Leaving for NPC 2008 tomorrow... Today was Day 0, all the loading and unloading and then the rain, with all our stuff there, and no covering at all...until we managed to get a tarp...haha. All I want to say is, please wish me good luck, and that I really like this 'patrol' that we're in! Aiming to win back a Gold! =) Maybe even a swiss knife too! lols. It will be tiring, but we will do it!! =D Will definitely miss all my friends, Singapore, Vietnam and else where, but good luck to you all too. I will be back on the 5th December! Wait for me!

Me <3 Hanoi and NTT! Just returned this afternoon from Hanoi, and even now I missing them! Such friendly people! We really forged strong friendships among ourselves and the NTT students...hopw this will last forever! Anyway, tomorrow I will be preparing for the National Patrol Camp coming up soon (in a few days). So Im not sure if I cant write everything fully before the camp and Im sorry if i cant! So tired today...maybe tomorrow night! =) And yes I bought souvenirs.

Hey everyone! Im blogging from Hanoi now! Its been a week or so since I left, and so its time to blog some stuff! Hanoi so far has been a really nice place to stay in, if you discount the language barrier and maybe the environment, then you will find this place really fun to visit, especially interacting with the people. Ms Goh, one of the teachers bring me on the trip, the other being Mr Sarkunan, told us before the trip that Vietnamese hospitality is very special. I thought nothing about it, but now that I've experienced it for myself, I really agree with Ms Goh on this. The people there, are very fun-loving and have less of those 'mental contraints' that we in Singapore have. Like they play around with any and everyone, boys or girls, very casually, and they do actually start a conversation with people on the streets/in school they dont know. Wow. I myself have seen and experienced it. People asking me to take photos of them while I was walking in school (haha), people asking for me to take some photos with them, people asking me how I am, what I like, etc. haha. I feel so welcomed here and sometimes I feel kinda ashamed that we in Singapore do not treat others as well as they do here, haha. Like I didnt even bother to say hi to the foreigners who visit our school when I saw them last time, so maybe I should try to say hi next time? haha.

Well this isnt the content of the trip, but just a general idea of how its like, haha. Will write more next time! =) Miss all of you so much!

Sorry I havent been blogging...its just has been busy the past few days, but since Im leaving for Hanoi tomorrow, and Im feeling slightly more free now, heres it...

The last week has been a really fulfilling one for me, cos I have been doing so much and they just make me feel like I have completed some of the things I needed to do and really it has made me feel better! Last Monday and Tuesday, was of course the last day of school, and Tuesday was also the preparation day of the Clean and Green Singapore Schools' Carnival 2008! So I left early, sadly missing out on the fantastic year head assembly, and took a cab to suntec (sponsored by the club), to decorate our booth. To tell the truth, we really didnt have much of a preparation, so most of the work was impromptu...and so it looked...a little kiddy. Haha.

But the next day was better than I thought, we all just got down to work, and as usual I like doing the explaining to the visitors to our booth. So yeah, showed many people around the small booth and gave them an idea on all the environmental projects we did...Quite fun actually. The Green Game was another fun one, cos we had all the stages in the competition, and so we all had something to do! I did the marking of the primary school section, and some of the answers given were pretty funny too, lol. Maybe this year's carnival wasnt as good the last year's, but it was still quite a success! But who am I to say that, I did go the last day of the carnival...

Ok back to Wednesday, I left early, right after the hectic 'game time', and rushed back to school for a scouts interview...not as formal as I thought it would be and they really asked some wierd and no link questions haha. Or at least I thought so... But it was okay la, actually enjoyed myself in some parts of the interview, haha

Thursday was dedicated to OIP training, cos I have been missing some of the past trainings due to all these other stuff...so I met up with the rest in the early morning and watched them do the dance we are ALL supposed to do...sad that I didnt know the formation and some of the dance steps...could only watch...(ever felt so bad when you couldnt join in what your friends are doing?) So I did what I could, take pictures! Im in the Documentation committee afterall...=)

