My favourite part of the Karimun trip was the Mount Jantan trek. It was there that I experienced close bondings with my friends in my group. I was supported and motivated on by my friends. They are the reason why I did not give up. I chose to continue on and go through the trek with them. I learnt teamwork and gained experience during the trek, mostly because of my friends.
"True friends pull you through life, lending their hands when you need it and always being there."
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Part 3 of Karimun trip
Hi there! This will be my post on day 2! Here goes.
Day 2
At the hotel : Jun Hui tried to wake us up one hour before the gathering time. I think only I woke up, I slept a while, went to brush my teeth, and saw that they were still sleeping, so I slept again. I did not really sleep though, just closed my eyes until there was ten minutes left. I woke everyone up and we rushed to pack everything, then went down to the restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast was okay for me. We kept all our things in a room and took the items that we needed. Then, my class, 3A, split into our groups and went on the buses that would take us to Santo Yusof School.
At the school : We were welcomed formally by the band of the school. It was quite embarrassing for us I guess. We put our stuff in a room and went out to do their morning exercise with them. I was pretty stunned by their morning exercise. They were exercising in rythm with music. I was lost for most of the parts, I bet I looked stupid. We then went back to the room for some food. Then, we attended different groups of students in their classes. My group joined a group of students playing cards, but we lost interest and wandered off to watch badminton. I saw a lot of different classes taking place, like dancing, cooking, sports. Then we got our break in the room again, it had already started raining outside. After, we went off in our groups to teach our assigned classes english. My group was split off because there was not enough classes. I was attached to Angela's group. The classroom was really different from those in Singapore. It had only 1 fan, light bulbs and wooden tables and chairs. We had quite a hard time teaching the class, because half of them were simply not interested. Hah, when Angela called for the class monitor, everyone pointed to him and he was actually sleeping. Everyone laughed, my group was quite shocked I guess. He woke up blurred and rubbed his eyes. I just smiled. The lesson continued and I hardly participated because I totally did not know what to do. The 2 hours lesson was shortened to 1 hour and my group could only finish somethings they prepared. After giving sweets, we joined the others outside the class and went off. The teachers there shook our hands politely and I had to admit that I was impressed by them. One male person shook my hand and said " Handsome arh " and I was like ".......". Haha. We went pass the wet ground and went back to the hotel in our buses.
At the hotel : We took our belongings with us and gathered in the restaurant. We had to eat some lunch before we left, but I did not like it, so I had some spoonfuls and threw it away. Then we got on the buses and went straight for the ferry terminal. One of the bus got held up because a shopkeeper suspected that someone stole a doll. It was solved somehow because they were not involved in it.
At the ferry terminal : We went through the customs again and waited for the ferry. We got our passports back. This time i thought everything was going to be fine. But the boarding passes were given to us wrongly, they bore the wrong names. We just gave them one by one to the person in charge of collecting them and boarded the ferry. Somehow, 5 of our friends were not able to board the ferry as they had no passports. They managed to get it somehow and everyone got on the ferry which was headed for home.
On the ferry : It was much more spacious than the ferry we took to Karimun. Most of us slept as we were exhausted from the activites for these two days. I woke up when they were shouting " Passport check, take out your passports!". Everyone was sleeping soundly and they actually asked for a passport check, I felt that it was not smart nor funny at all-.-. After some time, we finally reached Singapore.
At the ferry terminal : Yes! Finally, I am home. We passed through the customs once again. Then we gathered and got on the air-conditioned buses. to be honest I was missing the wooden buses.
At school : We reached our school early. We then went our seperate ways.
The Karimun camp was fun despite the sweat and tiredness. I learnt some things there and also learnt to appreciate my life in Singapore. Well, at least I was home.
Day 2
At the hotel : Jun Hui tried to wake us up one hour before the gathering time. I think only I woke up, I slept a while, went to brush my teeth, and saw that they were still sleeping, so I slept again. I did not really sleep though, just closed my eyes until there was ten minutes left. I woke everyone up and we rushed to pack everything, then went down to the restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast was okay for me. We kept all our things in a room and took the items that we needed. Then, my class, 3A, split into our groups and went on the buses that would take us to Santo Yusof School.
