Basketball Training, Matches, Tournaments, Coaching (15 hours Action + 2 hours Service)

Over the course of this term (Term 1), I have continued to join the ISB's Under 19 school basketball team through going to the weekly trainings and attending matches against other schools. In addition, there was also a tournament held where people made their own teams and sometimes we played teams that had adults in them. However, this just helped us to improve our competitiveness over the few months in addition to all of the games we played with other schools. The constant stream of games every week means that our fitness level has to be able to withstand the constant movement required of the game.

In addition to playing basketball, I have also helped coach the Under 15 school team for a couple of mornings to improve my knowledge of the game by directly refereeing it and appreciating the job of the referees. Basically, I enjoy the competitive nature of basketball and sports in general, with the skill and coordination and communication needed to work efficiently as a team so that we can be the best that we can be. In conclusion, I feel that this helps to balance out my academic school duties and makes me feel more balanced and thoughtful (tactic-wise).

In April, our school team took part in an inter-school competition. We played JIS, St George's, St Andrew's and SMSS. The matches against St George's, JIS and St Andrew's were close, with differences being only under 8 points. We managed to beat SMSS by 77 points to their 48 points. All in all, we won all of our matches except for the game against JIS. This has taught me to acknowledge and congradulate the effort that our team put into training, but also to realise that we can't always win, and we should train harder so that we can play better as a team.

Anzac Day Dawn Service: Flag Raising (2 hours Service) (Term 3)

On the 25th of April, I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5 in the morning to drive out to the beach known as Muara Beach. The reason for me being there was to be a part of the ANZAC Day Dawn Service. Even soldiers from the army were brought out to be a part of the service and greatly enhanced the feeling that the service gave. I am very proud of my heritage and as a result, my teacher chose for me to take part in the raising of the Australian flag while my friend, Savannah, did the same for the New Zealand flag. This experience was greatly uplifting as I had never been to a Dawn Service before. What also kept it fun was the fact that I was wearing trousers and a collared shirt, so the sand-flies didn't get the chance to bite me. Not everyone else was so lucky! I am truly gratified that I was chosen to do the honours and I hope that in the future, I am given more opportunities to represent my country.

Soccer Training, Matches and Football Funday (6 hours Action) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

In Term 1, I briefly joined the soccer team as requested by my friends so that I could take part in the annual Football Funday held at Jerudong International School. Soccer is purely a game of style and skill. Since I was young, I have mainly taken the position of a defender, providing solid protection for whichever goalkeeper that is working with me. I take great satisfaction from knowing that I have prevented a goal for the team and know that I have been a part of our victory - I like to contribute, to make me feel as if I've accomplished something and here, I know that I am improving the bonding and trust between us all whilst also representing the school during the funday where we narrowly missed out on being in the semi-finals by goal-difference. I hope to get back into soccer again as a full-time sport soon so that I can improve my defensive skills around my talented friends who play as strikers.

During Term 3 I managed to find enough time in order to play for ISB's soccer team once again, this time we had already made it into the semi-finals of the cup. Our opponent was the sports school, Sekolah Sukan. They proved to be formidable opponents with their fast style of play. However, we managed to use this against them in order to score one goal and we had a close chance in the last few minutes to equalise but we failed to do so. This, like most sport activities, taught me to accept defeat and try to figure out where we went wrong so that next time, we may play better and maybe win in the finals.

Mount KK Mountain Climb and Community Service (3 hours Service + 8 hours Action) (Term 3)

From the 10th to the 14th of April, my friends and I went on an out-of-country trip to climb a mountain and also to help out a local neighborhood.

We started out journey the next day in the mid-afternoon and our mountain group of 14 students and 2 teachers continued along at a steady pace. It took all afternoon to reach the rest-house where we would stay overnight to rest before the dawn climb.

