Toddler Group

Toddler Groups are held every Wednesday afternoons at 3 o'clock to about 5.

It is a really fun time, where all helpers wear a bright red to help the little toddlers recognize the helpers. (Or play partners, for our main job is to play with them.

There is only one boy who's name I remember (thats an astonishing feat, since I can barely remember names of people I don't know personally. And he is Daniel.

With a great sunshine-like smile and the energy of a radiant star he would be playing tirelessy with toys, digging enthusiastically in the sandbox (his favorite sand project is a mountain as tall as his chest) and loves to run his huge monster truck over it.

He is a fast cyclist to, always zooming down the "runway". (while me and Brittany worriedly shooes the kids and parents in his way out of the way.)

He is the first and only kid I managed to play with since I practically nil experience with little children.

I look forward to this Wednesday's Toddler Group again.

Toddler Group

Toddler Group

OBBD DAY 2 DAY 3

Trip Day One

So we got off the bus and excitedly hopped on to the wooden deck that seemed to be the grand foyer to welcome the breeze of fresh rainforest air.
Now that the day has come and gone, and many more in between, I still do not understand how we have actually felt excited for the days, and the afters’ events; if we had not been oblivious to the turmoil that was sailing steadily towards us I am ready to bet and arm and leg we would have not been smiling so gaily.

The first few events were actually quite fun, void of physical torture but nevertheless, were indeed invaluable for the tasks ahead.
“This is Dong”, wheezed Hazim. I swear, although instructed to say that, cracked me up. His priceless expression of disbelief (as if he was actually hoodwinked into saying such a strange array of words) and confusion fused together to form a rather constipated but amused expression.
“What?” inquired his partner.
“Dong!” repeated Hazim, with, once again a fresh new look of amazement on his face, quite impressed with the fact he was seemingly “clearing up” his partner’s doubts.
It is also quite eminent he agrees totally with his partner’s last remark.

After a few more rounds of introduction-based... games, I daresay, we settled into the Camp more so, with all appreciation and credit to the lunch that was prepared for us.
After so, we did several activities, worth mentioning, then again, not worth much ponder due to its apparent significance in view-point re-alignment.
The flying fox : a well-constructed instrument highly useful for covering moderate distances in a very short and exciting period of time without the use of electricity or alternative energy sources; it is by combining the laws of gravity and the ingenuity of well-designed rollers, carefully planned towers and an amazing hunk of steel woven finely into a thick, metallic rope.
White water survival training: I would prefer to call it rapids, instead of white water, but I’ve accepted it, due to their interpretation of rapids making up the “white” part of the river (mostly due to a large cluster of fine bubbles reflecting white light all too better than the rest of the river.)
What we’ve learnt is the technique to float past rapids by steering yourself in the intended direction, and to swim at a proper angle in relation to the river’s speed and direction to reach the adjacent bank as quickly as possible. This technique, however, works best with a life vest.
(More information on this can be found in Relative Velocity, an O’ level Additional Mathematics topic.)

Trip Day Two

I think it was 5.00 AM.
We were all still asleep. I heard a voice shouting the distance. At first I thought it was someone trying to wake us all up, but after listening to the voice monotonously for 5 minutes, one of my roommates sleepily announced:
“Guys, wake up. There’s a fire.”
So that’s what he was trying to say. Fire. It sounded more like, “Hyer – wire –hyer.” Really, I swear it sounded like that. You would probably agree too, if you were half asleep dreaming of a warm bed that did not feel like a bed at all (we slept on wooden planks)
There was no fire. It was just a drill. According to them, it was a purely randomly generated drill in order to train them as well as possible.
Something told me it was not so, as the drill was conveniently sounded a few minutes (perhaps 15) before our intended wake-up time. I believe this was a wakeup call in disguise.
The snaky people. Why didn’t we realise that?


ZZZZZZZ> >> > >> fast forwarded to the highlight of the trips events.

It was a terrible, 8 hour long trek through swampy, hilly, sweaty sun-scorched trails along the rainforests of Temburong.
I regret to say that there were no pictures taken during the course of this sortie, due to the fact that environmental conditions were simply unsuitable for a digital camera to exist in.

