A problem I encountered and how I solved/managed it...

The principal of Victoria School announced that the GCE ‘O’ Level results of the class of 2010 was very close to the target made by the whole Secondary 4 cohort. Thus, to celebrate this event, we were given a half day on the 17^th of January.

As Chinese New Year was just around the corner, my classmate Jonathan suggested that we should all stay back to decorate the classroom to transform it into a place with the “Chinese New Year atmosphere”. So, last Friday, everyone was reminded to bring a pack of red packets and/or a piece of Chinese New Year décor and/or red paper (for the Muslim boys). We pondered over the matter but we could not find any ways to decorate the class.

Imagine if Chinese New Year was over. All the decorations would be stripped down!  So, I took on the task of creating a decoration that would last for the whole year. Over the weekend, an idea struck my mind. I was thinking about origami cranes as I had some hanging in my bedroom. We could hang those in the class! They symbolise my classmates, striving hard to fly high to reach their goals and dreams…

I quickly rushed to the computer, printing out the words “LET’S REACH UP FOR THE SKY”. After searching every nook and cranny, I finally found the origami paper my grandaunt gave to me. My intention was to ask everyone to fold at least one crane to make it more meaningful.

It was the day of our decoration work, which was our half day. Our English teacher, Mr Maran, was not around so we were assigned some work to do by the relief teacher. As some of the more hardworking ones finished the work beforehand, we had 35 minutes of free time. The teacher then allowed the people who had finished the work to start decorating. We all split into two different groups, one folding the red packets into lanterns and one folding the cranes. In my group, there were only a few people (around 8) so things were being done pretty slowly. But thankfully, after the first try almost everyone could fold it independently so it became much faster. (Sadly, I did not complete the goal of asking everyone to fold at least one crane as some people were just too uncooperative… They were sitting there doing their own things. How unenthusiastic!)

The bell rang, signalling that the last period was over. Zoom! In a flash, our numbers dwindled to a mere 10. Still, we went on, in high hopes that we will finish the decoration by today. Finally, at 2.15pm, we finished decorating the classroom. Our half day became a full day and we were totally worn out. At last, the classroom looked fantastic! Not only had we solved the problem and finished the class decorations, we worked together as a team, bonding us together as one.