The Council Girls. There are very few Council Camp photos, prolly cause we were all too busy...
- c a s t a w a y 2 0 0 5 -
Honestly, it was one of the Council Ad hocs I thought would fail. Seriously disliked the idea of going outdoors. Like EXCESS baggage. Unfamiliar terrain. Homesickness. Little reception. And worse of it all, doing unnecessary charity work for the wrong target group. Mosquitoes. Blood Donation Drive.
But somehow, guess it made me stronger. Made our Twenty Seventh bond stronger.
3 days 3 nights camp. The 27th bumped in on the 27th. The 28th elects came in on the 28th & the camp lasted till the 30th.
My first ever Outdoor strenous camp. Other than LTC, it was the first time I'd really cook for myself, & others, on the gas canisters/solid fuel...
I miss the tents. The sand. The logs by the beach where we'd sit to gather to talk, to bitch, to rest, to stone. I miss the having-to-light-up-candles-JUST-for-visbility at night. I miss sleeping outside, at the Command Hut ( even though it was with great disgust that Caiwen & I found out we were sleeping RIGHT next to the bins ). Yes, I miss staying up to chat with the councillors, the 2nd night, especially, Caiwen, Amanda, Idzham, Ngern, Kok Siang & Serene. I miss the smell of mosquito coils. I miss the killing of mosquitoes. The slapping thighs exercies. The sound of the insect repellent sprays. The smell of it. The tent mates May, Shiting, Caiwen, Shizhen. I adore Council.
And during Council Camp, having to shout at them, lecture them. I felt so grown. Felt like we've been through really alot. Somewhat never expected the words/yellings I'd speak to them about whilst conducting the games/Star Wars 2. It made me realised how much I've learnt indeed from Council.
The Council Camp weariness bogged us all down. But the togetherness kept us going. Strong, & stronger. People sacrificing their sleep to keep guard. Robson, Kok Siang. Mosquito Coils delivery services. Watsons' Store, aka Shiwen... tonnes & tonnes... the 27th's really wonderful...
From Day 0, the Midnight Walk Trial, how amazingly Mr Foosha let me molest his arm & shirt, & the interesting conversation we had on our way there to keep me from thinking distracting thoughts. The intriguing Astronomy discussion we had at the holding area, with all the "testees" & station I/Cs. And to Sumitro, who was a lovely accompanion who let me squeeze his arm also, & held me when I was like darn scared & the lovely conversation that made me not fear. & indefinitely, to Shiting, who forced me to sleep to ensure enough energy for Day 1.
Day 1, was amazingly boring. Not because Fun & Games One was bad but just simply cause I had not much duties for the first half of the day. Just food preparations. !!! Fun & Games Two. Fed the most mosquitoes entirely though my station was the one with the most councillors. Acted out a silly problematic situation that was all so entirely impromptu lahhs !!! Coral, as my mum, Amanda, my chairman, Michelle Wong, Huazy & Shiting as my fellow councillors. And Jon Foo as my horribly demanding boyfriend. It was darn hilarious, I tell you. Was pretty much just hanging around campsite & resting for the big event...
Was at the Holding Area with Ngern, Xuemei & Freddy, Ms Chiew, Ms Tang & Mr Tan for Night Walk. Made like 20 trips up & down, sending off the elects & ensuring every single one of them knew the safety codes & all. It was kinda silly, having to repeat at least 20 times the exact same matters. :/ Te Elects had to suffer mosquito stings... due to the deficency of coils. Tsk. The human traffic flow was, according to Mich Kuek, exactly one song on her Ipod intially, & it sped up thereafter. Gathered with them for Milo & Biscuits supper session & we had this really cosy sleep at the Command Hut on cardboard & groundsheets. Caiwen, Amanda, Idzham, Ngern, Kok Siang & Serene. (: [by the way. yes, take note, this is when Caiwen & I found ourselves sleeping NEAR the bins after waking up].
Day 2. Straight after lunch, we left for our station games at Maman Beach. Oh mans that was the ultimate killer area. All the Commando Mosquitoes who can escape the stench of Insect Repellants & Sun Tan Oil. Yeay. I devised that Sun Tanning Oil was an effective Insect Repellant the day before.. but apparently, the Mosquito Commandos there evolved really fast & got resistant to it damn fast & the poor Cai & I ... & the elects too. The Walk back, I was damn flustered, and my flat feet couldn't move for nuts lahh, but I was really really glad for Robson's help & Caiwen's. (: An unexpected downpour greeted us, depriving us of the plans for Problem Solving Adventures . Guess the programmers for that were utterly disappointed. But that was however, a blessing in disguise.
