i hope this will not be an extremely long post-foc post. like e one after CS foc. in fact i never intended to have one for this time. especially coz school begins in a little more than a day's time n i have more important stuff than blogging.
but to be honest. for all my love for SCI n still putting my school in higher regard than hall, hall camp 28Jul-2Aug was quite an experience.
firstly of course it was interesting for me personally coz my foot's hurt, as u should know by now. i returned to hall on crutches n was on crutches for Day 1. i was asked about it i think a hundred times by fellow ohmers, if u noticed my facebook status e last week. this is a highly physical n demanding camp n someone on crutches does not really fit in in any way. so tt's a reason why many of em found me exceptionally enthu tt i was there. it made me many new frens too, as my injury was a good icebreaker. therefore many ohmers i previously only knew existed became acquainted with me. im glad i recovered fast n tho still limping when camp broke, i went around for most activities without crutches.
secondly, this injury might have prevented me from fulfilling a dream of competing in e lion dance nationals, n pushing tt dream at least til a year later, im not gonna let this injury prevent me from finally coming full circle, another one-year wait, for my chance at hall camp after withdrawin last year due to anaemia. it was tough not getting to know more people n altho ive come a long way since then, i still aimed to finally be a part of it.
but this post is specially crafted to be about my OG, Eden.
as an SA to my Counsellors (similar to OGLs) xiwen, johnson n jianli, i was supposed to be e rah-rah force who would be there for all 5 days. e kind of key SA. unfortunately with my injury i could not, n for afew other reasons Eden's originally powerful ensemble of SAs did not materialise. of course, Minister Mentor alex lim, jieying, jon, isabelle, brandon, junwei, nina, eileen are excellent SAs tt everyone would want n ive to give alot of credit to em. but they are such high-profile figures n veterans in Hall IV tt they'll surely take a backseat. our youthful force was non-existent, with many of our original SAs not present most of e camp. sucha force was apparent in all three other OGs, n it worked magic for em.
but more about my Eden freshies. altho i cant boast a camp record like MM alex lim, but this OG was indeed an eye-opener for me. i discovered, sometimes when as seniors u give 200%, e OG may still not eventually be what u want it to be. if u know me well, im super competitive in such camps, believing tt competition, winning, n focusing ur energies on ur 'enemies' are e best ingredients for a strongly bonded OG. Mee Tai Mak fought n fought n was second, but at least we managed to make everyone else hate us. i transferred tt force into Linguine for my second CS foc, n altho they didnt fire off as well as MTM, by e end they were equally fierce, also finishing close runners-up. at tt very camp, i also learnt something new on OG Fusilli. they were quite bad at games, n lost almost everything. it was a good representation of their 'relaxing' seniors, who arnt e most competitive as i know em. but Fusilli deserve huge credit for being one of e most bonded, fun, n sporting group. altho they were consistently last, they cheered like no other n seriously were enjoying emselves. their seniors focused on building from e inside, with e camp only as a backdrop. it was not very me but it's still a great concept.
Eden did not fire off too. but it became a much bigger headache than anything. slowly slowly as i got to know em, i realised they're not going to be in e MTM model. they absolutely had no catalysts. n unlike Linguine, no one looked capable of standing up. or should i say, interested to do so. Eden is e kind where u have a whole bunch of freshies who arnt interested. many of em arnt mild, they're bo chap. n tt boded very badly for e OG. even with people like MM alex lim in our OG, who has so much camp experience n charisma, i saw moments of exasperation in him. i knew we might have to take e Fusilli model. but things were not tt simple. eventually, i can only say, it was e Eden model. for all e people reading this who have a good load of camp experience, i can tell u, this Eden is almost unmatched. i dont know in what sense, but they're just too unique. especially if even MM alex lim thinks so.
