Matric Fair is over. So that is another item off the list. School is reopening.

Not much happenings during this period, maybe with the exception of the extremely cute japanese anime (which I forgot the title) which I watched together with the kids during Project Excellence.

And also meeting my abacus teacher who taught me like more than 10 years ago. Its such a small world that she is currently teaching at the community centre near my house, but for the past 10 years we have never met. Somehow things just happened and we finally met again =)

It's good to know people who have made an impression in my life.

Windsurf Camp went pretty well (looking at the response on facebook). I didn't really expect that though, after all many of the things didn't really go according to plan. But somehow everyone still had fun (which is what the whole camp should be like).

Before I start writing about my camp reflections, I will first like to thank personally everyone who has helped me a great deal throughout the camp. Comm members (Eugene, Yoongwend, Kwanrong) and gay buddy Jude for supporting me all the way with the planning and execution of the programmes. CPGs (Hen, Sab, Char, Karen), yanjie, alvin, yongjian, joanna for volunteering to be OGLs when I was extremely shorthanded. Esther for transporting stuff and Simon for kindly lending me all the games logistics at such a late notice. THANK YOU ALL =)

On a personal note, I wasn't really satisfied with the whole camp. Somehow I felt it could have been even better than the one we ended up with. Perhaps this is so because I set quite a high standard as to what a camp should be like. When I fail to reach this, I tend to get disappointed with myself. But what I realised after all this is, as long as the rest of the participants enjoyed themselves, nothing else matters much.

It took me quite alot of effort to plan for the treasure hunt and the mini-race, so it was quite a waste that I had to scrap both plans because the participants didn't really seem interested. But I guess I ought to be more flexible and just go according to the situation instead of rigidly follow the initial plan.

After the second night, almost a third of the participants left the camp early and I was rather saddened by this. I started to question myself whether this camp is indeed such a failure. Never have I been to a camp when so many participants left the place early. Imagine 46 people reduced to 31 at the end of the last day. But things still have to go on.

I cannot expect everyone to enjoy themselves fully in this camp. There had been lots of hiccups because a lot of the things wasn't well-thought out and planned. Boards, accomodation and BBQ food was a problem. Though no one said it out, I could still sense their disappointment. And this really made me emo.

But I am still heartened to see that a few more people seem to be interested in windsurfing. Next camp will be better (If I still remain in comm). But for now, I shall still do my best to serve my remaining time before the next batch takes over.

Away for Windsurf Camp 21-23th July.

Totally caught unexpected when huihui told me simon is not around to conduct yesterday's PE session. We were unprepared at first but fortunately the 3 of us still managed to pull through with chinese chess.

What I learnt from yesterday's session is that we have grown over-dependent on simon's lesson plan that we failed to have any backup in case of contingency. And communicating with the kids and getting their attention is indeed hard work.

I marveled at huihui's patience with the kids. No matter how inattentive/disruptive they were, she still kept her cool and continued the class smoothly. That is what future teachers should be like =)

I didn't know doing cement work would be so tough. Looks like I shouldn't underestimate those construction workers.

This short working experience has been fruitful. I've been to so many departments during this period that I doubt not many undergraduates can get a feel of the things that I do.

If I were to list down my job scope, they will include...

Project Coordinator department - liase with customers on job scope, create schedules for work, do risk assessments/method statements, attend site meetings, go for site surveys with supervisors.

Operations department - plan manpower allocation, transportation arrangements, tools maintenance, admin work (Delivery order, storage order etc.)

HR department - interviewing new employees (I still remeber the first interview I had to conduct, that was when its was only my second day of work. haha). Record daily attendance and leave application and medical certificates.

Purchasing Department - sourcing for tools for work (eg. generators, customised bolt/nuts, cement, electrical panels etc), negotiating price for subcontract.

plus a whole lot more of weird little hands-on jobs like cement work, dig trench, lay power cables, drive forklift, help in hoisting, scaffolding, fixing pipes, delivery of equipment etc.

Ballroom class is over. Unexpectedly, the class was extremely small yesterday so I managed to get more attention to improve on my waltz. Christine (the teaching assistant?) was definitely a great help and now I'm more confident of my 18 steps.

Shall practice regularly in case I forget this skill and wasted all my wednesday nights. Finally another item off my list. It's about time I get a break and just stay at home to sleep =)

Finally handed in my letter. 11 more days to go. Then its back to school stuff once more.

"Always plan early, but nothing ever goes according to plan."

