STORY ADAPTATION

The Little Mermaid

Imagine you’re in a room. There is an ample supply of oxygen but you just can’t breathe. You feel as though your chest is caving in. It’s not your lungs malfunctioning; it’s your heart. That is exactly how Ariel felt each and every day. Trapped with no escape, the ocean that used to be her home was now nothing but a prison. She was the nation’s sweetheart, being the daughter of the King Triton. She had a ship load of friends, family members, servants and even admirers but she always felt lonely. There was a void in her heart that no person or fish could fill. All she needed was freedom.

“Dad, I think it’s about time you let me out of your grasp. You know what they say… ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Once you let me have my freedom, you’ll stop wasting your time on ME and focus on your kingdom,” said Ariel who tried to convince her father for the millionth time. Her father looked up from his shell phone and said, “Hey, what’re you talking about? I have just enough time and energy for you AND my kingdom. See? I’m handling the country right as we speak.” Ariel saw that her father was actually just playing Plankton Crush on his phone.

“Come on, Dad. Don’t you ever wonder what lies above the rippling surface of the sea? Don’t you long to feel the warm sand against your scaly skin? I can just picture it in my mind and it seems delightful,” Ariel said in a cheerful tone. Her father gasped in shock at her statement. “How could you ever say something so preposterous like that?” he said in a fuming tone, clearly angered at his daughter’s ridiculous thoughts. He continued, “Did you not hear the story of our butler, Mr. Ceshell?” She did hear it. So many times that she could recite it by heart. “Yes, I did,” Ariel replied in a monotonous voice. She imitated Mr. Ceshell’s posh English accent and said,” Oh dear, oh dear. As soon as I stepped foot onto the sandy beach, I felt a sharp knife pierce through my chest. I jumped back into the ocean in fear and the pain stopped. I remember the incident as though it was just yesterday. That’s how much it haunted me. Don’t ever go out there. It’s nothing but trouble.”

 Ariel walked out of the room with her head hung low to a nearby park. She sat on a sea-saw (pun intended) and started singing.

I wish to be above the sea,

And live my life oh so free;

To get rid of the chains that hold me back,

To rid my heart of these nasty cracks;

I wish, I wish, I wish to be,

I wish to be above the sea.

A tear slipped down her cheek. She grabbed what she thought was a tissue to blow her nose and heard a squeal. “Ow, ow, don’t hurt me. I just heard someone singing and I came to listen,” said the frightened little red crab she was holding. She quickly put him down onto a big rock and replied, “Oh dear. I’m so sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt you.” The crab exhaled in relief and asked Ariel, “You sounded so sad earlier as you were singing. Is everything alright? Oh, and I’m Sebastian, by the way.” “Well, actually, Sebastian, I want to have some freedom from my father. I just feel trapped and I think I am old enough to make my own decisions, aren’t I?” said Ariel as she poured her feelings out to her new found friend. “Yes, I agree. Everyone needs a little freedom and alone-time. Say, you look very familiar. Where have I seen you befor- Jumpin' Jellyfish! Aren’t you the Princess Ariel, daughter of King Triton?” said the eager little creature in excitement and realization. “Well, yes, I am.”

The two of them started talking more about Ariel’s longing to travel above the ocean and they started to get to know each other better. “Hey, I know a guy who has been up there! He says that it was simply delightful! He also says that he will help you find your way up there too,” said Sebastian in a bright tone. Ariel was thrilled after hearing what he had said. “Wow, really? I have to go meet this friend of yours. What’s his name? Where can I find him?” Sebastian gave her a sheepish smile and pointed his claw towards himself. “He’s right here.”

Ariel went home feeling excited knowing that her dream was going to come true. Of course, she did not tell her father about it as he would probably go crazy if he knew what she was going to do. The next day, while her father was still asleep, she wrote a letter for him and left it on his table.

