Sec 3 Camp 2008

AAaaaaah, it's the "holidays".



In inverted commas simply because there's so much to be done.. but at least it's not super fast-paced action like during term time. So no matter what, still thankful for the space and time to breathe and sorta recuperate from being on my toes all the time.







Sec 3 Camp



Started my term break with sec3 Adventure Camp at Taman Negara, which I consider as my June holiday trip, coz I'm not really sure if I'll be able to get away on my own holiday this June since the sec4s are taking their 2nd prelim in the 4th week. Friends and colleagues keep nagging at me when I say that coz they feel that I should go on a REAL break, like my own relaxing holiday elsewhere before Term 3 of school descends upon me...........well, I'll see how la.







Well, back to Sec 3 camp.



So this year I'm finally NOT doing the combination of Cycling-Trekking anymore. YAY!



Haha...been doing that combination for 2 years running...so was really glad when I was finally assigned to this year's combi of Caving-Trekking. Also was glad that the group had a large portion of students from my class, so was pretty fun doing the activities with them.











This year the camp started off on an "exciting" note! Haha...after the whole cohort had lunch together, we split up to our respective buses to move towards our respective campsites. Then lo and behold, one of the buses broke down on a FLYOVER. What better place to break down right.



So the poor busload of people had to split into 2 other buses, to later changeover back to another bus that would be sent to pick them up.

Counting to make sure that no sheep was lost during the changing of buses.. :)

After an almost full day of travelling, we FINALLY reached our campsite (that's after 2 failed attempts at finding our cave site :P).

Thought it was a pretty interesting site to camp in, and a well-sheltered one too. At least if it rained, there's still a shelter over our headds, so no chance of our tents flooding out ;) But due to space constraints, the tents were almost like side-by-side to each other.

Our first meal 'outdoors'. I always marvel at the fact that our campers get to eat catered food during their ADVENTURE camp outdoors..haha..what a luxury....

Our first night's activities saw us walking through the forest (on a proper road, not on soil and mud..haha...another luxury :P). What caught my attention immediately was the stars that I saw in the sky...it's been such a long time since I saw so many stars twinkling above me coz Singapore's too light-saturated/polluted/cloudy? It was such an beautiful sight...and I felt transported back to the time when I was in pri/secondary school...where such a sight could be seen by just peering out of my window on the 9th floor. And for the first time in my life, I also saw fireflies! Wooohoo...I'd always wanted to see them....very interesting little creatures. They just give out light in rhythm...'on-off-on-off-on-off...'..

The night's activities ended off with a night exploration of a cave, and then it's back to our tents for our powder bath and sleep. :)

Next morning after wash-up, some of my class boys offered to help me dismantle my tent. Always nice to have boys take the initiative to offer help with stuff without having to be asked. Thanks guys, really appreciate it :)

And these are my class boys...before we started doing our morning warm-ups in preparation for the day's activities : Caving, Climbing, Abseiling

Heh...just a funny pic I took...coz the car's number plate has the word CAR on it!! Hahah..as if afraid that people will mistake it for a trishaw :P

This the entrance to our cave...this little hole that requires us to manouvre on all fours....hehe...so fun... :)

As can be seen..the cave is actually pretty dark...if we had no torches..we'd be walking blindly and falling into cracks and holes...

After climbing up and down and jumping up and down... walking left and right and all...we reached this big open space in the cave which had an opening where trees were growing....very nice.. =)

My kids and me.. :)

From all the horror stories that we heard from previous caving groups...I was all geared up and prepared for truckloads of bat shit and pee raining down on me while caving.. But seems like this time round, the guides took us to a different cave from the previous years. One which required us to do much more body contortions in order to get through the cave, rather than just brave through lotsa bat shit and pee. Which I feel actually is so much more meaningful. And thus, this is the only bat that we saw in a cave.... a baby one, on the floor..which was fluttering a little helplessly...

An addition to this year's Caving activities was the natural rock climbing. Ever did natural rock climbing at Krabi before, and really enjoyed it. So was quite looking forward to the climbing...

Conquered my route in....mmm...8min + according to my kids who were TIMING me...haha..siao ding dong...
And this is a pic of our climbing instructors doing a lead climb up the wall to set up one of the routes. Quite amazed at how they do it actually...What do you think this little creature is?

. .

. . .

Monkey?

. . .

. . .

It's a baby squirrel!!

It apprarently fell down from its nest which was near one of our climbing routes...so pooooor thiiiiiiiiiiing........... :(

So after lunch we went for abseiling....one of the slowest moving activities coz there was only ONE abseiling line, and about 25 of us waiting.

I think my group had an afinity with squirrels or something...after our instructor gave us a briefing.....a squirrel fell down from a tree that was just about a metre and a half away from us. *SPLAT* on the forest ground..........struggled a little................and then died, with its eyes wide open :( Very sad...haiz...but I guess we have to accept the fact that accidents do happen...and that in the wild, this may just be a common occurence.