At the school : We were welcomed formally by the band of the school. It was quite embarrassing for us I guess. We put our stuff in a room and went out to do their morning exercise with them. I was pretty stunned by their morning exercise. They were exercising in rythm with music. I was lost for most of the parts, I bet I looked stupid. We then went back to the room for some food. Then, we attended different groups of students in their classes. My group joined a group of students playing cards, but we lost interest and wandered off to watch badminton. I saw a lot of different classes taking place, like dancing, cooking, sports. Then we got our break in the room again, it had already started raining outside. After, we went off in our groups to teach our assigned classes english. My group was split off because there was not enough classes. I was attached to Angela's group. The classroom was really different from those in Singapore. It had only 1 fan, light bulbs and wooden tables and chairs. We had quite a hard time teaching the class, because half of them were simply not interested. Hah, when Angela called for the class monitor, everyone pointed to him and he was actually sleeping. Everyone laughed, my group was quite shocked I guess. He woke up blurred and rubbed his eyes. I just smiled. The lesson continued and I hardly participated because I totally did not know what to do. The 2 hours lesson was shortened to 1 hour and my group could only finish somethings they prepared. After giving sweets, we joined the others outside the class and went off. The teachers there shook our hands politely and I had to admit that I was impressed by them. One male person shook my hand and said " Handsome arh " and I was like ".......". Haha. We went pass the wet ground and went back to the hotel in our buses.
At the hotel : We took our belongings with us and gathered in the restaurant. We had to eat some lunch before we left, but I did not like it, so I had some spoonfuls and threw it away. Then we got on the buses and went straight for the ferry terminal. One of the bus got held up because a shopkeeper suspected that someone stole a doll. It was solved somehow because they were not involved in it.
At the ferry terminal : We went through the customs again and waited for the ferry. We got our passports back. This time i thought everything was going to be fine. But the boarding passes were given to us wrongly, they bore the wrong names. We just gave them one by one to the person in charge of collecting them and boarded the ferry. Somehow, 5 of our friends were not able to board the ferry as they had no passports. They managed to get it somehow and everyone got on the ferry which was headed for home.
On the ferry : It was much more spacious than the ferry we took to Karimun. Most of us slept as we were exhausted from the activites for these two days. I woke up when they were shouting " Passport check, take out your passports!". Everyone was sleeping soundly and they actually asked for a passport check, I felt that it was not smart nor funny at all-.-. After some time, we finally reached Singapore.
At the ferry terminal : Yes! Finally, I am home. We passed through the customs once again. Then we gathered and got on the air-conditioned buses. to be honest I was missing the wooden buses.
At school : We reached our school early. We then went our seperate ways.
The Karimun camp was fun despite the sweat and tiredness. I learnt some things there and also learnt to appreciate my life in Singapore. Well, at least I was home.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Part 2 of Karimun trip
Hey there, I am here to post again. Let me continue from where I left.
At the hotel : We reached the hotel in our buses. As we left them, I could still remember the jokes and laughter that came from the bus I sat in. We gathered behind the hotel. We were each given our rooms, in groups of 4. I was with Jacob, Jasvinder and Jun Hui. We took turns to bath, and Jacob was taking photos and videos. The room had 1 bed, two chairs, 1 table, 1 television, cupboards and 1 bathroom. It is air-conditioned too. Jun Hui and I ordered 2 blankets from room service, because we will be sleeping on the floor. We freshened up and went down to the restaurant for reflections and dinner. Mr Loh gave us a talk, and we did our reflections in the booklet given to us. Hon Wen had a crumbled and damp one, so he couldn't do any. Then we had dinner. It was far better than anything I ate the whole day. After that, we got ready to go to the pasar malam, which is the night market. At least half of us were queuing up to change money. We then gathered and got up to the buses that would take us there.
At the pasar malam : Nothing interesting there. I couldn't figure out what to buy when I walked through there. I was walking around the same place because we were not allowed to leave yet. Quite boring, nothing caught my eye. After some time, we were then allowed to get on the buses and leave.
