Blessed child's dairy

So after we returned from dinner that night, all of us waited with little anticipation in that room. Wait and wait, the time finally came, and we proceeded on to the Sports complex, where mobs of people had already gathered. We've gotten many punctual leaders in making. There was supposedly a last-minute briefing for the facilitators, but was called off last minue because some people were late. Fault--> 1) meeting at last minute was a big fault, 2) people being informed but yet was late was nonetheless big fault, 3) people not involved was at fault too for not informing these people. So this is one episode where all of us were at fault and needed improvements on. Then we cramped into half of the sports complex, and I proceeded to my group, group 3. I knew some of the people there, but being their facilitator felt weird, especially when none of them knew each other. That layer of ice was not at all easy to break. Adding oil to the fire was that I as a facilitator had zero knowledge of how the camp was going to be like, no details, no outline, practically nothing. So I could only try to really make them feel comfortable in the group. If I did not remember wrongly, we did a total of 3 rounds of self-introduction. Hehe=P. My new partner, Shermaine. Hm. First impression was gained during the first and only briefing, where she said, "You're TiongWei. We are in the same group." Things of that sort. My response back then was lacklustre, no life, no tone, no energy at all--> "Oh okay, hi." And that ended out first conversation. At that instance, she must have felt, "Gosh, I've picked the wrong person for a fellow facil!" But that night, I was super inquisitive, like really! I disliked ignorance, especially ignorance to something which was part of my charge. So I was constantly probing her questions, and I think she must have felt irritated=P. After everyone settled down, there was a short breifing by different different personnels, before we set off to the basketball court to have more ice breakers. First game was the M&m game which I've seen online somewhere when I was searching for ice breakers sometimes ago. I think I picked a brown one and the question went like this, "name one quality of your ideal bf/gf." (things of that sort). Joker as I was (somehow I became one for this camp), I decided to pick the bf one and said I wanted the 5-Cs. Then they pursued further for the gf, and I said 5-Cs again. Clarification: that was supposed to be for effect! =P I'm a nice guy ok=P Money/fame has little meaning for me. Nice game was Si Ben (elop for direct translation). It's a cool nice game which required a lot of running, but I remained the safe oblivious man at one side, whom enjoyed watching people running in circles for their lives.=P Last game was some arranging game which required us to form the longest line with any of our possessions. People started using tools and items from surroundings, and I decided to get the referee stand at the side. Who knows it had just rained, and the water collected on top just poured down on me like that. What's worse was that when I carried the thing over to our side, the game master actually started shouting for us to end the game, and the group which managed to clear up the fastest wins. How great! I got drenched for zero reason! Grr! And putting back shoelace through holes after holes were really patience test.

When everything has ended, we proceeded on to our assigned classroom at 102, where we were supposed to keep our bags and belongings. Everyone started packing their bags before setting off for night orienteering. Bascially I just took out a set of worn clothes and my shoes, and brought all the remaining things. Clue finding was fine, bu bus waiting was not. Bus 2 took super long to come, and other groups were coming one after the other. Despite us being first, the sequence of going up was unfair. Well, what's fair in life! We boarded bus 2 after like 15 minutes, and one other group cut the queue of the other. Seriously, I felt for them. The bus was super packed, and the ride was super long. So off we went. By the way, our clued destination was Changi Chapel. Then we went to find the clues which led us to this place named sunset walk. But there was no sunset walk in the map, which led me to think that sunset walk could have meant loyang walk (the chinese meaning if I was not wrong). Fortunately Shermaine was there to save the day. She called the other people and found the location for us. The place was indeed not in the map. Our first station alone took us more than an hour to locate already. But on the brighter side, team spirit was already swelling up at this instance. Chit-chats etcs were super comfortable. And night road without cars, frequent scare which I gave the girls. Quite an experience. First station was at this quite beautifully scened fishery area. So we were practically walking on those kind of bridge above seas, and there was once where the entire got scared by a dashing past cat. And that was super hilarious, especially when cat was one of the animals which Crys like. First station was under some pavilion where we were supposed to create a song based on a given tune and a given theme. Our theme was floorall, and the tune was from some oldy cartoon's marching scene (I guess). We were pretty fast at that and came out with this floorball, we are going to score it, we are going to win it song. Next station was on top of a slope, which leads to one of Singapore's most haunted place- the old Changi Hospital (1935) if that was the name. The place was unusually dark and eerie, and everyone was super freaked out, and for no reason, I became kind of tired. To quote from a statement I made few days before, "I will be damn tired by that night, so the ghost better don't come disturb me, else I make sure they die a second time." Wa! What bold statement. But frankly, I I sensed zero fear, like really, for some unknown reason. Must be the presence of our Heavenly Father, which had strengthened me. So I became the front man, and Crystal, unwillingly tugged my sleeve and walked beside me. She was super scared! It was yet another long walk, and I did not know what to say. Okay actually I did say things, like I kept distracting her by say things like "there is a building there, and the building is lighted up, so this place can't be that bad." Things of that sort, Hope it helped. Anyway, after like 10 to 15 minutes of a much fearful walk, we finally reached the top, which is at the gate of the OCH, and the station master facilitated them on some perserverance game. After securing the bonus questions, we finally set off to our next station- inside OCH. This time it did not take us as long, and we went in through some opening at the side of the gate. The actual gate was locked. This station had a different ambiance because they lighted white candles along the way, and the station masters acted more serious. I repeat my self, ACT only! So deeper in, the teachers were there and they gave us some of the background knowledge of that area, which I believe was an attempt to scare us. Well, it did not work well, did it? The game of that station was to send 3 or 4 (I forgot) representatives to cross some boundary and eat some wasabi water and chilli padi thing. I wanted to cross that line initially because I really wanted to go in and see how it really looked like, but again facilitators were discouraged to participate in the game. So that was kind of a pity. We secured the highest points for this game according to the station master (act-cute-Eunice). By then, time was already closing up on us, and we went on to the Changi beach which was supposed to be our campsite for that night. At that place we did our last station which was to transport 5 people across the bridge using two stretchers. We finished it prety fast, and set off to the headquarter, exchanged the points we have accumulated for the necessities and wants that we wanted, and went to look for an ideal campsite. Unfortunately, the weather was infavorable. The fact that there was practically Zero pavillion for us to set up our ground sheets in. Thus, in the end we decided to head back to the headquarter and set up beside it. 4 people to one sheet, what a nice comfy bed laid above the fragrance of the natural green. Soon it rained, and we shifted in under the headquarter's tentage. Clanged in a jacket, tugged in a track pants, under a comfy sleeping bag, I had the best rest ever in the open! The natural air con worked really well! That's that for the night. The next morning, I got to know from Crystal who was sleeping beside me that she had the worst sleep of all, because I was constantly digging and tugging around. Must be that the night was really cold. But look at the better side, at least I did not snore. Remember! Look at the strength arh!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

SL-Camp first night

Posted by Judah at 11/13/2008 10:39:00 AM