Character Quest

'How did Jonah characterize God?' was one one of the questions in the paper that stumped me and my team. We were going through an intense competition- the Character Quest. The quest was being held at     Presbyterian High School."You have 15 minutes left..." the Sir in charge announced. Racking our brains, we sought out the answers for the difficult questions. Finally, at long last, we scribbled down the last answer just as the time allocated was up.  

For the past few month, we had been training long and hard for this national competition organised by the Singapore Boys Brigade. My team, as well as a few others were representing our company. It certainly was a golden opportunity as well as a privilege. There were 64 other companies taking part in this competition, and over a hundred teams of four boys.

The first segmented, being a written test, was more of a test of our bible knowledge of three bible characters- Abraham, Gideon and Jonah. The second section of the quest is more physically demanding. In two hours, we are to go to different stations located all around the school compound, play the game, and collect as many points as possible. I would like to elaborate more on this. Let me tell you about my experience...

"three...two...one..." the Sir in charge sounded a horn, and all hell broke loose. 164 different teams raced away in different directions, putting their navigation skills to good use.

Looking at our maps, and running at the same time, we carried out our strategy. "Head for the stairs, and go to the third level, on the double!" Our team leader, Sergeant Eugene whispered to us in a low tone. Racing away, we reached our first station- "Minecraft". The aim of this game was to use lego bricks to build a structure similar to the building shown in a photograph. The more buildings we created within five minutes, the more points we got. Racing away, we worked as a team, thus swiftly accomplishing the task, and earning ourselves 40 points.

Spurred on by our first success, we raced on to a few other different stations. There were a few which required modern technology(iPad), like Scrabble, and Marble shoot. Two of my favorite stations were from the air and sea dimensions. The first was a station where we had to fold paper airplanes and throw them through hoops held by fellow team members. I was appointed 'pilot' of the plane. With Adrenaline coursing through my bloodstream, I threw the classic plane. It flew straight and true. Gliding peacefully through the calm air, it flew through all three hoops, before coming to a smooth landing.

The second station(water dimension) was something like baseball, but instead of a hard ball, we had water bombs. This was far more tricky, as water bombs are delicate and burst easily when hit. The aim of the game was to throw water bombs into plastic bags, which were held by two catchers. There was a batter, and the water bombs thrown had to come into contact with the bat, before landing in the large plastic bag. Eugene and Billy, another team member were both accurate throwers, and at the start, we managed to  get a few water bombs in the bin. However, when it was mine and Yao Wei's turn, the shots began to splatter our team members with water instead(every one had to have a try at pitching, catching and batting). As we could retry the station, we did so. Thankfully we fared better, and as such gained a decent number of points.

The finale, which as an arena game was extremely fun as well. We decided to challenge another team from the same company as ours to human table soccer. This game worked exactly the same as table soccer, except that humans(we) represented the figurines. I played the defender, and as such had to continuously prevent the ball from entering the goal. For some unknown reason, I did numerous headers, and barely used my legs! Yao Wei made a joke in mirth"Caleb uses his head a lot!"

Well, although we did not win, I still enjoyed my self a lot. I would certainly like to join CQ again next year!

Church Camp

A long... tiring... road trip that lasted approximately five hours. Cramped up in the back seat of the car, I was glad when we finally reached our destination.

When I entered the large glass doors of Mariott Hotel, . I had in fact come here before, during a previous church camp when I was young

The Botanic Gardens trip

I watched my opponent carefully. Swinging the racket, he sent the shuttle cock flying into the evening sky. As I watched it's trajectory, I prepared myself to return the swing, backhand...

I was playing a match of badminton with my friend Noah. My family was on an outing together with the other members of our Cell Group(CG). I had picked a large patch of grass near the Eco Pond to play badminton. Several others were playing Frisbee. I watched the orange disk cut through the air like a blade. 

I swung my badminton racket once more, sending the shuttlecock soaring into the air, over our imaginary net. After several more minutes, exhaustion finally took over of us. After a quick break, Ian Kang, Noah and I decided to go on a duck 'hunt'. You might say it is cruelty to animals. Well, according to Ian Kang, we were simply sharpening the duck's instincts. Pretending to be the predator, we hurled sticks, and small fruit that we found on the grassy floor. Fortunately, there were no accidents. Eventually, seeing us as a potential threat, the ducks took off into the sky to a more tranquil and serene part of the pond. As the sun began to disappear behind the horizon, we returned for dinner. 

Several other matches of badminton with my friends and the day was ended. Packing up, we returned to home sweet home. 

Swiss Carnival

Come see the "Flying Cows in Action"! That, was the theme for our stall, and also the words on our banner written in a bold, striking font. Several other students from my class were in charge of mending the Milk Churn stall together with me. You may be wondering what this stall is about. Well, as its name suggests, there are large milk bottles. The objective of the game is to attempt to throw the ball into the bottles. Sounds easy, not as simple doing it.
During the Swiss Carnival, the quadrangle was bustling with people. We(referring to the people mending the Milk Churn stall) were feeling stuffy. To add on to that, we were crammed up in a small area designated for us. There was canvas roof in case of a downpour. At the beginning, people just looked, and left. Subsequently though, more and more people queued up to try their luck at throwing the balls into the small hole in the milk bottles. If at first you don't succeed, try try again. That saying certainly helped us to have business. Since throwing the balls into the milk bottles wasn't as easy as they thought, people flocked to our stall in an attempt to succeed! Finally we were having some customers! During my break, I paired up with Wen Jie, my friend and we left our stall to look around the carnival and try out a few rides and games. In the end, because of the absurd price of the rides-some were the equivalent of one whole ticket- we ended up at the food stalls and game stalls.

Let me talk a bit about my favorite game stall...

I picked up a dart. It had an intimidating, menacing looking sharp pointed tip. Built for speed, it was streamlined in shape, and had synthetic feathers at the broadest end of the weapon. holding it with sweating fingers, and sighted my target. Bringing back my arm for my power, I readied myself, aiming carefully and hurled the dart as hard as I could. Watching it's flight path, I saw it arc towards my target...

"Bang" was the sound I heard as the dart buried itself in what was left of the balloon, piercing the Styrofoam board. "Congratulations! You have won one token". A Swiss student wearing a smile on his face picked up a rather thick plastic disk and passed it to me.

Another of my favorite stall, would be the Bouncer.

I'm confident you've heard of a bouncing castle. Well, this is more or less the same. It is meant for young children at a tender age of four and above. Surprisingly, a few of my classmates and I enjoyed this very much!

You see, my class was assigned to two stalls. The Milk Churn and the Bouncer. As such, we could visit either stalls and help out here and there. Another thing was that we could play in the stall for FREE. As such, the Bouncer stall was my most visited spot. I could attempt aerial somersaults, backflips, handsprings, and forward rolls safely! We also played war games inside. There were two teams, each of which consisted of 2 or more members. The aim was for one team to try and escape from the Bouncer, while the other team had to try and prevent the rival team from succeeding to do this. This was extremely exhilarating as we could bounce, perform acrobatics, to reach our objectives.

At the end of the day, however, we all were exhausted, and were drained of all energy we once possessed. It was a tiring yet enjoyable day.

Pioneering

After a long break from CCA, I much anticipated Saturday. We were informed before hand, that we would learn how to lash logs together, to form wooden structures. I looked forward to this particular parade, as I enjoyed lashing, and had experience in this(Royal Rangers).

We first had a theory lesson on pioneering. Our officer in charge showed us pictures of wood structures that we should be prepared to build. Gateways, towers, even a drawbridge, were some of the many structures we could build. Certain knots, as we were told, were important, and a necessity for us to put to memory. The clove hitch, bowline, figure of eight, sheet bend, were some of them. Fortunately, I learned most of these knots as well, during Sailing lessons! It seems that the activities I participated in previously certainly benefited me!

The practical lesson finally arrived. Small logs were prepared together with rope. I selected two logs, and a coil of rope. Another Officer demonstrated how we should go about lashing the pieces of wood together. In order to lash two pieces of wood together into the shape of a cross, a square lashing was required. This was a little more tricky as the materials we used were bigger in size. I eventually succeeded in a rather loose cross. Well, practice makes perfect. After several more tries, I finally managed to lash together a secure cross, with the help of a fellow B.B boy.

The Target Badge

Guess you may be wondering what EPPOP stands for?

Well, it is the acronym for Enrollment Cum Passing Out Parade.

This was a parade that was one of a kind! During this parade, the sec 1's (Boys Brigade) would receive their first badge... the target badge. Moreover, it would be pinned on by their very own parents! Well, the only disadvantage was that we had to stand in our full uniform for 40 straight minutes, without resting!

This is my experience...