Friday morning was also OIP training...learnt some Vietnamese from Ms Goh, haha, really fun lesson. And then went back to learning the dance and helping the freestylers to perfect some of their moves. Haha think I caught up with the dance moves already, lols. Then at 11 I had to leave again and ate lunch with Leonard, JunYang and Patrick at S11 before going over to NTU for our HSSRP project presentation... We reached there slightly later then expected...from Bishan all the way to Boon Lay...(missed the taxi ride to suntec haha) and poor Jim waited there for so long...sorry! We also met the other HSSRP people there and we all went to take the bus...and then there something funny happened, cos we werent sure which bus, 179 or 199 to take to NTU, we just decided to take whichever that came first, but they both came together! Lols, and we were just there, divided into two groups of people, one in front of 179 and the other 199, lols. Even the bus drivers got a bit angry with us, but in the end we decided 179 haha. Jim and I are working with Shayne in the project, and he was kinda...LATE! And we only met him just as the presentations were starting...close shave...But fortunately we did rather well and got into the second round of selections. Only 5 groups were chosen for this round, 2 from RI, 1 from RGS, 1 from NYGH and 1 from NUSH. Think we did better for the second round...but the competition was naturally stronger this time, I think the RGS group did particularly good, cos they spoke so clearly and kept eye contact and also know their stuff... NYGH wasnt bad, but really lack eye contact sometimes...NUSH was content heavy...while JunYang's group was extremely clear for guys but a bit slow, and I also realised later that they missed out something, but its un-noticeable, so dont worry! =)

Then yesterday, it got really really fun, as if it was a reward for me lols. It was our class outing! Apart from lunch with my family before we are all going our separate ways for a while, I went to Mervyn's house, which was...how should I put it...really godly. Something about it felt different even at the gate. There were soldier statues there! It was so big and magnificent! As if I steped into a hotel! I just couldnt believe my eyes and couldnt say anything while I got a tour around the house...and then the others arrived in three cars, courtesy of the kind grandparents and friends. So from there we just had a wild party! I was singing karaoke with Teng Chuan, Jian Wei, Justin, Parry and Mr Koh with visits by Shaun, while others were crazily spamming com games at the games room while some were playing mahjong or pool (the table one) and some at the pool (this time the water one) playing water polo. Really really didnt expect this kind of luxury. Its out of the world! (ok my world)Sorry Mervyn, but just one picture to prove my point...


Ok now it was really crazy and after we had dinner, we some of us, especially Ming Chan, who got over-excited and threw some impt person into the pool, lols. And many of us just got dunked or jumped in...lols. Haha were all insane. We just started playing water polo again, but so many of us couldnt see well at night and without specs, its became a luck game. If you threw to a right person u stand a chance to win, and if u threw to someone of the opposite team u lose...haha. The whole class was so much fun... But we all knew what this meant, it would most likely be the last time we would do something as a class for this year...but if so, it had to be something crazy! Lols. This is the truth: I absolutely love 3T!! =D

Ok, now back to reality. I am going to face reality, the reality of the world tomorrow, when I travel to Hanoi and see for myself what the flood has done. The next two weeks will really be another eye-opener for me, Im sure of that. I want to see so many things. But my only hope is that we will not be imposing on them when we are there, or we would be doing the exact opposite of what we intended to do, which was to help them and learn from them at the same time. Heard that the people there are very warm and welcoming, but because of the flood, the food prices have gone up by 5-10 times...which means that just to feed us it would require 5-10 times more budget...thats what I meant. And so thats my wish, and also that we would all be safe and sound there, not catch diseases or anything... Dont you see the vast change between the last paragraph and this? I really hope we do something for them there...at the very least, bring them some happiness and joy. Just cheering them up will do! =)

To all friends, whether in Singapore, or also travelling elsewhere, I will definitely be missing you people! Thank you so much for all the well wishes! Will see if there are any ways to connect to the net there and update! Or else, will tell u more when Im back on 24 Nov! See you! I'll try not to worry too much about whats coming after this OIP...=)

lols. nice.

Today at school was quite fun, because we didnt really have much to do, so the whole day was pretty much just having fun. The morning was spent at a so-called 'movie marathon' which consisted of just one movie. I mean the name is misleading haha. But the movie itself was quite good, we watched '10 promises with my dog', a japanese movie about a lonely girl with a dog and how the dog helped her and change her life. The story is pretty normal, but it is presented in a way that makes it fresh and also able to reach out to people's hearts. Haha, the dog is really cute too! (esp when it was young) Oh yes, and for those who watched 'L: Change The World', you should recognise the young girl acting! The difference is that in L, shes carrying a teddy bear while here she has a dog haha. And also some observant ppl realised that the grocery store which appeared in this movie, where the girl bought candles from, also appeared in the recent movie, 20th Century Boys. Dunno if its true... Anyway, I heard that some people were crying after the movie...including a teacher, haha. After the movie was recess and then class cleanup.

