alright! as requested this shall be short and simple! ~_~
reflections on AC:
screw it lah. we gg-ed and missed finals again! who cares! we'll be back next year probably. i'm not sure
today's "journey" (as the PW qn is such affectionately titled)
went out of house quite damn early, and arrived at J8 sooo much earlier than the next bunch of ppl! gah. spent time looking at DBS's capitacard crap, and saw alot of scams as expected. i'll never sign up for that junk.. haha.
yiquan and samuel arrived first. then shi hou, and the someone whom i forgot her name, and finally wei zeng!... took 54 from bishan interchange, 2 busstops away theres this place called "Bishan Home" (for the intellectually disabled (aka. ID) , that is)
first up: briefing...
briefing was conducted by the staff there in a rather okay sort of conference room. looks kind of budget to me, minus the 34" LCD panasonic tv used in lieu of a projector screen. the staff (called stella; 6J's stella would be giving the (o.O) face if she were here) gave us a "short" briefing about the stuff like ; their vision, their volunteers, the "clients" and their behaviour, the types of disabilities and so on. the briefing lasted more than an hour i think? people were yawning, much to my disgust actually (if they could survive lecture marathons, why not this?).
we were about to deal with people aged 15-55. excitement blends well with fear into a cocktail of fury. ok forget what i said.
out we went! to the basement daycare activity centre (DAC for short, the 'clients' here are allowed to go home with their relatives everyday). watched some of them learn how to use the scissors (no joke; its a tough one to them). then we had a little bit of interactions and stuff...
heres the main juice: theres 3 main types of disabilities present in there: autism, down's syndrome, and ID.
the first type are recognised by the "sian" face that they display. psychologically, they live their life in their own world, synchronized by their own mentally controlled clocks. so in general its hard to change their routine once they've adapted to it. also known to throw tantrums in their own style, which most normal people dont understand.
the second type is down's syndrome. they are known for a "mongolian face" (not sure why this term came about, but heck) and are typically an easier lot to handle. these people learn things VERY slowly but they behave well.
the third type is ID. they look exactly like normal people perhaps, until one starts observing their rather erratic behaviour. some of these "clients" had to be tied up (with their rleative's consent) in order to ensure the safety of the staff there.
however, some of these "clients" i have seen while at that place are quite skilled in their various aspects. one boy could memorise lots of random trivia stuff (like the stuff from tv programmes) and a few of them could draw pretty darn well.
end of interactions: went for lunch with the rest at J8 mcdonalds. koped fries from shi hou and wei zeng. bought a chocolate milkshake. yeah!
took 54 back to the Bishan Home. i appealed for "sai kang work" and was granted my wish; clear up the clogged drains.... the reason for my appeal was that there wasn't much interaction to be made; since most people just "dao" and their behaviour is rather erratic. although i tried my best to be friendly, and nothing screwed up much.
that drain work took 2 men (wei zeng and me) 1 hr 55 min. guess how hard it was? haha... we had fun though. i discovered physics the hard way anyway. and NEA (not near earth asteroids, thanks) ought to come by this place; its a potential mozzie hazard (well, it already is).
back to the DAC thereafter. we served them their tea break snacks (biscuits and whatnot) and sarsi, uncarbonated. i didnt *dare* to drink / eat anything, yeah. i guess its just because im overly-protective of myself.
after that, phototaking. and off we went for debrief and shi hou had a short interview with stella.
then we zhao, once and for all. meanwhile, shi hou carries the burden of bringing more ppl to volunteer at that place...
*oh btw, its not even my PW, and i helped him cos' he's a great friend*
dinner!
