Tioman- My First Malaysia Week

TIOMAN

All in all, Malaysia Week was definitely not what I expected, but I enjoyed myself more than I ever thought I would. I made new friends and got to know all sorts of different people, as well as their hugely different personalities. I overcame many irrational fears, and got to know myself a bit better. Right now, I know that I give myself less credit than I actually deserve! I'm glad that I know myself better because self-esteem and confidence is what I really built during the week.

When we went snorkeling I worried about myself and if I could last out in the wide open sea. You see, I'd never actually been that far in the water. That sense of insecurity made me feel small. When I took off my life jacket and attempted duck diving, I felt even more lost because of the tumbling waves and vast stretch of sea. I put on my life jacket immediately! I grew thirsty and felt sick, but as I got used to it, and looked at how far I had gone, I felt better. The water was beautiful and I saw different types of coral and fish that I usually only saw on TV!

While we were hiking I compared myself to my brother, and that's when I realized that comparing myself with others only lowered my self esteem so I tried and compared myself only with hopes and dreams of reaching Checkpoint 5. It was steep and difficult hike, and in the end when we finally had lunch I felt amazed that I had accomplished so much. While going back down, I was scared but I slid on my butt and avoided slippery paths, rocks or roots. I didn't fall or trip at all, I consider a major accomplishment considering I'm pretty clumsy............... I also have fallen many times before
but never have had any stitches or broken bones. So, I was
worried that it would happen during the hike. It amazes me now that
I was so scared but before
it seemed so natural to panic about the hike down and the creatures
in the rainforest.

This wasn't the only difficult experience! I've always had a problem with
going to the bathroom in squat toilets. If there are no normal toilets I can
hold.
It might not be comfortable reading this at this very moment, so
I'll skip over the experience.
The point is, it wasn't very comfortable going to the toilet in a
deep hole in the rainforest.
Especially at night! Going to the bathroom wasn't the only problem.
I had to last two days without a proper shower. The closest we came to
proper showers, was
being splashed by a split pipe. The water was very refreshing and
pretty clean.
The next day I had a dip in the freezing waterfall and washed with
biodegradable soap!
My toes were numb after the walk! Though I came pretty close to showers,
I still felt pretty icky after long hikes, and being all sweaty.
That causes me physical and emotional discomfort!
But all in all, I could learn from this experience, I went out of my
comfort zone.
But that doesn't mean I wasn't glad to be back in my proper
bathroom!

At some point we went jetty jumping, and I was afraid to jump the 15 feet. After I saw others do it, I thought to myself, that I could do it too. I ran and did a pencil jump without much thought. As I plummeted through the air, and landed into the salty and wide sea. It felt great! The water was great and fun to swim in. So, as I climbed up the slippery stairs coated with barnacles, I went over the experience and decided to jump again.

I'm glad that I chose Tioman, because in the overall experience, I discovered myself and met new people. I want to thank everybody who helped make this experience worthwhile!!!!
Eco Field Trips, Mr. Thomas, Mrs. Narsiman and everybody else!
LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!

3 PICTURES!!

Here are 3 pictures that reflect me, my lifestyle, how I think and how I act, as well my background.

Enjoy!!

This represents me because I am full of new ideas and I like to be optimistic and think about life positively. Occasionally though, I tend to stray from the big idea, and think about the objects that I want and not the ones that I need or have.

This picture represents me because it resembles my dog- Buddy a lot, and it's also because I'm a huge dog lover. Buddy- my dog is 2 years old, and is always there when I need him. He's a golden retriever- male. I always think that he has a bit of labrador blood because of his ash blonde streaks. We got a male, so our family would be complete. There are 3 girls in my family- Me, My Mom and my sister Maureen. There's only 2 boys in my family- Nelson- my brother, and my Dad. We got a male, so that there would be 3 boys in the family! Buddy needs a lot of love and care, which my family and I make sure he gets. I'm trustworthy like my dog, and I keep promises and secrets.

This heart represents me because I want to be a doctor when I grow up. This is because I want to take care of others. I've wanted to do this since I was in 2nd Grade. My mom and dad have always inspired and encouraged me in this dream, so this heart also represents all the love and support my family and friends give me.

