NTU WSC YOUTH BLOCK D -- ROCKS !

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012-01-21T20:02:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone!

This is my first time posting here. I want to say that I'm really glad to be in Block D! This is the place with the most fun and laughters! :D It is also very heart-warming to see that the people in Block D are bonded! Even though I joined Block D quite late, I'm very happy that I've the chance to bond with you people! From Kukup to gift exchange to sessions... And I'm sure that there will be plenty more to come! :)

This week's session is gooooood! The games ended earlier than expected. At first I was quite scared that there will be awkward silence. But luckily all of us managed to kind of "sabo" everyone to bring "entertainment" to the boys. So, it is better than I expected! :) Hopefully the Wednesday's boys will open up to us soon! :)

CNY is coming! I wanna wish everyone a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! Hahaha, get lots of ANGPAOS! :D

And, SEE YOU ALL THE NEXT SESSION! :D :D :D

Byebye~

- Li Lin

It’s a new year. Let’s have new dreams.

2012-01-20T23:37:00.001+08:00

Well time passed really fast. It would be cliché to say that time flew with the blink of the eye, for during the past half a year in RSP-Youth, I have gone through countless of blinks which I’ve held dear.

My half a year in RSP-Youth has been ironically my first commitment to an RSP despite being in WSC for the past 3 years. I have served most of my time in Special Projects, hassling much events planning and adventure camps for the deaf, doing administrative work to ensure the bridge between the special projects and the university’s administration. My work, rather, my involvement for the past 3 years has definitely been eventful and memorable. I had my fair share of laughter and tears, hair pulling moments and gratifying instances. I’ve learnt immensely, regardless hard skills, soft skills and at least personally, I think I’ve emerged as a better person. At this point of time, I am proud to say, “I’ve never regretted a single moment spent in WSC”.

It was at the beginning of my year 4 semester 1 that I asked myself “why not a RSP?” Perhaps it would be adept to answer firstly “why Special Projects at the start?”

When I was in year 1, a blur and lost freshie amongst the crowd of the colorful varsity campus, I admitted to have randomly chanced upon the WSC fair and spotted by friend. I never had the intention to join WSC, let alone to know what it stands for. This friend of mine (who was already a senior in NTU) pulled me into a special project portfolio. I rationalized that it would be good to start from a special project (SP) since the commitments would not be on a regular basis. Boy! Was I wrong! The physical commitment wasn’t regular, the mental commitment and the need for individual work responsibility was colossal. Yet I preserved and continued on for another year. For in the eyes of the beneficiaries and their gestures of appreciation, I saw something which I haven’t felt for the past years. In the words of a fellow volunteer, I heard something which I shared countless times with my other peers:

“You know I wanted to quit during this point of time? It was really tiring. But at the end of the camp, when the beneficiaries came over and thank me, it was the genuine “thank you” I felt that makes it all worthwhile…”

Indeed, it was all worthwhile.

At the end of my stints in the management committee of WSC, I told myself I wanted to be reconnected with the core of volunteerism, to be a normal volunteer again. I wanted something that I can feel for. I wanted something which I know I can impact the lives of others. Perhaps, I wanted something extraordinary. Perhaps I yearned to be part of a new place, to see new faces ignited with the same passion for the society, to be touched with the same experiences that kept regular volunteers coming back for more.

I chose RSP-Youth and I’ve never regretted thus far.

This is where I got my second exposure to the hidden side of the society (the first was that in army). This is the first chance for me to impact this hidden side of the society. I remembered my first session with the boys. I was definitely edgy. I wasn’t afraid of the society’s stigma of tattoos etc. I realized had no idea how to communicate with the boys.

Well, I wouldn’t say that I am proficient with the boys now. At least I’m already comfortable amongst them. Hey! I joined in their chants for Kelvin to perform forfeits etc. I got to know some of their stories. I got to know some of their aspirations which I know they will go on to strive for after this chapter of their lives. I knew many of them would have seen the light of tunnel when they leave the complex and continue with their normal routines.

Many a times, during the course of volunteering, I asked myself how many lives have I changed? How many people will go on and remember this chap that might be preaching about the rights and wrongs? How many people whom I’ve got in contact prior would even remember what I’ve said? And then, I chanced upon the quote.

“If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” - Mother Teresa

No single effort is insignificant. Every step, every gesture counts. I do indeed feel good about doing good. Using the words in the name of a youtube channel “Doing good is contagious”. Doing good releases endorphins… bah! You get what I meant, or you’ll eventually get what I meant J

I am also honored to be walking amongst the ranks of fellow regular volunteers. I sincerely applaud you guys for making this bold move towards such commitment. I earnestly congratulate you guys for making a momentous and gratifying choice.

And a year has passed. The spring dawns after the winters retreats. Sun sets and cyclically rises, from dawn till dusk. Yet almost every week, most of us would still sit at the visitor lobbies, eagerly waiting for the time to walk through the fences of security, into the oh-so-familiar classrooms of the complex, eagerly waiting for the session to start. Definitely not forgetting the kopi-pengs, teh-pengs, holick-pengs, milo-pengs almost ritually at around 9.30pm.

This is RSP- Youth Blk D J

~yeh lin~

January Sessions!

2012-01-20T14:04:00.002+08:00

Firstly, heartening to see so many volunteers coming down this week! Hope that this will continue without the effect of affecting your studies. Great job to the duty commers too! Even though there were some obstacles at first, both sessions ended on a high note.

Due to Chinese New Year, there would be no sessions for next week. So have a nice rest!!

Sessions will continue on 1st Febuary. For that week 2, we would be playing...

Guess the song title
With the music and lyrics, one person from each group would be acting out the lyrics and the rest would guess the song title. More points would be given for sending a boy out to act. The first grp to guess correctly the song title will win. There would be (6-7 songs in total)

We are Singaporeans
Questions on Singapore would be asked and grps will answer the questions

Logistics for week 2
Lilin- Mp3 player loaded with songs and lyrics
Swee Ying- We are Singaporeans Questions, paper and pens

Week 3-8th and 9th Febuary

Week 3 would be station games. There would be 3 grps and each grp will rotate ard the stations. Each station is 15 minutes.

Station 1-6 tasks in 100secs

Task 1-Blow ping pong ball out of water
Task 2-Tongue Twister
Task 3-10 Push up
Task 4-Memorise a 3 lines paragraph
Task 5-Chopstick 3 ping pong ball
Task 6-Blow and burst a balloon

Station 2- Balancing game
Using a cloth and plastic cup, balance a ping pong ball on top of the plastic cup while walking to the other side.

Station 3-Drawing Game
A simple object would be given to one person, the person would have to describe the object for the others to draw out.

Logistics for week 3

Peiwen and chris
1 sheet of tongue twister
1 3 line paragraph
plastic bowl(4) and chopsticks(3)
Water bottle with water
Trash bags
Pens
Drawing Qn
Paper

Kelvin- Ping pong balls and balloons

That's all!! Huat ah!!!

2012-01-16T00:11:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone!

First time posting here. (: I'm happy to be a part of Block D cause I think you're all awesome people yay. Okay back to the topic..

I've had fun this few months, going for session every week and having frequent suppers with you guys! Its interesting to see how the boys have evolved, from their intial shyness during the first session when we met them (and also our initial shyness hahaha) to how they are more comfortable around us now! I'm sure we are glad to see this "evolution".

The latest session we played the price is right! Its fun to see how the boys actually know the price of some of the household products that I thought I knew (but eventually don't know LOL). Never knew they would have this side of them also. :S

Looking forward to more sessions and more bonding events! (: Block D ♥!

So those who have not been coming sessions should come! ^^

Eugenia

Our last Wednesday session of 2011

2011-12-29T09:22:00.003+08:00

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

2011-12-23T00:05:00.005+08:00

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!

2011-12-16T00:39:00.005+08:00

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!

2011-12-03T19:57:00.002+08:00

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!

2011-10-29T01:00:00.003+08:00

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!

2011-10-03T22:04:00.006+08:00

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

:)

2011-09-30T16:06:00.001+08:00

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!

2011-09-19T16:40:00.002+08:00

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!

2011-09-01T22:29:00.003+08:00

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!

2011-08-09T00:45:00.003+08:00

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..

2011-07-26T16:38:00.003+08:00

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!

2011-06-13T12:12:00.000+08:00

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!!

2011-06-09T23:51:00.001+08:00

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!

2011-04-15T11:35:00.006+08:00

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）

2011-04-04T02:00:00.001+08:00

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!!!

2011-04-01T17:46:00.002+08:00

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 :)

2011-03-17T22:53:00.003+08:00

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~

2011-03-13T09:17:00.006+08:00

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!!!

2011-03-03T23:38:00.000+08:00

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

2011-02-18T00:01:00.002+08:00

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

2011-02-12T18:56:00.002+08:00

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 ~

2011-01-27T23:24:00.002+08:00

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

2011-01-21T00:41:00.000+08:00

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

2011-01-07T14:22:00.001+08:00

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~

D camp 'ROCKs'

2011-01-04T19:56:00.002+08:00

I will keep the blog short since majority of the events during the camp had already been mentioned. Although the camp had ended 1 week ago, everything that had happened during the camp is still fresh in my mind...

ARMSTRONG (ROCK):
All the youths in ARMSTRONG have did a great job throughout the camp starting from day1… They are always willing to share their ideas and creativity to design the flag, mascot, cheer and even the dance (they have done Armstrong proud). During the games, they are always working hard as a team and aiming high (to be the champion). Each individual youth is able to contribute in one way or another despite the difference in age, size and height… One thing that I am glad to see is that they are always willing to let each individual member to participate or contribute to each game despite in the difference in ability for each game. Their never say die attitude is the reason for their good performance during the camp.

Overall:
Overall I think the camp is a success since the camp is carryout quite smoothly (although there may be some unforeseen circumstances occurring…). However, I did not manage to have a lot of interaction with other youths other than my team, ARMSTRONG (they ROCK). Maybe next time can swap group or have sister group system (just random suggestion). As for the prize, I think it is better to just announce the top 3 while just stating consolation prizes for the rest as compared to announcing their position (so as to keep their morale high for the next day). The games planned were quite fun and I believed most of them enjoy it too (especially my ARMSTRONG). Special thanks to all the games IC and logistic IC. Lastly, I would like to take this chance to thank BLK D centre head, Zheng Xin for allowing me to join the camp, all the game IC and logistic IC for their efforts during the camp (I believe the youths appreciate your effort too). And not forgetting my ARMSTRONG GLs (SW, Adillia, HX, ZJ), without you all I will not have so much fun in the camp with ARMSTRONG :) . 3 cheers for BLK D… and enjoy your remaining holiday :)

Kimleng

Nite Cycling!

2011-01-04T00:12:00.003+08:00

A nite filled with tiredness and gossip. Nite cycling was initiated by zhenjie and meixiu. Didnt get too many ppl out...maybe bcos we knew most of them could not overnight or its inconvenient for too many ppl to cycle in a grp. We traveled from bukit timah to newton food centre, after which we went separate ways home. Most of the time is spent gossiping about youth at newton's food centre...not going to share!

Zhenjie and zhengxin was looking around to buy food, and they bought their carrot cakes from the same stall, one white and one black. Im sure its due to the Good Food recommendations which attracted them. Our block head running out of luck! Firstly the front wheel punctured, then the rubber tube came out until it could not even turn! Time to do some good deeds!

Msg from block head: Keep the camp reflections coming! Its heartening to see all your views on the camp in different perspective. Do include some feedback on improving it for next yr as well! Hope that u all will enjoy 2011 with Blk D!

D' camp two o one o :)

2011-01-02T23:27:00.003+08:00

D' camp was my first camp since 3 and a half years ago. Thank you all, for reversing my impression of camps, all the volunteers and boys.

Since I was one of the game ICs, I shall talk about games.
Day 1: Circuit games/ Captain's ball. From the flour game, I know we will die from determining the winners. They were too good at all kinds of games. But despite their competitiveness, many still wanted to play fair. And despite their rowdiness among themselves, many were still gentle and nice.

Day 2: Mod. Table Soccer/ Scissors Paper Stone. Table soccer was certainly a test of their patience. Even I got irritated by the sight of them having to hold the poles lol. I think if we allowed them to break it, they would definitely break it. The GLs were very supportive of their groups and made up for the insufficient numbers. I think that meant a lot to them. The kind nature of some boys were revealed more and more through the games, especially the dirty games. I don't know how to play the scissors paper stone game and thank you Zhiyu for helping me and we at least managed to finish it. It was super difficult to gather the boys when they saw the flour and brown liquid on the canvas so it was really phew when one of the boys from Phelps actually volunteered to be first and even gathered the rest of the group. Armstrong was also very spontaneous. Thanks to their spontaneity, the game was easier to conduct and I laughed like mad at the way they flipped instead of just rolling. Kudos to the GLs in this game as well you were faster than the boys in lying down :)

I think the performance on the second night was the highlight of the camp. Cute, fun, dorky, humourous, daring and undeniably talented. I thought the performance part would turn out haywired judging from their heck care attitudes but hahaha apparently I was very wrong.

