HSSFOC –Fratellanza
‘Tired’ should have been the word to summarize the overall of my last week, but I’m choosing to use ‘Dynamic’ instead. I had such a power-packed week that I felt as though I’ve done a million things.
Monday, 20th July.
Went to Boon Lay Mrt Station in the morning, all geared up for camp, felt excited and nervous, but more so of sleepiness. Proceeded to NTU, had ice-breaking games with my orientation group, Afro. We played games for the entire day, felt really tired already on the first day of camp. I believe that my mood was partly dampened by the food we had and the chalet we were to stay overnight at. We had minced meat and yellow vegetables for lunch; dinner was again minced meat and slightly greener vegetables. We were brought to some Home Team Chalet in Bukit Batok where we would spend the rest of the camp. Twenty to thirty people had to squeeze into a small chalet with two rooms that had two beds in each. I slept on the bed with four other girls on the first night, while the other girls slept on the floor. The bad was so squeezy, I could not even turn.
Tuesday, 21st July.
Dirty Day! We played dirty messy games and had camo paint + watermelon + oyster sauce + soy sauce + flour all over us. There was trust walk too where we were blindfolded and had even more food poured on us. There was Milo powder, egg, honey, mashed banana, more soy sauce and more flour. I felt like a cake! May said that she felt more like a fondue. HAHA. Then at night, we had a SP activity where we chatted with people of the opposite gender whilst being blindfolded. Although we were blindfolded, there was still a sense of awkwardness, you will have to pretend to be warm and happy and really excited. I chatted with around seven different guys and really cannot remember much on what we chat about. Most guys like sports and I can only squeeze out my little knowledge of the Lakers and Kobe Bryant to chit chat with them. Otherwise, we will just be talking about how cheesy out nicknames sound like (mine was ‘Kiwi’) or about photography and stuff. I actually did have fun talking to some guys, I like it how two complete strangers are just getting high while on the topic of basketball, photography and even Discovery Channel. Haha.
Wednesday, 22nd July.
Had a splendid time at Sentosa! Although the sky was just plain evil to pour in the morning when we just reached Sentosa, we managed to play silly games while waiting for the rain to stop. When the rain finally died down, we started the games. The sun came out again and the weather was simply perfect for beach games, bright yet cooling. Throwing myself into the sea was the best part! The feeling of having the seawater hit you while under the glaring sun is just awesome. May and I were just having a nonsensical fun time throwing floating seaweeds on each other. Being buried in the sand, suffering from abrasions from the sand, chipping a nail from digging the sand, having sand in your mouth and in between nails, being wet, sandy and messy, all these round up a day of fun at Sentosa. Bathing in Sentosa was a challenge, a huge challenge. The queue for the shower room was never-ending. So we decided to shower using the public showerheads. May, Li Ning and I shared a single showerhead to bathe and tried to get ourselves sand-free. It was not an easy task okay; I still had sand in my bra after bathing! Haha. Then, we had dinner before proceeding to the next activity. Mambo Night was what our group leaders told us, but as we walked deeper into the dark, we realized we were conned! Having absolutely no idea what was lined up for us, we just sat down in a circle and played endless rounds of ‘mm-ji-ji’. First, Li Ning was brought away with another guy, and then half-an-hour later, May was brought away with another guy. It was Fright Night. People were paired up and brought into the forest trail. For me, I have night-blindness, so I cannot participate in Fright Night. I really really really want to participate in Fright Night; it seems so fun and exciting! But for ‘safety reasons’, they told me not to join in. So, a van ferried me and two other group members (Justina and Jeremy) back to the chalet first so we can have an early rest. We reached the chalet at around 1.30am, and Li Ning came back at the same time. When we went back to the chalet, one of the seniors told us that we have to disinfect our chalet as our group members are all falling ill one by one. They provided us with Detol, a mop, a pail and three rags. Then, we started cleaning the chalet. We washed the toilets, mopped the floor, cleared the rubbish, and disinfected the bags. DIRTY and DISGUSTED was all I felt while clearing the mess. I don’t understand how people can create such a mess in the toilet that it looked like a war zone of plastic debris with soggy tissue and head hair. (I have never entered the toilet in the chalet before as I would always use the public one instead, waiting to use the one in the chalet room can take forever because some girls just take an eternity to bathe.) The drain was clogged up with tissue and hair; the rug in the toilet was embroidered with sanitary pad’s plastic lining and tissue. We used three cups of detergent just to wash the dirty rag in the toilet (we used three cups of detergent in the pail of water to wash the entire chalet too), I wanted to throw it away, but it was the chalet’s property. After clearing up the horrible mess at the toilet, Justina and I went to bed. People started coming back at different timing, the latest at seven in the morning.
