Coast-2-China: Day 9 : Our Final Night in You Zha

Today was a very hectic but fruitful day. And a number of us were down or still down with various ailments - (if i had not remembered wrongly, and many apologies if i did) Ah Ma with inconsistent but frequent nose bleed, Joyce with fever, WenQing just recovered from fever, Shan Li and Kian Seng from flu/cold from the first and second day, Yibing barely recovering as well, Willy and Zack had to seek medication from local clinic.

After our usual wake up call and briefing by Jinnie and Kian Seng, we reached the school at around 9am.

We started our last class with the kindergarten children. They had managed to recite Yi Zhi Shou Zi Bian Bian Bian song. After the hokey pokey dance in the courtyard, we went back to the classroom and distributed the leftover Kachang Putehs. Judging from their expression, it was yummy! We had to hand out seconds and third servings as well.

From 11am - 12+, it was the art lesson conducted by Ah Gong and some. The theme was "Imagination and Associativity" - for eg, Circles can be associated with ping pong balls, teddy bears, etc.

Although there were no pictures, the rest of the team were diligently packing - dismantling the tents, packing the precious blankets, washing all the brushes and buckets, recounting the buckets of paint, bottles of thinner to be brought to the school, paintbrushes, art supplies and repacking into boxes, rechecking with C&W and Logistics teams the number of goodies to be brought over to the next school, distributing the t-shirts for the teachers and etc.

The Logistics team had a bigger issue on hand because they had to plan the sports day that was to be held in the afternoon, as well as time constraints on the sports day whilst not compromising on the children's involvement and enjoyment.

Alvin & Yibing were brief us on the telematch to be held that afternoon. It sure looks complicated.
In a short summary, some of us were assigned to be Game-ICs and Class-ICs. Game-ICs were the station masters as the various obstacles for the children; Class-ICs were to debrief the children of the rules and ensured that the rules were followed. The children, 10 boys and girls were to queue up and run to the first "station" and hit the shuttlecock 10 times or until the Games IC gave the nod of approval, then run to the second "station" and blow a balloon till it was the standard size or until the Games IC gave the nod of approval, then run back to the original queue and the second child may proceed. The intention was a simple telematch and to encourage team and class spirit. While the entire class may not be playing, the Class IC had to encourage the class to cheer for their representatives.

After a briefing from Jinnie and Kian Seng, we proceeded back to 桃范旅馆 for our lunch. Returned back to school at around 1.45pm for the March performance/competition by the students.

The children were seated and wearing the long-sleeved t-shirts with the C2C logo, with the fund contributed by donors.

After welcome speeches by Director He (He Zhu Ren) and the Principal, the March Performance/Competition began!

The children also put on the red ribbon - a symbolism of patriotism.

The Marching Performance/Contest were the gymnastics that were part of their afternoon routine. However, we witnessed their hard work and pride as they marched in and performed for us - every stretch and every action was done with precise and accuracy. To our realisation, we recalled some of the classes were practising on afternoons and late evenings all week for this event. It was no mean feat, considering they were dressed down in their thermals and t-shirts to complete the 15 minutes of routine.

They also performed a tribal dance for us - they had been practising all week as well.

We were invited to join in the dance as well. Clumsily imitating the dance moves from the students.

After watching around 12 classes of marching performance as well as the tribal performance, it was the Sports Day Telematch!

Unfortunately due to a time constraint, we did not managed to go as per our intended plan for all classes to participate. Undaunted, the leaders and Log team communicated with the director and principal, sought their approval and planned for the remaining classes to continue the next day.

Following which, we did our performance for them! Our song list was Dikeh barat, 扎西德勒 and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Unfortunately due to a hiccup and some miscommunications, we did not complete our performance smoothly either.

The school presented flags as a friendly and thankful gesture for Coast2China and Sichuan Youth Organisation.

The end of the performance and marching ceremony. It was end of the school for the students, and since it was our second last day in the school, we decided to take group pictures (garang-ly) with our thermals and t-shirts.

Taking off the winter coats reluctantly and trying to delude ourselves with chants of "It's not cold, it's hot it's hot! We're Hot!"