I think my only regret was not being a GL because being a GL would be a legitimate reason to sit with your group and more time for interaction, compared to the position of a game IC. I did not dare to find the group for fear of them thinking I am coming in and out and would be irritated. Hence the only time I spoke to them was during the barbeque and some of the boys asked why I was not one and I didn't know what to say. Nonetheless, thank you Armstrong boys for acknowledging me in your thank you note and Soh Woon for always leaving a seat. It was so very heartening as well to hear them asking about you and whether we would be coming for sessions. So hope to see all of you boys soon :) As for the volunteers, sorry I still do not know some of you but I believe more chances are coming the way. Those whom I got to know, you are all nice people hee hee.

Thank you D' Camp for wrapping up my 2010 so meaningfully. Happy New Year everyone let's embrace 2011! :>>

most fun camp of 2010

2011-01-02T23:21:00.004+08:00

2010 Blk D camp rocks! That’s how I feel honestly about this camp entirely. It was a success in my opinion, thanks to everyone (volunteers and boys)! Memories still in my mind...

I was at first hesitant to being the GL because I doubted my ability to hype them up especially since I dunno them well with only one interactive session with them. And that was one month ago! Did not expect them to rmb us.. but now I’m really glad that I was one of the GLs and had the opportunity to interact so much with the boys…

Day 1: Getting to know each other

The icebreaker games prove to be a challenge to the younger boys especially with the game concentration and give me tempo ready go. It was funny to see how cute they are when they got it wrong and would rub their heads. During the flag identity creation time, I saw a lot of team efforts among the boys. I also noticed talent among them with some especially good in drawing and designing; one of them is even going ITE taking up digital animation. Cool! Heartening to know that he has interest and talent in that field..

At night, cheer fight. Even though the boys thought 'singing' "Konichiwa, konichiwa..." is too cutesy for them, they still did it! And also, I saw that one of them is especially good in public speaking, even during impromptu situations. Proud of them to won second for the cheer fight with their efforts put in!

Before the night ended, we were told that we were given the "Cartoon" theme for their performance the next night and this had all of us stumped....

Day 2: Dirty games time!

The boys played with extreme enthusiasm during the 'Scissors Paper Stone' game. They totally do not mind rolling in the mud just to win. Really alot of 敢玩 and 玩到底 spirit. Haha. I finally joined the boys during the soapy tug of war game. This had not proved to be anything tough for the boys despite their small size compared to other groups. Although they were not highly seen to be the winner for the tug of war, they had ultimately beat other groups with their determination to win fair and square. Totally proud of them! It was really the most fun tug of war I had ever played. The feeling was indeed indescribable at that moment...

During the day, all of us were helpless without adillia since all of us couldnt dance. Lucky Armstrong, adillia turned up and saved the entire group with her choreography of easy dance steps for everyone. In the end, I was sure everyone enjoyed performing during the time for performance. The group won first and they were really ecstatic. My applause for them couldnt be louder than ever.

It was a pity that I did not interact that much with the boys during the barbeque session..would have love to take the chance to know more about them. But, I still managed to get to know some of the boys' future plans...overall I'm really glad that some of them already know what they want to do. Only hope is that they would really work hard towards their goals...

Day 3: Farewell....

Before we left, all of us made cards for the boys, penning our thoughts and wishes to each and every one of them. I hope that they would follow the advice given and do well in the future. Can't wait for session soon, because I cant wait to help them materialize their goals and hope to play a part in shaping their future. I hope everyone really enjoyed themselves during the short period of time, because I had immensely did :)

- Soh Woon

D'CAMP IS LOVE- More than words

2011-01-02T10:53:00.003+08:00

I dont really blog, but D camp is really worth blogging about =)

Having been to so many camps, D camp was probably one of the best and it was really a different experience. Initially, i was like worrying about them not being enthu or they would just heckcare us but i was wrong! =X

maybe for a start, they dont really crap much. but by mascot design time, their crappiness and cuteness start showing already. i remember how they insist that they cant draw/ draw not nice/ art fail. but when they try, it's really not as bad as what they say! some can even draw really well!

gradually, the boys start to open up and i get to know more about them. one boy also mentioned that he resign his work that day so that he can come to the camp! XD

My group Phelps isn't that good at sports as compared to other teams, so i think we lost like most of the matches. but what was commendable was that all of them tried their very best with the motto "输不要紧,最重要是输得起" quoting from one of the boys. basically, it means that it's okay to lose, but most importantly, we should not be sore losers. a simple idea of sportsmanship that not everyone can exhibit. but here, I see it resonating in all our boys ^^

and like what siewping mentioned, many of the boys have their own dreams and goals in life. im really glad to hear all that from them.

personally, i feel that the highlight of the camp for my group was really the performance.

the boys didnt want para para so they decided to freestyle their way.

jumpstyle, gliding,tectonic. they tried teaching us but to no avail.

so they decided that we do something that everyone can participate.

eight beats of easy para before the boys have the stage to themselves.

seeing them showcasing all their talents during practice time really show how much they love dancing and they can dance really well! XD

the night of the performance, the boys kinda freaked out like totally!

BUT, they still gave their all dancing to the music in front of all their friends! ^^

I can see that most of them enjoyed the camp, like i did.

And as much as they dont want to admit, the boys are all caring people deep in their heart.

just two days but i believe that many of the boys and the volunteers have bonded much. the camp wont be a success if not for all the volunteers and boys.

and thank you king and siew ping for leading the group together!

"to err is human. whatever the reason, the mistake is made in the past. the most important thing is to learn from mistakes"

i told one of the boys this, and he told me hes glad i understand that.

i guess at the end of the day, all they want is our acceptance and not judge them with tinted glasses. every little acts of sincerity and kindness, they'll rmb it.

AWESOME CAMP

2011-01-02T10:49:00.003+08:00

I would say that the camp is successful because most of the boys are cooperative and that our plans were not really affected by the bad weather! This camp is like a stepping stone for all the new volunteers to know more about the boys before our sessions for the year officially start!

After hearing some of the boys who shared their opinions about studies and life, it's really heart-warming. It shows that some of them are really determined to change for the better and throughout the games i can see team spirits in them which is a good sign as well (: Despite the fact that some of them tend to disappear at times but eventually they will be back to the group when we need them!

Overall, i really enjoyed the camp because of the games, team leaders and the boys from Jordan! Although we got the 6th place but i know all of us tried our best! So cheers to all the groups and especially JORDAN!!

YATING

Tiger Rocks!

2010-12-31T11:06:00.002+08:00

Hi! This camp is certainly one of the most memorable camp in my life...hopefully it feels the same way to the boys. Tiger started on a losing streak in captain's ball, including a 5-2 trashing by rooney. Its kind of demoralizing for everyone, including me as i missed a couple of catches due to the light rubber ball being used. Then it was hard for the GLs to get everyone to play for volleyball as the boys were starting to gave up. Kudos to nat and nicole, we managed to field in enough players and started winning by starting with trademark free-kicks from Edwin! The team started to believe in themselves but the morale was again damped when they finished last in the cheer fight, which i think they certainly do not deserve to. The GLs then wrote short memos of encouragement to each tiger warrior at the end of day 1, hoping to up their morale after a roller coaster day.

Day 2 started with a bang! Great teamwork and running shown by Tiger warriors won us the 2 games of frisbee! Then the winning streak continues in soccer with a win and a draw. Morale is high but luck was not on our side for dirty games, 3 warriors refused to get themselves dirty so the GLs had to play. However, by tug-o-war, we are able to finally field a full team which was so heartening to see! Even the laziest warrior in our group volunteered to be the last person and contributed greatly to our win in tug-o-war! K-pop dance wrapped up a great day for Tiger as i felt the boys did really well and overcome their stage fright! The boys cooperated well in the trainings which make it quite easy for us to teach the dance.

I would like to thank fellow leaders from tiger group! Nicole for your passion in k-pop which certainly improved our performance! Also for leading Clap your hands, you did great despite of your stage fright! haha. Natalie for your sportiness in playing the games! You didn't mind getting dirty which is so noble for a girl. Thanks and sorry to both of you in blocking the shots in the soccer game! Haha! You both did a good job. And also your constant motivation to our group! With all your enthu cheering and initiative in getting the boys together as a team. Without you girls, i think it would be much harder for us to get through the first day. OH, hope you all didnt just rmb me doing seaweed...

Kelvin,

tiger warrior

Blk D Camp ROCKS!!!

2010-12-31T00:11:00.004+08:00

Really glad that everything went smoothly... Everyone was amazing... I had a really good time.. And can see that the boys were enjoying themselves too... Group leaders did a great job at motivating and helping to hype up the atmosphere.. Game masters did an amazing job with the games... And of course, Zhengxin... You were the best!!! =) Really good job with everything... Everyone, job well done!!

Personally I feel that the annual camp will always be the highlight of being a volunteer of blk D... We cant really interact with the boys during sessions since its always very short... During camp we get to actually stay at the same place with them, eat the same food and do so many activities together... And most importantly we get to interact more with the boys especially when you are a group leader... The memories you get, you will remember it for life... We didnt get to mingle with them as much as we did last year though... But at least we made the most out of the short time we shared together... =)

Sorry I just had to put up a photo of the flag... Hahaha... =p As you all already know, Rooney did win a lot of the sports matches they played... Hahaha... But it was harder to get them to come together to do the performance... Was really a challenge for us volunteers bringing them together to think of ideas for the performance... However, they did give their best and I'm so proud of them... Thanks to Lidan and Qingfeng for making Rooney super great... Haha... Though we didnt win we all knew that the most important thing is to have fun.. I believe all groups have that in mind throughout the camp.. And true enough, everyone did have fun, boys and volunteers included... =)

Considering that this is the last camp for me, I really had a blast!! =D It ended super well.. Haha.. And it let us end 2010 with great memories and new perspectives...

Once again, good job everyone!!! Enjoy the holidays and have a good year ahead!!! =D

Hearts D-camp

2010-12-30T23:07:00.004+08:00

I will just do short entry here since most of what happen zhenjie has it.

The camp was a success and i believe that the boys really enjoyed themselves. For me, it was like at first most boys thought they didn't want to be in the camp and that we are depriving them of their resting time but as the camp progresses most of them started enjoying themselves and opening up to us and share many things with us.

They are really a very adorable bunch of boys and as much as we try to make the programs enjoyable for them, their crappiness and fun-loving natures brought lots of laughter to us as well. As I talked to them, I realise the boys have their own dreams and goals they want to achieve which is really a good thing. Some wants to be soccer players while others hope to become guitarist and even comedians and they do have a great talents in these things. We really do have alot to learn from these boys too.

A really memorable part of the camp was the performance presentation at the end. Everyone of us enjoyed ourselves greatly. My group Phelps really throw all out on the dance floor and despite the little accidents like flying slippers, our entertainment effect was one of the greatest. Im proud to say that we got second! Good job Phelps!

Friendships were formed and bonds were strong but all good things come to an end and 2 days past in the blink of an eye. I really hope everything could have lasted longer but at the same time really glad that I am returning to the comfort of my bed and home.

Thank you all volunteers for making all these possible. A bigger thank you to my fellow Phelps group leader Jing Yi and King for getting the boys to be really high-spirited and encouraging them to participate in the activities. It was a great 2-day and I hope all of you have as much fun as I do:)

And the speech at night by the little boy was really awww! so sweet!

Author: Siew Ping (the one that collects the money in case some of u don't know me yet)

Annual D Camp

2010-12-30T21:11:00.002+08:00

Yoyo!!

The camp was considered a success (no wet weather & no casualty!), and I think everybody enjoyed themselves. The boys were rowdy at times but they provided an element of humor to the camp. What a way to wrap up 2010!

We met up a day before the actual camp to reece the campsite and prepare the files for the boys. We spent the whole afternoon applying artistic touches to the files. After that, we had a little xmas gift exchange before we parted the place.

Day1: We arrived at the campsite early to settle some admin work and prepare ourselves for the upcoming activities. The boys arrived in the noon and the GLs started mingling with their team members. After the ice breaker, all the teams proceed to design their own flags and discuss about their team cheers. In the meantime, the game masters went to set up the game stations and familiarize themselves with the rules of their respective games. When the flags were done and the game stations were set up, all the teams went to their individual game stations. The boys were visibly excited and showed their competitive streak. The GLs also participated in some games and everyone had fun. The game masters definitely had a hard time deciding the winner for some games as the rules were not abided. After the games, it was dinner time. After dinner, it was time to design the mascot and generate ideas for the following day’s dance performance. Each team was given a set of materials (newspaper, toilet paper, paint, marker, etc) to design a team mascot which they had to explain its meaning and parade to the audience. The boys started running around (probably due to excess energy from the dinner) disturbing each other. They only settled down when it was time to showcase their team mascots. After the mascot competition, we proceed to the cheer competition. When everything ended, it was time to present the prize (ice cream and cookies!!) to the winners! Everyone was a winner and had their fill of ice cream and cookies. It was 10pm then and we went back to shower when the boys helped to clean up the place. We still had time for night snack after our shower! The night ended at about 12am. (Tiring but fun!)

