I received a call from boss in June asking if I was interested in attending a course, Train the Trainer via Circus Arts, in Melbourne. That - of course - truly was an understatement. I have always been in awe of circus arts. Seriously, gone are the old days perception of Circus where it's all about animals and clowns. Yes, there are still the flying trapeze, tight rope, etc. What intrigue me is Social Circus where Circus Arts is simply a platform, a medium to outreach to people who are hurting, who have been hurt badly. Circus gives people a sense of confidence in being in control of their bodies, which probably may have been battered so badly. It also give people the sense of "Yes I can do it!". It cultivates discipline and increases the importance in their lives. There would be a percentage of kids/youths who may perform badly in terms of academics but maybe be kinestically inclined and one does not need to know how to write and read in order to participate.
So, June, July, August, September, October and you have no idea how long that 5 months had been before I could fly! In all honesty, going through the training was exciting. More exciting was the fact that I could stop work for awhile. Yup, it has been quite a journey at work for me, constantly fighting against something that I can't put my finger on. There were frustrations and inadequacy which no matter how I flick it off, it won't go away. Personally, there were also some changes in life which I had to grapple with. Nothing major but somehow, I was somewhere in life where I feel I was slightly thrown off balance. Maybe a bit too much of work and stuffs thus too little time for a pause.
I planned for a little more than just the training. I extended another week in Melbourne. The training jolted me up a little. For one, I realized that I have forgotten what Fun is like. The entire training was conducted without the need for notes. We were told that Thursday would be a boring day of dry stuffs but that night, I wondered - what was dry? In replacement of notes, the training was conducted via games to bring out topics like Ethics, Outreach, etc. Personally, I also get to experience what's it like to push through challenges through Circus, feeling accomplished somewhat. We had the chance to have a go at tight rope, foot juggling, trampoline, flower stick, juggling, diablo and even simple warm ups. I get to experience, first hand, what's it like to be in total control of my own body, knowing that it's the upper body that I have to control when doing tight rope, lower half of the body I have to control when doing foot juggling, where the centre of gravity of my body is when I jump on the trampoline, how to flip myself over when doing a jump, etc. I was able to understand what this ability to control can be like for a battered wife or an abused child or even a youth who is rejected in school. Personally, I marvelled at how silly I can be when it come to games. Often, I forgot how fun really is like. A lot of times, I tend to be in control of myself, be careful of what I say, be wary of the people around me, be wary of how it may perceive to others, etc.
One other thing I observed of myself is my natural ability to be shy and yet, loves to put myself in challenging situations. Basically, there were only 2 asians in the training, colleague and myself. Seriously, I am just naturally quiet. I never really know how to make or initiate conversations, especially in a group. I do feel intimidated, somewhat. However, given me a one-to-one/small group conversation, I do fine. I can talk until the sun sets. It's interesting also how open a book I was. A few classmates came up to me after the course commending that I was very brave. They shared that they could tell I was very shy and was interested to know why did I even put myself through the challenge of being in the course. It offered myself quite a new perspective. To me, it was usually "Just do it. If fail, then remedy. What can go wrong anyway?"
The adventurous part came after the training. I had a friend who was on a work trip in Sydney so she flew down to Melbourne on Saturday to meet me. Wonderful gesture cause she could have saved the money, save the trouble and return to Singapore. People often say that you can experience 4 seasons in Melbourne in just ONE day. They were SO right. The first week, we were SO SO SO cold. I needed my hooded jacket up my head, I needed leggings underneath my jeans, I needed to protect my neck. It was so so cold. Following week, I needed sleeveless and shorts. Literally, the lesser the better! And so, we rented a car for the road trip to Great Ocean Road (GOR) and beyond on Monday. Sunday was just free and easy spent at St Kilda's beach. I shall blog the road trip in another entry.
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