Back at the hotel : We got back to Hotel Padi Mas. We were allowed to buy some snacks from the supermarket nearby. I got a bottle of sprite and left. We then crowded in the lobby to get our camp t-shirt. I did not get any, because there was no more. I had to wait till monday to get my t-shirt along with some others. Finally, I got back to my room. At the room, Jun Hui and Jacob were fooling around and trying to lock each other out, including me-.-. Jasvinder was out. Jacob and me ordered food from room service. Jacob ordered french fires, and I ordered chicken burger. As I was finishing my food, I heard the others celebrating Berlin's birthday. Then when we were preparing to sleep, Jasvinder and some instructors were at the door knocking. We took Jasvinder in and the instructors were like doing room check. I guess the people at the party were caught. Then we finally turned in. After some stupid jokes from Jacob, I slept, regaining my energy and preparing for the last day of the camp.
Well, that finishes day 1. I shall post about day 2 tomorrow then. Good night!
At the hotel : We reached the hotel in our buses. As we left them, I could still remember the jokes and laughter that came from the bus I sat in. We gathered behind the hotel. We were each given our rooms, in groups of 4. I was with Jacob, Jasvinder and Jun Hui. We took turns to bath, and Jacob was taking photos and videos. The room had 1 bed, two chairs, 1 table, 1 television, cupboards and 1 bathroom. It is air-conditioned too. Jun Hui and I ordered 2 blankets from room service, because we will be sleeping on the floor. We freshened up and went down to the restaurant for reflections and dinner. Mr Loh gave us a talk, and we did our reflections in the booklet given to us. Hon Wen had a crumbled and damp one, so he couldn't do any. Then we had dinner. It was far better than anything I ate the whole day. After that, we got ready to go to the pasar malam, which is the night market. At least half of us were queuing up to change money. We then gathered and got up to the buses that would take us there.
At the pasar malam : Nothing interesting there. I couldn't figure out what to buy when I walked through there. I was walking around the same place because we were not allowed to leave yet. Quite boring, nothing caught my eye. After some time, we were then allowed to get on the buses and leave.
Back at the hotel : We got back to Hotel Padi Mas. We were allowed to buy some snacks from the supermarket nearby. I got a bottle of sprite and left. We then crowded in the lobby to get our camp t-shirt. I did not get any, because there was no more. I had to wait till monday to get my t-shirt along with some others. Finally, I got back to my room. At the room, Jun Hui and Jacob were fooling around and trying to lock each other out, including me-.-. Jasvinder was out. Jacob and me ordered food from room service. Jacob ordered french fires, and I ordered chicken burger. As I was finishing my food, I heard the others celebrating Berlin's birthday. Then when we were preparing to sleep, Jasvinder and some instructors were at the door knocking. We took Jasvinder in and the instructors were like doing room check. I guess the people at the party were caught. Then we finally turned in. After some stupid jokes from Jacob, I slept, regaining my energy and preparing for the last day of the camp.
Well, that finishes day 1. I shall post about day 2 tomorrow then. Good night!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Part 1 of Karimun trip
Alright, going to start posting about my stay at Karimun Island now. Starting off with Day 1!
Day 1
On the way to the ferry : Reported to school and assembled at Indoor Sports Hall. When everyone was ready, we went on the bus to the ferry terminal. Went through customs and all, but everyone reached the ferry and boarded it.
On the ferry : Kay, was playing sudoku on handphone on the ferry, so i had little idea of what was going on around me. Was quite hot in the ferry. People were walking up and down. I am lucky not to get seasick though. After some time, we reach the ferry terminal and got off.
Preparing for Mount Jantan trek : We passed through customs once again. Unfortunately Angela got held back. The screwed up custom guy actually tried to suck off money from her, what the heck is wrong with the system there >=( ? I felt angry when i saw her crying later. Anyway, she got her way out and was alright for the rest of the camp. I am glad she is alright. We gathered at a nearby carpark and split into groups. I was in group 4 with Enqi, Ying Ning, Rachel, Simin and Lenice who are PPG =), Lian Jie, Yi Zhao, Yang Cherh, Hon Wen, Jacob and me kkyx! We had some lunch and got ready. We got on our buses and head off. We reached the start of the trek. After getting our bags and water, we walked along and reached a resthouse. We did some warm-up, surrendered our valuables and drank up. This is only the beginning...
