-= cap =-
perfect model = syaz... =)
poor kaiyu who can't fit into the cap...! =P
his expression shows it all... he's upset he can't fit into the cap.. hahha.. =P
accepting the fact already.. smiling in picture.. hahha.. =P
joyce and michelle... =P
the cap.. =)
-= T shirt design =-
take a look...! any comments gif taran or wendy.... =)
where's the fashion police?
pink jacket, pink pants and writing on a pink vanguard sheet with her shirt reflecting pink light from the vanguard sheet...guess the identity of our new queen of pink? this pix reminds me of the that animaniac cartoon...."the pinky and the brain, the pinky and the brain....one's a genius while the other's insane"....hehehe
-= Cool campsite cool team mates..! =-
the campsite seems cool..~ hahha.. we are all gonna haf fun there i forese.. hahha... well, cool team mates too..! take good care everyone.. we've got a long long journey.. =) and by the way.. Mr Remy is oso not going with us anymore.. i dunno wat's the reason i only noe that Mrs Tay called to inform me that Mr Tan Kim Tian is going with us.. which apparently i dunno is which lecturer. hais.. well, wat to do..? well, every group having meetings to plan and prganise... jia you..!
take care, drink lotsa water, slp well... =)
with lurves.
joyce... =)
Bonus pix 2nd part
The rest of the guys following sleeping beauty's example to the max. Amazing how good handphone cameras are getting. The quality of the pix's comparable to a canon ixus 40 ;-b
bonus pix!
Sleeping beauty totally living up to her name here on bus 74. Pic courtesy of yuhong.
punggol point holiday camp lives up to its name...
Big outdoor area with bbq pits, large firepit and lovely view of the sea. We'll be utilising this area alot for games and and other activities. Hopefully the weather won't be like this throughout the camp, or we'll just be sleeping inside our rooms. On the other hand, maybe that's not such a bad idea... I heard the teachers mention something about physical training i.e 5 km runs, push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, stretching etc...reason being cambodia was going to be a "physical' trip. How do you guys feel about that? Logistics will be planning the running route soon... ;-)
a pix of the gal's dorms....
....Double decker beds, aircon (look at the ceiling), recessed toilet....no wonder thea goh said the cambodia trip would be a luxurious way to do community service. The guy's bedroom is about the same. Double decker beds and aircon. But I don't think there's aircon in cambodia hor...
I hope no one is a smoker...
...because LPG's the supply for our cooking needs. No need to bring woks, frying pans or any other utensils I guess...apparently everything's being provided for. Now if only everything could be provided for us in cambodia. Hehehe...
this kitchen's better than those chalets we've been to man!
Ooh...it's a well stocked kitchen, with refrigerator, First Aid kit! and lotsa cups....even my own home kitchen doesn't have a first aid kit...
Punggol campsite
Instructions for getting to the punggol campsite - take bus 82 from a certain bus-stop near the Punggol Mrt station, "not the bus interchange hor", says Mr Liow (bespectacled guy in pic). The three guys are checking out the kitchen after leaving the rest of the gals back at the MRT station. Sadly Mr Liow's car could only take 3 people at the back. What then, was the point of asking the whole logistics team to come?
NP - AngMoKio - Hougang
And here we are on bus 74 to hougang mrt after a heavy lunch at the SIM canteen. Value-for-money meal - Chicken Cutlet with homemade BBQ sauce, only $4.50. Guaranteed to make you feel like puking on a long bus journey. Waiting for us at Punggol mrt is Mrs Tay, who will be taking us to the punggol campsite to have a look-see. If you take a close look at the pic, you can observe our sleeping beauty preparing to sleep again...
Room 03-03's getting busy ;-)
10.30am and the logistics team's in room 03-03. Everyone's hard at planning the menu for the bonding camp. Here we can see michelle falling asleep in that comfortable computer chair.
Logistic Team:
Yuhong
Syaz
Stef.
Weiming - not in pic
Cedric
Michelle - sleeping beauty
Teaching Group's first meeting
Who's the teaching group?
Charmaine
Weiming
Stephanie
Jeremy - late as usual
Charlene - couldn't turn up because of school
Taran - couldn't make it
What are we going to teach the cambodian children?
English
Chinese
Sign Language - only if there's not enough content from english and chinese
How are we going to teach it?
Through songs, nursery rhymes and a storytelling session cum skit.
Why is this being blogged?
We're going to have to prepare you guys to teach the cambodian children during the pre-trip preparations. The 6 of us won't be able to handle the 100+ children we're expecting, so be prepared to relive your kindergarten days again through some all-time favourites like Twinkle Little Star, Head and Shoulders and Knees and Toes,
Happy Tree Friends , Eencey Weency Spider, Barney the Purple Dinosaur and many more songs and rhymes! If you're thinking that singing those songs are bad enough, we'll be trying the actions to these songs! Some people with no inhibitions will find this kind of fun, but for those who aren't you have been warned! Hehehe...
We are looking for peepz with enough proficiency in the Chinese language to draw up a passable Chinese curriculum for the cambodian children. Currently the only Chinese songs we have are: Lau Shu Ai Da Mi and Peng You...any suggestions from anyone?
