Our last Wednesday session of 2011

Pardon me for having no pictures in this blog post, but I guess words are still gonna make it interesting!

Our day started earlier than usual sessions as we met up in school to play Munchkin. Big thanks to Kai Xiang for organizing! Since it's my first time playing it, I feel that it is a really really complicated game as we have to kill monsters to level up, and try to saboh those who are winning. But it's really a great game! I know it sounds interesting to you, so do come for our next Boardgame session okay? :D
So we had our first round of 'trying-out', and when everyone was more familiar with the game, one round actually lasted for two hours! Yes, you didn't read wrongly. TWO HOURS. And so, it was time for dinnerrrrrr!


Over at the home, we played a game called Charaboo (Charades + Taboo) with them. It was really fun playing with them, especially when they guessed it wrongly. For the first question, the answer was model, and initially my group members thought their friend acted out a prostitute! O.O
And of course, it's always more relaxing to be an audience than a performer. So it was time for us volunteers to act out, and the question we had was Kung Fu Panda. Don't say it's easy! Because it's really quite hard to act it out T.T Despite our lousy acting, they still managed to guess it right! :D
At the end of the game, the winning group had a packet of cookies, followed by sweets and biscuits. It's really nice to see that no matter which group won, everything will be shared among everyone. ((:

Lastly, since it was the last Wednesday session of 2011, Kelvin wanted them to write down what they wanted to be in 2012. A better person? Or a handsome and rich man? And they had to fold it into a heart and exchange with their friends. Some wrote they wanted to be superman, while others wanted to be more gangster and so on.
But I guess although that's what they wrote, deep inside they knew what they really wanted to be in 2012.


To end this post, I wish that all boys and volunteers will have an awesome 2012! :D

Lots of love,
Carmen.

Hohoho... It's the christmas week! (≧∇≦)ノ

And so...... we freshies had our first christmas with Blk D on the 20th! Now, here's a group photo of all those who attended!

Photo credits to Li Lin, our newest Blk D member and our beloved Kai Xiang!

Many thanks to Ping Lon for organising! Too bad our afternoon picnic session at marina barrage failed! Awww, didn't manage to fly the kite. But.... it got changed to a slacking and makan session at the Esplanade's outdoor theatre!

So, everyone brought food! For the share of 20 people! But there was only a handful there for the afternoon session. We had too much food available! Damn, i'm starting to feel guilty now since I was the one that didn't bring anything!

Cookies from Eugenia and Carmen, Cake pudding from Kelvin, French Toast from Kai Xiang and lots of titbits from everyone else available in the afternoon! Too bad, don't think there were pictures of them!

After the "picnic" session, we slowly wriggled... to Bugis MRT to meet those that were joining us for steamboat buffet! Of course, we had to make our $20 bucks worthwhile! So we stuffed ourselves with food, food and MORE FOOD! But my table was.. like the vegetarian table...! Hahahaha, we probably had more mushrooms than meat! Alamakz, like that how to eat our money worth!

After ensuring our stomach was at the brim of exploding, we then crawled over to the national library open space to do our gift exchange! The original plan was to have guys exchange with the ladies! But.... we had too many guys and so our poor Yen Lin & Kai Xiang had to do a mutual swapping. 四脚兽！

As for our weekly sessions, we were only able to attend for thursday on 22th since the boys had their own block celebration for christmas! For the first time, the number of boys up for session were more than the number of volunteers! （　．．）where did everyone else go!!

Supposed to have christmas celebration for the boys but we decided to just play board games (But actually what I really meant was just chinese chess and monopoly deal! We need more fun games! Hahaha!) So I set up the chinese chess set, but no one wanted to play with me...

（；へ：）at least till ZX helped me ask around! I guess the boys still aren't very familiar with me! Gotta to talk to them more!

P.S. Happy belated birthday to our birthday boy this week, Ping Lon! And thank you, Mei Xiu for the wonderful chocolates you gave for gift exchange! It's my first time writing here, hope I didn't make it too personal! =X

Chill out~

Wish you all a merry christmas... and a happy new year!

Chee Wei (Hijacking ZX's account *-*)

It's Thursday!

Firstly, I would like to say that I am very blessed to be a part of Block D because all the nicest people I've met in NTU are mainly congregated in here :) Today's session had been a rather meaningful one. Unlike the usual 'mass session' where everyone sits in a circle and engage in a particular activity planned, we had the opportunity to know and understand the boys better as we were split into smaller groups to interact with them.

During briefing, we were told by Kelvin that today's activity was mainly to play card games and then maybe chat with the boys after the games. I was assigned to teach the angry bird card game and the boys that were in my group were very fascinated by the cute graphics on the card. Although the game was a little childish as it was designed for kids, they did not complain and tried their best to play it well. I had an enjoyable time teaching them as they were intent on learning the rules and strategies well in order to win their friends.

