The Great Cameron Experience

By De Ming

I took careful steps down the fourteen step stairway of my house. How can I be so sleepy after so many hours of hibernation? My droopy eyes fell on the clock; it was already four in the evening. At last I reached the bottom of the stairs; I slumped tiredly unto the sofa and heaved a sigh of relief. In a few minutes, I was found sleeping quietly on the sofa. It was only until seven did I open my eyes and when I did; the first thought that came to me was that there was something wrong with me today. I picked up the phone to call my Mom; I needed to see the doctor.

It was ten when a car drove into the porch; I stepped out of the car holding onto my medicine and swung the gate open. The doctor told me I had a fever and I was rather upset because in two days, I was to leave to Cameron Highlands on a family trip. I remember three years ago, I had just come back from a four day long school trip in Langkawi and I went to Cameron two days later. I remember I had a fever then and my teeth were chattering all through the night. This year was like history repeating itself, I had just come back from my youth camp and I am now having a fever.

Two days later, a Naza Ria was seen winding up the curvy old road up to Cameron, within that car was a family, my family. The beginning part of the journey was filled with silence as all of us (except my father, the driver) were sleeping. I was greatful that by then my fever had subside. The later part of the journey, my sister was not feeling that well and was lying down uncomfortably. I guess she’s not such a good traveler, or maybe it’s due to the fact that she was sitting behind.

The total time for the journey was three hours plus and all of us were glad when we finally reached the bungalow. We drove into the front gate of the property and went up a very steep road. As the car finally find a place to stop, I jumped out of the car and began greeting my grandparents (mother side), my two aunties and uncles, my three cousins and Mr. William the owner of the house. As I stepped into the bungalow, the thought that came to me was, “I wish this was mine!” There were two floors in the house, the bottom floor had three rooms, a dining table, a living room and a small kitchen. On the top floor there were two rooms, a dining table and a living room. But the best part was this two wooden box like thing with stairs and sofa thing. Please see the picture, some things are just hard to describe.

The front view of the bungalow

Sideview

Corner view?

My bedroom

The living room, noticed the wood thingy?

A better view of the thing.

That night, right after exploring to a nearby Jungle Walk, we had dinner under the cloudy night skies. At seven, two tables were already placed nicely on the soft green grass of the bungalow’s lawn and the caretaker was already busy barbequing sausages, lamb, corn, chicken, beef, pork and prawns. By seven-thirty, all of us were soon diving into our food. Personally, I do not think I am someone who is very generous with compliments, but this was one of the most delicious barbeque I have eaten and add on to the company of my cousins and my siblings, the dinner was just brilliant!

My brother in action. That looks good does it not?

Dinner...

The next morning, I woke up at eight-thirty; it was not a very cold morning although it was raining last night. I had a really bad dream that night and I went to sit outside on the rocking chair and stared at the mountains that lay scattered in front of the bungalow. It was misty there and the view was really nice. The peace within the bungalow calmed me down a bit.

An hour passed and soon all of us were dressed in our sports attire, we were going to follow the Jungle Walk recommended by Uncle William! After a five minute ride, we got down from the car and began to walk up a slope and along the sides of some vegetable plantation. I expected something easier, and was rather shocked that we had to walk along such a narrow path (barely 15cm\ 6 inches) and since it was raining the day before, the path was exceptionally slippery. At times we had to walk up a small but steep slope and after some time, we arrived inside a more jungle-ish place.

Must take photo in case some one dies!

The jungle part of the path was still slippery, and it was tougher, for there were some branches covered with thorns and logs in the way. But after a few near death cases, the path soon began to be more manageable and we began to enjoy the walk more. We met a few people going the opposite direction and I am sure that from our behavior the visitors will most probably think that all Malaysian boys are very ‘nice’. The first people we met were an ‘ang mor’ couple, I asked my brother and cousins to stand aside a little to let them cross and I gestured politely for them to go pass by. They smiled and said thank you and I smiled back and said no problem, then I told them quite bluntly that the path was going to get much tougher and then we broke out laughing. The second group was another ‘ang more’ couple and this time they probably got the impression that Malaysian boys were noisy. Why? Probably it was my fault, we were walking and we caught sight of a house in a breaking of the trees and I said it was our bungalow. After that I ended up joking around and shouting for my grandfather who was still in the bungalow. We resumed our walk and I was talking about writing a book called ‘Teh Tarik Heart’ co-authored by the Gan brothers when we saw the couple. I did not dare say anything but “Hello” to them because I was rather embarrassed and I really hoped they did not hear my shouts.

