WHAT I DID IN SRI LANKA?

HELLO peopleeeeee!
I prefer to share with you the beautiful morning glory of Sri Lanka to start this post! :D
and yesyesyesyesyesyesyes for you lovely instagrammers and FBers you must have known from my spams that I've been to Sri Lanka recently and im sorry for that :P

For what?
I went to Sri Lanka from the 4th of July 2013 for AIESEC's Global Community Development Program (GCDP) to work on Education and also Cultural Exchange.
I was there for 6 weeks and I worked under the 'Ayanna' Project of University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

For those of you whom are curious about what we did there and how was the response and all, here I am to clarify your doubts! Here you go! :)

WHAT I DID IN SRI LANKA?

I should first start with the introduction to the school I've been staying/eating/working/laughing/and now missing. 

Tadaaa! This is
Mowbray College Kandy!Mowbray College is a tamil-based-girl-school and the school provides nursery program all the way to A-levels classes.
Most of the members of the school speak their mother tongue but since English is their second language so the girls can speak really fluent English too.


Mowbray College is located in Kandy, the second largest city of Sri Lanka after Colombo. *my favourite city too! :D*
As the city lies in the midst of hills, the weather there is really pleasant just like Malaysia's Cameron Highland!

wheeee charming perky Mowbray girls!

For our project we have about 12 of us for the July batch. 

Two out of twelve were assigned to Mowbray College and together with me I have Yaya the sleeping beauty from China! hahahahaha

Yaya is currently studying in Macau, one year older than me and she got superrrr good sense of direction! It's because of her that I didnt get lost in Sri Lanka. :P
She's a really lovely girl and also a great listener.
My forever-chillax-roommate and also gate-climbing-partner-in-crime! ngeheheheheheh

                                                      Now take a look at our room! 

It was a storeroom before we came but the maidens of the school modified it into a guesthouse for us! :*)
It is basically empty with just two wooden beds. We had so many funny yet lovely daily jokes in this room!

I can still remember how Yaya broke the two pieces of woods under her bed at our very first night in Mowbray, how we wrapped ourselves in jackets and blanket as it was so so cold at night, how we shouted surprisingly when we first saw fireflies in the room in the middle of the night, how we got frustrated by the whining mosquitoes, how freaking icy it was every morning we woke up and also how we chit-chatted everynight before we slept.

          A sneak peek of us in our second home in Sri Lanka! *v*

And this is our little modified kitchen.
Yaya used to cook her own meal as the spicy food made her cry too much. hahaha

See! This is where the girls will have their bath every morning at 5am. Trust me it was so super freaking cold but the girls were so used to it already.

Okay back to work! :)

Greetings from the SriLanka's little angels! :)))

Okay now I am really going into the topic HAHAHAHHA!

WHAT I DID IN SRI LANKA?

WE HAD:
1. Interaction with the Kindergarten sweetie pies!

Here, most of the kindergarten girls stay in the school. YES at such young age!! and i think that's what made them so disciplined and well-behaved! (Y) (Y) (Y)

These young and jolly girls love singing alottttttt! plus they are amazing fast-learners! So besides origami and basic English classes, we had alot of foreign-language singing and dancing sessions with them too! :D

This is in Hillwood College, a twin branch of Mowbray College. We visited the girls at night and they were all still soooooo energeticccccc and superrrrr cuteeeeeee!

                                        They were learning how to sing 'Rasa Sayang'! :D

Cece and Sarah (another two interns from China and Bahrain who were working in Hillwood College) taught them some rhymes in their languages too!

                                  *meltsssss* mama oyate aradei! (means I love you in Sinhala!)
You can see the blings in their eyes when they storied about their dreams, with their hands gesturing and waving in the air. And it just made me feel so touched seeing these girls practicing good attitudes from such young ages (they are all four to six year old), knowing that to learn is their essential diary and they complain nothing!! they already are dream-makers themselves, and hopefully dream-catcher when they grow up!


2. WE HAD WORKSHOPS!!this is like a dream-come-true for me! :D
Yaya & I actually had quite some discussions with the Madam Principal of the school, some expectation-settings, some studies on the girls' behaviors and all; then we proposed our ideas to the principal and she was so supportive that she agreed with our plans and even came out with a team to assist our schedules!

And this is she! :) A true leader not just of the school!! If it's not because of her, we wouldn't get the chance to create our own workshops and have such fruitful exchange in Mowbray College!
Thank you so much Madam Principal! :))

oh wait, what kind of workshops?

**HISTORY WORKSHOPS with the exam classes!

Yaya carried out History workshops with exam classes in which History is one of the examing subjects.

And she focuses more on China's history and societal changes. And she was so impressed by how detailed was the China's stories in the girls' History textbook! The girls get to see some pictures of China via Yaya's presentation slides and they were like 'Ohhh so what we studied in the textbook is realllllll!' :D

we also had..
**Personality Development Workshop!!

