for Badminton is to make the best of the opportunity I have. This means making all possible practices, working till I drop and not giving up if something goes wrong. It also means encouraging and supporting fellow players and learning how to co-operate with others whilst playing the best game possible.

☼ ωeek ωithout ωalls ftw~! ☼

☼ ωeek ωithout ωalls ☼

 

ⓘntroduction + ⓖoals

The Week Without Walls trip that I signed up for was a trip that would take me to the dry zones of Sri Lanka, namely the Sri Giriya, Trincomalee and Polunaaruwa areas. It was a trip that, according to the itineray, would take us to places of religious and spiritual interest as well as expose us to the natural elemets of the Sri Lankan dry zone, a nature to be explored.

My goals going into the trip were quite simple; have fun and learn something. Honestly, I didn;t expect very much, not because I thought the trip would be useless, but because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't fully understand what CAS experiences we would get there and I didn't expect anything much to happen. In retrospect, I couldn't have been any more wrong! I learnt a lot more about the group I was with, myself and my own country by taking part in the Week Without Walls trip.

ⓜy ⓖroup
First up, I have to say that I was more than pleasantly suprised with the group I went with. I had expected, with some of the people that were going, that the trip would be a little... chaotic... to say the least but again, I was proved wrong. In fact, despite being a little loud, the group was in general the best group I'd been with. The biggest thing that struck me about them was their collective understanding and sensitivity towards the culture and religion practices of the places we visited.

A big moment was when, after having visited a few temples, I was getting irritated by the fact that they (our group) was loud and swore and messed around in the temples, habits that I, being bhudist, wouldn's have put up with. On noticing my distress though, the group listned to why I was getting upset, curbed their energy and followed the basic principles of being in a religious place. The ease in which they accepted that they would have to adapt their habits and how quickly and efficiently they adapted stunned me; I did not expect such grace considering most people our age though now, I have reconsidered my position and come to the conclusion that people may, they just may, be nice.







ⓘnteresting ⓣhings we did:

1. A stream dip on the first day - I have been told several times by my mother that if you take a dip in any (non-oceanic) water body in Sri Lanka, chances are that you will contract Mee-Oone which is basically Rat Fever. Apparently rats use these sources for water too and their diseases are transferred to the water and then a human can contract it. I went for the stream dip and walked away unscathed making me question this 'Rat Fever' in the first place.

2. Nocturnal walk -  Have you ever walked around in the night with just a torchlight? I can't describe the feeling I felt doing exactly that, trekking through the forest area with the rest of the group. Finding the Slow Loris was the highlight for sure though, the cuteness of the little furball was too much for me to resist.

3. Holding a flipping snake around our neck - although held by Anand the guide, we still got to hold it and put it around our neck. I thought it was amazing because I have a great respect for snakes <3

4. Visiting all the temples - the ability to chose to go into the temples and Kovils, the ability to do it on my own without people (my parents) telling me to do it and to go pray made me realize that despite me not being a strong Bhuddhist, I still felt a huge connevtion to all the archeological sights we went to, namely this one in the picture. I felt a sense of calm and bliss whilst I was there, removed from the normal weight of life, simply walking around the Bhodi and stoppin every so often to pay my respects to the statues lining the structure.

5. Tree and rock climbing - I am a person who is scared of heights. I can't even climb a ladder too far up without fearing the way down. I hate leaning on the balconies of buildings and I freaked out on my way up the Eiffel Tower. And yet, on WWW I climbed treas and jumped across mountain crevasses as if I didn't know what fear was. Tarzan for the win~!

ⓐchievements:

 My biggest acheivement during WWW was the risks that I took throughout the entire week. There was nothing at that point that stopped me from climbing and jumping and swimming and there was a sense of not having to be afraid. Risk taking in this trip was easy given the company I was in and the support they offered.

Spiritual connection to the sites we visited also made my trip a lot more superior than I expected. There was a lot of time to reflect on where I was and how that was important to me. In coming back from abroad after over 8 years out of my country, I found a connection that I hadn't felt on any of my summer visits here. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE8f_xQuqQE&feature=youtu.be