On My Way to School Today, #3

Why are there turkeys walking around on the roof of a house?

Visitors to the Playground at School Today

 It happened to be my day for recess duty . . .

At first glance this looked like a green rope on the fence.  Looking closer I noticed it had a head!

This bird was harassing the snake, wanting a mid-afternoon snack

My Famous Student

Here we are, grocery shopping at Tesco.  Aimee is excited.  Why?

Well, let's take a closer look!

Wow!  We recognize this girl!

It's one of Mom's students!

Here she is again!

Yes, that is definitely her!

Guam Trip, by Aimee

Two weeks ago, my sister and I went to a soccer tournament in Guam.  The soccer tournament was an ACSC girls soccer tournament.  ACSC stands for Asian Christian Schools Conference.  We went to Guam because St. Paul's School there was hosting the tournament.  Guam is an island near the Philippines.  It is an American military base so it is considered American territory.

Day 1 (traveling):

We woke up at 5:30 and got to the school at 6:30.  We boarded school vans and drove to the airport.  We boarded our flight to Singapore.  When we got to Singapore we had a bit of a layover so I had Subway for lunch.  Then we boarded our next flight to the Philippines.  When we got to the Philippines we had another long layover so we had to wait in a transit room for a long time.  Then we boarded our last flight to Guam.  We got in at 3:00 in the morning and a bus immediately drove us to the barracks in which we were staying.  Then we fell asleep.

Day 2:

We slept in for a very long time (until 11:00).  Then we boarded a van and one of the staff from St. Paul's School drove us to the school.  While we drove we saw all these restaurants that we don't have in Penang, like Taco Bell, Wendy's, and Little Caesar's.  Then we arrived at the school.  We first had lunch which was kind of gross because it had a lot of oil and fat in it.  Then we had a practice at the field.  The climate is quite different from Penang.  It is really windy and I was definitely not sweating as much as I would have in Penang.  After that we headed back to the barracks, showered, and changed into nicer clothes.  We headed over to a really nice hotel because we were going to have the opening ceremonies for the tournament there.  We took some pictures at the beach because it was really pretty.  Then all the teams were introduced and we had dinner.  After that some dancers came out and did all sorts of weird dances.  They kind of reminded me of Hawaiian dancing.  Then they started bringing up girls from all different teams to dance with them.  One of the girls from our team went up and started dancing.  It was hilarious.  Then the dancers started dancing with fire.  It was very scary because they were twirling fire torches all around them.  After the dancers finished we went back to the beach and they set off fireworks.   It was a really fun night full of awesome memories.  After that we headed back to the barracks and went to sleep.

Day 3:

We woke up at around 9:30 a.m. and headed over to the grocery store to pick up breakfast.  For breakfast I had a protein bar, a blueberry bagel, and vanilla bean yogurt - all things we can't get here.  We headed over to the school to watch the first soccer game while we ate our breakfast.  Then we got ready for our first game.  Our first game was against a school called Grace that is in Chaing Mai, Thailand.  We warmed up and started playing.  Our team did really well.  We did not let any goals in our net and we scored three goals.  I scored one of them.  After our game we rested and had lunch in the gym.  After that we got ready for our second game against Morrison, a school from Taiwan.  We warmed up again and started playing.  We beat Morrison 2-1!  After that we headed over to the mall and we had Taco Bell, which I had not had in a very long time!  Then we headed back to the army barracks and called it a night.

Day 4:

We had to wake up pretty early, around 6:00, because our game was at 8:00.  We picked up breakfast again and headed over to the school.  We got dressed in our jerseys and started warming up.  We were playing the team that was hosting the tournament, St. Paul.  We played pretty good but in the end we tied them.  We had a long time to rest and recover and we also had lunch.  Our lunch was sponsored by Tony Romas; it was really good.  After that we rested a bit more; a girl from our team and I watched some of the games under the shade. Then we got ready for our second game  - against a school called YISS from Korea.  We also tied them 1-1.  It was a disappointing day for us, but at least we hadn't lost any games so far.  After that we showered and headed over to K-Mart.  I got a bunch of food for my family and mostly looked around at all the American candy and snacks.  After that we headed back to the mall and had dinner.  I had dinner from a restaurant called California Sub.  It was really good!  After that we got to watch The Jungle Book with the other teams in ACSC!  It was a day packed with fun and memories.  After that we headed back to the barracks and went to sleep.