So...class cleanup, the time when you pay for what you have done throughout the year... It was a lot of scrubbing and wiping, then apply gif/cif and scrub again... We got lots of nice coloured water, haha. Like black, nice white, green, blue and even yellow haha. Some things are more fun when done together! =) You can see that most of the people in the photos are happy...haha

When we got the shiny classroom look, we were allowed to rest while Ming Chan mopped the floor and Mr Koh, Ervin, Yen San and I went to get the food in the staffroom for the class. I carried the curry that Mr Koh's mother made! haha, it was a bit the heavy, but it was well worth it...when everyone was ready, we opened up all the foodand got the paty started! Lols, I just dealt with the IT stuff at first, so I was setting up and selecting some songs, haha. But after I left, some people started to BLAST music and also change the songs to HSM songs...lols imagine that.

The food were all really nice, all of them/their mothers must have put in so much effort to prepare to food...now that's what Mr Koh was talking about...the class spirit...we could have easily catered food for the whole class, fuss-free and no risk of food poisoning. But will that really let us know more about each other and allow us to show the bonds among each and every one of us which we formed through the year together?

Haha I simply have to describe what was going on in the class...there were people playing cards, bridge and taidi! Some playing really random videos on youtube on the projector, like just any parody, spoof they can find. They even tried to make Ms Quah our English teacher feel guilty by playing Happy Tree Friends when she was there, haha. If you cant picture that, see the pictures below...lols. Some were just listening to music while some were running around and bullying each other. Some were just sitting there and eating from time to time. While some just admired the rest. The video group suddenly decided to change to the game group, and played Halo on the projector. Haha it was quite entertaining to see Halo being played on such a big screen, but even more fun seeing your classmates, even those who dont seem to be the type, play these games and actually be quite good at them. Haha. But there must also be an ending to the party, and people started to leave and it just started to die down a little. Now those who r left started playing volley-balloon and i think they enjoyed it, lols. But people like Yen San and I didnt, lols, we were helping with the cleaning up. Ok that aside, the party was pretty much a successful one, and I even managed to get quite a number of photos for a class album we promised to create at the end of the two years...we decided this at the start of this year...remember? =)


All that rubbish...




Mr Koh helps out!


Teamwork makes the job easier!




Win again next year 3T! =D I got one too...

Oops...


Flood...now in Vietnam too, wonder how it will be like when Im there...


Nice...(haha not Bennah) =P

Me eating a pizza...


Ooops again...look closely!

Woa classroom arcade, haha

Delicious food, thanks to everyone!



Samuel showing his Yoyo skills

A very happy Mervyn, haha

A final class photo!! Together with all the food...=D


Thanks so much to everyone! The class party has been very enjoyable! Thank you to Mr Koh too, for helping us with the cleanup, bringing the tasty curry chicken, being so nice to us this whole year! The truth is, we all want you as our form teacher again next year... =)

*this post took 4+ hours to complete

Haha firstly thanks so much to all those who gave me advice and words of encouragement, they really helped. =) Thanks so much. I realised, that sometimes it might not be actually the words that help, but just knowing that someone else understands what you are going through and actually cares enough to help you...

Yesterday morning I was at school working on the NPC designs for pioneering and the gadgets. Well, things went quite ok, we managed to complete quite a number of them and their dimensions too. Haha nothing much to write about it, but that it was quite fun to have so many of 0106 to be in the den and all doing stuff together, haha.

And then, we decided to give ourselves a break and so we went to LAN and played dota. Haha to some of you lanning might not be something interesting enough to write about, but it is for me, lols. Anyway, I thought it would be a good time to chill out...RE can be left for tomorrow (today). So yea I had to go, and played two games, then had to leave for tuition, although I dont see why people go for tuition after the exams...but nevermind, the thing that made it worse was that when I reached, my teacher told me that he was going out cos he didnt think we would be coming...And so we went home with nothing learnt, haha. But even two games helped.

Then went home and rested...and then went to my grandma's house as usual. Haha, for the past few weeks, because of the new okto channel, there have been animes airing during the saturday night timeslot, haha so its quite nice watching with my cousins. The 2 airing are D.gray-man and a very funny but lame anime which i cant identify...

Haha, got to go back to doing work now...*forces out a smile* =S