Thursday, 23rd July.
I was stoning at the balcony of our chalet in the morning while others slept. Most of them come back around five in the morning and so the seniors extended the sleeping time. When everyone woke up, it was already lunchtime. We had some bread and headed off to Ang Mo Kio for Amazing Race. Had Subway for lunch! Subway’s sandwich never tasted so delicious before! Haha, that’s probably because I had hard rice and blend food for the past three days. We went around city area to complete tasks for Amazing Race before heading down to Labrador Park for SP Night. Met Mangosteen, my special pal, and had dinner. We ate bee hoon + one sausage + one fishball + one nugget for dinner on the concrete floor with a trash bag as our mat. How romantic ah? Haha. My SP is a funny man who is into Theatrical Drama(!!!). Well, another friend earned.
Friday, 24th July.
Last day of camp! Finally! I couldn’t wait to get home and sleep, and that was all on my mind that day. We prepared for our og skit and had our last meal in camp. Food was good, the siew mai was just so shiok. Haha. After our skit and cheers, we broke camp and left. Finally.
Camp was fun, but really tiring too. We slept really few hours and were really burnt out. I came home looking more Filipino then ever, all thanks to my sun-kissed skin. Had minimal rest and left house again for the exposé09 camp.
Exposé09 Camp!
Met May and Melissa at Boon Lay Mrt Station and headed to NTU for the exposé (photog) camp. Barely awake, we joint other photog enthusiasts in ice-breaking games. The three of us are more like amateur photographers amongst the rest. Time passed relatively fast, the next moment we know, it is already lunchtime. Lunch was fantastic, as compared to what I had at HSS camp. After lunch, we started Amazing Race. We went around town area to take pictures and complete tasks. Singapore River was filled with Liverpool fans and ndp goers; a beautiful sea of red was what I saw there. Our group leader, Nanda, had a beautiful camera, The
Blackbird Fly Lubitel. It was really nice. That made me want to own a Holga even more, and a Holga costs much less! Edelyn, can you just go buy a Holga now!! Then, we went to Changi Beach to take pictures of the sunset. We had BBQ dinner and played more games. Melissa and I were the only two who slept that night in the tents. Others simply chitchatted and drank till the bus came to fetch us back to NTU. Back at NTU, we napped at the canteen. It was raining, so we couldn’t take pictures of the sunrise. When everyone woke up, we had a presentation of the pictures we took and then broke camp! May, Mel and I then sneaked into Hall 8 to bathe! Haha. Then we left and went home. Melissa is mad; she is going for yet another camp after the photog camp. God bless her and give this girl loads of energy! For me, I’m just gonna regain back all the energy I’ve lost in these two camps and continue with my slacker life until school starts.
First game of the first day kena forfeit already.
Afro~
Me, Nadia, May and Li Ning
During Trust Walk.
Seniors having fun looking at freshies get tortured and dirtied.
We got REALLY dirty. Oyster sauce, watermelon and what not all over us. 
It's a discoloured blister.
Trying to transport me in the sea.
SP night.
Back at the chalet.
That's all. 