Today is definitely the test of my problem-solving ability. I always remembered this maxim and this important assignment I settled everything way in advance.

The guard house always gave us problems for our work everytime, and this time round I made extra care to complete all the paperwork early so that work can be done smoothly. Everything was according to plan, but then still some things went out of our control.

Work got stuck and there was confusion everywhere. Everyone had different solutions to resolve the problem, so it was quite an effort to reach a consensus. This always happen. Whenever there is something wrong, the first thing people do is to blame the in charge. It is not that we do not do our job, but some things are just beyond our control.

But nevertheless I am still glad that work was still done eventually.

For I am like the wind,

formless yet always present.

When the journey is calm,

I shall return to my quiet solitude.

But if the heat gets too unbearable,

You can be sure that wind will be there

to cool you down

everytime.

-peng-

I was sitting down alone at Bugis Street yesterday, waiting for 2 straight hours before ballroom dancing class. Suddenly I was struck by this deep feeling of loneliness. As I watch the people walk pass tending to their respective lives, I began to feel more and more empty.

It was as if there was nothing to look forward in life anymore. There is something missing in my life. I don't know what it is. And I fear that feeling =(

Random post but this note reaffirms the desire to volunteer.

Three lesson that I wanted to learn from this climbing trip. Teamwork, Perseverance and Goal-doing.

Teamwork - Since this was a climbing expedition, there were definitely going to be groups. What I wanted to learn was how to work more effectively with strangers. In real life, a lot of the times you will be meeting with people you are unfamiliar with, be it at work or school projects. It's actually a useful skill to learn.

Throughout the five days in Stong, I realised that teamwork isn't just about assigning roles and doing your own jobs. That is not a team, that is a group. A team is one where members are enthusiastic about achieving a common goal (reaching the summit) and everyone tries to help each other to reach it. For example, I have seen numerous cases of people helping carry backpacks of physically less fit. Even though these guys have their own load to carry, their willingness to help others is commendable. Also there are cases of people who offer to the extra helping hand even though they are not asked to do so. I wanted to see if I was capable of such acts too. For example, it is very tempting to just sit down and rest when we reach a checkpoint, but how many will actually remember those that are still struggling behind and offer to help them. I hope to make it come naturally (sometimes I too get lazy and pretend not to see).

Perseverance - Like the saying "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going." I aimed to learn this through constant trying and strong motivation to succeed. I wanted to challenge myself to see if this mountain was conquerable and I'm glad that I managed to do so. The satisfaction of succeeding on a task was definitely worth the effort. All that thanks to perseverance and not giving up halfway (when I was too tired to even move).

Goal-doing - This is different from goal-setting (even though it is just as important) but what I wanted to do was to see whether I can follow through with the goals that I set. It is easy to set goals, but it is hard to achieve them. I set my goal of reaching the summit, but if I do not put it into action, nothing can ever come out. Its no point dreaming of standing at the top of the world and not making the preparations to achieve it. My next goal will be Kinabalu before I graduate, and I will definitely prepare myself for this day =)

Nothing much to blog about these days. My new project at Bedok/ Ulu Pandan Water Reclaimation Plant has just started work so I guess it's crunch time for me.

Basically my life is becoming a rountine once again. Every weekday just work, monday nights for Second Life camp/matric fair meeting, wednesday nights for ballroom class, thursday nights for windsurf camp planning, saturdays work and volunteering. I feel guilty that I haven't been going down for windsurf sessions for quite some time. Jude must be very busy trying to coordinate every week's session.

Once again I will miss this week windsurf again because I'm going JB. oops. This friday is Project Excellence camp, I can't wait!

It's back to work after the Stong Trip. Busy as usual so there wasn't much time for me to reflect about the lessons from the trip. Probably will do it over the weekends (I really hope I have the time to do it though because its another packed weekend).

Next big event coming up will be the Project Excellence flagship camp (19 -20 June). Looking forward to facilitating those cute little kids! haha.

This is also a call for NUS students who might be free on the 26-27 June, 9am-4pm. CDAC needs about 3 volunteers to help out at their Science camp held at LT27. I can send you guys the details if anyone is interested. If you are free, go sign up! Don't hesitate when it comes to volunteering. Never mind if you don't have friends to sign up with (because when I first started volunteering, I signed up alone too. The passion to serve can overcome anything). LOL

First of all, I'm back safe and sound from Gunung Stong. It's been a really great experience this time round. Will be posting up a reflection of the things that I learnt from this, but here is an account of the things I did over there (Written in my travel journal)

Day 1

1330hrs - Met up with char, guochen , fiona, zz, karen, wz for lunch at causeway point before going off for some shopping in ntuc for the trip later.