Nature.So thus, we set forth.

A hero in action.

Would you go up?

Or down?

What's that up there?

The walk lasted for two hours, which was really not expected since we were informed that it would be a forty-five minutes walk. When we arrived home that day we referred to a map and realized that our path (Jungle Walk 9) was split into two, 9a and 9b. We had started from 9a instead of the proper 9b, therefore we ended up taking a longer time and going through all the suffering and near deaths. But to be fair, I really enjoyed the walk and although it was dangerous, we were given plenty of chances to help each other out and during the whole walk, I had a good laugh talking and scaring the ‘ang mor langs’!

We had lunch in a nearby shop and my uncle called my parents to pick us up from Tanah Rata. Seeing as the car was not big enough to fit everyone in, my mother, brother and I decided to walk around the shops and take a look at the souvenirs. It was quite enjoyable and we ended up getting some things before the car came to fetch us back.

We rested for a few hours and decided to go to the strawberry farm (much to the horror of Jeremy and my brother who were sleeping). We went all the way up to Brinchang to find Rajuu’s Strawberry Farm. To our disappointment, the strawberries were all light green in colour and Mr. Rajuu explained that the rainy weather was the culprit to this. We ate some strawberries there but did not buy back any. In Rajuu’s farm, De Ming decided exercised him influence. He started to walk up a road and soon everyone was following him although in truth there was nothing there!

The path.

We arrived home with hot scones waiting for us, thanks to the caretaker Jessica and we enjoyed it very much, especially since we had an option of marmalade, lemon, blackberry, and strawberry jam. Once again Aunty Jessica is able to smile because of our compliments.

That evening, we decided to take a walk down to the nearby flower shop. There were many of varieties of flowers and plants there, my personal favourite was the pitcher plant, but I doubt that it can survive in the hot Subang weather. Because of that I decided to get something else: two Wilma Goldencrests (something like a Christmas tree). My sister bought a flower called Impatiens and Joelle bought a cactus. She could not buy anything else due to the limited space in Singapore.

We arrived back in time for dinner and that night Uncle William had readied tent like thing. Dinner that night was steamboat and once again I was stumped by Aunty Jessica’s cooking skill. It was the best steamboat that I have ever eaten! I loved the soup! Table arrangements were the same as the day before, kids one table, adults another. I pointed out that day that it was the first time Jia Huey (my sister) and Jon (my seven year old cousin brother) were able to communicate without all the fighting, shouting, biting and calling of names. It was definitely an improvement! Dinner that night was as good as yesterdays and we definitely enjoyed sitting in that cool atmosphere eating nice hot steamboat.

When dinner was over and the adults done cleaning up the site, we gathered together to watch the photos taken by my father and uncle. The surprising thing is that in most of the jungle walk photos, Jeremy was caught in really awkward places. There were pictures of him squatting down with a huge leaf blocking his lower part of his body, squatting down in almost every picture, sitting on a log like a horse and standing above a small trickle of water! The whole family was soon laughing our heads off. I kind of pitied Jeremy, but I still laughed along with them.

We distributed the presents after watching the photos on the television. Christmas celebration for us was early because my aunties and uncles will not be in Malaysia after that. It was a simple event, where the giver would present the present to the receiver. As usual, I received books for both Christmas and birthday presents. Well, what was I to do; it is not easy to find presents for me! De Ming is complicated.

Presents!

Me receiving mine.

