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Wednesday, May 28, 2008 @ Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Camp Magica
I guess I got to finish up what I have promised to do. The 3rd and final chapter of such a busy schedule during the last 2 weeks of the term was definitely the Tao Nan camp held right after Mardi Gras. The camp last year had brought back many fond memories: the kids, the fellow GFs, the camp songs... everything about Camp Hutan last year was fun and enjoyable. Therefore, the bar had been set and now it was time to see if Camp Magica had out-performed it's predecessor.
Duration: 23rd May to 26th May Location: Tao Nan Primary School Mission: Camp Facilitator After the high of Mardi Gras and H.C. investiture during the entire day, I arrived in Tao Nan, full of optimism and spirit. Carrying my entire bagful of necessities, i entered the compound at approximately 11:30pm. Upon arrival, i had realized that the house identity was completed and I had nothing to do. I was slightly dispirited but was encouraged by the effectiveness (or rather, hastiness as i will find out later) of my entire team of GFs and managed to sleep despite the stiffness of the table and only about 4 hours of beauty sleep. Day 1 Around 5:30 in the morning, i was jolted awake by my handphone alarm. I was totally stunned for a moment. I was actually still dreaming that the holidays had begun and why was i awake in such an early Saturday morning. Then the enormity of the things to come hit me. Immediately, my senses kicked in and I rushed through the morning routine before joining the fellow GFs in their breakfast. I remembered everyone was already looking a little sluggish. Apparently some of them had chose to sacrifice their sleep, something which i was thankful i didn't do. Then at about 7:30, the familiar sound of children filled the air, and the camp had officially begun. We sorted them into their various houses and before long, we were engaged in ice-breakers. That was when i found out something- my group had eleven boys!!!! ARGHH!!! I was pretty spooked at the thought of taking care of so many guys, something which i had not anticipated, as last year i only got 6 boys to take care of. Still, i calmed myself with the notion that i had one extra year of experience and surely, that should be an advantage? Or so it was. Station games was relatively smooth sailing, with all the kids responding pretty OK with the challenges they faced. This also gave me a chance to see the characters of the kids, and keep track of the playful ones, or the "black sheeps". It was only until lunch time when i encountered my first resistance: A boy named Joel began crying when he couldn't finish the vegetables. U-oh, this was SO similiar to Wan Ying of K5. OMG, i wanted to help him, but I nearly failed to, as the kids around him began asking silly questions and if not for the arrival of Michelle, the House Chief, who brought the crying boy to the table of camp staff, i would not have known what to do. Then it was Dragon-boating, which was one of my most favourite activity. Initially, the people there had suggested a one GF per boat ratio and if not for a single seat in the front which was empty, I would have been left on the shore. (As i had let Myra, my partner for M1 group to ride on the dragon-boat with the kids) So, i was given an opportunity to seat on the dragon-boat, and it was right in front, on the hull! Haha, that wasn't really a seat available, so i ended up being there. So anyway. i refreshed the experiences of "Ambush" with the kids by telling them to "attack" other sub-groups and very soon, the "war" had blown to it's full proportion. The kids, especially the boys, were totally engrossed with their "battle plans" and i was silently laughing at the simplicity of their "mission". In less than 15 minutes after setting off, i was already drenched and happy, and everyone was like a bunch of wet and cheerful ducklings by the end of the dragon-boating. I guess the exhilaration of making people wet with one's oars and buckets had brought cheer to all the kids and GFs alike. After that crazy fun of paddling, we returned to school feeling pretty tired. Yet, the day was only half over. Now comes the madness for the GFs: bathing the kids. MAN!!! I NEVER EVER want to bathe 11 kids again! (well, at least let that horrible experience fade away before throwing to me that challenge once again). Imagine having to repeat the same instructions like more than 5 times, of course with the shouting, as everyone was busy asking questions about what to bring. The IRONY is that i was actually shouting the commands of what to bring. Of course, something that is hould have already known: 10 year kids have an attention span of a goldfish, NOTE: ATTENTION SPAN) By the time i got them out of the classroom, my 45 minutes to bathe them had been reduced to half. Worse still, Safwan's group was using the toilet and i ended up waiting outside together with the "soccer team" teaching them cheers, which they had listened with half-enthusiasm and irritation. Then, in a blink of an eye, i was inside the toilet, shouting commands for them to change out of their clothes in like a minute before hosing them all, which also got me half-drenched. The most irritating thing to note was that there was an entire House (I think it was Dolphin)cheering outside, and the door kept