Saturday, 23 March 2024.
My class and I went to a garden on a hill called Taman Doa Gurgur.
Honestly, it was because that we were already in grade six and about to leave primary school, so we have to have a reflection on positivity.
Our class just got lucky because we just finished our exams on Saturday whilst other classes had to get there exams postponed for today because they went there on Friday or Thursday.
I went there with everyone in my class, my teacher, Ms A, our Religion Teacher, Ms S, and our Sports Teacher (unexpectedly), Mr J.
I didn’t really want to go out yet, as my close friends weren’t there yet. But luckily as I got out, my best friends, Evelyn, and Johanna came.. That when I left my parents to chat with the other parents.
We took photos while waiting near the church, and even rated whose clothes looked the best! Two more of my friends, Harel and Roll, came and joined us. We five and a few of the girls and boys joined us doing silly stuff! Even Ms A wanted to join us all taking pictures.
Finally, three vans and one car arrived at the church and we went in one of them. The car only fitted the Pastor, who was joining us, Ms S and Mr J, so the first van (coloured blue) was the boys’ van and Ms A, the second van (coloured yellow) was half of the girls’ and the third van (coloured white) was the other half, including me. I went to the back so I could open the window and wave goodbye to my Mum. Although, I was a bit embarrassed because she kept taking pics of me and my friend Johanna. But still, I was glad for her to be there waiting for all the vehicles to go.
It takes around fifteen minutes to get there, so on the way I played a game with my friends Evelyn and Johanna, whilst Roll and Harel were taking photos. Then we played songs through Roll’s phone and sang along with it until we arrived at Taman Doa Gurgur. We screamed a bit as we went up the steep ramp to get up the hill. It was frightening because the van was a bit hurried.
We all made it there at the same time, and we went through the grass to the main hall which was at the very top of the hill. Chairs were already lined tidily there and our teacher had to sort everyone to boy-girl rows. Sadly, I got paired up with a boy, Jericho, but Evelyn was in front of me and Johanna was behind me so…:)
As the opening, Pastor had to begin with a song called Nyender Ning Sisi Yesoes which means Lean to Jesus’ side. The song was amazing and catchy, but…there were actions to do. Of course, we have to do it with our partners (ewwww), and it was terribly awkward. We had to lean to each other at every chorus (disgusting, ugh).
But when it ended, I felt so, so relieved. Of course you think that was the end of it…right?
WRONG!!!
For the next activity, we have to draw our partner the best that we could, and write down their positive and negative sides. I did a stunning sketch of Jericho, and put ‘good-enough’ positive and negative sides of him.
Whilst Jericho (I wanted to cry when I saw it) drew me like a pig. Big nose, wide eyes, massively big ears, and my hair looked like noodles (of course I ripped it apart and threw it away when I got home), but he did write down Positive sides as in Smart, Loyal. I’m pretty flattered, but what do you think he wrote for my negative sides???!!!
Aggressive (puh-lease. I’m only savage to boys who are mean to me bruh!), and stubborn (…okay, I guess I can be a little bit stubborn sometimes). I’m so glad we didn’t have to give them to the Pastor (it was bad enough seeing Ms A and Mr J laughing at Jericho’s sketch of me).
Our next activity was looking at the positive sides of ourselves. At this time, I kept thinking what are my positive and negative vibes? I think of what Jericho wrote before and I wrote those down too (Smart and Loyal). But I’m also quick at learning the things that I’m in to, so I write that down too.
But now for my negative sides. I write down stubborn and I ask Evelyn what I should write for my negative sides. She suggests writing down ‘not having many trust to people’. True, I thought. I’m like really savage to people who I don’t know 🙂
When we’re done, the Pastor asks a few people what they wrote down, and it turns out that all of them were different. Then he brought out compliments for a few of us (including me, he said my hair was really rare, and fine-looking. I ended up blushing like fire).
The final activity before lunch break, was to look at some objects around us and write down their positive and negative sides. I chose a car, and wrote down its positive side (easier to transport people and substances to distant places) and negative side (generates pollution). I doodled a bit next to it.
After sharing our opinions (most of us had different objects chosen), we had a lunch break, where I had a chicken steak, rice, and banana for snack. We were allowed to play a bit for an hour afterwards, so we chose to play a game called Dua-Lima.
But, only two minutes of playing, Harel called me to meet an author, Ita Siregar, who lives in the garden. My friend led me to the café and there, I met Ms Ita, and, unexpectedly, she asked about my short story that I made two years ago. I was startled and a bit mortified, but I told her a little summary about it.
Then she asked if I was working on any books at the moment, and then I tell her about the plot that I’m working on, and how I’m gonna set it. She recommends that I should get my book published by her when it’s finished, and that is when I was the most flabbergasted on meeting her. I was happy, that I didn’t have to go looking out for publishers when I’ve got her! Afterwards, I say my thanks to her and go out to continue our game.