Happy moment

The next morning, I woke up at seven, and as usual, I was the first of the boy cousins to wake up. We went to breakfast at nine and then set forth to the Boh Plantation. The road up there was a ridiculously narrow one way path and at every turning, we had to press on the horn so that we do not collide into a car coming the other way! It was misty when we arrived in the plantation; we could actually see the mist moving a few feet away from us! The nice thing about the plantation was the view and nothing else. There were rows and rows of striped bushes covering the hills. I decided to do something stupid then, I saw someone picking the leaves there and I shouted out “Leng lui!” The person turned around and to my surprise it was a man! I immediately ran away, some how I have a talent of embarrassing myself.

Noticed that my sister is slanted? Haha... my fault!

We reached the bungalow at eleven and were soon packing all out things into the car. It was a tight squeeze as we had an extra passenger, Jeremy who was going to say with us for a few days while the rest went to Singapore, but at last we managed to squeezed it all in. Once again, Jia Huey was not feeling comfortable on the way down and even my brother complained.

As I sat in the car that day, I remember thinking that it was a really meaningful trip. Although it was a simple place, yet the company made a world of a difference! In short I believed that it was the best trip with my cousins ever and I certainly look forward to next year’s trip.

Transform.Us - TRU Camp '07

By De Ming

Teet… teet-teet-teet… Teet…

For a few moments, my hands groped lazily for the source of the noise, at last, it caught hold of a round shaped object. I found the switch and the room was silent for a moment. There was a nagging feeling at the back of my mind then, why was that so? I was in a state of blur until I started hearing voices around me; I snapped my eyes open and the memory of the past events came back to me. This was the second day of youth camp and being the Dorm Captain I was responsible for the people in the dormitory. I stared at the clock in my hand, six-thirty. It was still early.

I dragged myself out of bed and slugged to the bathroom, my toothbrush in my left hand, I placed right hand under a flow of rushing tap water. I flinched as the water quickly covered my hand, it was cold. Feeling the chill of the water, I was reminded once again that I was in Cameron Highlands. The thought of being in Cameron brought a flashback of how we travelled up the slopes of the hills as it was drizzling a little. I remembered how we made a wrong turning and ended up being the last car to arrive for lunch.

Few minutes passed before I finished washing up, the dorm was already up and a buzz of grumpy chatter had already begun. I strode to the door and swung it open. A rush of cold air smack right into me and I sank my hands deeper into my sweater. “Raining again?” I thought as I stared at field from the balcony, although it had been only a day, yet the sight of the field brought to me memories of activities we did yesterday. Among them are, mummifying your teammate, carrying water with your cupped hands to the plastic tupperware on the other side and pushing or blowing a ping pong ball ahead while your team member holds you in a wheelbarrow fashion.

After the activities, we ate dinner and Uncle Steven (the pastor) taught us about purpose, plans and priorities. He said that we were created for a purpose, to worship and serve God and that we need not worry about the future for it is all in God’s hands, it is part of The plan. ‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ Matthew 6:33. On priorities he shared that God should and must always be the first for us. It was rather interesting to hear his speech, especially since he was so animated.

The door opened and I was shaken from my thoughts, I was greeted and I nodded back to them. I walked back into the dorm, time to wake the rest. After the last person left the dorm, I closed the door and went down for the morning exercise in the hall. Right after some jumping, jogging on the spot, stretching, I went back to the dorm to do my quiet time with Sam and Ii Ern. There was no helper with us so the outcome was that we strayed a little and ended up talking about the end of the world and we ended quiet time rather early.

A delicious breakfast of sausages, eggs, jam and bread was served right after quiet time. I decided then to invent my special De Ming’s hotdog which was actually a piece of bread with an egg on it and a sausage plus a spreading of jam. It was quite nice, rather sweet. Kelvin decided to try out my invention and I ended up being complimented. But a few minutes later, he cursed and blamed me for his stomach ache!

The talk for that day was about the people that God uses: ‘But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.’ 1 Corinthian 1:27-29. We had discussion then and our group (Inferno, named after a Transformer) came with the conclusion that since we have been losing yesterday’s games, we can be labeled as weak and God would use us today to beat the rest in the activities and that is exactly what happened! That evening activity that day was a tug-a-wall competition and we got second place out of eight groups! Although we did not get the first place, but I would think the fact that we lasted more den 15 seconds against the group of giants is already worthy of praise. Personally I felt that our team got closer through this victory and it made a lot of difference to me.

