Ahhh!! My turn to write about the
Curtin Camp 2005 "Lifelong learning, learning for life". Hehehe. Seems like everyone else except me have written about it already. Get ready for it. Cos this is gonna be a
looooooooong one.
Curtin Camp 2005. I have to say, that that was the
most fun I've had in Curtin, ever. And I would definitely do it again, if given the chance. Hehehe.
How did I get involved in the first place? Well, I was one of the five handpicked to MC for the upcoming Cultural Night. But before that, Mr. Abel wanted to train us. So, he made us all mentors for the Curtin Camp 2005. ;)
One of the best experiences ever, and one that I definitely would not forget. *grin*
A few days before the actual camp, all of us,
me,
Roger,
Tiang,
Iqbal,
Pam,
Mel,
Hiew,
Wisdom,
Cheryl,
GT (Guan Thai), and
Mr. Abel, had meetings every evening which lasted hours! Which caused me tummy pains. From not eating at proper times. Boo. =( Oh well. Was actually apprehensive about joining the camp at first because of the upcoming exams as well as the assignments and projects that were still due. Epps!! But I didn't pull out. This other guy,
Oscar, who was also supposed to be another mentor for the Curtin Camp pulled out at last minute though. I pity him.
During those meetings, we discussed about the camp, and also learnt a few new dances. Oh man. Hahaha. I have to be honest, I don't dance. I think I'm horrible at it. Hahaha. But okay, fine.. I didn't want to be a spoilt sport. We all learnt the
Jungle Song and also
Lean on Me as well as
I Will Survive. Hahaha!! Should have seen us. Oh gawd. The
I Will Survive song.. that was hilarious. Anyone want me to teach them the dance? Hahaha! The meeting on Wednesday was the worst. Because I've been on campus since noon, practicing with my group the
Jive dance for our upcoming performance on Cultural Night. Then after I was done with my group, I went over to
Pei Ee's house together with
Wani and practiced some more with them there. Then had to go for the meeting at 5pm. And that was when they taught me the other dances. Danced till 11pm!! Could say I danced for almost 10 hours straight! Hahaha. Where do I get the energy to do it all, eh? I guess it's just cos... yeah, I
love dancing. Only that I
can't dance. Hahaha.
Day 1 (08.07.05)10.30am. We all meet one more time before the camp. Wooo... the kids would be coming anytime now. Epps. But before they all came, we all got to "officiate" the camp site by just sitting around and walking in and out of the tents. Lol.
Hello. Welcome to Hell. We would be your slave drivers for this weekend. Please enjoy your stay!
The bonfire. Where we burn our mentors.
The calm before the storm.
Officiating the tables and chairs. ;)
2pm!! The kiddies start coming in. Time to help with the registration and stuff. Was in charge of registering the kiddies from SMK Lutong. About a total of 16 from that school. But overall, there were 120 kids from 7 different schools in Miri there. Fuyoh! *heart starts beating faster* Anyways, we all stuck
temporary nametags onto their backs. The kids were like,
huh?? Why are you sticking my nametag on my back?? But there's a reason for that. The reason being that we as humans, love to
mengumpat behind people's backs. And when other kids see your names behind your back, they will start talking about you and they will also know your name! Hahaha. Just one of the ways we all planned to break the ice.
Anyways, at about 3pm, everyone had registered and we brought everyone to the camp site for the lauching of Curtin Camp 2005 where the dean of Curtin,
Professor Ruth Marquis, officiated the opening of the camp. Kesian everyone. Standing under the hot hot hot sun at 3pm! Imagine that. Haha. After that, we ushered everyone off to the cafeteria where everyone had tea break. Everyone was complaining about the drink though. Cos they served everyone hot coffee. Hahaha! I know everyone was actually hankering for some cold drinks. Too bad for them. Too bad for me too since I don't drink coffee. So I just had some nice cold water from the water fountain nearby. Hehe.
After that was the first session. Curtin's own
"little dinosaur" a.k.a.
Sham or as she does not like to be called,
Miss Shamsul, did most of the talking. Wooo.. found out that she was also once in the army. Cool. Definitely. This year, instead of telling the kids the rules of the camp, we let them set their own rules. Which they did very well. *clap clap* Then, it was time for the ice breaker. Everyone had to sit in one huge circle. Then, following their names, we all had to stick the names of several animals behind their backs. Those are the like, the groups that each of them had been appointed to. The groups are the
Snakes, Elephants, Dogs, Cows, Ducks, Penguins, Cats, and last but not least, the
Kangaroos. Hehe. I was the mentor for the
snakes.