A mountain never seemed like a possible task for me to accomplish. I have a fear of heights and getting up anything steeper or higher than a hill with slippery surface scares me to death. Even though my endurance and fitness levels are very good, I have a problem with the joints in my hips that cause them to hurt after a physical activity. I thought that this would hinder my progress and maybe even stop me from continuing on and finishing the climb to the summit. However, we all woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning for the dawn climb and trekked on in the darkness taking occasional breaks to catch our breath.

At about 5am, Sam (my best mate) and I reached the summit after pulling ahead of the main group. The summit was 5 degrees and we were all rugged up in the dark eating chocolate to keep our body warmth up. Only when the sun came up, did it become clear how far we had climbed, how high up we were, and the beauty of the landscape around us, 8 and a half kilometers above sea level. To me, this had to be one of my most amazing personal accomplishments so far and I got to enjoy this experience with my friends, helping to further the value of our friendship.

The next day, after meeting up with the rest of our year, we traveled a few kilometers from where we were staying to meet the children of a local community school, where we would then help to construct various things for their schoolyard and classrooms. I worked on doing wiring for the fence before moving inside to help clean one of the rooms. After that, we all spent some time interacting with the children, playing games and helping them colour among other things. Not too long after, we left to pack up our gear and get ready for the short flight home.

From this unique trip, I learned a few different things that helped to boost my self-confidence, friendships and interaction skills. Overall, I am thoroughly pleased with how the trip went and look forward in the future to accomplishing other activities that I didn't think that I could ever achieve before.

Mountain Climbing Training (15 hours Action) (Term 2)

In preparation for our trip to Kota Kinabalu where me and thirteen other students would climb the mountain, we had to take part in training for our muscles and our mind because sometimes, it's the mind that proves to be the barrier. So, from early January up until early April (the week before we left) we trained at different tracks of varying difficulty. Initially, the walks were quite easy for me to manage as I have past experience from doing monthly jungle treks. However, I was concerned for a couple of members of our team during these sessions and so, those of us who were stronger helped those who were having trouble by providing confidence-building so that they could believe that they could do it. But by the time we were near the time to depart, we were all fit enough even on the harder and more mountainous trails that took more time and determination to complete.

This training was essential to prepare ourselves for the rarefied oxygen levels upon reaching the peak of Mount Kinabalu and I was confident that we could all make it up the mountain together as a team now that we knew each others' strengths and weaknesses.

War Gaming Club (total of 17 Creative hours) (Term 1 and 2)

We all meet up on Tuesdays for two or three hours to play a variety of tactical games that surprisingly encompass war in the main strategy. These include: risk; warhammer and heroscape.

Heroscape is played with figures on a pre-constructed board formed from hexagonal pieces. The hero figure or squad card states how many dice you get to roll for attack, defence, special effects and how much life the figure starts off with.

Warhammer is very similar but the rules are all in one (extremely) thick rule guide, and so, one of the club organisers has to be there as a judge to tell us what the figures can do (whereas in heroscape, the information is already on the information card specific to that figure). Also in warhammer, the landscape that you play on could be a table with a drink can and a lunchbox with a pencil case as obstacles. This means that less equipment is needed to play the game.

Risk consists of six team colours where up to six players compete to take over the world on a board picturing the countries of the world. Reinforcements are given at the start of a player's turn based on the number of the countries that a player controls, divided by three (rounded down) and bonuses for owning a whole continent of region (Africa or Aisa) are then added.

These games are all very enjoyable, especially with the large number of people who join the wargaming club. My favourite from the above is heroscape, followed by risk / warhammer. This is because I have found that I enjoy playing with figures but heroscape is more new-player friendly and therefor, is easier to play which boosts the amount of fun that we can have as a group.

BGIC Setup and Participation (38 hours Service) (Term 1 and 2)

Over the course of the first two terms, alot of planning was required by us four Secretary Generals and the Teachers in charge of the whole thing. We planned the numbers of student from each of the schools, allocated them countries through long a country matrix, put on simulations of the procedure of the conference among other things. The stressed importance behind having these simulations are to make the delegates feel comfortable as many this year were new and had no idea of how the conference ran or what they were expected to do, so this helped to ensure that the actual days of debate were as heated as possible.

