The Down Under Camp ( a scribble of the final day)

I laughed at a boy when he said that his name is Buddha because I thought that he was joking. His friends vouched that his name was Buddha and penetrated me with stares that made me shrink in guilt and shame. Who am I to actually be bewildered and show my amusement of a person’s name directly in front of him/ her? I paused my brain activity for a moment and rekindled a certain fibre of my neurons that went: Accept everything as it is. When the next boy came in telling me that his name is Ozil, I believed him and immediately wrote his name on the ziplock bag that was being used to store the tie-dyed shirts. Even though his friends eventually told me that his name is Muhammad. After all, I should be able to abide to a person’s frugal wish by addressing him with whatever name that he prefers.

Fikri from johor who is currently studying in Queensland for commerce is a professional at tie-dye. He showed me lots of ways to create different patterns on fabrics, even the butterfly one. I am going to get a cheap, long singlet to experiment soon.

I still have a certain barrier towards unusual people. I met a Japanese person who was slightly weird so I decided to keep a slight distance away from him. I have not so long ago decided to follow my animal instincts when needed because it proves to be right, most of the times.

Evelyn from Victoria is an amazing person who is in an environmental club, Disney club, Malaysian club and another, I forgot. She knows about anastacia and the discovery of what actually happened to her whole family. Another childish soul who gets excited at the thought of lava lamps and artsy stuff.

JoWen (JingWen) Khoo and Sandy Lau are both from ACT. Amanda is studying in USyd and thinks that she should use me as her role model. I told her that that is a bad idea since I’m such a lazy person. It feels slightly weird for her to think of me as an independent sort of person.

I am feeling content and cheerful even though I met up with so many people. My veins are strained and my feet are numb. However, I feel at peace with myself. What happened to all my loner qualities? This is terrifying.

Sarah gave me her sand art after I said that I was sad that I could not do it this time. I told her that it has been a long long time since I last did it. She immediately presented me hers for me to keep as a remembrance of her. I for one, was really proud of my present and started showing it off immediately. She gave me her mobile phone number and granted me her permission to call her. Reminder: Text sarah and tell her to do her homework, even though she hates English.

I asked one of the girls about the ring on her finger and she told me that it was passed down from her late mum. I wondered then if I should continue talking and asking them random questions like this that would cause awkward situations to occur. I decided to chat like normal. It is after all, too difficult to avoid sensitive topics.

It was heaps of fun talking to the refugee ladies non-verbally. I tried understanding them but they were talking in Persian only so I decided to parrot after them. I repeated: Rangoli? One of the ladies heard me and started pointing at me while laughing. Then she decided to get her son over to do some translation for us. Haha.

I still can’t wait to go back home though. :")