After the games, I had a chat with one of the boys and found out that they actually really look forward to such sessions with the volunteers as life in boys' home is routine and boring for them. I also realised that they do look upon us as role models and would take our words seriously. This made me feel that we can really make a difference to their life and we should grasp the little time we have with them to offer them good advice and encourage them to excel in their studies or life. This has strengthened my resolution to attend more sessions so as to get to know the boys better and perhaps make an impact on their life :))

Swing!

December Session details!

Hello! Let's welcome the December planning commers who will be doing the shit for this month!! They are experienced campaigners Jingyi, Yating, Sohwoon, HuiXian and new volunteers Nicholas, Rishi, QiuJu, Ping Lon and Jeslyn!! *Claps*

Sessions will be on every wednesday and thurs, both days will be the same except the grp of boys will be different. Meet 7.30pm at the MCYS lobby, come in yourself! ...we will go in at abt 7.45pm. The 15 minutes will allow the planning commers to brief a bit on the session.

Week 1 (Dec 7,8)

Soh Woon, Jing Yi and Yating

Taboo- Split to 2 or 3 grps. One person will guess the word on the board and the rest will describe it without saying the word.

Charades plus taboo, grp will line up in a line. 1st person will act and 2nd person guess, then the 2nd person will describe based on his guessed answer and 3rd guess....

Week 2 (Dec 14,15)

Ping lon, Hui Xian

Hangman and Balloon captains ball

Week 3 (Dec 21,22)

Nicholas, Rishi

Musical Chairs Scissors Paper Stone- A line of chairs(bridge) will be formed. one grp line at one end of the chairs, the other at the other end. The loser will have to fall off the bridge while the winner moves forward. A person clearing the bridge is one point.

Singing of xmas songs

Week 4 (Dec 28,29)

QiuJu, Jeslyn

Exchanging of new years' msg- The boys would be asked to pen down their new yr msg to a person on a piece of coloured paper, then the volunteers would guide them to fold a heart shape. All msgs will be collected and redistributed randomly to the boys.

Small grp sharing.

That's all for December! Of cos we might be preparing for the home wall painting on 7 Jan and one bonding session with xmas xchange somewhere after xmas! Pls put attending on the excel sheet for 7 JAN!! Can sabo ur friends too by putting down their names!! Cheers and happy holidays!!

Exam period!

Must have studied too much! i mistakenly post something which was meant for my own blog! :x Getting more dazed nowadays.

Session ends this sem with more orientation games and forfeits! We should really have more people doing forfeits...its lame having the same person doing forfeits, its feels like im a clown! Session was chaotic at first, we really have too many volunteers in a small enclosed space. The manpower was sufficient to run a camp! Luckily, we will have 2 sessions(wednesday and thursday) from december onwards! The supper was full of gossips afterwards, as usual.

Planning Committee to start from December! Will be Interesting to listen to some of the fresh ideas new volunteers have. Hopefully new volunteers will enjoy running the sessions. Its rather tough, like to convey instructions to a chaotic crowd, to ensure the flow, to make sure volunteers don't feel lost, to gain courage to speak in front of a crowd. its rather similar to being a teacher for an hour. Nevertheless, everything starts tough. Over time, you will get used to being ignored and still try to carry out the activities. It does take some learning and of cos you will gain that experience which i thought is beneficial to your own development.

The new volunteers are organising a kukup trip from 4-6 Dec! If u happen to come to this blog, pls try to join us! It's not related to volunteering but joining a volunteering club doesn't mean that ur task is just to help the boys! We are not a company, we do not need to achieve anything! The main point of CCA is to develop friendships and enjoy yourself in what u like to do. Seriously, if volunteers are not close to each other...it's difficult to enjoy the sessions! I myself will take quite a long time to warm up to a new batch, im sure a lot of others are like me! So these bonding events will help u to get involved in the grp faster rather than just depending on weekly sessions!

ok, think i wrote too much! Good luck for your exams and dun stress...it will be okay whichever the result, u wont die because of it :) Cya ard!

Orientation Chalet!

First orientation chalet ended with a bang. It probably will be in my record of having the worst luck in the chalet. Lost about $20+. Quite a good number of seniors and new volunteers attended the chalet. There were so many doubts when i first wanted the chalet, like not enough ppl attending making it awkward, or the programs would be cui, or we dun have enough finances to do a good one, etc etc. However, i think everyone who came enjoyed it a lot and its a nice break from mugging. Volunteers also got to know each other a whole lot better while learning san guo sha and mj!

