Chess Club (1 hour Creative)

Sadly, I was only able to attend Chess Club for a short amount of time as the large number of other duties (me being the secretary general for the upcoming ISB BGIC conference) not only kept me from going every week, but also did so for other students. However, while I was there I enjoyed it greatly as chess is one of the most enjoyable tactical games that there is and the interaction between players is great. Also, chess is a quick game in most cases and many different strategies can be played.

Amnesty International (6 hours Service) (Term 1)

In the first Term, I took part in a charity organisation called Amnesty International. This group fight for the rights of humans and often, we had large discussions on certain controversial topics such as Guantanamo Bay and other violations of human rights. In addition, we held a charity carwash on a weekend to raise money for the Haiti fundraiser later on in 2010. I really enjoyed being a part of something bigger and got me thinking on how the money raised could be used where it was being sent. Overall, taking part in this different activity opened my eyes to the point of views that human rights protesters have, as well as the atrocities that are occurring in our world today.

General Voluntary School Helping in Various Activities (16 hours total Service) (Term 1)

I helped out in some school events during Term 1. These involve:

Quiz Night Marking
Selling Tickets (Movie Night)
Movie Night
Galilean Nights
Selling Tickets (Disco)
International Day - Haunted House and Primary Area

Quiz Night is another annual competition where all years of our school (including the teachers) come together to compete to take home the trophies of the junior and senior division. On the actual night of the event, I took part with some of my friends to mark the answers that the different groups had put in.

Selling Ticket for Movie Night in addition to organising it was good preparation for joining the student council in terms of the organisation factor and gave me a feel of what was required of me and all of the different things that have to be taken care of for something as usual as a Movie Night. This was also similar for selling tickets for the end of year social (that had to be postponed).

Galilean Nights was a night held by the Physics department to celebrate the discoveries of Galileo and all other astronomers. The school had many activities on offer that involved watching the stars and even the moons of Jupiter with the powerful telescopes that the Brunei Astronomical Department had! There were also star maps in some of the rooms but we mainly helped out in showing the younger children how to do some of the activities involving light and mirrors to make them start to appreciate the wonders of the world and space. I felt that I got what I put into this night. I really enjoyed working with the children and helping them to learn and in the process, learned a little bit about myself - I am pretty good with children.

Finally, I helped out on yet another of ISB's fun family days. On International Day, there are many games, puzzles, activities, contests and performances, you name it, ISB does it! I helped to organise the Primary Performance Area where we showcased a few talents of the student including singing, dancing and other things. In addition, I helped out with the setup and preparation of the junior haunted house. All of this took a while but again, I took alot out of the fact that the children all had a wonderful time on the day that we helped to prepare.

Piano Concert (1 hour Creative) (Term 1)

On the 21st of November, all people from Muzette Alley took part in the annual concert which is held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) which also hosts a number of other events such as the ISB BGIC conference and exhibits. In this concert, we all were required to play at least one piece to the other students and parents on the day. The meaning of the concert is to show the parents how their child has progressed and improved in their musical talent - as the school teaches piano, guitar, violin, among other instruments - and for us to become more confident with performing in front of a crowd.
I played one showpiece, composed by Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, named Solfeggio in C minor. This piece took a few weeks to master as this particular piece has specific fingering so that you can play it well - and the piece is meant to be played prestissimo (which is Italian for very fast). The book which this piece came in contains a few masterpieces such as Fur Elise (by Ludwig van Beethoven), La Folia and Canon in D. From practicing and playing in the concert, my self-confidence in my playing has increased as these pieces were a big jump as opposed to my previous lesson book. Particularly, I think that I have improved my control over fast songs and providing the 'feel' of the music which is rather hard to do as you are more prone to mistakes by playing faster. The satisfaction from learning these pieces is very great, and as a result, has made me enjoy my music more and hence, get more out of it.

Kindy Painting (3 hours Service) (Term 1)

Every Friday afternoon, the painting group got together to paint designs onto kindy's walls and ceilings to bring more excitement to the children when they spend time there. I am not an artistic person except for the fact that I can draw a decent picture. But when it comes to painting, I'm not Picasso. Doing an activity not such as this not only helped out the younger generations of ISB's students but also gave me an opportunity to develop my painting skills while doing so. This activity took a little over one month (five Fridays) and during this time, we painted designs of nursery rhymes such as Humpty Dumpty, Hansel and Gretel, as well as many others. I took great satisfaction in my work as this is not my forte but the overall results of my classmates and I proved to be more then sufficient; and so, I was impressed with myself for doing something different.

