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"Faster, faster, we will be late,"I said.
"We still have time,"Cherry replied.
We went for breakfast and ordered 2 plates of meehoon. One plate tambah satu biji telur and another plate tambah beans. Teh tarik satu...we share because we are lovely..hahaha...cost RM 10 in total ! Breakfast now also very costly. Ok, no problem, we are grateful we have food on the table. After breakfast, off we go to KL Tower Mini Zoo.
Half way through, we hit a roadblock. Cars can't go into KL. Apparently, it is the week where joggers, cyclists can have a casual and nice run in KL. Thus, they block the road. No worries, there is always another way to reach your destination. Follow the cars in front and the traffic police. They guided us to turn left to another road.
Lesson : Just like life, we will hit roadblocks in our journey, there is another way to reach your destination.
I look at my handphone, it is 8.45am. I stubbornly parked my car in front of the barrier and waited. KL Tower Mini Zoo is just so near. If I detour, it will take me longer. I snap a picture of KL tower, posted on FB and watch joggers sweating it out. After 10 minutes, they pushed the barriers away. Hooray ! In less than 5 minutes, I was at my destination.
First to arrive, I wanted to be there earliest to make sure things are sorted out, and to reach before my students or parents arrive. Just afraid if they could not see me, they would be very worried. In a blink of an eye, people are coming in as early as 9.15am ! Parents are as excited as the kids. Haha. Checking with them, almost 95% of them have not been to the zoo. Even KL Tower, 50% of them have not been to KL Tower.
Kajang students arrived. Shah Alam, TTDI and Bangsar next. By 9.30am, they were all lining up wanting to go in. But they have to wait till 10am. So parents were chatting amongst each other, some taking pictures, laughing and enjoying the hot weather.
"Johan, we are open now. You can go in," one of the supervisor of the Zoo told me.
"Kids, we can go in now! Are you ready?!" my voice amplified through the loud speaker. "YES!" they said. The enthusiasm and energy was as high as the tower.
As kids played with the animals there, teachers are lining some of them for the brand ambassador. Kicking things off were branches from Shah Alam, Kajang, TTDI and Bangsar with teacher zam, yati, elain, jimmy, kim and cherry. Kids were speaking about mangroove snake, squirrel monkey, alpaca, white macaque and aldabra tortoise. The weather was really hot and the sun was blazing down on us. Sweat were trickling down from kids' forehead....hahaha...they really are brand ambassadors. Then it was the teenagers turn and also the mandarin group from TTDI and Puchong with teacher stacy and aiziah in action. Sometimes, we need to be at outdoors to learn about nature and also animals. Not just under the aircond everyday. Moreover, behind the zoo, is the Bukit Nanas forest reserve. More negative ion for us.
One kid after another, and another, and another ..took the microphone and spoke in front of the video camera. Some did well, some got stuck a bit, but it was a great learning experience for everyone. It was the courage to step up that was truly amazing.
At 1.00pm, when I walked to the main entrance for the group photo,it was a truly amazing sight. I could not really tell how many people were there, but it was an estimate of 400 pax at least. Kids from Mont Kiara, Subang, PJ SS2, Ampang, Seremban were already there waiting. There are the afternoon session. Teachers Kian, Chloe, Kamala, Suhaila and Paul were also ready. And when EVERYONE gathered together, the atmosphere was electrifying. A true spirit of Malaysia. We have kids from Klang Valley plus from Seremban. We even have kids from other countries and their parents joining us too as they are in our program. The photo session was intense. I was handling the crowd with the helped of my teachers. It was as fast as a ligtning, as we want to finish it as soon as possible under the hot sun. Parents were also lining up behind to be part of this big family. It was a sight to behold. Cherry told me she got emotional during the photo session as we remembered we started this all alone in 2014. Thank you so much to teachers, parents, partners, friends, students and people who believed in us. We are able to do this is because of you. Thank you thank you so much.
Photo session : 1,2,3 Smile ! 1,2,3 Smile ! The team photographers and videographers of Kenny, Quincy, Hanna, Lee, Wai Keat and team were amazing people.
"Siapa in charge sini !," the security with a stern face came in and asked. "Saya," I replied. He pulled me aside and ..........................( dot dot dot )
After the photo session, the morning session kids went home and now is the time for the afternoon session. The photoguys and videoteam quickly make their way for lunch. Our kids youtubing kids then arrived. They then did their vlogs with the help of Cherry. I was co-ordinating once again for the noon session.
Ampang, PJSS2 and Puchong was up next at 1.35pm. The lunch time was cut short because the sky suddenly turned grey. "Quick quick, we have to do this fast. Once it rains, we will have to hide." Everyone sprang into action.
Noon session kicked off quickly. Kids took the mic and presented .."This is the alpaca. It is from South America...
Barely 30 minutes, it drizzled ! Gosh ! Parents packed up and kids ran for shelter. The place to hide was the cafe. It was jammed-up with people. Some parents were worried, some were relax.
The worried ones will think,"When will this finish ?" The relax one ,"Where can I buy ice-cream?" True enough the ice-cream sales shot up for the cafe. Kids and parents were enjoying themselves.
For me, I was only thinking,"How now ? What's next ? If we go on waiting, we can't finish. We have 50+ more kids to go. We can't shoot under the rain, as it will spoil the cameras." Quick thinking and discussion with the zoo management, we reshuffle the team and the locations. Boom ! we are up and running in less than 20mins. Parents were very co-operative and helpful. We are glad things were smooth during this transition. Subang, Mont Kiara and Seremban were up next with their students.
Things were moving so fast and the clock strike 4.30pm. Ended on time even with some hiccups along the way. As I sat on the cafe after the event, I reflected a lot. Things could have been better organized ...but well, we learn along the way.I would like to apologize if anything which could have been done better, was not done.
I am truly grateful to :
- Teachers who worked so much behind the scene training the kids to speak up and have the courage to step up-front when their names are called. You are all truly amazing. Thank you for believing in this program and walking this journey together.
- Parents who were understanding and co-operative throughout this journey. Thank you for your patience too.
- Kids, you were all so happy, cheerful and sweaty throughout the day. Hahahaa...some complained to me, "Teacher, why is it so hot here?" And of course, your confidence and courage that has made this special day possible. Thank you so much
- Crew of videoguys and cameramen, thank you for standing under the hot sun with me. It has been a great journey with you all
- KL Tower mini zoo. You were so supportive of our kids program, and also providing a great platform for us. Thank you for the collaboration. I believe we learnt a lot about some exotic animals in this zoo.
Till we meet again ...adious and goodbye.