1600hrs - Met the participants and the rovers members at kranji mrt & took 170 to JB. This is the first time I'm taking a bus to JB (I have to admit it even though I stay in woodlands). I was quite excited and nervous because I've read so much news about fatal robberies over there, yet another part of me was curious to find out the place that I only get to see from the singapore coast. The company of friends sort of reduced my nervousness.

1730hrs - Reached City Square and went down to the basement to find their supermart to buy foodstuff for the trip with fiona, amy, trisha & alvin. Things are so much cheaper here, so I guess I don't mind going over to shop next time.

1900hrs - After dinner, we boarded the train to Dabong. The entire journey lasts 10 hours, so the time of arrival should be somewhere around 7am the next day. One thing to comment is that it is another first for me (I have never taken a train all my life, unless you consider MRT as one). So I was quite fascinated with it. Throughout the ride, we entertained ourselves with games and HTHT.

The first impression of the train was that it was quite spacious and clean (of course with the exception of the toilet). The ride was bumpy throughout and it was quite hard to maintain balance at the upper deck (if that is the right word to use).

2330hrs - There is not much stuff to do onboard, so I shall end off early and sleep. Tomorrow is going to be an exhausting day, since we will be trekking to the base camp with our bag packs (extremely heavy because of the tents and burners). Let's see what will happen tomorrow. I'm too excited that I doubt I can sleep peacefully tonight.

Day 2

0600hrs - Woke up and washed up. One funny incident to comment was that me and zz (or was it haowei) went out of the train to brush our teeth when it stopped. We thought the train might stop for a while to let passengers alight. While we were doing so, we suddenly notice that the train started to move. Totally shocked us because we almost thought what will happen if we could not get back up and ended stuck at this unknown destination. I cannot imagine.

0700hrs - Reached Dabong. We had breakfast at a nearby canteen. Fiona was extremely afraid of cats (and there were quite a number of them there) and had to keep shifting around to avoid them. It's funny to see that scene that the more she tries to move, the more the cats wants to follow her.

0900hrs - Cave exploration begins. We visited the dark cave, the dagger cave and the fence cave (not sure if i gotten the names correct).

Dark Cave - the entire place is totally dark (hence its name) and consists of many limestone features. I better go read my 'A' level geography textbooks before I post the names of the features that I saw.

Dagger Cave - This is the most interesting of the three caves. It is named because of this dagger shaped feature found inside. The shape is created based on the changes in the water level inside the cave for the past million years (?). Presence of the gull pools, Jordan Shoe, limestone curtains continued to capture my curiosity for nature's wonders. There is also a special species of spiders that lived only in that cave (see facebook for the photo). It was hard getting into that small chamber because the hole is rather small. We termed that hole as the "birth canal" (haha) because it was almost as hard as labor to pass through it. At the end, there was a special area where the sunlight beamed down and created a surreal scene. Everyone was posing and taking photos of that phenomena.

Fence Cave - The only special thing about this cave is the presence of the trapdoor spider. And of course that diamond lookalike crystal structure.

1300hrs - Lunch back at he resort followed by4 hours of trekking to the base camp. The path up was slippery due to rain. It was tiring but worth the effort eventually because we were greeted with a magnificant view of the place from the top of the waterfall (310m).

1700hrs - Set up tentage in the rain. Dinner and free & easy. I wanted to go for star gazing but the sky was too cloudy, so we went up sitting down and just chit-chatting. Sleep at 2330hrs after chatting with trisha and haowei.

Day 3

0600hrs - Woke up to catch a glimpse of sunrise fromthe lookout spot but the sky continued to be too misty. Breakfast with the group at the same area. It was quite a good feeling to be free of worries (at least temporarily) and enjoy the view from above. Packed up lunch and water for the summit climb later.

0900hrs - Started the climb and it took us 4.5 hrs (estimated) to reach the summit. Trek up was rather monotonous, mostly climbing up rocks and branches (similar to Mt Ophir).

1300hrs - Reached the summit at last. It was rather disappointing though because I had in mind a summit that has a fantastic view but the summit consists of just a piece of rock. The view was blocked by trees, which cannot be cut because it protects the soil at the summit, otherwise the rock at the top might fall some day due to soil erosion. Lunch and photo-taking at the summit.

