CK/CKS Camp 2008!

it's been 2 days since i've come back from ck camp. it was fun, but not as fulfilling as ks camp. maybe cos i was in the comm and thus was constantly worried about how things would turn out. esp for the games i planned, got feedback that they were real good, but i still can't forge how nervous i was... and being the logistics in charge with nat was a task that demanded quite an amount of responsibility.. so i was kind of more stressed and tired than enjoying myself. maybe ths stress was self-inflicted, haha, but im this kind of person that puts herself in stress for no reason. lol.

day 1, 10 dec wed

i can't really remember what emotions i was going through, probably more nervous than excited. i had packed my bag just the day before and shaking my head at how huge and heavy it was.. i had used the same bag for ks camp and when i got to camp, it was large in comparison to many other bags, and i told emelyn that i didn't feel secure having a small bag, if i had brought a smaller bag, i was afraid thathad left things out or worse, at the end of camp, with the cumulation of other additional items, i wouldn't be able to squeeze everything in and become a lobang auntie, so i just stuck to the big bag although it was embarrassing.

kind auntie wan teng volunteered to fetch me along with her 4 girls to camp. ps, vbs and ck/cks camp was held in the same venue and on the same days, so it was pretty convenient for auntie wan teng. btw, since nat and i were log, we had a few boxes worth of groceries and other stuff to bring to camp, good thing my dad could help us in this area, if not auntie wan teng's car wouldn't have any space left for sitting! yep, in the car, we were quite sien, so i took out my guitar and we had a mini sing along session in the car. :) it was cool. by 45 mins, we reached.

we assembled in the main hall for ck/cks and then we were given the camp opening by cheryl, the camp mistress. then we split into our groups to come up with a group name and hail someone as our leader. my group consisted of nat, bernice, joanne, boaz, isaac chan, samantha and elias. we elected boaz as our leader and out group name was gluteus maximus, aka backside or butt.. lol. other groups were itch and noelene's group (no creativity here... haha)

after that, we proceeded to the next programme, which was ice breakers. the first game we played was a can game, by which every group had a rubber band with strings attached to it, and also there were each member a can representing him/her. so every member had to arrange the cans using the strings to make them in a certain order of something, like weight etc. i will tell all here, lol, my group did a great deal of cheating! even though elias was the organizer and was playing with us, he closed one eye whenever we cut corners by using our hands instead of really using strings only. lol. the first pattern required was a straight row, followed by creating a row on a narrow curb and finally forming a pyramid with the cans. and boy, my group cheating unabashedly, of course we concealed it. haha, but we still did not come in tops.

the second game played was some food war. it was pretty physical and i didnt really like this game. each group had a station where it had all it's 'food supplies'. the aim was to steal other groups' food as well as guard the food we had. in addition to all of the above, we had to guard our 'lives' which hung on the tail that we had on our backs. once an enemy ripped off our tail, we had to drop all that we had and go to the tail giver who was located quite far away. so the point was, prevent ur enemies from grabbing ur tail off, and horde food!! for the 1st game, was more of attacker, but i never got any loot, i did not dare to take risk... haiz, i also rmb getting into a really rough tussle with auntie suet yin, and she scratched my arms, but i didn't rmb hurting her in any way, so i was quite pissed that she caused a few scratch scabs on my arms. during the first game, joanne and josiah arrived! i was so excited about their presence in camp cos i think it was time for them to assimilate into ck. so they played round 2 with us. in the end, my group had quite alot of spoil and they were for our teabreak, haha, but like what bernice had said, it was no use fighting so much, cos in the end, everyone would just share food.

following teabreak was message 1 by pastor goh on worship. something cool that i learnt from this message was the 1st 4 commandments each spoke about an aspect of worship. like the 1st was on who to worship, the 2nd, how to worship, the 3rd, what to worship and the 4th, when to worship. it was something that never struck me till that day. later during discussion, my discussion group which had members like isa, tze yan, elias and joanna and kong wee, our facilitator for then went to the guys dorm and parked ourselves on upper beds of 2 bunks. it was then i shared about the contemporary worship in my school and how much i felt it inapropiate for christian worship. i really dislike the type of chapel services we have in school and all the christian pop songs sung again and again. although my other christian friends are okay with it, i seriously think that it is not right.

