I woke up today, at the crack of dawn, just when the sun was peaking over the horizon and the birds were waking in their nests.
*coughs* ok, pause. rewind that part. edit script.
I woke up today, at 7am. It was
not at the crack of dawn (which reminds me of a whip held firmly in the hand by a slave-driver) but maddeningly early enough to put my alarm clock on 'snooze' and pretend to go back to sleep. This unfortunately failed because i didn't want to be late for my first day of volunteering.
Yep, I officially started volunteering at the RDA (riding for the disabled association) which is horse therapy for kids who are disabled. Kinda cool huh. The not so cool part is that it is in Toa Payoh, and my parents kindly offered me a lift there
provided i have breakfast with them first. Hence waking up at 'the crack of dawn'.
I felt abit like i was fifteen-years old, and going to school.
So today, for the first time in my life, i gave my morning to:
Laurie (grey pony), George (actually georgina, and a superbly patient grey horse), Dunedin (brown strong big horse),
and the 3 little kids who had fun riding them!
Being a sidewalker, the kids would ride a horse/pony and i'll have to walk beside them and make sure the kid behaves properly, does the excercises and doesn't fall off. Which wasn't as easy as pie, as the kids are excited about riding and sometimes they dont listen to you.
One of them liked to twist about and pet/stroke/touch, and poor Laurie didn't like it. I think it's quite hard on the horse when the rider doesn't sit firmly and distracts you. But the horses/ponies are such dears, and I think they understand that kids are riding them, so they are very patient.
The children in my charge today were adorable too. I'll bend down (to their eye level), smile and say "hi! my name is steph, what's your name?". And then I'll take him/her by the hand (omg! their hands are soo small) and continue "come, let's go to the board and see which horse you get today". The 2 of us would toddle over there and i'll be squatting down (unglamly) and reading aloud, and inexplicably, the kid would repeat the horse's name! yay!
Warm-ups on the horse were also fun. The leader would say "raise your hands", and then me and the kid would raise our hands high up, and i'll shake my wrists and the kid'll follow, and we both smile. I felt like a kindergarden school teacher. Then i'll challenge the kid, "can you wiggle ur fingers?" and the kid would, and then he'll tell me about his pet dog, and his mom making him eat vitamins.
Kid: "I eat vitamins to be strong"
Me: "What kind? Vitamin C?"
Kid (thinks hard): "..Vitamin...Bear. Very sweet and chewy"
Me: ????? -_-"
Guy leading the horse laughs
Like that lah! Kids say the darnest things (heh used to watch that show on tv)
