Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 217

Apr 6

1) Today was definitely one of the more tiring days for me, and not just because I had a lot of decisions to make. First life-altering decision I had to make: should I attend classes today or stick to my original plan of volunteering for the RCSI Reach Sports Day? Finally, I made up my mind (for the second time) to go for the Sports Day, which was held in Dardistown, near the airport. Our meeting point was the Swan Pub, just one block away from RCSI. Initially, I thought that none of the other JC2 students would want to come, seeing as some of them (Group A) have Card Signings tomorrow, while others would not want to miss the Anatomy Practicals and Expert Patient Sessions. So I was pleasantly surprised to meet some of them who actually decided to come along.

2) We took around 40 minutes to reach Dardistown, after which we had about 20 minutes to prep. Niamh, Dawn and I were put in charge of the "Retrieve and Conquer Rounders" game. It was quite similar to a game of rounders, sans the bat. Essentially, two teams would go up against each other. The first team would be the pitchers - they would stand behind a white line and each would throw one tennis ball. After throwing, they had to run around four cones (this represented "bases") and return to the first cone (a complete "home run"). Meanwhile, the second team was waiting to catch the balls, after which they would try to get the balls back inside the cone. If they managed to return all the balls before the first team returned to the first cone, then they got the point. But if the first team returned first, they got the point. I can appreciate that it's not easy to understand this with just words, but with a bit of demonstration, we managed to get the kids to understand the rules.

3) Today I learnt two things - that children have boundless energy, and that they have an infinite tolerance for cold. I was literally freezing in the chilly morning air, which was further exacerbated by the strong winds. My fellow Irish friends would definitely concur. And yet, these kids were short-sleeved (for the most part) and jacketless, running and playing like there's no tomorrow. This reminds me of an HBPS lecture which I went to, in which the lecturer asked, "When a parent asks their child to put on an extra layer, who is the one who is actually cold, the parent or the child?" That's right, the parents are cold; that's why they ask their child to wear a jacket. Anyway, we judged a total of ten teams over five games, briefly stopping for lunch in the Clubhouse. Sipping piping hot coffee in the cold is fast becoming one of my favourite pastimes, and there was ample coffee on demand - which meant I had a field day.

4) By the time we finished, it was fast approaching two. Everyone gathered in the Clubhouse, and the results were announced. The overall champions of the day - White Team! The top three teams were also given medals. At the end of the day, I'll go home with a volunteer T-shirt, my stomach full with a free lunch (to my Chemistry teacher Ms. Chong, I guess there are free lunches in this world after all XD), but most importantly a hug and a thank you from one of the children. Small little gestures, but with a profound effect, on me at least.

5) But now we were approaching a crisis. Would the bus be able to make it back in time for the 3pm Expert Patient Session (EPC)? My watch showed 2.30pm when the bus finally started moving. With a bit of luck, and a lot of praying, we returned to RCSI on the dot. If you were there at 3pm and noticed a bunch of students literally running back to RCSI from the bus stop, that was us. Fortunately, the session had just started, so we didn't miss anything important. It was another lucky save for us then. Afterwards, I returned to the library, only to be greeted by free doughnuts and sorbet, courtesy of the SU4U team. The rest of the evening I spent trying to finish my ICP project, which I know I can't finish but I'll try regardless. It has been a long day, but one that I really cherish. It's a bit of a shame we weren't allowed to take photos of the children themselves - for privacy reasons, which I totally understand, but still disappointing nonetheless. So on that note, I think I'll end my blog here. Thanks for reading, and have a great day, cheers!