This was quoted from Jeremy Ong's blog:

If you watched them carefully, you can see their determintation in their eyes. And everytime they looked like they're dragged to deafeat. They just fought on and Uncle Sim was so full of semangat.

That night was Fun Night and groups were given two songs from a choice of three shows, Aladdin, Lilo and Stitch, Lion King and Mulan, once the group has received their props and chosen their songs, they were suppose to act a short play where they must use their prop and sing or lip sing the song they chose. Inferno got Lion King and we decided to sing the song Hakuna Matata.

As the night arrived, some groups had already dressed up some of their members; among them are Ii Shan in his curry puff towel-hat-thing, Ken Ming in my CF shirt with pillows stuffed inside and some girls wearing towels as if they just came out from bath. At last David invited the first team to perform and that’s when the ball started rolling and laughter started to fill the hall. The storyline ranged from Aladdin accidentally killing Jasmine and searching for a new girlfriend to some badminton competition to Pumba and Timun searching for the Lion King so they can change back into their proper bodies after being switched. All in all, it was pretty entertaining. Our group was last to perform, but it finally was our turn.

Our story began with Santa (Ken Ming) forgetting to charge Rudolph’s (Sam) nose and ended up crash landing into the forest. As Santa began crawling around, he accidentally knocked into Pumba (me) and Timun (Lucas). We stared at each other and we screamed, then we blinked for a moment and screamed again! So the scene changes and Santa ends up recalling to Timun and Pumba how his wife (Hannah) was upset because he was never home and needed a diet. He also relates how the elves (Joel, Ii Ern, Grace, Esther and Jamie) came banging into his house singing, “Christmas, isn’t Christmas till we finally get our pay!” In the end Mrs. Claus ended up kicking poor Santa out of the house with only a lamp (our prop). The story ended after Timun and Pumba sang to Santa Hakuna Matata and when Santa came back a pile of bones and 2mm thick of muscles!

The next morning, whisperings about the time being six o five and the blinking of the torchlight add on with the loud pattering of suspicious and creeping individuals woke me up. I shifted my position and tried to continue my sleep but failed and I ended up standing on the cold floor beside my bed as Gabriel and I agreed that people who would wake up one hour before wake up call was abnormal.

Exercise that day was along the sheltered corridors of the place and some of the exercises reminded me of the many hours spent in taekwondo. Quiet time began right after a muffin (complementary from Ii Ern) and once again we ended up straying from the topic. The talk that day was about the pain and problems, Uncle Steven then shared with us that pain and problems are for three reasons, namely discipline, refinement and to strengthen us.

Hebrews 12:5-12 says ‘And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."^[a]

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet,"^[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.’

That afternoon, an hour after lunch, we had the amazing race. It was raining heavily and we were soon garbed in our rain coats. After brief announcements of the purpose and rules of the race, each group was given an envelope with a special sticker of their groups on it. There was a moment of excited chatter as the groups waited in expectations. At last we were given the cue to go and our group was soon found reading out loud the words written on the paper from the envelope. The clue was something about people likes to throw things at me, I am a black board.

After a few minutes of pacing and jumping, (I think I did), we came to a conclusion that it was the basketball court and so off we went under the rain. As we arrived at the basketball court, Desmond and Dorothy ushered us under the playground thing and we were instructed to climb the monkey bars, shoot 6 balls in the hoop (under basket), cross the bridge on the edge of it and more. We then received our second clue and so off we went running to eat a snail each, forming a letter on the field with out bodies on the floor, having 10 people stand in two 45cmx45xm box, counting the number of bars on the monkey bar and carrying people on our backs.

The last event was to form a pyramid with our bodies, meaning one on top the other. There were four patterns to complete, yet it was easy. The problem was not the quest itself, it was waiting for the people ahead of us! They took half and hour to do it and as we waited we watched with horror as group 1 ran to the finishing place followed closely by group 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. At last we were allowed to do the quest without having the other group finish and so within 5 minutes our group managed to finish it!

