Designer: mariam
Codings: Manikka
Images: 1 2

Just came back from Japan!!! Yeah... so fun. haha. Mark, u wanted me to write about my experiences right? ok, here goes. . .
Japan was very cold but I really enjoyed the weather. We left Singapore on saturday but reached on sunday at around 8am. My host, Aki, had tennis competition so her parents came to pick me. We went to the sky garden and then for lunch. I could not speck jap and they could not speak much english but we still understood each other in the end. haha. went to their home, unpacked (I got my own room) and fell asleep. Later i found out that amanda fell asleep on her luggage while unpacking. Haha... we did not sleep much on the plane ride to japan. I wanted to sleep but i did not know how to set up my bed. so embarassing, my jap parents had to set it for me. heheez... then, i fell asleep. Later Aki and her sister, Mika, came home from tennis practise. wah! they are SO pretty! especially mika... both can become super models. the little brother, masaya, so cute! we had a delicious dinner. the mother cooks well. only Aki and papa(my jap mum is mama and jap dad is papa) can speak english. they got a shock when i said that my mother works and my father stays at home and takes care of the house. complete role reverse from the japanese. We had to wake up at 5.30am to go to school. 1 hour train ride and a very tiring 15 mins walk. crammed in the train and have to walk a very long flight of stairs to the school. The lessons were conducted in japanese and we were placed at the back so we basically slept throughout the entire day except lunchtime. no canteen, packed lunch. 45 min for lunch. haha. on wed we went to chinatown instead. that was the coldest day in the winter. but it was fun. everyday, the school ends at 3.30. Aki and i go for tennis practise until 5.5o and rush to get changed cos the school closed at 6. by the time we reach home it is around 7pm already. we eat dinner, talk bathe and sleep, around 10.30pm. w managed to go shopping om thurs cos they dismiss early. not much cos everything was so expensive. On Friday, there were any talks but it was all in japanese so the singapore students did not understand anything. we ended up sleeping at the back of the lecture hall. the second talk was by a blind lady. my host and i were sitting at the front but we still fell asleep(she was blind!). when mama asked what we did in school that day we just said that we slept the whole day. haha. at night, we went shopping again but the things were cheaper so i really shopped. haha. got things for my mother, father, sister, cell leader and best friend(dalston). haha. japanese stuff. mama bought an entire tea set for my family cos my mother likes green tea, so nice. she also bought jap biscuits for me. i wanted to pay for it but she kept on saying it was a present so i could not refuse. paisae.... haha... on sat we went sea paradise. it was un. not as crowed as disneyland or disneysea but very little rides. my fav rides is free fall, jet coaster and viking ship. i sat jet coaster 2 times in a row and viking 4 times. then i was dizzy and felt like vomitting. haha but it was fun. sunday we had to wake up at 5am cos the airport train arrives at 7.26am. We were so sad. aki cried but i'm not the crying type even though i felt sad. the jap girls gave us so many presents. i really miss then... I want to return to japan agian if possible

I was supposed to update my blog but I was too busy to do so. Yesterday just came back from taekwondo competition, got 3rd(bronze). haha. not bad considering my bout only had 4 people. Anyway, the most important things first, EDC!!!

