18th July,2000 (Tuesday)

Amy and I went to the public library after the routine checking. I decided to finish off what I had been thinking of doing - send an email back to Hong Kong to report progress.  After I had paid the money, I started pouring whatever I had in my mind onto the email entry area

We went back to school to join our students for lunch. Today, they had another session in the afternoon until 3:00 p.m. for project works. While they were having their afternoon session, I ran into Julia along the corridor and we had a nice chat.  Julia was the German leader and she went on similar educational tour every year with a group of German kids.

Vicky got offended by my words which I didn't mean anything (In fact I was kidding). I didn't realize that she would take every single word I said to hearts and this upset her for the entire afternoon and beyond.

The project session finished earlier than scheduled as it took time to go to the TowerPark where the Splashdown was located. All the activities were water-related but most of the students preferred to hang around or be the audience.

I took a group of students to the Bowling Centre. Luckily, the Centre offered us 3 free lanes and the offer was only available on the 18th of July, the very date we were there.  We went to change into proper gear and Vicky and Joyce turned away from us and went somewhere else.  I did notice Vicky's facial expression - she was mad at what I said to her that morning. Fifteen minutes later, I called off the games in the bowling centre and searched for others in the area.

We all took seats and had chats with one another beside the swimming pool. Vicky went so far as to cry with her hands on her face. Several attempts to comfort her failed and I thought I have to say 'sorry' to her again.  My word meant so much to her and it was time to soothe her mind. It was until some time later that I got a better understanding of why she behaved like that.

I really want to train Vicky to be less vulnerable to changes, to be tougher and stronger in the face of challenges so that she can accept failures and take challenges in the future.