So, we grabbed the next clue and we ran all the way down to the front gate of The Chefoo Centre. By the time we reached the gate, all of us were already bending our backs and heaving heavy breaths. But when we grabbed the envelope for the next clue, we saw with horror the words written there: This is not the end, thank you for running here. Please go to the main hall. Once again we ran up, but seeing as Esther could not run anymore, some of us stayed back and accompanied her. At last we reached the hall as team number 7, second last.

All in all, I greatly enjoyed this part of the camp, because I felt that within a team, other then the laughs we had, we were able to cooperate well and all of us sportingly participated. It feels nice to watch as our team members willing stretch out their hands to help each. It was a wonderful that the team grew to trust each other and to feel more at home with each other through this event and whether we got the first or the second last, it did not make any difference, our team did our best and the positive outcome of the race, wiped all the sad faces of losing away.

That night we had barbeque for dinner, although the barbeque was really nice, I felt a little left out as it seems like everyone has their group of friends and I had none. Some told me that it’s my state of mind, maybe it was, or maybe I was just tired. I tend to be really quiet when I’m tired, it’s a fact. Anyways, I would like to thank Jane so much for caring and trying to make me feel not so left out. I really appreciate it!

After dinner was our last talk, which was about pressing on and Uncle Steven attacked everyone with a spear through our heart as he tells us about how God would feel about our attitudes towards him. “If you don’t pray, how do you think God would feel? You’re not even in talking terms with Him!” Wow, powerful talk. It ended with an altar call and more than half the room went up and had the helpers pray for them. I went to the canteen a little lost, it seems like there were so little left, but soon Ben and I were talking about his friends problems. Thank you Ben for trusting me to share from your heart.

Right after that, I went back to the room with Hsien Zern and a strong stench reached us at our first step. We walked towards Keegan and we saw a puddle of vomit on the floor. It turned out that Keegan is not feeling well. Hsien Zern and I immediately ran to the hall where the helpers were having a meeting and soon a few on them came running behind us to the dorm. That night I ran up and down trying to find mop, bucket, tissue and all sorts. I also ended up helping David to throw the bucket full of vomit plus water into the toilet bowl every five minutes for 4 times. In the end, we went to sleep after a prayer for Keegan’s health.

The next day, we woke up a little late, it was the last day and exercise was cancelled for the benefit of more sleep. I woke up at seven-fifteen. No noisy people this time! I skipped breakfast that day so that I could write something on a bookmark for each of my team member, Jane and Ben. When all was done, I passed the bookmarks to them and I realized how much so little can mean to people, for I got hugged my three girls and was called sweet by Hannah during the sharing. Unfortunately, I got insulted all the way after that.

At last, I made my way back down the windy old road to Subang, I really enjoyed hearing Uncle Colin relate to me all his experience as a freelance actor and about how he acted with Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza and shook hands Badawi and Mahathir! It was a very interesting trip all the way, thanks to Uncle Colin.

At last I arrived home at six; the whole camp experience was one that I cannot replace. It was my first time as Assistant Group Leader and Dorm Captain, therefore I had to take on a more responsible role, yet I am proud to say that I have gotten the best team there is and am responsible for the best dorm (who wakes up 1 hour before wake up call)! I really got to know Ben better and gotten closer to Gabriel. It was a meaningful camp, with many mixed emotions, but I thank God that I came.

Behind The Green Tie

By De Ming

There were many times when I would look up into the sky and would think to myself that there was something magical about nature, there was something about the way it penetrates into my heart and read my thoughts like a book, painting out the most beautiful and remarkable pictures from pages of my heart. As I stared up into the sky that day, watching as the sun floated above those buildings, lazily chasing away what was left of night and as the wind made soft brushing movements against my hair, I knew that this was one of those times.

A sudden grin broke out of me, I just felt so peaceful, so happy. Even as I look back now I still could not comprehend how much my life had changed with such a small decision; the decision to try out as a prefect. I could not put into words this feeling within me that day, the feeling that made me place one foot in front of the other, it was surely something very powerful, for it gave me strength. Looking back now, I could identify with that feeling; it was the feeling of purpose.

