camp 2!
real eye opener this, i never realised there were such things as vocational schs in spore where people who just can't fit in pri or sec schs are placed. a lot of them have sad backgrounds or were ex boys/girls home kiddos.
they weren't as bad as i thought they would be. the instructors i worked with were really something.
it was my 1st time with this company. SO different from msi. should have sought advice with eddie before trying them out.
they were in it mainly for the money, not that i have anything against that per se, but at least do your job instead of slacking off at most oppurtunities.
they smoked. ok i know some people really do have to smoke but please do it out of sight of the kids, they are really impressionable.
i learnt too. shouldn't go to a camp without my full vocal capabilities. it was harder to control them. really. but i was quite glad i could STILL control them in spite of it. what a way to stretch myself eh, but i probably won't do that in a long long time. scared off by all the yukky herbs my mum made me drink. thanks auntie caroline! the lo han guo worked. eep! my mum even wanted me to drink cockroach juice!!!
maybe it was because the camp chief was new to it...
maybe not.
maybe it is just how the quality of doing things there is just like that. a lot of it was disorganised, unplanned and mostly unprofessional.
learnt my lesson. thanks eddie.
i was so frustrated at the end of the camp i nearly cried. and it wasn't because of the verbal abuse hurled at me without provocation from some of the kids. it was the other instructors apathy towards it. they were definitely within earshot but they just sat around, played cards with the kids and pretended nothing happened. no support given to me. not that i asked. i don't blame the kids for acting the way they do. i guess they face so much hurt themselves they put up an impermeable shell. but as i said again, i expected instructors to know better.
all i could do when i got home was to pray and bless the kids and instructors. felt much peaceful after that.
i really had a good time with the kids notwithstanding instructors who should know better. some of the kids deserve more credit than they get. thanks to the civic minded kids in echo, my leader yusman, melvin and the 4 gals, you guys were great. Even if people look down on you and tell you otherwise I believe you all will go far.
o yes. fell sick during the 1st camp, wasn't fully recovered by the 2nd. thats how i lost my voice. weird feeling. no pain but when speaking no sound comes out. spooky.
yelled at a couple of boys during the clean up day. sounded real funny, some other kids lazing around laughed at me, i wasn't too perturbed but i WAS at the couple of instructors hanging around with them when everything has not been completed AND also not doing anything about it....
going to an ite orientation camp this friday. in sentosa.....my voice should be back by then.
sorry oc, may not work for you guys in a long long time, not unless things shape up. it was a learning experience for me anyway.

hello everybody!
who wants to listen to my low sexy voice?
or lack of a voice rather....
lost it doing 2 camps in a row.
i seem to have a penchant for (almost) losing my top at least once within a camp to get the kids to take me seriously.
1st camp was at moe campsite (wah big changes man, no more tents, the kids have kampong style huts to live in, coolness, and where do the instructors sleep? on the floor in the common areas, when there were at least 2 empty huts left...the irony...the irony...
anyway back to my camp stories...yes it was juying sec 2's, i got a sentimental class, meaning you asked them a question and they would all smile sweetly and silently at you. sometimes i prefer noisy groups who at least respond. anyway saw great improvement at the end, they actually started to become noisier. being the newbie i was, didn't take the easy way out by using the mic, used my voice...bad move especially since i've been out of the drama scene for a long long time..
ooh yes, eye candy instructors there hee hee, ok maybe only one, funny guy, my partner in camp, but i would much rather have my dan whom i can HUG...= )
made friends with other similarly blur instructors bi yun and felicia, together we are the ROCK CHICKS! YEAH! why? because we stone together....(pun intended)
the boys in my group were quiet but playful. had to confiscate squeezy bottles from them countless times, and they were STILL girl shy, tell me about it i couldn't belive it. tell them nicely to sit filling up the gaps they ignore me so i blew my top. lesson learnt. thanks adi, shai and eddie. there is more than one way to persuade a kid.
glad that all the kids dared to try the adventure stuff, even the most timid of them managed the nitro crossing and climbing at least a level of the rocks. i really missed belaying. more fun than climbing sometimes.
o yes, the bus trip at the end all around singapore as suggested by shai, i was too tired and blind (somebody sat on my glasses and broke them the last nite) to realise. slept on the bus throughout.
i also learnt to bring LOTS of hot sweets and cough syrup to camps.