First day was staying in the chalet the whole day! It was rather empty at first but it got more crowded during the night. Played frisbee and actually discovered some of their traits already! LOL. Then it was dun say the word, mass dance and v-sharing in the night. V-sharing turn out quite smooth! I tot it would be weird at first but the family topic really never fails to warm everyone up. All of us came from different backgrounds but fortunate enough to have a happy family.

Second day was beach games and captains ball. Great ideas from the FOC comm. Refreshing games which i never played before. It was simple and fun! There's not a lot of rules to every game, and everyone kind of know how to play it. Then played some soccer when we came back! Nice new volunteers helped to start the BBQ and all we have to do is eat.

The camp was an ideal way to celebrate birthdays! And im so happy that i handled over the job of Birthday IC already! Jiayou to Zheng Chen, Peiwen and Emily!!! Its quite a satisfying job actually. Knowing u had celebrated for all of the volunteers in youth. The gifts might not make a very large impression, but it kinds of make people realise that we appreciate the volunteer's effort in coming down every week by celebrating their birthdays.

Lastly was volunteer confidence challenge. The girls were worried abt it being horrifying after listening to horror stories from kaixiang. The weather spoil the event and we had to cut short the trail. The trail i felt was really mild and its more of adventure than horror. haha.

Sometimes i wonder who is looking at this blog. there's a lack of comments compared to fb. Actually all the feedbacks u haf regarding the activity, u can put it down in the comments section. If u would like to write down a blog entry, u can find me on msn or fb to get the user name and password. No need to be shy, i would be more than happy to see new writings.

Oh. Zx just wrote an essay of thoughts when terren only wanted 5 sentences during the annual appreciation dinner. I shall reserved my thoughts for a later date. But regarding the retention rate, i have to say its constant in all RSPs. I believe a good bonding between volunteers would help to reduce it by a lot! and it would also make things easier in the future!

"A good volunteer is valuable, like Messi. A group of bonded dedicated volunteers who could gel with each other is priceless, like Barcelona!" Anonymous

:)

Yo! It looks I haven’t been writing a blogpost for very long since don’t know when…okok. Think is time for me to make some contributions to the blog. Don’t know what to write about so maybe I will just share some of my thoughts after volunteering in the SBH for about 2 years… Actually I am quite curious to find out the reasons why most of our youth volunteers want to join youth…for me why I came to join youth maybe is coincidence. Cos is being psychoed by boss Kelvin in Yr 1 to join WSC although in the end he only joined youth in yr 2. When I first started in Boys Home like after going for a session or twice…I was like quite quiet and shy at that time and never really interact much with the boys cos I don’t know what to talk to them about or more like I am scared I will say something that will offend them or what…it was the Annual camp that actually brought me more closer and taught me how to interact with them. The boys are like a bit more rebellious, uses a bit more vulgarities and they end up there because of mixing with the wrong groups of friends at the wrong time doing wrong things and get caught and punished by law. Sometimes I really feel quite sad for them cos they actually spend their most important part of their teenage years in the Home and worst they are being placed together with those similar to or even more worse than them.

I think that each of us has our own perception of volunteering like helping out the less fortunate, contributing to society, trying out something new or maybe trying to accumulate some good deedsJ Doing voluntary work… I believe most of us will not expect to get any form of rewards in return but …I think that most of us will have the mindset of wanting to do something that we ourselves will consider it as meaningful or useful to our beneficiaries…So what if one day you found out that they are not appreciative of what you are doing for them, they are not responding well to what you have done for them, or maybe you suddenly find that what you are doing does not seems to be meaningful to them…will you start to lose your passion for volunteering? I believe most of us will feel that… not trying to say is wrong cos even myself will feel that also. It’s perfectly fineJ and I think is normally to feel that way.

Cos every year, Youth is one of the portfolio in WSC that has one of the highest number of dropout rates and it looks like one of the problem is that a lot of our volunteers lost the passion for volunteering with the boys. Personally I feel that dealing with the boys is quite different from dealing with other beneficiaries. Compared to like elders, ids, HI, VH,… we are dealing with (I think)a more challenging group. Why challenging? Cos I think that they are too normal…some of them appear to be not appreciative of what we have done, some of them don’t really want to study even though we make an effort to go down to help them, some of them don’t really want us to pity them, some of them are just too noisy(KL)…so that’s y I find that this will make some of us feel that it isn’t that meaningful afterall compared to other portfolios.

In my perception Rsp Youth is more than just organising games for the boys, giving them tuitions or just befriending the boys…it is more of giving them a chance of spend their time with a different group of people and I believe that this is more important cos it is during this time they can get out of their cells, find out answers for their future, tell us certain problems that they are facing and probably get some advices from someone slightly a few years older than them(staffs are too old got generation gap)...this is why sometimes no matter how boring our sessions are(when we are playing some boring games), or when they are tired after one whole day of school(some of them are allow to go to sch), they will still take their time to come down for our NTU sessions. But of course for boys especially at their age most of them will not appreciate our efforts through words(maybe except a few) cos they will think saying things like thank you or showing that they are appreciative of what we are doing for them will appears to be weak?, gay?....so instead of saying thank you. They show their appreciation by their attendance, their active participation during our sessions, telling us their problems, treating u as a friend or even asking if you are coming next week…

So actually I think that whether the sessions in the boys home are meaningful or not does not really depends on factors like amount of boys that come up for session, how many volunteers that we have, the activities that we conduct during the sessions…but more on like your willingness to interact with them. So is actually up to us volunteers if we want to make our presence meaningful to themJ….okok think I have write too much already…PS is my England is a bit cui. GLHF!

Super busy during this quiz wk! finally had some time in the afternoon to write on previous 2 weeks of session!

Firstly was the maths IQ questions session! Every team is to solve some maths questions provided and the fastest team who answers and explains the question correctly wins. The classic question was " 5 monkeys took 5 mins to eat 5 bananas. How long did 8 monkeys took to eat 8 bananas?" Everyone was so sure its 8!! But the answer is still 5mins! Then the game progresses on to the more difficult problems which some of the boys lost interest in. Then comes the velocity distance questions which the boys are more confident in since they have learnt physics! In the end, i wanted a forfeit but apparently nobody was interested in it...so there's only food prizes but no forfeit. haha.

The session was considered a safe session to me. You can never go wrong with a series of puzzles as a game. It much more predictable than debates, telling ghost stories, where the boys might just ignore you. But anyway, its just a relaxing session not an exam so i still feel that we should try different activities in the future.

Then the following week was new volunteers bonding session 2! We played 7UP in malay and "ini ialah pensel" game. I admitted i was quite out of touch with the language and made numerous fundamental mistakes! Luckily, huixian was quite good at malay and corrected the mistakes. Most volunteers are not listening to the malay lesson but are in their own conversation instead! Oh well, looks like the intention of getting everybody tgt is reached. I already gotten used to being ignored after hosting so many boys home session. haha. Then we end off with "ipin dan upin!". I myself felt its super funny, dunno wad the new volunteers think. haha.

de-stress!

A new semester begins and it's time to hit the books... and let's also welcome the freshies! :)

But anyway, back to the session today. Since exams are nearing for the boys, we've been giving them tuition sessions but today it was time to de-stress and relax. The usual boys turned up and we played Pictionary. The boys and the volunteers were split into two groups and a volunteer from each group were given a sentence or phrase, which they had to convey to their group mates through drawing.

Initially the boys were hesitant to draw (shy alert) but they soon warmed up to the idea and joined in. It was so interesting see the various drawings and depictions (especially those of animals) of the answers, many of which included idioms. Try drawing "A wolf in sheep's clothing" or "Raining cats and dogs" and you'll get what I mean.

It's nice to have the opportunity to chill and have fun with the boys, for now let's continue to support them and help them in their studies. Can't wait for next week's session!

xinmu

P.S. after reading the previous entries, I realised this is my second time blogging about Pictionary...

Stock up at JB!

Times are getting bad...but resilient blk D has lots of ideas! We went to JB to stock up on our weekly snacks to save some pennies! It turned out to be a great gathering for the guys as we watched rise of the planet of the apes and have supper at taman sentosa! Of course it wasnt easy to find cheap stuff...we walked one whole round around the city square area in order to find the shopping center which was just nearby city square!
Besides that, we have our guest volunteer joey joining us on that day. Little did u know that he is actually a blk D volunteer, but have been MIA since he joined. haha. Perhaps busy with IGC??Zhengxin trying to promote Youth at JB...hopefully some NTU freshies will see it at JB and join us next yr :)Our catch! It costs RM80 which is about S$33.33! It is suppose to last 10 weeks which means each week costs only $3.33!! talk about being Auntie!Lastly, dinner!! Total damage is around RM50 for 3 persons! and we got a 5 course meal. haha. hopefully will have more future JB outings and more people can join us! Happy national day!

Another week has passed..

It's my turn to blog here again! was the duty com 2 weeks ago and we played using BALLOONS! well, personally i think it's pretty exciting as i can see everyone feeling nervous when the balloons were about to burst right in front of their faces. Hope that everyone had fun? Since our session is always in the classroom which may be dull for them, thus we decided to try something more exciting and new!

Frankly speaking, it was quite a tough session as initially some of the boys didnt fancy the idea. So, we spent some time trying to settle them down. Eventually, they were still willing to take part so am glad about it!