Since I was so lost in thoughts I did not realize that I had arrived in the school compound. I shook clear my thoughts and went towards the badminton court in between two school blocks. As I arrived, my friend gave me a reassuring smile, I returned hers cheerfully. The head prefects then begin ordering us to get into our PST (Problem Solving Team); I hurried on to my PST, PST 4. The prefect’s morning briefing started at that moment, and for the first time, I was in it.

The probates were then assigned with duties by our PST Leader. I had two; the first was after the morning briefing when I would lock the small gate next to the bicycle shed, the second was during recess, where I was to guard the back of the toilet to make sure no one smokes.

The first few weeks as a probate was a memorable one, when I walked along the corridor, other prefects would wave a “Hi” at me. When I sat down alone in the canteen, there would be prefects who would sit beside me and when I was unsure of my duties it was not hard to find assistance. The kindness of the other prefects gave me a lasting and positive impression and I soon awarded them with the title ‘friends’.

I remember sitting on the rough carpeted floor of the prefect’s room on a Thursday afternoon, the room on that day was flooded with prefects in green and at least fifteen or so white-clad probates; all of which was waiting expectantly for the prefect’s meeting to begin. When the meeting began and ended, I realized that it was the first time I felt that I had signed up for something that made a difference, something that was worth putting in a hundred percent. I felt a renewed sense of purpose, of being part of a team; part of a family.

As the pages of the calendar were flipped, my thoughts slowly began to stray towards the day when we would be recognised as true prefects. Month after month of waiting, the day finally dawned upon us. We were brought to the prefect’s room and were separated into two groups; there was a senior in each group. As I sat there in well concealed nervousness, our senior stared at us and said to us, “Please remember to wear your green uniform after the holidays.” We passed! That moment then was really special, because we may still be wearing our plain white uniform and had our probation tags hanging on our ties, from that moment onwards we were now known as true prefects.

The spirit and the excitement of passing my probation slowly faded with time, but there were other things that did not. Till this day my steps were still filled with purpose, the pride of knowing that not everyone had the rights to wear that broccoli green tie or blazer that we wore still burned within me and even though the duties were slowly getting boring and very ritual, I kept on doing them because whenever negative thoughts of laziness starts to seep in, I would imagine the consequences if no one was doing what I was doing.

Being a prefect meant more than having certain privileges, more than the uniform we wear, more than the duties we performed, it also meant listening for hours as people grumble in our ear about our performance. It was hard to live up to the teacher’s expectations, it was hard to be the student’s example, it was harder still to bear with the fact that whenever we made a small slip up, we would immediately be shot down and whenever we did something right, not many actually notices. At times people forget that we are still students and yet there were also times when people would forget that we were prefects. Although people claim that we were basking in our many privileges, if you place them on a scale, our duties and responsibilities would far outweigh the privileges.

Even though there were many people out there that puts us down and discourage us, I learned a lot about the world that not many would have the chance to. I learned that once you have taken up a leadership role, people will expect a lot from you, I learned about gratitude as we realize that there were a few teachers who were there to support us, I learned about patience and perseverance as we stood there each and everyday, doing our boring duty, I learned to bounce back and stand back up whenever someone puts me down. All these lessons in life cannot be bought, sold or given, but only be gained through experience and I am grateful to have been given this opportunity to do so.

There was another great thing about wearing that green tie, was that we will always be given opportunities to help people. When we pull out our pen to jot down a person’s name, we do not want him to get into trouble; instead we hope that he will learn from his mistake. When we ask them to clear their plates, we do not want to show off our powers, we just want them to practice some simple manners. We were given many chances to help teachers too and I learned that behind that mask of animal-like fierceness they were actually humans who at times needed help and support.