Day1
I arrived at campsite at 0645. So early, no delta members arrived yet. Sit one side and stone. Then people started pouring in. Finally mark arrived complaining that my 1.5l waterbottle was very heavy for him. haha... sry, (thanks anyway mark). Later, when almost everyone arrived delta only had 5 present, smallest group. Patricia had not arrived yet and she HAD to come. why? SHE HAD THE FLAG!!! She was late but at least she had the flag. Scare us half to death only... Now, we had six people, still the smallest group. Nevermind, easier for group bonding and taking attendance. Everyone was ok but we could not really tolerate someone in the group. Always talk back to instructors and quite rude. The only good thing he had done for us was to help us finish our food. ok, so we went on to flag raisng and bag check. End up having to turn in my handphone and charger to sir. haha.. nvm, come to camp to enjoy and cut off from the outside world.
later, ice breaker. Actually, it was only for us to know our group mentors as we knew each other quite well from the pre-camp meetings. Desmond sir made us ask group memders 5 things about each other. We ask lame questions only. haha. Later Huda ma'am did pole dance for us. So sporting. great ma'am. thats the sprirt! The sirs kept on trying to snatch our flag, I learn from ULP that no matter what happens don't ever let go of the flag.
OA lessons. David sir conducted the lessons, just like in OAC. interesting, my favourtie subject in RC but been through it four times. (OAC, unit RC, OBS and now) someone was crapping during the lesson and can tell that Desmond sir was not too happy with it. Mark and I were trying to see who did the worst lashings, haha. Finding fault with each other. haha. so funny, reminds me of my little brother. hahaa... David sir kept on wanting to tie mark to the flag pole. Go sir! I support u! haha.. kidding
Obstacle course. We started off badly. took longer than the other groups as we wanted to tie the improvised stretcher properly so the 'casualty' will not fall as hurt herself. Someone irritated Doreen ma'am. (bad move) she was willing to give him a chance. Throughout the course we stuck together as a team. Later at the spider web, I was blind, Sze yin could nto walk and Samuel's hand was immobilized. (because of the previous game) they carried me over the spider web. wow! cannot believe it. I SO! heavy they still can do it... wah!.... I really wished I was not the blind one, should ahve chosen a lighter person, i made my group members suffer for nothing... so later the blind(me) was sitting one side when Doreen ma'am came over to talk to Desmond sir who was looking after the blind. I heard other group members shouting that if u are kidnapped scream but never expected Doreen ma'am to do so. She refused to let me scream. All she said was, " U are being kidnapped". I know i was being led upstairs and sat alone in a classroom. later desmond sir came. phew! ma'am said that my group members were not taking care of me. I said sir was so she let me go. double phew!! hmmm... my buddy cracked in my pocket so my track pants was eggy. Haha...
EHL. Doreen ma'ams teaching was nice. The topic was a new topic therefore interesting but a little dry(like RCK). I think the campers may not have totally enjoyed it but said they did it in a sacastic way.
Night trek. We left with high moral. Every group's flag was taken before except for dynamites'. Then.. we forgot the cotten twine so our flag was confiscated. aiya, destroy our record only. David sir was so happy when he saw our flag, " finally we have dynamite's flag." so we misinterpreted most of the clues, forgot our cotton twine, got our flag confiscated, lost our way, skipped a station and lost our score card. Bad, unluckily. But I think that if any other group in EDC had gone through what we had that night, they would not be able to pull it through as united as we did. through that whole walk, we did not argue at all but laughed and joked our way back to campsite. Not once did our moral dampen. our motto that night "we are united, it is the experiencne that counts" Bty, TAUFIK WON!
bao wei was appointed as the next day ic. Ginni and I were prepared for the worst to came. Nvm... We had debrief and went to sleep.