Trek on Mount Jantan : The trek begins officially. Jacob backed out though, so there goes our 'leader'. I was appointed leader, a position I have hardly assumed and done my role before. By then, a new girl had joined my group. Our instructor, who i call sir, gave us medical supplies and told us to take care of the girls. We also got into formation. I was in front, Hon Wen is the last, but in the end Hon Wen lagged behind later on and Yi Zhao became the last. At the beginning, the trek seemed quite smooth. I was constantly climbing to higher grounds to get an overview of my group. There came something that shook us up. Sweating, we clambered up increasingly steeper slopes. We then began to realized that we might slip and fall anytime. Branches and logs blocked our way. Still, we went on. I was shouting to my group every now and then. "Come on everyone! Faster!" "Watch out for the slope!" "Rocks in front!" and so on. As we climbed out way up, the path got increasingly difficult to climb. I tripped and slipped a couple of times, but I was alright overall. We had to support each other and move on. By the time we reached the checkpoint, we were tired. After a short water break, we pressed on. The trek was becoming harder as we proceeded up. We slipped, fell, slided and all. I remember falling time and again, either slipping and regaining balance, or fall and get up again. With my hands to the ground on the tougher parts of the trek, I held on to mud and rocks. I used trees to stabilise myself through difficult parts. I hardly recall myself not slipping for 10 minutes. The boys in my group cracked jokes along the way, which really helped everyone to stay motivated. Despite the scratches and the dirtiness, I had to continue on. It is impossible for me to back out now. Even from the start. I have a group to lead, and I will do everything within my power to lead them. I was really happy and grateful when I saw the girls supporting one another. The teamwork between the group was good. In fact, I was glad to be leading such a team. I thought to myself once : Guys! What are you doing?! Help the girls! Admist mud and wounds, we used our strength to climb every inch of our way up the mountain. Supporting one another, we finally managed to reach the summit. To my surprise, the entire view from the top was blocked by trees. A wall obstructed us and we only had a slope to sit on. The flies haven't left us since the start of the trek. At least, we reached our objective. We rested for a while. Then, our next task was to climb all the way down and gather. I was demoralised a bit, but I gathered my group and we moved off. It was way harder to climb downhill, partly because it was very hard to prevent ourselves from slipping. Bending and sliding, we worked our way through with ropes to help us for a short distance. Once again, we supported one another and crossed over logs and streams. We proceeded down slopes and the jokes went on, coming from the boys in my group=). Finally, we managed to reach the bottom of the mountain and made our way to the gathering area. I was pretty tired out. When the last group came, an instructor told us that we took the shortest time, 3 hours 40 minutes, to finish the trek among the 3 groups of sec 3 that went to Karimun. Had lunch. Wasn't very nice, I had trouble eating with all the flies around. I ate a few spoons and threw away the pack. I just got myself some drinks. Finally, we gathered and took the buses. Soon, we were on our way to Hotel Padi Mas. I would like to thank my group, without them I would never had made it up the mountain. They gave me the motivation and courage to move on, even when I fell. Thank you all.
"It is not a matter about how many times you fall, but about how you get up and continue on."
Well, going to post again tomorrow, I am feeling really tired now. That is it, see you.
Day 1
On the way to the ferry : Reported to school and assembled at Indoor Sports Hall. When everyone was ready, we went on the bus to the ferry terminal. Went through customs and all, but everyone reached the ferry and boarded it.
On the ferry : Kay, was playing sudoku on handphone on the ferry, so i had little idea of what was going on around me. Was quite hot in the ferry. People were walking up and down. I am lucky not to get seasick though. After some time, we reach the ferry terminal and got off.
Preparing for Mount Jantan trek : We passed through customs once again. Unfortunately Angela got held back. The screwed up custom guy actually tried to suck off money from her, what the heck is wrong with the system there >=( ? I felt angry when i saw her crying later. Anyway, she got her way out and was alright for the rest of the camp. I am glad she is alright. We gathered at a nearby carpark and split into groups. I was in group 4 with Enqi, Ying Ning, Rachel, Simin and Lenice who are PPG =), Lian Jie, Yi Zhao, Yang Cherh, Hon Wen, Jacob and me kkyx! We had some lunch and got ready. We got on our buses and head off. We reached the start of the trek. After getting our bags and water, we walked along and reached a resthouse. We did some warm-up, surrendered our valuables and drank up. This is only the beginning...
