Secret War Journal[8 July - 12 July 2014][Long Post][Media-Heavy]
Day 1 - Yorel, you're up
Clothes checked. Shoes checked. Sleeping bag checked. Yorel, it is time to go.
I would be frank. I was dragging my feet to the door on that afternoon to go for the camp. I was slowly packing my items as indicated from the packing list provided. Emelia was around so she probably noticed my walking up and down to transfer items to and fro my bag.
Why am I dreading the camp? After all, did I not sign up for the camp. (Now you are probably wondering I am some indecisive ***tard.) In my defense, I am an introvert. It just so happens that on this very day, the first day, I was feeling the full blown effects of introversion so I was not really looking forward to meeting a lot of new people. It helped that I had prepared myself for this day but it did not help that I was not able to recharge sufficiently before today.
Nevertheless, what's done is done. Despite my reluctance to get out of the house today, I set out towards tampines.
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The location to meet was at the Gongcha at the MRT station. (Ironic as it may sound, I actually reached the area early. Curses, well on the bright side, I guess it was better to be early than late.) However, when I reached the location, I did not see anyone in orange shirt.
(A bit of background here: We were supposed to meet up at bubble tea shop gongcha wearing an orange shirt. Since there was no whatsapp group created beforehand, I had no one to consult except for a phone number.
Our orientation group (OG) name was Titus. Supposedly named after a roman emperor. The reason why likely could be due to the theme of the camp - The King's Coliseum.)
As it turns out, Titus's meeting point was not exactly at the bubble tea shop. Jin Heng, one of my OG mate came to me when I was loitering around the shop. He asked if I was part of Titus which I replied that I was. He pointed to a shelter opposite the shop where I see another guy with orange shirt.
As it turns out, I was the first few to arrive. I was kind of surprised because many members from the other OGs had arrived. They were all very early, wow. Perhaps I should rephrase my sentence - I was the second member to arrive at the correct place. I think many of us arrived around the same time but no one realised that the meeting point was actually opposite the shop. (I mean, seriously, no one was informed about this. They cannot be blamed.)
While waiting for the rest to arrive, we started to introduce ourselves to make this whole waiting a little bit less awkward.
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When everyone was gathered, we took a bus towards the lodging area. Much is not revealed before this day. No one among us knew where we would be staying at nor what were in store for us. As it turned out, we were taking up residence at the Aloha Changi Chalet.
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| This was where we stayed for 4 nights |
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| After a long ride, finally reached our destination |
Here, we did a formal round of introduction and proceeded with the games.
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| This is where we had our games for the first day |
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| Camp President Speech |
One of the notable games we played was the one concerning our mode of accommodation. We had to compete against the other houses, Vulcan, Spartans, Ceasar in the game of 黑白配 (a game where two players first play scissors-paper-stone, the winner then denote a direction which the other player must not point his head to. If the winner succeeds in making the other player point his head towards the designated direction, he wins.)
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| Scissors-paper-stone! |
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| Wrong direction! :p |
Long story short, Titus was second. Thus, we were supposedly allocated the second best lodgings. (I still feel cheated on this matter but it is not that important.) The last house from the competition was supposed to sleep outside overnight but obviously, it was a lie. (In fact, some believed that their lodgings are better than the first and second runner-ups. Blasphemy.)
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| Next, we painted our house flags. Camp family shot! |
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| Ceasar |
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| Vulcan |
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| Spartan |
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| Titus |
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Titus Family
From Left(2nd Row): Kai Wen, Jin Heng, Andy, Leroy, Wee Hang, Da Yuan, Choon Keat, Ryan
From Left(1st Row): Yeow Yang, Aaron, Sisi, Xiao Xin, Sebastian, Francis, Shu Wei, Sin Yi, Daniel, Jivon |
Night came and we played a series of games with our sister-house Ceasar before we called it a day early. By early, I meant earlier than expected. The activities ended around 11pm which came as a shock to most of us. We actually suspected if the camp organisers would wake us up in the middle of the night for some activity. (They didn't.)
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| Blowing bubbles, for fun |
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| Drinking game |
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| So messy! |
Interim -/- Namesake -/-
- Aaron - (Hebrew) Exalted, Strong
- Andy - (English) Manly
- Daniel - (Hebrew) God Is My Judge
- Francis - (Latin) From France Or Free
- Jivon - (Sanskrit) To give life
- Ryan - (Irish) Descendant Of The King
- Sebastian - (Greek) Venerable
- Sisi - (African) born on Sunday
Not much interesting names this time round. Some names worth mentioning would be Jivon - an irregular name given to males. Its Sanskrit origins makes the whole name much more interesting; and Ryan - For obvious reasons. Unfortunately, it is of Irish origins. I hope to find one originated from France.
