Christmas Bbq

Family Christmas Bbq. #asianstyle

Merry Christmas everyone!! :D

Gratitude and Happiness

Watching these two TedTalks made me seriously reflect on my life and what I have. Yes it's totally cliché and yes you experience this reflection many times in your life, but still, I think it's important.

Every once in a while you must, as the following TedTalks say, "Stop, Look and Go". We should stop to appreciate what we have in the midst of our fast-paced lives, look for and take opportunities to be grateful and then go share our good fortune with others. 

http://on.ted.com/Gratitude

http://on.ted.com/gratefulness

Yup I'm totally preaching what the TedTalks said but it's something I'll remember so as not to be spoilt and all. IB CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) at my school is great and I believe we give back a lot to the local community around us. The students who really engage in CAS have a wonderful capacity to cultivate an attitude to challenge the untried disposition to put the wrong right. 

We have an eco-school built by CAS students 2 years back 10 minutes away from my school. This school, called Sekolah Bisa!, educates 25 young children from the nearby local shanty area. For these kids, begging on the streets is their norm, but Sekolah Bisa offers them the foregone access to education as a restoration of their Children's Rights as UNESCO dictates. 

'Sekolah' means 'school' in Indonesian, and 'Bisa' means 'can'. It's symbolic of enabling the children, instead of their circumstances immobilising and ensnaring them. 

http://www.sekolahbisa.org/

Everyday, they can wake up and go to this amazing school where they learn Maths, Science, English and Indonesian. They paint, draw and do various stimulating activities. These kids who previously could not read, now can. These kids who hadn't an inkling of the multiplication tables, now have. These kids who had never been cared for, now are. 

We may not be able to change the lives of all the kids in the surrounding shanties, but at least for these 25 children, they have a part of their childhood restored. 

My CAS group is involved with Sekolah Bisa through sport. We have a football team comprised of Sekolah Bisa students that we enter into the local Jakarta Schools Football Association (JSFA) League, otherwise known as the Coca Cola League here. Last year we entered an U12 team, when the league starts in January 2014 we will be entering a new U10 team with a few new students. 

I have a Facebook page for my CAS project here: www.facebook.com/jsfacas

 Bintang Bisa! :) 

My beloved CAS team :) 

We call our football team Bintang Bisa. 'Bintang' meaning 'star' and 'bisa' meaning 'can'. These children, with some care and fostering, have so much latent talent and capacity. They are stars and they can, with some guidance, be integrated back into society and be proper Indonesian citizens. 

My CAS group and I have never been so proud of an achievement in our lives. Seeing the children run carefree in their jerseys, playing football happily with smiles on their face - they throw off all the heavy burdens of their harsh lives in those moments and embody childhood. 

Smiles, laughter, play. 

Boots, sweat and smiles. 

I know full well I am still young and may not understand life's harsh realities, but at least through this community service and caring for these shanty children these past few years I have somewhat shared in their harsh reality, and in the process, deepened my compassion and empathy to some extent. 

I have not elaborated thoroughly on what my CAS group does or accomplishes, but the point is that gratitude and happiness can go hand in hand if we allow it. I never want to forget the lessons of the afore mentioned TedTalks and I hope to always carry out my community service with kindness, so that even if the extent of my reach is only 25 children, it is still 25 children more than before with better lives each day. 

I now express my gratitude to you for taking your time to read this post. Thank you! :)

Ted: Working Memory

Enjoyed this video :) 

Peter Doolittle: How your "working memory" makes sense of the world #TED : http://on.ted.com/bsj7

Suit, heels and the beach

Nasi Campur

Lovely local Indonesian food in Bali!! <3

Sushi and Soba

<3 Japanese food.
Itadakimasu! :)

Hokkaido Milk Soup Ramen

Tried this at Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. Actually tastes pretty good!! :)

Every cloud has a silver lining

Do you like flying? :) 

Ice Cream and Happiness

 Summer in Nottingham, with soft ice cream and flakes, yumm.

Roses are red

Roses blooming late, but beautiful nonetheless.

 

 

 

Hello London

First evening in London during our UK summer '13 trip.

University of Nottingham

The university is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Hands down.

Oxford

Pramuka Island

For our IB Group 4 Project Trip we went to Pramuka Island for 4 days, 3 nights. Really enjoyed renting bikes out to cycle around the island, grab a bag of iced coconut water, befriend the cute kittens... besides the research work we had to do, it was almost like a quiet little holiday by the ocean. :)

Double Rainbow

Can you see the second rainbow? :) 

We were really lucky to spot this on our last day at Pramuka Island for our Group 4 Project Trip. We woke up early to see the sunrise, saw the fading moon and a double rainbow! Sounds trivial but it was reaallyy beautiful. :) 

Dawn

What 5.30 am on Pramuka Island looks like. 

Dawn

By Mark R Slaughter

Dawn blushed – betrayed her waking sky
To gently break another morrow fine.
Night waned – the black receding – highland
Reaching for the early morning wine.

The chorus rendered frantic caws and
Chirps and other avian song,
Mapping out the 'mine and yours, ' and
Goading more to sing along!

Quiescent water – deep of lake –
Reflected out the hazy red, but
Through the glass, a flick, a break:
An urgent tail from hidden bed!

And in the meadow, waking faces
Calmly spread a coloured veil;
The dew disclosing spider laces –
Oft with once a fly’s travail!

Dawn blushed; revealed her inner peace;
She handed on another blissful day.
Night ebbed, relenting to release of
Warming blood that gives to her display.

Fall, leaves, fall

Fall, leaves, fall

BY EMILY BRONTË


Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night’s decay

Ushers in a drearier day.

Dominoes

In April, four students from UWC Singapore came over to Jakarta to help out at Sekolah Bisa for their Project Week. Sekolah Bisa is a school designed, built and managed by BISJ CAS Students that provides education for 25 shanty kids. 

In Indonesian, 'Sekolah' means school, and 'Bisa' means can, the name serves to reinforce the idea that these children can succeed in life despite the unfavourable circumstances they were born with. 

Community Service is just like dominoes, you can have a great impact. :)

A video made by one of the UWC students of their time here in Jakarta

To find out more about Sekolah Bisa:
Sekolah Bisa!

Pelabuhan Ratu

A flower I found on a beach trek during my Silver International Award* expedition to Pelabuhan Ratu, just thought it looked cool. :P

*The International Award is basically like the Duke of Edinburgh Award. It involves 4 elements:

• Physical (Sport activity)
• Skill (Musical instruments, cooking, art etc.)
• Service (Community Service)
• Expedition!

Bandung Tea Plantation

Just a short escape from the city during mid-terms. :)