And this is one of my boys abseiling out of a hole in the cave...cool right??

Heh...too bad I didn't get a chance to coz there were simply too many people waiting and too little time... and since I'd already had quite a few abseiling opportunities before...I thought I'd just leave the chance to the boys.

At taman negara the next day, my 3rd time trekking. Quite enjoy it actually...and this is me along the bridge at the tree-top walk =)

Seems we have quite a few who have height phobia this year...but glad that most of them made it through the walk :)
And this is my attempt at being artistic...haha...
And this is my group and I along with S at the peak of our trekking route. I know I know, the picture is a little dark and I should photoshop it. Aiyah...lazy la.... :P

The name of our hill, Bukit Terisek. :)
One of the higlights of being at Taman Negara...the travelling about by the boats! :)

So the day at Taman Negara passed real quickly...and before we left the place to meet up with the rest of the camp, I spotted this beautiful cat sleeping on one of the tables....

It's like the SLEEPIEST CAT I've ever seen on planet earth. No matter how I tried to wake it by touching its ears repeatedly, it didn't even twitch. Haha...

For those of us who were or have ever been to Sec 3 camp...the WAIT for the trainride home must have been a deeply etched memory. Haha...all the boys and bags lined the waiting area..making us effectively look like refugees.. This year, we waited all the way from 12.45am till 3.30am for the train to arrive!!! Goodness me. Thankfully there was this small little coffee shop at the entrance to the station, where a lot of us sat to have a hot cup of drink in the cold cold morning while waiting for the train to arrive.

All in all, still an enjoyable trip, and a great start to my June break :)

Now it's back to my 20 000 stacks of TYS that I need to mark to return to my sec4s!

Super Sinseh diaries #5

YEeees! I think I'm gonna be able to finish my syllabus for the sec3s and 4s on time...or at least, according to what I have planned and made up for. *phew*

And guess what, I'm finally sick. On the verge of a mega flu...trying really hard to not let it blow up into a mega flu, can't afford to bring it to sec3 camp with me. I think it's a case of my body giving way after it senses that it doesn't need to be working at 110% anymore (been overworking for a couple of weeks..) Pleeeeeeeease, let me get well quick. And I'm convinced that flu panadol has zero effect on me. I've taken 8 already, and no signs of improvement. Hmm..shall switch to something else.

Well, this week there were 3 major events, CHMA auditions, Student Leaders Investiture, and my Land POP.

CHMA Auditions 2008

I would say, all went well, thanks to the efficiency and experienc of the IMedia crew. The results were announced on Friday morning. For the results of the auditions, refer to the CHMA Blog.

After the first meeting with finalists next Wed, it's gonna be non-stop action all the way till 19th July itself!! AAAAaaaaah!!! *breathe in breathe out*

CHS Student Investiture

It's like a super sense of dejavu...because I seem to vividly remember last year's investiture, and suddenly, it's time for the sec4s to step down.

This year's theme...set sail..
The outgoing sec4 excos....

I love the way the investiture is carried out..very grand..there's this very real sense of pride, and the passing on of the baton to the next batch signified by the passing on of the blazer from the outgoing exco to the incoming exco.
And there was the much anticipated dance item, which seem to have not gone on as smoothly as planned. But hey, sometimes, things don't happen the way we want it, and frankly I think given the time to learn the super complicated steps, it was already a good attempt. To my 2 chairs, am proud of you guys whatever the case ;)

NCC(Land) POP 2008

It's come to the time of the year again...where the new batch takes over the leadership of the unit. There's a feeling of anticipation and excitement as the Passing Out Parade (POP) approached, it's always exciting to see a whole new batch rise up to leadership and lead the unit to even greater heights. And yet at the same time, there's this tinge of sadness...coming from not being able to let go of the older boys who have served the unit well and have led the unit in this past one year.

The plaques for each of the sec4s to thank them for their service to the unit and to commemorate 4 good years of serving together in the unit..
The new leaders, waiting to take over the positions of Company Sergeant Major and Assistant Sergeant Major..
Getting ready to take over the unit.... The seniors were back to show their support!
The outgoing batch, standing proud at their last parade.

The official handing over of pace stick to the new blood of the unit.

Part Ds 2008, saying a final cheer at their graduation, one of the best I've heard them cheer. You can literally feel their pride and cameraderie as they cheered together.

Officially SENIORS :)

This is the batch that I've watched grow since they were in Sec 1. Cliche as it may sound, it seemed only like yesterday when I saw them as Part As. They joined the unit about the same time as I did...and now, they've gone one full cycle, to graduate to the rank of being Seniors. So to me, this is a special batch....also one of the most united batches I've come in contact with.

We'll miss you guys Part Ds :) Take care and all the best.

SUPER Sinseh diaries #4

Horrendous Marking


YESSsss! Super sinseh has done it, 10 classes of marking done in 4 days (with the help of other big-hearted sinsehs :P).


