In the heart of the experience, I find myself both eager to return to Canada and anxious to leave my current home for what will likely be indefinitely. These last couple months have been packed with rich experiences that will stick with me forever. In July, I took a trip to Thailand to visit the CAPI interns Rowan, Karunia, and Jannae in KSDC. Spending time with my good friend Rowan brought me back to being a kid in our small town in BC. We grew up in a quiet area that was a part of nature. Spending time playing outside and exploring the forest is how I spent much of my childhood. Although the plants look different and the temperature is much higher, KSDC has the same tone as back home. This is a stark contrast from KL, which is a very chaotic and attention seeking city. There are foreign smells, loud cars and bikes, giant bright advertisements and an endless supply of malls, all begging for my attention. Needless to say, the feeling of being surrounded by nature is not something I feel when in KL. Nature doesn’t demand your attention like a city does. Nature is almost static, unbothered by your presence. I only really noticed the impact city life had on me when I arrived at KSDC. Experiencing that again, especially with a childhood friend, felt like a deep breath and release of tension.
When I returned back to KL, our schedule was packed with events. The biggest one was a trip to the theme park. We took 250 children and 8 school buses to an indoor theme park downtown KL. This trip took a lot of planning and energy, but the payoff was legendary. I took my small group of grade 6s on the rollercoaster repeatedly and we played hide and seek tag on the spiderweb playground until I was completely soaked in sweat. We also had some smaller events. At an international humanitarian conference, our students presented plays and gave speeches. At the school, we hosted an open day so parents, sponsors, and board members could get a glimpse into the students’ activities.
There is rarely a slow day at MSRI, and I am never unhappy about that. The busyness ensures there is always something to do and has me interacting with different people all day. My weekly routine consists of Coding Club, Boys Club, a beginner English class for unaccompanied minors, and many other daily tasks. The programs I am a part of are very exciting to me and I have loved seeing them change and grow as time goes on. I started Coding Club for students to learn the basics of computer science by making simple video games and animations. Being able to put my degree into use by creating lessons and assignments based on content I have learnt in university has felt quite rewarding. It has been so fun to see the students working on their projects. I can see the moment when they finally understand a concept, and the creative flood gates open. The Boys Club has become my favourite part of the week. Every Wednesday an inconsistent assortment of boys and I meet at lunch time and play games. I bring my bluetooth speaker and let them pick songs to play musical chairs or freeze dance with. We play chess, hide and seek tag, ninja, and many more games and activities. This has been just as fun for me as it has for them, and I often return back to work with the same feeling as going back to class after recess in grade school. The most recent addition is the English class that I have taken on. I teach three 16-year-olds from Afghanistan, who remind me of my unenthusiastic teenage self. They often skip class or show up sleepy. Spending effort trying to gain their enthusiasm feels like some sort of karma from my younger self. Explaining the English language has really made me realize how unnecessarily complex our language is. So many rules are inconsistent and seem like there is no rhyme or reason for them. I have a newfound respect for anyone committed enough to learn a new language, because helping my students learn English has shown me the difficulties in the process.
