Orientation '08 - Part TWO

OOOOH! YAY TO PSLs! YAY TO SEC 1s! YAY TO 1Q!~

Finally, after months of planning, the 3D2N orientation camp for the 185th batch of sec 1s is over. Planned by the 182nd batch of RI students, it was simply perfect. Everyone did their best, put in their all, and it was a great success! Looking back, I must say that it's yet another great experience and opportunity that RI has provided me with.

Day 1:

First up, bag check! Bag check didn't really go that well. Reason being it was held in the Junior Block Atrium which had a lack of space and bad acoustics, making it very hard for the Camp OICs to give instructions. So in the end, we just collected what we had to collect without really checking the sec 1's bags. Well, at least we can say that we are testing the sec 1s integrity! (: haha. but anyway, there could be much to improve there. It was only the beginning...

So after that, the great 1Q PSLs led 1Q to the hall for OPENING CEREMONY! Anyway, we wanted to start it with a BANG with CHEERS! We did Mat Rock xD, Raffles JAM <3!!, Unite WOOHOO!, and spirit!. haha. i thot that it was quite well done except that we were quite uncoordinated (upper floor couldn't see the leading people downstairs) and it was quite short (the bag check took too much time). But I thought that the sec 1s were still rather impressed. This was followed by a welcome address by Year Head 1, MRS. MAAS and the revealing of the storyline by JIAN XIONG! haha. Well, those went quite well. The only thing that I can complain about is that for orientation camp this time, the theme didn't really get through to the sec 1s unlike the star wars theme when we were sec 1. That time, all the activities REALLY did seem to link together and had some form of relation to star wars like the light sticks as light sabers. But still, I guess it was rather good.

After that it was teaching of dance! haha. I started to love the dance during the camp cuz it was really fun! haha. I'm starting to love dancing although I'm horrible at it. RARH. haix. Anyway, it was very fun because I stood among the 1Q people and started to joke with them when we were practicing. It was VERY FUN to be interacting with the sec 1s, especially those of 1Q who were SOOOOO nice and cute! haha. Anyway, we were all laughing at ourselves at our horrible dancing and we just practiced together. Hmm. 1 thing to learn here! When you do stupid things together, it doesn't look stupid anymore! A point that a PSL from 2 years ago told us. Yup, it was used here. Though we looked stupid dancing, when we all did it together, it actually turned out to be VERY FUN! HOORAY to US! haha.

Then, after that it was time to teach cheers! YAY! I was very excited to this cuz I just LOVE the Raffles cheers. 3 years after first learning the cheers, I'm still fascinated by them. Anyway, it was very fun to perform cheers with other PSLs with the sec 1s. I was standing beside Marc and Zhi Xuan and we were talking crap along the way. I thought the sec 1s did a wonderful job for a first try on cheers. In fact, I was really surprised by the number of people who stood out and started the cheers with their "5,6,7,8" or their putting up of a hand sign of the number of times before they stopped. Even till now, I've never really started a cheer before and it was only during the camp did I start to take initiative and put up hand signs. Well, congrats to those who dared to try cuz it's the spirit like these that will take them far in this school. It took me too long to recognize that opportunites were abundant in RI and that grabbing it was when the time came was key. It made me miss out on lots of things like RV (although this may be a good thing cuz RICO ROCKS!) and MM. But anyway, the sec 1s did a great job. Spirit and Kemama were good. North-South-East-West was good too except for some mistakes in clapping. ICHIBAN was FANTASTIC probably because it's an easy cheer. I'm starting to think that easy cheers are really the ones which make the impact (cuz everyone can do it). I love the ichiban cheer and the MOOR WE WANT MORE cheer although I'm in Hullett and love Hullett.

Anyway, that was that. After that it was Silly Songs Sing-a-long conducted by EUGENE GAN! haha... Oh yes i still remember the dumb songs that MRS. LIM (ahem.) taught us during the camp... well, I wasn't sure what happened cuz class-based PSLs were having meetings outside. We came back just in time for the final parts of Carrot Juice and I AM COW (which we didn't learn but I found ultra DUMB but FUNNY!)... haha.

All right. After that it was time for Class Cheers Session. I always thought that this would be the part we would screw up the worst cuz it was the first time that the sec 1s have learnt cheers and who would dare to make one for their class! This was especially the case when we were behind schedule and we only had 15 mins to make it. I realised I was wrong when 1Q came up with not 1, not 2, but THREE GREAT CHEERS! The bom-bom-bom one was the best but it was too hard so they decided to abandon it. Good idea too cuz as I said, Cheers should be easy. But guess what the other cheers are! One uses the idea from SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS with the "ARE YOU READY" "AIYAI CAPTAIN" "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" "AIYAI CAPTAIN" which I found really interesting cuz my name is PATRICK and I've been related to this amazingly popular (though I don't really watch it) cartoon. And the other one was the "We will we will rock you" theme which was really close to me as well cuz Hullett had that cheer when I was in sec 2. haha. But anyway, I totally loved that cheer that they made. It went "We will we will Q you, cuz we are 1Q. We will we will quack you, cuz we are 1Q. I thought it was totally amazing. The cheers they made were amazing. The people who stepped up to present their ideas were amazing. Matthew was totally amazing. I think he will make a great leader. Illyas too seems rather mature to me and all the other 1Q PSLs. haha. I think he will make the next Said. haha. The class cheered together on the field and they sounded great. All the brilliant 1Q PSLs were very impressed cuz all of us thought that they made cheers better than those we had when we were sec 1s. Anyway, lunch followed. haha. Bombings were natural. I thought 1Q were a bit stone during first day lunch. It was a rather quiet class. Many people were rather quiet. haha. but they were all very nice people. Issac, Nicholas (still think you look like someone I've seen before... Huiyao or his friend. ><) haha. and many others. very nice people!

But anyway, STATION GAMES followed. It was great! haha. Once again, Matthew led the class, this time with a few others who also stepped up. The first station which was the ORA office was ok. The clue which was "even alumnis have their place in RI" was quite a hard one for sec 1s who don't even know there's this thing called an ORA office... But somehow, the sec 1s knew and ta-da. they were there. haha. the activity was quite stupid. haha. building bridges with ice-cream sticks. haha. It was actually very simple, I figured out in a minute but of course, when you work in a group, it's always harder. But 1Q still figured it out rather quickly and we were off to our next station - ASTROTURF. It was the hardest station. Supposed to bounce pingpong balls while crossing obstacles. haha. but i thought we did quite well once again. Next up - Raja Block FOYER where I met Kenneth Yong, the station master. haha. Anyway, it was quite funny cuz it was memory chain and the paragraph they were supposed to memorise and pass on was part of the Rafflesian Principle of Honour. Hmmm... haha. well, it was a bit screwed up cuz "In personal conduct, I shall regard individuals, groups and the community with kindness and respect" became "In personal regard, I will treat my peers with respect" or something like that. Still, a great effort by the class. Had some fun time playing with the CUTE and FUNNY Darren and the others. haha. I'm so sorry that I can't remember all your names. I'll try to do that in the PSGM sessions. After that, RAFFLES SQUARE! haha. I thought our class did an ok job. We managed to complete the easier ones but for the harder ones, we couldn't complete it in time. The idea was there, but there was no time to execute it. So, TO THE FIELD. haha. the field one was really fun. The class held hands and ran across the breadth of the field, cheering. PSLs like ZhiXuan, Biquan, Eric and me were running in front of them, asking them to cheer. haha. It was very fun! The cheers were average. Could have been better but I guess it was very tiring so it was very hard. Even I felt a little tired. Next up, AUDITORIUM FOYER. haha. Jaryl Lim was the ever-so-funny station master. The way he shouted was sooooo funny! LOL. Anyway, 1Q did a good job. The back people pushed the front people (which I thought was the whole point of the game, like the one we played around the field, and we got 2nd. Thought the other class cheated so they got 1st (their chain broke) but we won't be sore losers will we? (: haha. anyway, great job to 1Q. Thought that was really well done by us. The atmosphere was really great too with everyone cheering especially the PSLs for their own classes. haha. The d&T came next. It was quite simple. the hoola hoop game. Quite easy for the sec 1s cuz they were quite small and the hoola hoop could easily pass through them. Still, it was a great job by us. And then, the atrium. I thought they did fantastic. They memorised a whole passage AS A CLASS in 5 minutes. They thought of a good idea too! There was a teacher (classmate) who read out the passage to the class and the class echoed it out. Rather organized given that they were only given one piece of paper. Well, so we completed the activity and were soon back in the hall. But guess what! WE CAME BACK FIRST! OH YEAH! haha. I thought the movement of our class was quite slow so I was very surprised that we were actually the fastest class! haha. The sprits of the class and the PSLs immediately heightened and everyone turned enthu. OH YEAH. It was a great job by 1Q!