After knowing them for one semester's time, i feel that the boys will appreciate what we plan for them although they may not really like it! It's also heartwarming to see them showing concerns and treat the volunteers like friends. Sincerely hope that the boys will change for the better! :)

yating

L!d@n 1st post!

Halloooo… hope you guys are enjoying ur super long and ‘crazy’ holidays.

Ermm.. if I’m not wrong, this is the 1st blog entry I had ever have, so far lah, it is really hard for me to crack my head and dig/pour out whatever I had in my brain. this is tantamount to solving a super hard maths problem. So pardon be for writing craps :D

It have been three weeks since holidays started, I still don’t feel the excitement that I have been expecting since before the exam started. Why? A mundane life is really a torture to me L. Maybe some of you do share the same feeling as me.

And I had read through the june camp proposal, really hope that the boys will enjoy themelves to the fullest and participate fervently, same goes to the volunteers, such intangible thing (happiness) is what we want to give them and of course, for ourselves. And actually I’m quite enthralled by some of the activities also. You guys really got a lot ideas. Bravo!

PS: I hope this will be the last blog entry. Eh, I just don’t like to write, not because I’m lazy, BUT I have no content to write. I remembered last year, one of the module, the prof asked us to write him 5 journal entries, I simply cut and paste from my friend’s entries and submit to him. Because I got NO CONTENT for him. eh.. so try not to ask me to write. try lah, ok..Thank you hor :P

Stay happy always!

L!d@n

NO MORE EXAMS!!

Exam break ends!

It’s been almost 2 months since the last post. After spending weeks with my beloved textbooks, graphic calculator and equations, exams are finally over and it’s time to let a thick layer of dust accumulate on the textbook. So this marks the end of a semester, a whole work year and also the start of weekly Thursday session again.

1st session started right after exam week. We had a whole bunch of activity going on at the same time with different group. The largest crowd being the group playing monopoly deal in the centre of the room. With such a large number of players, the pile of cards for us to draw depleted quite fast and the players are left with only the cards in their hands. We also had ZX, the chess expert playing Chinese chess, a group of boys chit-chating one corner with some volunteers and also Mark giving tuition.

For the 2nd session, Kelvin introduced us to a personality test that enables us to know what type of characteristics we portray, how we tend to react to certain situations and how these characteristics may contribute to being our weakness or strength. After the test and much explaining from Kelvin, I’m sure we all had a better understanding of ourselves, and how we can further improve and better lead our life.

Summer boys camp is coming right up in 2 weeks. Hope we can all have lots of fun and a well deserved rest this holiday.

Darren Ho,

Youth BLK D

Exam break starts!

Realised nobody updated on last week...took me a while to recall wad we did last week actually. It's a collection of stuff...word search, the price is right, puzzle, scrabble...is that all? but thats all i could remember! It was rojak of wad we did this sem actually, but the fun was nevertheless the same! There was only 2 groups and my group was the straightforward winner with lady luck on our side, we guessed most of the prices correctly~~~

Session this week was supposed to be card making for the graduating seniors. However, again due to the lack of boys, volunteers took their initiative to play chess and first hand with the boys. The loser would have to do truth or truth! It turned out to be a good sharing and bonding session with the small group of boys we have...a relaxing end to youth sessions this sem.

More activities for youth coming right up after the exam break! Firstly is the youth chalet which never happened before. BEWARE, More bonding and stirring expected! After that could have a day out with the boys as pre-camp. Then is our ANNUAL CAMP! Performance night was something quite refreshing; do an advertisement on a product given to them. Of course, there's tuesday tuition sessions to help the boys along for the final half of the year to the 'N''O' exam.

But before all that, we have to clear our own exams before helping others!! and thats could be why exam break is impt! Good luck to all volunteers for their finals. Study smart and well! Luck plays an important role, there's only that few qns and if you know all of them, u would kill the subject! A's are not out of reach if you see it in that perspective! Study smart-simplifying all the contents yourself, dun make your life difficult by making the chapter complex. Sometimes, only a few fundamental points or equations need to be understand and u can do all qns from that topic. Past yr papers are godlike, dun disadvantage yourself by not going through it! I have answered exam qns thru remembering wad i read in the ans of the past year papers...dun get too stressed up! See you at Pasir Ris then!

Session （31/03/2011）

A very brave attempt by our duty comm today. I guess today’s session has exemplified the meaning of no risk no gain bah. Never tot a “chatting” session will be anywhere near a good idea, especially so for boys of their age. Reminds me of a certain thurs last semester where we had our reflection session, which was quite frankly, a rather forgettable one =X

But this time round, it was different. Through this mini “get-to-know” or “debate” session, I actually got to know a lot of stuff about the boys and their thinking. We gathered useful feedbacks and suggestions based on all the previous sessions conducted. They highlighted what they like about our session so far as well as areas that needed improvement. Although I cannot say it’s a big hit for the boys, but it’s definitely insightful for us volunteers, be it for planning future activities or simply for getting to know our boys a little bit more. I’m pretty sure such session cannot be conducted every week, but it will be quite refreshing for us and the boys if they are conducted every once in a while.