Trek on Mount Jantan : The trek begins officially. Jacob backed out though, so there goes our 'leader'. I was appointed leader, a position I have hardly assumed and done my role before. By then, a new girl had joined my group. Our instructor, who i call sir, gave us medical supplies and told us to take care of the girls. We also got into formation. I was in front, Hon Wen is the last, but in the end Hon Wen lagged behind later on and Yi Zhao became the last. At the beginning, the trek seemed quite smooth. I was constantly climbing to higher grounds to get an overview of my group. There came something that shook us up. Sweating, we clambered up increasingly steeper slopes. We then began to realized that we might slip and fall anytime. Branches and logs blocked our way. Still, we went on. I was shouting to my group every now and then. "Come on everyone! Faster!" "Watch out for the slope!" "Rocks in front!" and so on. As we climbed out way up, the path got increasingly difficult to climb. I tripped and slipped a couple of times, but I was alright overall. We had to support each other and move on. By the time we reached the checkpoint, we were tired. After a short water break, we pressed on. The trek was becoming harder as we proceeded up. We slipped, fell, slided and all. I remember falling time and again, either slipping and regaining balance, or fall and get up again. With my hands to the ground on the tougher parts of the trek, I held on to mud and rocks. I used trees to stabilise myself through difficult parts. I hardly recall myself not slipping for 10 minutes. The boys in my group cracked jokes along the way, which really helped everyone to stay motivated. Despite the scratches and the dirtiness, I had to continue on. It is impossible for me to back out now. Even from the start. I have a group to lead, and I will do everything within my power to lead them. I was really happy and grateful when I saw the girls supporting one another. The teamwork between the group was good. In fact, I was glad to be leading such a team. I thought to myself once : Guys! What are you doing?! Help the girls! Admist mud and wounds, we used our strength to climb every inch of our way up the mountain. Supporting one another, we finally managed to reach the summit. To my surprise, the entire view from the top was blocked by trees. A wall obstructed us and we only had a slope to sit on. The flies haven't left us since the start of the trek. At least, we reached our objective. We rested for a while. Then, our next task was to climb all the way down and gather. I was demoralised a bit, but I gathered my group and we moved off. It was way harder to climb downhill, partly because it was very hard to prevent ourselves from slipping. Bending and sliding, we worked our way through with ropes to help us for a short distance. Once again, we supported one another and crossed over logs and streams. We proceeded down slopes and the jokes went on, coming from the boys in my group=). Finally, we managed to reach the bottom of the mountain and made our way to the gathering area. I was pretty tired out. When the last group came, an instructor told us that we took the shortest time, 3 hours 40 minutes, to finish the trek among the 3 groups of sec 3 that went to Karimun. Had lunch. Wasn't very nice, I had trouble eating with all the flies around. I ate a few spoons and threw away the pack. I just got myself some drinks. Finally, we gathered and took the buses. Soon, we were on our way to Hotel Padi Mas. I would like to thank my group, without them I would never had made it up the mountain. They gave me the motivation and courage to move on, even when I fell. Thank you all.
"It is not a matter about how many times you fall, but about how you get up and continue on."
Well, going to post again tomorrow, I am feeling really tired now. That is it, see you.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Pre-camp feelings
Hey there! Yea, this post is just going to be about my feelings before i go on a trip to Karimun Island. I just feel pretty nervous about the whole thing, because I did not do any preparation for it, save the packing of items. I do not even know what to teach the poor little kids who are going to be under my group for english =(. I am quite interested to learn about the culture of the people there and their way of life. As for the trek on Mount Jantan, I am pretty excited about it, because I have never climbed a mountain before. I hope to enjoy the scenery on the island too, most probably from the top of the mountain. I am not really worried about lodgings. I hope to buy some souvenirs from there to keep as memories=). Maybe after I come back from Karimun Island to Singapore, I will learn to appreciate life and be grateful for what i have. Well, these are my feelings, overall. I hope everyone enjoys themselves during the trip! =)
"If you do not appreciate what you have, then you will never appreciate what you will ever have."
"If you do not appreciate what you have, then you will never appreciate what you will ever have."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