Day 5:

This was our last day of games before the finals.  We had to wake up early today as well.  We went to the grocery store again and had breakfast.  I had a treat today. I got a Starbucks drink.  After we finished eating we did our service project.  Our service project was quite strange.  We had to stick colored bottles in a fence and create a picture.  These bottles were made by some children who had a school at the barracks where we were staying.  They were learning about recycling and we helped them display their artwork.  It was hard work but it was worth it after we finished.  Then we headed over to the school.  We got ready for our first game.  This game was against ICS Hong Kong.  We warmed up and started playing.  They slipped in two goals in the first and second halves but we did not let any more goals in.  It was a disappointing loss for our team but we needed to keep the morale up for the second game of the day.  We rested a bit and got ready for our second game.  This was probably the most important game for us in the entire tournament.  We were playing against Faith, a team from Manilla. Faith had beaten every team in the tournament.  They were definitely the team to beat.  This game would decide if we were going to play in the third-fourth place game in the finals or the fifth-sixth place game in the finals if we lost against them. We psyched ourselves up and then began to play.  In the first few minutes of the game we scored a goal!  We were overjoyed but kept our defense up until the end of the game.  The game ended and the score was still the same, 1-0!  Our team was so happy.  After that we headed back to the mall and got California Subs again.  Then we headed back the barracks and called it a night.

Day 6:

We woke up and headed to the grocery store for the last time to pick up breakfast.  Then we headed over to the school and watched the fifth-sixth game.  Then we got ready and warmed up for our final game.  Everyone was really nervous. For the Seniors on our team, this was their last game of the season and for our school Dalat before they graduate.  We were playing YISS, the team we tied. We started playing and managed to slip in a goal in the first half.  But a minute before the game ended this team managed to slip a goal in.  We were devastated and the game ended in a tie.  It was time for overtime.  We played five minutes and then another five minutes but no one could slip a goal in.  Then it was time for penalty kicks.  Our coach picked five players from our team and they were supposed to shoot. Whichever team shot the most goals out of the five players would win.  Three of the five players including my sister, scored  But so did the other team!  After that it was sudden death penalty kicks.  This meant that the first player that missed the goal, the other team would win.  A girl from our team scored, but so did the other girl from the other team.  It was my turn!  I walked up to the goal, shot, and the ball deflected off the goalie's hands into the goal!  The other girl from the other team stepped up and shot.  It sailed over the goal.  We had won!!  Everyone was overjoyed.  After that we showered and watched the finals. It was Faith against St. Paul's (the school that was hosting).  Unfortunately, Faith scored two goals and they won the tournament.  I say "unfortunately" because Faith is like our nemesis school.  After that we headed back to the gym for the closing ceremonies.  We got lunch and then they started with the awards.  We got third place and collected our medals and trophy.  Then they called the MVP award, the Golden Boot (most goals), and, the Golden Glove (best goalie).  They also had an all star team where they took one, two, or three girls from each team and combined them into an honourary All Star team.  After this we packed up and said good bye to the other teams.  We then headed over to the beach. We played around at the beach, took pictures, and overall bonded as a team.  It was super fun!  Then we headed over to Wendy's. It was our last dinner in Guam.  I had a frosty for a treat.  After that we packed up and headed back the barracks.  We called it an early night and went to bed.

Day 7 (traveling):

We woke up at 3:30; it was really early.  We headed over to the airport.  Everything took really long there.  I particularly did not like security because they were so strict.  They took away some of the stuff I had bought in Guam.  We caught our plane at 7:00 and flew to the Philippines.  We had an extremely long layover in the Philippines, so we stayed in that transit room again.  Then we caught our plane to Singapore.  We got to Singapore and quickly ate dinner at Subway again.  Then we caught our plane to Penang.  We got into Penang at 12:00 in the night!  I got home around 1:00 and fell immediately to sleep.  It was good to be back in my own room, but I already missed Guam.

This trip was really amazing.  It was so fun and I made a lot of memories.  Our team bonded and it was a really fun time.  I am so thankful for this chance to go to Guam and play soccer!

St. Paul School

Our team with medals

All the teams in ACSC

Guam beach, the cliff in the background is called Two Lovers Point.

Guam K-Mart

The protein bar I had almost every day

Guam Trip, by Hannah

As you can see from the previous blog, I really enjoyed JSB. It was a lot of work but seeing all of my work come into fruition was so worth it. The night, in my opinion, was a beautiful, unforgettable night. 

That, however, was not the ultimate in my weekend. Although I was definitely looking forward to JSB, there was something I was looking forward to more—my trip to Guam, U.S.A. 

