15th August
Sis's solemnisation. felt really happy for her.
the day they are officially husband and wife.
the day the R.O.M invite them to building a new life by just signing a few papers.
the day of exchanging rings and kisses.
so i cried after seeing my dad and my mum in tears. tears of both happiness and sadness.
-at my house after solemnisation
16 August
wedding! celebration!
at kampong glam malay heritage centre!
taman warisan melayu.
the setting was great man!
-the kompang
total of 4 roadblocks to get to meet the princess!
firstly, my uncles stop him from coming. haha! hilarious.
three green packets come out.
secondly, my another uncle stop him at the entrance.
two green packets come out.
thirdly, my sister's friends stop him from going up the stage.
he had to blow bubbles.
two green packets come out.
fourthly, the make-up artist stop him.
she covered my sis's face with the fan.
two green packets come out.
then finally, they meet.
haha! hilarious.
-lunch!
-guests signing the guestbook outside
i didnt take pictures of the fooood! )):
-cousins!
-outside
-after changing
-with the flowergirls
-cupcake feeding ceremony with the emcee of the event
then my cousins , me and my younger sis sabo-ed the newly weds to sing!
they sang My Heart.
my sis was like super worried. she didnt want to at first.
but we cheered on, so yeah, she did.
17 August
wedding celebration on my brother-in-law side.
its like super cool man.
tradition says that the guy side have to invite the girl over.
so my bro-i-l came over escorted with motorcyclists!
-over at the guy's place
-the dikir barat
then its cake cutting and feeding ceremony.
-super rings! yum!
next two days, which is a tuesday, they went for honeymoon to bali!
for 6 days!
so we sent them off at the airport.
and they live happily ever after.((:
next up, OBS!
25th August-29th August
rocks my socks! five days at ubin!
ChengHo ChengHo all the way!
my group name!
LOVELOVELOVE!
consisting of, (the girls, top row, left to right)
PL(instructor!) LiHui, Tonasa, JieXin, Esther, Erni, Me, Alliyah, Mahera
(the guys, bottom row, left to right)
WengSiang, BingKang, ChongZhi, JunKang, YiWei, Brian, JunXiang, Melvyn
(Schools: Pioneer, Regent, Yuhua and New Town!)
Day 1
mcgriddles for breakfast before going basic.
met group7, which is cheng ho at the jetty.
like strangers.
our instructor, PL!
we played some ice breakers, blow cheng ho blow and identity crisis.
and the entanglement game.
didnt work out. we were still like strangers.
super cant stand the silence.
had phototaking after that.
asked to change into trackpants.
and then we had a little kayaking!
learnt the capsize drill.
PL challenged us on who can stand up the longest on the tri-yak without falling.
thats when the funny part comes in.
Melvyn lost his balance and guess what he did. the most out of mind thing.
he stepped on the other tri-yak. in the end both tri-yak capsize.
like wth. HAHA! super hilarious.
then we get to bathe! and cook dinner! pitch tents!
had circle time and journal writing.
i met different kinds of personalities.
the day was dreadful. very very SLOW. not punctual.
at that point of time, i had very little hope for our group to be an exciting one.
a very very frustrating day indeed.
btw, our breakfast is bread and jam.
lunch, biscuits, milo and ovaltine packets. bread, layer cake, apollo.
dinner, rice or maggi with canned food.
that night, there was like a fire drill. and everyone was like moving so slowly.
we had to pack our bags for the next day since we'll be leaving the campsite and we'll be going mobile. transfer our things to the given backpacks plus putting in all the food, pots and pans. ponchos and lifevests. woah!
Day 2
started the day with some sort of warm up.
with camp 2 bravo, amundsen, armstrong and cheng ho.
played the hunter, tree thingy. then the slowest had to do the dodo dance.
end up me, weng siang and raymond had to do the dodo dance.
like 5 times!
next, was the eco challenge. where he have to collect the animals to make up the food chain.
season 1 we played according to instructions.
like when you have to collect 16 planktons, only 1 person can hold 1 plankton at one time, to and fro.
but for season 2, we had to collect 64 planktons. which is kinda impossible to go here and there carrying and putting back 1 plankton each and every time within 15 minutes.
so we made a human chain and stuff the planktons into our pockets.
thats when our group bond! when we created this thing called the cheng ho spirit!
laugh together, cheat together.
but in the end, cheat also still lose. haha!
got the group as one though. thats the good thing.
anyway, back to the story, we had this trust fall thing after that.
test on how u really trust your groupmates.
and we learnt how to be a belayer.
and damn, it hurts when you're belaying.
your thigh area especially. wooh!
so who's the belayer in my life? my family of course!
next was the high elements!
we had to do the double dangle duo.
its like two sets of 5 logs.
first set the logs are like one meter apart and it gets further once you get higher.
second set the logs are like 1.2 meter apart and yes, it gets further once you get higher.
so, imagine!
first set, i climbed with erni. and yesyes! we reached all the way to the top.
second set, climbed with esther. kinda difficult. coz i had to really stretch my legs.
determination helps us to get to the top and help each other through.
reaching the top for both sets was totally an utter great accomplishment for me.((:
we then continued packing our bags to go on mobile. and damn, i've never carried a bag heavier than that before. inside consisting of, mine and esther's things, clothes, shoes, toiletries, happy meal, with lifevests and ponchos and waterbottles. some carried tents. so yeahh. HEAVY!
cant possibly let esther carry it. or she'll fly away. xD
haha!
