term two

This term has by far been the most eventful term yet (then again, I’ve only been here two terms so I guess it was more eventful than the first term). I think us Grade 11s have generally gotten more comfortable in our new surroundings and gotten a gist of how things work around here. There’s definitely a greater sense of community spirit among our grade, and a stronger drive for continuous improvement. Here’s a look at the highlights of the term!

The term kicked off with the Student Council elections, as I ran for Head of Community Committee and Head of Student Council. It was a tough process, having to submit a short essay before the December break, speeches for the positions we were running for as well as a Q&A session with questions posed to all members running for each position. I found all individuals who ran to be highly qualified, all bringing different things to the table - the Student Council would have been lucky to have any of the individuals who ran in it. At the end of the week the results were in, and I was truly humbled to have been elected Head of the Student Council for 2018. I had so many plans, loving the experience I’d had so far but also acknowledging areas for improvement, that I couldn’t wait to get started! We had a transition period of a month between the old and new Student Council, and started a really cute tradition of a StuCo Beach Day as the final handover from the old to new council to conclude the transition period. We’ve been on our own for a month now, and we’ve had our fair share of highs and lows - like the huge success of Paklong Chalong to meetings and decisions that didn’t necessarily go our way. I’ve definitely learnt important aspects of leadership and communication that I never would’ve thought of, but I’m honestly grateful to be put in this position where I can give back to the community that means so much to me.

StuCo Beach Day. You hate us cuz you ain't us.

Now I mentioned Paklong Chalong, which must have puzzled quite a few of you who are not accustomed to what has become a UWCT tradition. This is how the event came about: the 31st of March was originally set for our annual prom. However after hours of discussions, there was a mutual agreement that prom appeals to a particular culture and it would make the event much more special and meaningful if we made an event specific to UWCT, hence Paklong Chalong! Chalong in Thai means celebration, while Paklong Chalong put together means mouth of the river. We thought it’d be a nice way to celebrate the success of the Grade 12 as their time comes to an end, releasing them from the river into the big wide open sea! Of course we have our own interpretation of the name, but that’s for us to know and you to find out ;) Anyways, the Community Committee deserved all the thanks, because it was truly a night to remember with spectacular performances, entertaining advertisements and overall an enjoyable night.

Special Focus Week was by far one of my favourite weeks this term, with the aim of trying to pop the bubble we live in and actually educate ourselves on what’s going on in the outside world. I’d say I helped with it, but it was really down to Elisabeth’s and Anna’s incredible organisation that the whole week came together (I just made the posters!) We had a talk from a Holocaust survivor, Thursday Thought Night discussing chivalry and masculinity, but Monday was by far my favourite. On Monday we had presentations by fellow classmates who come from regions of conflict, including both visible and invisible violence. There were presentations on Mexico, the Catalonian dispute, China-Taiwan as well as China-Tibet-India, which I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to listen to. There was also the Syrian conflict, where the two Syrians, Obada and Tala, who possess contradicting views on the conflict, acknowledged their different perspectives but still attempted to educate us on the ongoing situation. Laura from Armenia then told us about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh, where she’s from, and how she experienced firsthand the violence and effects of the conflict. It was truly eye-opening to hear Aviv and Zane, an Israeli and a Palestinian, put aside their individual biases to present an unbiased view of the conflict and offer a possible solution that they both could agree on (even more eye-opening to see the hours of heated arguments the two of them had days before the presentation, finding great difficulty to reach a compromise but in the end finding a way to make it happen, which was all the more heartwarming). In my opinion it’s experiences like these that make this UWC experience unique - being surrounded by individuals who’ve had completely different upbringings from yourself yet being able to learn about it from people who’ve experienced it firsthand rather than from a newspaper article. You learn that the world is a lot more complicated than the media makes it out to be, but it also teaches you to be more understanding and aware of the people around you, because you never know what someone has been through prior to your encounter. At the end of the day, peace begins with a conversation, and this time that conversation began with us. I hope to take this on next year and ensure the tradition continues at UWCT, because it’s definitely an amazing opportunity to take advantage of the different nationalities we have present to discuss important matters that should involve each and every one of us.

We also had the privilege of celebrating the Thao Thepkasattri-Thao Sri Suntorn Festival, commonly known as the Two Heroines Festival. The highlight of the festival is a spectacular historical show about the history of Phuket. Over 200 years ago, two sisters Thao Thep Krasatri and Thao Sri Suntorn rallied the islanders to defend Phuket from Burmese troops. We went to an evening festival organised by the Residential Committee which kept us entertained with both rich food and culture, explaining the history of the festival and why exactly it’s celebrated. Phillip and I also got to attend the ceremony at the Thepkasattri roundabout with Kru Kanok, where the monument of the two heroines reside. Many institutions and companies, both government and private, were present at the ceremony. We brought a garland of flowers with our school’s name on behalf of the school as a sign of our respect and appreciation for the sacrifice these two women made. There were also performances by students from the local schools, after which we were treated to Burger King by Kru Kanok which sealed the day perfectly! I thought it was great to learn about the culture of the place we’re living in and be immersed in something celebrated so strongly by the locals, contrary to a lot of the festivals here that are rather touristy.