after discussion, by right we had dinner, but joanne, nat, some guys and i played soccer. the guys were namely aaron, marcus, boaz, josiah and daniel. they were the soccer faithful throughout camp and always played soccer during free time, while i always switched about soccer and captains ball and volley ball. btw, in regards to soccer, lemme tell u something, i dunno why, but every single soccer game i played, i ALWAYS scored a goal and then never could anymore. it's weird... but at least i scored a goal.. haha, while some others didnt have that chance. yeah, so i played soccer till i was almost soaked with sweat. then went for dinner. the amount of veg left was pathetic so i had minimal veg and lots of rice and meat... oh, this was going to be one of my sacrifices if i wanted to play soccer before the meal.

after dinner, we had a workshop. oh did i forget.. i was the guitarist for this camp too. lol, my church quite sad, very little talent for guitar, but good thing josiah can play too, so we were the official guitarists for camp. the worshop was conducted by pastor goh and was on service. i basically learnt that whatever gifted i had, i had to give it God in service, which i am proud to say that i alr am, cos love to play guitar for singspiration during youth meetings and camps. then i paired off with nat to share about our talents and how we could use it in God's kingdom.

after the worshop, we had a 'night walk'. this was planned by kong wee and fortunately, i was the one who was not blindfolded, cos if i was blindfolded, i would feel super useless and handicapped as being alr impaired in hearing, i didn't want to have anything less. i had to lead my group through the camp site and there was of course some uneven trail and even one part when there was wet mud, so i had to guide them ultra carefully. however, the fun of the night walk was marred when ezra lost his specs, in the dark, it was impossible to locate his specs, so we were quite worried about it. in the end, ezra had to go home and wasn't back till the following day.

before going to sleep, i realized that ihad left my tooth brush at home! i was so angry with myself. goodthing mum was coming to the campsite the following day, my saving grace. other than realizing that my toothbrush was absent, i had some fun before lights out, i played bridge with friends. it was fun! :)

day 2, 11 dec thurs

day 2 started with exercise conducted by elisa and hui qi! yay, we jogged a little around camp then played h2o and finally chain catching. i played till i was sweaty again, hehe. then it was devotion time. i rmb we were sitting facing the sea and i was casually sipping on a can of 100 plus while michael led us with devotion. after devotion, we had breakfast, for me, it was cereals and milk again!!! :) i love koko krunch with honey stars in milk. that's the best combo ever! hehe, but we were fortunate to have the auntie cooks who prepared pau for us. it was a filling meal for me.

next up was message 2 by pastor goh on bible intake. i was reminded that the bible is authoritative and reliable, so we should not alter it to fit with what we want. discussion was with pastor goh and there i was encouraged to pick up a commentary to follow me through my daily devotion and also to find out whatever i didn't understand in the bible. thanks pastor goh! i will try to make these things become real.

before lunch, a large group of ckers wanted to play captains ball, but was stopped by cheryl as lunch was alr prepared for us on the table. so we no choice but to push play back, but i was afraid of getting stitch, so while i played soccer, i played goalie and later on, i went up and scored my lone goal for the game. after that, we played captains ball but i had to leave half way to prepare for my games slot which was next. noelene and i set up the obstacle course for the can-can game and got ready all materials.

soon it was time for my games! my first 2 games were in door games. the first was the plastic bag and laughter game, which i got from ks camp. it was just a warm up activity that made everyone happy and relaxed. after that, i introduced to the a game which was slighty more tensing, which was fox and squirrel.

after that, we moved outdoors. there, we played the can-can game. it was tremendously funny watching the groups work together. there were a few incidents when isaac tan (who joined my group in my place) piggy backed isaac chan, in between them, all the cans, i guess they were raring for first place that when i.t ran, the cans dropped, and they had to start from the beginning. more haste, less speed guys! though there were times when the piggy back theory worked well. but there was once it failed rather badly andddd very dangerously! tze yan was piggy backing isa and the string which they had to go under was caught in isa's eyes but tze yan went on and the string was pulled down by sheer force on isa's eyes. man! so scary and then later while tze yan had to climb up a chair, she fell forward, knocking isa and herself down. but all they did was burst into a heap of laughter. so i was glad that they weren't hurt.