Day2: Some of us woke up at 6am to join the boys for their morning run. Some of the boys could really run fast! After the run, everyone was famished and ready for breakfast. It was as if the caterer predicted our hunger because the packed food came in mammoth portion! After breakfast, the boys went to wash up before we carry on with the dance performance practice. Then, it was time for games! The games went on for about 1+hr before we stopped for lunch. When lunch was over, it was time for dirty games. The game masters dripped/scattered/poured all sorts of ingredients (coffee powder, soap, coke, ketchup, flour, etc) they could gather from the kitchen. Though they were initially turned off, the boys eventually played the games with gusto. The GLs were not spared and had their fair share of ‘dirtiness’. After the dirty games, it was time for tug of war and water bomb! These were the 2 games which we did compete as a team with the boys. We sent out a team of men (all NS trained) to challenge a team of boys. U must have guess we won, but sorry, we were no match against the boys. (guys, its time to hit the gym) Then, we went on to play water bomb and as expected, the boys were all out to make us wet. (thank you for washing the dirty sauces/powder from our body) It was time to wash up and prepare for bbq dinner. The boys helped to start the fire and bbq-ed the food for everyone. After the dinner, each team started to perform their individual dance/song/skit. Their efforts could be seen as they came up with splendid performances. After that, it was time to reveal the champion of the entire game competition for the camp. This time round, chocolates and potato chips were given as prizes. The boys unselfishly shared their prizes with their GLs. They were then given files, which were designed by us, as a small souvenir of the camp. Photo taking session then followed. Everything ended slightly earlier than the previous night and the GLs decided to make some cards for the boys. Then, it was our own free time. Some of us went out for supper, while others played card games and chatted with each other.

Day3: We were supposed to break camp early because the campsite had to be ready for another incoming group. We woke up and settled our admin stuff before having our breakfast with the boys. After mingling with them for some time we parted our ways.

Now that the camp is over, we will start to plan outings in the future. Block D rocks!!!!!!!! =D

~Zhen Jie~

Year-End party

2010-12-15T22:30:00.005+08:00

Its exam period for the ntu peeps but to the boys at the home, its the year-end party period! 5 blk D volunteers-Zhengxin, Khalisah, Meixiu, Shawn and Kelvin decided to take some time off

from mugging and destress at boys' home.

It started with a buffet dinner which was expected...but wad was unexpected was that the officers were serving us and the boys! So paiseh la, reminds me of ns cookhouse where the aunties served us. Then saw the block manager and the home-in-charge during the dinner. They sat down with us and interact a bit, telling us that the home-in-charge was also from ntu mechanical engineering, graduated in 1997. Oh well, so MAE graduates dun have to be an engineer in the future after all.

Then comes the long awaited performance from the boys!

First up was football juggling, and some break dancing with the balls. It was entertaining for everyone especially the break dancing part. However, the performance was relatively short. It ended when i thought that it was reaching the climax.

After that was the acrobatics segment. Boys performed walking with spring stilts and diabolo(below). They really impressed me with their performance. It shows that the boys can do something really well given the right training and interest. It was the highlight of the night for me, it was encouraging to see the boys having fun with new hobbies so much that i would like to try it! Some thoughts during the performance, we volunteers should try to learn something that the boys do...like break dancing, singing and play sports to better interact with the boys. During the camp, we should show them that we are studious people that could also play hard when it comes to playing, and not only good at achieving academic results. So for volunteers who wanted to show their talent during the camp, please contact Zhengxin! :)

Lastly its the xmas caroling by some church grp. Oh, nothing much to mention...cause im almost half asleep! Blk D camp 2010 is coming up in 2 weeks time! Hope everyone is excited about it and dun forget about the pre-camp gathering on 27th Dec! Rmb to bring along an xmas present for rsp youth post-xmas gift xchange! No restrictions! anything will do, its for the feeling of receiving a present from a unknown person! Do RSVP on Facebook if you have not done so! It will encourage ur fellow volunteers to go! Thanks!

Oh ya, tml 16/12/2010 is Meixiu's birthday! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! even though its exam period, but ur birthday wishes will still come true! if you need us to make it come true, pls tell us also! we will do our best-est! Good luck to all having exams too! Persevere through!

A small reflection for Session No. 1

2010-11-25T14:00:00.002+08:00

I agree with you that there seems to be too little boys who turned up for the sessions. The numbers of volunteers way outnumber the boys. As for the session, i don't have much complaints abt it. It's the first session and it is inevitable that everyone feels a little awkward with each other. A point to note is that the volunteers tend to be with their own clique while the boys remain with their friends as well. Hence, it's important that we should mix around more instead of just being with our own clique. I'm also very heartened to find that the boys are pretty cheerful, lively and outspoken despite their circumstances in life. It's very good inspiration!

~Mark~

First Official Session

2010-11-25T13:38:00.002+08:00

Finally went for the first session after all the clearance and waiting, got to interact with the boys for the first time on Thursday. Although we only did a few games, I guess it was a totally new experience for most of the new volunteers. Also, kudos to ZX for managing such a “huge crowd”. We played some simple introduction games and that took up most of the night. The boys were pretty funny and it was interesting mixing around with them. Had a pretty enjoyable night and looking forward to many more :)

~A short Entry~

By: Darren

281010: Origami

2010-10-30T14:10:00.003+08:00

This Thursday for session, we taught the boys how to fold paper flowers for the new volunteers coming in. At first they were very bored and said they didn't like it but eventually as the session progressed, they got so into folding and decorating it they didn't want to leave! The officer even had to chase them back to their rooms. Too bad we didn't have enough colored paper for them haha. They were really creative, one boy even folded a heart with the extra paper and put it in the centre of the flower. You guys can see some of the flowers we took pictures of below (:

- Random lame joke -

Me: Zhengxin, what kind of flowers are these?

Zx: (In a very serious tone) Oh this one ah.. This one.. Idk.

Me: -.- You are the one who went to research how to fold it!

- end of lame joke -

Youth BBQ!

2010-10-29T02:13:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone! Strange arh, i haven't even attended one youth session and now i'm blogging for u all! Supposed to have introductory talk this week but was postponed...spoil my enthusiasm to come lor! :D So freshies have to hold your horses! One more week to step into the Boy's Home. Haha!

Ok, back to the main topic. Youth had an great BBQ evening on 21 Oct 2010 at the beautiful HomeTeam NS Pasir Ris chalet! All volunteers are full of smiles(foc dinner mah...) while interacting with each other, especially between the seniors and freshies. It all started with team bonding games masterminded by our big boss Terren which includes Don't forget the lyrics! The game program impressed everyone but the lyrics appear to be too easy for all the ktv maniacs in RSP Youth! Even though for those who don't sing, they were treated to some sweet singing by our cohort of ktv singers among RSP Youth.

Then of course comes the dinner! We were fortunate to have kind-hearted BLK D guys volunteering to BBQ the food for the rest! *applause* We need this type of people in rsp youth! Mingle-ing between volunteers started, of course with gossips and scandals flying around! Hopefully the gossips did not hurt anyone feelings! :xThis photo is not about the 2 girls...but to appreciate the effort by the chefs in the background!

BLK D ROCKS!

While volunteers are starting to leave the party, 7 heroes decided to stay overnight to have fun! And they did not make the wrong choice as we were having fun playing monopoly deal(again?), pub games, indian poker and htht session! It was a great bonding session for the heroes! oh...u dun have to know who the biggest loser is...^o^

Time to go to bed! Hopefully get to blog about more events and of course our interaction with the boys next time! Kelvin signing off!

2010-10-27T00:06:00.002+08:00

SESSION @ 14th OCT 2010

Hello everyone! Guess this is the week when most of us are packed with quizzes and deadlines. Kudos to all (lisa, zx, wj, yb sp and kl) who have turned up today! You guys are fabulous We introduced this card game called MONOPOLY DEAL to the boys. HAHA must warn you folks who are gg to buy board games outside lt1a that there is no discount for monopoly deal okie? So it selling at the same price as major departmental stores. Nonetheless, there’s this very cheap HONG KONG version at $3 ONLY!! Woah very cheap rite?? Haha but its out of stock alr.
Anw the game went qt chaotic at the start but as the boys get the hang of it, they started the “black market” to trade cards under the table lol. Wells, I am happy to see that they enjoyed the game. At least, we fulfill their wishes to become a MILLIONAIRE wahahaha.
Next week is recess and WSC will have plenty of exciting events lining up for us. Hope that through these events, we can build more rapport with our new volunteers.

**And happy birthday to NICOLE.. HAHA have fun with the sun and sand at phuket**
-kailin

2010-10-13T22:34:00.002+08:00

I just realised that I have not updated about the last 2 weeks... Haha.. Oops.. Ok here goes..

For the past weeks I have been tutoring the boys to prepare them for their N levels... And exams have officially ended.. I think.. Haha... Anyways, I am really proud of the boys for the hard work they have put in to do well... Us volunteers who have been tutoring them have seen large improvements in attitudes in most of the boys... I really feel like a proud big sister to them... Hahaha... I really hope they do well in their exams and are able to achieve their dreams... =) Ok actually I'm really worried for them as well... Really Really hope they will do well...

Soon the new volunteers will be joining us for sessions... I am excited for them.. Haha.. The numbers will grow and i believe the enthusiasm and spirit will grow.. From what I see, a lot of the new volunteers are very ON... Hahaha... Cant wait for them to start session... =)

SeSsIoNs!!!

2010-10-08T02:28:00.003+08:00

We organized the game "hang man". (Good job!!) Our theme was movie titles. We had lots of fun even though the boys seemed to have difficult time in coming up with the correct answers. We realized that they love to "sabotage" each other by asking their friends to guess letters that are quite odd and seldom used. And those boys were willing to get sabo-ed(lol) by trying odd letters. They ended up with many hanged man and were still quite proud of it. We are happy that we brought joy to them through small things like this. As for our last week session. We have tuition session with the boys. We taught them maths. They are quite forgetful of what they have learnt before. We are glad that they are willing to listen to our explanations though we forget some formula. They do not jeer us down, instead sometimes they do try to help us recall the equations or formula that might linked us to the one we are referring to. We are really appreciate their efforts towards their studies and we also gained respect from them too.

Melody and Baoling
Sorry for the late posting :)

I am New!!!

2010-09-22T22:26:00.012+08:00

Hello Everyone!

I'm a new volunteer who just entered WSC Youth. Anyway! Today was the first WSC Youth meeting that i attend and the objective was to plan for the year-end camp. Thus, it was the first time that I got to meet up with the rest of the new volunteers and seniors excluding a few friends that I already knew through Ignite Change.

As we are still new to one another so we didnt mingle much, hopefully we will get bonded throughout the future meet-ups and during our pre-camp! To me, joining WSC Youth does not only involve helping out the youths but getting together with the people who have passion in volunteerism too. So, nice to meet you (everyone) ! haha.

On the side note, as Mid- Autumn Festival is round the corner so our thoughtful seniors actually bought us lanterns to let us have a short-and-sweet-celebration.We lit them up after our meeting and i feel that we are brought back to our childhood times because it's been long since I carry a lantern! so yeah, THANK YOU SENIORS! Feel so fun especially with a group of people since Mid-Autumn Festival is the day whereby family and friends will gather together and celebrate. Last of all, HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL TO EVERYONE & ENJOY YOUR MOON CAKES!!

-YATING-

8th Sept 2010

2010-09-08T21:39:00.002+08:00

Today was the first session of the new semester. As usual, we met in school canteen a for dinner before leaving off to the home. (Most of us aren't as lucky as Kahlisah and Nicole to have no lessons).

Upon reaching the classroom, we split into two groups. Kahlisah, Nicole, Melody and Baoling went over to teach tuition. The 'N' levels and 'O'levels are coming so some of them want the extra lessons.

Meanwhile me, Yen Bin, Kailing and Siew Ping and Zhengxin played games with the boys. Today's game was thought up by Zhengxin. All of us volunteers and boys sat round in a circle and we started introducing to each other our names. We would then write down our names on a piece of paper. This paper would then be randomly distributed to us. We then had to describe through words or actions the person whose names we were holding on to. It was quite interesting to decipher who the boys were describing. For example, what do the boys mean when they say "do the dew"??? Of course, the loser would be the one who got the least correct answers. Naturally, the boys were pretty good at the game as they were quite good friends with each other and easily knew how to describe their friends. Surprisingly, Siew Ping got all correct answers!!! Congratz.

Yen Bin and Kailing ended up with the least correct answers and thus, they had to forfeit. The boys really enjoyed thinking up forfeits for poor Kailing and Yenbin. In the end, it was decided the 2 of them would have to dance and do a one minute of fame where they show off their talents. Kailing's talent was dancing while Yenbin's talent was reaching his hand all the way across his back to the shoulder (not as easy as it seems).

Session ended later at about 915 after laughing so hard and having a small feedback session. No supper this week, hopefully, next session, more people can make it for supper.

(Entry by Wei Jin)

2010-09-03T00:48:00.001+08:00

My turn to update the blog… Last session for August(26/8) before the holidays end and I believe most of us are already looking forward to the new semester and this means that we will be having new bloods joining our block soon. We meet up at the home directly at the same usual timing. Same thing, the boys were again split to 2 groups cos there were some of them who will be having their schools or national exams soon while others just wanted to have some fun after a long day. So Nicole, Woei Jin and Yen Bin played some games with some of the boys. Game they played was 7-up. This is quite a fun game among the boys as the previous time when we play it the boys enjoyed it a lot. Everyone comes together to form a circle and each one has to shout a number starting from 1 onwards. Eg. 1…2…3…4…… Until the numbers comes to either a multiple of 7 or containing 7 then will have to replace this number by UP. Khalisa and I were doing tuition next door and even with the barriers closed the shoutings and laughter next door was still very loud. Pretty sure that the boys enjoyed this game very much. We end the session at around 9.20 a bit later than the usual timing cos some boys really got a lot of stuffs to ask us. Really hope that these tutoring sessions can benefit them.

Next up will be the talk conducted by the MCYS on Friday evening on secret societies. Khalisa meet me at Ang Mo Kio Mrt before we took a bus to the MCYS building at upper Thomson where the talk was held. We got a Long Time No See volunteer with us…Paul!! One of our most popular volunteers in the boys home. Reach there at about 7 where we have a buffet dinner first before the talk. The talk was really very educational. It was conducted by one of the senior CID officers from the department dealing with secret societies…Forget his name already but seems to be quite a high ranking ones from the way he conducted the talk. We learnt about the origination of triads and secret societies and even he give us some of the info of the different active secret societies in Singapore, their ops grounds and how to identify them through their ‘trademarks’ on their body or even through ‘banners’. Many many more but if you guys are interested to know more can go ask Khalisa. The talk lasted till about 9ish and Paul send both me and Khalisa to Bishan Mrt before going off. Thks Paul. So that’s about all. Enjoy the new semester.

-Zhengxin

2010-08-15T23:36:00.002+08:00

Hey everyone... We played open numbers and ended up I have to write an entry for the last session we had... -.- Hahaha...

Ok since I am updating the blog, I shall write about the Family Day that took place ages ago as well.. Hahaha...

Ok first up, Family Day....

We met up in Boon Lay and headed down to the Home.. There were only 5 of us.. Zheng Xin, Zaidi, Kai Lin, Siew Ping and me... We collected the goody bag which contained a lot of stuff.. Haha.. Then we headed up to EAT!!! There were coupons to collect the snacks available... There was even Ramly Burger with a small Happy Birthday flag poked into it.. Hahaha.. I have no idea why they poked it on the burger.. Lol...

After filling our stomachs, we went into the hall to play some games before the performances start.. There was wheel of fortune (i think) where we had to spin this wheel and land on the 'i-forgot-what-it's-called' tab three times to get a water bottle.. Aaannnddd... All of us didnt manage to get the bottle.. Hahaha... We played a few more games and still didnt win any prizes.. =p

Soon after, the performances started... There were quite a number of interesting performances.. There was a magician, a man with many, many masks which he could change in a split second, and also the boys showcasing their talents... I'm impressed.. =) Zheng Xin and Zaidi even got to go on stage to do the YOG dance with the boys.. Hahaha.. Boy dont they look so happy.. =p

But the best part of the performances was this ang moh guy doing all kinds of tricks... He was seriously very very VERY funny... We all laughed till we got stitches.. Hahaha...

The day ended with prize presentation for the boys who had done very well in their studies.. I'm so proud of all of them.. Hopefully they will continue to study hard and be successful in life.. =)

Next up, Session (12/8/10)...

The boys were split up into 2 groups.. One group did tuition and the other played a game... I was with the group playing the game.. We played Crazy Stories..

Everyone is to write a word on a piece of paper... Zheng Xin gave a start to the story and everyone will take turns to continue the story.. The catch is that we need to use the word we have written on the piece of paper... At the end of the story everyone needs to guess what word did each person write.. The person with the most correct number of words will be given a prize next week... I'm telling you, the story that the boys made was REALLY crazy and dont make sense... Hahaha... But it was fun... In the end i totally couldnt make out what the boys wrote.. Hahaha... One of them even wrote the word 'is'.. -.-

When we were finished with the game, we allowed the boys to return to their room to rest and went to the other classroom to check up on the tuition group... I was really impressed.. They were really hardworking... Its very good to see... All of them were doing serious studying... They just need constant motivation to continue on.. =)

Thats all for now.. A long and wordy entry.. But i believe the dust have been cleared out from here for now.. Hahaha... Have a good week everyone.. =)

25/03/2010 SESSION!

2010-03-25T23:04:00.005+08:00

For this week's session, Siew Ping, Zaidi and I were supposed to come up with the games but in the end we were so busy we all forgot about it except Siew Ping =x Thanks Siew Ping! Anyway it was pretty fun but the boys cheated as usual, using their hand signals to help their teammate guess their cartoon characters.

Khalisah didn't play because she was giving the other boys tuition. When we used her name as one of the "characters" they are supposed to guess, they boy asked "Is it that crazy crazy one?" Hahahahah. Okay to be honest they didn't mean Khalisah, they meant someone else. I don't know who. They don't think Khalisah is crazy lah haha. They love her too much ;)

See they made a heart for her!

Now for supper pictures, as usual:

Zaidi and his huge chocolate fudge ice thingy.

I am not uploading my picture because it looks retarded haha.

Supper was really enjoyable and we talked about so many random things from session-related things to army and ghosts and I can't remember what else. If any of you remember what we talked about and wanna share can post in the chat box!

I must say though, our supper groups are always so small. Hopefully for the last few sessions, we will have more people coming for supper to chit chat (: Must come okay people! Very fun one. Really. I do not lie.

Session on 18 March 2010

2010-03-19T16:15:00.001+08:00

Yesterday session was tuition and games. Zheng Xin, Paul, Henry, Jason (Ah Chai) and me played UNO, chess, and talked cock with the boys while Khalisah, Zaidi, Nicole, Melinda and Siew Ping was tutoring in another room. Paul was sabotaged by the boys when playing UNO. They passed around those “Draw two” cards under the table or just ‘stole’ it from the table so that the draw-two cards kept popping out. By the way, a boy kept saying that I was staring at him and then acted fierce in front of me. But I always burst out laughing when saw the little boy trying hard to act fierce and staring at me with his round-big dilated eyes. LOL.

After the session, we took photos under the street light outside the boys home. (The lighting effects was so romantic, right?) Ah Chai, Zaidi, Zheng Xin and me went for supper but Khalisah and Nicole didn’t join us. When we are enthusiastic to go for supper, Khalisah don’t want to come; but when we were too tired to go for supper, she kept asking us to go…*sigh*… so sad so sad…

I know you guys don’t like to read so many words, so I just write a few sentences and post up the photo… see… I am so considerate and thoughtful… hahha :p

2010-03-19T00:58:00.004+08:00

*blow dusts away*

This blog is getting dusty... Plus all the cobwebs building up.. Haha..

Anyways.. Let me be nice and update on the past few weeks of session... After 2 weeks of tuition cum boardgames, we had a pure game session last week... We played a game of 7-UP! Hahaha.. It may seem like nothing special... But playing with the boys really crack me up real hard.. It was nice to be able to laugh so hard despite all the stress of school... Actually i really find sessions sort of a way for me to destress from the hectic and stressful school life.. What with the funny funny antics of the boys.. Also the jokes we volunteers usually share together.. =) Really make my day.. Hehe..

Anyways.. We were supposed to count up to 100, each person to call out one number each time... Everytime the multiple of 7 or a number containing 7 comes up, we were supposed to say 'UP'.. If you fail to do so or if you take too long to think, you will have to put a coin in a cup fully filled with water.. The person who causes the water to overflow will have to do a forfeit.. Amazingly.. Although it was super super stressful.. The water DID NOT overflow... Hahaha... So the person who put in the last coin had to do the forefeit...

We even had a reverse round where everytime someone says 'UP', the direction changes... It gets more confusing that way.. And let me tell you this... Never once did we reach 100... Hahaha.. We didnt even reach 70.. =x

The last round of the game was to crown the winner.. Each time you say wrongly or you take too long to answer you will be out of the game... Initially i was worried the boys could not remember their times table.. But amazingly.. One of the boys won!! Hahaha.. I feel so ashamed of myself... =p And soo.. Since we were playing a game of 7-UP, the winner gets a can of 7-UP.. Hahaha...

Job well done to Kailin, Zhengxin, Woeijin, Berne and Melinda.. Although almost half of the group wasnt present.. Haha..

Oh oh oh!! I shall announce my successor... The new centrehead.. NEXT WEEK!! Hehehe... But i think you guys should know already who... =p

Have a great weekend all!! =) See you again next week..

Charade with Block D

2010-02-12T00:03:00.001+08:00

4 February 2010.

This is the first block D session of the year and I’m honored to be sharing with you guys the fun and exciting moments during the session!! We had a game of charades with the boys today but the game was improvised such that only sounds were allowed and each of us took turns to make the sounds. When I first went into the activity room, I recognized some old boys and realized that there were new faces as well due to the reshuffling of boys. Thus, time was given for the volunteers to break the ice and get to know more about one another. Haha the funny part was that when a boy was asked “what’s the volunteer’s favourite food?”, the boy gave a nanosecond quick wink and confidently answered “WESTERN FOOD!” Knowing that it was an impromptu answer, we were at all smiles hehe.

Another interesting point to note were the group names chosen which were nameless, unknown, no name and anonymous. As the game progressed, the boys seemed to be enjoying themselves as they created sounds effects to prompt the person standing in front to make more obvious sounds. Volunteers and boys blended well to enthusiastically raise up hands to make wild guesses. Unknown emerged as the winner with 13 points (maybe cos I was in the team) while anonymous stole the limelight with a terrific london bridge dance as a forfeit performance haha.

After the session ended, we head down to have supper as usual. As we chit-chat, recollections of what happened in the camp brought everyone giggling… An observation was made that when new volunteers are present the seniors aint around and vice versa lol. As a new volunteer, I wish to get the chance to meet up with more seniors haha. And hope more ppl come for supper to chill out

-kailin

Charade with Block E

2010-02-08T10:55:00.001+08:00

21st January 2010, this was my 1st Block D session after our annual camp last month. Same as last week, we were managed to join Block E’s session because Block D currently was not available for visitors.

Today we were having game session with Boys and we were playing Charade! Initially I felt that this game was nothing special because we have been playing this game for quite a few times in Block D. BUT, I was WRONG ! At the end of the day, I saw volunteers and boys were enjoyed themselves throughout the game.

We started our game by divided volunteers and boys into 4 groups : Sexy Male, 3344, Sponge Bob and Ladies Killer. I was in Group Ladies Killer together with Yen bing, Henry, Chin Han and three Boys. After that, each group take turns to send out a person to act out / draw a phrase given by the gamemaster.

Throughout the game, Sexy Male and 3344(esp Alvis and a malay boy) performed very well, they are too good in guessing the answers and got them RIGHT ! Although Ladies Killer did not collect a lot of points but we were pleased with third place finish! I still remembered we managed to guess the very last phrase : NIKE JUST DO IT and earned the precious 2 points! JJ In the end, SpongeBob got forfeited by acted out creatively all teams’ name.

After the game session , as usual we went to makan supper ! Hopefully next time more volunteers can join supper and talk cock together..haha
-the end-

Blk D Annual Camp 2009

2009-12-29T21:36:00.003+08:00

Heyy all.....

Hope all of u are having a good time holiday-ing... I know i am... Haha....

Anyways.. I wanna talk about the camp... Well done everyone!! =) You all did a great job... Thanks to all those involved for attending the camp and making it a success... It wldnt have been what it was without ur support and enthusiasm throughout the camp... Once again, job well done!! =)

Thanks to Alvis, Adillia and Maryam for helping out as well.. Hope it was a great experience for u guys.. Also... Thanks to Chinhan for always giving ur support... Thanks also to Peggy, Huiwen and Huikoon for coming.. =) Sorry didnt really entertain u guys.. =x

Personally, i had fun throughout the whole 3D2N... Conducting the games.. Interacting with the boys.. And not forgetting bonding sessions among us fellow volunteers.. Not only that.. It was an eye-opener and gave me many valuable lessons... I find it enriching and it benefitted me a lot.. I hope the same goes for all those involved in the camp.. Will be looking forward to future camps and i hope more will take part next time.. Hee.. =)

Below are short writeups by sum of those involved in the camp... =)

It wasn’t an easy 2 days doing activities for the Boys’ home camp! It was a challenging yet rewarding one. Ranging from folding the map game to mummy’s water bomb, it was played with much enthusiasm and competitiveness from the boys. Through the games, we were able to interact with the boys though at times they were very competitive and do everything to be the best! The camp began with ice breaker games where they were actually quite sporting to play those indoor games. Being boys going through their teenage days, they were energetic and would love to run around and play ball games! 2 days of fun ended with mummy water bomb where the boys put all their efforts to go against the volunteers and attack with all their might! It was a fun 2 days where both the volunteers and the boys had loads of fun, not to mention the volunteers had various bonding session in the bunks! I believe I got to know the rest of the volunteers more and better, making good friends along the way! It was not a wasted effort in preparing for the games!
-Zaidi (aka RAFFLES BOY!!)