so we hiked to our campsite under the rain.
pitched our tents under the rain. camp 2 bravo helped us! thanks a million.
cooked maggi for the group. and the most disgusting thing is that we cant wash the oily mess tins properly coz there isnt any detergent. and the guys are such gentlemen coz they are the ones who does most of the washing. ((:
and one more thing, its the place that you have to dig your own hole if you wanna shit.
had a bad nights' sleep and woke up early for century duty.
good thing is that, we get to see the city lights and the stars are like in clusters! plus the beach view. beautiful.
esther, zimah and me were like discussing how perfect the scene will be for shots when we get married in the future. hahaha!
thinking ahead, thats a good thing. :D
Day 3
its expedition hiking time!
we are given clues on where to go. with a map and compass.
the places around ubin.
and PL isnt allowed to give anymore hints other than that.
its totally on our own.
first stop was the german girl's shrine. 1km away from the campsite?
we had to do a little acting before we get to carry on with the trekking.
bleahh...
then we had to find the highest hill in ubin.
had some troubles looking for it. got a little lost here and there. but nice work navigators.
and the very cooperative group! whom refuses to give up.
finally, after about 2km of trekking we climbed up the hill. cant reach the peak coz its raining heavily with lightning. so yeahh. dangerous.
we were just below the summit and saw the quarry.
shouted our hopes out loud. like you know, what people usually do to relieve stress.
seeked for shelter and had our lunch.
PL made for us hot coffee plus ovaltine plus milo. which was yum!
which made us experience sugar rush.
which helps us ALOT to carry on with the hiking.
we were like singing our asses off all the way to the next destination. to make the load lighter.
thats when we get closer and more comfortable around one another.
everyone was just sooo sooo happy!
hiked like about 4 kilometres more till we reached our paradise!
ouward bound school!
i cant feel my fingers by then.
by the time, everybody was so high and hyped up.
we were like the ones contributing to the noise there. attracting all the attention.
screaming and shouting.
we saw medical centre. wow!
offices. wow! toilets. wow! canteen. wow! swimming pool. wow! hall. wow!
our very own paradise.
we get to SHOWER! after being stinky for two whole days.
to add on with the happiness, is that we dont have to cook! coz we have proper food at the canteen! yay!
had a discussion with the kayaking expedition leaders together with camp 2 bravo. kinda frustrating coz some people refuses to listen and cooperate. more time is wasted. lesser time to sleep.
i learnt something, to be a good leader you must also be a good follower.
we have to climb up the forest to get to the campsite.
told to do century duty. but everyone was too tired to wake up.
Day 4
the kayaking expedition! with camp 2 bravo!
first thing, load the bags up the speed boat to be sent to campsite 2.
morning sea breeze was wonderful! saw a rainbow.
and yes, seems like zimah loves to listen to me and esther's dreams of the future.
kayak-ed with esther and brian.
all me and esther have to do is just to paddle straight while brian controls the boat.
the first part was kinda irritating at first coz the navigators were like kayaking too fast. arent we like suppose to enjoy our expedition?
and they actually wanted to raftub where there is like people fishing..... like, what?
and they plan to eat lunch at the most craziest place. the swamp?
and we took like almost an hour to decide on which place to go.
in the end some of us just drift away while they look for answeres.
kinda frustrating coz they dont wanna really listen to suggestions.
okay nevermind. its their first time. understood.
now the good part.
the part when the rest of us sing happy birthday when a tri-yak capsize.
the ending part, when cheng ho mates got suddenly excited and started to race each other. and when we went wild and paddled with our hands!
weng siang was like one man show. can paddle two people very far away in the shortest time!
wanted to have intentional capsize but the tide was low.
met our target! reached our destination on time!
the instructors rewarded us with jetty jump!
bleahh. kinda embarrassing at the last part.
dont wanna talk about it.
straight after that, we had to pitch our tents with the most scenic view ever.
overlooking the beach.
joined mahera to clean up the ponchos! the girls went crazy.
acted like pussycatdolls at the carwash. except that its more like ponchowash.
fun, laughter, peace and joy.
dinner was quiet i guess. everybody was tired.
and do you know the way jun kang says his drill commands is very funny?
chit chatted before bedtime. the last night together. awwww...
enjoyed the view at the shore.
talk, talk and talk till the instructors chased us away.
went to sleep. squeezed 6 people into one tent. coz of issues.
Day 5
last day! )):
lots of cleaning up to do with the store.
missing some things. so we took things that we saw.
its not exactly called stealing coz PL said that if u see things lying around, i dont mind if you take it because they are not responsible of their own things. XD
its obs property anyway.
in the end we just have to pay like about $8plus for the missing things.
this is way better than area cleaning.
had our breakfast after that, with our hands tied together.
went around with people staring at us, like that. did the dodo dance, like that.
had a little reflection with standing broad jump flying version.
after that, gathering with the rest of the camp,
bought the souvenirs and photos.
~break camp;">
i very much appreciate to be in this group.
cherish the times that we had together.
and i really hope that we will all be able to meet someday.
i'm sure the bond within us will always be intact.
Long Live Cheng Ho!
a unique group, with different personalities from all walks of life coming together.
-those were the days...
carrot, egg or coffee bean?
egg. and i'll tell you why.
yes, i may get tougher as time goes by.
learning new things. through experience. through observing.
but will i be able to influence those around me?
just like the coffee bean?
that, i am not so sure.
but i'll try.
