edit: people with photos please send to me! kthnxand so, apcg has come to a close.
just got back, showered and blogsurfed for a while and i realised that
almost everyone has already posted about apcg! how do these people find the time and energy mans.
anws. ummmm i guess in many ways apcg has been more than what ive expected, although of course there are also disappointing moments. i mean, nothing can come out perfectly, but apcg came close lah. close.
i wouldnt go into the day by day account, but mostly this conference has been about the gifted, how we can develop our gifts into talents and how being a leader is about decision making. and that these decisions have far reaching consequences. yeah. nutshell.
in many aspects apcg has been different from most of the the rest of the conventions ive been to. i mean, its semi-international, its mixed gender, and this time, im a facil instead of a participant.
being semi-international and mixed gender has made this conference a lot more fun because of the variety of people you can get to know. this widens your perspective a lot and also makes it a more meaningful experience. i mean, if everyone there was from singapore, it would be a lot less interesting because everyone has similar experiences. but people from different countries? then it becomes a meeting of different perspectives and ideas. but in the same way, it has made it a lot harder for the participants to bond and get to know each other. i mean, being from a foreign country, esp one that does not have english as its first language, already makes life difficult enough. it is natural for the people from different countries to stick with each other. but when put into a group without a fellow countryman, it becomes second nature to be more open to the people of the same gender as you. this is painfully obvious, esp in the first two three days. sure, the group of guys/girls may not be of the same country, but they're still only a group of guys/girls. compared to icyl, which is a semi-internation but fully female convention, the apcg participants bonded a lot slower.
of course, in saying that, i refer to my group only. each group has its own dynamics, so maybe this may not apply to other groups. but im just saying. group 5 did start off rather quiet and there were a few communication problems and all, but eventually we did see greater effort from them to get to know each other and bond. though not as bonded as i would have liked them to become, but given the above scenario, bonding was not easy. we did see them become better over the days, so that part was heartwarming. its true. nothing is more impt to a facil then seeing his/her participants grow.
speaking of facils, this would be my first time becoming one. for a conference i mean. and this position has taught me a lot more than facilitation skills. yes, facilitation is hard. you have to find that balance between telling the participants everything and not talking at all because neither serves the purpose. we want
them to talk. to share. to reflect. and then you have to constantly be there to keep the energy up, to encourage them to speak out, to clarify, so that they can take away the most. its really not easy.
but more than that, being a facil has taught me the important of being responsible for our own learning. a teacher or a facil can only help you that much. we try our best to help the participants, but if they dont actively speak out, clarify, share, then there is not much we can do. our own learning is our responsibility. we can only learn as much as we are willing to learn. going to a convention, or anything at all, with a clear mindset of what you would like to take away from it, is crucial. us as facils, we see the big picture, so we
know what we would like the participants to learn from each experience. but if this big picture is not conveyed to the participant, or the participant does not actively try to go and discover this big picture, then they would have no real learning point from each experience and their experience will be quite limited. as kimberly, our youth leader, would put it: "the world ends with you". how much you would like to discover, is up to how much you want to discover.
so yes. thats how ive grown as a person in this conference. (this post is starting to sound like a reflection. maybe i'll just copy and edit this for my "official" reflections later on). but thats not all the growing we've done in this week. besides my own learning and our participants learning, our team of facils have also grown a lot closer. theres nothing like five full days of work to bring a group of people together. sure, we were already quite okay with each other at the beginning, but now we're starting to get to know each other in a deeper level, quirks and all. at the beginning i knew the duraffes were an okay group, but now, now we're an AWESOME GROUP. theres never a dull moment and we're always cracking up over one silly thing or another. i really do appreciate them, they made this conference so much more fun. even though we're tired and all, but everyones always there to back each other up, cheer each other on and keep each other going. during the facilitation sessions for example, we could always finish each others sentences, or elaborate when another person has run out of things to say. truely, we are a great bunch and i will miss working with these people.
also, special mention goes out to theo and joce, my fellow bg ics. bglj went great, thanks to every single persons help and of course, good weather. the three of us, despite our busy schedules, have managed to dedicate enough time and effort to this lj for it to be a success. thank you.
and so, this long post draws to an end. if you've read this whole thing, thank you. apcg has really been such a wonderful wonderful experience. although now i stare dismally at my high pile of differentiation revisions and pts, but deep down i know its been worth it. this would not have been possible without everyones participation, be it the facils, the participants, the teachers, the youth leaders etcetcetc. and so i truely sincerely appreciate everybody's effort.
thank you, thank you, thank you.
Aspiring, Principled, Compassionate, Grateful
Escaped
{4:52 pm}
---