Day 2
The girls woke up early the next day and went to bathe. The water was freezing and I was shivering like mad. We went down to assemble and the day ic was totally blur. ok, in school she did not have much expericence but what totally angered us was that she kept making the ma'ams and sirs scold her for the same mistakes. I don't pity her, I pity the ma'ams and sirs. She never learns, they were actually very patient with her already. I wanted to scold her myself when she let the flag touch the floor and kicked the flag. If she has no respect for the organisation she is in way bother to turn up for any of the activities? If she is in Red Cross she had better respect the flag. Luckily we had eastravagenza, all of us were not in campsite for half the day if not we will die...
Eastravagenza. We were so blur about our clues that we ended up asking the mrt personel about it. She was so kind to look up the street directory and direct us there. We ended up going to three compulsory places and 1 optional place. No choice. Firstly, we had no time. secondly, we were clueless on where the places were. We had lunch at lau pa sat. The sirs were very nice. They bought 100+ for us. So nice. Thank you sirs. We ate and had to rush back to campsite. Lugan sir kept on telling us jokes. So nice to talk to him. Can tell that Desmond sir and Eugene sir were very tired. They had less sleep than us and still ahd to travel around Singapore with us. Actally, samuel and I were suposed to present but Doreen ma'am barred us from doing so. So ended up Pat and Geri had to. they were very soft but at least they tried.
Campfire preparations. Ginni (Ah beng), shaun and aaron were trying to get us to cheer along with them but someone kept on making things tough for them by answering back and not co-operating. Ah beng was so angry. Can't stand that boy, ah beng already have a sore throat still want her to shout at him.
Campfire. Really enjoyed the opening. The explosion was a little slow but it was nice. Thank you sirs and ma'ams for your effort in the campfire. It was such a fun time for all of us. I had to chase J-boy (Jazimin) all over just to pass him a blade of grass. tiring. haha... Ah beng ran all over with a candle and her group was cheering her on. haha... the ending was a little abrupt but it was nice. The activity were we had to blind fold ourselves except for two group members. We took turns helping our friends around. The David sir and desmond sir loved disturbing mark. haha. At the marching station, I thought my footdrill was bad but someone ended up commanding sze yin out of the box. At least we did not lose our score card or flag. When I was blind and holding the flag, don't know which ma'am tried to snatch the flag out of my hand. (another lesson from ULP)
Later supper that time the ic made us eat all the biscuits. Ah beng was about to explode already. I also was so angry. Luckily ma'am was nice enough to allow ua to put back the biscuits or we will die stuffing ourselves with food.(ironic way to die in camp) Desmond sir helped us finish some biscuits too. Debrief, flag lowering. Ic held us up, again. we ended up sleeping late. at night ah beng were passing some stuff across the beds as we both slept on top. Sze yin was sleeping next to me and she was at risk of getting hit by one of our flying objects. haha. i make it sound so scary. it was just some medication we were passing.

Day 3
Went to bathe again but by this time I ahve already gotten used to the cold water. No choice I stink like mad. haha... We were so glad that the ic was a different person. Haha Mark Ong haha. You were warned the day before... muahahahaha... i'm so evil. The night before he came to me and asked how to raise a flag. The ma'ams and sirs were already walking around so i asked him to ask j-boy to teach. At least he was a good ic. Luckly for him its was the last day and the instructors were not so strict.
Management crisis. this time we did not lose our score card or flag. we had a great time. We put a marshmallow in chee keong sir's shoe and made desmond sir's hair white. cleaning the table was a little disgusting but at least we could wash our hands after that. We tried to wipe the table dry with our pants but since it was waterproof it just spread the water around. Samuel had to dry it as his pants was cotton and we ended up getting scolding from Huda ma'am for not drying the table.
OPS 123. My favourite. My group was the amblance service but I think I would be better as a teroeist haha. kidding... while we were in the hospital, shaun and his group came down and started the massacre. really bad. I was shot a few time when i went out to evacuate. Huda ma'am ended up having to evacuate all the first aiders. The funnies part. Both mark and I were holdind the walkie talkies as we were in the first aid post and hospital respectively. Mark and a few more were injured so I passed my walkie talkie to someone ana went out to evacuate. i got shot and took my place next to him. He then said in to the walkie talkie, " Mark to Tammy, Where are u?" (-.-"') next to him.... he really need observation skills. funny. jus like my little brother. but we totally enjoyed ourselves.
area cleaning. organised. We girls learnt someting "don't ever ask a guy to rinse a rag for you as he will soak it in water and return the dripping cloth back". basically, we did our jobs efficiently.
Later, we managed to sabo the vs boys in leading the cheers for us and being our non flammable campfire. haha. phototaking and we all went home.