Once again, Thank You to our duty comm and fellow volunteers for making every thurs evening an enjoyable one for us all. Keep up the good work people =) Blk D 万岁!!!

Regards,
Qin Feng

Supper is FUN!!!

Nearly forget to write...i'm slightly crazed today so the writing style might reflect it.

Right before our nation's General Election, with PAP having to face off against the opposition parties, undergoing the gruelling questionings by the people, we have our very own election for Block D's next management committee.

If you think that it's going to be a very docile rallying session, then you are sorely mistaken. The candidates were subjected to an intense grilling session by the floor (actually, it's only ZX and his gang at the back), and were required to spell out clearly the vision they have for the block, as well as how they would achieve these goals and vision. Difficult senarios were also posted to the candidates in a bid to sound out the various management style of the individual candidates. Whew, i'm so glad to be the one doing only the voting.

The voting process was done in a jiffy (since i guess we were all late for the session already), with the fate of our candidates in the hands of ZX...and our candidates having to suffer through the excruciating wait while ZX went to have Kopi at Ya Kun (ask him why not Mac), went home to finish his drawings (which took hours) before tallying the votes. At long last, at 3.36am (according to my email), the results are out!

The votes are in, and the people have spoken. Shall not dwell too much on the results.

Lastly, i think this is a good opportunity to thank ZX and the outgoing committee. I think they have been nothing short of wonderful. Amongst the heaps of praises lavished on him yesterday during the election, i just wish to point out that the thing that struck me most abt him was his tolerance, persistence and always putting himself at the frontline...always having to endure us "flying aeroplane" at the last moment.

Till next time,
Mark (slightly crazed today, which accounts for the weird writing style)

PS: I think we should continue ZX's legacy...SUPPER!!! It's a really good opportunity to talk abt random stuff, sessions, opinions...if u dun mind the ARROWS (such as this blogspot itself), GOSSIPS and RUMOURS that may arise out of having supper with him. Haha

~Mark~

Every Thursday is a happy day :)

Today we all gathered for another round of fun games with the boys~

After exciting rounds of charades, spot the differences, do not forget the lyrics and many more, what else could be left?

Pictionary!

We quickly divided ourselves into two groups. The name of the game (idiom!) was to guess correctly words and idioms through hints which could only be drawn out. Just thinking about it seemed challenging and difficult.

This time, we were given several options – one to four worded answers with similar points awarded respectively or idioms, which awarded five points when guessed correctly. Initially everyone was relaxed and amiable as simple words were chosen. It was very amusing to see the various drawings depicting answers like ‘Little Mermaid’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’!

However, as the game progressed, we were given harder keywords and a large portion of them consisted of idioms, such as “Actions speak louder than words”, “Do not count your chickens before they’ve hatched”, “Spill the beans” etc. Before long, there was a huge difference of 30 points between the two groups, so tensions were rising as both groups raced to solve the puzzles. Majority of the idioms were solved by the boys – some coolly deduced the answers while others frantically threw out words; it was a pleasant surprise!

Amazingly, at the last question, the other group caught up and thus both groups were neck to neck in points. Amidst much excitement, the game ended and the boys shared their prizes with each other.

This time it was even more heartening, because the number of boys who attended was larger than the number of volunteers present.

And after all these games, it seems that beneath their tough exteriors there lie shy, playful, active teenagers who bond together in their own special way. Let us continue to create many more lasting memories with them :)

-Xinmu

Weekly dosage of happiness~

A sweet little surprise from one of the boys from my camp group! Siew ping got a card too!

Nice and detailed drawing with one whole pack of folded hearts which he put in between the pages of the card. A surprise within a surprise! sweet much! ^^

Happy much, but i've some confession to make.

The avalanche of school work was enough to bury me alive and i was on the verge of pulling my hair right before the session this thursday.

And here's the part when the evil thought of pon-ing the session comes in.

Honestly, I'm guilty of missing the session twice coz of projects and cca commitment.

I will always feel guilty but our dear center head zx has always been understanding and without fail end off with "no worries :)" (which kinda lessen my guilt in a way).

Fortunately, this time round i decided to go for session anyway and perhaps this card is my reward for doing so.

