Day 3
Part 2: Rest and Relaxation

Date: 17th May 06, about 1200 hours.

After the slum areas we went to the "Boulevard". It was a nice quaint place where the local people spend their time relaxing.

Upon arrival we saw some young boys with only their underwear on jumping into the river in absolute joy. Playtime for these kids. They were great swimmers. I guess back home, if I were to do that, i wouldn't have gotten parents' approval. (anyway there are no rivers in Singapore to jump, maybe Singapore river, but u kena fined).

Looking at the boys here, and comparing them to our kids who have to endure the complexations of the rat race back home, who is more fortunate?

While watching, our phil hosts brought juice and some purple cake along for refreshments. Their juice comes in packets which are designed to be poked with a straw, however there is no slot for straw, you just either poke it using the sharp end of the straw through the front end where the packet is slanted, or you poke it via the base like i do. Once the juice is sucked out the packet collapses into a flattened piece of rubbish. Quite environmental-friendly.

We then made our way to the basket ball court nearby where a throng of young bystanders had gathered to watch some teens play ball. Well this "national fervour" thing caught members of our team (yes guys) and soon we were having Singapore vs Philippines in one friendly basketball game.

... and of course, we lost. I didn't play - the phil players were simply too nimble and they knew the game well. and i could obviously see them deliberately slowing down in a gesture of friendliness, for our team members. one by one our team members dropped out, either in exhaustion or, in the case of Stephen, because he sprained his ankle. Yep and they had to find some ice to ease the swelling.

but all in all, we had some good times with the people there. these people surely know what's the meaning of fun. or maybe they don't know the meaning of work like we do.

which is fortunate.

we left the place and headed back for lunch at the TLDC, then it was time for some R&R on your own. some people chose to sleep.

we had to pack up by 4pm and leave TLDC for the Buenos Aires Mountain Resort (BAMR), which was to be our 2nd place of stay. and so we went.

the journey there took at least a good hour, with marvellous scenery along the way. well most people fell asleep anyway. along the way dad smsed me from Singapore, asked me how i was, and that they were celebrating mum's birthday back home. ahhhhh how could i have forgotten.

before we reached BAMR, we passed by the Lousiana High School, where we were to build our study room, our main focus in coming here. we went in and saw, and that the infrastructure was already nicely done for us by the workmen, but there's all there is to it. no school that day.

when we reached BAMR, it was just at the foot of the mountain. ah. this is one place everyone wants to slack out their days in peace - there were numerous chalets on the mountain itself, we were staying at four of their best at the foot, where about six stalls were situated on the floor below our chalets, selling the local produce, tidbits, and alcohol. there was a stall also selling roasted chicken-on-a-stick (whatever they call it), the local delicacy.

we split into 3 groups, each of 7. the phil hosts took the fourth chalet. my chalet had me, jingwen, louis, grace, zhaoyuan, ernest tay, janus.

living conditions was the best - we had warm water for bathing, there were aircon in individual rooms, as well as fan, and each room had a veranda for well, anything. we set up clotheslines for hanging clothes and i washed my first set of clothes from TLDC with clear instructions from grace.

half of the party also went to the nearby swimming pool - the water is from the nearby waterfall and it is damn cold - everyone was jumping inside the pool. the pool is about 2.5 m deep - i can't touch the ground at the far side, which is cause for alarm. and i didn't bring my goggles so i was just trapping water in one of my shorter shorts.

the rest of the group (with ernest wee) went to the nearby waterfall for some relaxation, i heard some of them lost their slippers in the fast torrents of water.

we had dinner after that, and our first facilitation session - some personality thing where you ans qns then you are given some personality - grape, orange, banana etc. quite charming i thought, and quite true.

more washing up of clothes, bathing, and sleeptime soon came.