The block D camp turns out to be more smooth than expected. Although it rain for the first and second day, most of the activities were carried out quite smoothly. Before the camp, most of us are still worrying that the boys may not be participative and not enjoying the games that we organise but it turns out well. Most of them enjoyed it very much and through some of the games can tell that they have built quite a strong friendship and bonds from the days in the home in their own clicks. Being a group leader turns out to be easier than expected. Initially find that it is really a bit hard to get to the same frequency with them as cannot really find a lot of common topics to talk about but after the camp, really think that by organising events such as camps can really bond the volunteers and the boys together. Since during the games the whole team actually got together, think and work with one another to complete the tasks. Day one of the camp ended with a night walk that the staffs organise. Day two of the camp seems to entice the boys more maybe due to the fact that they prefer more physical activities. Games such as fragile captains ball, mummy water bomb, soapy Tug-of-War and the slightly different soccer match conducted in the canteen were more popular and participative among them. Day two of the camp ended with a buffet BBQ that was setup by the boys and the performance by the team. Although I did not participate in the performance put up by the team, by sitting below the stage and watching them putting up the skit all by themselves make me feel proud of being their team leader. Had a small bonding sessions after the performance as the teams shared the prizes they won. Really get to know some of them quite well as some actually came to me and ask about stuff like how to get into university, and national service while few even mentioned how they end up in the home and their future plans. Overall it was a very meaningful event that I have attended and I think such events should have been carried out more frequently as this allows us to get to know the boys more.
-Zhengxin

All I wanted to say is that I have totally enjoyed this camp and it has helped not only the boys to strengthen their relationships with each other, but also brought across volunteers from different youth blocks together as one and made the camp such a success. Some of the boys at the camp were from Block E, and they were transferred to Block D due to their good behavior and recommendations from their officers and social workers. It was great to see them once again after so long, and I hope that the next time I see them, it will be outside (full discharged) and not inside the Home.
-Alvis (Blk E)

We live in 2 different worlds." It was a huge reality check for me when i heard that statement from one of the boys. Or probably it's just that I have been trying to ignore this "fact". Bonding with the boys has made me realise the importance of having an education, good peer influence and a bonded family tops the list. I feel that it is important for us to try our best in changing that perception of theirs; us and them leading very different lives and it is almost impossible for them to "cross-over". We need to show them that there are people out there who GENUINELY cares for them. This is because they kept questioning why the volunteers would want to "waste" 3 days being in the camp with them and whether we got anything out of it. But when they saw that we were truly sincere in being there at the camp, it was nice to see them opening up and sharing their life experiences without any hesitation. We need to earn their TRUST. What they need most now is for us to be their listening ears and for us to motivate them and not give up on them. I always believe that people can change and if these boys are willing to change for the better, we should give them the support that they need! I am really happy that I went for this camp and i urge more youths out there to take up this opportunity if it ever comes your way! You'll not only be helping society but it is also good for the soul! (:
-Adillia (Girls Home)

I think of the many camps that I've been to, this has been one of the most eye-opening ones. For me, this camp did not just benefit the boys from the home, it benefited us as volunteers and me, personally, as an individual too. On the whole though, I feel more effort needed to be made to reach out to the boys on a level that went beyond just playing games and sharing jokes. Many of these boys had stories that were waiting to be told, and both groups, the volunteers and the boys, were only just learning about how different, yet similar we were, by the time the camp drew to a close. On a side note, perhaps more Malay volunteers should be included in future camps, as I feel language was a major factor in being able to reach out to the boys. Having said so, I think we had a great time bonding with the boys from different races, cultures and backgrounds, and I certainly look forward to being a part of such camps again in the future.
-Maryam (Girls Home)

First Session (22/10/09)

2009-12-05T20:48:00.001+08:00

It was our first session with the boys at Block D and I was filled with trepidation because it was the first time I will be doing voluntary work at a boy's home and I could not wait to know how the boys are like and what games will be in store for us. We were brought into their classroom and waited for the boys to come. I could not really remember most of the volunteers' names as it was just my second time meeting them so we minger around and introduced ourselves (again, haha)

The boys came in shortly. I could tell that some were going to be loud while there were some who were rather shy and withdrawn. We then introduced ourselves to get ourselves warmed up. It was pretty interesting and funny to hear the "imaginative" names that they have given each other like "Roti","Noti", etc. Hahah..

We started the games by playing Whacko ( in a more innovative way ), and it was definitely effective because after the round of introductory, my poor memory was still unable to note down every single boy's name. And the Whacko game helped me remember their names better. It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves too.. I laughed alot the whole time during the game as it was really funny to see everyone's reaction when they want to say a name out but just could not remember.

Then, we played this game called " Guess who's not there " ( Okay, i named the game myself ). Someone will have to sit on a chair back facing everyone and one person will leave the room, that someone will then have to guess who's not there. I enjoyed myself thoroughly during this game too. I got to see the cheeky side and the funny antics that the boys' displayed during the game when trying to take a peek at everyone.

We then finished off the games and said our goodbyes..

I was super glad that the boys enjoyed themselves and was able to get to know everyone of them a little better, including the volunteers. I would definitely say that the boys were responsive to the games and us and this made me more excited to my next session with them! I had truckloads of fun and laughter during my first session cum supper amongst us volunteers. :)

-Julia :)

29/10/09

2009-11-09T11:57:00.002+08:00

Being a new volunteer for Blk D, it was a great eye-opening experience for us during the visit. Initially, we were sort of excited and were wondering how we would react when we face the boys and the challenges ahead etc. Guess what, the boys were equally excited as we do. Before we enter their tutorial room, we could actually see them peeping from the gates with excited faces when they saw us (new volunteers) coming to visit them. We played ice-breaking games to know each of us better, which is essential for future interactions between the boys and our own volunteers.

Our second and also considered the last session of the year, ended last Thursday, 29 October 2009. It was quite a sad thing coz we just started our journey on as volunteers for Blk D and it ended so quickly for this semester as we need to stop for exams period. Us, as group member of group 1 organized games for the boys and our fellow volunteers. A game that we have specially prepared for them was Pictionary (guessing of words from the drawings). It was kind of fun though we felt that we were not interacting enough with the boys, as the boys tend to play the game amongst themselves rather than with us. But it’s alright, coz it’s just the 2nd session, maybe we are still not warmed up yet. Haha. I’m sure we’ll better interact with each other in future sessions, making those sessions more alive and less awkward.

- Group 1 (Zhenguo, Chris, Melody, Baoling)

Session 15/10/09

2009-10-22T17:19:00.004+08:00

It was our first time at the home and it was not as bad as I expected. I thought it would be heavily guarded with white walls and lots of security guards and all but yes, there are comfy sofas and some of the walls are decorated. However, we have yet to go inside block D. The best part of the evening I must say was the dinner! The cold ice lemon tea quenched any thirst without a doubt!

The briefing was very informative and quite important. Besides understanding the missions and visions of MCYS, we are enlightened by how the whole rehabilitation process works and revolves around families and community. As such, once we are active members of block D volunteers, I must say, we can be proud to be part of this rehabilitation process! Apart from that, the 3 wonderful ladies that briefed us also warned and emphasized on the Do’s and Don’ts such as our dress code and our activities limitations.

Some might not agree that the best part of the evening was the dinner, so another best part of it was the post session. We had a mini introduction which I hope we can get to interact more in the future so that we can be a strongly united block D volunteers! We also had a mini birthday celebration to those October volunteers who are HuiJia, Nicole, Yeshma, Michelle and Berne.

Here are some of the photos of the birthday celebration!

After which, it was home sweet home and to some of us supper! So do join in more for supper so that we can get to know more of each other! =)

- Zaidi

More photos will be up on facebook.. Hee.. Wanna see go there n add me.. Wahaha.. Orientation photos also.. =)

Good job Zaidi..

Session 8/10/09

2009-10-15T15:19:00.005+08:00

Sorry for the late entry! Been mugging for midterms this week and omg suddenly it's Thursday again. For session last week we decided to play games since most of the boys have finished their exams. We split into groups and played Uno, UglyUgly and Chinese chess. It was especially fun because some people (ahem, Khalisah) kept losing and had to do stupid forfeits. :D Too bad no photos to upload. Games session again this week! We're going to play Bluff tonight yay!

And to Jianwen: THANKS AH FOR THE PREVIOUS ENTRY -.- You better hope you don't lose in Bluff tonight hehehehe.

Supper 8.10.2009

2009-10-12T22:34:00.004+08:00

HOT NEWS HOT NEWS!! See for yourself!

Enjoying themselves WOR... Hehehe

Poor huiwen... got left out....

Picture perfect!

So who ate the rojak??

Nicest pic of the day = )

Ok folks, you all seen it. Its pretty obvious and i got nothing else to say. U know it and i know it too. Actually everyone knows it. Since you know it, i do not need to say anything more. But for some who just dun get it, i say say it one last time -> You can make good friends in WSC. Cheeros!

*Naughty naughty you. What are u thinking of! HAHAHA.

2009-09-23T17:34:00.003+08:00

Ok this blog is getting dead...

The new volunteers had written a paragraph on the orientation.. Althou not all submit their paragraph.. -.- This was wat they wrote...

We went sentosa for our orientation. It was an interesting experience, getting to know more about what we would be doing in the block d. We played some LAME games and built a sand castle with which we deserved to win!!! Finally came the BBQ at that ulu Labrador Park. It was nice to meet my fellow block d mates and i cant wait to get started.
-Woeijin

Hey guys! The orientation camp was cool; it was great for me to meet with the other members of WSC. The food was good too. I had real fun and I look forward to go to the boys’ home.
-Yeshma

The orientation at sentosa on saturday came out much more interesting than i thought. Initially still hesitating whether should i attend but after going through it, feel that it was quite an enjoyable session. Throughout the whole orientation can see that all the existing volunteers and seniors really put in their efforts to organise this event to let us new volunteers to get to know one another better. Although it was not say the best orientation that i have attended, but it really gives me a break out of the hectic web assignments and really appreciate the efforts that all the seniors have put in to organise this session.
-Zhengxin

Although it was a Saturday spent at Sentosa and Vivocity, it was a great way to spend the Saturday with like-minded people. It was a great way to spend a morning by breaking the ice and making new friends. I was quite amazed by the volunteers that signed up for Youth; everyone just came with an open mind! Not only that, I was actually expecting freshies to be the main bulk of the new volunteers but apparently there are a significant number of seniors who came in as new volunteers as well. The games were simple such as sandcastle making competition which I believe we should have won and treasure hunting was just amazing when the group kind of got separated but we hunt for each other and met up back again somehow! It just goes to show block D peeps have telepathy to find each other at the end of the day! The day ended off with a nice BBQ in which the food was great and there was plenty to eat! Overall, it really spurs us up for the upcoming challenge as a volunteer for the boys' home block D! =)
-Zaidi

Building sand castle was fantastic! Group number sort of multiplied when we combined with Blk B. Uber fun under the sun !!! Free scrub for our feet and our hands too ! what more can we ask for? Hahahaha. Perspired as one to work on our masterpiece. Smelly, then smelly together! The castle was such a pride and joy ! Glad that we got 2nd place in the end after the "ang moh" judged. I bet he was amazed at our enthusiasm :D
-Emily

I truly enjoyed myself on youth orientation day. Its is a good experience for me to bond with the fella blk D members. Khalisa is the prettiest woman I have seen on Earth. hahaha:)
-Kailin

What we did on that day was..
- Meet at Harbourfront station at 9am
- Fill in clearance form
- Head to Sentosa
- Icebreaking games
- Lunch
- Sandcastle building (we made alliance with blk B volunteers.. N i our sandcastle is REALLY very nice.. We really have creative ppl on board.. =))
- Wash up
- Head to VivoCity
- Played 'Shop Hunt' (Take a photo in front of the shops according to the theme of the shops..)
- Head to Labrador Park
- BBQ!!!
- Home Sweet Home

I hope all the new volunteers had a good time during the orientation.. If u happen to drop by this blog do drop a comment ya.. =)

N i hereby welcome all you new volunteers to the Blk D family... Wee~~ =)

Photos cant be uploaded right now cos still unable to upload to my laptop... Haha.. =p

N n n... SELAMAT HARI RAYA!! =p

Session on 30 July

2009-08-25T00:32:00.001+08:00

Hi all !! I finally write my blog entry! First at all, I apologize for owing you all a blog entry for quite a long time. I am going to write about our last-last-last session which was on... erm... 30 July. (Since it happened three weeks ago, I need to recall what was going on. Don’t worry... I’ll try my best.)

Khalisah, Ah Chai, Jianwen, Chinhan, Huiwen, Haosheng and I came for the session that day. We were playing broad games like Uno, Chinese chess and Snorta. The boys were a lot that day, more than our expectation. Since we only had three broad games, some of the boys were not joining us and chitchatting in the back of the room (or just stared blankly there?!) Anyone who is holding other broad games please let Khalisah know and bring it next time so that we will have more broad games to play in the future and let more boys join the game.

I played Uno at first but later I noticed that Snorta looked interesting although I totally didn’t know its rules. Huiwen and Chinhan were playing it with another four boys. Each player need to think a sound of animal. Each round each of them reveals a card in turn. Once the card is identical to another player’s card, they have to imitate their opponent’s sound. The slower is the loser and he has to take over his opponent’s card. The one who first finishes his cards is the winner. After I joined them, they changed the rules. We needed to think a singer’s/actress’ name or a place name. Most of the names I never heard before and I was short memory to memorize them. I end up with ‘collecting’ the cards. (Lol.. Fortunately there was no penalty. Hahha..)

The session ended at almost 9.30pm. After that, we had a birthday celebration for our charming Jianwen and Khalisah yang cantik dan bijaksana.

Khalisah and Jianwen were making their wish(es).

Chinhan bought the delicious mango cake.

Uncle Lee was cutting the cake (not easy to cut it) and distributing it to everyone. Thanks ya~~ Uncle Lee!!

Huiwen and Ah Chai (or Jason??) :

Oh no!!

Ah Chai was playing with fire!! Fortunately he didn’t burn the boys home.

a gift for Khalisah (from Chinhan)

At the end, we took a photo together (with a different background).

This one looks nicer:

Oh yeah!!! I have completed my blog entry. HS, it is your turn now. Hahhaha…

2009-08-19T22:49:00.001+08:00

I would like to wish a warm welcome to 'me'.. =) Hee... Thank you for extending ur interest in joining Youth... For the benefit of 'me' as well as all others out there who visit our blog, i shall give you some info on the recruitment drive...

WSC Welcome Tea
TOMORROW!! (20 August)
LT5
630 - 930 PM

Recruitment Interview
24 & 25 August!!
Student Activities Centre
7 - 1030 PM

You can come and attend the Welcome Tea to get to know more about what the different branches of WCS do.. The recruitment interview is COMPULSORY for u to join the club.. As long as we can see that u have the passion, the enthusiasm and able to commit, there is a high chance of being part of our Youth family.. So do remember the dates.. I am looking forward to meet all of u... Hee.. =) See ya!!

N YENBIN!!! U still still STILL owe us an entry.. Hehehehe... Everyone is waiting.. Even the potential members of our blk.. =p Hehehehe....

2009-07-24T13:42:00.006+08:00

In order to not let this blog go dead and trap dust, I shall be extra nice & un-lazy today and post sumting up.. Hahaha...

Soo.... What have been going on within our blk these days?? Haha.. Sessions as usual.. The first session (9/7) was an awkward one.. With only 6 (??) volunteers and 5 boys we couldnt really do much.. So we ended just having chitchat session with the boys...

Last week (16/7) was games day.. We played Stare&Stance first.. This is where the boys and volunteers stood in pairs, back-to-back, and at the count of 3, they face each other and try to keep a straight face... The ones who laughed first will have to sit out of the game.. The process is continued until we have the last person standing as the winner... Lucky i was the one conducting the game.. Cos i am sooo very sure if i played, i will be out at the very first round.. =x Hahaha... After tat game, we had a game of Hangman.. And the session was over...

Yesterday, was supposed to be tuition.. But knowing the boys, they didnt even bring along their books.. We had assessment books with us but.... Hahaha.... They just werent interested.. So session turned to chitchat session yet again...

After session, had a mini belated birthday celebration for our dear Chinhan... Hope he liked the MINI celebration.. Haha.. Since there was only a total of 5 f us... Heh...

The OLD & The FOREVER NEW... =p

More photos on my fb.. Oh oh oh.. My turn next week ok... Monday 27/7... I want a lot a lot of presents ok ppl... WAHAHAHA... Ok shameless i noe.. =p Joking only laa.. Hehehe..

Next week will be games.. Most probably boardgames.. I hope most of u tat are available can make it okays.. See ya! In the meantime... Dun miss me ok... Wahaha... =p Ok i talk too much alr.. Bye..

*Oh, i've added in my blog link.. Haha.. U can go visit if u all got nth better to do.. =p*

Family Day 2009

2009-07-10T22:17:00.024+08:00

Hey peeps, this is an outdated post of the family day that was held during june. This blog is growing cobwebs already so gonna update more ya. Enjoy the pictures = )

The Fantastic 4

The Performers.. GOT seowhong!

80% Seowhong look-alike

Introducing 1/3 of the dancers. Courtesy of SBH! wOOHOOOoo!!

Awaiting the announcement of the winning team... *DRUMS...

Winning team and supportive friends = )

Finally, the Magician and his pigeon disappearing acts that kept us entertained throughout.

Overall, it was a fun and relaxing day. The boys and their families enjoyed themselves and so do us. Not to mention there were also family games, nice food and a chinese wushu uncle and auntie combi too, which was rather different from previous years. Most importantly, it fosters family bonding and i for one will be looking forward to the next year's family day.

Ice Skating @ Kallang Leisure Park

2009-05-02T23:08:00.009+08:00

1st time ice skating- look at the ice-skating shoe.. only got 2 things in mind
butt pain and very paiseh if fall down
so i told myself must not FALL DOWN !(i didnt wear extra underwear to protect my butt)

ah koon, JW, peggy, chinhan, HS, me, nicole and khali!

besides just skate skate skate for almost 2 hours, we also played 'catchers' in the skating field, most of the time i cant escape if someone want to 'catch' me, CANNOT skate fast......sianzzz =.='

no matter how hard i tried to balance, in the end fell down quite alot of time also.... ah koon saw how i fell down .. terrible...
pls wear extra underwear when go for ice skating, it surely protect your butt!
wear RED

best photo of the day !

After tired playing, next thing is MAKAN time! Travelled all the way to Bukit Batok Botak Jones
Owner of Botak Jones really botak, look at the name card you will agree with me

Giant Pork Sausage

Giant Chicken Hot Dog

Tired until opened such a 'BIG' mouth !

This entry wont complete without JW Unglam photos !

-the end -

the end of Chinhan's dynasty....

2009-03-26T20:47:00.004+08:00

Although today's session to Home has canceled, but alot of volunteers also turn up for the last debrief. Some even got quiz tomorrow lol....

as 'usual', chinhan's treat again ! this time is Sakae Sushi... Notice the photo got one ppl using hand while others using chopstick! Guess is who ??? (Hint: is Shxo Hxxg).... For VV, at least he try one sushi although does not taste good for him lol....

Chinhan busy distributing his small but long written cards to everyone of us ! I will show you how long he has wrote !

after 10mins of reading chinhan's card, khalisah still reading it... u say long onot ...haha
little bit 'kua zhang'(exaggerate) ya .

this is how long chinhan has wrote on my card !
No space for an ant to climb in also... haha
but seriouly i salute chinhan's effort to write every one of us a card ! we appreciate it !
dont read wat he has wrote for me, btw i have blurred it ..hehe

for the past one year, chinhan has been done a GREAT job as a block D centre head.
From interview, recruitment booth , welcome tea, workshop, 'Bee Attacks' Boys camp 08 and weekly sessions, he has shown his greatest efforts, responsibilities and commitments to Block D.
Summore this year is his Final year+ FYP, you can see how busy he is!
But he still done well Bravo ChinHan!
maybe these are the reasons y she is so attracted to him, hahaha

our upcoming 09/10 Block D centrehead !
Khalisah!
hope every volunteers will continue stay at Block D next year and
give our fully supports to Khalisah !
KEEP the spirit HIGH!

-the end-

Good luck and all the best to all graduating volunteers esp in this difficult downturn period.
Do come back and visit us during session in future.

hmmm.. Session 19/3

2009-03-21T20:08:00.005+08:00

Like every fine ~~boring~~ thursday evening, Dedicated-me was one of the Earliest to reach The Canteen Under New Cant. A as usual, wait until sian.... then came Tall, tall Yen Bin(2nd placing).....

--- I shall skip the whole chunk of boring stuff that happened before the session, like how I waited for Old Centre Head Chin Han until sian and how Evil ~~and handsome~~ Seow Hong "psycho" Girlfriend_SH Daisy to "pon" the session. and the always-very-crowded-and-long 199 ride. etc.---

Ok, so it was Tuition Week for the Boys and I can see the passion burning in everyone's eyes ( ﾟヮﾟ). woah. All of us were assigned to the boys and vice versa, and the more "zai" volunteers like Old Centre Head Chin Han and New Centre Head Khalisah handled a bigger group of boys. Everyone was having Fun Studying and some of the groups turned into Chit-Chat Sessions. (As we were separated into 2 rooms, I apologise(sincerely ._.) that I can only account for the happenings in the room I was in.)

In my room, we had Old Centre Head Chin Han, New Centre Head Khalisah, Dedicated-me, Bad Influence Ah Chai, "Kena" Bad Influenced VV and Kenvin-and-Barbara.

For myself, I partnered Old-CH CH and we had this group of boys that we had to break ice with racy topics*censored*. I thought it was courageous of them to open up and speak to us about their experiences and thoughts, and I like these mutual interactions among ourselves(Not Gay), even though there were times when they made Old-CH CH rather uncomfortable with their bombardment of questions. Old-CH CH was also trying very hard to change their mentality on their "beliefs", which was more or less furtile. hahaha.

On another corner of the room, I saw a Motherly/Sisterly Figure. She is the New-CH Khalisah. o_O. She was having no trouble handling her boys(as expected from a CH) and nearing the end of the session, the boys were already singing and having fun.

Bad Influence Ah Chai and "Kena" Bad Influenced VV started out well by helping out some boys with their work. However after they were done, I could see them conversing and chuckling between themselves, which I believed was the exchanging of the Most Powerful Cantonese Vocab and Most Powerful Hindi Vocab.

Kenvin-and-Barbara was in their own world, happily chatting, buuutttt thheeennnn... Old-CH CH(Spoil-er) came and told them to join New-CH Khalisah.

Hmmm.. so basically thats all for the session and I believed it was a fruitful night for all of us (is it?).

After the session, most of us stayed to celebrate VV-Day, and VV had Claypot Chicken and BBQ wings for a treat. I could see that VV was very happy hence i deduced that he really enjoyed the food and of course the company of the BLOCK D VOLUNTEERS!
(after that.. VV was so moved that he cried and thank all of us..... like real.)

Happy Belated VV-Day! Let's cherish every session and next week's the last of the sem.(finally=_=)!

PS: I've disabled the comments, so if u guys have any comments can call me at 999095482.

The Creativity Session =) (12/3)

2009-03-13T20:27:00.003+08:00

It was a game session this Thursday and it was conducted by Henry, the Game Master. It was a job well done by Henry as it was clear that most of the boys enjoyed themselves. It was a picture game whereby the boys were given a theme and were to draw according to the themes. There were 3 rounds in all.

In the first round, the theme was “Your Favourite Food”. There were many interesting drawings, like ice-cream, a complete MacDonald meal, bubble tea (which is also my favorite! haha), fish, roasted beef and many more. The second theme was “My Dream Girl”. Again, there were very creative drawings. The boy whom I was paired with, was so focused drawing his dream girl. He was actually drawing his girlfriend, whom he said was currently in hospital due to a leg injury. Kinda sweet seeing a guy so focused drawing a picture of his girlfriend=) And the last theme was “My Favorite Cartoon”.

After the drawings were submitted and the top 3 were shortlisted for voting, I realized that many of the shortlisted drawings were drawn by the same few boys. This means those boys really have a talent for drawing! And of course, everyone put in effort into their drawings and it was nice getting their participation.

The boy whose drawing gathered the most votes was rewarded with a chocolate bar. At this point, I observed something. One of the boys won a chocolate bar and he unwrapped it. However before he even took a bite himself, he passed it to his friend to take a bite first. I thought it was very nice of him. And after he took a bite himself, he passed it to a few other friends and so the bar was shared among so many of them. What a sense of brotherhood I thought. They must have forged a really strong bond amongst them which I believe will make them buddies forever=)

That’s about all! It’s the March holidays for them next wk so guess they can take a good break. But its tuition for them next wk too! Haha hope it did not dampen their holiday mood ;P

We also celebrated Ivy's 21st birthday at the end of the session!

Sessions 5/2/09 & 12/2/09 !!