Dear Dad,

I have decided to pursue my dreams of escaping the ocean and living above the sea. I know that you are trying to stop me just so that I can be the successor to your throne but that’s not the kind of life I want to live. I want to be free and happy for once so I hope you will respect my decision. By the time you read this letter, I would already be gone so don’t worry about me. Please take care of our kingdom well and live happily when I’m gone.                                                                          Your daughter, ~Ariel~

She grabbed her packed bags and left to meet Sebastian. He brought her to meet the person who helped him get above the water. They reached her lair after swimming for about two hours, only to be stopped by two moray eels outside. “Well, well. Hello there young one. Sebastian, is this the young lady you spoke of?” said one of the eels while brushing his fin through Ariel’s luscious red locks. “Yes she is, Flotsam. I would also appreciate if you kept your hands off her,” replied Sebastian in an annoyed tone. Ariel just stood there quiet and confused, witnessing the interactions between the crab and the eels.

After Sebastian and the two eels finished talking, one of the eels, Jetsam, held Ariel by the arm and brought her to a room inside the building. Sebastian accompanied her into the room where the two eels gave her a drink. “Here, have this tea. I guarantee you will love it,” said Flotsam with a smirk on his face as he left the room, leaving Ariel and Sebastian alone. Ariel felt a little skeptical to drink the cup of tea but Sebastian said in a challenging tone, “I thought you said you would do anything to get above the sea?” This made Ariel more determined to do whatever it took to achieve her dream. She gulped down the cold liquid and felt dizzy after a while. She felt like the beautifully furnished room was spinning and that the voices speaking to her were muffled and distant.

Her vision blurred as a big purple creature appeared in front of her. “Hello, darling I’m Ursula. I heard you are here to get my help. Sebastian has told me everything about you,” said the octopus in a creepy voice. Ariel, who was feeling light-headed from the ‘tea’, nodded in agreement. Her response was delayed due to the fact that she was intoxicated by what seemed to be seaweed extract, a plant in which its juice makes people hallucinate, like drugs to humans. She tried to focus on what Ursula was telling her, but she could not hear much of what she said. All Ariel heard was, “I will trade… your voice for a pair of legs…do you agree to the terms and conditions?” She quickly nodded her head even though she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

She felt her body being lifted into the air as Ursula muttered a chant and her tail splitting into two. It did not hurt but certainly felt strange. Ursula and Sebastian brought her to a room in the lair to rest before she was to go above the water.  After a few hours of resting, the seaweed extract wore off and she started feeling normal again. She looked into a mirror and saw that her beautiful turquoise tail was now two slender and pale human legs. She asked Sebastian in worry, “What did Ursula say to me earlier? I was completely out of it and I don’t even know why.” She tried to say that sentence repeatedly but no sound came out of her mouth. She then remembered that Ursula had taken her voice away in exchange for legs. Ariel felt like that was the price to pay for her freedom.

When Ariel finally felt ready to achieve her dream, Ursula and Sebastian escorted her to the surface of the ocean. They took a different route to avoid getting caught by her father and his guards, who were probably already searching for her. It was quite hard for Ariel to swim without her tail, but she did not mind putting in the extra effort for her dreams were about to come true. Sebastian and Ursula bade goodbye to her and they returned to the bottom of the ocean, leaving Ariel there alone.

Ariel took a deep breath as she popped her head up over the water. She was amazed by what she saw. Everything was brightly coloured and had a yellow tint to it, because of the direct sunlight. She felt a little bit uncomfortable but she thought that it a just because she was not used to the outside world. As she stepped onto the shore and started to walk, she felt a dull ache in her chest. At first she ignored it but with every step she took, the pain got worse. By the time she was halfway through the beach, she fell onto her knees and the pain was unbearable. This was what her father and Mr. Ceshell had warned her about. Unlike Mr. Ceshell’s case, however, Ariel was already too far away from the sea to jump back in. She laid on the hot sand thinking of her father and how she took her like for granted. She knew she should have taken her father’s advice but it was too late. With her beloved father in mind, she closed her eyes which would never open again. She was dead.

