Beginning of a new chaper. Is this the end? When will be the next time?

For the past few days, I've been looking through the camp photos and video I have.
Some of my old blog entries.
Blogs of campers.
Reminiscing.

School is going to start this coming Monday.
4th August 2008.

Wanted to do that last camp from Monday to today.
28th-30th July 2008
Wanted to mirror Zedong or Baoyun.
Wanted to mark this point in my life with something dramatic or at least something really memorable.

But, sadly, CANNOT.
Zedong can I had to go for diving lesson.
Leaving for Dayang for a recce/exploration trip next Tuesday.
The lesson ended at 1030pm.
By the time we got back to Choa Chu Kang, it was 1137pm, the last 975 was gone too.
Not only couldn't we attend the last campfire,
we could not go in to crap with the instructors for the last time too.
I was intending to write this post in JBac, where I immerse myself in the atmosphere there.

It is a pity I couldn't end it the way I wanted.
However, it may just be a good thing too.
It's not like it's really the "full-stop" in my "career" as an instructor.
It's still in me.
I'd probably still do camps when I have the time.
But, this "imperfect ending" will probably make sure I'll be back for more camps.
Because I'll be reminded that, "there wasn't an ending"

I wonder when will be the next time....
The next time I put on the instructor T....
The next time I wash the toilet at JBac...
The next time cheering with campers....
The next time I feel like throwing up blood because of campers....
The next time I cannot sleep because I need to do sentry....
The next time I have a campfire...
The next time I hear, "Instructor, when can we wash up~?!!?".....
The next time.....

So many memories....
The fun with campers.
The fun with instructors.
The lame joke sessions at night.
The problems campers give me.
The happy faces of campers.
The improvement you see in the campers.
The....


I'm sure going to miss camp.

Don't worry.
I'll continue to post on this blog.
Stories, show recommendations and reviews, outdoor stuff....etc...
Though there won't be can camp post for sometime...


P.s: was looking at uni schedule....maybe September 20th - 28th can do camp! lol...

Taggie replies.

Racy: Hey~ haha...yeah... long time no talk....glad you're doing well. ^_^

Amanda: haha....yeah....the injury sucks... I'll be going for diving lesson later think it's going to hinder me.... and the expedition next tues day, hope it's not going to stop me from doing anything.

Rena: Hey... haha... Well, it's company policy to protect campers and mainly male instructors i guess. Things like campers getting too attached to instructors, feeling betrayed when instructors get busy to talk to them, sch or parents no happy about campers being too close the instructors, more extreme cases of camper being raped by instructor(seriously i dunno how true this is)....yadayadayada......
I dun really care cos I believe I'm not the type that female campers will go crazy over, and if remaining in contact means that I can continue to influence them positively, why not?
I know I may not be the best role model, but I hope my campers can learn form my positive side.
I think i explained in one of my post. but for got which one...
BUT, it's different when we get hunted down by campers(as in somehow find our emails and add us), which happens really often...haha...so... yea...

23rd-25th July 2008, Greenwood Pri P5 Adventure Camp

After slightly more that two weeks from rest from full camps, finally back to doing full camps.
But the camp that just ended is probably going to be my last camp.
School's starting next week. Going to miss camp days, miss the people and the fun we've had together...
Shall leave this for the next post or something
For the past 2 weeks, I've only been doing 1 or 2 day events here and there and going to JBac to help out in a camp.
Been taking courses these past 2 weeks too.

Well... let's talk about the camp now...

The camp didn't start well for me actually. It's the first time ever that I dreaded the start of the camp so much.
My mood wasn't right due to some personal problems.

I thought I wouldn't be in the mood to be handling 40 little monkeys, but for this camp, there a change in the system.
Instead of the usual, where the 2Ic is the station IC and only the IC follows the group.
Both Ic and 2Ic follows the group. Making the handling of campers much easier.
And apparently, according to the camp operations, the campers are quite good, so I thought it will not be so bad after all.
But on Monday I starting dreading the start of the camp again, all the way till Wednesday when the campers arrived at the campsite.

I didn't want to push away the camp just because of my mood because I though that it is irresponsible to do that.
Just because of some personal problems, if I pushed away the camp only 1 or 2 days before the camp started, the company would have a hard time trying to find replacement.
Plus, my troubles had nothing to do with the camper or the company.
I cannot affect them because of my personal problems.
I had to do what I had to do.
I locked myself for this camp, so I am responsible.

The weird thing is, when the students arrived and when I took over my group, the moment I realised there are "problematic" campers in my group, my drive came back.
Though probably not 100% of what I usually have for camps, but I felt motivated for the camp again.

The camp started with Ice-breaking which lasted slightly longer than 1 hour.
I made sure the ice breaking session was done well because--lesson learnt from Jurong West Pri camp...