Then, they all had to go around and find others that are also of the same group without making a sound. Plus, they don't actually know which group they belong to since they can't see what was pasted on their backs. Really interesting just watching them. Haha. But they all managed to do it. Smart kids. So, now that they were in their respective groups, it was time for us mentors to introduce ourselves to each of our groups. Then, in 10 minutes, they all had appoint a leader and an assitant leader as well as to come up with a group cheer. All in 10 minutes! Yada yada yada.. they were also given a task/assignment. Which was to come up with a new creation/invention that may be used in the year 2010. They were given straws, manila cards, colour papers, markers, colour pencils, etc etc etc.
After that, time to hit the showers! All the mentors had to escort our kiddies to the showers which was at the hostel. Long walk! Tiring! I had to make 2 trips!
Mok mampus dah. Hehe. Anyways, after that one time, we decided to scrape that idea of having a shower schedule and let the kids sort it out themselves. First come, first serve. Thank goodness. We mentors were supposed to also have enough time to shower and change ourselves but in the end, we didn't. Cos all that ushering the kids to shower and trying to get them to shower quickly took too much time. So, the rest of us remained sticky and smelly. How uncomfortable.
Going up? Hehe. Going up to the VIP lounge.
The Bal's turn to get in the picture. Hahaha.
Had another session later that night after dinner. Then, it was time for the kids to start coming up with a plan for their concert the next night! Man, we're really torturing them, eh? Hehehe.
11.30pm - Time for everyone to sleep! We all went to the campsite to say goodnight to all our campers. Aren't we such sweet mentors? =) After that, drove home cos I wouldn't be staying overnight there. Hehe. Found
Aaron and
Greg still awake and using the computers. Wanted to use cos my baby snakes said that they needed the lyrics to a particular song. So, I waited. Decided to take a nap on the floor while I waited.
Tertidur instead!! Woke up at 5.20am!! Rushed like mad to shower and drove off to campus.
Day 2 (09.07.05)
See the kid in blue? He's probably wondering why the hell he joined this camp. Haha.
Arrived in campus at about 6.15am. Saw everyone outside exercising already. I was like, "Oh shit, I'm late." till I looked around and noticed that
Pam wasn't there yet. Hahaha. So I was like, "Kekekeh.." Am I evil? Hehehe. So yeah, that day
Pam was the one that was late. And she missed the morning exercises. After that, breakfast, then it was off to the lecture theatre for the third session. More talks. Then, tea break at 10.30am.
11am - another session, another talk. Then 12.30pm, lunch time!! Food food food.. yum yum.
After that, was the
Tasting Learning sessions where the kids would get to experience the classroom environments. They each get to have a taste of 2 courses. We girl mentors had to handle the groups whilst the guys went off to prepare for the telematch. Not fair, I rather be out there helping out with the preparations for the telematch instead of sitting in a boring classroom. After the
Tasting Learning sessions, it was time for tea! And also time for the kids to get ready and changed for the games & telematch.
The first game was.. for them to tie their hair with as much rubber bands as they could! And then, by the end of all the games, we would count how many rubber bands each of them managed to keep. Hehehe.. So funny! Everyone with their new hairstyles and all. ;) Some of them really adorable. Hahaha.
Here are some of my baby snakes doing so.
Hehehe. Monkey hierachy. Lol.
Lice inspection!! Very important.
Everyone, just waiting for the games to start.
All I can say is that.. it was so unfair that they restarted the
tug-o-war game. Cos my group was
winning!!! Boo!!! Boooooooo!!!! I know both
Hiew and
Mel would say that it was unfair as well. Enough about the games.
After that, everyone went to freshen up for the concert later that night. Some did their last minute preparations for the concert. We mentors all finally managed to take our showers and get all dressed up for the night.
Abel wanted all of us to wear white t-shirts and for us to change our hairstyles to something we wouldn't usually do. So guess what I did...
... I got pigtails. Oh, the
shame.
The mentors performing for the kiddies. Did you notice the two very lanky guys at each end? How about the retard with pigtails in the middle? Kekekeh.