Before you think it's no big deal, let me tell you, it is a BIG DEAL.


50 marks per student, 10 classes of average of 36 students per class. That's like, 18 000 marks?!



Goodness me, I think I almost went bersek.


But in order to slow down my rate of going bersek, I met up with other teachers to do our marking...and this are some of my haunts during marking periods...









Coffee Bean :) My cup of yummy Latte to grant me my right to sit at that table :P


Purposely chose a non-crowded coffee bean...so not that paiseh to sit there for long hours..

And my horrendous pile of marking....

My other haunt..... Icekimo near to my place=)

My yummy Bailey's ice-cream to encourage myself on...

Oh by the way, I had one more class of sec2 to mark after I finished my 10 classes of sec3. *faint*









But it's all over now!!




Hahahhahahahhahhahahhaa, when I finally finished all the marking I felt as if the holidays were here. Muahaha.














Visit to Old School




So here are some pics from my visit to my old school, which is now an Arts Hub, called OLD SCHOOL. Haha. I must say, the feeling of stepping into the school compound that I once studied in when I was in primary school was, really really interesting. Many memories of my days spent there came flooding back..it was all so nostalgic, but yet at the same time, a little foreign, as there were new additions to the compound too.Where I'm standing as I took this photo, is the old basketball court, now turned into a carpark! Haha, the court looked so tiny now that I went back many years on, but in my memory of the school, the basketball court was SO LARGE and had endless ground to round about. Haha, I guess that's the memories of a little 7-year-old girl.

What once used to be classrooms and science labs have now been turned into restuarants, photo studios, etc. What used to be the school canteen is now an arts gallery.
This structure greets all who enter into Old School. VERY freaky looking isn't it, coz it seems to have a child's face, but an adult's body. But apparently it's suppose to be the art piece of one of the very famous artist, and it's one of a series of pieces.And this is the little slope that my friends and I can spend loads of our time just climbing up and sliding down...climbing up and sliding down...climbing up and sliding down...climbing up and sliding down.... :P

Heh, doesn't take much to entertain a kid in the past I guess :) Somehow we just found it hyper entertaining to climb up and slide down that little slope..haha..

Went to the toilet before I went to watch the movie. It was SUPER nostalgic, coz I remember all those years when I had my GB camps in the school, and we'd have to all bathe using water hoses, buckets and scoops in the toilet, (no shower heads btw) and bathe super quick due to time constraints! Haha...now, the sinks look so tiny and short...So this is why I was back at my old campus, coz of this place called Sinema.

Sinema is basically a small local cinema for showcasing of locally produced films. Very cool idea in my opinion, to have a place that is specially dedicated to Singaporean works.The merchandise shop of Sinema..
And this is the film that I went to watch, called "The Smell of Rain". The reason why W asked me along to watch is because, the lead actor is my choir junior. I remember singing with him in one of my JC choir concerts, when he was still in the college choir, while I returned to sing in the school concert as an alumni member. Very interesting to see him join Mediacorp just a couple of years after that, and he seems to be doing well now too. :) And this is one of the first few scenes of "The Smell Of Rain"..look at the typical HDB flat-and-skyline shot of Singapore! =)

Although I thought the film was a little draggy, think overall, the storyline was not bad. :)

Seoul Gardens with 4-1
To cut the really long story short, my dear class brought me out for a birthday treat to Seoul Gardens on labour day :) Very very sweet of them..and, twenty of them turned up! woohoo...Thanks guys ;)

Meow?
OK, before you call up the SPCA with this picture as evidence of animal abuse, I'm NOT strangling the kitten. Was just one of my numerous attempts to snap a picture of this SUPER CUTE kitten that was outside my house while I was playing with it. It's one of those you know, that runs over to you the moment you say "meow" and start twirling around your ankles and lying on your toes non-stop? :) I think some of you would have had similar experiences. Such a warm little kitty...but a pity I can't keep him.









And to end of my post, this is my newest love, MR SOYABEAN!!! :)
Haha, isn't he cute!??
I bought him from Square2, from the MrBean soyabean shop, you know, the one that sells all sorts of soyabean pastries, soyabean drinks, red bean/peanut pancakes and soy ice-cream? If I'm not wrong, there's a small little outlet at the basement of J8 too.

Can't stop looking at this little bean hanging from my phone...keke... :)

CHMA AUDITIONS
OK, that's all for now.
And to all those who put in a registration form for the CHMA auditions, it's ON!
MONDAY 12th May, (HALL, 3.15pm)
- ALL ROCK BANDS

TUESDAY 13th May
- All other vocals (Auditiorium, 3.15 pm)
- Instrumentals (Music Room, begins at 5pm)
And for those new to CHMA, you're most welcome to watch the auditions. It's free! =)

For more information, check out the cool and stylish CHMA website ;)

See you guys at the auditions ;)