Camp Diamonds 2008

Woah! I'm finally back from Camp Diamonds 2008! It was a really tiring, yet fulfilling leadership camp. I slept immediately after I came home and had my shower in the late afternoon. I woke up after 9pm for dinner before checking my email. But I still have to complete my Stats tutorial for tomorrow! However, I decided that I should blog about the camp before I forget about the experiences that I had!

I met with the A-Team people after registration for the camp at Blk E, Level 3. They are Chermaine, Faizal, Farah, Itin, Jasmine, Maria, Melody, Paulina, Sariman, Shu Hui, Suzanne, and Wei Liang (I hope I didn't leave anyone out!)...

I was placed in Group 3 or 'Ang Dou Tng' aka 红豆汤! My team consists of Jeremy as our facilitator, Charlene, Derrick, Hui Ying, Jay, Jovin, Matthew, Nissa, Terrence, Vati, Wing (Hui Ying), and Xue Mei! Marjuk was supposed to be in my group, but he couldn’t make it for the camp because he had to work…

Anyways, the camp started with some ‘ice-breakers’ which we didn’t really follow in the end… We came up with our flag and prepared our small backpacks for our overnight night walk! Each group was given 7 loafs of bread, a few dozens of Vitasoy and Milo to help us to last through the night…

After a simple supper of bread and spread, we took a bus down to East Coast Park where we started our walk all the way to Changi Beach! I don’t know how long we walked but it definitely felt good/tiring as we had walked for at least 4 hours!

Along the way, we did many tasks including ‘Entangled’, transferring a ball using bamboo poles, counting to 100 but leaving out numbers with 3 or the multiples of it, Morse-code and even Sudoku at the end of it all! I’m proud to say that our team managed an impressive 2nd Place finish despite several obstacles along the way!

After that gruelling ‘night’ walk, we returned to NYP after a short breakfast with the usual – bread and spread! We had about 2 hours to wash-up and rest! Thereafter, we took the bus back to Changi with all our bags and slept again along the way… We had lunch and signed our indemnity forms for kayaking! YAY!

I had been waiting for it even before the camp started! What a nice Saturday afternoon for kayaking! Good thing it wasn’t too sunny! So we managed to enjoy kayaking in the sea for about 5 hours! It was fun at first, so Wei Liang and I started off really fast… Until a few hours later, I suddenly felt really hungry and had a bit of gastric half-way…

Thank God that I was kayaking with Wei Liang. He helped me to continue paddling when I felt weak and my arms were tiring due to a lack of energy… Seeing him persevering, I was motivated and decided not to give up and continued paddling when I could!

Finally, it was over and we all headed back to shore! I was totally starving! But, there was no time for food yet! We had some time to wash/clean up before heading to the park for some ‘team-building’ activities with the whole camp! We played an entanglement game where we all had to go through an obstacle course of raffia strings that were messily strung around some trees – all in pairs. It seemed like an easy task, except that we had to do it immediately after kayaking! So it took a toll on our bodies…

After all that, we took another bus nap as we were all brought to the Dairy Farm Adventure Centre’s campsite to bunk in for the last night! And I was still feeling so hungry! I couldn’t wait to start ‘dinner’!

But, we had to prepare it by ourselves for field cooking. It was also a competition! We were given spaghetti, and canned tomato puree, mushrooms and baked beans. After serving the judges’ share of food, we started feasting soon after that!

Despite having 4 servings, I was still feeling super hungry! Joan then treated everyone to ICE CREAM! We all enjoyed it as we sat around the campfire area before it started…

Then, Joan declared the campfire open! We had an awesome time with each group’s cheer, the usual campfire songs, dance competition, mirroring game and all! Team NYP even did our Poly Forum cheers - at least we scraped through it (: We ended off with a friendship dance, the committee’s cheers and each facilitator’s word of thanks!

We had our lights out at 2am and woke up soon after at 645am. We did an ‘eye-opening’ morning exercise that I really enjoyed. Then it was time for station games around the campsite! I got herbal toothpaste on my left cheek, made water bombs but didn’t throw any, ran around in the ‘island game’, and got myself all wet just to collect a few drops of water in a bottle. LOL!

We finished off with the mass water bombing – where I guess the objective was simply to let everyone throw the remaining water bombs at each other to have FUN!

After the wet games, we had time to wash up and clean the toilets… We cleared our bunks and gathered around the campsite for debrief in our individual groups and – of course – photo-taking!!!

