~May Your Light Shine =D~

Friday, June 12

went down to SAVH again today. this time for DINING IN THE DARK!!!! xD

managed to change grp.. =) cos i signed up with my sis and her fren, so we in the same grp, but they 2 pull out last min and leave me by myself. so 13 of my classmates in one grp, and i was emo-ing by myself in the other... but they in the end got change me to the other grp. =) so was with ah pat, jor, sam and the others. too bad fy not there, if not the 五姐妹 be together.. lol.

the other grp went in to dine 1st while my grp went on a "tour". we watched a video about SAVH then learned how to help the visually impaired in various situations as well as about their white cane (NOT "WALKING STICK"!!!). then we had role play.

the role play was sooooo super funny!!!!! LOL. lance was like the expert "blind person" hahaha. then ah pat was so funny when she was trying to lead jj to the seat. oh! and yk go kick her "blind person"(SH) for some stupid remark. LOL! the role play was really hillarious.

then tried out several visual simulators to experience what its like to have several eye problems.. such as tunnel-vision (which so reminds me of the game binocular-soccer we played in tech last time [check my previous posts if u wanna read about tat]).

had a chance to see their assistive device centre, where they sell stuff to help the visually impaired (both low vision and blind ppl). they have stuff like portable magnifiers, (and other types of magnifiers), screen reading software, braille note takers, talking calculators and watches, watches with braille, games with braille, and so much more. all the stuff is really ex cos they're all imported frm overseas, but the visually impaired gets a large discount (esp since quite a no is frm the lower income grp)

got a chance to interact with the visually impaired people while they were having their lunch.. was really awkward.. cos didnt know wat to talk about plus i'm always awkward when put in a new environment and have to interact socially..... so ya. pei jor to talk to one of them in the end, but she did all the talking.. xP

and....... FINALLY! what we came here for. DINING IN THE DARK!!

it was a totally cool experience. really one you'll want to experience in your lifetime (at least for me.. xD)

went in pair by pair, our hands on our servers(who are visually handicapped), then they guide us to our seats.. IN TOTALLY DARKNESS!!!!!! followed the example they showed earlier b4 the role play on how to find the seat and sit down. =) my table got 6 of us. jor on my right, michelle on my left, liting beside her, then opp me is 2 more frm i-dunno-wat class.

even though i not scared of the dark, i'm scared of the stuff tat's hidden within it. but though tis is total darkness, no fear at all! prob cos like liting said we know our frens are right beside us, like we just reach out or hands then can feel them liao. then plus the classical music they play set the peaceful atmosphere..

got another table behind me. tat table got SH, joseph and i forgot who else. (obviously) can hear them behind me, and thought they were like at least one arm's length away. my impression on the room was that it was quite long and big. dunno why. figured the table was rectangular cos jor side only got her, but my side got me and michelle. the napkin and dessert spoon was at 12o'clock, fork at 9o'clock, knife and spoon at 3o'clock. the cup was above the knife and spoon roughly 1o'clock.

two jugs were passing around. one contained orange juice, the other water. we had to pour the drink out BY OURSELVES!! so fun!! haha. xD to tell if the drink is near the brim, we had to out our finger at the rim of the cup and once we feel the water then stop. (for me i got do this b4 cos i too lazy to on the light when getting water at night.. xP) our table, NO SPILLAGE! (heard the other tables have. some spill on the table, jj spill on himself.. LOL)

soup came 1st. we had to place our hands on the table, palms up, then the server will feel our hands and place the bowl/plate/etc on them. the servers wore bells on their ankles to help them hear where their feet are. so i can also hear where they are. drinking the soup wasnt as easy as when we had sight. cos cant see the bowl, cant see the spoon. so have to go by touch and estimation. touch to find the bowl, and estimation to estimate the distance and position of the mouth from the spoon.. lol. its like the hand cant find the mouth. but after a while got the hang of drinking soup. =) it was mushroom soup (cooked by visually handicapped ppl too!!). super-whooper nice!! =D only thing was i didnt like mushrooms. so after eating some, i dun feel like eating any more mushrooms.. xP so tilted the bowl, pushed the mushrooms to the top part then drink the rest of the soup (without mushrooms!!) xD
the basket of garlic bread was also passed around. got to feel in the basket for the bread. my only regret was bcos cannot see, so cannot dip the bread into the soup and eat.. ='( bread and soup are so meant to be together!!