1400hrs - Started the descent. On the way down, we encountered heavy rain and everyone was totally drenched. I was so afraid that my passport will get wet and the immigration chop would be smudged. Fortunately, I managed to leave my plastic bag inside jonathan's waterproof bag. I can't imagine the consequences.

1600hrs (estimated) - This is the moment that I just had to blog it down. We had to cross a rushing river to get back to our base camp. The river was flowing very fast due to heavy rainand it was quite dangerous to cross it. The guides made a makeshift bridge for us to cross. One particular incident that shocked me was when Guochen accidentally slipped and fell into the river. It was super dangerous then. Luckily, the guides managed to get him back up.

1800hrs - All of us are back in one piece at the base camp. It was quite an experience to be trekking in heavy rain and everyone was quite exhausted. We had dinner.

2000hrs - The river was still flowingvery strong at night so we couldn't really bath. After dinner, basically we just sat around the campsite and passed milo and chit-chat again. I went to sleep at about 2330hrs. Sleep was not good as usual because of the branch directly below me (plus the tent was wet from the rain before).

Day 4

0600hrs - Once again supposed to catch sunrise but the weather was not on our side. Went back to sleep and only woke up at 0730hrs. Today is the last day in Stong and we will be doing waterfall trekking later.

0900hrs - Waterfall exploration. The first waterfall was the one with a mini-dive pool and all of us took turns to dive into the pool. Had a hard time persuading those non-swimmers to conquer their fears and jump. But everyone eventually did it. Hurray.

Second waterfall was the one with the 1.7m hole and mini slide. New experience to try to put oneself into that small little hole that I cannot feel the bottom. This was also the place where we took the "butt out" photo at the waterfall cave. My shorts almost came off due to the pressure of the fast moving water flowing down. Totally hilarious and "choonpeng-ish".

Third waterfall was the one with a 3 storey high slide. Everyone had to take turns to climb up the waterfall and slide down from there. This was the main highlight of the entire trip. I went up and before I could even sit down on the slide, I slipped and fell down the waterfall. OMG! Nothing fatal happened though but I was just shocked because I didn't even have the time to prepare myself and I slided down. Went back up again and did a 3 man slide with haowei and zz.

1300hrs - After the waterfall exploration, we went back to camp for lunch and packed up for the final descent. Before we set off, we got to see live scorpions byt the local people. I was too afraid to even touch it and hid behind all the way. It was a real shocker to see the person put two scorpions into his mouth. The trek down took about 3.5hrs.

1730hrs - We are finally back at the resort. Our official Stong journey is over. Another funny incident to note down again. Me, haowei, guochen and zz went to bath at the river. I wanted to threw my clothes over to a piece of rock so that I can cross over. The moment I threw it, the pack of clothes fell and slipped into the river. Of course I immediately tried to retrieve it back but failed. The water swept my clothes away. I tried to reach my hands to grab it and slipped and fell down the rapid as well. It was quite an embarrassing sight and haowei chivalrously managed to dive in to get back my clothes.

Another funny incident was when haowei was standing on the rock and changing and we suddenly saw karen from afar. haha haowei was totally surprised because he thought no one is looking and was going to change his undergarments. haha. I had the same experience when I was changing and guochen suddenly pointed up and I saw charissa from above.

1830hrs - Took bus back to the train station for dinner. Boarded the train at 2250hrs and the journey back was again playing games and bonding session. Went to sleep at 0130hrs.

Day 5

1000hrs - We are back in Singapore! It's definitely an enjoyable trip. I shall go sign up for another one next year.

Away to Stong from 1-5 June. It's time to challenge myself with another daunting task again.

One of the biggest disappointment in life...

I feel like blogging but there is nothing much to blog about. Work is stressful as usual.

Maybe its high time I get a camera. The sunrise I see everyday is just way too beautiful to be described with words =)

Waltz is not as easy as it seems. I better go practice more so that I don't make a fool of myself next lesson.

Second day at work and I'm totally overwhelmed.

But I shouldn't be complaining so much because I get to see so much stuff that others rarely get to see. Imagining being able to enter rooftops of buildings, shopping malls, water reclaimation plants and even incineration plants. That is surely an eye-opener.

Work is super tough but I will manage it somehow.

p.s my apologies to friends out there, I'm afraid I can't meet up as often as before. But I will try my best to join in the activities. The OT here is like crazy =(