Saturday, July 19, 2008

ILYG 08 Day 1

Day 1 in Melbourne started with waking up at dawn, and managing to get a beautiful picture of the sunrise from my bedroom window =) I love sunsets and sunrises (esp at the beach)…although I get to see sunsets, I never got to wake early enough to view the sunrise. But on the occasions that I WAS early enough, I was usually too busy to just sit back and appreciate the glory of it..

Picture of a church in the middle of the city, which I think is quaint and beautiful =)

View of the Dome in the Victoria State Library

That's me acting like some spoilt brat...

But anyway, we had breakfast, and I got to meet Creski, the final member of our five-man-strong delegation from Malaysia who’s currently studying in Melbourne (medicine). The rest of the morning was spent walking around the city, and getting to know the landmarks just in case we got lost and couldn’t find our way back to the hotel. We finally left and made the 45 minute long journey by tram to DLS College. Melbourne has the most extensive tram network in the world (I think), and I was amazed cos they went to all major parts of the city and outskirts. So then, after I registered myself, i made a remark about the bag we got to Varun. It just so happens that Brendan was there, and he echoed my sentiment =p Brendan is a guy I met at ILYG 08 (as if that’s not obvious), who’s my age, and is currently teaching young boys at a Lasallian School. How great is that? I’m his age, and I’m still studying -_-“


Our second Starbucks drinking session, and as you can see, we were high on caffeine and decided to take stupid pictures =p

Walking by the streets of Melbourne..well, not exactly walking..we were waiting for the tram =p

Having lunch with Creski, devouring Malaysian Roti Prata!!


So then after registration, the event began at earnest, and I was absolutely thrilled to be there. I was taking in the sights, sounds, the diversity of people, and the intoxicating lilt of the various languages so many other people have, as opposed to my minute knowledge of knowing only three languages, and even one of them was basic at best.

It began with an opening mass at St Joseph’s Church, with the emcee announcing the various countries that took part in ILYG, and I was assigned the task of taking photographs for the team. How I got assigned that task still remains a mystery to me, since I was the shortest of the lot, and my arms couldn’t even reach high enough to get good pictures. Everyone else was so tall!!!! In the end, I had to resort to running around, and even had to get to the first row of seats just so I could get a good vantage point. I was being pushed around, and even almost knocked Brendan over in the first pew -_-“ yes yes…I know..I’m small, so I am easily pushed around by the heavyweights of the gathering…I’m just lucky I wasn’t being trampled on.


As you can see, this was the view I could get even with me stretching my arms...not much of a view eh..

See how much clearer it is from the front??

After mass, dinner is served. We had helpings of beef, chicken, side dishes of salad, and French bread. Since dinner was served at the Performing Arts Centre (PAC), we had to have our dinner outside, underneath the light blanket of stars. Needless to say, that was only my second night in Melbourne, so I WAS NOT YET ACCUSTOMED TO THE COLD. I was sitting on the cold floor (freezing my arse to death), and trying to eat with my teeth chattering…pitiful picture, I know..which was why I hurriedly finished up my dinner and went into the PAC to find some warmth…


Delegations from Phillipines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Australia

Session 1 begins….speaker is Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg, who’s a child psychologist, and he gave us a talk on challenges youths face..couldn’t manage to get down notes, as my hands were still numb from the cold -_-“ but the session ended a full 30 minutes before it was scheduled to end, so we had our night prayer session early. I was seated in front of the Hong Kong delegation, and was introduced to them. One of them, Boris, even knew Aaron who went for APLYC 7! Talk about living in a small world.


USA, Malaysia, Phillipines, Australia =)

So then, that’s Day 1 of my stay in Melbourne, and Day 1 for our ILYG Program. I fell asleep anticipating what was to come in the few days thereafter, and dreamt of who else I was going to meet and share experiences with.

I still had on three layers of clothing….

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Michael Car-Gregg is one of our supporters and I have had a number of conversations with him at various events and he is a very inspiring man if you truly hear his personal stories. His passion to work with youth just leaves me in awe!

choulyin.tan said...

yes!! he gave us so much material and great stories...i couldn't upload all of that here as there were so many pictures =)
but we were really blessed to have him there with us that day =)