Gloria- Challenges of an Outdoor Person

My actual experience on Malaysia Week turned out to be... awesome! I got to experience things that I had never done before in my life. One of the biggest challenges I had during the week was going to plant the saplings in mangroves. This was because we had to plant them in crab infested mud. This mud went up to my knees! When I stepped off of the safety of the boat, and tried to step into the mud, my feet felt gross. When I saw all the crabs - I screamed! I squelched back to the boat and tried to get into that mud again, and again, and again.... but I was useless! I shook with fear. I sweated. My eyes bulged. I stayed on the boat until Mrs Psillides came and gently coaxed me in. (She actually told me there were no crabs....hmmmm). She put her feet into the mud and as she took her foot out she told me to step into her footprint. However, as I moved my feet into the footprint, crabs came running into the hole. I was disgusted! So I quickly squelched in, planted my sapling and when I was ready to go back to the boat- a huge mud fight had started! I had to wait there, stranded in the mud, until everyone was done playing with the mud, so that they could help me get out of there! I had to stay there for about a minute, but it seemed like hours to me. When they finished playing, Mrs Psillides came to help me and we sank our feet into the mud again, deeply, and we washed in the muddy waters of the mangroves. I had to clutch onto her back and she gave me a piggy back because I was scared to death! I ran to reach the boat. As we left in the boat, I looked at my small tree and decided to call it 'James Bond'. I called 'Bye!' to my tree, gave him a wave, and I realized what a great thing I had done for the environment. The gross feeling was definitively worth it.

Qistina - Challenges of an Outdoor Person

My heart was thumping, threatening to jump out of my chest. My mind was racing, making half of my brain throb with fear. I stared out at the ocean, wondering whether the tiny little creatures underneath the surface were waiting for me to jump into the big waves. My mask was fogging up, and I took it as a sign that maybe I shouldn't go snorkeling. I glanced at my partner Krithika, and she gave me a thumbs up, a huge smile on her face. At least someone was excited. I gave her a tiny grin back, and closed my eyes. I tugged at my lifejacket, making sure it wasn't loose. I loosened my mask a little, allowing oxygen to enter. I needed to calm down. It was the only way to get this over with. I could hear Richard, our guide, announcing to the whole group that it was time to walk down to the shores, preparing for our snorkeling. I looked around at Daniel and Maria, the looks on their faces jubilant. Great, I'm one of the only people to be worried. I placed the plastic part of the mask into my mouth, biting the edges of it with my side braces. It hurt, but as long as water didn't enter my mask, I'd be fine. Our group waded into the water, looking down at the sea creatures. They looked so tiny! I smiled slightly at the sight. We swam deeper into the ocean, observing corals and sea cucumbers and certain fish. My ribs had started to hurt by the time we were done snorkeling, but I felt refreshed! The whole time, I was scared of going snorkeling, and I couldn't believe how worried I was! I thought about everything we did in the past four days, and I was almost jumping out of my own skin; everything was so much fun! From the tree houses to the snorkeling, there was not a day that I missed home. Realizing it was the second last day before we had to leave, I was quite sad; being away from my parents never affected me so much that I wanted to stay away! Going back to the city seemed boring, but I knew if I kept thinking about it, it would be worse the next day, when we actually had to leave. On the bus back to KL, I remembered all the silly and goofy moments that seemed to take play in our whole Malaysia Week, and I decided, that out of all the temporary homes I've had, this, Tanjung Rambutan, was my favorite one.

Rachel M - Challenges of an Outdoor Person

My actual experience on Malaysia Week turned out to be really fun. Sometimes I just felt like “Ugh, I just can’t wait to go home” and then I began to feel really discouraged and impatient. But my friends were there to support me and most of the time, I was ready and prepared to go into the next activity. The activities were fun and they taught me a lot.

I thought that the biggest challenge on the trip was staying away from my closest friends. I mean I made some new friends it’s just I couldn’t wait to hear about my friends Malaysia Week, and I wanted to talk to them about the things that were we mostly talked about. The second hardest thing for me was paying attention to the instructions. It was hard because I didn’t want to hear about the plantations and the plants. I really wanted to just hurry up. I also wanted to just move forward and talk to my friends while we walked because it was so hot and I couldn’t wait. The last challenge for me was to keep smiling while we did things that were out of my comfort zone. The snorkelling was the most uncomfortable thing I have been through. There was salt getting into my eyes and than there was water that chapped my lips, it also made me very thirsty, I couldn’t see anything at the bottom of the reef and I couldn’t wait to go back to shore. I kept on smiling about it though and I managed to make it to the reef and back without any complaints. These were all the challenges I faced, but for others on my site, they may have been different from what my challenges, getting along with other people, teamwork, not used to camping, too hot and sweaty. But some people also may have had the same challenges as me. But in the end, we all managed to survive and get over the problems we had. I enjoyed Malaysia Week and it’s an experience I will never forget. I had some challenges, but then I had some easy hurdles to jump over. I can’t wait for next year’s Malaysia Week, and I have some friends that I never knew before but now we’re waving to each other when pass by in the hallways.

-Rachel McKinley, (American) Grade 6

Malaysia Week post

Hi. Krithika here. The five words that describe me are funny, lovable, culmsy, adrenalized and hardworking.

What I am excited about for Malaysia Week is meeting new friends, getting to know the people that lives there, doing things I have never done before and having fun!!!

MW Blogpost

Hello, my name is Veronica Dizon, or just Niqui (pronounced as Nikki) for short. If there was a small dictionary describing me that only consists of 5 words, those 5 words would be: Sporty, talkative, optimistic, clumsy and a procrastinator. Oops!

The events I am most eager towards during MW are hiking, socializing and exploring the cave. Although we probably won't be doing this, I'd also look forward to biking. My perfect Malaysia week site wouldn't involve swimming, plenty of hiking and a very clean bathroom.

Nikhil

Hi, Guys!!!

My name is Nikhil. I am mannerful, kind, loving, caring and disciplined.
At MW the main thing I would like to do is to go............

Biking!!!
I would like to go biking because it is a fun sport.

I hope to see the rainforests and interior areas of Malysia during my trip to Tanjung Rambutan.
Also I look forward to having fun with my accomping friends.............

Arie

Hi this is Arie here.

Five things that describe

1.) Sporty
2.)Scared
3.)Weird
4.)Extreme
5.)Funny

Only one word describe what would i like from MW is Hiking and not drowning.

The things i would like to see in Tangjung Rambutan is:
No Lecches
Tons of Fun
Not Drowning

Gita

Five words that describe me are:
1) Extreme
2) Chocoholic
3) Nice
4) Unathletic
5) Creative

I am looking forward to go Hiking, Canoeing and Snorkel for the first time ever.
My perfect Malaysia Week experience would be:
No leeches
Cycling
Lots of hiking
Kayaking & Canoeing

Rachel H

My name is Rachel and my friends say that I'm hyper, curious, kind, funny and determined.

Abby

I am lackadaisical, stubborn, strong-willed, non athletic, and also sometimes annoying. I am looking forward to all of the activities on the site that I have heard about. I am really looking forward to snorkeling, learning how to kayak and canoe, hiking, trekking, and maybe even biking! I know that we might not be able to do some of those activities, but I still hope that we might be able to (and that covered around all of the activities that I have heard that we were going to do). I think that snorkeling, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, trekking, biking, and living in a tree house is my perfect Malaysia Week!

Surbhit

1} Playful, Hot-Headed, Careful, Careless, Aware

4} I am looking forward to have fun and learn a lot of things. I am looking forward to learn about trees how are they helpful, river and how to make it clean.

5} Where we can fun and learn how to help the environment.