sunbesequently, we played captains ball, this time, with wet sponges. i didnt play cos i was organizer and i couldn't get wet cos of my hearing aids. hehe, i dipped the sponges in disgusting egg+water+soap water. eww! and there was even cold water! but my friends all loved the game. aw wright...

after my games, which everyone obviously enjoyed, we played more captains ball and had tea break. then we settled down for message 3 on prayer by prof hanko. i learnt that we should pray to God for who he is, our creator and therefore, we have to offer thanksgiving to him. during discussion, prof hanko asked a few intriguing questions, like why didnt the saints of the old testament pray 'our father', while it was so in the new testament. it was because Jesus is our elder brother and we are adopted sons of God. oh, after the message, i understood it so well finally. also, i had some pleasant surprises! tabi, sharleen, phebe, and pamela had come to visit us and would be staying till the following night! oh, how exciting!

after discussion, we had dinner and then i played soccer with the usual group, this time we had more ppl like tze yan and isa. heh, i dunnid to say this again, but i scored! hehe, and i was beginning to discover my hidden passion and goalkeeping, although i wasn't that good. but at least it allowed my food to churn without entering my appendix. at 8, it was time for movie screening. we watched facing the giants, it was quite good as a chirstian show, but i guess it wasn't great, cos movies aren't the best way to impart christian values... we had a mini discussion on the movie. then i played more card games and then went to sleep. i had my toothbrush finally! thanks mum! :)

day 3, 12 dec fri

today started with exercise again. hehe, organizers hui qi and elisa were relying on me to give them ideas lol. so we played jacob's ladder, cowboy and dog and bone. then boaz gave devotion. he was too soft that i couldn't really hear what he was sharing...

after that was breakfast. my, i tell u that ck has ferocious appetite! i had gotten 2 large boxes of cereal and bread and nutella and other stuff for breakfast. on top of that, the aunties prepared pau and pandan cakes and milo. and within the first breakfast, the 2 boxes of cereal were finished, 3 cartons of milk were emptied and we were running on low supplies! later, i asked sharleen whether she had any idea on how much breakfast food nathaniel got for ks camp, she said, "probably a lot more, cos u noe who he is..." lol, okay, maybe i really underestimated the amount of food needed for breakfast. anw, good thing that uncle faichong bought 3 large boxes of cereal more, if not i would be in hot soup!

when we were still eating breakfast, the hankos had arrived. this time wilma and elaine came along, so we had to play host to more ppl! the last message was on sunbmitting to God's will. for discussion, kong wee sat in for my group and then we discussed on submitting to our parent's will as they are appointed by God in our lives to guide us. hmm.. i must confess that i haven't been very guai to my parents, esp my dad... haiz but i'll try..

message was followed by lunch and then we went to west coast park for camp outing! we took a chartered bus there. on the bus, majority of the girls, including me played games, like the animal game and mafia etc. it was a pleasant time on the bus.

when we reached, we settled down along a field of grass. there, cheryl conducted her games, the first being on the pavement. the first game was traffic jam, and i thought i was experienced in this cos i played this exact game in ks camp alr, but it turned out to be slightly different, and this version of the game was unbearably easy, while ks' was much more fun and challenging. the next game was some acid pool thing that which i didn't understand the concept behind it, but basically, we had to use whatever resources we had to take a bottle out of the acid pool, without us going into the boundary set by cheryl. while my group was pondering on how it could ever by possible to carry out, isaac chan, who was very playfully experimenting around different methods, very unintentionally slipped on the bottle and he went on his back with his limbs pointed to the sky. however, he got someone hurt during the process.. that was bernice, n i guess it hurt super a lot, cos it was her jaw line that was hit. being a very small surface area, there was definitely a lot of pressure on her jaw, so i seriously empathised with her, well knowing that this incident could cost her her entire afternoon of fun. so joanne and i we quick to comfort her and even pucked up courage to request for a bag of ice from the macs nearby. and boy, they were generous enough, giving us a bagful of ice, more than we needed. so the task was now to cajol bernice into rubbing the ice on her affected area, though it was be excrutiatingly painful. thank God, bernice was compliant and then she could join us for the rest of the activities!

