Youth camp

Last week, 26/7 and 27/7, I had a relaxed weekend.... Kinda relax, but it is more tiring than relax. However, the relax part is mainly due to finally finish my full draft of my Literature review and so I enjoyed the weekend without thinking of any work.

I went to a youth camp, organized by my buddhist society (SGIA), and the purpose of this youth camp was to help the youth to understand the importance of be alive and to a happy life by contributing to other happiness. So I really had prayed hard to also encouraged people in the youth camp to know appreciate life and to really put the knowledge of buddhism in daily life especially when they face challenges. With even a word that is put in our daily life, we can really encourage a person to be stronger to stay alive.

So on Saturday morning, my housemate, Thomas, Yan Guang and me woke up about 6.30 am and went to the Central station as we are required to reach the buddhist centre by 8am. After a briefing session in the buddhist centre, we went up to the bus and the journey was about 1 hours. Since I have come to Melbourne, I had never travel to the country side, so this time it is really a good time for me to open my eyes and experience the country life style. The place that we are staying is really good, open space, large piece of grass and the cows are moving freely enjoying chewing the grass. Fresh air, I experience, really totally different from the city, and the country side feeling is alike the kampung area in Malaysia. I try my best to explain how I feel the country side and the kampung. So in kampung area of malaysia, usually the soil is red and dusty, full of oil palm or rubber tree. Due to hot and humid, and often rain, the road of the kampung is muddy. But for the country side that I went on last weekend, it was totally different, as the air is fresh, the soil is clean, and now is winter, the weather is so nice just to relax on the greenary. And I started to understand why those aussie they like to go to the country side just for their long weekends.

So the thing after we reach that camp side, we are assigned with room, and it is a tiny room, with two double deckers bed. I slept on the top, as my friend was quite worried that he will fall from the top deck, so I just sleep up deck. And then we started our camp activity by chanting for 1/2 hours. Strong and vibrant chanting really makes everyone in the camp full of life force, and I had chanted for everyone around me to be happy, healthy and harmony. Then the next thing we know, is lunch haha.... Like a hungry boy, I line up to get the pasta which the kitchen cooked. All the food provided during lunch was vegetarian, haha.. so it suits me. It was really really really good, I am not sure whether it was because my hunger, or just it was really tasty. My friends all say the pasta is tasty, so I am convinced that it is really nice, and had double portion.

It was followed by discussion about absolute freedom in this life time, and as usual, there are many youngster asked question how to gain absolute freedom in this life, and I contributed my thought and encouragement to them and I am happy for them, because by looking at their face, I can feel their joy after understanding that they have the strength to know how to gain happiness. And the next activity was experience sharing by 2 person how they have overcome their challenges form applying buddhism in their life.

Then after the discussion, we had a chanted for 1/2 hours and then followed by dinner on 7pm. In the dinner, they serve beef fillet and some assorted vege, but for me, I took the vegetable burger fillet and it was so nice.. haha.. I wish I could get a second helping, but limited stock only. After dinner, we had some entertainment, games and camp fire. At night it was so cold, colder than in the city. Luckily, I am not a very fashionable person, where I brought along my super-thick jacket and also super-thick quilt. Compared to my friend, they were freezing cold, while I just had a sound sleep whole night, feeling really happy and refreshed the second day. It was also a starry night.

Second day, I woke up by 7.30, and prepared for 8am breakfast. Breakfast, they served such a nice and big pancake and it is really good. Although the serving is not as much as I hope for, but it lasted me for the whole morning, and followed by some lecture and Q&A session with seniors members of the buddhist society. Afternoon lunch, they serve vegetarian lagsania with salad for everyone... and it was the most satisfying lunch for all the meals, because I could have the 'quantity' that I want, and it was a 2 serving with extra big portion haha....

The camp wrapped up by 3pm, with taking group photo, and we reached melbourne city by 5pm. It was a tiring day, but I feel energized because I find new direction to work on my life, and I learn a lot how to support people when they need. At night, I had another round of discussion with my roommate with another senior member.

Some photos: