June and July gave me a fresh pair of eyes and a ticket back to my old, carefree 15/16 year old days. Mid June saw me standing anxiously on a platform, behind the yellow line, berating myself for feeling so ridiculously nervous over meeting new people and taking shots with new experiences. Yet, I made a conscious effort to remember and repeat the mantra I came up with at the beginning of the year -- "do first, think later". It wasn't one of those reckless, rebellious, hashtag "YOLO I'm out of school and I'm gonna do all sorts of nasty" kind of thing. It was more about taking my chances, going with the flow and living in the moment.
Meet people? Check. New experiences? Check.
Arts Camp gave me a mix of feelings. I tried alcohol for the first time and I didn't like it even when it was mixed with soft drinks. Social Night saw me stepping into Zouk for the first time, wide-eyed, somewhat overwhelmed and feeling quite out of place since I was nowhere near high (or tipsy). Drinks were handed out prior to stepping into the club and I did try, but the alcohol left a bitter aftertaste I did not enjoy and it made me feel more sleepy than anything. Surprisingly though, I did enjoy myself :-) The loud music, the flashing lights and the physical closeness seemed to be, for many, the right concoction for the unleashing of free-spiritedness. I liked the rawness of human emotion plastered on the faces of those around me but I swore silently to myself never to lose myself completely in a club. ( Although I also entertained the thought of returning with Marcus, Kennedy and Clarence, hehe)
Arts Camp gave me a group of friends I see myself keeping in a long time to come -- you meet many people and you learn more about them, but sometimes you meet certain people you just click with and there's this silent agreement that the two of you will be more than just fleeting acquaintances. People like Dylan, who gleefully announced "congrats Chiyin you popped your first cherry tonight!" upon seeing me take my first sip of alcohol and exploded into laughter when I found out the meaning of the phrase (I had no idea what "popping the cherry" meant and I went around telling everyone I was gonna pop more cherries that night - *cue biggest facepalm ever*), people like Zhen Ye - someone I've seen so much this month alone thanks to NUS and MOE and someone I truly truly truly enjoy being around, and someone like Chelsea, who makes it so comfortable to be around and share my thoughts with.
Alright, back to OBS. I was initially filled with so much dread and disinterest when I thought about going back to Pulau Ubin and relieving the Year 3 OBS days. The Year 3 experience was not a bad one so to speak -- I remember leaving the camp and crafting a really long blogpost dedicated to the whole experience -- Everyone knows I'm champion at telling grandmother stories but I'm only like that when it comes to things I care about! So evidently the Year 3 OBS experience was something that I did care about, only that I couldn't help but think of the clogged toilet bowl and floating pads in camp 2's toilet whenever I think of OBS. Yep, think of wet shower cubicles with long hair stuck to the walls, floating pads and girls running to the toilet the moment it was shower time and tell me that OBS is something you'd like to relieve.
This OBS experience was different though. If there's anything I've come to learn and accept, is that people are placed in your life for a reason -- if it's a good reason it's a blessing, and if it's bad, then you just have to make the best out of it. I thank my lucky stars for aligning and placing me in Raja, where I had the chance to be surrounded with the best people for three days. I am not exaggerating. On the first day, we tried the high elements that I'd never attempted before. Our instructor brought us to the huge structure that as a secondary school kid, I'd only ever walked pass:
Both Sheena and I are people who talk to ourselves a lot when placed in scary or stressful situations. This was one of our moments and it did not help that I did close to 2 hours of intense blogilates the day before. The whole time I was on this thing my butt/ arms/ thighs were aching and Cassey's voice was sounding in my head -- "COME ON YOU CAN DO IT! OH NOOOO I DON'T WANNA SEE YOU RELAXING, YOU GOT THIS!!!! YOU FEEL THAT BURN??? YOU FEEL THAT ACHE?? GOOD! COS I'M FEELING IT TOO!"
That compounded with my inner voice - "Why the hell would you even do blogilates before OBS???!!!!!" (those were the exact words Zhen Ye used when I told him what I did before coming for the camp). We didn't manage to reach the top of the structure because it was a partner climb and I got stuck at the net. We were so close but I was really really REALLY stuck and my arms were jelly so I ended up having to give up. Felt bad because I knew that Sheena really wanted to reach the top, but she was so patient throughout and I honestly could not have done it without her. The guys tried a more difficult challenge though -- they had to make their way up those log-like wood in their pairs, with almost no support except for each other. There was a lot of stepping on each other and what we referred to as "paktor moments" because they always ended up sitting down on the log and having to plan their next move.
Our instructor brought us to a tunnel at night, where he locked us in a room that was completely dark and extremely stuffy, where the only things that emitted light were the 2 light sticks we were sharing and the oxygen meter that would beep once our time was up. Our mission was to work as a team and enter the two tunnels that extended from the room before coming out and charting a floor plan of the tunnels. We went in teams, and I followed behind Sebastian. Was filled with utmost respect and awe for the guys because they handled the mission so calmly and I remember thinking to myself that I too wanted to be the kind of leaders they were. I still remember them going "right turn at 3 o' clock direction/ dead end at 11 o' clock direction/ Robert can you check your left?" haha. I think it was really the little things that left such a deep impression on me -- constantly turning around to check if the one behind was okay and placing their hand over our heads so we wouldn't bump onto the rocky surface above us.
On the second day, we left for our two day expedition (Land and sea). I think it was really those 2 days that forged such strong friendships and bonds within us :) Headed off early in the morning with our heavy bags and bashed (ARMY SLANG HERE!!!!) through the forest before realising we were lost. There were more guys than girls in our watch so the girls really learned a lot about army from them. The expedition was waaaay tougher than I remember it to be in year 3, but it was more fulfilling at the end of it all.
My favourite part was prolly when we finally pitched our tents at our destination and had to take turns to be on night duty. Our whole OG ended up staying up and sitting by the beach in the dark listening to the waves whispering as they came into contact with the shore. The stars were exceptionally bright at Ubin and Glenn told us about the constellations and pointed Mars out (it's that tiny orange speck you see among the rest). We played games and revealed personal sides to us and if there's anything I learned from that experience it was that first impressions do not count HAHA. (hint hint at Eric)
Things changed after the storm though. Dum dum dummmmm. HAHA
There was a storm in the middle of our sea expedition and the waves were so rough, we almost capsized a couple of times! The instructors changed our route and we beached at a nearby shore before seeking shelter. Had lunch and talked in our group before the storm finally cleared and we could resume our activities. So strange though, after the storm we suddenly became 10x better than we were. The three of us went from zero to hero as we managed to overtake everyone and ended up leading the team. No idea where that suddenly came from but we decided to acknowledge and embrace our "hidden talent" LOL
We ended up playing "never have I ever" and "I have ever" on the kayak, and it was a really nice experience in general because the water was calm and the weather was just right after the storm. There was a lot of loud laughter on our kayak because the three of us were cracking up at our conversations throughout.
Our first dinner after "booking out"!!! Or "ORD-ing" as the guys preferred to call it :-)
I think RVRC may not be as big or happening a place as the RCs in Utown, but somehow there's something about this level of activity that I find just right. I love how I managed to step up and find my voice in here, taking on a position in house comm and starting conversations with so many different people without ever feeling small or muted. I love how the people here are on the same frequency as I am and I like how we can click so easily because our priorities and interests are pretty much the same :) Maybe it's a bit too early to say this and maaaaaybe in the not too distant future I'll be saying this with a completely different mindset but I think the RVRC mods are not that bad. I do enjoy playing floorball for WR and my ES1601 tutor is really motherly and nice in general so I don't feel like I'm being thrust into the academic wilderness and left to fend for myself. As for GEM, we haven't entered the project stage proper and my tutor's a little strict and all business-like (she's really prim and proper) but I like how the tutorials are all graded based on class participation so it forces you to prepare or research before speaking up in class. I feel like its a lot easier to voice out my opinions and provide my input in uni -- this is a giant leap for the Chiyin who DID NOT dare to speak up in Y6.
Oweek precamp for the oweek that never happened. Really such a pity because precamp was really so fun and I managed to make more friends, be it getting to know Damien/ Wilson/ Lixian on a more personal level (Didn't talk to them much during Arts Camp) or forging completely new friendships with others from T house.
Lit Soc camp!!! Honestly there are way more people taking Lit than ELL in the whole camp, but that's okay because I managed to make some really good friends like Preenttha and Yingting who's also from T house :-)))) I think the myriad of activities before school started took a toll on me mentally and physically but each experience gave me people and friendships I wouldn't have gained if I didn't participate in the camps. No regrets at all :-)
Ending this post with possibly my proudest moment yet :-) Standing on the same stage with people I respect and am so glad to have had the opportunity to have met -- I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling. It still feels quite surreal to be a scholar and to be able to fulfil my childhood dream. For as long as I could remember, I have always wanted to be a teacher and the internship helped to affirm my decision. Seeing my parents so happy and proud of me made me even more determined to grow and grow and grow to become the best version of myself. Looking back, I was only able to get through A levels and the pressure because of my family. I wanted to do well for my parents because they poured so much time, effort and love into me.
Having Mr Loh at the ceremony was the other best thing because he is a person I truly admire -- his passion, patience and care for his students are qualities I want to emulate.
Okay, this marks the end of my long update for June and July! It's already September and quite a lot happened in the first month of school but that'll come at a later date :-) August was a flurry of activities and I'll need some time to sort things out in my head before I blog about it.