What I am driving at is that, at times when you feel like you cannot commit or feel like quitting/exasperated why you still have to go for session when you have so much things at hand, think of times when the boys ask why who and who is not around, when they offer you chocolates/sweets tho they want to eat everything by themselves and when they ask about you/tell you about their school etc. It's the little things that they do that makes everything worthwhile. Especially after receiving the card, it strikes me that even though i feel that i didnt do much for them, they will remember us and look upon us as pillars of support/friends.

To me, the session is like my weekly dosage of happiness amidst the stressful uni life. & I hope it's yours too! ^^

Do Not Forget the Lyrics!!!

Katy Perry-Fireworks

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what you're worth
X-X-X-X-X
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Do you know what is in the X-X-X-X?! This was how we started our very first song… Yuppie! We played don’t forget the lyrics for today’s session. At first, our group doubted ourselves as we thought that the boys will not really know the songs that we used, but they never fail to surprise us. Most of them know the songs from the bottom of their heart while some were completely clueless. Hahahas. I must mention that it’s more of our volunteers being clueless, and that the boys needed to help them out!

Time flew today as we were late, and sadly we didn’t manage to finish all the 14 songs that we intended to go. We ended off with our national day song which many thought was HOME. Luckily Qinfeng decided to make it a small challenge for them by choosing a song-WE WILL GET THERE that was not their era. This stunned them a little but with the help of our volunteers some teams managed to get it right. After which we gave out the tidbits that we bought and the boys happily munch it while we all left the room…

Next week would be the last week before recess week comes! Hurray! And for the next group, all the best planning.

==MEI XIU==

Sessions on 17/02/11

There are more boys joining the session today, 3 groups are formed and each group have at least 3 boys! This is the best number of boys so far and I really hope that this number can continue on! The game that we are playing this week is easy and fun. All they have to do is Spot the differences!

As the name implies, it is to find any difference between two similar pictures. But to win this game, they have to work together and find all or highest number of the differences within 2 minutes. In almost every picture, the winner team will be given a prize, such as mentos, chocolate and biscuits. They really indulge in their rewards and share with one another. But the most challenging pictures are to spot for 24-25 differences! There are 3 pictures and they are given around 3 minutes each. It is also very tedious and stressful to count the number as we are afraid that we will count wrongly, hence, we counted repeatedly.

Why are we afraid to count wrongly? Because there is forfeit! Having seen in previous session that there is always short of time to give forfeit at the end, hence forfeit is given during the game. The team that found the lowest number of the differences will have to rely on their luck if they will have to do forfeit. What they have to do? Simple, a toy will decide! They have to poke a small knife into a little hole and see if the toy will fly out! If it does, the team will have to do forfeit. One of the team was unlucky! They get all of our forfeit! Eating wasabi and chili, but Kelvin is very kind by providing them with a 1.5 bottle of drink to wash the taste off their mouth. Another forfeit that ends the session is to sing the famous ‘home’ by Kat Chan. This is to celebrate total defence day! (:

Cheers,
Doris

2nd Session

Anticipating another fulfilling experience, a few of us, with the leadership of Kim Leng, met up to finalize plans for the session on 10 February. It was concluded that there would be two games lined up for the evening.

The first game was a food tasting game where the teams were given a spectrum of food to taste, albeit with their eyes closed. The teams had to guess the type and brand of the food. The game proved too easy for the boys and our volunteers who could instantly decipher the nature of the food. Seeing the uplifting mood, we proceeded to the next game.

The second game required extensive memory work coupled with teamwork. The boys and volunteers had 3 minutes to scrutinize pictures that were pasted on the walls. The pictures were then taken down and questions were given to the various groups. Amidst excitement and laughter, the game came to an end. The results were extraordinarily. Certainly, we were pleased to show the boys that with teamwork and pride, even seemingly daunting tasks can be accomplished with ease. It was also a relief to see the volunteers interacting with each other, fostering bonds that we will all look back with glee.

It was a bit disappointing that the turn up rate for the boys was low initially yet the enthusiasm of our peers and the prevailing boys served as a major encouragment.

Looking at the crystalization of the game plan on the day itself and how the teams achieved spectacular results, I was once again assured of the words of Emerson that I hold on dearly in my heart. To end this post, I would like to share with you the quote and hopefully it finds resonance in you: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now lay the foundation".

I look forward to more enriching sessions to come.

Natalie Han

Blk D session ~

Today was the first session in the new school term, many of our volunteers were present, hooray! Unfortunately, not many boys attended the session, hopefully next week there'll be lots more :)

After separating into the the two sides (tuition or games), we divided ourselves into three groups for the game. Today's was 'The Price is Right', whereby the groups will be shown a series of pictures of real items and had to guess the actual price. Points were given to groups which had the closest value (the number also had to be smaller than the real price).