Something unrelated to teaching - I'd like to include one member from each group i.e Logistics, research, safety etc to be a member of the blog so you can post any meetings or anything you want to say about certain events. Please do e-mail me or add me on MSN at alex_lee_84@hotmail.com
Thats all for now,
Ming
SAVH
Hi everyone, really thanks to Wei ming for this informal blog for all of us to share our views and thoughts... well, SAVH yesterday.. i muz say that it was pretty great cos i felt there was a little bit more bonding and that i get to know more people already, as in previously i dun even know the name... =P but now i know.. we would all be able to survive and do well for the trip... we shall serve to learn and learn to serve.. we will go hand in hand and stand strong.. =) i hope to know more about all of u thru the bonding camp and when we get there, we would haf no barriers of communication... and mis-communication like yesterday would not happen once again.. =) take good care in the mean time everyone... cos we all haf a long long journey to go on for... and.. drink more water and jia you for the preparation work..~ =) i'm looking forward to seeing each and everyone of u soon.. =)
With lurves,
Joyce
sunday...and we're somewhere in Toa Payoh?
Point form of the happpenings on 18th sept.
(because I'm just too lazy to write it out essay-style.)
SVH mooncake festival.
Met at bradell station at 12pm to practise songs.
Lots of people looking weirdly at us like we were druggies...
We were supposed to be at SVH at 1pm, but no one in the group knew or cared.
Remy called me at 1.10pm to say he'd be 20mins late.
Remy arrives at braddell with his chiobu girlfriend at around 1.45pm
Some of the guys go and draw cash to pay Remy for the trip...and we're already late. But nobody knows or cares...I certainly don't feel any sense of urgency...
We take a walk and some of the gals (grace's group) gets their footwear stuck in drying cement
Arrive at SVH at 2.30pm.
Mrs Tay introduces herself and the shocker that Thea Goh has left Ngee Ann to setup her own Yoga school. How could you Miss Goh?! Leaving us in the lurch like that...
Big boring briefing with arrows being shot by the teachers and everyone getting responsibilities like Logistics, safety officer, photographer, videographer, reality show guinea pig etc...Forms being handed out and visas to be applied for, teachers reminding us to hand our passports over, contact lists being passed around and who typed the contact list? A lot of particulars are wrong wrong wrong! Grr...
Everyone's falling asleep with eyes wide open.
Finally we get to meet our VH friends...my group - Charmaine, Charlene and Taran, with the VH - Uncles Vincent, Teng Kwee, Jia De and Henry. Played some games organized by the other volunteers.
Uncle Henry suprises me by moving around like a normal person.
When I ask him why he doesn't use a cane to move around, he says that he's familiar with the surrounding and confident of moving around unaided. So much for the training we had earlier...
Performed the songs that we prepared and served the VH dinner. Took a really long time because of the lack of tongs to grab food...When we were performing, I felt that some of the VH just wanted us to shuddup and start serving them food.
Had a chat about the trip with the Eunice Olsen wannnabe/lookalike - Vannessa - our mentor for the trip. Just think about it - she looks like Olsen and both are
suckers for comm. service work dedicated to improving other people's lives. The similarities between the both are striking to say the least.
Briefing at the White Cane club.
Learning by Serving - what does it mean to you? Someone said - "stepping out of your comfort zone to help people in need". I feel that it would be complete with - "and learning more about your human nature and how to control it when appropriate". Helping other people is good but you shouldn't help people just for the sake of extrinsic rewards (read: CCA points, shopping, chance to travel overseas, see one of the eight wonders of the world etc...you know, all those tangible rewards). Helping people for the sake of helping them also isn't very useful to you.
Do it for the chance to get to see how you behave when you're placed in tight situations and how you manage to survive. Get out from your comfort zone. The experiences you gain will be priceless.
Feedback session from Gladys...
Student's side of story:
-All were at Braddell Mrt practising at 12pm
-Mr Remy came at 1.45pm
-Did not know the time to meet at SVH
-Where IS SVH?
-Some guys had to draw cash last minute and took quite a long time.
-unaware that another teacher was waiting at SVH
Glady's side of story
-waiting at SVH with Mrs Tay from dunno what time (quite early)
-briefing was supposed to start at 1pm??
On hindsight, we could have been resourceful asked around for directions to SVH, but all of us are pampered mummy and daddy's boys and girls. We usually have chauffers to send us around this small city-state you know? Just kidding.
I guess we'll learn how to be resourcful in this journey together.
Guys, taking your time to draw cash when you know we're late (when Mr Remy asked you guys to run, he wasn't joking) counts for quite bad attitude. Please do have more sense of urgency can? You'll need it in 2-3 years time. Before that, we'll also like to see it during the cambodia trip for everything to go smoothly.
All of us we totally unaware of the change in teachers and didn't expect Mrs Tay to be at SVH early. We would have hurried up, if anyone at SVH contacted Mr Remy.
Why were we not sure about the meeting timing? Who's responsibility is it to let us know? Or is it our responsibility to find out? The answer is both. Guys, we need to be more proactive. Feedback and information shouldn't just flow one way and for our group to be successful, more interaction is needed.
Please feel free to correct me on any points that you think I've got wrong. Comments welcome!
Weiming
