time waits for no man memories fade... limbs go weary... still i run the race the race to be with you... my Savior and my Lord
navigation on the right
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
10:23 PM
had BB camp from yesterday morning till today.... Although the duration of the camp was relatively short, it seemed an eternity, what with the last minute planning and impromptu programs...was quite a stressful time, and really depended on His grace to guide me through... during the 1st day, we played mostly teambuilding games, which, of course when you play it with primary school boys, ends up with each team having reality-tv series kinda drama. All the fights and quarrels and alliances against each other...sheesh...but thankfully, they managed to work better together towards the end...unlike e adults on tv :P it was quite a pity that i had to stop the games when the Boys got too rowdy...had to cancel half the games..and they were meant to be e most fun ones! but ah well....at least it's for their own good...kids need to be more disciplined to face life ahead with more grace. Tough love exemplified. By night time i was really zonked out...was the only officer left to look after the kids and i jus seriously did not want to do anything...it's impossible to keep up with those kids' energy levels! Still, managed to get in a game of captain's ball after a horribly botched attempt to teach them touch rugby~ Even those this was a 'camp', being primary school kids, they were only allowed to sleep in the hall, not in tents...so guess e next best thing was to pitch a bashaa in the hall! which we did, and yup, e kids just went for it jus for e novelty's sake..even tho it must've been burning hot inside the tentage... Gosh..by the time it was lights-out, i was a virtual zombie...cld've just fallen asleep str8 away.. but yet, i still had to stay up and wait till most of the Boys were asleep..which didn't happen till ard 1am~! arghh!! lights-out was at 11pm! Well, here's a tip to anyone who wants to get a kid to stop running abt and go to sleep: confiscate his spectacles...man, it worked like a charm! think those kids can't see anything w/o their glasses..hmmm......possible new disciplinary measure? haha....a new torture to add to my reportoire..muahaha This morning, we went to Bukit Batok Nature Reserve for some treasure/scavenger hunt thingy...dunno how many more times we can pull this ol' trick again cos this is like e 2nd time we've done it... Stiil, guessed it was fun for the Boys to be able to read a map and go to checkpoints. The reserve is a pretty gd place for that kinda thing since the paths are well-designated and quite far apart, meaning it's virtually impossible to get lost... Back in sch, we let them have a chance to do some outdoor cooking...simple mess tin + instant noodle combo...well...guess it wasn't so simple.. Through an amazing cock-up, we only had ONE lighter for both the BB and GB...i ended up being the "fireman", meaning i was cooking my fingers(i.e. lighting up fires) so that they cld cook their lunch. An interesting question by one of my Boys after the whole cooking thing: "Why does instant noodles taste so much better when you cook it here than at home?" Not being exactly a culinary expert, i cld only offer a few possible reasons: 1) it's the hard work that makes it taste bettter (deprivation theory) 2) it's the hard work that makes it taste better (salt from sweat dripping into mess tin theory) 3) MSG flavours are enhanced when you mix more than one person's saliva in a pot 4) we drugged the food well...still open for discusion i guess...
Throughout the whole camp, i just came to realise something. Kids don't mind doing anything so long as it's disguised as a game or seems like a novelty. Perfect specimens for the dark side of marketing you would think. Just wondered why are they as enthu for a silly little impromptu games that we arrange for them as a well-thought out and planned game? Something that another Boy said that i shall remember for some time to come; When asked what was the most fun part of the camp, he answered, "chasing you around lor, sir, why can't we do more things like that?" Perhaps i shd explain..after all the various games during the day, i had a short debrief with them...then, 1 thing led to another and suddenly the whole bunch of 15 Boys were chasing me, trying to tickle me! sheesh..it's times like this that i really wished i wasn't so ticklish.. anyways...it was really e kinda kodak moment man...although it cld be pretty much likened to a herd of velociraptors(Boys) ripping a brontosaurus(me) apart...totally impromptu, no planning, just enjoying each other's company...*sob*
Well...my summary for the camp...alot of trials and tribulations, i.e. sick officers (i'm one right now), last minute planning, a marathon for me from the start of the camp all the way to e end, lack of sleep, pimple outbreak, irritating colleague attempting to destroy the sanctity of my leave day, losing my head at some of the Boys, facing 100s of questions per minute, gosh, i'm missing it already.
who am i?
People call me:Simon
i was born: Sept 1981
so i am: 24yrs old
mental torture @: SMU
spam me/msn @: simontkf@hotmail.com
liKes
God
True friends
freedom
tranquility
Soccer!
aspirations
heaven
tentmaker
2 kids - elder son and younger daughter
early retirement
happiness
ArChiVes
[+] March 2005
[+] April 2005
[+] May 2005
[+] June 2005
[+] July 2005
[+] August 2005
[+] September 2005
[+] October 2005
[+] December 2005
[+] January 2006
