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Tan, Merey
Singapore
Manager of National Youth Sports Institute
5th batch student |
“Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
From August 13th to 15th, 24 students from the 5th Dream Together Master went to Goseong Yacht Club to celebrate the end of summer semester classes. We had the pleasure of enjoying maritime experience, accompanied by DTM staffs.
[Merey Tan (Singapore) on a dinghy yacht.]
Day 1, Aug 13th 2018 – In a bus journey that took slightly more than five hours, we traversed from Seoul National University – the Northern part of South Korea all way down South, to Goseong Yacht Club in Gyeongsangnam-do. John Monyo from Ghana unleashed his creativity and composed a song dedicated to Professor Kang, with the guys singing and marching along to the lyrics of
‘D..T..M… Here we come…(2x). We finished lectures;
You said,” Let’s go maritime experience.” (4x)
D.T.M. Staff …. Here we come; Professor Kang … Here we come.
We finished lectures; You said let’s go maritime experience (4x)’
That enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone and the happy team checked into the chalets, geared up and all set to get wet! After a short theory session on the principles of sailing, our instructor gave a short demonstration on windsurfing. Like excited children, we were raring to go into the water and jumped onto the windsurfing boards immediately. After a few tries, some managed to harness the power of the wind, while those who fell into the water too often decided to try kayaking instead.
For most of my classmates, it was their first experience with windsurfing, sailing and kayaking. Ali Suliman from Sudan shared that he just learnt to swim recently after his best friend drowned while trying to save someone else. It was a traumatic experience for Ali, and he had to overcome his fear of the water, especially the sea. However, he was glad to have the chance to experience all these sea sports which he may not have the opportunity to do in Sudan.
[Sunny smiles, sunblock on and sunglasses up – All geared and ready to hit the water]
Day 1 ended with a sumptuous dinner at a local restaurant where we enjoyed the fresh seafood. As the night was still young, many of us continued with playing card games and the ‘Masters of Karaoke’ exercised their vocals and sang through the night.
Day 2, 14 Aug 2018 – ‘Rise and shine’ was the code word as all of us woke up early to enjoy our last day of maritime experience. With light winds caressing our faces, we were ready to set sail and hopped onto the Topaz topper boats straight after the instructor’s briefing ended. All ahoy !
It has been many years since I last sailed on a small craft, and I’m glad that I still remembered the basics. My first job in Singapore was to manage the Changi Sea Sports Club, so I have enjoyed all forms of sea sports for many years.
As the afternoon wore on, the crew from Goseong Yacht Club set up new play toys for our team, and we started jumping into the water from an elevated floating platform. The dare devils like Yaro and Mauricio started doing flips and somersaults, and the rest started to follow!
[Karate practitioners Myint Theingi (Myanmar) and Uzma Asghar (Pakistan) before their jump.]
It was our last night in the resort, and we made the best use of precious time with salsa aficionados Mauricio Hernandez (Columbia) and Paulina Pino (Ecuador) imparting their skills to May Kim (Korea) and Aminath Nashida (Maldives). Professors Kang and Lee also got into the jive and showed off their dancing prowess.
Tania Williams, national sailor from Malaysia, summed up our maritime experience best! “Indeed, it was an amazing experience! Being able to do something that I love. I felt so alive, just doing anything related to water activities. Honestly, I wish I could have stayed there longer just to be there; enjoying the sea life. However, all good things must come to an end. It has been a memorable journey to sail in Korea, exploring the view, the waves and most important – the company, memories and experience during the trip!”