2009-02-25T02:24:00.008+08:00

okay this is a REALLY late post but better late than never. by the way, the reason why this entry combines 2 sessions is because chinhan was too lazy to write 1 of them. haha okay here goes...

there was tuition on 5/2. i was an hour late so not too sure what happened then. BUUUT... i do know what happened after the session~ there was a mini birthday celebration! for me! haha thanks guys really REALLY appreciate it. the cake, present and birthday song were lovely! special thanks to those who took the time to get the cake and presents (:

it was games day on 12/2 organised by group 4. game went something like this: there were 2 teams and each team took turns to play. numbered cards were pasted on the floor in a big circle and each team member stands at a number. members enter the circle -- the person standing at the smallest number enters first while the person standing at the largest number enters last. the team whose members enter into the circle in the correct order and with fastest timing wins.

ken vin coordinated the game with the rest of us time-keeping/ checking for cheaters/ joining the game. the boys were uncooperative at first but with ken vin's very stern scolding, the boys decided to cooperate more. it was overall a great game and we enjoyed ourselves.

just want to add that there was this boy (not too sure of his name. think it was henry's boy) who brought a love letter to the session. it was given to him by his girlfriend. it was really beautifully made and even laminated. he was really proud of it and was really eager to show it to us. haha. soooo sweet and cute (:

Session after CNY

2009-02-05T12:40:00.001+08:00

Today was the fourth day of CNY~~ Everywhere was filled with the CNY atmosphere, even in Boys’ home.
This was Group 3’s turn to prepare the game for those boys. We prepared many candies for all the boys who participate in the game “Pass the message” session. The winner group could get some chewy gum (the best prize!!). However, they showed their good teamwork and finally made it a tie! In the end, they had to play “Scissors, Stone, Cloth” to decide the winner. For those who were lost, they also could get some mentos!! =)
Although it was CNY, some boys were very hardworking as they requested for tuition instead of playing game. We shall big them a loud applause. *Clap clap*

Time flew. The first session after CNY was come to the end.
Happy lunar new year~~

Cheers,
Poh Ling=)

Session before CNY!

2009-01-25T22:05:00.001+08:00

Prologue

Let me start with a short narration to explain why I am in charge of today’s entry. After session Jun Han asked who’s going for super and ‘tadang’ I raised my hand without knowing that he was actually asking who’s writing today’s entry. (How lucky I am!) So here’s my very short and sweet entry.

And so I begin...

I partnered with Henry today and today we were supposed to give the boys tuition. But my boy said the teachers took away all his textbooks before CNY so we just chatted with him for the session. Henry cliqued with him at once as they were both soccer fanatics. It was a pretty nice session for me to hear all the stories from the boy we talked to and I must really say that Henry was really good even though it was his first few sessions!

After session we went for supper and attempted to plan for the post-CNY outing. Some suggestions included badminton session, paint-ball fight, bbq, etc. (I think Jun Han will update us again soon!) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this short holiday and Happy ‘牛’ (ox) Year! =)

2009-01-16T15:56:00.002+08:00

EXCITING THURSDAYS

Every Thursday I get ready at 6:30 in the evening for one more journey to a prison which actually is a place of vibrant and naughty faces. I hope you guessed correctly, it was another WSC session to boy’s home.

It all started with the same routine. Everybody met at canteen A for dinner (though I was not hungry!) and prepared to move on. Though this time our block representative Chin Han did not join us for dinner and planned to reach boy’s home directly. The second session was smooth and easygoing for most of newcomers like me. As Henry mentioned in his previous blog- we all were divided into 5 groups and today group 2 (to which I belong) was given the task to think of some games. Finally, after a lot of discussion we decided to play charades.

In the home the boys seemed excited but still few behaved hesitatingly. Nonetheless, two groups A and B were formed consisting both boys and members. Six categories decided for the game were:
1. Movies
2. Songs
3. Celebrities
4. T.V shows
5. Subjects
6. Non-living
Peggy and Ivy explained the game to boys, Celine was watching carefully to catch the boys cheating and I was the unlucky one who had to set the stopwatch. Under each category there were 7-8 titles (oops! I don’t remember exactly) and each group representative was given 5 minutes to act.

Group A grabbed the first chance to act and chose movies as their category. I am sure everyone was shocked to see the hidden talent among group ‘A’ boys and members. They recognized all except one-that’s nice! But group B was even faster and gained full points under non-living category. I remember Kelvin acting and one of the boys guessing something ‘naughty’ and funny. It was good to see boys accepting the challenge to act. Though I can’t understand Malay but I could observe them teasing and passing funny comments on each other.

The game ended with group ‘B’ winning by 2 points. But it’s not about winning; it’s all about engaging boys in our every session. I could observe in the session that it is not difficult to mix with boys, they only need some time to mingle and some love to express.
The say ended with a nice photo session and everyone dispersing for their respective homes. You can catch me in the middle of picture-the cutest among all.

A Good Start in 2009...

2009-01-09T21:58:00.003+08:00

Here comes my first blog =D...

Nice to meet you guys! At last I went for my first session for the boys home on 8th of January 2009. I managed to know quite a number of friends when we met up in the Canteen A for dinner. We moved in a big group to the block at about 7 plus pm.

I was surprised to see that there were actually a huge volunteers with 27 turned up for the first session. All of us were divided into 5 groups and I was chosen to be in the Group 1. We began by moving into a classroom and meet up with the boys. I happened to know from Boon Ming that most of them are new boys except for 3 whom he had met before during the previous sessions.

Anyway, we started by forming a big circle of boys and volunteers. Then, each of us was asked to introduce ourselves before we continued with our ice breaking games. The first game was erm...I forgot the name but this is how it's played...Chin Han was the speaker...So basically we just need to move one step forward when he mentioned anything which is related to us. We had a lot of fun and the boys seemed to enjoy it as well.

After that, the boys were being assigned equally to each of the 5 groups that we have formed previously and we continued with our games. This time, we played a game which required everyone to memorize the name of each of group members. Then, we also played a game about animals. Each of us was represented by an animal, chosen by ourselves. I chose to be a king kong...haha...I remembered the giraffe hates the fish a lot and the fish always 'kena sabor'..lol...
Next up, we had our last game of the day which I would call it a 'Who..Har..What' game (Is it?haha...) Unfortunately, I lose 3 times in that game with another boy, called Kok Yin if I am not mistaken.

Our forfeit was to do pole dancing in the middle of the circle. I thought I can become the pole...but I ended up being a dancer because I lose AGAIN in the 'scissors..paper...stone' !!! I used to be a professional player for that during my childhood period...argh...what to do? dance lor...I asked for a music so that it's easier for me..But..WORSE..I would say that the music was terrible for a pole dancing(everyone in my group should know about it >_<")...However, I tried my best to entertain the group members. What really surprised me was after the forfeit. Everyone in other groups was actually watching when I was dancing..Oh my god...haha...

The session ended with a briefing from Chin Han. Then, I was invited for supper nearby the place but I did not join because I have 8.30 class on Friday =P. Nobody went and everyone took their respective buses to go back. That's how it ended =D

I was glad to have a chance to meet the boys although I only had a couple of conversations with some of them. I feel that it is not really hard to communicate with them. What I need is just time...I hope to see them more often and get to know them more in the coming session.

Ok! That's all from me...I have to say that I am not a blogger and I do not like to write blog but I enjoy reading blogs. ( So next time I am incharged to read blogs which are created by you guys only..no need to write liao =P)

See you guys next week!
-=><3]\[)2y=-

December Camp 2008

2009-01-02T02:10:00.014+08:00

Hello peeps,

Many thanks to the volunteers who helped and volunteered their time for the camp and the dry-run. Although the camp ended quite abruptly, your help is greatly appreciated. Looking to 2009, I hope everyone has a successful and wonderful year ahead with great results and a even better life. Lotsa love =)

It all started with this bunch of programmers + yenbin

Then there was Dry-Run..and the girly-thingy we got to do.. But we enjoyed it every moment. Just in case you are wondering what was going on, ah chai was having a good laugh at the "pretty" pen that Jianwen did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8q5JZISAps

Finally, some pictures of the camp to share with you.
Khalisah's ice breaking game that got the boys interacting.

Huiwen's deadly sweets!

Seowhong teaching the boys a cheer

Mass ice-breaking game with..
Newbie Yiyun, with her warm smile =)

Old head Ah Chai, and his award-winning posture!

Teammates Celine and Huijia, with a very supportive contingent.

Volleyball with a twist - Our Volunteer Team

Look at their teamwork!

After these was.. yup you know. Anyway our No.1 Brave Survivor. Stung on her tight and legs, shivering in pain and she had to endure the memories of her struggle. Pointing to her bee sting..

Introduce Michelle.

Some of us. Welfare Services for SBH.

final session + farewell

2008-12-01T19:47:00.003+08:00

chin han! i'm here!

first of all, congrats to everyone! we survived yet another round of exams!!

ok moving to the first item on the agenda: our final session for sem 1. since it was to be the final session, boon ming and ah chai put in some effort to make it a memorable one. we played hangman, with the boys vs. the volunteers. for the first few rounds, each team thought of words for the other team to guess, and it was a close fight! for the final rounds, boon ming came up with some questions for us to guess..and the boys started to take the lead..and they ended up winning with a comfortable margin. but of course, we were happy to let them win!

oh i must state for the record that hui wen was a very good guesser! she even managed to guess 'McSpicy'..which to me is pretty amazing hahah

after the game and prize-giving session, chin han took out his multi-coloured ice cream sticks, and we were supposed to write messages to the boys and they would write messages to us. this was quite a good idea! provided you had boys you wanted to write messages to hahah. soke hwa, i still have your ice cream stick ok!

all in all, i would say that it was a really fun and memorable session. thanks to those who put in effort to make it such a great session! :)

*

now moving on to the farewell part..

since i'll be going on exchange next semester, this semester is my last in ntu. hahah i didn't even realise it was my last session until on that day itself! and because it's my last session, i was tasked to blog about it and also to write my farewell thoughts.

hmm. i'm not really sure what to write. coz it still feels a little unreal..

i'll start off by thanking all of you, my fellow volunteers. especially those who've been with me since i joined in year 1. the years have gone by just like that! thank you all for giving me such wonderful memories. i think..the time i spent with you all, whether at sessions or at our (very rare) outings are definitely among the happiest in my university life.

although there were definitely some times when it felt like a chore to have to go for sessions every week, i don't think i ever regretted going for any one of them. and it's definitely something i will miss when i'm in canada :( well, hopefully i'll be able to join u all for some sessions when i come back!

but..you all don't have to be too sad and start missing me now! hahahha. coz i'll still be here for the camp! i didn't get to take part in the camp last year, so luckily i have another chance this year before i leave. let's make it a wonderful one k!

ok this is a really long post. (chin han! more than 5 paragraphs already! hahah) but if u don't remember anything about the long story i wrote, the main point is this:

thanks for the memories! :)

take care, guys and gals!

Karaoke Sessino @ Boys' Home

2008-10-12T20:26:00.003+08:00

Hi! It has been a long time I didn't blog here and so good I volunteered myself to write for this blog (hehehe... *evil smile*).

Last Thursday was quite funny session. We, the NTU (what the boys like to call us... they always like, "See.. NTU is coming...", "No lah, NTU will do that.. NTU will do this..", "NTU sing la.." etc), did not prepare any games (as our dear ah chai forgot to bring the board games and etc) So out of a long waited randomness we decided to have a karaoke fight between the boys and the volunteers.

OK. The volunteers came up and acapella the song MY LOVE from Westlife and although with some pitchy problems, they managed to pass the first round. The more important thing was that, we saw some boys quite cooperative and decided to lead the group (although others not very willing to sing, they paiseh ler... wakakaka). They ended up with a song "APOLOGIZE" by TIMBERLAND and to be honest la... haha... though not very uniform performance but we the volunteers felt quite happy and glad to see that some boys really stood up to lead or to volunteer. At least they got the heart to do it... While others were too shy ler... haha...

How can we make them not so shy next week?? lol ... ... Perhaps we shall ask our head Jun Han to sing solo first in front of everyone? lol

Outing Chinatown courtesy of huikoon's idea = )

2008-09-22T12:29:00.008+08:00

Hey dudes, i had a wonderful day singing with you lots. Really break my record of number of songs sang in a day. 5 hrs zoom past so fast it only shows that time is very well-spent and i am going to miss it. Hehe.

Huikoon is goddess-like when she sings. She sings high pitch at ease. Super impressive. Miss 杨丞琳

Boonming is good with any type of songs. Love, Rap, Rock etc.

Ah chia is 周传雄-alike

Peggy is as usual the best. =) Chin han is ...him....enough said hahaha! =(

Peggy and Huikoon

Ah chai and Huikoon

The 2 best friends = )

Dessert after dinner =)

Last pic of the day. Niceeee!