Guam is an island, an American territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The island is only 30 miles long and 12 miles wide at its widest point. Only about 150,000 people call Guam home so the island, although the biggest in Micronesia, is quite small.  Guam is very famous for its beaches. It also has good snorkeling and diving sites. 

Aimee and I were not going to Guam for its beautiful beaches. We were going to Guam because of a soccer trip. You see, Dalat is part of the Asian Christian Schools Conference (ACSC) which has annual girls and boys basketball, soccer, and volleyball tournaments which are held annually at different member schools all around Asia. This year, after training from August to October and then February and March, I was very excited to go to the ACSC girls soccer tournament in Guam, U.S.A. and play against the six other soccer teams that were going to attend.  This is the first time that all seven member schools have sent their girls varsity soccer teams to a tournament.

 

So, the Monday after JSB, I had to get up at about 5:30 to be at school at 6:30. My soccer team of 16 girls, accompanied by our two coaches and a parent, left the school at 6:30 in two vans bound for the airport. Unluckily for us, we had a long day of travel ahead of us. We got on our first flight to Singapore without any hitches. When we got off at Singapore and checked into our next flight however, it wasn't as fast as we anticipated, and we spent a long time checking in. I only had enough time, along with my friends, to have a quick sub sandwich and see the cactus garden they have at the fancy airport. After a few sit-ups competitions, we eventually boarded the tiny, gross, cramped plane to Manila Airport and took off. Three hours later when we got to Manila, it was already pretty late at night. Finally, after waiting in the transfer lounge for far too long, we boarded our last flight to Guam. The final flight was not fun either because it was a "red eye". Flying from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 in the morning is not pleasant, even if you are with a crazy, awesome group of girls. 

 

We eventually, at 3:00 in the morning, landed in Guam. We crashed at the place we were staying by the time the sun was coming up and we were able to get a short sleep in before we had to wake up for lunch. When it was about 11:00 in the morning our team left for the school that the tournament was to be held at.  After lunch we went out onto the field to practice. Our practice, although fun as usual, was very tiring and we attracted quite a bit of attention from the students because the competition was checking us out. Eventually we were able to go back to the place we were staying, which were army barracks, get a snack, and sleep. The long day wasn't over, however. In the evening, we attended the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was amazing. It was at a hotel right on the beach. We went down to the beach, had an amazing (but maybe not so healthy) buffet dinner, watched some professional Tahitian dancers, watched some not-so-professional Tahitian dancers (our teammates), then watched fireworks on the beach. The fireworks were really cool and quite crazy because it was a big dock in the water where the fireworks were shot off and it was a very long show. 

 

The festivities were short-lived, however, because we needed to get some rest as our games would start the next day. After a nice full night of rest, we got up pretty early to play a game against the team from Grace International School from Chang Mai, Thailand. They ended up being the team that came in last so needless to say, we beat them 3-0 in a relaxing game. Aimee scored a goal. After that game, we went up to the gym, dumped our stuff, and began preparing for the next game which would be against the team which got second last year. Before that game against Morrison Academy from Taiwan, we had a beautiful (that's the only way to describe it) lunch sponsored by Tony Romas. I had plenty of ribs. It was amazing! Eventually, in the last slot of the day, we had our game against Morrison Academy. In a hard fought game we beat them 2-1. Feeling accomplished, we got changed and went to Taco Bell. It also was amazing. I was so glad to have Taco Bell. 

The next day we had another two games, one of which started quite early in the morning. We left early from our barracks and went to the school to play the home team. Our game against the home team - Guam - was quite challenging. It was also quite sassy (I guess you could describe it as that) as some of the girls on both teams got a bit feisty. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a goal in, so it was tied 0-0. Then we rested. Luckily, there was another lunch sponsored by Tony Romas ready to revive us. Unluckily, there were not ribs included in the lunch. After resting for a little while, we had to head out to pitch again for a game against Yong San International School from Seoul, Korea. Again, it was a very hard fought game. We were able to score but unable to hold them off as they scored another goal to match ours. We walked off the pitch feeling defeated, even though it was a tied game, after what felt like our second loss of the day (although in reality two tied games). We headed up to the showers to rinse off. Eventually, we left the school and went to the mall. Instead of going to Taco Bell, I, on a whim, tried Submarina, a California sandwich place. The subs there were amazing. After eating a great dinner, we headed over to the movie theater and as a surprise from the hosting school we were treated to the movie The Jungle Book. All the teams came to the same movie and it was quite an enjoyable experience being there together and screaming and being girly together. 

