Saturday 26 April 2008

Last Camp?

-It takes one more time to stand up than you fall in order to reach the finish line, never give up-

-The flames in the campfire appears differently but serves the same purpose, Dare to be unique-

-A $10 dollar bill still worths $10 even if its being crushed or torn, never let anyone pull you down-

-Struggle even if you have to just finish it! Derrick Redmond's Olympic Story 1992 Barcelona-

-Impossibe is Nothing, Adidas Slogan-

-Dare to change, My own life changing story-


These are some stories and quotes which i have always been sharing with my campers ever since i started working in camps. Let me list out the schools which i've led in camps,

2005
Jurongville Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Hong Kah Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Hua Yi Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Yuan Ching Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Bukit View Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
NDP Leaders Camp - ITE

2006
Bedok Green Secondary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
Admiralty Secondary School - Sec 2 Cohort Camp (Bintan)
Overseas Family School - CDANS Pasir Ris
Fairfield Methodist Primary School - P5 Cohort Camp
Church Camp - Kids Camp
Jurongville Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Hong Kah Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Hua Yi Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Yuan Ching Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Bukit View Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Hai Sing Secondary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
East Spring Primary School - P5 Cohort Camp
ACS (Barker) - Sec 1 Cohort Camp
Montfort Secondary School - Leadership Camp
Choa Chu Kang Secondary School - Leadership Camp
ITE College East - SICT Leadership Camp
Jurong Primary School - Leadership Camp
Hua Yi Secondary School - Weekly Elements Experience
NDP Leaders Camp - ITE

2007
Jurongville Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Hong Kah Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Hua Yi Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Yuan Ching Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Bukit View Secondary - W4 Leadership Camp (GAP CAMP)
Canberra Secondary School - Leadership Camp
East View Secondary School - Sec 2 Cohort Camp
NUS High School - Cohort Camp
Tanglin Secondary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
New Town Secondary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
ACS (Junior) - P5 Self-Run Camp
Xing Nan Primary - P5 Self-Run Camp
Radin Mas Primary - P5 Cohort Camp

2008
ITE College Central (Tampines) - Bridge Leaders Camp
Montfort Secondary School - Sec 2 Cohort Camp (Amazing Race)
Katong Convent - Sec 1 Cohort Camp
Pei Cai Secondary School - Rafting Instructor
Hougang Secondary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
Chong Boon Secondary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
Tanglin Seocndary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
Nan Hua Primary School - P5 Cohort Camp
Westwood Secondary School - Sec 3 Cohort Camp
Siling Primary School - 1 Day Camp @ Sentosa

I dint expect myself to do so much camps up to date.... 30 camps in 4 years and i just realised that i am in my 4th year in doing this... How many lives have i touched? How many souls have i woken? How many behaviors have i changed? How many campfires have i been through? How many times have i belayed? How many abseiling tries have i dispatched? How many zipline tries have i dispatched?

I think i am going to have my last camp in the month of may and announce my retirement... I've seen myself at my peak form, i've seen myself at my lowest form and the trend have been tumbling down lately... Since my national service notice have been sent to me and i will be enlisting in june, i shall take a break at least for this 2 years... Maybe i will build up more qualities in the army and come out into camp and start using it...

As i was at Clementi Primary School performance night, i gave a long thought of how many more camps i want to do before i enlist and how will i feel for my last campfire as an instructor...
I will really miss students calling me:
-Instructor Alfred
-Instructor Hippo
-Bloop Boom!
-Bloop Bloop Bloop Boom!
and the cheers of instructor hippo which Canberra Sec sang out for me. Also not forgetting the song which NUS high school wrote for me...

My most special gift from my students were the 2 t-shirts of tanglin sec which they had signed and given me... Both the 2007 and the 2008 batch...