Generally, the camp went on quite smoothly besides the fact that the hand full of "problem" kids giving me problems throughout the camp.
The 5 of them were constant up to some monkey business and they had very short attention span. Most of the time they did not listen to briefing and debriefs. I had to stop activities or briefings so many times just to talk to them.
Despite many repeated reminders and they still carried on their ways, they are primary school students after all, they need constant reminder.
It was really unfair for the group, having to stop and waste the group's activity time or wash-up time juts because of these few students -- look at the big picture. Don't neglect the majority for that small minority.
On the last night, I left them alone and spoke to the rest of the group only after debrief.
The few of them were blatantly lying on the floor and sleeping. Not wanting to do their reflections or listen to the debrief. So I kept them back to finish everything after I let everyone go.

Some of the activities that are especially worth mentioning are River Challenge and Command and Conquer.

River Challenge was our first activity.
The task was to get the whole class from 1 end of the "river"(the Milo pond) to the other in a given time.
On their first try,they took 18 mins and got only 8 people across because the wasted a lot of time getting in and out of the water and deciding who sends the floats and PFDs back.
Though in fact, around 13 people already went across, some of them just wanted to play more and didn't care about completing the task. So after the got out of the water and took of the PFDs, on subsequent trips, the wanted to send the floats back, so time was wasted for them to put on the PFD again, getting into the water then send the floats back.
Alot of time was wasted this way.
Largely because they didn't plan well and stick to their plan when they were given the time. Also many of them were only thinking of whether they got to play.
Had to make them learn.
So I cut the activity and debriefed them on their first try.
Wanted to prove to them how much better it would be if they planned and stuck to it. And also how much better it would be if they worked as a team.
Wanted them to know the importance of having a shared vision in a team.
I gave them the plan, told them the record timing and that usually it would only take 20mins for a class of 40 to finish the task.
Then challenged them to finish it, to prove to themselves that it can actually be done in 20mins.
In the end, the task was completed in 20min 30 sec.
Hope they learnt from that experience.

Command and Conquer is worth mentioning because of the the team spirit they showed. Especially the girls.
Command and Conquer is a game where the kids get to play with water bombs.
The task was to take out their opponent's castle or people. The number of water bombs each group/each person has is actually limited. You would expect the kids to want to throw the water bombs themselves but the girls and a few boys in my group surprised me.
The group was split into 2 smaller groups and we played against another group.
When 1 sub group ran out of water bombs I went over to the other group and ask, "hey, our other group has ran out of water bombs to defend or to attack, we are a group right? You are allowed to pass them some water bombs. Do you want to do that?"
Without any delay, they immediately handed a few water bombs.
The team work and spirit they showed really surprised me.
Maybe the debriefs really got into them.

My reflections:

After camp, for some weird reason I actually felt better.
Maybe the injury to my hamstring helped a bit too.
(I injured my hamstring AGAIN during campfire. Got sabo-ed to come out to do split during campfire. Thanks to my lousy mood I think I forgot to tell them I'm injured. 3rd time this month. It never got to recover totally. This time it serious. I couldn't walk or stand after that and also for the next day. It's stupid, but I didn't want to disappoint the kids. Passion/stupidity is going to kill me one day.)
This sounds stupid. but it was so painful I couldn't think of any other thing. Then I suddenly though to myself, what's been bothering be for the past weeks, suddenly I'm not thinking of it just because of pain. Maybe it doesn't mean so much after all??

Guess what I can bring away from this camp for myself is that don't run away from things. You'll never know what's installed for you. Maybe you'll feel better after that. It may not be the camp that really made me feel better but it's a fact that after the camp I feel better.

I'm sorry that this post may sound negative to you readers out there. But I hope you guys can understand and learn from this.
I'm not afraid of showing/sharing my feelings, even some of the more negative ones.
Even when I know that some of you(I'm not flattering myself) might look up to me as a leader of some sort.
What I hope you guys see is not just the negative side of me. But my willingness to face up to the problem and to solve the problem. Not run away from it. Some of you who have been talking to me might know that it wasn't easy for me either. It was really a mess and I was really quite lost.
But what's important is that you have to face the problem.
For those who still think that a leader needs to be perfect, this is what I think--a leader need not be perfect, no one is. You just need to have the courage to face your problem.


For those who are actually worried for me, if there are any,
sorry for making you worry.
Though it wouldn't harm if you dropped a few comments or taggies?hahha...
to let me know you're reading too...XP
I'm ok. Just that I'm still recovering form the hamstring injury.
Hope I'll recover in time for diving class tomorrow evening and for my expedition next week~


P.S.:
Thank you Jesslyn for what you said to me. It really helped.
HuiMing, thank you too^_^

Back from camp!

Yo!
Back from camp!!
hmm....blog seems to be dying...
wonder how many ppl are still reading...haha...
cos no comments or tags....
but at least I know there are still a few that are reading....
as long as anyone still reads, I'll write.
haha....
anyway, before I go on to post about the camp I just had with Greenwood Pri,
taggies reply...


Daniel: o. THAT daniel. lol....hi.

Samuel: sorry....which samuel r u? camper? which school? or instructor???>.<

pokpok: yo! lol... haha...i'm ok. wa abt u?

Jiahui: haha....hey....yea....it was painful too and showering with that hand like that was worst.... ur banned lifted??

evelina: hey. i'm doing ok. you? hope all's ok for u too.

jesslyn: haha...i'll try... passion and stupidity is going to kill me someday. lol...


ok...
that's that...

stay tuned for the post on Greenwood pri camp.
comign soon...

5-7th July 2008 Meridian JC Leadership Camp

To MJC campers who actually know about or read my blog, really sorry for the late update(2 weeks...I know...).
Been really busy attending courses and yes, procrastinating...
I, too, need to to discipline myself more...
That aside, here's the post about your camp.

The camp's the last one of my 5 back to back camp streak.
Unlike any other camps that I've done before, besides being a leadership camp, this is the first camp that I've done that is joint with the soft skill side of High Achievers.
The leaders of MJC where there to lead a leadership model(which name I forgot, was it TLC???).
My debrief points after activities, though they are essentially the same thing as what I usually teach. It's made more challenging because we have to fit these points into The Leadership Challenge’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®.
Shall not talk about the leadership model here though.

The camp started for the camper in the morning where to attended the soft skill module during they day time on the first day. We took over only in the evening.
When we got there, the campers were already very "high", shouting, cheering and all. Guess that's what you'll be expecting form leaders.
Took over the campers and did allocation of huts, then it was dinner time followed by the night activity--candle war.
It's a game where we just need to observe the campers. Their integrity, teamwork and planning.
Shall not talk about how the game is played.
The game is designed to tempt the participants to cheat. Also, they are given limited resources which when ran out, means they can only defend. It's up to them to decided how to play the game.

The game also very much about Choice.
"Spies" are also planted in every group to observe the group.
My group, Cool Heat, really had the spirit to have fun. They didn't care if they won. They cheer and laugh at everything and had fun.
This is the kind of spirit you should have when facing anything.
Being able to--Shake It Of.
Especially when you encounter failure and difficulties in life. Instead of drowning yourselves in sorrow, think about things you've learnt from the failure/the process, and how much fun you had during the process.
You haven't lost everything.
You learnt a lesson and you gained experience.

It was the campers choice whether they wanted to cheat.
The place was really dark and it would be really tempting to cheat, because if you really follow the rules, the game would be so much more troublesome to play.
It's to make participant cheat.
True enough people cheated, thinking that no one was looking.
We would keep quiet and just watch them cheat and only talk about it during debrief.
The point here is, in life, there are many many situations that you can cheat, you can do something illegal. Because you think no one is looking, because you think you can get away with it.
It's your CHOICE.
Can you answer to you conscience?
Will you be proud to succeed by cheating?
Do you have the integrity to play by the book even when no one is looking?
When you won't get caught?
Then again, are you really sure no one is looking?
Could it be like in the game, "hidden observers" have been planted?

Also, as a leader, what will your team think of you when they see you cheating and going for the easy way out?
You ARE modeling the way.
Do you want you team to be cheating and "cutting corners" for the easier way out when you give them instructions?


Rafting was the first activity and I was the one doing the briefing for all 3 groups doing the activity in that slot. Similarly the briefing had to be linked to the 5 practises. Chief Jeremy was there to observe. Everything went on fine, but he observed that I use "ok" very often to assure myself before I start a sentence. I need to work on that. haha...
Anyway, back to the activity.
Since they were leaders, the challenge to them was to set the time needed to plan and complete the floatation device themselves and stick to it.
There was no time reminders by instructors as we want them to be able to keep time in check themselves.
Also, since they are old enough, the "rafts" are expected to stay in one piece after entering the water.
As the timer counted down, I observed that my group lacked a sense of urgency. Something I observed and already pointed out to them on the first night.
Many were talking and sharing ideas, but they are not focus enough on the job. though everyone is working, but they are working very slowly.
Only when they realised they only had 5 mins left, then they started rushing.
This actually also one of the biggest problems of Cool Heat.

You can have a great plan, a great idea, but if it cannot be materialized in the given time, it's as good as nothing.
As a leader, you must really be able to get the team to focus and work fast.
You must always keep track of the dateline.
Know your priorities.
Think, being punctual vs being early. In this case, finishing early vs finishing on time.
Why wait till the last minute then go into a mad rush?
Have you considered, if you take things too easily till the last min then start rushing, what if you realise there's a mistake somewhere and things need to be changed?
Besides the risk of not being able to complete a task, last minute work not only compromises the quality of the product that was rushed to complete, it also leaves no room for error and changes.
I.e., even if you manage to finish things the last min, there's no room for changes/improvement/correction after completion.
Compared to, if you plan well and with a sense of urgency, complete it fast. You'll have time to do checks to remedy any errors and improvements to produce the best results.
Think. Doing good vs Doing you BEST.
Note, having a sense of urgency does not mean you rush to complete things producing sub-standard products.