After a short briefing on JRIC and a short meeting for PSLs conducted by Yuda at the stadium steps with many people being distracted by the tracknfield people on the field (LOL), it was time for dinner. haha. Dinner went well. Although the bombing sessions were still started by me for the class, more people were doing it and we were cheering as a batch very loudly in the canteen. HOORAY to us!

After that it was WAR GAMES. haha. the starting briefing was rather boring cuz it took very long for all the details to be clarified cuz it was the first time we were doing it in DOTA style. But good job! cuz it was totally brilliant. haha. very fun! Firstly, the sec 1s got to interact with more of their batchmates rather than just their classmates as they attacked and defended as a team. Also, they could practice teamwork once again with the interlocking of hands. Haha. It must have been fun for the sec 1s going around together but even more fun for the PSLs. HAHA. It was truly amazing. We just roamed about everywhere, looking for any chain that broke off or any shirt which had been pulled off, or any rough play or just about anything before we would shout at the top of our voices "OK! GO TO HAPPY HAPPY LAND!". haha. not that we were evil or anything cuz happy happy land was indeed quite fun. haha. it was very fun in the holy alter too where PSLs were cheering "free life. *clap clap clap* free life. *clap clap clap*..." or even "happy meal. *clap clap clap* happy meal. *clap clap clap*..." cuz none of the sec 1s dared to go near it to get another life. haha but in the end, some did manage to get it by forcing their way through. haha. it was very funny. For most of the times, I was at the Raffles Square cuz that was the base of my 1Q class. So I was cheering them on and making sure that they had a line of defence. Basically, we had the strategical advantage cuz the only way for the people from the field or the astroturf to get to the raffles square is by the ramp down. They couldn't take the canteen way or the large steps down cuz it was dangerous. The field was too open for attacks and the astroturf was vulnerable at the back cuz it was assessable from where happy happy land was. haha. that was how illyas and team managed to get the banner from the astroturf folks. I did go to happy happy land as well to see people doing half squats on the legs of the person beside him. There was also cheering activities or hopping one-legged. But it was very fun. In Raffles Square, I kept shouting "All right guys, you all broke off, go to happy happy land". haha. anyway, it was very fun for the sec 1s and the PSLs alike and in the end, 1Q, together with the other 4 classes in the Raffles Square came out tops with 2 banners and 2 flags. We actually had 5 flags but the PSLs asked the other teams to attack us when we were OWNING. haha. But anyway, we still won. YAY!

After that it was class debrief, supper and wash up. haha. Wash up was rather fun cuz Biquan, Dixon and Michael were sharing their funny or scary stories or even lame jokes. haha. I've learnt a new doraemon joke! Why does hello kitty always win doraemon in scissors paper stone? Cuz doraemon can only put stone but hello kitty can put paper! ><>< ><||| Why did the chicken cross the road? So that the farmer would not catch it. (OH NO LAME)... and Dixon even said "we'll tell you purple passion if we have time". LOL. I'm glad we didn't cuz it would be ultra lame. Anyway, the stories were rather interesting and Biquan showed how his stomach could be retracted so much. LOL. ><

So that was it for the first day. lol. fun day. Overall, thought that 1Q did really well cuz we OWNed in STATION GAMES and WAR GAMES. haha. YEAH.

ok so after that it was some debriefing before we went off to sleep in our classrooms. haha slept on a table cuz i found it much more comfortable there. BUT, the air con damn cold... lol. quite a good sleep though.

Day 2:

ok so day 2 came along fast enough and before we knew it it was time for physical training. I sortta forgot what our PT we had to do in sec 1 was, but this one seemed much less tough. Maybe cuz im in sec 4 now. but all we had to do were squats and jumping jacks. haha. it was supposed to be some scolding session so that the sec 1s would get more disciplined. worked out fine in the end haha had fun doing PT with them...

ok. den after that, it was dance again! haha. damn damn fun! we started learning a part in which i never learnt before and yeah! dance is fun man! haha. ok so i got to speak to a lot of 1Q people again and dance in the midst of them (and getting bullied by them at the same time). haha. i think i managed to get them involved by being enthusiastic about the dance itself. Like at first they were thinking omg so stupid dance to please don't stop the music. haha. but in the end, we were all having fun, telling jokes, saying how each one of us danced so lousily and stuff haha. very fun! (: in fact, this is the very activity that sparked my interest in dance and i really want to learn it now!