Campers who i still remember (sorry if i missed you out)
2005 - Edsmond (JVS)
Beeping (JVS)
Naqiah (JVS)
Kelvin Chia (NDP ITE)
2006 - Pei Zhi (BGSS)
Wei Yang (BGSS)
Camillius (Montfort)
Yi Fen (ITE CE)
Kelvin Chia (ITE CE)
Xue Lian (ITE CE)
Jie Ying (ITE CE)
Udrena Neo (NDP ITE CE)
Moon (NDP ITE CE)
Amanda (NDP ITE CE)
Samantha Bay (JPS)
2007- Lydia (Canberra)
Zhen Yi (Tanglin)
Dominic (Tanglin)
Elisha (Tanglin)
Boon Ming (Tanglin)
3 Bimbos from NUS High
2008- Shawn (CBSS)
Jalil (ITE CC)
Agus (ITE CC)
B.I.M.B.O. (CBSS)
Adelaide (Tanglin)
Johnny (Tanglin)
and more outstanding students who i forgotten your names... I really appriciate your coporative spirit in camp and your never ending cheers... Especially for my ITE CE group, you never fail to stand beside my hammok at 6.30am every morning and wake me up at 6.45am from the, giving me a can of red bull and start asking me to teach you cheers! Not forgetting also the pizza surprise which you guys called on the 2nd dinner... Never forget that unique experience when someone just ask me to the gate to collect my pizza and realised that it was ordered by my group.

Oh my buddy instructors!

Mirabel - GAP Camp 05
Jasmine Goh - GAP Camp 05
Hau Geng - NDP 05
Alan - Admiralty Sec 06
Jane Bunny - Bedok Green 06
Polar - Fairfield 06
Jia Huay - Choa Chu Kang 06
Sebastian, Justin and Veline - NDP 06
Venus - East View 07
Yao Xing - New Town 07
Vanessa - Tanglin 07 & NUS High 07
Matthew - Radin Mas 07
Adha - KC 08
Zephyr - Hougang Sec 08
Ivan - Chong Boon 08
Moon - Tanglin 08
Ah Huat & Yuan Shan - Westwood 08

Thanks for supporting and working together in a way or another...

Finally, Camp Chiefs or Camp IC

Victor E FIT (BGSS, Admiralty) - Thanks for teaching and guiding myself and my barker buddies when we were fresh in this industry... The firm and blunt comments really did help alot. Will always remember you as the fiercest CIC in Singapore.

Glen Seal Sports (Fairfield) - You have the best campfire debrief and i always salute you for your campfire speeches... Its really your forte and everyone respects you for this...

Polar Camelot (Hai Sing, ACS (Barker)) - You were my first mirror in this industry.. Thanks for teaching me the basics of an instructor.

Eunice CHA (East View, Tanglin, NUS High, Radin Mas, Katong Convent) - OMG! You are one of the best CIC i've worked for.. You have trusted us as instructors and made life so much easier for us by being flexible with us at work, so long as we get things done. THANKS!!!

Veron CHA (New Town, Westwood) - Sorry for my selfish minded in 2007, only want to do eunices' camp and did not bother about your contracts, but i have to say that, that thinking of mine is all over and i hope to work for you and understand your working style better after i come back from army.

Jeremy CHA (ITE CC Tampines) - Thanks for teaching and guiding me through. You never fail to take every single opportunity to talk to me about improving myself as a person as well as working with my peers.. You are truly an inspiration to me to follow... THANKS!!!

Ian CHA (Hougang, Siling, Chong Boon, Nan Hua) - Thanks for trusting me in your contracts and also your consistant reminders of my behaviours in camp... I'm sorry if i have gone against your intentions in anyway... I really enjoyed doing your camps during my come back after my long break from 07 to 08.... THANKS!!!

Jaime, Joel, Dy, Jia Huay, Nic, Eric, Mirabel Trybe (GAP Camp, Canberra, Montfort, ITECE) - Thanks for trusting me in every camp that trybe has. Trybe has motivated me alot in a different way from other camp companies and also given me the chance to lead in camp many times. Through this i have really learnt alot... THANKS PEOPLE!!!

oh and one more goup of people who i want to point out before i end this super long post.

