a full sunday

Sunday was a fun, long day.
I went to Istana Budaya to join the rest of the youth orchestra for another outing event.
I vaguely have any idea what we going to do that day.

ACTIVITY ONE - PROMOTION

We all went aboard the nice huge bus, and we were off to the famous Restoran Jejantas – the overhead bridge which has a few restaurants in it- on top of the North/South Expressway.

Putting up banners of the orchestra, we started basking!

First, my friend picked up his saxophone and played solo.
I just tossed away my doubts on what people might think of us,
Picked up my trumpet and joined him.
And one flautist joined in too!

How do I feel about? It wasn’t that bad. At least I can get more comfortable and close with my own instrument whenever I get the chance to play in public.

ACTIVITY TWO - AWARENESS

Next destination is the home for the disabled in.
The residents, aged from small babies to old adults,
Varied by all sorts.

I admit that it was such a strange experience for me.
Entering the gates, one man suddenly approached me and shook hand with me,
Putting his arms on my shoulder like old friends.

The adults inside the hall are loud,
And when we started to perform for them on the stage,
Some of them went up the stage and danced and shouted.
It really showed that they enjoyed our presence.

They appear to be normal adults, but they were born with a stunted mind growth of a five year old. Some appear to be aggressive, but actually they were just playing around like a child.

The girls of the orchestra were quite freaked out and they stayed outside. I get how they felt, because initially I myself didn’t know how to react, because this is my first time.

Before we leave, we entered the dormitory where the weaker ones lied down on their beds. I saw children having their body in an awkward posture, some also tried to pull us to get attention.

But this one cute Chinese boy, sleeping soundly, caught my attention. From far you might think that he’s just like any average boy.

Until I saw that on his left head, there’s a huge slant, as if his left side of the brain has been cut off. We all assumed that he was born with an abnormal growth on his head and doctors had to do something about it.

But the reality is, he was actually a normal child. Parents had an ugly argument, and he was literally lifted and thrown, and there was internal bleeding in his brains.

I hoped that the trainer would say that this boy would have the chance to recover-

But no, it is the fact now that he is bed-ridden,
as the result of what his parents did.
It has been five years that he stayed here.

I touched his small fingers softly, my eyes watery, and I gave him a silent prayer.

May we all learn something meaningful from this.

ACTIVITY THREE – APPRECIATING NATURE

It’s kinda weird, but it’s really cool-

Initially in the afternoon it was scorching hot and we sweat until we stink.
And then we jumped into the chilly waterfall,
climbed up when it’s about to rain,
And we arrived at the hot springs, just when the rain stopped.
Ah, it was so relaxing to lie down in the warm water, when the surrounding out there is cold.

Talk about good timing.
Having said that, we returned to KL in the evening, and I arrived home just in time for the closing ceremony of Beijing Olympics 2008.

My Sunday was so filled up with fun activities.
How about yours?