A Walk in the Park

Just the other day, the school organised a seminar for the executive and administrative staff. Before you think it’s some sort of boring, sit-down-listen-to-people-talk-while-you-try-to-stay-awake-and-look-alert type of seminar, well, it’s not. It was mostly held outdoors, and thankfully, the rain that came on the previous day washed away pretty much most of the haze.

So to begin, we were to take a walk from school to the Botanic Gardens, which was a good 20-30 minutes away, in silence. Yeah, no talking, no interaction, no distractions – to sensitise our senses to the surroundings and to ourselves to be better able to listen to our own thoughts. Since I’m generally a quiet person, I thought this would be easy-peasy for me. But truth be told, it was rather excruciating. I mean what good would the good things in life be if you can’t share it with someone else, right? I couldn’t point out interesting things I saw along the way; couldn’t share passing thoughts I had… :(

However, the walk did open my eyes up to a lot of things I never knew existed before. I mean, I’ve driven past the route a couple of times before but you know, you don’t really have the luxury to soak in your surroundings when you’re driving. It was also a nice and much-needed break away from the monotonous mornings in the office, staring at the computer screen. Nowadays, my eyes get blurry from staring at the computer too long and too often I keep thinking my screen is dirty (note to self: Take more computer breaks!).

The Botanic Gardens has changed so much since the last time I went there, like what, when I was less than 10 years old? Not too long ago lah :p I remember my Godma used to bring me and sometimes her other students (she tutored us for Chinese) here to feed the swans haha. 

After some activities at the Botanic Gardens, the half-day seminar ended with lunch at a nearby shopping mall, followed by a bus ride back to school. The rest of the day was pretty much like what Bruno Mars sang in The Lazy Song. Guess that’s what happens when you’re under the sun the whole morning plus a filling lunch.