Emergency First Response Course (4 hours Creative)

I simply took this course to learn to be a person who can use first-aid techniques that I know in situations where someone requires it, for serious injuries or even less severe problems such as cuts, scrapes and other minor things compared with a life or death situation. I feel that this sort of knowledge is invaluable as a life is priceless and if a situation arises in which these actions are necessary to be undertaken, I would be more confident in stepping up and helping an individual to either save their life or to reduce long-term injuries. So, I think that this will help me to be more confident in the future and hence, more of a risk-taker as well as a caring person when the time arrives.

Temburong Trip (9 hours Action, 1 hour Creative)

Our year went to the rainforest area of Temburong from the 9th to the 11th of October. This trip is tradition to our school and it was finally our turn to go on this trip. The trip was action-packed for a three day trip and it had us worn out - we had to go to school the next day too, so our endurance was tested. Once there, we did a little bit of team and trust-building which included falling off an elevated platform onto a mat which was held by the rest of our group members. We went to sleep but were sadly woken by the traditional fire-drill at five in the morning when we had only slept at one or two from having to pack for our trek later the next day.

Even though it rained later on in the first day, the next day, Sam (one of my best friends) and I among about five other people lined up to do the flying fox activity. This involved hanging from a rope and sliding over the river to the other side, high up above everyone else, moving at a speed where adrenaline encompasses you completely. This was the only activity that I was anxious about because I am not a fan of heights and the harness fitted around our waists but I have had dislocated hips from birth, and so, I must always maintain a safety look about everything that could endanger them. All was good however, I followed the instructions and (at least partially) conquered my dislike of heights and had a lot of fun while I was at it.

In addition to this, we did water confidence, but I am confident in water as it is. I navigated our group through the forest to our campsite for the later part of the second day. This was also an unexpected challenge but was extremely rewarding in the sense that I had just navigated 20 people through the forest for seven kilometers. I got to become familiar with the walkie-talkies to communicate with official back at the lodging area just in case something were to go wrong. Even though I got a little lost a couple of times, all was good and with good leadership skills from our trek leaders on the day, we made it to camp one whole hour early. We then continued to set up camp.

About twenty minutes after we had finished that and had organised all of our stuff within and around the tent, we got ready to cook. At this exact point in time, the other group arrived at the campsite and only five more minutes later and it started to rain, heavily. Once we had put the curses and moans of the other group, while they were putting up their tent in the rain, out of our mind, we attempted the impossible. We tried to cook in the rain. This proved to be a success and we all went to sleep full, a drastic opposite to what we all thought once it started to rain.

The next morning, we cleaned up, and kayaked back to the lodging area. Originally, I was with Sam and all was good, but then another group was in trouble as both of the people in that kayak had no experience of it before. Once we had completed an amazing swap-over in about ten seconds, I was with Wei Tze who was someone that I usually did not work with. But once we had found a balance on how we would row and use the river current to our advantage to not tire ourselves out, we were ready to go. The last corner came around all too fast and our journey was over.

We then jointly paid for a couple of lost items (a drink bottle, a knife, a something else) as a group as headed home, as tired as we were. This was an experience like no other and I hope to go back with a few of my friends for a week or so, to really get a feel for it. All in all, I felt that I gave everything my all, and helped out those who needed my help for certain activities that were not their strengths.

ISB's Recycling Fashion Show (2 hours Creative)

At the start of our course, to bond with new students that joined ISB, we were all split up into groups to work together. In this group, we would bring in recyclable material but we were not told what we were going to do with it. The next day, we used it all to make a fashion show 'dress' which we would show to the other groups by one person walking down the catwalk in it.

Being the only male in my group that was not new to the school - which included Jo, Ashlyn, Sheane, Sim Hann, Craig and I - I was immediately chosen as the model without any other alternative. This was not a bad thing as I am outgoing and love making a fool out of myself (within reason) and it made the activity very enjoyable to take part in - I also had the dress named after me, the "Dean Dress". However, this was still a tad out of my comfort zone and I felt that this was not only beneficial for the new students to see me as an approachable person, but for me to feel comfortable around them. Already, I can see that doing this formed immediate friendships which I already highly value.