After Rafting was campfire preparation. Everything went on really smoothly as expected.
My group missed abseiling due to bad weather. It's really a pity for them, many of them have never tried abseiling before.
However, when the rain stopped, we had the MOST entertaining CRC session ever!
Tabitah was so cute! Screaming and shouting "Wait wait wait..."
I got it on video.

Song session after dinner was almost entirely ran by the campers. After we practised a few campfire songs, got people to come out to lead cheers, the cheering just went on and on.
So many people where standing and stomping on the small stage we were afraid it'll collapse.
The campfire was great too(though I sprained my ankle running around the campfire. dumb me.). Though every single group did skit, which is actually what we really hate to see during campfires because usually it gets very dry and the audiences will get bored. But surprisingly, all the skits were really entertaining. The only problem was they are all too long. Except for Cool Heat's, short and sweet. Chief Jeremy was telling me, get you group to cut short their performance, we are really overrun. But I told him, not to worry because ours is short.


My Reflections:

Generally, the camp was great.
However, I think I have done better.
Half way into the camp, I was actually a little taken aback by the calibre of the campers.
I very much felt that many of them, if only the just had a bit more drive and spirit to strive of the best, they can very much be as good as any of us instructors.
This actually shook my confidence a little.
I thought, "am i good enough to have them look up to me as their instructor?"
One of the reasons cause this negative thinking could also be the fact that I was too tired and wasn't able to think well. I was question myself if i was delivering what i set out to teach.
Probably because I was too tired, I couldn't really tell if I did a good job.
Come to think of it, now that I've had enough rest, I shouldn't be thinking the way I did.
Clearly, I was able to spot their flawless and point out to them where to improve on.
I shouldn't have been shaken even by that tiny bit.
It could have affected the quality of my guidance.

Lesson learnt: Always be confident in what you do.
And, when I'm doing back to back camps, remember to sleep instead of staying up till 4 am for lame joke sessions...-.-

I wanted to do this camp despite my tiredness because I felt I needed some energizer, a really great camp, to perk me up(Hong Kah Sec did too. but I've already locked myself for this camp).
To make that burning passion in me even stronger, like what Xinmin Sec Camp did.
Also wanted to challenge myself as this camp is ran very differently from other leadership camps where we "tekan" the campers.

Also, this camp has soft skill sessions that other camps do not have.
Like I always tell my campers to challenge themselves and try new things, I wanted to challenge myself with this new style, which really proved to be quite hard.
Throughout the camp, the campers where rather laid back and relaxed.
A little too relaxed in fact(again, no sense of urgency).
The biggest challenge to me is actually instilling the sense of urgency in the campers without any punishment of any sort(without tekan-ing them). This would have been easily achieved if I used my usual style.
The objective was to make the campers think and truly understand the importance of having a sense of urgency. Therefore we only talk to them about it and leave them to think and decide if they want to waste time.

Despite the great camp, level of fulfillment for us instructors form the camp was actually not very high, as we do not see marked improvement in the campers.
It's good because it shows that these campers are really leaders.
But bad because it means that we do not see marked improvement in areas that we pointed out.
Hope campers will remember things they learnt in camp and apply them.
And work on weak areas we pointed out.

Message to Cool Heat(if anyone from Cool Heat is reading, help me get the whole group to read?):
I hope I've done a my best in leading you guy in the camp. Hope you've learnt something from the camp and from me. Hope I managed to Model the way for you guys by showing you guys what I think a good leader should be like--my monkey spirit, my passion and my determination. Hope it not just a tired guy trying to hype up himself and finish his job. Remember what I said about sense of urgency and perseverance. A good leader needs lots of determination and passion to overcome difficulties and setbacks. You guys have got what it takes. Work on the flaws I've mentioned to you guys. You guys can certainly achieve much more.
And who knows, maybe we can be fellow instructors in High Achievers or Trekkers?

Key to self improvement: Self realization.

You need to know and acknowledge your flaws before you can improve on them.


Also, something extra, now that it's 2 weeks after camp. Have you guys, not only those who are from my group, thought about this--how much have you learnt(from your instructors or from the camp generally) and how much have you brought back? Are these skill/lesson useful? Are you applying them?
Leave your comments so that I know?
Thank you.



Toilet party! haha...

16th July. Cable Ski at BATAM!!!! WOOT!

Woot!
Went to Batam for cable ski with Zedong and Lesh(a fellow instructor from trekkers).
Lesh's the one that organized the trip.
I'd probably be organizing one myself soon.
This is going to be a photo intensive post.
Haven't recover from the sprain ankle I got from the MJC camp actually.
But went for the trip anyway, I don't regret!
It's was fun!!!
Compared to SKi360 at East Coast, I think Cable Ski park at Batam is much more worth it.
Why?

