"But there is a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the story are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begins."
"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered of the search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second encounter with God and with eternity."
It was a doubtful Thursday. We all had gathered in Canteen A, planning to go to Ubin Island for our group experiential learning, but suddenly needed to change our plan due to the weather forecast that day. Yes, the forecast said it was going to rain, with 50/50 % chance of raining. Did not want to be caught in the rain while strolling over the island, we decided to find other places to go.
The final decision was made, after several yes(s) and no(s), it went to Underwater World in Sentosa, a place where we could see the marine life of tropical island like Singapore. We took 2 cabs to reach the place and got there by 3 pm. The clouds were a bit dark, therefore we felt relieved taking a decision not to go to Ubin Island. We bought the tickets and entered the Underwater World just then.
It was very full of people that day since most of them were with big groups. The very first thing caught our attention (and the other's attention) was the stingray pond as you could touch the stingray and feel their skin with your hands. There were many different types of stingrays. The one with the dots, the one which was jumbo, the gray one, the small one, so many stingrays. Most of our group members, especially those from Norway, they were so excited putting their hands in the water since it was so rare to find those kind of animals back in their home country. Anne, the "beach girl", and Oistein were so happy when the stingray approached them, even when those stingrays splashed water to them, they still insisted to stay. So funny.
I was not that excited since I have already saw many of tropical marine animals back home, in Indonesia. We had millions of animals since we had bigger seas with their rich natural resources. We had not only animals, but also coral reefs and marine plantation plus planktons. Hence, those scenes were "so-so" for me. However, I did not want to disappoint myself for spending $23 dollars getting inside, thus I tried to cherish every moment, looking for something I had never seen in my country.
There were sharks, crabs, jellyfishes, octopus, and many more. All of them were kept in tanks, with similar condition as their homes in wild nature. The one captured me was the sea angel, a very tiny and small creature, lived in Arctic Ocean, for it looked like a transparent butterfly, but instead of flying, they were swimming. I had never seen or known them before. The other one was the shark embryos. There was a tank where we could see the growing stages of shark embryos, and it was so amazing as I never had the chance to see them ever in my life.
The trip to Underwater World could have been just a trip until I started to think about this. I thought about God, about how He created all of those beautiful creatures, with all of the differences, complexity, and uniqueness. It was just so unbelievable and wonderful that it made me speechless. Unconsciously, I began to feel even closer with Him, only though the trip. But this one was a very personal issue that I should reflect more on my own. The other thing to reflect was surely a different thing. It was supposed to be something about our group. Eventually, after saying goodbye to all those sharks and stingrays, we went to Food Republic at Vivo City.
The food there was just attractive. Many kinds of food coming from different countries were put in the stalls. The smell made it impossible for us to miss the chance eating there. We tagged seats and began to explore every food available. It took us about 30 minutes to finally decide what food we were going to take. There, I found out that our friend, Anine, she always stayed safe, meaning that she always picked the same food she knew and felt hesitated to taste a new one. I suggester her many food, but she ended up eating something she had before, which was dumplings. No offense, Anine :)
On the table, we chatted about many interesting things. School, work, family, or even love life! It was so funny when Jimmy asked Oistein whether Norwegian girls would like to date Asian guys. All of us were burst into laugh. Then Oistein explained how height differences was one of the reason why Norwegian girls would prefer someone from their own countries or at least region. Things like this would definitely be something we remember from that evening. Anine, Marnix, and I were also sharing about our languages differences, that Norway had 3 different characters that were not in Latin word list - something I just figured out that day.
From that moment, I earned many new insights about their cultures, something that I have never guessed or even noticed. There was this gap, between Western and Eastern countries that was very distinctive. They were very liberal, they emphasized individualism, whereas we from Eastern part of the world emphasized more on collectivism. Anine, she was so independent, compared to girls from my country for example. She left her house by 18 and lived on her own ever since. Marnix, he now was living in his apartment back in Amsterdam. They felt fine with that. It was something ordinary while it could be considered brave in Indonesia as very few of us did that. And there were lots of differences I could not tell one by one. One thing for sure was that I opened my eyes by talking to them. I gained something precious with this experiential learning, something that many of our students might not get back home.
Chatting personally really taught you something. The group experiential learning was indeed essential for our group performance in the future. We got the chance to know the person better, much much better through this outing. I started to know that Marnix was very nosy. He liked to tease me and make jokes to get us laugh. Jimmy, he liked to sing as he would sing anytime, anywhere, especially when he got nothing to do (he sang in the escalator and bus!). Hans, he got worried very easily. He would not feel relieved unless he was sure he got everything under control. Oistein, he simply called his friend after he took pictures with 3 snakes covering his neck. And Ann, she loved to take pictures with snakes, she even initiated the first move! Marnix and Oistein followed her afterwards. Anine, she would never stop smiling.
Although we did not experience cycling activities in Ubin Island as we eagerly planned before, that time I felt so happy. I really liked my group. I really like the accompanies. I could not wait for another outing session with them. I bet it is going to be more fun! Especially after doing our project together : the movie (too bad, it is coming soon!). At the end, we had to separate on the way home because the Norway had to buy some groceries before going home. Then, Marnix, Jimmy, Hans, and I went home by MRT, having another chit-chat time there until the time had to separate us physically (psychologically, we were binded already :p)
All in all, I gained the CQ knowledge that day by learning many new knowledges from various cultures. I developed my CQ action, specifically the verbal speech, as I talked with them. The CQ drive is the one that motivates us go along and spend time together. Last but not least, as I checked and reflected on what we did, I also improved my CQ strategy.
PS : It was not raining in Ubin Island that day.
Gadis