I walked on the same road back as I did months ago, this time I am a little different. No, it was not the uniform. Instead it was the person who wore the uniform, for this person here has changed a lot just to cope with the change in his environment; he has toughened up in a sense and grew to be a better person. Putting on that green tie was a decision he never regretted, it was a decision that made him see things from a different perspective, made his life more meaningful and more enjoyable. In fact, it gave him more of a life.

Youth Leadership Program

By De Ming

The air-conditioner blew against my face as I sat on my bed writing about the experience in the Youth Leadership Program which ended yesterday. The room was filled with the music from the radio by my bed and the quick scribbling of my pencil.

Stop! Cut! Rewind! Too early!

I sat in that cold room, I was not nervous! I was not! Then why did I feel like vomiting? Finally, the one minute silence was up, I shook hands with the people around me and the chairman looked at us and said, “Now, we have Gan De Ming to present his speech!”

Rewind some more! Back, back, back!

The car drove in the parking slot and stopped short, I opened the door and caught sight of several men standing and talking in a business-like manner. They wore a white collared shirt and their blazer and long pants were black. But what made them stand out was that very bright yellow tie of theirs. I looked at them and asked if this was the right place. No answer. I waited for a few seconds then I walked into the room, maybe they were too deep in conversation.

I pulled out a chair from the table furthest from the stage and after a few moments, Pei Qi arrived, she sat beside me and we started to talk about the class party, I began writing down the names of those that owed the class money and we ended up being the ones talking the loudest. A guy saw this and decided to come over to our table. His name was Hetish and we soon got to know more about him.

The event began with a simple introduction about you by your neighbour. The speaker then begin selecting presidents for the event, (there were suppose to be 4). The process was simple they would have a team A and a team B. Three people would be selected for each team, the president, the secretary, the sergeant at arms and the people would vote if they wanted team A or team B. At last after all the votings, our table ended up with three presidents (Pei Qi, Gan Wai Su and me) and a secretary (Hetish), meaning that all who sat at this table had posts!

We were then separated into two groups and were given random topics to speak on, (they called it Table Topics). Mine was on my dream holiday and I told them honestly, I do not actually dream about holidays, but I really enjoyed my holidays for this year. After every 5 people, Ee Ping would come out and comment on our speech, I was told that I was good but had to stop starting the sentence with a, “Ya, so…”

Our lunch was scheduled right after the Table Topics and we walked from the Extol shop lot to a restaurant nearby that had a plain A4 paper with the writing ‘Punjabi Food’. That really caught me off guard; I have never known that Punjabis had any food. Well it would be a unique experience I guess. I stepped into the restaurant and began scooping food onto my plate. When we finally sat down to eat, I found that I had to force the food to go down my throat. The taste was so strong! No offence, just personal opinion.

The workshop continued with a self introductory speech and I decided to add a little taste of creativity to mine. Instead of the basic “Hello, I am… My age is…” I went up there and said, “Hello I am Mr.Gan from De Ming Corporation and I would like to share with you a product, Gan De Ming. This product here…” So I ended up telling them about how I was a neutral and that I came with three wives. I ended my speech by saying that I cost only RM999.99 (which gave me my speech title). I thought I did okay although I felt it was lacking a little on content, but when it was time for the comments it was a totally different story.

“I have a confession to make, for the speaker Gan De Ming-” I raised my hand. “-, his speech was so out of the world that I could not understand one bit of it. At first it seems that he was talking about himself, then I think he went on to talk about a gadget.” I stared at her, “I was advertising myself!” I looked around me and asked everyone else, “You guys understand my speech right?” Max nodded and said that it was quite obvious that the product was me. All in all, it was a huge disappointment, although she said that my voice was loud enough, my posture was confident, the important part was still the speech and I totally flunked it!

After that, we went back for some tea and were separated again for another Table Topic, but this time Pei Qi and Samantha were with me. I believed that they did quite well in this Table Topic, but they had quite doable topics. When I was finally dragged up, I asked everyone what number I should take, (they had 100 topics and we were to choose them randomly by number) and this Pei Qi shouted 44. Me being me, decided to take it and guess what it was?

‘If you were married, would you have kids? Why?’ This time I stood there speechless, I had no idea whether I wanted to get married or not, what more about having kids?