 

On the final day of general play, we dragged ourselves out of bed and went to school to play the last two teams which we had to play. First, we played ICS, Hong Kong. The game we played was very challenging and they won a well deserved 2-0 victory against us as we struggled to hold them off. The loss we felt, however, was not in vain; we used it to motivate ourselves for the next game.  We had a quick lunch, sponsored by California Pizza Kitchen, and got right back into game mode. The reason for our seriousness about this final game was due to our points. In order to play in the third place / fourth place game, we needed to win this next game against Faith Academy from Manila, Philippines. The only problem was that this team was thus far undefeated by all the other teams. They were, to their credit, a great team but we had to beat them to achieve our goal of third place. We had many pep talks with each other ,then we walked onto the pitch knowing what we needed to do and feeling that we had the tenacity to do it. We scored a goal early in the first half and held them off so deftly that they were unable to match our goal. We came off the pitch overjoyed with our showing against this amazing team. Thus, our season was not over yet; we were going to play for third / fourth place. This was great for our team as we have always come dead last in all ACSC girls soccer tournaments.  This was great news. So we went out to the mall, got California subs, went back to the place we were staying, and went to sleep. 

 

The next day was the scary third / fourth place game. Early in the morning we got breakfast, went to the school, and prepared for our game against the school from Korea, the team we had already tied. We prepared ourselves mentally, not allowing ourselves to fail mentally (as Dalat teams famously do often in the last moments of a final game in a tournament (a long story for another time). Eventually we made our way out onto the pitch and began the game. Neither team was able to score in the first half. But early in the second half we scored a beautiful goal. We were able to hold them off for the entire second half, coming so close to a third place finish, but in the last 30 seconds of the game the Korean school managed to get a goal in. Disappointed, we came off the pitch tied, steeling ourselves for a 10 minute overtime. The 10 minute overtime flashed past and neither team was able to score, which lead us to the dreaded penalty kicks. Standing on the pitch, I was so nervous, as was the rest of the team. Having watched all of us perform penalty kicks back at Dalat practices, my coach chose five players, me included, to take a penalty kick against the other team's goalie. Our goalie steeled herself to have penalty kicks taken against her. 

 

Finally, it was the moment everyone was so nervous for. Our goal of third place was right in front of us. All we needed to do was to win the penalty kicks. My friend, the girl going first for penalty kicks, made her penalty kick. The girl going first on the other team made her penalty kick. I was next. I walked across the field from where my team was standing, intensely focused. I confidently grabbed the ball, and placed it on the mark. I backed up, focused, and shot the ball. I watched as it went into the back of the net, overjoyed that my penalty kick had made it in! I went back to my team overjoyed, and prayed and waited as the penalty kicks continued. Despite the goals that my team and I managed to get in the back of the net, by the end of the five penalty kicks our teams were still tied, each having made three out of five penalty kicks. So we had to call on our 6th shooter. Our sixth shooter made it in. Their sixth shooter made it in. So we had to call on our seventh shooter. My sister was chosen as the seventh shooter. She made it! The other team sent their seventh shooter, and the girl walked up to the net, facing off with our goalie. She placed the ball on the mark, stood back, and wham, the ball went just high over the net. We won! We were overjoyed! 

 

We walked off the pitch, ridding ourselves of all the built-up nerves, and showered off to watch the finals game. The finals game was enjoyable to watch. One of the coaches got a yellow card because he yelled at an opposing player. That was funny. And the team we beat 1-0 won against the home team for first place in the tournament. We eventually went up the gym again for the closing ceremony. The closing ceremony was an enjoyable time for us to get the medals that we worked for. Finally, the tournament officially ended.  We left the school for the last time and went down to the beach. The beach was really beautiful and really enjoyable. As a team we bonded on the beach and watched the sunset together. When we finished at the beach we headed to Wendy's restaurant for a celebration meal and back to our rooms to sleep after a long day.

 

The next day, we had to get up very early for our three flights back to Penang. We flew back to the Philippines, had a layover there, waited for a really long time because our plane was delayed, got on the plane, and waited a bit longer. Eventually, after a long and painful flight (I was seated next to a baby), we got into Singapore, the best airport in the world in my opinion. We had an enjoyable but really tiring layover in Singapore. Our last flight back to Penang was also delayed so by the time we got back to Penang it was after midnight. I got back home at 1:30 in the morning on Monday, just in time to go to bed then get up for another day of school. The day at school was very painful. I was very tired. 

Overall, the trip to Guam was amazing. It is definitely the most amazing school trip I have ever been on. I am really going to miss the soccer girls that I bonded with but I know that I will have the memories I made forever.