On the first day in which delegates try to find support for their action plans, my fellow Secretaries General and I floated around between the allocated rooms for each committee which were each dealing with different world issues. We gave advice to the Chairs (those who run the committees), and gave help to lost or confused delegates in addition to introducing the few days of amazing debate that were ahead of us.

On the first day of debate, I entertained the Ministers and Her Royal Highness in the Royal Lounge and then showed them around the committee and tried to give them an overview of what the delegates were doing. Once the ministers left, I gave advice to the Chairs and made sure that they kept their committees in check. On the second day of debate, a new opportunity for debate was introduced to BGIC and was run by the school year above us. This involved making up fake information to present to the various committees as a simulation crisis. The idea behind this was to bring something new and different to BGIC and to make to delegates think on their feet from their country's point of view to quickly come to a general consensus on the actions that should be undertaken to solve them. Finally, the third and final day of debate involved the committees in each Forum (we have two forum in BGIC, essentially two separate conferences are going on at the same time because we are so large now) and I chaired the whole General Assembly of over 150 delegates with my partner Secretary General and our Parliamentarian (who acts as our helper). I was very excited to see the participation of one of the youngest delegates that I have ever seen and he proved to be an active leader in committee debate and general assembly debate.

I enjoyed having control over this many people and to allow the debate to run in the way that we saw fit, so that the debate was the best that it could be to make the delegates' experiences the most enjoyable for them. I think that all of the delegates took away with them fantastic memories and I enjoyed being a part of it, to see all the hard work and preparation come out, and most of all, to receive the praise of so many people who either watched or took part in ISB BGIC VIII. This just goes to show that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything!

Surfing (17 hours Action) (Term 1 and 2)

This is yet another sport that I enjoy doing. It is out in the fresh air with the cleansing salt water that is goo for the skin in general. Anyway, surfing is a sport that involves having a large amount of stamina to continue to catch and ride waves. Sadly, surf in Brunei only comes in the months of November - February as this is the time of the monsoon season here in Borneo and as a result, our beaches are opened up to swell and we can then catch waves. The swells can sometimes reach up to a maximum of 8 or 9 feet with the correct conditions and tides. These waves can pose a challenge to catch as they require great precision and skill to ride them so that you do not wipe-out.

However, Brunei's surf is usually a "soft-wave" where the top of the wave rolls on itself instead of breaking cleanly and this makes them harder to catch, but that just means more exercise for us. With that said, the waves can still produce barrels (where you ride inside the wave as it is breaking) but these are easier to catch on a boogie-board instead of a regular surfboard. I am most proficient on a boogie board at the moment but when the next surf period comes around again, I hope to be able to use both boards with ease.

Qatar MUN Conference (20 hours Creative) (Term 2)

On the 27th of January until the 2nd of February, five of my friends, two teachers and I travelled to Dubai and then to Qatar to take part in an international Model United Nations, similar to that of ISB's BGIC. The main reason to participate in something like this is because while I enjoyed organising BGIC, I still wanted to debate and so, this was the perfect opportunity. While we did have a nice little holiday around Qatar, visiting its museums, universities, and seeing the amazing architecture of their buildings.

However, the scale of the debate was the highlight, and the topics that we debated on. I represented the country of Bulgaria and my committee was SPECPOL (special political). We debated the border issue of Pakistan and Afghanistan in addition to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Both of these topics required me to go away and research them beforehand and provided me with a greater knowledge of the world that I live in. I got a good kick out of debating with a high standard of intellect and was one of the highlights of the year's many events. I enjoy applying my knowledge of the situation to what I and other delegates think could be a possible solution, and working with them opened me up to the many different approaches possible and allowed me to question the validity of them (one delegate suggested re-instating the Taliban as a legitimate Government!).

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.