I’d prefer not to relive the moments...

We reached the campsite atlast.


After setting up our tents, we cooked a simple meal comprised of corned beef and rice, and some instant noodles, before I submitted to my declining health and collapsed into my sleeping bag.

The next morning, we awoke at 4am to repack the tents and head down to the river to raft downstream to the main camp building.
It was truly a Godsend.



Have I learnt anything from this?
1) If forced, I can do anything.
2) Fire drills should be much more alerting. The monotonous announcing of “Fire, fire, fire.” Gave away the fact that it was a drill, and not real.
3) Think twice before signing up for something that says “vigorous” in its description.
No, honestly.
1) I learnt that many things are possible if you only tried harder. If you fail yourself, your friends can help you back to your feet.
2) There is so much in life, we do not know. Even ourselves. And especially our limits and boundaries.

THE END

It was day one of Year 12 Induction Programme CODENAMED - Outward Bound Brunei Darussalam.

I awoke to the most annoying sound of my handphone's alarm and lumbered myself out of bed clumsily while still half asleep. I -


Now, you don't really care do you?


I was one of the first few to arrive at the Handicrafts Jetty overlooking the morning Brunei River. Mr. Toomer was there, looking cheerful and bubbly as usual, and so was Ms. Hancox, who came along a little while after carrying 2 cups of what looked like coffee. Or was Mr. Toomer the one buying it? I can't remember.

I didn't have to wait long for the Ships to set sail. Shortly, by 0700 hours, everyone was ready and set for setting sails. We were about to board, when suddenly -


"I forgot to bring my IC!" said someone. Must have been Azim. I really didn't pay attention, i was quite caught up with my camera, taking shots of our lovely river. For some reason, they were no longer there when i looked for them.

So, there we waited for a someone who hurriedly rushed over his IC so we could set sail to Brunei Bay.

And set sail we did.

A picture of the H.M.S Royale Temburong. (okay, thats not the name, but you get the "picture".)

This is a picture of the CREW aboard the H.M.S number 1.

NOW THIS GETS INTERESTING. PAY ATTENTION TO THESE TWO LADIES, MS. TRACY AND ANN LEE.

ahh, bumbly and talkative.
hmmm.. fuel tank is about below half already... tired.. need sleep...

...and in approximately 3.2 minutes.

....optimized recharging mode.

Hey! Ann Lau joins the club.

So, we take a nice view at the scenery and the lovely riverside trees we have here in Brunei. And of course lovely Brunei River.

It was fun.

Looking at the lovely trees, taking pictures, thinking about life and taking pictures, imagining the weekend events and taking pictures, and .. haha.

I must say my time was well spent.

Anyways, lets go back to our dear crewmen. Or crewladies.

Mmmm.. Right where we left you.

Ahh, and I initially thought she really was going to sleep in that perfect posture the whole trip. She's finally gotten comfortable i guess!

Oh dear, this one has some trouble sleeping. Must be the waters.

The voyage was predictably uneventfull, as most of us fell into a painfully distorted slumber (as seen above). I was fortunate enough to have grabbed sufficient winks so i stayed awake long enough to have several pictures taken of the trip.

LAND AHOY!

"Selamat Datang ke Temburong~!"

As the Sign said! The time was approximately 0815. For many of them-the-more intelligent
beings out there, 0815 is still considered a bit after midnight and is usually considered immoral to be awake at such an ungodly hour on a Friday. I must quickly acustom to this however, since i come from St. Andrew's and have just entered ISB.

Contrary to the popular belief, this picture was not taken upon arrival, but actually taken
before leaving Temburong.

As soon as we docked and we climbed onto dry land once again, we and the crewmen left the
ships and travelled towards the coaches.

Buses.

The trip there was uneventful as well. Apart from sitting at the butt of the bus talking to Sita, AnnLee and Lau about very strange topics such as those titled "SO how do you find IB?" or "What d'you think of Brunei?" and the ever so popular "How are you finding ISB?". It was only a while before we reached the Legendary outposts of the Outward Bound Organization in Brunei Darussalam.






....to be continued.

CAS JOURNAL NEWS

CAS journal NUMBER 1 is coming soon. =)

Currently under construction.