OPENING!!! I was like, "Dammit! Stop opening the door, I'm showering the kids, but i sweared some of the kids out there did that on purpose, and i could have sworn that there were a couple of girls peeping at my boys. Pervs! So anyway, after bathing the kids, which took almost a lifetime, we sat down for dinner. Joel cried again. This time, Myra and i sat beside him and tried to encourage him, but to little avail. The guy just couldn't finish his veg. In the end, there was no more time and we had to "help" him, by throwing away his packet of half eaten veg. Night games began and soon every guy in my group was becoming a pest. Besides Joel, who cried AGAIN for not being able to take part in the basketball shoot-out, Joshua, Justin and RuiChen aka. "Chicken" became the notorious 3, always taking their own sweet time, and never failing to do their part in keeping me angry, either by forgetting their instructions or taking their own sweet time. Oh C'mon!!! They are guys man, army in like, less than 10 years? And they are walking slower than the girls. (I was really starting to admire Myra's position). If i ad been given full authority, i could have let loose the urge to slap them. But of course, this was a camp, and my duty was to protect them, not harm them. So i had to Tahan all the way, although i did remembered screaming at them at one point because they were totally doing their own things and were not united as a sup-group! That, in fact, was the first time in my entire life i shouted at a bunch of kids. I don't even remember doing that to my group in K5. Guess there's always a first in everything. So, i think because of the shouting, a boy named Christopher began crying as he was scared of the entire night and homesick as well. At least, that was a reasonable excuse to cry and he was off to an hour in the Ops room. By the time it was over, i got to keep up the shouting and managed to keep them in one piece into their tents. I remembered entering the shower at around 12am, wishing that the jet of water from the showerhead would just dissolve my entire being. I was TOTALLY shagged. Day 2 I nearly could not wake up! I was zoned-out, and if not for the parchy throat of mine, begging me to run to the water cooler to take a sip of ice cold water, i guessed i could have just clung onto the bed/table and slept on. Anyway, i failed to cling onto the table, and i was thus making my way towards the tents half-expecting my boys to be up and running like mice on glucose. Well, surprise surprise! At least half the guys had already brushed their teeth and cleared their tents, something that i was secretly proud of. After about half an hour of renewed shouting, i managed to get them down for breakfast at the canteen. Note: my sub-group is always the last one to reach any destination, and NO! It's not because i have the most guys in my group! Apparently, TJ's quote of "If we go alone, we go fast, if we go as a team, we go far" is definitely true in this aspect huh? The Amazing Race got off to a sizzling hot start, and i mean literally BURNING HOT!!! I was already sweating only like 10 minutes into the start of the journey, which in addition to the unbelievingly stubborn boys and the never-ending road from one station to another, I was totally dehydrated man!!! The worst thing was, the kids have no sense of discipline, and every 3 minutes, i have to stop them and shout at them. I guessed i earned the nickname "DEVIL" or "TYRANT" by now. Even the smallest and cutest boy in my group, Siew Wyne, also got moody with Justin Jnr, and i had so many roles, ranging from facilitator, to "father", to "caretaker" to "punisher" to "peacemaker". I tell you, the list can go on, but i'm really keeping my words toa minimal. Anyway, the whole event ended with a cheering competition, which i half-screwed up when i forgot my words while leading the sub-group with my cheer. MALU! ARGHHH! Still, the humidity and stiffling heat was soon replaced with welcoming coolness when everyone made their way back to school, aching legs and all, to have their lunch. After lunch, it was Rock Climbing and Abseiling, whereby i spent 3 boring hours getting the kids to support their fellow friends as each of them attempted their climb one by one. I guessed the other GFs were responsible for making the entire house seemed like watching a soap drama. Imagine the sight: About 6 GFs sitting in a row sleeping on their hands, while the kids in front were totally feeling bored and listless. I tried to do my part to liven things up, but apparently, one's Man action in this case cannot really make much of a difference. I was so thank ful when the whole thing was over, although showering the kids was also another episode that i did not wish to repeat in the blog. Then after dinner (another forgettable episode), it was CAMPFIRE NIGHT!!! YEAH! HAHA, i must admit that this was one of the highlights of the entire camp. However, as compare to the previous year, it was a little disappointing as the camp songs were done a little hastily and the kids had little time to learn the songs. Still the camp performance was pretty good for Fierre, my house. Here's how it goes: All: 1,2,3 Stand up (Clap x2) Be Proud (Clap x2) Say your name (Clap x2) Out loud (Clap x2) GFs: I say we say who's the best! Kids: FIERRE, FIERRE! GFs: I say we say who's the best! Kids: FIERRE, FIERRE! GFs(kids echo): Early morning late