After time was finished, Pastor told us to put on a ton of lotion and a hat because we were gonna be playing a game that involves water.
We split into four groups (I was in group one with Evelyn, Johanna, Roll, Jericho, and a few others, but not with Harel, since she was in group two) and we had to pick the leader. I was chosen (of course 🙂 ) and the leader has to watch out his or her group to follow the rules.
The members of my group had to be blindfolded, and I have to lead them to the bottom yard since it’s only me that isn’t blindfolded! It was terribly hard, especially with stairs, but, we got there first and we were able to do it without hurting ourselves 🙂 !
Then, we played a game called ‘listen and only listen’. Everyone had to be blindfolded, and we did everything Pastor said like ‘crawl like a lizard’, ‘jump like a frog’.mBut we did all those things without noticing that we were disobeying the rules from the game the entire time 🙁 ! We were sprayed with water because of that.
Next it was a game ‘listen and do’. There we were told to stand in line according to our birth month, height, etc. But we all got it wrong again. Why? Because we didn’t ask Pastor if it was from the tallest height to the shortest height or the heaviest to the lightest etc.
Ugh. Ughhhhhhh!!!!
After wards though, we played a game that I was too sure to win: Putting water to the bottle at the very back.
How? The person in front (Evelyn, for our team) has to deliver water to the person at the back (aka the leader, me for our team) who puts the water in the bottle. And we have to do it by cups and not looking to the back (except me).
We did it carefully, but didn’t win. Our bottle kept falling down that Mr J had to pin it down with bare hands. Whilst our team kept dry, other teams were soaking wet. We didn’t win, but it wasn’t that fun either.
Overall, this next one was much better. We played a game where we couldn’t talk (we’re still blindfolded, except me), but we have to lead the person in front of us to get the balls according to its colour, with only our actions. Confused? Well, it was like this:
We have to go in a line and the leader has to be in the back. Since they’re the only ones not blindfolded, they have to lead their group with they’re actions.
If they push the person in front of them slightly, then that means ‘go forward’ and they have to pass it on to the person at the front until they go forward. If they slap the left or right shoulder of the person in front of them, then that means for them to go ‘left’ or ‘right’, and then they’d have to pass it on until the person at the front goes either left or right. If they pull the person in front of them, then that means ‘stop’, and they’d have to pass it on until the person in front of them stops. And finally, if they slap both shoulders of the person in front of, that means ‘take the ball’. They have to pass it on just like the rest.
There were two balls that we had to find. Our colour was green, so I didn’t have much luck in finding the ball in the green, green grass. Of course, we couldn’t talk, because if we did, then Pastor would have to ‘baptize us once again’ (aka, spray water at us).
Because of that, it was really hard to do this, and Evelyn, who was at the front, was struggling to keep up with my actions. We eventually only found one ball, whilst the other teams found both of their balls. But, surprisingly, we won! Because the game was only about feeling others actions and not to talk, and other teams were shouting and squealing everywhere!
This made me happy, until realizing what the next game was. The person at the front was trusted to find the ball at the last game, so now, they must be trusted to do the same in this game.
Shocked, Evelyn looked at me with wide eyes, but there was nothing that I could do! Pastor beckoned Evelyn and the other three competitors to blindfold them, whilst Ms S told us to sit separately at four different benches (one for each group).
Ms S and Ms A explained that the game was to shout loudly at their teammate that is competing where to go to find their team’s balls. And the rule is, that you can’t go across the border (which is one meter from the bench).
After Pastor had finished, he started the game with saying ‘go!’ and we shouted at the top of our lungs. I was surprised that everyone was screaming so loud! And Evelyn, stupidly, was covering her ears, because it was so loud with everyone shouting! My other teammates were angry at her whilst I just shouted he directions to her.
Less than ten minutes, Evelyn had already got her first ball whilst the others were still confused on where to go. Our team was thrilled that we screamed with joy until Pastor told us off, and Ms A and Mr J laughed at disbelief!
Evelyn was trying her best to get the last ball, which was just a few centimetres from her that she, confusingly, had to crawl around to feel for it. I was getting worried at this point, because other competitors had already got their first ball, and on the way to their second ball. And finally, finally after minutes of feeling around for the ball, Evelyn got it and we won the game! We were too loud at this point, that Ms S had to quiet us down.
Because Evelyn had won, the game ended and we sat down to eat snacks.
And lastly, we were to write down on roll of Manila paper what we have learnt at this out-bond today! Which is, learning how to think positively and teamwork. We wrote down about what is the best way to do something by teamwork; about listening is better than talking; and that Teamwork is the best way to solve a problem together.
We finished just in time! And all that was left to get dry, and pray before going home.
For the finale, we took some photos to remember this day, for it will one of our last memories from Primary School. 🙂