Man.. I look so retarded here.
Ah... Iqbal, Abel, and Zack, dancing whilst the rest of us were left out in the cold.. pushed to the back as backup dancers.. *sobs*
Oh yeah, those kids.. are so talented. They were that amazing. Personally, I did not expect them to do such a good job with the amount of time they had to prepare for the concert. And yes, I was proud of my kids although I was a bit worried that they might not be able to pull it off. But they did. And they did great. :P Haha. And OMG, Roger is just so lucky to be mentoring the kangaroo group. They had so many talented people in that group. They all danced, sang, and there's this guy. There was Dennis who played the keyboard very very well. Haha. Of course I knew he could do it. I remember the bloody kid once playing the keyboard whilst talking to his friend at the same time. Show off. :P Hahaha. Then there was Endang who sang soooooooooooooooo well!!!! Jealous!! She was performing Misha Omar's Bunga-bunga Cinta. And.. oh gosh.. she sung it just as well if not better than Misha Omar herself! Then this other boy, and this other girl who both could also sing very well. Unfortnately, I cannot recall their names. Haha.
I know Dennis earned himself a lot of fans that night. ;) Hahaha. The girl mentors included. I was just proud of him. Awww.. *gush* The other girl mentors (Pam & Mel) went absolutely gaga over him. Eurgh. That's just so weird. Number one being, Dennis is my friend, and number two, he's younger than you guys! Hahaha. That it's just so weird seeing people react that way over him. Not used to it. Maybe I'm jealous. Haha. Nah, just weird lah! I'm not used to having to share. Lol. He's my friend. *pouts, merajuk* Hahahaha. Just kidding.
My group did this Curtin Idol sketch. With all the singing and dancing and acting. They did better than I expected them to. Haha.. I really underestimate them too much.
After all the performances, and after all the food, it was time for everyone to just get down and party! Fuyoh.. almost everyone danced. Cool. Hahaha. It was like some huge clubbing scene. Not like I've ever been clubbing before.. *blush* but you know what I mean.
Everyone, just having a good time.
And I have to say, never ever, have I danced so much as I did in those few days. Hehe. Cos there would always be some music playing and everyone would just get up and dance then we would keep doing the Jungle Song dance for the campers, etc. Haha. Anyways, after that, everyone went off to finish their assignments. It was probably already midnight by that time. The mentors all sat around the lecture theatre foyer just discussing about who should be elected Mr and Ms Curtin Camp 2005 as well as various other titles.
After we were done, and we finally managed to agree on someone, we all went back to the VIP lounge, where along the way, we saw all the groups, some gathered along the corridors, some in the Library building, working on their assignments. Fuyoh. Anyways, I went home at close to 2am. This time I slept in my own bed!! Not on the floor. Haha!
Packing up to go back to the VIP lounge. Sempat posing again. ;) Biasalah.. mentors are such camera whores. :P
Day 3 (10.07.05)
Woke up late! Hahahahaa!!! Was supposed to wake up early since we were supposed to have a treasure hunt early in the morning. Hahaha. And I was one of those who was in charge of the treasure hunt. Ahakz. Malu eh. *blush* When I arrived in campus, some of the groups had already finished the whole thing. It was 7.15am when I arrived. The campers were all walking around the campus like zombies, still in their pyjamas, with their sleepy eyes. Haha. Some probably did not even sleep and most slept at only 3am after completing their assignments.
Felt oh-so-bad for coming in late. Oh well, the day before, it was Pam who was late. I guess it's my turn now. :P Hahaha. Whilst the kids went off to shower, the rest of us went to have our breakfast. Then at 9am, the campers had another session with the lecturers. Oh. This time, the session was all about sharing with everyone what you have learnt during the camp. For this, everyone went outside to the foyer and sat in one huge circle again. Then we all had to share with everyone what we have learnt, depending on who got picked. If you got picked, you had to go up to the microphone that was set up in the middle of the circle and talk. The mentors weren't safe from this. Cos even we could get chosen. Hahaha. Eventually, all us mentors started sitting with each other at the back, hiding. Haha! I know I'm not saying much about the Sessions.. but.. I'll provide links later to others who maybe actually bothered writing about it. Haha!!
One of the campers commented on how inspiring it was seeing all the mentors because we always had fun with each other. She commented on how much she loved watching the mentors during the concert because we all danced, ate, and had fun together. Like one big family. Little did she know that some of us, especially me, have gotten to know each other only a few days before the camp itself. Hah! Anyways, after that, it was time for a tea break!
Then, at 11am, it was back to the lecture theater and it was time for the campers to finally show off their inventions!! Man, they were good. Pretty amazing what these kids could do in such a short amount of time. I have to admit though, that I was falling asleep. At first, all the mentors were all standing by/sitting near their own groups.. but pretty soon, all of us had gathered, sitting about on the steps, so that we could all keep each other awake. Haha.
Roger was afraid of falling asleep because he did so on the second day and was caught by Abel. Jeng jeng jeng!! Hehe. The elephants did a great job on their presentation. My group, the snakes, however, probably had one of the weirdest inventions ever. Their invention was just the cutest/dumbest thing ever!! It was called the Coco Spycam and it's like this.. it's actually this artificial coconut tree that you leave out in your garden, and then if a burglar comes by, one of the so-called coconuts would jump out from the tree and start following the burglar around with it's artificial legs. Plus, it can also turn invisible so that the burglar won't be able to see it. It can also call the cops for you! Hahaha.. they even had a little demonstration and Miss Anita (one of the judges) said that the burglar acted like a drunken crab. Ah well, they are so adorable.
Then, lunch! Then, it was the Curtin R Us at 2pm. Bleh. It was where some of the marketing people would come by and talk about the courses offered as well as the fees, etc. Oh man.. they were so boring. The campers took this opportunity to sleep. Of course, we mentors wanted to join them.. but we are not supposed to show how tired we are to the kids. Abel said so. =( Hahaha. So there we all were, once again.. we all gathered together on the staircase. Keeping each other awake by talking crap. And taking stupid pictures with my handphone. Hahaha! I don't think the other mentors would appreciate me posting up those pics, so I won't. :P
After the marketing people were done talking, it was time for the lecturers that have been giving talks to the campers to come out for a little Q&A Session. The campers were allowed to ask them whatever they wanted. But whether or not the lecturers wanted to answer their questions was up to them. :P The lecturers that were present for that I think.. if I remember correctly.. was Yudi, Sham, Anita, Azlin, Arnold, Beena, and... if there were any others... I don't remember. Hah! The one that got interrogated the most during this session was Sham. Hahaha. Oh man.. the questions they asked her. Fooh! Hahaha. They also requested that Mdm Beena sing for them, but this time, one full song! Unlike the little preview she gave them in her earlier talk. Hehe. She can really sing. Oh ya.. so can another one of our lecturers in Curtin. Her name is Bai Yen. And the way she talks.. it just makes you really want to pay attention to her. And she's really interesting.
Haha. Seems like our lecturers are also a bunch of really talented people, eh? Anyways, right after that was the closing ceremony. So fast, eh? Professor Ruth Marquis gave out certificates to the campers, mentors, as well as the facilitators, then we all danced the Jungle Song. The dean joined in as well! Haha. Such a good sport. As were all the campers. ;) Also announced who were the Mr & Ms Curtin Camp 2005. Congrats to Sylvester and Rachel!!
Then, after that, was the flash presentation of all the events that have been going on in the past few days... Down Memory Lane.. too bad they played it straight out from the external harddisk they had plugged into the pc and that was why it lagged. Really potong stim!!! Boo. Oh well.
After that, it was time to head out to the LT foyer for the photograph and autograph session. Wheeeee!! Like a real celebrity. Hahaha. With everyone asking all of us to sign their folders, books, papers, and t-shirts.. asking to be taken photo with. Argh! I didn't mind having to sign stuff.. but I was kinda afraid of all those people who ask to take pics with them.. cos.. Heheh.. I always look horrible in pictures. Hah! The few pictures above proves it!!
And that was it for the Curtin Camp. I really miss those times. As do I miss all you other mentors!! Haha. Was glad for Cultural Night because it meant we could all still be together. With the exception of Iqbal. Sian. Will write about the Cultural Night another time. Hehe!
Iqbal wrote it like a report. Whoa!
Zack Tiang did a 2 in 1! Curtin Camp and Cultural Night. Fuyoh!!
Pam misses me too. Hehehe!!
Roger cherishes the times he had there.
Aww.. *sobs* Luv ya all.