at night, Fierre House charge out to fight! All together as one, We will win the war tonight! Altogether: We will win the war (x3) [With fingers clasped and stomping] Whoosh! GFs: Oh it was SAD, Kids: so SAD! GFs: Oh it was SAD, Kids: so SAD! Altogther: Oh it was SAD that the BIG ship went Down to the bottom and Ignus, Kretor and Viento all go down, it was SAD that the Big ship went down! GFs: Fierre, are you ready? Kids: Ever ready! GFs: Give me one clap! Give me 2 claps! Give me 3 claps! Altogether: Lets BURN their house down! [Stomp, Clap, Stomp, Stomp, Clap, Stomp, Clap, Stomp, Stomp, Clap, Stomp, Clap, Stomp, Stomp, Clap, Stomp, criss-cross, whoosh!] FIERRE! Haha, I'm so proud of this cheer! It's like the best cheer i ever done with just a 2 hour preparation, including teaching the kids and all! It was so cool! Haha, partially, it's the H.C. spirit and orientation fever that hit me during that short spate of time, but i swear that being able to lead the kids in cheering for their house is something that i deeply enjoyed, albeit with sore throats and husky voice. The rest of the night was pretty much a blur, and the only other enjoyable thing was being able to sit down after a long day's work and playing a few games of Bridge (with Hilary, Suzanne and Bobby) with my brain began to shut down and the 3 of them telling me to sleep (cos i was losing the next 7 consecutive games with all my partners- cool record huh?) Day 3 Finally, Monday arrived and i was really waiting to get out of there. Telematch began after breakfast and area-cleaning, which was HOT!!! I mean, the weather was scorching, and the kids were COMPLAINING, and I was SHOUTING! Then the inevitable came, i LOST my voice. Arghh, until now, my voice is just starting to return to normal. So anyway, the last day was pretty much a blur, as i was really tired and waiting for the entire thing to finish and apart form the super yummy lunch buffet that the camp organizers treated us to, as well as a few photos taken with the other friends I made with the camp, i reached home and SLEPT THE DAY AWAY. Now, I'm really uber tired, so i'm not giving any excuse for ending of the blog post so abruptly. I will give my special thanks for all the people who had made my camp enjoyable and of course, memorable in both good and bad lights. So, all these writing has made me rather shag, as if i'm going through Camp Magica all over again. Well, let me recap them all in my sleep tonight. Till then, TATA! By the way, I'm testing the font size to large, hope some of u can see better. But seriuosly, I'm tempted to change the blogskin altogether. So I'll see about that. Some photos:  M1! Kids and me doing some dance What's left of Iban!Labels: Camp Magica |
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@ Wednesday, May 28, 2008
H.C. Investiture/ Mardi Gras
Duration: 23rd May
Location: TJ Mission: nil Haha, i guess i'm really getting lame over the "duration, location and mission" thing, but hey, what's wrong with that? So, i suppose 23rd May can be the highlight for the entire term, cause so many things occurred that was definitely impressionable and memorable. The morning kicked started with the preparation for H.C. investiture. In the blink of an eye, it has been one year and I'm now the senior and the one handing down the baton to the 16th house committee junior. It is ironical that i was standing there, pinning the badge of my fellow junior, when just a year ago, i was the one whose collar had the badge been pinned on. So, anyway, everything turned out pretty ok, and at the end of it all, it was nice to see everyone as one House Comm, singing to the college anthem and doing all the various cheers. It was pretty nostalgic, and i even got a cookie with my name on it! Now that's what i call "touching". After half a day of pretty boring lessons, it was the start of Mardi Gras. Receiving the new red T-shirt was one thing, being able to see the entire performance was definitely the highlight. The task was simple: Be a volunteer for Mardi Gras for 2 hours, and after that, u get free excess to everything and anything u want to see. Of course, this doesn't include food and other games, but hey, the show was the highlight after all. Not only that, i got to see many old friends of mine, both past and present. From the 4Rians of Sam. T., Abhishek, Zia, and Sam L., to the Ibannies- Hil., K.Q. and Jiayu- I was certainly glad to see them participating in this mega school event. Of course, the performances was the SHOW man! From Harley motobikes thundering into the school (i counted at least 20 of them), to the mass dance performance from both the teachers and us, Mardi Gras had turned out to be worth the time and money! Gosh, my brain has really disintegrated into matter and i'm thinking like a snail on medication....so that's like...super, ultra slow. But hey, not bad, two post in a spate of 2 hours. How's THAT for a record? Too tired to write on, let sleep bewitch my mind and take over my world...that is, until daylight is out... Labels: H.C. Investiture/ Mardi Gras |
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008 @ Tuesday, May 27, 2008
H.C. camp
Well, this is gonna be the first of quite a lot of posts for the day. Yep yep! Basically, it's kind of like the start of everything, the start of my busy schedule and the start of a number of posts for the whole week, so here goes nothing.