In this workshop we focused more on positive-thinking, self-confidence and correct mindsets that teen girls should carry! :D we had this workshop with most of the classes from the age of 13 to 18.

Some girls were really shy and they spoke so soft that you can only hear them when you stick your ear almost to their mouths. :P But you can see the girls trying to push themselves to stand and to speak throughout the session and that was pretty inspiring.
One best feeling include seeing this particular girl building her self-confidence day-by-day from one whom never look into your eyes when she speaks to one whom will throw you a smile when she was emceeing on the stage. :*)

And also, we had..

**Prefect Workshops- The Leader in Me!

Specially designed workshop for the emerging leaders of the school, the prefects!!

nonono they were not sleeping! it was self-reflection session :D

One thing I really like about the teachers are, they never try to make themselves superior or unapproachable, and they are so big-hearted that the girls are always their priorities in whatever they do!
To make sure that the girls will learn and benefit through this workshop, the teachers never mind staying back after class to have discussions with us! #respect!

The girls were so lively and they were brave enough to stand forward and share their points. We had crazy laughing moments and also tear-jerking session and we knew that our initial motive for having this workshop was achieved after listening to their sharing session at the end of the workshop. 

and i'm so proud of all of you girls!!! :"D

                           The beloved teachers whom had been assisting us, a lot!! :)

                                                                      The prefect teacher

                                                                    this is Miss Subashini! :) 
Look out people!

                                  BAAAAAAH ! WE CAN BE VERY CRAYYZEEEHHHH

Next!
3. WE HAD CULTURAL PRESENTATION!

We had this one and a half hour of cultural presentation, where Yaya & I presented about our countries, we wore our traditional costumes and Yaya even prepared a traditional Chinese dish!

This is Yaya talking about the beauty of China! Also we talked about fun facts of our countries, and also some culture-shocks we encountered in Sri Lanka. We sang our songs and we had a simple funny talk show!
Some teachers were so tempted to visit Malaysia that they even asked me about the cost of travelling and airlines and visa after the presentation! bwahahahaha i'm potential Malaysia ambassador whey :P

***************
Besides all these classes, workshops and presentations, we had quite many Sharing sessions chit-chatting sessions singing sessions dancing sessions and joking sessions which are obviously what I love doing too! hahahaha

                                                             bahoooooo! Fun times we had! :)

Sharing session is always the best. Learning their practices and beliefs from their stories, knowing how special these people are, and also how lucky I am.

AND THEN...... 6 WEEKS PASSED.
Mowbray College will be having their sem break and Yaya & I had to say goodbyes. :(

First of all, say byebye to our room sweet room! Though you've made us shiver alot but we will still love you. :3


Then, byebye to my favourite place in Mowbray.
The little space right infront of our room where I will spend my every evening having a cup of tea there with some nice music and my books.

And then goodbye to this familiar lane where Yaya & I can even walk with our eyes closed. HAHAHA!
this is the lane to Kandy town, where we used to train our muscles climbing up and down, laughing at stupid jokes, avoiding tuktuk and singing our old songs.


And then goodbyes to my lovely friends.
They are the ones who've made our days in Mowbray even more splendid!

who cares about colour when we are this comfortable with each other and are this close enough :))

                                   Linda, Praveena, Shika, Babey, Pumba, Shiva. I miss them!!
                                                  and i really hope that I can see them again!

                                            this is sad.  BYE-BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~~~~

I bet this is not the end of our story as I will definitely visit Mowbray College once again if I get to be back to Sri Lanka!
*************************

And these are what I've been doing in Sri Lanka for the past 6 weeks! 
it was a really really wonderful experience as I get to experience and enjoy being half a Sri Lankan :P,
being showered by the hospitality of the lovely people,
create positive impacts to the girls (from culture understanding to self-development),
and also to be inspired and empower myself throughout my 6 weeks of Global Community Development Program :)))

oh waitttt! I have this little sweet story to share with all of you before I end this post! :)
There was this girl, she came to me after the personality development workshop with one of the classes ended, softly she said :"Aki Yuin, thank you for showing the world to us." And then she hugged me and then she went. and bingo i cried. hahahahaha 
it's like, you know you are really doing something good that will help these girls in becoming better leaders of their own lives!! it's your existence there with them that will further motivate them to work towards what they want, despite all the cruel realities that they might need to face!

So..
If you are interested in joining GCDP, do not hesitate to talk to me to know more about it! Everyone can go for an exchange! As long as you're passionate enough, you'll get the chance to fly and to contribute too! :)

That's NOT all about my Sri Lanka's journey!

I'm gonna introduce you my Sri Lankan family and also my sisters from all over the world!
So Stay tuned for my next post! :D