ok. so after that it was batch cheers teaching. haha. quite fun once again. everyone were working hard trying to remember the batch cheers... hmm quite a lot of sec 1s led again. (:

oh and the next section was WATER GAMES! >< LOL!!! ok so it all started out fine, briefing and stuff... it was supposed to be something like each class would be called for a period of 30seconds and each class had a specific number of water bombs. so, we were all wondering who would be so unlucky to get first when it came out... 1Q! hahaha. so 1Q would be bombed first. LOL. so we got owned pretty badly. everyone just kept throwing bombs at wenrui and he was all wet. so sad. hmmmzzz.. lol. ok but anyway, it turned into a free-for-all after long with people just running all around the field trying to revenge on people who had thrown water bombs at them. AND, people started refilling the water bombs. HAHA. the PSLs joint in the fun by creating water bombs and it became a total mess. i personally ran around with one bomb chasing people like dennis and KC... (: damn funny. haha in the end i didn't throw at anyone luh cuz i too nice. (:

hmm so after that it was time for BISHAN HIKE! ok. so i was supposed to be a station master at RJC. haha. with some other guy. so we went over there. waited, and waited, and waited before the 1st class came over. haha it was supposed to be 1Q haha. ok so they sortta erm missed us and walked right past us. they didn't know where they had to go until michael told them to stop and turn back lol. ok so in the end my partner decided he would follow 1Q so i was left alone to become station master. really wanted to follow 1Q but no choice luh. in the end, only 3 classes came to my station. i was quite lenient lol, gave them all full marks if i'm not wrong. haha. and i got so bored waiting for people that i started drawing on the vanguard sheets that were provided for the station. i'm really glad i'm a class-based PSL man... i can't stand being a station master... >< ok so that was that. it started raining, stopping, raining, stopping and everyone came back drenched (except me cuz i was at RJC haha). heard that 1Q did very well once again! YEAH 1Q let's GO!

ok so after that it was dinner time! HAHA FUN TIME! once again bombing everywhere. and this time, 1Q didn't need me to lead them in bombing and they started bombing just about everyone. haha. most enthu class in bombing seh. (: and i got bombed by them, omg... lol. so i had to shout by myself over the mass of people in the canteen. haha. but quite fun luh. (: i bombed zhi xuan i think. LOL. haha. or was it 1P forgot. but anyway, i won! (: yay... haha of course, shan zhi was the guy who was bombed the most once again and lol some other people like theodore, kieran and others... hmm. not bad. anyway, dinner was talk cock with zhi xuan and a few other 1Q people. haha. zhi xuan damn crap luh keep telling what secret. haix. before long, i'll know all his secrets. and zhi xuan and i were trying to tell some sec 1 why zhi xuan (for me) and patrick (for him) was dumb. LOL. so persuasion skills came into play. haha quite funny. after that, it was going to be debrief and stuff. that went not bad.

AND THEN, FRIGHT NIGHT! hahahahaha. very funny. ok so i was supposed to be stationed at LT2 watching incredible tales. quite sian luh the stories. lol. some a bit scary but the sec 1s covered my fear cuz they were all screaming like nobody's business haha. anyway, eventually, i became the toilet man. haha i think people want to urinate when they get scared. omg. i didn't get another chance to watch the videos cuz everytime i brought 5 or 6 people to toilet, after i come back, there would be another 5 or 6. LOL. funny. but anyway, caught some time to go for the walk with zhi xuan. haha. the science labs were the scariest i guess. lol. AND LUWEI! lol. damn scary face. haha. he thought zhi xuan and me were like sec 1s and scared us from behind. lolll... ok. but after that, not much bah. quite an enjoyable trip though haha.

ok. so after that it was wash up, supper and debrief. haha. funny biquan, dixon and michael were on hand with their jokes. haha. i was secretly laughing at them hahahaha... and biquan's stomach is omg. flexible? haha. not bad. ok so bla wash up and stuff. before, i had to do SENTRY DUTY. lol. luckily mine is from 1230 to 130 so not bad luh. haha. by the time i came back from bathing and debrief it was 1 already so only had to do for 30 mins. ended up dancing "please don't stop the music" on stage with light sticks with people like ying jie, jerald and renyong. hahahahaha. wonder whether any sec 1s saw us ritarded people lol. okok... and den slept in the hall haha. not bad.

Day 3:

ok so finally came the last day of the camp. started off with walk of initiation. HMM. quite fun haha. it was all about sabo-ing people and sabo we did lol. i actually made them walk in a circle! (: lol how cruel. and a lot more stuff luh. biquan used some handphone charger wire and made them crawl below it. Then, had to crawl under some net of a goal post. haha damn sad man... >< but quite fun bah... (: the sec 1s were all cursing after that but i believe they had a great time. xD

ok so after that was all the briefings and raffles trail. haha raffles trail quite fun. followed 1Q for a while before going to manage CO booth. hmm... yeah, had fun.