Duration: 16 May to 18 May Location: TJ Mission: Camp facilitator Well, that's kind of like a rough idea of what's the whole thing about. Hmm, the annual camp was meant to be a test of endurance and stamina of the newly elected H.C. candidates, and to see their true characters in the face of obstacles and hardship. Man, it was certainly the most hiong camp i ever see. Admittedly, i did not attend last year's camp, and secretly, i felt thankful for that. If i had gone through the entire camp, i may have had a different perception of life. If i ever survived the camp in the first place. Anyway, at 6pm on 16 May, the torture began, well...mainly the juniors were the one receiving the suffering inflicted by the cruel and "evil" seniors, but hey, if no one becomes the bad guys, how can we conduct the boot camp? First was the warm-up. We got the juniors to unpack everything in their bags and began asking them to do meaningless spot checks, confiscating all their luxuries (mp3s, hand phones, etc). We even got them to run around, and give them ridiculous deadlines to pack their stuff...imagine having only 1 min to pack everything. After like half an hour of shouting (i mean like SHOUTING), we succeeded in instilling that fear and submission within them, or so i supposed so. Then it was the night walk. Man, the thing about the night walk is, it really is a walking in the dead of the night! In addition to the entire walk in the Tampines Mountain Bike trail, i also got the walk of my life- the walk from Tampines all the way to TJ. Something to note: When walking such a long distance, always remember to drink lots of water and WARM-UP. I have the dubious achievement of not doing both and i ended up being both dehydrated and fatigued, and it was only the first night! The next day, I got an excuse to escape from the madness of conducting the camp when i went to help out in college day. Together with Chia (happy?), we spent 2 hours carrying boxes of certificates and other prizes to and fro from the stage to the HOD of Arts room. Man, i swear i walked like 10 times in all! When i got back to the H.C. room, the Amazing race had already begun and i ended up sleeping in the H.C. room for like 4 hours!!! That turned out to be a breather, as the night was gonna be long and energy sapping. Basically, that night was camp fire and all the juniors were involved in sharing their talent in cooking and performing for the seniors. That turned out to be one of the highlights of the entire camp. Besides the ridiculous games like passing seaweed using one's mouth and limbo, there were also songs played with the guitar from Lighthouse (is it "You and Me"? i forgot le) and other lame performances. As for the food, it was satisfactory, albeit a guy ended up with food poisoning (because apparently his house won the "Best food but most unhygienic cooking" award). So yep, that was pretty memorable. And of course, who will forget the P.T.? Dragon pumpings, crunches, hanging by the monkey bar and of course running! Everything was pretty much a blur, but i know that night, or rather that early early morning, i had only like an hour of sleep. Now THAT sets the record! So, before the sun had even set out, i was given the role of accompanying the fellow juniors on our morning P.T. jog! Great, except the fact that, i was carrying their haversack bag and it was like 7kg? I was practically jogging behind them all the way to East Coast, and by the time i reached there, the sun was already blazing! In the end, there was more P.t., only difference was, the setting was in the waters by the shore of East Coast as well as Bedok Jetty. Well, they say that hard work does pay off, and everyone was rewarded with ice-cream at the end of the P.t., i guess it was scant consolation for all the aches and bruises they had received during the camp. Well, i didn't manage to attend the elections, but for all the 16th H.C. members, i salute u guys and gals for having withstood all the tests that we the seniors meted out to you! Good job done and j.y. for the year ahead! Alas, Post No. 1 is done and it's already close to one? Should I continue? I really don't know... Labels: H.C. camp |
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 @ Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Chorophobia!