J8 food junction. newly renovated. ate the omelette curry rice with chicken ($7.50). i haven't eaten such fantastic stuff for a long time. and also ordered ice kachang! seeing how shi hou melted his, i decided to eat it faster than it would melt, and i succeeded! it tasted... super sweet, and it was pretty darn colorful. for 2 bucks, its the most worthwhile goodie there.
reflections on AC:
screw it lah. we gg-ed and missed finals again! who cares! we'll be back next year probably. i'm not sure
today's "journey" (as the PW qn is such affectionately titled)
went out of house quite damn early, and arrived at J8 sooo much earlier than the next bunch of ppl! gah. spent time looking at DBS's capitacard crap, and saw alot of scams as expected. i'll never sign up for that junk.. haha.
yiquan and samuel arrived first. then shi hou, and the someone whom i forgot her name, and finally wei zeng!... took 54 from bishan interchange, 2 busstops away theres this place called "Bishan Home" (for the intellectually disabled (aka. ID) , that is)
first up: briefing...
briefing was conducted by the staff there in a rather okay sort of conference room. looks kind of budget to me, minus the 34" LCD panasonic tv used in lieu of a projector screen. the staff (called stella; 6J's stella would be giving the (o.O) face if she were here) gave us a "short" briefing about the stuff like ; their vision, their volunteers, the "clients" and their behaviour, the types of disabilities and so on. the briefing lasted more than an hour i think? people were yawning, much to my disgust actually (if they could survive lecture marathons, why not this?).
we were about to deal with people aged 15-55. excitement blends well with fear into a cocktail of fury. ok forget what i said.
out we went! to the basement daycare activity centre (DAC for short, the 'clients' here are allowed to go home with their relatives everyday). watched some of them learn how to use the scissors (no joke; its a tough one to them). then we had a little bit of interactions and stuff...
heres the main juice: theres 3 main types of disabilities present in there: autism, down's syndrome, and ID.
the first type are recognised by the "sian" face that they display. psychologically, they live their life in their own world, synchronized by their own mentally controlled clocks. so in general its hard to change their routine once they've adapted to it. also known to throw tantrums in their own style, which most normal people dont understand.
the second type is down's syndrome. they are known for a "mongolian face" (not sure why this term came about, but heck) and are typically an easier lot to handle. these people learn things VERY slowly but they behave well.
the third type is ID. they look exactly like normal people perhaps, until one starts observing their rather erratic behaviour. some of these "clients" had to be tied up (with their rleative's consent) in order to ensure the safety of the staff there.
however, some of these "clients" i have seen while at that place are quite skilled in their various aspects. one boy could memorise lots of random trivia stuff (like the stuff from tv programmes) and a few of them could draw pretty darn well.
end of interactions: went for lunch with the rest at J8 mcdonalds. koped fries from shi hou and wei zeng. bought a chocolate milkshake. yeah!
took 54 back to the Bishan Home. i appealed for "sai kang work" and was granted my wish; clear up the clogged drains.... the reason for my appeal was that there wasn't much interaction to be made; since most people just "dao" and their behaviour is rather erratic. although i tried my best to be friendly, and nothing screwed up much.
that drain work took 2 men (wei zeng and me) 1 hr 55 min. guess how hard it was? haha... we had fun though. i discovered physics the hard way anyway. and NEA (not near earth asteroids, thanks) ought to come by this place; its a potential mozzie hazard (well, it already is).
back to the DAC thereafter. we served them their tea break snacks (biscuits and whatnot) and sarsi, uncarbonated. i didnt *dare* to drink / eat anything, yeah. i guess its just because im overly-protective of myself.
after that, phototaking. and off we went for debrief and shi hou had a short interview with stella.
then we zhao, once and for all. meanwhile, shi hou carries the burden of bringing more ppl to volunteer at that place...
*oh btw, its not even my PW, and i helped him cos' he's a great friend*
dinner!
J8 food junction. newly renovated. ate the omelette curry rice with chicken ($7.50). i haven't eaten such fantastic stuff for a long time. and also ordered ice kachang! seeing how shi hou melted his, i decided to eat it faster than it would melt, and i succeeded! it tasted... super sweet, and it was pretty darn colorful. for 2 bucks, its the most worthwhile goodie there.
garnet peridotite was shining at
21:43