Rates:
Ski360: $115 for 8 hours on weekdays.
Cable Ski park at Batam: $97 for the whole day(will reach the place at around 10am Sg time. Can Ski till 7pm Sg time), plus, the $97 includes the ferry tickets, tax and lunch!
So much more value for money. The Ski park is much bigger at Batam too!
You can also experience much more at Batam. I'll talk about it later in the post.

We met at 8am at Habourfront Centre Mac. Waited for everyone to gather, Lesh handed us our boarding passes and we took the ferry to Batam at around 9.20am.


Here we are, on the ferry going to Batam. Great Whether!!

Arriving at the place!!!
Some pictures of the place. Nice right!?
So much bigger than Ski360.
The place is also very relaxing.
If you still cant ski, go on a we day like us. You'll have almost the whole place to yourselves and you can ski till you drop.
No long waits!

There were monkeys at the the gate!!
Kept by the person running the place!!

Day beds!

Pool table!!!

It was a weekday and few people were there, so we can even do the Batam jump, or some call it the Batam Fear Factor---climb up the cable tower and jump down!

Scary. But fun. It's also really an experience for me as an instructor.
Very often in camps we tell campers to overcome their fears when doing high elements like abseiling, challenge pole and zip line.
However, sometimes it's hard for us to understand their fears because we've done it so many times. We trust the equipment and we've forgotten what the fear is like.
Jumping of that tower with no safety other than the water below was nerve wrecking. But I told myself, it's a chance to experience the fear. I have to overcome my fears too.
I was a chance for me to experience what campers feel.
Will try to upload vids of the jump. haha...


Lesh hanging on cos he didn't dare to just jump down. LOL!!
Posing with the knee board!
I did 360 spin with the knee board! weee...
will try to upload the video.
Yes, we are chilling. Can?

Me and Zedong trying the wake board.
The photos look cool.
But seconds after then picture were taken, we fell. haha...
I held on to the handle too tightly when my board went into the water. Though I pull myself out. Instead it got ripped out of my hands. Skin got torn.
First aid given was, clean with alcohol swipes, which was super painful, then tape it so that it doesn't rub against the handle. Yes, scotch-tape! First layer is up-side-down so that it doesn't stick on my dropping skin. 2nd lays was to wrap around and secure it. This way I can carry on playing! Kinda crazy, but it was only 2pm, we had 5 more hours!
Though, before going for it again, I decided to take a break on the day beds. The music was playing and the wind was good. Some of us, including me, even fell asleep!
The place is just so relaxing. The music played comes from our own Ipods.
You can just bring your Mp3 player there and play it there. So you can listen to anything you want. The sound system's pretty good too.
If you go with a bunch of friends on a weekday like we did, it's almost like you have the whole place to yourselves. There's not many other people.
Really a good place to chill out.
After we got enough rest(sleep), we went to try wake boarding again. And the handle got ripped out again. This time the dropping skin plus more skin and the tape all came off together.
Pain!
But this time it's almost time to go back already.
Wanted to stop, but suddenly realised I haven got a picture taken of me in action.
I.e., standing on the wake board in water.
So, went on with that injured left hand anyway.
haha...
That photo up there of me on the wake board was taken after my hand became like what you see below.

After that it was time to go and they shut off the motor for the cable ski.
But guess what?! That's not the end.
One of the workers there climbed up the tower and tie one of the ski handles to the top, so we can play...er...Swinging Tarzan?
haha....He let us climb up the tower half-way, grab the handle, swing and drop into the water.
Was really fun!
No pics for that, only vid. will try to upload.

Aside from skiing, I also learnt how to ride a bike there(should have taken a photo)! haha...
The place was big, so if we fall far from the launching point, there a motorbike to pick us up and ride us back. That's actually the most dangerous part about the trip. Because you will be riding with no protection. No helmet, no shoes. Only your shorts, PFD and your board. lol...
Plus, it's kinda off-road and they ride pretty fast(I dunno how fast cos there isn't even a speed0meter for me to look at!!).

To end this, the trip was really fun. Most of the people working at the ski park are actually pro or semi-pro wake boarders. We even got to watch free show! One of them did lot of stunts for us. He competed in one of the competitions in Singapore and actually got 2nd place. He's really good.
Not only did we have fun skiing, we got free show. haha...
Going to organise another trip there myself....

Will try to up load the vids asap.

P.s.: Btw, just got my sport climbing lvl 1 today. wahahha...

Taggie replies.

Just got back form Batam!!
haha....
first to reply than blog about the trip.


Nive: hi. I'm not sure if he has a blog lay. haha...

Shihui: lol... cos rumble no group photo ma...got meh?

Sirong: haha....u all happily tgt dun fight i happy le. hmm....really dunno sia... that time i'm prob doing my last camp before school starts.

Alison: ur alison from where? sorry, really bag with names. plus os many alison. see u will remember ba...