On Friday, a day before the main event, we had our preparation. We practiced our drills until near perfection, and until we were united as a single unit, synchronized, and fully coordinated. At first, our drills were 'unacceptable'(as the sir called it). A supposed single, solid stamp sounded like a machine gun. However, fortunately, after hours and hours of practice, we managed to 'perfect' it(the sec 1 contingent still had difficult being synchronized when we marched).

Anyway, we rose early the following day. Adrenaline surged through me. My heart palpitated at a ferocious intensity. Thoughts raced through my mind as a weighed the possibilities of me making a mistake. As we walked past the seats where our parents would be seated, I cast a furtive glance at the shiny metallic target badges that would be pinned upon our right sleeve. I had a cocktail of emotions, that of excitement, anxiety, nervousness, and pride.

As the saying goes, time flies. Before I knew it, the entire company was formed up, and the least anticipated part of the parade was about to start, the waiting.

I don't think I'll need to specify on the waiting. There's only a word for it, tiring. By the end of the day, I was aching all over, as I am even as I am typing this post. Still, when I look at the target badge... well, the wait certainly paid off!

The 'Pinning' ceremony...

As soon as the command was given, our parents strode up to us, a sparkling metal object in the palm of their hand. Slowly and carefully, they pinned the badge onto our right sleeve, and stepped back to admire their 'handiwork'. I beamed with pride as I received the badge. This definitely is an experience that I would never forget.

My first March training camp (Boys Brigade)

The event that I least anticipated has arrived, the March training camp. Hearing rumours(probably exaggerated) from my seniors about B.B boys sobbing, going missing during the camp, and that the minimum number of push ups that they had owed their officers during the camp was 300 push-ups was enough to make time fly past faster than I had wanted it to.

On the first day, I began to have a taste of how tough march camp could be...

• we had to run around Swiss Cottage Secondary School and St Anthony's Primary School with our full uniform on, and with our bags.
• Push ups, push ups, and more push ups.
• Drills Drills and more drills(actually, I did like it, especially if we were coordinated)
• Changing parade- we had to change from PT kit to full uniform within a certain amount of time. Because we could not do it within the time limit, we had to repeat the same process over and over again until we could make it.

... Of course there were several things I enjoyed during the camp. We had to pitch a make shift tent, using a pair of bamboo sticks, cotton twine, a pair of ponchos, a jack-knife, pegs, and a mallet.

Later during the camp, I also was introduced to setting up a barbecue pit. Firstly, we were split up into our squads( I was in squad A). Secondly, each squad was given charcoal, fire-starters, and matches. Adrenaline rushed through me as my eyes glanced off the equipment. Someone in a squad, being a bit more advanced and modernized, fished out a lighter from his pocket. Before long, three fire-starters, were blazing with flames inside the pit(the pit was actually an aluminium tin). Next, we were taught to pile up the charcoal. First, we had to take the thicker chunks of charcoal, and pile them at the sides of each of the fire-starters. Secondly, we had to put the thinner pieces of charcoal on top of them. This way, the scorching hot fire-starters would not be smoldered. Once we saw that the pieces of charcoal glowed red with heat, we immediately, spread out the charcoal to even out the heat, put the metal grill on top of the pit, and began our barbecue.

During the whole session, our squad made one small mistake- putting too much charcoal. Probably due to our enthusiasm, we had tossed in too much charcoal. columns of smoke billowed furiously out of the pit. Before long, a blanket of smoke had covered the entire canteen. Our teacher's in charge(sirs) were fanning the air, tears streaking down their cheeks, like us. Realizing our mistake, we quickly took out several chunks of charcoal with thongs provided, and the amount of air pollution in the air immediately began subsiding.

Well, after several minutes, our hard work finally paid off. We barbecued spicy otta, sausages, satay, 'sotong', and chicken wings. We had a scrumptious, delectable meal, the best I had during the whole march camp! Needless to say, our Sir's 'stole' food from us, probably as compensation for the smoke. Well, there was more then enough! At the end of dinner, we were all clutching our stomachs, sighing in content, as though we were in paradise...

" Right! Everyone! Time for area cleaning!" Just as I was enjoying myself, our I.C. just had to break the moment. As though on cue, all of our seniors immediately began picking up the litter around them. Not wanting to be left out, the sec 1's(inclusive of me) was no exception.

These are the highlights and the activities I found the least enticing during the camp. Fortunately for us, this years march camp was nothing compared to last year. Well, being born one year later is something we should be thankful about!