A few days later, King Triton received the news that his daughter had died. Soon, the whole kingdom knew about it, even Sebastian and Ursula. “Well, our job here is done. Thank you, Sebastian, for helping me claim back what was rightfully mine - the throne,” said Ursula with a wicked smile. Sebastian replied, “No worries, my lady. Now all we need to do is wait for your brother, Triton, to die and Atlantis is all yours.” They chuckled evilly knowing that their plot had succeeded. So what did Ursula say to the intoxicated Ariel? Well, he told her one extremely useful piece of information that no one else in the kingdom knew about. It was that sea creatures like her not only need legs to survive on land, but a pair of lungs too. 

Authors' note : That was our own twisted twist on the famous Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. We were inspired to write about Sebastian betraying Ariel by the movie Mulan 2. In that movie, Mushu also tries to betray Mulan, but resolve it in the end. In our story, we wanted to take it a little further (or a LOT further as there was no redemption and she died. whoopsies). Well, that's all we have for now. Thank you very much for reading and come back soon. Adios, Wonderers!

"BREAK A LEG! OH WAIT, MAYBE NOT..."

Interhouse Futsal Tournament

Hey there, Wonderers! It's Dhanya and today, I'll be talking to everyone about an Interhouse Futsal Comptetition organised by our school. Let me start off with, I have NEVER. I repeat NEVER played futsal before this. (not even kidding) How did I get involved then? It started off with a good friend of mine, Emily, who decided to persuade (or force) me into going for selections without any training whatsoever. Well, I guess I made it this far because of her (sigh) Thanks, Emily :)

So, I went for the selections and managed not to miss the ball everytime it came my way SO YAY. Our captain, Miki, let us know that very day who had made it into the main team for girls and I was extremely surprised to see my name there. I began to get excited to think of the trainings to come and just excited in general to be chosen. I saw myself improving more and more through the month of training we had before the actual tournament.

All in all, our team had some ups and downs. With all our busy schedules and responsibilities, full attendance for trainings were hard to come by. We could have done with more training and worked harder but there's always next year! To make matters worse, I came down with a fever two days before the tournament and pulled a muscle during training :( But I enjoyed every moment leading up to the big day and I'm happy to have been on the team.

The day of the competition arrived and I was extremely nervous waking up. Oh yea and the moment I put the jersey on, I think I fell in love. IT'S SO SOFT. Not kidding HAHA. Okay anyways my brother decided to come along to watch and support his house too. We got to Sports Planet Subang by 9 in the morning and I waited for the rest of the girls to show up. When at least five of us had gathered, we found a ball and began kicking it around inside one of the courts. It was pretty frustrating when my muscle kept feeling strained whenever I tried to take a shot and when I was told to rest before our match. It was so hard to sit still and watch everyone else train. (sobs)

Our first match started at around 10am and I think all our nerves had hit the ceiling by then. We did a cheer together and the game had begun. Our first match was up against Green and I must say they were an incredibly good team. Unfortunately, we lost 2 - 0. We were feeling pretty demotivated but Miki reassured us that we should just have fun. I suppose you could say fate repeated itself when we lost 2 - 0 again to Yellow in our next match. This time it made us want to do better though.We were fired up for what could be our last match of the day against Red and went into the match with a new mindset and strategy. We managed to draw with them and seeing as they were known as the one of the best teams, we were pretty happy at that.

All in all, I think I was extremely lucky to even have made it onto the team in the first place and luckier to have met the amazing girls in my team too. There were the ones who gave incredible advice, whether in game play or foot work. There were the motivational ones, who made everything seem possible. Lastly, there were the ones who gave the BEST hugs when any of us felt down. I'm so happy to have bonded with them and I had an amazing time. If there's one thing I'm going to do, it's work harder and train longer in order to do better next year. That's all for today! Adios, Wonderers!