HuiMing: lol....of course. li hai rite? haha....cos zd keep saying " with a 'g'." lol... so i know lo. then saw ur name on ur shirt too. ya. i remember liao. haha... lol... wad pro...eh...y u not so "crappy" during camp, joke with u u always like blur blur one. now liddat?
u means u accidentially stumbbled across my blog? my group ppl wants the camp photo can i cant pass them man. though they gave me my blog. but nth lay. though they gave me their email(no chance to return them), i cant contact them. cos technically we are not supposed to keep in contact... but if they hunt me down then not that bad. stupid rite. but it's like that.

3-5th July 2008, Hong Kah Sec Sec 3 Adventure Camp.

Shall not with about Ai Tong Pri camp since I'm only there as belayer.

I'm going to try writing this post without all the day summaries, think it's kind of boring reading it. But, please comment? Haha...so I can make changes accordingly?

Here goes....
After so many schools in the East, finally one in the west(for HA).
During pre-camp brief we where told that this camp would be a little challenging and the culture is actually quite different from the schools that we've done.
And that there's lots of malays in the school.
Please note, I'm not racist. In fact, I like it when there are many malays.
More fun.
The interesting thing is, because of the number of malays int he school and also because of the school campaign to encourage chinese to learn malay and malays to learn chinese, many of the chinese actually knows how to speak malay. Some chinese can even converse in malay with the malays.
Really interesting. Always wanted to be able to do that.
And the more challenging the campers, if I'm able to run the camp well for them, the better the sense of accomplishment.

There where a total of 14 group instructors in the camp. Most of the class where separated into 2 groups and shared by 2 instructors. Only my the first class and my class is taken by only 1 instructor, my class, 3C, only had 29 campers(one absent).

On our way to the campsite, it was already evident that there are a few boys in class that were more "nosier" than the others. If they could direct their energy to doing constructive things, it's going be a great camp ahead.
Actually, I would say that that the class is quite problematic. Not because the students are delinquents but because there seems to be lots of tension, conflict and misunderstanding.
The problem between chinese and malays is actually quite serious in the school. But luckily in my class, there wasn't much of such a problem.
However, the class seems to be quite divided. On the first day, ready a fight nearly broke out because our class flag went missing and someone started pointing fingers.
Also, there's this girl that was sort of "out-casted" because the class didn't like that way she behaves and the way she want things her way.

The tension and misunderstand in the class is most probably due to the way they talk. Especially the boys. From the start of the camp, I've never actually heard a decent conversation within the class. The way they speak was more like quarreling.
I had to pause activities so many times to talk to them.
Even had to cut an activity just to make them communicate with each other.
I had to stop so many time to remind them of the same thing, they actually remind me of Jurong West Pri P5 camp that I just did.

It is really saddening to see them behaving they way they did. And seeing the way the class is divided.
Secondary school life, for many, would actually be the best time to make friends. No where else later in life as a student will you actually have chance to spend 4 years with a friend. Secondary school friends, for many, are actually the ones that you are going to be with till you grow old. As we get older, we get more busy and will have less time to actually make friends.
In JC, you only spend 2 years together, and because of the busy schedule many might not really have time to bond with classmates.
In Poly and Uni, because it not a "classroom teaching" style, it's not easy to make friends either.
So to 3C and all the readers and my little monkeys out there, really really treasure your time with your friends. Make more friends. Not enemies.

The objective I set for myself for the camp was really get the class to bond. And to help them learn to talk to each other and clear the misunderstanding. It was really quite demoralizing and saddening to see them they way they were.
But, I had to do my best. They need me. I cannot go "down".
Was actually mentally prepared for a "Cui" camp.
Was like hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.
Turns out, it was actually one of my more fulfilling camps.
Things started changing a bit after I cut the Rafting to talk to them and during campfire prep time, they were sort of working together. Though there was a bit of hiccup along the way. The campfire performance turned out great.
They seem to be starting to learn to work together. Hope they really have...
Was reading SiRong's blog that day....
3C reverting back to the old ways again??


3C: Even though you guys might say that you guys will not get angry at each other because you guys already know each others style.
But do you really think it's ok?
It's not. Even if you are not angry, you'll lose the motivation to talk things out.
Think about it, how many times have that happened?
When there's a misunderstanding or when you guys want to talk things out, then because of the way you're talking to each other, you just think, "aiyah, it's pointless to reason with him."
I believe this has happened countless times.
Because so many things are left unspoken, then tension and misunderstanding builds on it and make the class even more divided.

Living in a group takes skill and tolerance. We all have to learn to tolerate each others differences. Learn to give and take. I'm not saying that the class have to give in all they way to Nive. Try to solve things the peaceful way.
And Nive, the guys need to do their part in understanding you, but should you do something about yourself as well? When it's not only a few people in class that against you, surely, there's somethings you need to re-think isn't it? You're not living alone. Remember.