Sounds simple, doesn't it... but who knew (lithium) batteries actually cost $8.88?! And that New Moon Abalone Yu Sheng was a whopping $45!

The game proceeded smoothly while our volunteers cracked their heads and tried to outdo one another by throwing in a value $0.01 higher. In the end, Group 3 triumphed by earning a grand total of 15 out of 28 points! (They really do know their shopping haha)

The last group, Group 1, had to do a forfeit but again, there was no time. Next week perhaps?

After that, most of us went for supper and the upcoming gathering will be our CNY reunion dinner, join in the festivities and fun over pizza (?!) and yu sheng ~

Last but not least, Happy Chinese New Year people! :D

[xinmu]

Session 20/1/2011

Today was the last session of the holidays. A few volunteers met up for dinner at jurong point while the rest of us met up at the home at 1930. The total number of people who turned up was 18. Hopefully, we can keep up this attendance rate when term starts.

As usual, we splitted up the activities. Tuition on one side and games on the other. As school just started, not many of the boys wanted tuition, so most of the volunteers played games.

Today’s game was inspired by an old game Zhengxin dug up from the archives of this blog. Basically, you had to answer some questions for points. However, the catch was that the letters were written in code, each letter was written as the alphabet preceding it. Thus, the question “who is the president of Singapore” becomes “xip jt uif qsftjefou pg tjohbqpsf”. To make the game harder, each team was given only 30 seconds to decode and answer the question.

Surprisingly, some of the boys were quite adept at figuring out the letters. Within the 30 seconds allocated, most of the boys already knew the answer, prompting Zhengxin to increase the difficulty of the game by allocating only 20 seconds. In the end, my team, Sweeping (named after our dear Siew Ping) came in last but there was no time to do a forfeit as it was already nine o’clock and the staff at the home had to come and ask us to leave.

Then was supper time but sadly, most people just seemed to disappear………………. Leaving only 7 of us………………….

Woeijin

bLk 'D' cAmP

Attending the Block D Camp was probably the most meaningful way to end off 2010!! Honestly, I was a little insecure at first, not knowing what kinda behavior to expect from them, whether we’ll be able to get along etc etc. After all, it was a whole bunch of energetic boys im gonna be dealing with, and being a GL the responsibility falls on me to lead the group. My boys in Bolt were really diverse characters with different temperaments and talents. They really like to wander and disappear ALOT, so im like a mother hen trying to find my little chicks all the time LOL. It was a little awkward at first, slowly learning how to communicate with them through observation and interaction. It's much easier to get them to open up when speaking one-to-one and I was consoled and sincerely happy when through the conversations I see their repentance and willingness to work hard and make amends. Honestly, the boys are really adorable; they like to act tough and pretend they don't give a damn, but deep down I see their sincerity. So touched when Don brought us a plate of chicken wings n cuttlefish balls during performance practice! It’s these small kind acts that show that these boys may appear aloof but actually care for us too. I felt so proud of them when we performed The Reason and You Belong With Me together, though they were so shy (unlike during the practice; stage fright perhaps). When things have to be done they do cooperate to get it done, and I’m so glad I had a group who loved to win so much. For every single game they told me we gonna win it. Love the fighting spirit!! =D

It was a hectic and tiring camp; the games were meant to tire them out, but we got exhausted instead! They guys are really sporty and fit! NTU guys lost by a landslide during tug-o-war with them! Disgrace! LOL. I had a really fun time playing the games with the boys; hadn’t indulged in such fun sports since orientation camps! Soccer, captain's ball, volleyball, frisbee plus the circuit games and dirty games and wet games. Never-ending action all day long!! The boys really enjoyed playing (and winning) and it was through the games that they really exhibited team spirit and support. They kept their spirits high even if we lost, always determined to win the next game. A couple of my boys seemed tired out with the non-stop activities but they recharged real fast and participated enthusiastically J

The camp changed my views about the boys at the home; previously there wasn't much interaction, but through the camp I got to know their personalities and tempers better. Learnt how to banter with them, and the ways to coax and persuade them. The guys are indeed very rowdy, but you can tell that behind their facades they lack self confidence, being really shy to display their talents. It isn't that they are bad or rebellious; a lot of them were unlucky to meet the wrong crowd and made bad decisions. Some of them committed crimes out of impulse; some have tempers that need greater control. I’m heartened to see a lot of them wanting to study to at least achieve their N Levels, and that many of them want to pursue their education further. I wish the society could see that these boys aren't hopeless; they just need guidance and time to grow up. Humans are susceptible to biases, and I once stereotyped them too, though now I’m thankful for the chance to change my perceptions. Some of the boys are leaving the home soon, and I share their joy in that. Really hope that they'll stay on the right path and have a bright future ahead!

~Xiangyi~