We finally boarded the bus for NYP and got our valuables back! Amazingly, no one seemed to be sleeping despite the gruelling activities and less than 8 hours of sleep over 3 days! I guess it was because we all got our technology and mobile devices back!

I had received 18 new messages and tons of missed calls after I had turned my phone on! I was so busy that it took the whole bus ride for me to finish replying to all my calls and messages!

Anyways, we had a final mass debrief and prize presentation at the Forum @ Blk E! Our group earned ourselves a 3rd place! I think we all did an awesome job! We took a final camp photo with everyone forming the word ‘DIAMONDS’ and the shape of a diamond!

Overall, I had enjoyed myself in the camp! I got to know many new friends and I can’t wait for more exciting things to come! Yeah! :D

halloween FEVER!!

JUST YESTERDAY...

I was having a headache, back pains, and discomfort all over my body - but at least my throat had begun to sooth down from the morning... I thank God that people were praying for me...

I had an early morning lecture at 9am and was already feeling open wounds in my throat. i bought strepsils and felt a little better after taking it. I seemed fine through my tutorial and my lunch meeting for our Halloween event...

But after we went up to the A-Team room to make preparations for our event, my back started to hurt and headaches distracted me from what I was trying to do...

I had planned to buy some presents with Faizal at AMK. but in the end, i decided to go straight to bishan instead. Thank God that Farah was with me to settle the presents before she left with her cousin.

After that, I rushed home to bathe, sleep and stay rested! I slept for about 1hr 30mins before I woke up for dinner. I took another shower as I was still feeling hot and sweaty... My headache seemed to be getting worse! I prayed again as I did my quiet time that I would be healed by morning! I needed to get my work done for school and upcoming events...

I took some panadol before proceeding on to do my work.. Then I decided that I had to rest soon.. So I went to sleep.. I got up a few times in the night to drink water as I was feeling uncomfortable.. But I finally managed to get to sleep..

THANK GOD!! It's morning and I'm feeling much better! But I know that I will still have to take care of myself before my LONG WEEKEND...

Keep praying for me! (:

HOLIDAY UPDATE!!!!

OKAY!!!

i know this took me quite a while...
but i've finally decided that i should post something!
YAY!!!

well, since my first ever semestral break started, it's been a whirlwind experience of new opportunities! i've done so many things that i've never done before and met so many great people!

so here begins my HOLIDAY UPDATE!!

28 - 31 August

BB27 Awards Camp 2008!!!

31 August - 4 September

Superstar Aquarius Penang-Phuket 5D4N Study Cruise Immersion Trip!!!

this was such a memorable experience for me~! it's only my second time on a cruise since the last time i went with my family when i was still very young!

through this trip, i learnt a lot from the crew member on how the ship is run and even got to see parts of the ship that normal passengers don't get to see! cool huh?

haha. besides having fun on the ship through enjoying the ship's production shows, playing basketball on the deck, or even playing card games in our rooms, i'm glad that i had the opportunity to get to know some other students from my course who also went with us on the trip! i'm glad we captured some good memories together during the cruise...

check out the photos we took <here> and <HERE> too!! haha...

4 September

Keqin & Jun Ning's Birthday Outing!!!

We had so much fun at FISH & Co.!! Happy birthday again, guys!! (:

5 September

Poly Forum Student Leaders' Meeting + Climate Change Talk

6 September

BB27 Normal Parade

8 - 12 September

Pre-Polytechnic Workshop 2008!!!

9 September

BB27 Thailand Trip Meeting #1

13 September

Tung Lok Attachment Briefing for F1!

14 September

Cowboy Job @ Racecourse!

LOL! This was really unforgettable..

With me as 'Woody' and my sister as 'Jessie' from Toy Story 2...

15 September

Help Out with preparations for the Polytechnic Forum 2008!

16 - 19 September

Polytechnic Forum 2008!!!

this was a totally awesome event organised by NYP!!

yeah! click <here> for the memories that were captured!!!

More Team NYP <here> and <here> too!!!

23 September

BB27 Thailand Trip Meeting #2

24 September

A Team GM

26 -28 September

F1 Singapore Grand Prix Night Race Attachment with Tung Lok Group!!!

UPCOMING EVENTS!!!

3 October
NYAA Gold Award Ceremony + Team NYP Outing!!!

6 October
WFDSA Packing Job

7 October
Team Liaison Outing!!!

8 October
A Team Outing!!!

9 October
F1 "Workers Party" Outing!!!

10 October
SICCI Conference Duty


WOAH!! that's a lot of stuff!! just praying that i will be able to cope and make the best out of what's left of my holidays!!! (: