29 January, 30 January 2016 - YA Camp
Hey everyone!
On 29 and 30th January 2016, the YAs had their annual YA Camp! Before the camp, we executed a Guides Leadership Training for DHSCOY during their 集合, hence our camp started off only in the evening on Friday and lasted till night the next day.
Day 1
This year, we decided to base our camp on reliving fond Guiding memories and focussed on bonding within the YAs. Our first activity after dinner was 盲人打帐, where we split into two teams and pitched dome tents with our eyes closed, with only one person in each team being able to see. But this came with a twist - our tents would be pitched in the classroom! While we had originally planned to sleep at the Field D Area in tents, it had just rained rather heavily before and we were unable to pitch tents on the wet ground, thus resulting in a last-minute change of plans. However, we did not let this dampen our moods and had a lot of fun pitching the tents, especially as this activity reminded us of our Combined Obstacle Journey (COJ) 3 years back, when we were only Year 3s.
After that, it was time for our night run! We planned to run to Marina Barrage from the school (around 5 km) - this activity was also inspired by our Patrol Leaders' Training Camp (PLTC) in 2013, in which we had walked the same route for our Morning Hike. While the run was definitely tiring especially as some of us had never run more than the required 2.4km for NAPFA, it was still very satisfying, especially as we were greeted and rewarded by the beautiful night city skyline at the roof of the barrage! After a short break at the Barrage, we brisk-walked back to school, our morale significantly lifted as we admired the view by the river on the way back to school :)
Upon reaching back to school, it was time for our mini Campfire! We brought down a kerosene lamp and gathered at the elevated court to have our Campfire session, singing our own campfire favourites like Red River Valley, 细水长流 and Rock A My Soul. We then ended the night with a heartfelt talk with the Guiders :)
Day 2
Our second day started off with a short PT session followed by breakfast. After which, we built a kitchen shelter, kitchen table and fire altar in preparation for Outdoor Cooking later.
Then, it was time for Outdoor Cooking! Everyone was looking forward to this activity as it had been a long time since we last used kindling to start a fire and cook. Thankfully, our skills were still retained and we were able to start a fire without much trouble! Additionally, we also learnt a new method of Outdoor Cooking using a pit!
After our hearty lunch and cleanup, we had a short initiatives session where we learnt to sew a shoebag! While some of us were amateur at sewing, we found out that there were also a few of us who were really great at sewing!
Unfortunately, we were unable to finish our shoe bags, as it was time for the next activity - treasure hunt! The treasure hunt was planned by Chelsea alone and was kept a secret from everyone else, hence we were all very curious as to what she had in store for us.
We were first split into 2 groups, where we played a few games in order to get hints for the main activity, which was the hunt itself. The games included Captain's Ball, Tug-of-war, as well as our favourite Quiz Game, where Chelsea would pose a Guides-related question to us and we would have to tie a lash first in order to answer the question.
After which, was the actual hunt for the treasure - we were now on our own to find the hints, and we could even put others to jail temporarily or gain more hints by completing IQ tests! It was definitely very exciting, especially towards the end, when we realised that the game was about coming together with all the hints to form a sentence clueing us to the final destination. Thanks Chelsea for planning such a cheesy yet fun-filled activity!
As we neared the end of the camp, everyone was in high spirits from the fulfilling activities we had the past 24 hours. We had dinner with the Guiders (Ms Sim and Ms Ng), including Ms Kuah, who came just to see us despite no longer being a teacher at Dunman High! After that, there was a short reflection session where we reviewed the activities and discussed how we could improve as YAs from here on.
Overall, the YA Camp was definitely a great time for us to not only relive our Guiding memories, but also a time for us to catch up with one another amidst our busy schedules :)
Labels: Initiatives, Outdoor Cooking, Skills Training, YA camp
2 May 2015 - Sea Rafting!
Hello :)
On 2 May 2015, the YAs attended a sea rafting enrichment course! This was a People's Association Water-Venture course and we were taught by experienced trainers.
Here is a recount of the activity by Xi Ying, and some photos :D
"Individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean"
And this quote very aptly sums up our sea rafting adventures at Sembawang. Shortly after arriving, we were introduced to sea rafting and a brief background about the waters of Singapore. After learning about the basics of building a raft, we were ready to design our own!
We came up with a simple design for the raft, with the barrels (which keep the raft afloat) at the four corners. We were soon hard at work, putting our Guides skills to good use as we impressed the trainers with our secure and neat knots.
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| Emily, Chelsea and Rui Qi working on the raft |
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| Our self-built raft! |
After we finished tying the raft, we took a lunch break and enjoyed delicious food that we brought.
And this is where the real fun began! We wore our PFD (personal flotation device) and grabbed our paddles, and proceeded to carry our raft to the sea side. After the trainers gave a safety briefing and we tried floating with our PFD, we were all ready to go!
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| Yan Shan and the guiders :) |
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| Excited to go out to sea! |
Getting onto the raft was a bit of a challenge since we had never tried it before, but after figuring out the trick (the corners should get on first, followed by the sides, then the middle), we were much more efficient and focused more on trying to balance the raft by swapping positions to ensure we do not capsize. This really requires teamwork and planning, as we had to stay balanced on the raft.
After we are ready, we all excitedly started to paddle! Synchronization is essential as we have to try to travel in a straight line and if one side was paddling stronger or faster than the other, we would start to turn. In the beginning we had some trouble keeping to our course, but as we paddled on, we had more experience and were able to do it much easier :)
Our first task was to travel out, U-turn and come back, which we had a lot of fun trying out the raft. The trainers gave us feedback and we improved our raft, and we began our second expedition! This time, we had to be more adventurous and travel further out and go a huge round around a ramp.
The trainers posed a challenge and limited us to 8 paddles only, when we had 15 people. We decided to let the side people paddle and lessened the weight of the raft by having some swimmers to push the raft on. We faced quite a bit of difficulties because we were feeling rather tired and started paddling slower. But eventually, we overcame it together by keeping our spirits high (through singing Guides songs) and working together as a team (paddling hard).
Overall, it was truly a fun experience and definitely a breather in the midst of our hectic school lives. This experience has taught us more about team work and the importance of moving together in order to keep going. We had put our Guiding skills to good use as well. And as the saying goes, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, bring your friends along". I truly enjoyed my time with the girls, like I always do :).
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| Y6 YAs! |
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| Y5 YAs! |
Labels: Enrichment, Initiatives
26 Apr: Windsurfing crash course!
Last Saturday, the YAs went for a windsurfing crash course as a chapter initiative! Before the course started, we were all nervous about windsurfing as we will be on our own on the surfing boards, unlike kayaking where we have partners. We were first given an introduction to the different parts of the board and the directions to surf. (as seen in the picture below).
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| credits: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~wprinz/WindsurfImages/Points_of_sail.gif |
Next, we practiced the techniques on a makeshift board and sail before we did actual windsurfing in the sea.
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| all set for windsurfing! |
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| preparing to surf.. |
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we love windsurfing! :)
Windsurfing at sea was much harder than what we tried on land as some of us faced difficulties controlling the sail to travel in the direction intended (and ended up in falling into the sea, drinking salty seawater HAHA). The crash course was a short one but the YAs definitely had fun and have picked up new skills from this session! :) |
Labels: Initiatives
12 Mar: Basket weaving!
We did ‘basket weaving’ for initiatives this week! :) It is not exactly a basket, as we did not use rattan. Instead, we used cardboard, cotton twine and coloured strings to make one. Some of us used the provided template to trace out the shape of our ‘basket’ while some of us were more adventurous and drew our own shapes. After cutting out the template, cotton twine and coloured string are used to go round the cardboard.
Though this may sound too easy, in reality it is definitely not! There were difficulty faced in the drawing and stringing the basket part. This process required lots of patience and creativity. Through this initiative, as we sat down in a cosy circle doing our D-I-Ys, we also bonded as a chapter, as we chatted about common topics.
This initiative has honed our craft skills and taught us how to make use of recycled items to turn it into something so aesthetically appealing and useful at the same time. After initiatives, as we still had some time, we did a little Physical Training, to keep our bodies in shape. We did planking and crunches. The interesting part is that we got to stop doing the individual exercises after a song has finished playing. Finally, we ended off with kallang-wave pumping. This jihe was really fun as we ended the term with getting to learn an invaluable DIY skill.
Happy March Holidays~~ :) All the best to the Year 6s for your March CTs! :)
Labels: Initiatives
30 August: initiatives-cooking! :)
We had our indoor cooking session (Evidently, we love
cooking a lot J)
last Wednesday .
We experimented with many ingredients, tweaking them to our
liking. We used vegetables such as celery, spinach, corn and carrots, with the
only meat being chicken sausages. We stir-fried them (and used the opportunity
to act like top chefs, to our delight).
We also cooked pasta with cheese and herbs, which was
extremely yummy!
Then, we also cooked minestrone soup to complement our pasta
– it surprisingly turned out more delicious than we had expected.
Through the preparation of the dishes, not only was there
yummy food involved, but much camaraderie too. It was a great example of how
food indeed brings people together. J
It is also essential that we, as Young Adults, equip ourselves with skills
beyond the ordinary guiding skills. In the end, we also treated ourselves to a
sweet dessert consisting of fruits and ice-cream!
Labels: Initiatives, Updates
13 Mar: Tie and Dye
Hello everyone! We had tie-dye last Wednesday (13th) as part of our initiatives. :)
In a nutshell (with the help of our friend Wikipedia), tie-dye is a process of tying and dyeing a piece of fabric or cloth which is made from knit or woven fabric, usually cotton; typically using bright colors.
Poh Kah and Zephania selected a few tutorial videos for us to learn some basic designs from before we embarked on our (slightly) (messy) journey to tying our piece of shirt or cloth with rubber bands and dyeing them with the available colours!
Done tying!
Preparing the dye
Dyeing ~
We had black, orange, red, green
(the fake purple/ navy), pistachio green
(the fake green/yellow). :)
[On a side note: Basically what happened was that the packet of green dye appeared purple when we opened it but ended up fulfilling its promise in dyeing our shirts green nonetheless. And the pistachio green was too light that it turned out almost like a shade of yellow hahaha]
Done dyeing!
After dyeing our shirts and canvas bags and pieces of cloth, we left them to dry and let the colours sink in for about an hour (should’ve been longer though!) before we brought them home to rinse with water.
Some things to note would be that the material of the cloth should preferably be cotton so that the dyes can be absorbed, and that the rubber bands have to be tied tightly enough to make sure the patterns emerge at the end. And even though the tying of rubber bands part could be seemingly easy, it is an extremely crucial step to achieve a nice end-product! Lastly, apply the lighter colours first as well or else it will end up as a mess if the darker shades are dyed wrongly and it will be hard to cover up :)
I must say it was a fun experience, even despite the fact that the results weren't as expected (we did follow the tutorials!). But I guess it was precisely this that made it even more interesting. :) Our designs may turn out unexpected in the end, but who knows~ some of us might even like the 'new designs' better instead. :) And the fact that we dyed our own shirts, we 'created' something ourselves!
Our pretty end products yay :)
Labels: Initiatives
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