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You have arrived at the Joshua's Chronicle Memoranda.
For This Ocp Trip, he played the role of team leader and member of the B.Ca team.

To Navigate, Please use links located on the right for a daily write up of the trip from my perceptive.

Day 5 (10 October)

Day 5

We started the day with a surprise visit to the dump-site which wasn't such a surprise to me considering i had proposed it in silent while they were planning out the schedule for free and easy. Surprised it got kept as a surprise till we got there though. As i had hoped it was quite an eye opener for some and from the various people i asked, it was evident that they would be appreciating home more. Something else that happened was that while we were there was that someone got robbed. Seriously shocking, even to me.

The rest of the day was primarily spent shopping at the Central market and Russian Market which much to my due amazement again the team went semi high and shopped till no end.

To end off the day, we had a part-tee where we unveiled the angels and mortals/teacher and student. Rather comical cause for some the team already knew except the mortal him/herself. So it was a noisy funny affair.

Then we all took our leave on the pretext of sleeping but unknown to Ms hor, we had planned a little something to thank her. Which primarily is how i spent my night anyway, editing away at a video for her in gratitude. Due to some reason, it didn't play though so i resorted to fixing the problem when i got home and then uploaded it to You Tube.

Video Here.

Day 4 (9 October)

Day 4

Thank you Lord for carrying me through, even though things didn’t exactly go according to plan and we had quite a few hiccups, overall the session was a success and the participants enjoyed themselves. =)

Finally, my big day. All the preparation and late nights boiled downed to this.

I decided to go without breakfast as i felt butterflies in my stomach. Did i mention, I get the jitters when it comes to public speaking. Since my mortal seemed highly stressed about the session ahead as well, i decided to write a note to wish her well to encourage her.

Then we all arrived at the Korean center and a fury of hectic activities began because we had so much to do. Seemed like we had planned much from our point of view and preparation but turned out we didn’t have enough programmes to keep things going so we had to improvise on the spot and come out with extra activities like case studies. Yes. Change readiness, Tp should be proud. * Laughs* But in the end it all went well and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Today's also great because I managed to go online last night and talk to Ruth and Pew? =)) Greatly Encouraged and reassured thanks to my dearest pastor and rar rar friend. :p

Something i learnt today as well after they told me was that I talk with an Indian accent. Speechless and stunned initially though. I tell you,this team especially the B.Ca people. Super like to poke fun. Guess I need practice.

So after the sessions we went to Mekong river boat ride which was a first for me. Quite nice and relaxing really enjoy the sights and tranquility of the water. =)

After the nice boat ride we went supermarket for the @#%&@ time and it suddenly dawned upon me to look for a certain product in the jam section. And so i did and i FOUND my nice jam. Woot. So i bought some or more like quite a few cause i knew my darlings back home love it as well.

And then for the third day in a row had a burger for dinner. Like talk about depressing. Lucky burger is like macs to me now. I don’t want!!!

Anyway then I think I’m not such a great leader. I have so much to learn really but in due time, I’m sure that God will make it beautiful. After all, His plan for me is greater than anything I could ever imagine.During QT He also reminded me of how I judge people so quickly when people do and can join in when I should flee. Even more now that I’m a leader. So I’ll really try to live a Godly life as an example.

Day 3 (8 October)

Day 3

So once again miraculously dragged myself out of bed with what little sleep i had and decided to give my mortal a present. Well in some sense to be a good Angel. Turns out my writing is like quite distinct so it did rouse suspicion on myself but I'm good at keeping secrets. Hope it made her jovial though. Its nice to see people happy yes even if I weren’t team leader, this being the case however I’m in a predicament at what I should do since I want to reach out as a team leader but I’m not much of a social person of sorts.

On another note, I want to mention is how I think its by no means a coincidence that I was elected team leader. I remember a few weeks back my mum did say that the word for me would be clear and in some sense, my birth prophesy as a leader when I so think I can’t might just slowly come to past as I’ve been asking and seeking. Another opportunity I know to trust in His perfect plan and to know that He is in control and even if I have no leadership past, this might be the beginning of something great. =)

Back to todays events, we went on to the Menopause and Uterus cancer sessions. It turned out the MFA people were a no show due to some unforeseen issue, but really thank GB for finding replacements so we would not have come in vain. The GB people have been a great help throughout the trip and the one word to describe them is AWESOME. Heh. Back to the session, there was a role play today and I was acting a part with my supposed scandal(How it happened i'm also not clear). LIKE honestly super sabotage thanks to these people. I thought the certain incidence at something else i attended would be over and now I have a new one. Why am I always the center of these things. *Cue Annoyed*

Other than that, the programme went well even if everyone did get abit tired. Guess we should have thought of more ways to involve everyone more actively.
For a change, today by request we went to the International book Center to get some materials and then went to shopping mall! Even thats a first for my many trips to Cambodia. Like big woohoo. Was bag carrier for SOMEONE -.- but I don’t really mind. Quite an eye opener to be in the mall truly and the furniture store on the top floor was the ultimate. Quote "Blue Bird Furniture Store" Talk about bad branding. *Laughs nonsensically*

Then we bought back food before retuning to the hotel, me lucky burger again. And then here I am. However there was a prank call earlier much to my annoyance. Seeing how everyone was exhausted i decided to cut the debrief and reflection to a minimal and then proceeded to a final night of OT to really complete everything for the session.