Potato (CHA) - Thanks bro for being such a great collegue all these while in CHA... You are one of the reason why i am still in CHA...
Shalon (CHA) - Thanks for the fun times we had together with the gang last year... You are one of the reason why i am stillin CHA...
Sophia (CHA) - Thanks for the fun times we had together with the gang last year... Supper soon! We havent been having supper together for a long time...
Zephyr (CHA) - You are the most appriciative collegue i've met, and thats why i never fail and regret to give and help you more in many things in camp... You are the best!
Jane (FIT, CHA) - You are one of the most lao jiao instructor i work closest with and i will never forget our BGSS camp and also YOUR most memorable church camp.. *GRINS*
Ziyang (FIT, CHA, Trybe) - 10 years of friendship, brother, thanks for the friendship and prep talk you have been given me all these while... THANKS!!
Kelvin Chia and Udrena (CHA)- Its good to see you guys turn into instructors from campers.. Indeed both of you have done me proud...
Nicholas Yu - I will never forget you being my sec 3 instructor in Kota Tinggi and now my collegue... Sorry for giving you so much trouble back at sec 3 camp... But truely, i've learnt alot from that camp. THANKS!!!
Yuan Shan, Ah Huat, & Wen Jie (CHA) - Kakis! Will never forget our mj sessions immedietly after camps and even though we are all tired from the camps, our mj speed will never go slower than any other games...
Rendall, Mel Chong & Ah Huat (CHA) - Our mass dance really tok all the JCs and Polys in Youth Avenue Camp... Will not forget the cozyness we had when mel and i had to run into the room so that 4 of us could talk and sleep together during lights off and not letting anyone else know at the same time...
Treviz (CHA)- Bro, you are truly the best instructor in 2008 as quoted by potato and agreed by me... Will never the time when we spoke during valentines day night.. HAHA!!!

The other people i left out, THANKS!!!

Look forward to me in 2 years time.. I hope i will still have the PASSION for camps.. the word is P.A.S.S.I.O.N.

Signing off
Instructor Alfred

Monday 14 April 2008

Blogging @ 3AM!!!!

Its almost 3.30am and i am still up in the sick bay of Jalan Bahtera Adventure Centre... Only 1st Aider of the camp and i have 2 kids in the sick bay which means i cannot sleep.. making my life harder than doing night duty for instructors... argh!!!

Let me blog abt Tanglin Sec first..

Day 1...

Drove down to tanglin and got caught in a jam.. argh!! thought we were going to be late.. As usual after knowing how ian works, i somehow got the habit and started to ask those in my van to call eunice and inform that we were going to be late... When we reached there, only rendall was there... i was like !@#@#%#@$^#@... Infact i actually woke up late and i only changed when i reached the school... even my shoes... thats one thing good about having to drive there... everything you want, you have!

Hang around there and i actually saw my ex-camper! my best camper last year.. she was having her PE class and also another ex-camper who happened to be in vanessa's group... i actually brought the t-shirt that the campers gave me to camp and when i happened to show this particular ex-camper, she was like eh i never sign!!! then i was like alright let you sign lah.. actually if she have signed or not i also dunno right...

I finally saw the 'fu lu shou' of tanglin sec.. they are the best teachers lah!! Mr. Wan, Mr. Tam and Mr Lim... Wha best of the best... This year i had to take Carova house... Wanted to take back aspen bt i could not.. so i told myself its a big challange for me as carova was the worst house last year...

Day 2 came and apprantly my group leader was still sick and happened that i found a good leader from moon's group, in fact 2! Adelaide and Johnny!!! Apprantly johnny dint have good comments from the teachers.. It was the time when i told myself that he is going to be a life changing story that i am going to create! With his leadership skills, his selfless thinking and initiative, he really gained my respect and i knew that i had a good leader to guide. Adelaide is another natural leader who reminds me of zhenyi from tanglin last year... Shes good and takes initiative in everything she does...
Night came and all of us were to vote for the best camper and i really spoke out for johnny! and yeah he got the best camper for the camp..

I was sad to see the house that i took last year drop down to 3rd from the 1st they had last year... and was even more sad to not get the best house in the camp.. but the most important thing that i believed for the students is still their learning journey...

anyway, i really hope to see my campers enjoyed themselves and learnt something from this camp... bonus for me in this camp would be to change someone's life today!

Signing off...
Instructor Alfred