GEOGRAPHY TRIP

Trip to Gua Kandu

On Wednesday, the 2nd of September, the Geography teachers organised a trip for the Year 8 students to Gua Kandu. This excursion was aimed to teach us about limestones, which will be our next topic in Geography. Initially, we were supposed to go to Gua Tempurung but the cave was closed for maintenance. So, the organisers of the trip decided to change the location to another cave nearby named Gua Kandu. This cave is also known as the 'cousin cave' of the Gua Tempurung and is situated only about an extra 15 minutes away from it. 

On the day before the trip, we were asked to gather at the school's basketball court for a brief briefing. (hoho see what I did there? *wiggles eyebrows*) There, we were separated into groups of 21 people from different classes. I was lucky enough to get my classmate, Tania and a few other friends in my group. We were told that each group would be assisted by one teacher and one facilitator. My group was led by my Geography teacher, Puan Sarah and a male facilitator. (whose name I did not catch)

On the day of the trip, we assembled in the secondary school canteen at 6.30 am and got into our groups. Our attendance was taken shortly after and we all boarded the bus. We had to wait in the bus for quite a while as there was some confusion and fuss among the organisers and teachers. We ended up leaving at around 8 o' clock for our 2 hour journey.

When we reached the cave, we were told to go to a little shack there to fill in a form stating that we do not have any medical issues. After that, we lined up in our groups and were briefed again by one of the head rangers there. What he told us about the cave made it seem very scary and dangerous, which totally did not calm our nerves and, in fact, made it worse. In spite of that, his warnings made us more mentally prepared and cautious of our safety.

We were told that each group was only allowed to bring three bags into the cave as it would hinder with our climbing. My group, however, did not bring a single bag into the cave and only brought torch lights. None of us considered how long we would be stuck in that cave without any water. We only realised our mistake a few hours into the journey, but we'll get to that later. 

When we finally started our journey, my group was shocked to be the second last group to leave the waiting area. Being group number 1, we thought that we would get the privilege to go first. Little did we know, the teachers decided to let the last group, group number 10, to go first. This wasn't much of a problem for us other than the fact that there was a massive human jam in the front which made us have to wait for quite a long time.

The first part of the climb was to walk up the side of the hill in a forest area. The ground of soil was quite uneven and unstable, making it difficult for us to climb. We did not mind it too much as it was quite cool there due to the large number of trees and plants. We also noticed that there were many insects there too, such as butterflies, ants, mosquitoes and beetles.

After passing through the tree-covered area outside, we finally made it to the mouth of the cave. From then on, it was no longer a walk in the park (literally and figuratively). The cave was much more hilly than we expected and we had to do a lot of climbing. It felt like we were rock climbing on a steep, sandy slope without any harnesses or safety gear. There were only ropes for us to hold on to and it was actually quite scary.
Furthermore, some parts of the cave were quite cramped and we were required to squat and bend down to avoid hitting our heads on the low 'ceiling'. This was one of the few times I felt happy to be short as I did not need to bend down in those areas. (short people rule!!) Also, due to my lack of balance, I had two facilitators assisting me throughout the journey, making sure I was alright. :)

Halfway through the journey, I started to feel tired and uncomfortable. The culprit for this was THIRST. My group members were all facing the same problem and we realised that we had made a BIG mistake by not bringing any water in. We still managed to pull through and complete the journey despite all of this.

On the positive side, we managed to see and learn more about the limestones located in the cave. We saw a few stalactites hanging from the roof of the cave and there was actually still water dripping from it, showing us that they are still 'alive'. Despite the treacherous and painful climb, the beauty of the cave was magnificent, especially the opening of the cave. Imagine walking in the dark for a solid thirty minutes then seeing a bright light shining in from the outside world, where the tall green trees can be seen. Pretty stunning, isn't it?