On a random note, me thinks the feedback yesterday was a great help and i seem to be grasping how to be a more effective leader slowly.=)

Day 2 (7 October)

Day 2

After the late night, i was duly surprised that i even managed to wake up on time and leave the hotel at 8:30am in the morning.

Diabetes session day 2 was in some sense a better one than the day before. This is as the night before we had discussed the situation and decided to simplify our teachings. That and the fact we were more aware of their standards helped us to gauge better how to make the information more applicable to them. I noticed this even though I wasn’t around much due to the fact that I had to finish up the closing video which surprisingly only took me around 3 hours give and take to get done. Not entirely perfect but not shabby considering the time time taken. A personal record in terms of timing for me.

Video Here. Re-dubbed due to Copyright issues

During the day, we also were in for a treat as we were brought to lunch at a Singaporean owned restaurant " Singapore Kitchen". As the name depicts, we had Singaporean local dishes much to the surprise of the entire team. Alas however, nothing stays golden and toes were stepped on due to events like slow service that delayed the team and made us late for our next session and in the case of others a plain rice incident which i shall not go into. It irked me somewhat the teams responses to these events but i decided to leave it at that giving the benefit of a first tripper to a 3rd world country.

In the evening we went supermarket shopping again for some reason I'm not too sure but at the same time we had to pick up dinner and since the team for some reason was anti local food, we settled on Cambodia's very own "Lucky Burger"

After returning to the hotel, i was greeted with a great big bomb shell as Ms Hor (lecturer) informed me that she needed to speak to me. Someone had actually told me before hand but i seriously had thought she would have decided to postpone it. Course I couldn't say no could i? Which led to the lengthly talk we had about my performance as team leader. Insert Here. Long story short, she expressed disappointment regarding some matters which we managed to get ironed out after getting an insight of what each others point of view was. One of which needed me to lead reflections. So I went back to my room instead of heading to party dinner and decided to spend some time alone to firstly get back in touch with God and to focus myself. I've found that the best thing to do whenever I have any problems is to look to God first committing it to Him. After all Seek Ye first the kingdom of God, And all this things shall be added unto you. So then I planned out the reflections and then lead them. Not entirely sure the response but seemed to work I guess. Thank God. =)

Then started another night of night shift as we continued our mad rush to finish up all we needed to do for session preparation. Its likely i slept at 2 plus. In the progress of night shift we also found out there was internet for the fee of 5USD for 5 hours so we decided to split the cost among one another which lead to another drama but thats for another time.

Day 1 (6 October)

And so here begins my journey to the land of Cambodia with a BMS team of 11 others and 1 Lecturer.

Prologue

I has been around 4 weeks since i signed up to be involved in the OCP(Overseas Community Project) This being a project with a different theme, i felt that it would be a great learning opportunity to benefit from. Around 2 weeks ago, during a team meeting, roles were assigned and due to my disclosure that i had been to Cambodia previously, i was unanimously voted team leader of the team. Unnerved i decided to give it a go anyway........

Day 1
Assembled at the Airport at 4:30 Am with almost everyone looking rather hagged thanks to the lack of sleep or none of it for the matter of some that were afraid of oversleeping. Check in went smoothly and we prepared to board the plane to fly off.

At the Airport

Arrived bright and early to warm weather in Cambodia, this being first trip for some i witnessed unexpected reactions of joy and sorrow. We headed to Town View 2 after meeting up with our partners namely the Girls Brigade. The hotel had decent facilities and i reminisced all the past trips i had made and felt a little homesick which was a new for me. Then again i started feeling that way before i had left so i guess it could be sure partially to the fact that i had to lead a group of people i was totally unfamiliar with.

The Hotel =)

After settling in for a while it was time to leave for lunch which we had at some small Halal joint and being the first meal, some were greatly distressed at certain sights but overall, it was a decent meal considering what else you can find in Cambodia.

Post lunch we went to Korean center for first round of Diabetes sessions. Honest to goodness not what we expected at all. We were under the impression that the participants would be more equipped and versatile with the language but we hit a language barrier mid way even with a translator. I guess when your topic consists of scientific jargon you are going to need someone adequately prepared. All was not lost however, one of the participants happened to be a doctor and so she took over the translations much to our amazement.

Note to self. If you ever do another Health Education session make sure the translator has the knowledge of terms

Korean Center and Room sign.

After the rather complex session with unexpected results we went on a super long bus ride for a village visit and tour. Leaned about various projects started by an organization called CHA and saw all the animals like someones favorite the cow and pigs of sort. I've seen them before so my fascination wasn't as great as some of the team members who have never seen these animals back in developed Singapore. Overall i rate it great exposure for the team. =)

Before heading back to the hotel we decided to drop by supermarket to pick up some necessities like water and i picked up some stuff for my mortal. By then we were feeling so exhausted from the long day that we only managed to have a quick debrief and run through of the next days activities. Course the day doesn't end there for some like me as we had to go night shift to prepare materials for our own session on Thursday.

Things i learnt today aside from the mentioned:
1. I really am more a follower than a leader.
2. As team leader i think i should have a more proactive role.
3. I should bond more with the team members