what was up next was this super embarrassing game (at least to my group). it went like this. we had to do catepillar walk for quite a distance then train 'walk' and then prisoner walk, of course, girls and guys in separate lines. the first was bearable, but the second was abhorrible and the last, was impossible (cos the other teams had finished, so it was impossible for us to even do it, yeah, so pathetic...) what's worse was that we had to transport a cup full of water, yeah, so it was extra effort here and not that simple. at the end, my group was pretty slow, but our cups were almost full! so i guess that made up! and the last game was machine! bernice and i had also played this in ks camp, but what made it different was the presence of isaac chan! he was sooooooooo darn hilarious!!! the first of object was computer. nat n i were the screen, joanne was the com user, boaz was the cpu (with his nose as the button, ears as the volume control, nose as the usb plug in, and his mouth the cd player... lol! isaac injected humour when he said that joanne had to be careful cos boaz's nose very oily, lol!), bernice was the mouse, samantha was keyboard and lastly, isaac and elias were the computer characters. at first, joanne would play cs, which is counter strike, and then watch, superman and the baddie. i wondered whether prof hanko, wilma and eliane had any clue about the worldly things we were potraying, but im glad they were having a good laugh anyway, thanks to funnyman isaac! the second object was a car/bus/car.. lol, my group was so retarded! i was an ah ma, isaac was the fat driver and so on.. we really had a good time. after the game, we played captain's ball, while some guys played soccer. i played soccer for a while, scored my only goal and then played captains ball. LOL!

we played for about half an hour and then the bus had come. so we boarded and on the bus, we played more mafia. upon reaching the campsite, we had teabreak. nat n i utilized that time to prepare for my upcoming auction game that would settle dinner. i was very stressed cos we had many items that were not around, but the aunties really comforted us as they had prepared tonnes of food. plates of sushi, chicken wings, otah, omelettes etc.. oooh, thanks so much aunties!

after teabreak was workshop no 2 on propriety in dressing, by auntie ah moi. auntie ah moi made it a point to address the guys too, instead of just focussing on girls, which i thought was a good point cos pastors always singled it out on the ladies, and that wasn't very fair.. :)

i left workshop early to do the last minure preparation for my auction. finally, it was time! i was quite sure that i would lose my voice during the auction, but i didn't! things went pretty smoothly. there were a few hiccups here and there esp when i group got something out of a mystery item that they didn't fancy. hehe, it was so exciting! now, i now how jeff probst feels in survivor auction, hehe! all in all, we had a very full dinner and there was left overs, but not much. we had a 'finale' with ice cream and coke, u could combine them to make a float which was great! i had a float and the foam formed a hill on the rim of my cup! haha.

after dinner, it was the tedious journey. i must say that i w as a little disappointed with the games, cos it was supposed to be some sort of an amazing race, but iva did not have the time to do a good job, so i forgive her.. hehe. no lah, i don't have the right to forgive people or not to, thanks iva for the effort put im, i loved the limbo-ing! hehe. after tedious journey, most of the ckers played captains ball till 12 plus. it was here when i once again discovered a hidden passion of mine, that is being the captain! catching balls gave u the thrill! :) after that, we played a few rounds of mafia and bridge. i had comm meeting to wrap things up, then the day was over.

day 4, 13 dec sat

this day, we had no exercise! i quite wanted to protest! haha. anw, we had to do cleaning up and then we took a few group shots! by then i was very tired alr.. this is the effect of not having morning exercise! we sang the theme song once more and camp closed.

i went to jurong point for brunch with nat's family (excluding uncle chee choong). then headed home. this camp was enjoyable in its way, but very very exhausting, esp cos i was the comm member and thus i had an extra responsiblilties to carry. :) but i had thoroughly enjoyed the messages, the fun and the fellowship!