CAS reflection on my service in SMD

A week of service in Shree Mangal Dvip School, Nepal

Shree Mangal Dvip School(SMD) is a non profit school for the Himalayan kids who are from the northern mountainous part of Nepal. Most of them are from very severe altitude of above 4000m. The kids from the northern part of Nepal lack education opportunity and other basic infrastructures such as health facilities, communication facilities and transportation.
Many student who gets admitted in SMD is provided free education, health services and an opportunity to see the world. SMD school is fully funded through the help from overseas by many sponsors and donations made by people. I personally feel very fortunate to help there during my summer break as a volunteer as i grew up getting same education there in SMD. During my time there i mostly help the students during their evening study time helping them with their home work and the explaining things they they don't understand. After studying in an IB school in another country and then getting back to my own country and helping with the school works there appears very different. Because of the difference in school system and the educational system, you get to know a lot of strengths and weakness in the system and also your own strengths and weakness. You also get into ethical dilemma such as applying different method. Change is seen as different and sometimes different is seen as a wrong.When you try to apply the system that you learn in an IB school in the school in Nepal, you face many challenges such as harder to explain or lack of materials. There is different in the way students learn. It takes time to adjust to new methods and system. When i was helping the students with their studies you learn to improve your teaching skills and communications skills. You then get involve in a certain group and try to share the knowledge that you have learned between the students and friends. During helping the students there i got to understand how much i have improved and progressed. You will learn about your improvements and access yourself. Because i was from the same school and had the same experience, you want to help everyone to understand what you have learn and what you have experienced over the years in overseas. You get the feeling of commitment towards your friends. Every one in the SMD school is like a brother and sisters. You give your full attention and commitment to help them build their future by sharing the experiences that i have personally faced in foreign land.

Week in an unfamiliar activity

Week in unfamiliar: my experience of stay  in         Tsum valley 

This the small village in the northern part of Nepal where i was born. It is located above the altitude of 3500 ft high. This is a very remote place and a very culturally rich place. There are many monuments, stupas and monasteries and shrines located in this region built from since ancient times.
During my summer break i was able to go to my village for almost a month was the best unforgettable moment that i ever had. It took five days for me and my big brother who was accompanying me to reach our home. In total it took us five days to reach our home town. One day by local bus from the city and Four days took on the trails where we had to walk early in the morning till evening time as there is no transportation facility available there. It was a monsoon season and there was irregular rainfall. Because the roads/ trails were not graveled, many trails were swept away by the rain. There were also many landslide cases and minor floods. Some of the bridges were unstable and dangerous to cross especially in this season. 

When i reached the valley, i was able to experience the richness in the natural beauty and the culture that had nearly forgotten about my birth place. As it was monsoon season, the valley was still cold but green and beautiful. During my stay there i experience many changes that my village has gone through since the last time i was there. There were new houses, new bridges and many new people. i was involved in the religious activity there. There was a big prayer ceremony organised for the new temple that was being built. Many people from the villages gathered there and the monks and nuns held the prayer ceremony. It is a big day for the local people to see the consecration of the new temple. People in this region is very religious and has a great devotion towards their religion. There were sponsors(people from the village who contribute for the ceremony such as giving drinks to people or offerings), the organizers and volunteers helping in the ceremony. It is applicable to say that there is very deep relation and respect between people of this region and their deep contribution. I was one of the minor volunteer helping in setting up for the religious activities. My brother was part of the organizer and so i was following my brother with the process. Learning the history behind the ceremony and the deeper understanding g of the religion and tradition was very tough and new experience. I also went on excursion to small deserted monasteries and temples with my brother. My brother has been doing his studying on the history and pilgrimage in the valley. So, i was always with him. Travelling with him and going on a pilgrimage gives you far deeper meaning and understanding of the importance of the pilgrimage and understanding of the history. We saw that many of the monasteries an, temples that we visited were deserted and was in need of great care and renovation because they has great historical importance and religious importance. So, you learn the global importance of these historic monuments and temples.

During my return to the city, i had to go through the same journey, trekking for four days and then one day by bus. 