3C and esp the 5 of you that I spoke to, remember what I said.
Hope you guys can really make you secondary school life,
The Time of Your Life.

Finally went for my Kayaking 1 Star

Yeah!!
Almost 8 years of kayaking, and even doing KI for camps,
I finally got my one star!
On the 8th, the day right after my 5 camp streak ended on the 7th, 12 hours of kayak course!
lol....
I was quite tiring because I haven't got enough rest yet.
Nearly fell asleep a few times when the coach was explaining the theory behind certian things we need to do.
But the course was fun!
Out of 21 of us, 19 were trainers, roughly half from innotrek and half from trekkers.
As expected, many of us all very hyper and crazy. Lol..

The course was conducted by innotrek and since most of us are trainers, the course was modified and a little extras were thrown in. Things like observing current, familiarization of the waters and surrounding at Sarimbun/Jbac/Christine camp and slightly more rescue techniques.
It is to allow us to facilitate better in future, though many of the things some of us already learnt through experience.

We also cover ideal places to raft-up during high and low tide, dangers of drifting and capsizing near the fish farm.
Last activity to let's us practise rescue, the coach got all 21 of us to capsize and timed how long we need to get everyone back on the the kayak.
We took only 17mins plus. whahaha....
The practise was to let us know how to do rescue in an event where we ourselves capsize with our campers or when we go kayaking alone with a friend and bought of us capsize. It's roughly the same as when I do rescue in the water. hahah..

Company wants to push us up to level 1 coach.
Probably going for 2 star end of this month or early August.
Then Level 1 Coach course will be at the end of August, but it's only for selected trainers...
I WANT!! This way, even if I can't do full camp when school starts. I can at least do KI.

Taggie replies.

Sirong: Hey. About the bbq, i'm not sure if i'll be free. Plus, it's actually against company policy.
Really really appreciate the effort though.

annting: er...hi? Gan laopo? wad's that sia?

natalie: lol...ok...

claudia: Hi! liew....but y dumbo again....

Caroline: haha...y dun like mad spa.... you liked it rite? her group was the ONLY group that got to go to the water fall know. lol...

26-28th June 2008, Jurong West Pri P5 camp.

This post should have been up long ago...
Day one was written on the end of day 1 itself.
I brought my lappy to camp.
Part of day 2 also...
But later was too tired to write, I needed the rest and energy for my camp...and also some problems lately...so...
sorry for the late late late up date....

Day 1:
The school arrived late at Sarimbun.
Ice breakers where not done.
Took my group for the first activity--rock climbing.
The kids where lively all climbed really well.
West-side school.
I live in the west too...
hmm...maybe that's where all the monkeys come from....
Was expecting a great camp ahead, as the kids seemed quite enthusiastic at this stage....
but...Murphy's law proved itself....
speaking of monkeys, to my "horror", they really behave like monkeys!
They were really playful, had short attention span, on top of that, they were not cooperative and there where many conflicts with in the group.
Most of the campers in my group, esp the boys are really self-centre.
They only wanted to have fun and have many tried of the activities themselves and never considered that the other group members hadn't try.
Activity time this 1hr 30 mins per-session because they where did not cooperative and i had to stop sooo many times to tell them off, and wait for them to gather and settle down, actually time for each activity as actually reduced to less than 1 hr.

Rock-climbing, they climb and queued up for 2nd try even b4 everyone in the group tried.

Gladiator(boys vs girls), few of the more active and aggressive boys did of the tying of the catapult and the launching.
There was a lack of communication, or rather, they did not how to communicate,
when i said that everyone should be getting a try, these few boys actually started shouting and scolding the other boys for not helping.
When it's because of their aggressive and harsh ways that they other boys felt left out.
They where complaining that they didn't get to do anything and only the few boys are having fun.
They didn't get it even after I went over and told them their problem a few times.
They continued their selfish ways.

Command and Conquer, another game with water bombs.
The same few boys wanted to do all the playing.
One even snatched the plastic bags form the girls that was tasked to do the distribution.
same thing happened again.

River challenge, the boys want go for 2nd and 3 rd tries(sending the tubing and life vest back) even when the girls haven tried.
The teacher could no longer stand it and stepped in.
She gave them a good scolding, before my debrief.
I let the girls off to shower first and kept them as punishment.
Have to make them understand the importance of sharing and that when you're living in a group, it is only fair that everyone gets a fair chance.
They need to stop being so self-centered.

Night debrief, sense of urgency was missing again and
Teachers stepped in.
This time, there were 4.
The group was separated into 4 sub groups as suggested by the teachers.
The 4 more aggressive boys, who were also the trouble makers are made the group ICs.

The teachers commented that after scanning through the students in my group, they saw that all those with attitude problem, short attention span,....etc are all in this group.
Only 2 or 3 were "ok" ones.
That explains....
After so much prep talk today...really hope they will learn and get better...

really wanna find a way to change these kids...
it's a challenge to myself...
an achievement to help them.