 Yep, the long overdue post is finally here. Yes, it's none other than the megahouse function, held just barely a week ago. CHOROPHOBIA! Also known as the fear of dancing. This year's megahouse function had promised to be one that is fun, exciting and basically, a test of the strength and unity of the house committee. Held last Wednesday, the theme was basically: To dance! Yep, it definitely seems ironical as compared to the title, but its the twist that is aimed towards bringing out the Elvis in everyone. About 2 months back, i was designated under Decor Committee, and boy, I was so glad to be in the committee! I had past experience working with the Decor Committee during S.C.I.P., and therefore, this gave me some advantage towards running for the committee. It was nice to see the other Alpha people, Meiyi and Safwan, who were together in the same committee, along with others like Angela (Highlights Committee ldr for CNY) and Wenshan (knew her through LEO). I will mention the others real soon. Anyway, it was until about 2 weeks before the actual event did we begin to make preparations. Initially we had the problem of finding black cloth to decorate the entire hall, but after careful consideration along with some practical analysis, we decided to replace the black cloth using our house banners replaced with black trash bags. It may seem easy, but it's definitely not! It took the entire team over 3 days just to scotch-tape the trash bags onto the banners, and this also included spray-painting the bags with star shaped stencils using silver spray paint. Our objective was to create a starry night background to match "dancing in the moonlight". Ingenious! As the focal point of the Decor team was to create the black and white star background, we started hanging them up during the entire morning and afternoon prior to the start of the event. It was certainly challenging to tie the banners up at the second level, which we managed to do so by attaching the ends of the banner to half-filled bottles before tossing them over the second level. Bravo! It took close to 2 hours throwing and tying, carrying and balancing the big, black rolls of cloth (and trash bags) and when it was finally up, it had the makings of a night background. There was only a slight problem: the trash bags were translucent at some parts and it did not turn out to be as nice as it was preciously predicted. As this was discovered at the backdrop of the evening sun, we prayed that everything would go smoothly as night approaches. Anyway, that was just the foundations. We had silver confetti covering the entire floor of the hall. And the two things that added a dazzle to the decorations. The smoke-box and the spherical disco light. It was amazing to see the latter, as this could only be found at real nightclubs. Something i found out, the disco light was sensitive to sounds (or beats rather) and can change its course of rotation and even light intensity, adding a whole new dimension towards the settings and background. After the 2 things were added on, there was only time left to wait for the event to begin. An hour later, decked in our all-black attire, we began to see how the function unfolds. At first, when the clock struck 7pm, and there was barely 30 people, we got a little edgy as the thoughts of a poor turnout unnerved all the fellow H.C. members. However, as time passed, the crowd began to grow, and soon the entire hall was bustling with activities. Being the Decor Comm., we had the dubious honour of being free, as our job scope was temporarily rather light. We ended up helping the Pub Committee in the crazy frenzy of topping up ice in pint sized hard plastic cups. The sight was really stressful, and i sort of sympathized with the Pub "bartenders". The moment the cups are filled with "vodka", it was immediately lapped up by the thirsty revelers and the empty cups are sent to be washed before its re-iced and topped up with more drinks. This endless frenzy kick-started at about 8pm and was still going on an hour later. Well, i suppose that the Decor team deserves some applause for the contribution for helping the Pub Comm. Decor Baik!!! :P The approximately 3 1/2 hour function was a rousing success, with the main objective of getting TJians to dance being achieved. With the introduction of the awesome, funky street dancers from NYP, it got the groove moving among my fellow TJians. Soon enough, when the crowd was given the freedom to hit the dancefloor, they willingly took the challenge to their stride. Man, the songs were good, and even got the latest song such as Low from the movie Step Up 2. This was when the smoke machine came to good use. We positioned the smoke machine towards the disco light and soon enough, the projections became clear and the settings became much suited to that of the real nightclub settings. There were also the accompaniment of games such as Pull-up Challenge and Dizzy Sumo, which got the crowd in a frenzy cheering their fellow schoolmates along. Seeing them enjoying themselves was certainly a sight to behold, and deep in my heart, i knew that the event had certainly exceeded expectations. There was even an incident whereby the DJ apparently played a song deemed too dull by the crowd, and they began to chant "Change song!!! Change Song!!!" Haha, their wish was granted and they all danced the night away. Alas, when the time read 10pm, the event had to draw to a fitting close. Even so, the crowd were still reluctant to leave the hall and posed for more snapshots of background made by the Decor team. SWEET!!! Finally, when everyone got everything cleared up from the hall, the decor team took a few photo shots, before the debrief and the long night home. The 15th H.C.'s last mega house function was certainly the best among all those held, and i couldn't help but replay the moments where the dance moves, the starry background and the "alcoholic" drinks took centre stage. Once again, I would like to thank all the H.C. members for making this event a SUCCESSFUL one, especially DECOR COMMITTEE. In no particular order, I thank Teck Kian, Sze Sian, Chun Kiat, Safwan, Meiyi, Wenshan, Desiree and Angela for making the Decor team such a fun and cool team to work with. Once again, S-U-C-C-E-S-S! DECOR DECOR is the BEST!!! Labels: chorophobia |
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