We had this canvas sheet thing set up, something shelter-protection sheet thing with the downpour & thunder & lightning going on. The unity. The way everyone made sure everyone else had another layer of poncho/jacket on them. The gathering under the canvas sheet. The crazy "pumpings" 27th loved to do. The reminscense. The wonderful memories. Eating away to our heartiest moods. Chit chatting away & recalling matters as though we had been friends for life. It was truly amazing, I call it that CPR [Canvas-Poncho Rendezvous] .
Funky, Starry, Camp Fire Night rocked the hella outta my socks lahhs. The hilarious performances the 28th put up, although, very much out of point in comparison to our games' objectives, was really entertaining. And the games we played :) And also, re-dancing the Mass Dances again. Hahas. Though Ngern & I were kinda bad at recalling. Playing the mass games where the elects competed against the councillors. I must say, I certainly put off my hat to our councillors. We rock man. Nothing can ever compare with the priceless friendship that we have formed over our term. Star Wars was launched not long after & it was hilarious speaking in codes. (: Didn't manage to go for Star Wars 1 or 3 or 4 cause I was way too tired. Hate it for being too frail but was really glad to have gone for Star Wars 2. If only my voice was with me, I swore I would have made my words worth then. Yups, those -- respectively, Night Trekking, Inspection Drill, Perseverance. Cai & I were so uberly tired we just dozed off at night & missed out the encore.
Cleaning up was not too bad & the crazy few of us even went out for KFC dinner.
Bathed in school first before leaving!
Hahs. Was back in school today for Mathematics Lecture, supposed to be studying with Amanda but ended up chatting, playing Volleyball. Ended up at Pizza Hut for lunch & magazine-browsing till seven plus. Its amazing how we all can click with each other.
One year. From 40 to 37 to 36 to 32. All hearts linked to one soul. One body. One mind.
I'd never knew council would leave such a deep impact on me.
Training the 28th made it seemed to bring back memories of the Council Camp 2005. And it is then you'll see how wonderful Council has taught us all. We've blossomed, we've grown.
Council started out strong. 40 strong body. Got really comfortable with my committee. Detested my council groupd mates from Sashenka from how slack they were ( recall Idzham, Jonathan Lim & Fauwaz) Lolx. CCAco was super cool then. Zhen Hui, Zhen You, Jiamin, Amanda, Michelle Wong. Dedy. Fauwaz. But then, guess things were pretty screwed up then for this batch of starting out councillors & batch by batch, people started disliking council activities. I, for once am seriously guilty of it.
My Phoenix Co-House Captain, fellow College Day emcee, best friend in NY decided to quit council once and for all. Yes, that was when the teachers didn't want to heed our proposal. Being kinda a sticky person then, guess I was really deeply strucked... lost, empty.
But I am so awfully glad I stayed. Till now, I can still remember Jonathan Lim saying, "Don't do things you know you'll regret later down the road." & all the others "Don't Quit lahh."
There were so many tonnes of ups & downs. & irritating moments. So many stuffs we went through together. Of course. Undying conflicts.
One thing I most dread about though was that I could never ever participate in other adhocs. It was always, always CCAco adhocs. Sports Day, Racial Harmony Competition, LEAP Carnival, Chinese New Year Celebrations... but I do like working with my committe, don't get me wrong.
CCAco's still admittedly the best committe I've ever been. (: And if given the chance again, whether the Old or the New CCAco, I'll go with whoever, whichever. Its the CCAco-ian thing that matters. Both rock, of course the NEWer one's the one that's so much better.We definitely went through more ordeals. Cause we stayed on.
HuiXiang. Serene. Xue Mei. Michelle Kuek. Sumitro. Pei Hua. Shiting. Freddy. Kok Siang. Shiwen. Coral. Jonathan Choy. Amanda. Imran. Michelle Wong. Dedy. Yongcheng. Fauwaz. Kenneth. Robson. Jonathan Lim. Idzham. Shizhen. Yi Jia. Nicholas Ngern. Daryl. Shane. May. Caiwen. Jonathan Foo. Lynette.
Council Camp 2005.
28th College Day. Council Elections.
Orientation Two.
Chinese New Year Float & Performance Competition.
Orientation One.
Council Retreat.
LEAP Carnival.
Teachers' Day.
National Day Celebrations.
Sports Day Council Investiture.
27th College Day. Council Camp 2004.
I know I will miss all these. And for long, I am sure I'll keep all these wondrous memories deep down in my heart. I am going to cherish every single moment I have now, as long as I can still step into the council room, put on my council pin. I love all of you. Twenty Seventh.
LIC NUOC 72.
alsssa, signing off.