Day 2:
Though day one was some what demoralizing. but had to pull myself together.
Whether the campers learnt and whether they have fun during the camp depends one me.

The day started out quite well actually.
On the first actvity, nature rumble, really saw them starting to work together and looking out for each other by helping each other up and down the steep and slippery slopes.
Praised them for it, they got change into their clean shoes/ washed their shoes pretty quickly too.
They did really well for outdoor cooking too.
Listened and cooperated with the staion Ic, Yimin, who's also our groups 2IC.
So there where actually one of the few groups that got to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
Hotdog with bread stick and baked banana with chocolate.

But after lunch they seem to reverted back to their old ways.
2 of the boys fought and one of them refused to tell me what happened when questioned them.
Not wanting to hold the group back, I sent the 2 boys to the camps Ops.
For next actvity, with the 2 boys taken out from the group, I realised that the group was much more cooperative and the game went on really well.
Through 2 days of observation, actually out of the 4 boys, 3 really understood what I've been telling them and are really changing.
Only that after all, they are primary school kids and they need consant reminder.

During the last activitythey were very lower energy. Guess all of them are tired after a long day.
We still had our campfire item to practise but many of them just kept asking when is it wash-up time and kept saying their not interested in the game.
Something that happens very often in primary school camps as they generally have lower tolerence and will power to go on once they fell uncomfortable and tired.
During campfire preparation, all of them were not motivated to do things properly even though I told them there'll be time for wash-up.
But the I told them it's the last practise, do a good one then they can all go shower, suddenly they did everything nicely.
Hope they realised when they all put their hearts into doign somethign togetherr, thing cna be doen really easily.

Day 3:
As usual, last day of the camp is for area cleaning. My group had to clean the girls toilet.
After area cleaning was the final debrief. After the debrief I brought 2 of the "problem-kids" a side and spoke to them.
Could really see the change in them. It's a pity I couldn't make one of the boys "wake-up". These 2 that I brought out realised the problem too.
I challenged them to help their friend change as well. They agreed.
The most touching thing is that one of the boys actually wanted to give me Strepils before leaving on the bus because he knew they made me shout alot and I lost my voice.
He said, "Thank you for improving me."
It was really touching.

Lesson:
The importance of Ice-Breaking sessions within a group before they start working together.
On of the factors contributing to the conflicts in the group and the fact that they are unable to work well togther migth be because the school got to the campsite late and no proper ice-breakers was conducted.
Many of them did not even know each others names. And as they are only primary school students, not many of them actually made and effort to ask for wach other's names.
It's really difficult to work when you are calling each other "eh".

Also, this camp has reminded me once again. Never give up. Don't jump to conclusion.
Never give up half way. Because if you do, you'll never know what greatness is waitinf fro you at the finish line.
Many times during the camp, I was really almost at the verge of breaking down. But I kept tellign myself, I had to go on.
The kids are depending one me. Luckily I managed to push on. Seeing the happy faces o nthe kids and the improvemnet in them was really fulfilling.
All the trouble was worth it.

Of course I need to thank Baoyun, Jarred and forgot who's the other instructor.
See you all when I was conducting TP suffle was really nice.
Sort od an energizer for me.
Hahaha....



I'll reply taggies in my next post.
need to go out now...

Taggie replies.

Ok!
Back to blogging.
First, to reply tags.

Guo Wei: sorry man...i had a camp straight after we break camp on had lunch on sat.
so couldn't make it. you guys saw instructor potato and yuanshan rite?

Caroline: hey....that name rings a bell! i checked my name list and, yea! she's in my group.
lol....small world. Cant remember her face though form her name though. got pic? lol....wad did she say abt the camp and me? she had fun?

kayying and vanisa: thank you. lol...

Jiahui: o. got vid r? show me hor. haha...

natalie: wa sia? jestyn's camper?? lol....how did u get my blog address sia??

Huisi: wahhaah....liddat i must see! CLASSMATE, SHOW ME HOR!!

kayying: swee! show me show me. lol...

si rong, shi hui, sok kee, jia sheng, weehong, karthick: hey...haha...will post on ur camp soon. but gotta wait awhile. cos stil lgto a few camps b4 urs to write abt. ^_^ speaking of running ard the campfire....i just sprained my ankle during my last campfire jumping ard the fire. lol...stupid man...

vanisa: lol...thanks....cos i away in camp for like 2 weeks ma.



will finish the post on Jurong west pri asap...
Grrr....
I need more discipline!!! and endurance!!!

Finally back!

BOO!!
Finally back!
My 3 camps back to back was extended to FIVE camps. lol...
SHAG~
but SHIOK~!
lol....
sorry for the delay posts.....in camp all they way,
will bw taking a short break for now to recharge...
will update the blog...
so many camps to write abt...
But still going for kayaking course tomorrow, 12 hours. WOOT!
haha...
will update asap!
ciao