We were assigned to prepare a speech the next day and I had prepared some notes on some basic emotions, naming anger, love and loneliness. I went up slightly unprepared but since it was something I was interested in, it came out smoothly. This time, I felt that I did a rather good job and I felt rather proud for myself. This pride expanded a little when I got selected as the best speaker for that session.

It was three in the evening, we had already done many speeches by then, I sat by the table beside the stage. One of the toastmasters stood beside me, he was to speak on voice and vocabulary. He called all of us to get closer to him and after a few minutes of the noisy shifting of chairs, we formed a semicircle around him. He then explained to us the effects and the use of intonations. After that he called Pei Qi out and sat her on a chair, Hetish was called out too. As both of them stared at each other in confusion, he instructed Hetish to confess to Pei Qi and to speak with proper intonation and variation of speech. He then said, “Hetish has had a crush on Pei Qi for the past 10 years. Ever since he saw her in kindergarten, he has fallen in love with Pei Qi, but has never got the opportunity to tell her how she feels. Today he is finally given this opportunity.” It was hilarious as Hetish struggled to say those words and finally the toastmaster called out another person. Hetish happily withdrew. The replacement was more sporting (in a way, or maybe he just likes the attention or Pei Qi!) and he went down on the one knee kneeling post. He stared into Pei Qi’s eyes and said to her, “Your eyes are like the moon on a starless night. Pei Qi I want to tell you something… Pei Qi, I love you!” At that moment the whole room burst with laughter and all those who were recording held their camera pr hand phones tighter. “I’m sorry I don’t love you,” said Pei Qi. The toastmaster was not satisfied and at last Pei Qi said to him, “Okay! I love you too!” (It was something like that at least). The day was made more interesting when during our Table Topic, she got a topic on the meaning of love. All in all, it was an interesting day.

The next day, I had prepared a speech for the competition, it was called 100 years. It was about pollution and its effects if left to be continued. I was rather confident in my speech and I thought that I stand a chance to win something, but when I told the title to the toastmaster, he insisted that we do something on family. I knew that if I were to do anything regarding my family, it meant that I was not going to get the prize. But then I thought to myself that however much I wanted the prize, getting a chance to let my parents know that I really appreciated them was more important.

So that was how I ended up sitting on that chair that day as I rehearsed mentally the words that I was going to say to my family. I was number fourteen in line and although I mentally denied it, but I was really nervous, I felt like vomiting in fact. As one by one the people went out, the feeling just got worse and worse until, “Gan De Ming with his title, Unsung Heroes!”

I sat there for 2 seconds to calm myself and slowly made my way to the stage, I shook the toastmaster’s hand in false confidence and stood on that stage staring down into the mass below me. “Good afternoon everybody!” I was answered by everyone of the audience; it had become a procedure. “How many of you have heard about Superman?” Hands were raised. “Who has watched the show?” Some were lowered but others remained up. “What about Spiderman or Batman?” It was the same case. “But today I am not here to talk about all this man-man; I am here to talk about the Unsung Heroes, my parents.”

*****

At least an hour had passed since I ended my speech and within me I felt calmer. After receiving my certificate, it was now time to announce the winner. I knew I was not going to get anything, and I was right. The Most Improved Award went to Cherish, The Most Creative to Hetish and the third placing to Jetish (Hetish’s brother), second placing went to Pei Qi and the winner of that day was Alex with Cooking and Me. I believed they all deserved the prizes for they all were great!

To be honest, I expected my parents to be proud or thankful for my speech, instead, they asked me why I had to talk about them, it was too common. They told me to stick to the previous topic and that it was rather one leveled and was without depth. I was really disappointed and definitely hurt, but as I recounted the events back in my mind later that day, I realized that what they said were true and I learned that day that I should never change the topic especially when I did not have much time to prepare and make it more meaningful. It was a valuable lesson though.

The three days spent in the course was definitely well spent, although I had already known many things on public speaking, I picked up many tips and was now more confident in speaking because of all the times we had to speak in a crowd. In fact, I realized that I actually liked going on stage!