THEN, IT WAS CAMP FINALE! lol. it was a really great atmosphere. The air con was freezing cold lol, it was all dark save the campfire in the middle and the word LASAIR in the middle of the hall made by lightsticks. ok. so all the performances were great. the talks were great. the emcees were great. haha XD performed! (: damn nice. FLAME ON composed by EUGENE GAN! yeah. haha okok. den, there was prize giving. we were supposed to give prizes to our classes. supposed to be for SPSL but michael wasn't free... so i went up! haha. i gave the most inspiring speech (lol). actly no luh. but many people were surprised by how loud i spoke. i didn't realize. i think i became a much more open person during the camp and all the shouting over the sec 1s, bombing and cheering contributed to me becoming so much louder. lol. but it was great.

Me: 1Q!
1Q: OWNS YOU!

haha. created by dixon. (: it's these simple things that make 1Q so special and so close to my heart.

and so it all ended. institution anthem, batch song, unite, spirit...

But it wasn't to be...

After everything had ended, we congratulated each other for doing a good job, before realizing that one sec 1 was missing. lol. sparked some commotion and searched everywhere for him. ran to RJC with lots of friends, calling out the sec 1's name. in the end, it was all a scare and he had actually gone home on his own.

and so ended the secondary one orientation main camp.

It was a great experience. I think I learnt much more than the sec 1s through this camp.

I learnt the skills of mentoring. To be able to teach someone requires a need to firstly gain respect and friendship from him. That was something I found out through the camp. Before the camp, Mrs. Maas suggessted to us to be brotherly figures to the sec 1s. I tried to do that and I think I did it very well! (: I just tried to be just another of the sec 1s and not a superior. I tried to do whatever they had to do and that somehow allowed me to gain respect from them. They realized that I wasn't just someone with power who ordered people around but somoene who actually cared for them and "emphatized" with them in a way. A friendly tone helped too and I spoke to them just like I would speak to any peer. To my surprise, I became a rather popular PSL in my class, even with 3 ruggers around. lol. and not just within 1Q. I have no idea but somehow, people from other classes recognized me as well. haha. many were saying "hi patrick" to me. didn't really know most of them so i just said "hi" back. haha. so that was a job well done and a lesson well learnt.

I made lots of friends, sec 1s as well as sec 4s. Renyong, Biquan, Dixon, Zhi Xuan, Michael... Matthew, Darren and many others. they were all wonderful to me and im really thankful that i've got so much friends during the camp.

I learnt how to think on the spot, a skill I've taken a long time to learn. During debrief and a lot of stuff. It was all thinking on the spot. I found not panicking and having a normal mindset helpful. I just took it like i was speaking to some friend and it helped a lot. During debrief, I thought I spoke a lot of good stuff hahaha... not bad seh. (: used it during PSGM later as well.

I tried out lots of new stuff too like dancing, batch cheering (not new, but at least now i was teaching) and bombing by one person. Not really amazing but i guess it's always great to try out new stuff.

Of course, it was also important to have fun and i had loads of fun with 1Q. they are a really nice class! (: haha really love chatting with them.

and it's been a full circle, like Mrs. Maas said. We were the sec 1s then. We are the sec 4 PSLs now. During the camp, I got to witness how the sec 1s were and compared with myself. I kept asking myself, was i like them last time? How have I developed in RI over these 4 years? And I realized that I have developed a lot. No longer are studies the only important thing. I realize that a lot of other skills are important as well. Creativity and innovation taught by yingjie and implemented in sec 3 and sec 4, service through interact, taiwan and many others, friendship in 2H and 4B and much more. I found these very important and these were stuff that i learnt. I learnt to be independent, to better communicate with people, to take challenges as they come along in OBS, to always have an open mind... All these have made me come a long way. And it's just great. Orientation '08 has given me yet another chance to develop myself. Mentoring and thinking on the spot, having an open mind, forgiving and forgetting, care and concern... These are just some of the many things that I've learnt.

And so it ends. But the journey does not end. The journey to further develop myself so that i become a better person. i really hope that these opportunities keep coming. i just love them!

Lastly, here's wishing 1Q the best of luck in their upcoming years. (:

Lasair - Flame On.

Patrick