4/9 and 11/9 sessions

2008-09-12T22:34:00.002+08:00

yup. the pics taken with my 3.2megapixel hp cam. boonming with his act-cool pose. ahchai with his pretty pink shirt. yenbin with his dun-mess-with-me-coz-im-your-new-financial-controller smile.

had sessions on the 4th and 11th of sep. our turnout is easily twice/ thrice the turnout of other blocks. chinhan shd be proud of the level of commitment and dedication of his block's volunteers, which is why i predict that he will be treating everyone to a meal during the malaysia trip. thanks in advance chinhan (:

anw for both sessions, the boys were split up. those having their exams had tuition while the rest played games. i was playing games during the 1st session. ah chai came up with this really really fun hand game. everyone was to put his hand on the table and take turns making hand signals to direct what the next person should do. its really harder than i make it sound. the boys ended up doing forfeits such as dancing on the table and giving jianwen a nice shoulder massage. we were having so much fun and making so much noise that the officers downstairs came all the way up to our room to check on us. yup better be more careful next time.

i gave tuition during the 2nd session. think the boys are really quite bright. much brighter than they let on. hope that they won't go looking for trouble once they are released from the home. it will be such a waste of their lives.

yup thats the end of my entry. updates: there will be no session on 18th sep, but there will be a fun and exciting malaysian trip on the 19th and 20th of sep (:

RSP Youth Orientation '08

2008-09-06T15:03:00.009+08:00

last saturday morning.. we had 4 freshies: Hao Sheng, V.V, Ken Vin and Nicole! ice breakers in school! we played games like "who what huh" and "drinking goggles". many people had to do forfeits, including pole dances and asking random people for their numbers + saying "i am interested in you". hahahaha.

then we played a few mass games before starting out on the food fest hunt!

our food chain: Donut --> Nutella --> Laksa --> Sarsi --> Seaweed --> Wheatgrass --> Grass jelly --> Jelly bubble tea --> Tea egg --> Egg sandwich
Pitstop at Chinatown! we had to sing "when you believe" acoustic plus actions! luckily seow hong was one of the station masters! (i never say anything ah...)
2nd pitstop at National Library! played charades! Daisy was trying to describe "old lady going to the zoo to take picture with ah meng". it was very very difficult!
reached Botanic Gardens but sadly the station masters werent expecting us to arrive so fast. so nobody was there! then we received news about a change in final destination to the esplanade.. camwhored abit first. haha.
random mascot we saw at citylink outside num.
due to unforeseen circumstances, our blk had the least number of volunteers+seniors. but that didnt deter us from getting first again! (: sakae voucher!

keep up the gd work guys. hopefully blk d will win next year again.

ps: sorry if the entry looks abit like mine. "occupational hazard" (advertise abit. hahah)

pps: hope u guys like the new layout, songs and stuffs. pls give feedback and suggestions on what other things u want on the interface! and i think i need help with using blogskin's template.. anyone?

Yenbin's ENTRY!

2008-08-26T00:58:00.000+08:00

14 August 2008

Today was the first session after the new semester starts. Some of us met in the new canteen (in front of the McDonald) and had dinner together before went to the boys’ home. We reached there on about 7.35pm.

We were having tuition today. ChinHan assigned the boys to each of us. Fortunately, most of the boys did bring their books, so we started the tuition. After a period of time, the room was full of excitement and sound suddenly. Why? It was because JianWen turned up at the room suddenly. He sat around a few boys in a corner and then we could notice how charming JianWen are. He was very popular among the boys and the sound of laughing was quite loud and clear. We all could sense the jollification and happiness from the boys over there.

The session ended on about 8.45pm. There was no supper today. We went home after the session ended.

By YenBin

31 July 2008

2008-08-01T23:40:00.002+08:00

%&$@!@$!%@%!^Why you all must sabo me to write blog... Now u all happy liao right... i have to write this time blog. Before i start writing the blog, i should give my words of thanks. Firstly i thank soke hwa for pointing out that i have not written any blog. Secondly i must thanks khalisha for reminding everyone that i have not written my first blog.Lastly i must must thanks my beloved centrehead, junhan to 'ask' me to write this blog.'LIKE' U GUYS SO MUCH!!

Okie. now i start off le.As usual, Daisy and i were late for the session.So the minute we reached boys' home, we quickly rushed to join the rest of guys.When we entered the room,i saw that junhan was talking to boys.(cause junhan forget to tell that we are having tuition today so some of them never brought their books)After much persuasion , junhan manage to split the boys into 2 groups.One group will have tuition and another will be playing games. Most of the the boys are very guai , they chose to have tuition.Only 4 boys wanted to play games.I was assigned to play games with them.In the end i went to the other rooms with the other 4 boys.In the room , i did not play games with them.We are just chit chatting. After sometime , we felt a bit tired.There were a few mats there. So in the end, all of us used the mats and lie on the floor.We carry on some chit-chating. Not long , they started singing some malay songs and i just lie there listening. After sometime, they deicded to go back to their room(obviously i got ask junhan permission).After they went back, i went back another room and started teaching another boy.After like 15 mins , the session ended.

After that all of us(junhan, boon ming, khalisha, huiwen, daisy and me) decided to have a farewell party for our beloved lao zhu zhong(celine).Celine is going to holland for an attachment.Hereby, all of us wish her all the best and hope she will join us soon again.In the supper, we wish celine farewell and talk about some trivia stuff mainly revolves around junhan...

Thats the end of my entry, pardon me for any lousy angmo..

Seow Hong

Tuition day ` )

2008-07-25T02:03:00.013+08:00

hello peeps,

it has been a while since the last entry...you lots are so lucky that i keep forgetting to appoint someone to write the day's entry `(

Today is tuition day wooooooowho! but But BUT on our way to the Home, it started raining... IT WAS POURING RAIN CAN!!! %$@#^%#^@ The rain was so strong that we could not see our hands as we stretch out. The water so rapid, Jurong Point nearly got washed away. (I hope it didn. I miss the foodcourt there.) The wind so strong, cars were lifted and smashed into trees. (Poor trees.) Ok you may think that im bullshitting but it was really really REALLY Heavy Rain K. That though did not dampen our spirits. Clap please...thks. Appreciated.

Myself, celine, khalisah, huiwen, SEOW HONG & DAISY were at what we do best. Volunteering our time to give the boys tuition. We had 12 boys today but we manage well. Everyone was very enthusiastic and i can see the boys listening and paying attention while we teach. Our session today last for 1 hour where we help them with mainly Maths, English, Sciences etc. This time round, most of them brought their books. This is a good sign. The eagerness to learn. I believe all the volunteers will agree with me. I hope the boys enjoy our tutoring and hope that we help them indeed.

P.s: On a side note, if you are curious why i highlighted the names of SH and D hmmmm..i oso dunno actually `) Cya all next thurs!

3 July 2008

2008-07-10T12:09:00.001+08:00

It was my first time meeting with the new boys so was kind of excited. There were 9 of us altogether. Of those 9, only 3 were early and the rest was late. Shall not mention names. =p

Anyways, we started the session by splitting the boys into 2 groups and asking them to think of rules for themselves. That way, they will have no reason to go against the rules since they are the one who thought of them. They came up with quite a number of good rules which were implemented immediately.

After that was games time! We played ‘Who Is Missing?’. The game may sound easy but in real fact it is not that easy. Cos the main point of the game is that you have to be familiar with all the faces in the room in order to realize who is missing. Lucky me, I was sitting with the group of malay boys when they were discussing the rules and when I was ‘it’, they picked a malay boy. Hehe.. If they had chosen a chinese boy I’ll have a pretty hard time. =p

It was quite a fun game but I still can’t remember the names of the chinese boys. Somehow I find it harder to remember their chinese names. =x Hee..

Seow Hong..!!! My virgin entry is up. Your turn next.! Hehehe…

New Boys!

2008-07-02T01:40:00.007+08:00

This day, (26/6) 8 + JianWen BLK D NTU volunteers with a big heart, gathered to attend their weekly session with their boys. They were myself, rabin, seow hong, celine, daisy, jiayin, huiwen and huikoon. Special appearance by JianWen who not only attended the session with us but also treated us with delicious Crispy Kreme Donuts packed all the way from Australia via jw's lap. HAHAH wad an idiot! .....real thks man. (Cost you a bomb we know and we appreciate it.)

Hmm wanna know wad did we do at our session?

As usual.. Nothing special... ya ya... bla bla..

NO!!! Today we got 13 boys and you guessed it! 12 of them are new! WHAT A SURPRISE!
(Ok actually the staff has already informed me that they are arranging 16 new boys for our session -_-". But still, it is a pleasant surprise to see new boys and attending our session! *proud hehe)

We needed some activity to lighten up the mood so we played some "ice-breaking games". Drinking goggles", "WHO? WHAT? AH?" and "007". I am the organiser of the day and lucky me i played these recently and i could recall them. Phew! oops..hehe..

Sited in a circle, we had a "mini introduction" that involves everyone. We ask simple questions such as their hobbies, age etc. The introduction was rather short partly because i want it to. Time was getting late and if we were to go thorough, we will have to stay till 10pm! It was a brief introduction and we only know slight details about them but it is still meaningful. Anw, bravo to all my volunteers for trying to speak up more. (*much much more than the boys fyi!)I can see everyone is trying hard. *thumbs up! hehe. I am sure we will have opportunities to get to know these new kids better through our games, tuition and 1-1 sessions. After the last person has introduced himself, i proceed to give my "speech" which i as usual nv plan! How good is it... ermms dun expect too much on me la k haha! ANW.. I then stated my expectations of the boys and i explain to them my structure for sessions. Finally after all these, we wish good night and off they go, back to their dorms.

For my volunteers information: it will be games-tuition-games as per usual but when it nears their examination, we will only give them tuition.
What i said to the boys:
1) when volunteers give instructions, all the boys must listen.
2) end of session, the boys must help to keep the chairs.
3) if any boy is to be found to be indiscipline, i will not hesitate to report him to his staff.

Thats all from me..Hope to see you folks on thurs! = )

19 June 2008

2008-06-25T01:44:00.006+08:00

After receiving the rather threatening email from our new centrehead, we couldn't possibly miss our first WSC session after the exams. (If i remembered correctly, I wrote the entry for the first WSC session after 1st sem exams.)

Knowing that we were 10mins late, Daisy, Celine, Seow Hong and I were practically running to the boys' home from the 157 bus stop which we alighted at. Chin Han, Rabin and Khalisah were already waiting there for us with the rest of the volunteers from other blocks. Apparently, Chin Han wasn't angry or unhappy, so that email was written in a way too misleading.

Anyway, basically the whole idea of the session was to get to know the boys more (again!). The volunteers and boys interacted for what seemed like forever. Even so, we enjoyed it. We sat in a circle with volunteers and boys seated in alternate seats. We posed questions to the boys and vice versa.

This time round, the volunteers felt a little (in fact VERY) guilty for not being able to do our part in asking questions as well as the boys did. "What is the most disgraceful thing you've ever done?"."What inspired you to further your studies?". Questions like these were raised by them and all we volunteers could think of were mundane stuff like "What's your favourite movie?", "Where do you usually hang out?", etc.

This session lasted 2hrs until 9.30pm. We left after the last person was "interrogated". We'll do a better job for the next session! Till then.

SIDE NOTE ONE: Seow Hong hasn't written any blog entries yet.
SIDE NOTE TWO: Chin Han told me that.

(F)ather (A)nd (M)other (I) (L)ove (Y)ou Day!

2008-06-16T11:57:00.008+08:00

Once upon a time, in the western province of Singapore, there lived four wsc volunteers - Jiayin, Jianwen, Junhan and Huiwen. On a bright half-sunny-half-cloudy day, they went for the annual boys' home family day. Apparently this year the home was able to hold the function in the hall (instead of last yr's tentage) and make a tag for everyone!

The theme was: Making Singapore a Great Place for Families and Children.

Three of them arrived too early, so they started playing the fringe activities. They also helped themselves to finger food, like hotdog bread, popcorn and ice cream! (guess who was late?) Some of the boys also volunteered to help out at the event. They were dressed as clowns, giving out balloons to the kids and one of them was even on stilts! They also had their portraits drawn by some expert artists! First up! There was a magic show by this guy who had a super enthu stage face. Then modern dance (with shuffling and break dancing etc) by the boys. To get the crowd involved, we had to participate in this game where guys = $1 and girls = $0.50 (why the inequality!), and three families were called onto the stage and they had to find as many pple as the dollar amount given by the emcee. After which there were games like "stuffing the most grapes into your mouth", where the winner was the one who could fit the most number of grapes into their mouths and "taste me", where the boys had to guess 10 different sauces.

The boys were also given chances to show off their talent with band and song performances. Some of them formed groups called "4 gigabytes", who sang Apologize and Jenny; and the "Powerpuff Boys" who sang Donna. An external band "Cape of Good Hope" also belted out songs like I Hate Myself For Loving You. There was this inter-racial duo who sang the famous meteor garden song "Qing2 Fei1 De2 Yi4", and the malay boy ingeniously changed part of the chinese lyrics into malay ones!

The finale: most of the boys were pretty high then. They kept jumping to the beat of the music.

All in all, it was a fun-filled day! or at least, much better than expected. We did not become professional clappers or experts in sleeping with our eyes open. I was glad most of the boys' families came and we got to see them! Definitely wouldnt mind going for the next one! :)

PS: ECP + Picnic post can be found here. Click here. :) :)