Photo Credits to Xiao Wen

After climbing for about four hours in total, we finally exited the cave. It took especially long for my group as we were the last ones to leave. We walked out to see everyone deliciously munching on their lunch while we were standing there half-dead. I had never been so happy to drink mineral water in my life. We were told to assemble at the waiting area after our lunch for a quiz. Each group was given a sheet of paper filled with questions regarding things we learnt and saw in the cave. Group five emerged as the winners but everyone was given the presents.

At around 5.30 in the evening, we boarded the bus and left to return to school. After about less than 3 minutes of driving, we all heard a loud 'thump' from the back of the bus. We turned around to see that the emergency door on the roof was detached and wideee open. It took about 10 minutes and 3 men to fix this problem but in a while, we were back on the road.

Photo credits to Aaron Ho

Although this trip was extremely exhausting and painful, it was definitely a wonderful experience. We all gained a lot out of this trip, from teamwork skills and new friends to knowledge about limestones and a great workout. I do not regret going for this trip, BUT I don't think I will ever do it again. (my legs weren't made for so much CLIMBING).

That's all I have for you guys today. Thank you very much for reading my loooong story about our trip. This has been Wei Ling and adios, Wonderers!

P.S. None of these pictures were taken by me as I did not bring my phone or camera into the cave and I was WAY TOO TIRED when we got out. The images are sourced from Google unless stated otherwise. Sorry HEEHEE~

LETTING IT GO

Ballet Concert 

Hello once again, Wonderers! This is Dhanya and today, I will be letting everyone in on yet another interesting fact about myself. Alright. So, when I was about four years old, I joined ballet lessons with my best (and only) friend at a center near my house. It was also (literally) a stone’s throw away. So, since then, my friend dropped out but I continued on and made tons of friends along the way. Back to the point, every alternate year a concert is organized in aid of a charity. This year, the concert was in aid of the Kasih Hospice Care Society.

Our class has only four girls now (including myself) so we joined classes with a class two years junior to us and put together a dance to the ever so famous song, Let It Go. However, we decided to give it a twist and went with the version sung in 25 different languages. Our teacher, Ms. Ng, choreographed the piece and we learnt it pretty quickly. There were also tons of preparations that had to be done and decisions to be made. Our hairstyle, costume, date of the concert are just the top of the list of decisions.

The costume designed for our performance.

On the 30^th of July, we had our rehearsal at the PJ Civic Center, which also happened to be the venue of our concert. I arrived and stood around awkwardly until I found my group of friends. Also, I recognized someone I knew from school at the rehearsals. She had taken part in one of the hip - hop pieces and did extremely well. Never had I expected her to be a dancer, let alone be fantastic at it too! 

At about 8.30, we were told to get ready and begin warming up. We all ran on stage when our performance was announced by the emcee. It was all pretty much a blur as the music began playing and all I could remember was telling myself not to go blank on stage and embarrass myself. There weren’t many complications and we were done in a matter of minutes. It was about 9pm when we left after adjusting our spacing on stage once more.

Our teacher and choreographer :)

Finally, came the day of the concert. To be honest, I didn’t feel the excitement of the concert until I arrived in the dressing room. The atmosphere was buzzing with excited chatter. I had truly missed the feeling of nerves and excitement. I had already done my hair at home with the help of my mom. We had it up in a neat bun with all our hair gelled and sprayed into place. We had bought the make up to suit the theme of our dance and brought it all there to be done. 

When we arrived, one of the younger girl’s mother was already sat down and working at the makeup. One by one, she did all of our makeup and finished it off with a sprinkle of glitter in our hair. We knew that we were the 14^th performance of the day and were waiting for the intermission to begin. My entire class (four of us including myself) had been awarded with a prize for achieving a Distinction in our Grade 6 examinations the previous year. We were all overjoyed and immediately began taking photos of ourselves together. It was also the first time that all of us had received a Distinction for the same examination. 

Two of the oldest in my class.

Nervous - the first word that came to mind right before we went on stage. I took a look at everyone else and decided we might as well have some fun with this. We gathered for a group hug and waited patiently for our turn to perform. Finally, we heard our performance being announced and I imagined my mom and grandma in the audience sitting up straight and getting the camera ready for our performance. 