Day 2 - We and our sense of direction
We got lost, very lost, extremely lost
Morning came with most of feeling tired despite how early it ended yesterday. Time check - it is now 7am in the morning. I slept at around 4am in the end yesterday from talking. Some slept even less, catching the World Cup live.
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| Breakfast! |
Today's highlight was Amazing race. Our first stop would be... Tampines. There is nothing to done at Tampines actually. It just so happens that that we have to transfer at Tampines since it is the nearest MRT station from our chalet. From Tampines, we made our way via train to Somerset where *scape awaits us.
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| And so we go! |
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| Having fun at Tampines |
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| This train belongs to us |
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*scape
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| One of our sponsors |
Reaching the station was no easy feat. Not much were given as to the precise location of their whereabouts apart from the fact that it was in *scape. After venturing the place a bit, we eventually found them at the one of highest floor. One interesting to note, however, was that there was a filming being taken place beside it. I could not figure out what show was it for but it did not seem local.
One consequence of the station being located next to a set was the inability to shout and make a lot of noise since the other party is filming. As a result, we were not allowed to do cheers and get overly excited. (kinda sad, huh)
To clear this station, we had to finish a game combining charades and messenger.
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| Mirror LMAO |
Instead of a verbal message, the message had to passed from one to another via charades. Of course, there is a high chance that the message gets kind of strange, rendering this challenge potentially difficult. However, all strategies were made redundant by the wonderful position of the wall mirror. With the mirror, one could see the first person's actions and deduce the answer. With that, we cleared the station with ease.
Next stop. A certain stadium (I forgot)
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Stadium
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| What? Not happy ah |
This station tested us on coordination and teamwork. It was a manageable task and we cleared it with minimal hassle.
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| Tying our legs together |
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| We are ready! |
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| Getting our coordination right |
The first task was to satisfy a set of conditions as instructed by the station master. For example, 5 legs, 4 arms. Only 5 legs can be in contact with the floor and 4 arms in the air. It is similar to the game, twister.
Next, we would be given a pivot and we would need to either rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise about it. It was quick fun clearing this task, hahas.
The third task involves passing through a hula hoop across all the members.
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| Not very difficult, isn't it |
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| Cleared them, no sweat! |
After the third task, we would be released. The entire house would not conduct a macarena dance. This was done with hilarious effect.
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| What's happening?! Hahas |
Now, bonus round! In this round, we would given a period of time where we try to get as many water bombs from one point to another via human chain. We had to throw it to pass to the next person.
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| Not going to make it easy for you guys! |
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| Bring it! |
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| This is trying |
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| This is...Just give me! |
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| This is...Too easy |
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| Out for lunch |
Clearing the station, we headed for lunch - Chicken Rice!
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Plaza Singapura
Getting our clue to our next stop, Plaza Singapura, we headed there after our lunch.
As it turns out, this was the easiest station. The challenge was this -- Find a certain number of items which add up to a specific amount as given by the station master.
Our strategy to achieving this real quick was to split into smaller teams and find items to match up to an amount that we discussed on.
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Marina Barrage
Our last station. Last because we took kind of long to reach the destination.
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| Our OGLs - This is going to take a long time |
The task is called Magic Carpet. This is actually harder than it looks. Stage I was easy. We need to stand on the mat and flip the mat without us touching the grass patch outside the mat.
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| Smile while you still can guys! |
Stage II: We need to move the mat from Point A to Point B without us touching the grass patch outside the mat.
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| Magic Carpet, fly us there! |
It took some time and a lot of coordination but we did it.
Stage III: The mat is not cut to one fourth its size and we all need to squeeze on it!
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| We did it! We did it! |
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| Time to attack the Station Master, with bubbles! |
Since we ran out of time to go for the next station, we decided to have some fun (and clear some hidden missions at the same time :)
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| Jump shot |
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| Power Slam |
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| From Left: Aaron, Leroy, Andy, Francis, Jin Heng |
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| Taking pictures with tourists |
Time to head home.
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A little incident
On our way back to the Chalet from Tampines, an incident happened. Drunk with laughter and fun, we boarded a bus without a second thought, only to realise that the bus does not go to our chalet. The bus that we were supposed to take was XX. When a bus XXA came, we sorta assumed that the bus would go to our Chalet. Once aboard, one of us checked and realised that it does not. Immediately, we alighted after one stop and waited for our bus. However, bus after bus came, all full and could not accommodate us. Eventually, we gave up and took a bus back to the interchange and took the correct bus to the chalet. By then, we were one hour late. As a result, we had a late dinner.
You would think this is all for today but it had only just begun. I am cutting this post into multiple parts, seeing that this post is becoming too long.
Click here to see what happened next [Not published] -->
Credits: Are You Photogenic?, Michelle Chow
Time to head home.
