beingbeaple

Hi everyone! I’m back from the Leadership Training Seminar held in the KHS Pastoral Center (Taytay, El Salvador) last Friday and Saturday. I had fun helping the SCC facilitate the event, and although I lacked sleep due to the thing, I’ve caught up with my much-needed rest and now I’m back in action.

A lot of memorable things happened during the LTS: I got a crash course on how to burn stuff through a magnifying glass; I got someone drenched in sea water, bwahahahaha; I chatted with my fellow logistics facis Daddy and Roshy; I got to help the school and its students; I made a lot of new friends; and most importantly, I learned more about myself even though I never actually sat down to listen to any of the discussions.

I’d love to share all the things that have happened but I really must control my talkativeness as a friend of mine has kindly reminded me. So let me just tell you this cutesie anecdote about my Friday night…

After a rush meeting with Sir S about the flow of the Saturday activities, I went with Leo, TJ and Daddy as they prepared to go to sleep. It was a funny location - the front gate of the Session Hall - that they chose because there was no other place where they could stay. Well, I had one more option (the girl facis went to sleep in one of the dorms) but I felt like daring with the less comfortable location. As we arranged plastic chairs to act as our makeshift beds, Leo and I heard a ticking sound like an alarm clock going off. We checked it out and Leo found an alarm clock in the Juniors’ matresses, ticking off because it had been set to go off at two o’clock (they were afraid of being left behind and they wanted to wake up earlier than the others). We turned to go back to our spot when I heard another ticking sound - it turns out there was still ANOTHER clock on alarm mode. So Leo and I entered the kitchen, which some guys had used as a sort of bedroom (due to the fact that their assigned kiosks had been infested with black ants) to locate the source of noise. After careful listening, I deduced that the alarm clock in question was stuffed in its owner’s shorts pocket. I desperately wanted to cut the ticking out, but it would have been a foolish move. See, if I woke the owner up, I’d be in quite a fix - a Senior facilitator in the middle of a room filled with snoozing boys, trying to get something from one of the boy’s pants is definitely going to attract the attention of the higher authorities. So Leo and I decided to let it be and we went back to our spot.

Ai Ai and Gibson joined as and we chatted for a while. Then, when everyone was ready to go to sleep (except for Gibson who couldn’t shut his eyes and had resolved to eat all his packed food the whole night through) I heard the ticking sound again, and it irked me even more this time. I said - to no one in particular - that I was going to ‘detonate’ IT and when Ai Ai and Leo heard, they said they’d go with me. (First, I must say that I’m not a light sleeper, I can sleep through most noises, but I just wanted to shut the alarm clock because shutting it down seemed like an attractive challenge to me.) After Leo picked himself off the ground - in his haste, he fell over during the start of our mission - we went to the kitchen and looked for source of the noise again.

This time, the clock wasn’t in its owner’s pocket anymore; it was already under his right elbow - all together now: how did it get there? I pulled and tugged and poked it when at last it came off. After silencing the thing, Ai Ai and Leo and I went back to our spot where the rest had already gathered with their plastic-chairs beds, the thought of being bitten alive by mosquitoes fully abandoned. I guess we were all just thrilled at the thought of sleeping outdoors.

I slept quite like a log, except when I woke up from my uncomfortable position - I was sleeping while sitting down - and, seeing Daddy’s empty ‘bed’, placed myself on his bed. I woke up again, this time because of the cold, and since I can’t tolerate the idea of freezing, I rushed to the girl facis’ dorm… only to be woken up again cause it was time to rise and (to) shine.

The LTS was very fun, at least for me. I learned a lot not only about leadership, but also about people - and I’m not talking about the gossip. I was sort of freaked out because I kept thinking of the wake that was ongoing next door, but everytime I’d think about it I’d just get excited of having a ghost encounter. I also came to appreciate how much sacrifice facilitators have to pitch into the seminar to make it possible.

I’ve been to the Pastoral Center loads of times, but for some reason, this time - is special.

Poof!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.