CAS reflection on Skiing

Reflection on Skiing experience

Skiing is a new sport for me and it is the first time that i got an opportunity to ride on skis.  Skiing is unheard of in a place where i came from. It is a great sport which i personally think requires a good balancing capability  and should be able to take concentration as a regular car drivers always does. I first learned to ski when i was in Austria for the winter break. I was taught about how to ski by a Austrian instructor. I took the lesson for five days and was able to learned basic steps to skiing which i am very proud of. Since then i have gone skiing many times and have gained a great deal of experience over the year. This involves the following criteria:It was a new sport for me and a challenge that i needed to undertake.  Every sports has some difficulties which it is complex to overcome within a day. Every sports needs a proper concentration and have to face the challenges. I had to go through this same situation and am able to ski like normal people. I was able to understand about my strength and weakness regarding this sport. I was able to learned skiing properly in a very short time and was able to do the black runs which is a very difficult one to ski. But the loss of control ability and my speed is a small weakness that i have realize. But i have also overcome my this weakness by reducing my speed and concentrating more on controlling the ski and turnings.    By being aware of my weakness and strength i was able to be aware about my level of skiing and measures to take to develop skill. To begin with, ski itself was a skill to me but i came to realize that it requires more than just a basic training to be able to ski.I needed more experience and a contribution to the sport frequently. This sport also involves skills to polish your critical thinking and capabilities. i was also able to learn about planning even in a sport such as ski. Planning and creativity about where to go, which route to take and where are the lifts and stop points etc everything can be planned before and follow the plan. i was able to do this as well follow my partners plans as well. Finally once you get hang of the sport you will get the excitement and develop a thrill to ski more. So, in order to do this i was able to work quite hard on my own pace and come to get the same level as other friends. you will also get to develop your perseverance power an will make you want to ski more often. 

Me in full ski gear

Basketball

CAS reflection 

Reflection on Basketball game

I was introduced to basketball for the first time by my brother when I was first joined SMD School. Since then I developed keen interest in playing basketball. I used to dribble the ball out of the court near our school garage as I was not ready enough to play in the court. I used to watch our seniors play on the court and I got inspired more and more. We used to have only an hour of play time after school. I never learned the official rules, tactics, techniques and skills form my seniors and teachers. The only way to learn was to learn on my own and whatever I want whether I was doing wrong or not.  

After my secondary school, I got to learn more of basketball and started to explore more about it. Within a year (Gap year) I got to learn quite a bit of techniques and rules of basketball. Since then I have enjoyed it a lot. Without knowing it has become my best sport.

After that, with a scholarship to Inter community school I fortunately I got to play for ICS and explore more about basketball and earn more experience. I felt very privileged to get such an opportunity. 

Getting the opportunity to play in the varsity was not easy. Things got more complicated and confusing in the practise sessions. With the new environment and playing the basketball was different to what I used to play. There were techniques and tactics to every step. I lost in between the games and lost my confidence to play. Many mistakes happened and teammates got mad. But I still continued playing. After a month of confusion, I felt more aware of the games and the training every Monday and Wednesday evening was very helpful. 

From the beginning of the basketball season, I had three personal goals which our coach wants us to have. To improve my skills and learn many new skills, to play fair and square with my team mates and co-operate with them and finally win the game were my goals. And during the session I think I have acquired all the above goals through the whole season.

The practice sessions every Monday and Wednesday evening was very fun session and it is the only time when I get to play basketball with all my heart. The challenges that I had to face were that at the beginning I knew nobody so I have to know the names of my team mates and communicate with them. When the game is on I had to shout very loud in order to let my team mates know where I am and get the pass. I had a lot of personal difficulties on this.  And then I had to learn to shoot jump shot and make a quick lay-up.

I have learned to dribble better and the ball handling skills from my coach. Likewise I also learned about different passing skills from the coach. Example: long pass, shot pass and bounce pass. I also learned some crossover skills personally from the internet and applied them during practise session but was not able to in the actual game.  I played in many important tournaments from friendly matches to national and international level. Travelling out of the city and out of country was very experiencing moment such as in top tournament like SCIS tournament, BIS tournament, Swiss championship, Salzburg tournament etc.

There were some problems with the team members during the game but we managed to get in cooperation and understanding between the games. Even though we lost some important games we didn’t had any argument on that. Our coaches help through all of this and we all the team member had understanding and collaboration and used to say that we will win the next game.  This year team was the best and we had a best record. We came in third place in the Salzburg tournament and won a trophy. We also had a new record in the SGIS tournament and came on fourth place. This was a huge success of the season and for the school.

Throughout the game I was able to know my weakness and strength. Some time I lost the tract of the ball and lose my position on the court. But I helped myself and came to understanding the weakness and make myself confident in the game. Overall I have improved myself a lot with the ball handling, dribbling, defence and offence and shooting as well. The moments that I had in that season was the best of all and developed an unforgettable moment with my team mates.