main course. mine and jor came 1st.. used my fingers to feel wats on the plate (like i saw the visually impaired ppl did when they were eating their lunch.. gd thing they got us to wash our hands b4 we came in!) but couldnt really tell wats excatly on my plate. most of the stuff was covered in sauce, and one bit was mushy. in the end me and jor figured out its black pepper chicken, salad, and the mushy thing was mashed potato. xD the others were like hearing our "discoveries" while waiting for theirs to come. lol. we all had the same thing, just tat liting had fries, and michelle had fish and chips instead of chicken. eating the main course was the hardest. turned my plate til the chicken was at 6o'clock, the potato at10o'clock, vege at 1o'clock. (ignored the veg part the whole meal. =)) the meal was quite nice. =) but was real hard to eat. esp the chicken! cutting chicken isnt easy when u cant see!!!! used the fork and knife to get the rough shape of the chicken, then position them where i wanna cut. then just keep slicing until the knife scrapes onto the plate. then (cos the fork in pierced thru the bigger piece when cutting) have to go hunt for the piece tat was cut with the fork. and they almost always seem to disappear after being cut! then the same prob as the soup, placing the meat into the mouth! only then then will realise whether the meat was cut too big or too small!! xP didnt have much prob with the potato.

oh! the funny thing about the main course. everyone gave the same answer when asked whether they had finished the food.. "i THINK so..." cos cannot see.. so not sure if finish the food liao or not. but since cannot feel anything left so should be finish le ba... i thought there was something left on my plate, but when i poke it, nothing. so.. *shrugs*

then dessert! =) had to push the plate further into the table to make way for the dessert.. which was ICE CREAM!! xD haha. ate the icecream but couldnt figure wat flavour it was. the more we ate, the more we couldnt tell! lol. some say it was chocolate, strawberry, raspberry... *shrugs* it was icecream! =) but could feel and taste the rainbow sprinkle thingy on the icecream. =)

after tat, the rest had either coffee or tea. (but i drink neither so i didnt want..) jor was telling me how when she pour the creamer in cannot tell how much she was pouring or whether she got pour it in, cos got no sound! not like the sugar, when pouring can hear sound one.. haha. xD

relaxed while the rest drank their coffee/tea. got slightly bored so fingered my visitor pass. (which i had fingered when i got it, including the previous time is was here) and i had a revelation! I COULD FEEL THE BRAILLE!!!!! lol. xD was super excited. cos the past few (many) times could feel the dots, but not sensitive enough to differentiate the position of the dots enough to read them! but now, in the dark, with my "heightened senses", i could read braille!! xD haha. so fun! =)
told jor, then she also go feel hers. haha. the loss of sight really heightened our other senses. told michelle too. and she also got excited. haha. then liting also wanna know wats going on, so we tell her. haha. xD

when everyone was finally done, they on the lights to let us see. and it was like WOAH! everything i thought about the room is sooo diff from wats its really like! (except for the shape of the table.. xP) the room was actually really small! like half the size of my room! (ok maybe not that small, but its definitely smaller than my room.) then the table behind me was actually really near. if i just stretched, or just swing my hands behind, i'll like whack SH on the head liao!!! lol. (imagine if i did whack him, he wouldnt know who hit him in the dark!! ahahahaha xD) realised i got disorientated when led into the room.. i thought the door would be in front of me, but it was on my left! xP

oh, then we got to see the "mess" we made when eating in the dark. lol. for my table, it wasnt really messy, except for the positions of the plates and stuff cos when the dessert came, we just pushed the plate inwards.. but there wasnt no spillage or such. =)
oh. and i realised wat i left behind on my plate. the chicken skin. xP

haha. should do this more often. so fun! for one, we get to save electricity. no lights. no tv. then the ppl will only be focus on the food and conversation. so good bonding and interacting time! and there's like so much advantages to this lar!! =)

all in all, it was a really enjoyable and unique experience. really get to experience what its like to lose all sight for like (what?) 1hr or so? ya. and really have to rely on all your other senses then. really makes one appreciates being able to see. words really cant describe wat its like. you'll just have to go there and experience it for yourself. but i can say this: this will be one experience you'll nvr forget!

~~~i sooooo wanna go back there again!!!~~~ =)

~just me blogged at 6/12/2009 01:30:00 AM

May your light shine...
in the darkness...