We waited for the cue and ran on stage at the right moment with a toothy smile plastered on our faces and from then on, it was just us dancing on stage. I think we all had a pretty amazing time to be honest. We all even shared a giggle on stage as we heard a young boy say “WOW” from the audience as we performed a special move. In a matter of minutes, we were running off stage again and I thought to myself, “I really love the feeling of my heartbeat racing”.

We gathered for another group hug then sat down to watch the last few performances. Finally, it was over and we all ran on stage again for the closing ceremony. Our parents then came on stage and took pictures of us all together and individually. I think we were all relieved it was over yet at the same time didn’t want it to be over. We gathered up our belongings and headed home. My mom ended up dragging me out for dinner with some relatives and we saw some other family friends there too. They all looked at me oddly, wondering why I was wearing such extravagant make up for dinner (it was stage makeup after all) 

One of the pictures taken at the end of the performance.

I couldn't have asked for it to be any better. I had enjoyed myself thoroughly. Through the extra hours of practice we put in and the pain and sweat it took to perfect the piece, it was absolutely worth it in the end. I was proud of all my friends and teammates. That was definitely one of the best concerts I've taken part in till this day. Alright, that’s all I’ve got for now. Adios, Wonderers!  

MELBOURNE FREEZE

Aussie Aussie Aussie

Hello, Wonderers! It's Wei Ling here. Wow this post is SOOO overdue (HAHA) but bear with me. As we are getting more busy with school work and preparations for exams, I thought back on my most recent trip to Australia with my dad. We went to Melbourne during the mid-year holidays for my doctor's appointment there. We went there for four days and spent our time there doing typical tourist-y things.
We stayed in a budget hotel called Tune Hotel which is actually based in Malaysia. It was extremely clean and convenient as it was very close to the Queen Victoria Market and the tram stop. When we arrived at our hotel, it was still too early for us to check in so we went to grab some breakfast. We ate at a cafe opposite the hotel which was run by two Korean ladies. They were very friendly and the food was very good.

When we finally checked in, we were exhausted so we just rested for the rest of the day. We were lucky enough to be there for the food night at the market. This event is held every winter and we made it in time to go to the first event of the year! There were loads of people dancing to the live music, queuing up for food and huddling at the heaters for warmth. There was a very happy and cheerful vibe there and it was definitely a great experience.

On the second day, we went to the Melbourne Zoo which was just a few tram stops away from where we were staying. The weather that day was very cloudy and coooolllllddddd. We found out the next day that it was actually the coldest day of the year. Walking around in the 7 degree cold with exposed ankles was pure torture but seeing the cute animals made it all worth it. The zoo is very well maintained and is HUGE. After walking around for a few hours, our feet started to hurt as the place was so big. We managed to catch the seal show and it was so cuteee. The seal was very well trained but we could tell that zoo keeper took very good care of it and did not use force to train it. After walking around in the zoo for a few more hours, it got too cold so we decided to leave.

The next day was much warmer and the sun was shining bright. We took advantage of the great weather by going to the botanical garden. It was hugeeee and there were so many different types and species of flowers, plants and trees. The garden was very well maintained and was simply beautiful. As the sun was shining brightly, the lighting was very good for taking photos. I managed to get some pretty shots of the plants there.

I FOUND A LLAMA!!!!

On our last full day there, we went to the Sea Life Aquarium in the heart of the city center. There were many families there as it was the weekend and it was pretty crowded. After queuing up for about 15 minutes, we finally got our tickets and entered. There were many types of fish there but what I was most excited about were the penguins. There was a massive enclosure of about 50 penguins of two different species. They were much smaller than I expected but were very cute indeed. We stayed to watch them get fed and they were so obedient when they had to wait for their turns.

That sums up the highlights of my trip. Thanks a lot for reading and please come back soon. Adios, Wonderers!