Credits:

• http://www.innocentenglish.com/funny-pics/cute-puppy-kitten-pics/golden-retriever-puppy.jpg
• http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_172/1186173583LZ7ii4.jpg
• http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_183/1189445050jZeP47.jpg

Getting to Know CINDY!!

My friends describe me as nice, funny and....I'm not sure what else my friends would say.

I'll come back to that.

How my teachers would describe me:

* a stresser (not sure if that's a word, but I had to try),

*responsible and

*quiet (most of the times).

People would say I'm a stresser, because I tend to stress, in difficult situations. It can get annoying and it's something I need to work on, but it can sometimes help me get the job done.

I'm responsible because I don't fool around in class. except when I'm laughing or talking with friends at the wrong time!

I'm not sure quiet describes me, but if I'm focused and working hard on something I can be quiet, unless I'm asking a friend for advice on how to make the piece better. I contribute to group discussions, and I don't seclude myself from people, so I'm not quiet in that sense.

I found the third adjective, for what my friends describe me as!!----trustworthy!

I am reliable, and I'm always there when my friends need help, advice or support. I can be a great friend if I set my mind to it.

The event on the itinerary I'm excited for is my first snorkel! I'm a little bit scared I admit, but I still am pretty excited!

I'm least excited about the long rain forest hike, it might be nice, but in the past, I was always the worst at hikes. I had to hike a 14 km, steep and challenging rain forest hike with my family (14 km includes there and back). I was the only one who was complaining, it was pretty embarrassing because my younger brother and sister didn't complain!

I chose Pulau Kapas, but my mom and dad convinced me that I should challenge myself more. I decided that my parents knew better so I put Kapas as my 2nd choice! We voted and my dad chose Tioman, my brother chose Tioman and my sister chose Kapas. I think it was a good choice though because looking at the itinerary, I think I'm going to have lots of fun on this site!

One thing you should know about me is, that I can't cook very well, I can do a few recipes, like box macaroni and cheese. I can also be very clumsy! As well as grumpy in the morning, but that's only when I wake up to the sound of my brother and sister running around, shouting and making their usual MESSES!!

I work well with people that can do their share of work. People that don't leave it until the last day to start working on their part. The kind of people who leave all the work to the other partner and don't do anything at all. It's challenging to work with those kind of people, who aren't focused and tend to not worry or do anything about the group project.

I work well with the type of people, who can do work and also squeeze a little bit of fun into it. So, it's not boring to work and you can laugh and have fun too! It's great to work with those type of people, and if you can find them, they're reliable, and great partners. They're not necessarily always your best friends, but they're good to work with too, if they do their part!

What am I hoping for.....

I'm hoping that in Malaysia Week, I'll be able to meet new people, make new friends (from ALL grades) and get to know the people I already know better. I think that since I don't have or know a lot of friends here, it'll be a good chance to make some! After this, I'm hoping I'll be more of a risk-taker, because right now, I don't like taking a lot of chances. I'm scared of a lot of things! My 10 year old younger brother is the complete opposite though, and that's what bugs me! So I'm going to try and take risks, lose some fears and maybe I'll be as much as a risk-taker as my brother, not sure if that will happen but I can be close!

The third thing I'm hoping to gain from this experience, is learning how to survive without my parents for a while. I miss my parents a lot when they travel, and I call them all the time and I feel pretty bad if I don't. When I used to live in Washington D.C, growing up from 1 to 8 years old. My dad traveled a lot to Southeast Asia, at that time he was a senior economist at the World Bank. It's because of all the travel that I grew attached to him, and hated each time he had to go to travel. I know that I still had my mom, but I still missed him. It's not as bad now that we're living in Southeast Asia, but at one point in November 2009 both my mom and dad had to go to my grandfather's funeral. It was disaster!! My siblings always fought, and I had to break up the fights, make sure that they slept on time. I managed because we had a maid to clean and cook but it was still horrible. We're closer together now though, but that doesn't stop the fights that happens between us. My mom is going to university to get a degree in Public Health, so I barely see her. My dad works also and I'm OK. I hope that in Malaysia Week I'll be able to work on that!

That's pretty much all I'm hoping to gain from Malaysia Week. Thanks!

Now for the pictures....