Multicultural day was one for the albums, with everyone dressed beautifully and parading in their national costumes - it was like all the cultural shows mashed into one evening! To say we were treated to an array of food would be an understatement, parents from the community flooded the canteen with food from all around the world, leaving us full for hours (which is a long time considering most of us get hungry an hour after we’ve just eaten). I had the privilege of taking part in the sub-conti performance explaining the significance of Diwali and why we celebrate it, as well as in the Middle Eastern mashup which included dances from Turkey, Israel, Iran and Syria! I loved every bit of the experience, from the rehearsals to the performance, and it was beautiful to essentially travel around the world in a single evening. It was another one of those instances that left me feeling grateful to be surrounded by people all around the world who I’m privileged to share cultures with.

UWCT held its inaugural TEDx Conference, themed Winds of Change, and I was immensely proud of Sarah and Diogo as well as the rest of the team for all their efforts into putting the event together. The idea that floated around that afternoon were definitely thought-provoking and left the audience questioning their outlook on certain issues with a multitude of perspectives. The degree of professionalism the event was dealt with created a crazy-high standard for the next batch to reach.

The villa party served as a cute conclusion to the term, with well-deserved fun and much needed celebration to mark the successes of the Grade 12s. It involved a lot of food, pushing (and pulling) each other into the pool and loads of pool games like keepy-uppy, pool volleyball and floatie races. The evening ended in good cheer, and I’m honestly blessed to call these people my family.

This term was graced by yet another cultural show: the Las Americas Show! It was a jam-packed week, filled with discussions on colonisation in the Americas, a football match, the food bazaar as well as the much awaited cultural show (which was of course followed by a dance party, as they all are). Weeks of practicing had gone into preparing for the cultural show, and the experience of putting the show together this time around with less help from Magnea (the intern who helped loads during the European show) and the Grade 12s as they had all Was due, it really tested our teamwork and gave us a sense of what it’d be like next year. There came days where we rushed for things to be done and venues to be booked or else it would’ve been called off, but it all came through in the end. It was a treat to have the community together, staff and students alike, sharing the stage to entertain each other. There were individuals like Jasper who faced an identity crisis on whether to go on stage for Canada or the US, as well as beautiful poems recited by Angel. I had the privilege of dancing to a mashup of North American songs, singing/rapping to Alexander Hamilton from the musical Hamilton as well as singing along to Elisbaeth’s childhood favourite- Canada in my Pocket (which was joined in by Kru Chris Lahey and Khun Jason - how exciting!) There were also performances that showcased the evolution of dance, a poem on bilingualism recited by Cameron in both Spanish and English as well as songs and dances from UWCT’s finest. We acknowledged our shortcomings and made sure we were aware of what needed improvement for future shows, but overall it was an enjoyable event for the community.

The markings on our skin tell the tales of where we have been - a more poetic way of saying we got sunburnt from our DoE Practice Journey, where we kayaked 44km over 3 days under the scorching sun (Keep in mind this was the same weekend as Las Americas!). The first day was our easiest kayak, paddling 12km over the span of about 4 hours. I came back that afternoon tired, having to put up our tent and organise our food, all trying to coordinate the setup for Las Americas, but we had no idea what was going to hit us the next day. We hit the water at 8.30, trying to make it to the tip of Phuket before the tide came in. Unfortunately we were half an hour too late, and we met the current just as we were approaching the tip, which made that bit of the journey a lot more difficult than it needed to be. We were knackered from kayaking against the current, consuming almost half of our snacks before realising we weren’t even halfway through our journey for the day! We pulled through, picking up the pace till we reached our fastest pace right up to lunch. We kept up with our tradition of cheese sandwiches all 3 days (other than Isaac who insisted on peanut butter, jam AND ham - for reasons we still don’t understand). We were all pretty tired after lunch, but pushed past the fatigue as we kayaked past Phuket airport under the airplanes (which was pretty cool). We arrived at Nai Yang at around 3pm, only to realise that the 16km we were supposed to kayak that day was in fact 19.7km! We were exhausted, and our skin was as red as a tomato, demanding aloe vera every day for the next week. We returned to school, had a shower and before we knew it, it was time for Las Americas! After the show was over, we returned to our tents. The next morning we had the privilege of sleeping in until 8.00, packing up our tents and leaving school at 9.30. The final day was a kayak from Nai Yang to Layan, with our lunch break at Nai Thon. It was a scenic kayak with water so clear we could see the seabed! We all kept to a steady pace and finished strong with good time, ending the journey together with no one being left behind. The amount of resilience shown by the team was indescribable, supporting each other both physically and emotionally when we were tired and felt like giving up. I wouldn’t trade this team for any other, and honestly can’t wait for June. Phang Nga here we come!!!