In the camp - Part 1

Title: In the camp - Part 1

5 Sep/Wed: Pre- camp
Had to finish all the logistic stuff before the actual camp started on Thursday In the afternoon, Yong Qing, Hui Wen and Teck Sing (Tecky) were all tasked to buy the food prizes from 'Shop n Save' at Bukit Timah. During the journey, we were all crapping. I still remembered saying to Yong Qing, "We are going to do marketing now". Then, she could not get what i was saying. In the end, I explained,"现在去买菜". I also found that Hui Wen had 2 strayed cats - Huihui and Puipui she liked under one of those blocks.

After buying, Hui Wen actually wanted to feed her cats with 2 packs of catfood she bought. The price of one pack was $0.82, which i would never forget. Unfortunately, she was not able to find the cats as we combed the area where the cats belonged, when we were on our way back.

Back in camp, we had to wrap the gifts. But without the newspapers, it was not possible. So Yong Qing, Yong Soon, Hui Wen and me went around the learning insitute to find the old newspapers.

Here comes the all-time classic act:
Reached the library. So all of us were on high alert as soon as we stepped into it. Then our instinct told us our target had appeared - the newspapers. They were located at the shelves on the right of the main entrance. At first, Hui Wen was pinching a few copies of the newspapers and came to us saying that we could try taking a few each. However, our hero appeared. Not 1, not 10, not 20 but 28 copies. He grabbed them all and still looking serious, uttered to the shocked 3 to leave immediately. In the end, Yong Qing and Hui Wen could not help but lay on the ground laughing loudly. For me, i tried to run with him leaving the 2 in the library who were 'paralysed', laughing at what they saw. What's more, we even walked past the library and i saw that there were 2 cameras at the entrance when we all along thought that there was no camera.

At night, we had to have a trial run of the ice-breakers. I was lucky to some extent as i was only punished once. Then we had a night walk to some spots in the school.

When it was light-out, i could hardly get myself to sleep. Firstly, i was in between Yi Da and Tecky. For me, when i turned to my left, i could hear Yi Da snoring into my ears and to my right, as Tecky was breathing heavily with the wind generated getting into my face. Then Soo Hoon and the rest took video of Yi Da sleeping. haha.

Soo Hoon had hard time remembering my name and kept calling me,"Kam Chek", if i am not wrong, she was calling me sugar cane in dialect.

6Sep/Thurs: Day 1
Welcome the participants for the camp. For the logistics, we were busy preparing the lecture hall for the participants. Then we were lacked of tables and chairs for registration. Then Yong Soon transformed again. He did the unbelievable by bringing a table from the canteen himself. He was carrying it as though in the past, the coolies were carrying loads of sacks. Hui Wen, Yong Qing and i were again in shocked state. Then we went to prepare speakers for the ice-breakers later. At first, it was to be at the Taekwondo space but due to the space being booked, we shifted to the hall. I also, in the midst of my logistic work, helped the gamemasters to pack the waterbombs with flour and vinegar. Then Soo Hoon again, kept calling me sugar cane when i was helping her and the other gamemasters - Foong Ling, Sheau Tyug, Daniel and Wendy. But later she gave me an English - Peter. I told her then to change it to Peter Pan as my surname was Tan so when it made some sense to change to Pan. Alisa called me P^2. After doing the preparation, i went to canteen where Hui Wen was taking care of the lunch. Although it was not time for lunch, i was already very hungry and needed food to stop my gastrics from oozing through the walls of my stomach. I bought a chicken rice and Hui Wen was listening to her favourite song -最近, 李圣杰.

When afternoon came knocking, it was superb. My favourite activity was here - slacking. I spent an hour or so editing my slides for the individual presentation. After that, it was pure fun. Pearlyn, Karen (Carrot), Soo Hoon, Daniel, Sheau Tyug and Wendy went to play basketball with Hui Wen, Foong Ling and Hui Wen's cousin coming later. There i found that Pearlyn was super active in basketball and had a want-to-win attitude. I thought it was nice playing with her. Given that someone who is of the same height as me (1.68m), i found it challenging with her as my opponent. Then i kept making fun of her, though i did not really know her well. So i purposely did not call her by actual name but went on saying 'Carrot'. After the game, i even tried to, as usual, kick the basketball with my feet as my itch to kick effected. So i played a simple game with Pearlyn by trying to get past her with the ball.

Then some of us retreated to the 02-02 room for card games. Sheau Tyug, Pearlyn and i were all waiting for Daniel to come back so that we can play cards. In the end, we were so bored that we made use of the yellow clipboards and ping-pong ball hitting the ball around the main room. Then Pearlyn and i even went to play in the enclosed room. Then we played '大老二'. It was fun. I won the first round. And as usual, i lost the subsequent rounds. My dilemma can be described in chinese phrase, "十赌九输" ( 9 losses in 10 rounds). So i claimed for me to win again, i had to endure another 9 losses. Immediately, after the first round, Pearlyn changed seat with Daniel and sat next to me as she claimed that she could bring bad luck to any player whom she sat right beside. I was the ultimate victim and i really lost all the other rounds.

At night, we had our night games. It was truly fun. I was helping out at the tug of war station which was headed by that Carrot. So she tried to control the game till her voice went hoarse. Then i, being a kind soul helped her to control some parts of the game. After the game, she was the carrot juice, then i was called the apple juice (so lame). Luckily she was grateful to me.

After the wash up, Yong Soon and i realised that we forgot the kettle to claim. So we ended up going out to petrol station. There we saw Hui Wen. Then inevitably we saw Puipui, one of her strayed cats.

Note: Amendment made to name, 'Foon Ling' that has been changed to the actual and correct form, 'Foong Ling' and is highlighted in pink.