alex lim just graduated n returned as an SA. he has camp experience like almost no one. tt's why people conferred him Minister Mentor. frankly with all due respect, super-senior marcus is more senior n has seen more but alex lim is quite in a league of his own. he was last year's foc's awesome Chief Counsellor, previous year he was JCRC vice-president, in Year One he was JCRC Sports Sec. for his experience in hall, he is equally high-profile in NBS, where in e same manner he is MM. during poly he went to every camp too. he has revealed before tt when he entered poly n then uni he would have already mapped out what he wanted to do in a non-academic capacity. even in joint-hall, where e most prominent people in NTU's 16 halls congregate, alex lim is a legend. i still recall e mundane joint-hall carnival afew months back tt became a bustling affair with laughs all round when alex lim came n took e mic, volunteering as an emcee. in e badminton scene too, he is so high-profile, coming from a Montfort background n IVP status. when u watch him at camps, his abilities really can take ur breath away. i know, it cant be rosy everywhere n this man has his flaws, everyone who knows him will tell u tt, but no one has denied him e respect n admiration for what he can do tt no ordinary man can.
*this is the point i stopped writing this post and left it static for 8 months*
Eden's seniors had to come together twice durin camp to talk about e OG, what to do, n where to go from here. that was how bad n serious it was. we looked upon it as an emergency n a matter of gravity. e seniors could all see that our three counsellors were really exhausted managin this bunch of freshies. did u all notice, freshies? it was so bad that for e fun of it all we had to come up w a phrase to encapsulate what Eden is about. "我们又是最后了". hur hur.
*i left here the initials "SLMSS" but i don't recall what it stands for!*
let quotes speak for themselves.
MM alex lim, at e end of Initiation, sunrise, hilltop behind Hall IV:
"after so long, this is my final camp. as u all officially start hall life, mine ends today and im moving out. (he starts to tear) thank u. im really very proud. ive never seen an OG that lost everything. u all are the first."
me:
"i admit at times during the camp i was disappointed. but i must say im also extremely proud of u guys now that we're at the end. if i ever only have 8 freshies in my OG (only 8 left at Initiation) i might not have the motivation to continue anymore. and the most touching was seeing the way u guys prepared through the day for the skit. yes there was hesitance. there was hesitance throughout the camp. but everyone was a leader during the preparations. and i think i then understood. everyone in this OG plays a little part in making things work. it was really moving."
alex lim, at SP night:
"(after Eden's song performance) if we're on Day 1 or 2, u would never see them sing like that. that's how much they've changed. 3 years in poly, ive been to every camp. 3 years in uni, ive been to every camp. i have to say, this time, it was e toughest. i thought ive seen everything. i thought im already quite good. until i met Eden. when we cheer so hard, even after a few days, some of u still barely moved. some of u don't wanna clap or join in. some of u stay on ur phones for so long, or stand alone in ur own world, and u ignore the seniors. i must say u all taught me something new, a new lesson. ive seen other GLs come to me asking for help or reflecting that so-and-so freshie is problematic. but every time i ask ur counsellors, they would just say u guys are tired. ur counsellors never once gave up on u guys. it says a lot about the faith they had in u guys. our skit that night, only we understood it. but so what. we enjoyed it, that's the most important thing. nobody knows what we went through. Midas might have won Best OG but to me, we went through the most and all of us learnt the most. who cares about the little gifts and stupid cards after a camp. those are surface only. our experience was something truly inside."
*ok don't too emo. 8 months ago i intended to end off this entry with a little on what this camp opened my eyes to Hall IV's traditions. chill abit.*
unlike talking about CS foc where there are some taboos to avoid, recapping about hall camp will be much easier because here traditions are really traditions. as in, they go quite some time back. since Hall IV is one of e oldest halls around. our foc has some powerful n sturdy traditions tt we're extremely proud of n i must admit were eye-openers to me as a first-time participant.
e unique Hall IV cheer.
我要看到我的脸 photo formation.
十字路口.
Senior vs Junior: Ultimate Challenge.
e photo we must always take at e long staircase at nanyang lake's playground. which later will become a sabo. haha.
e awesome hokkien debate.
Initiation til sunrise. includin e hardcore human pyramid up e slope.
e traditional whacking rite of passage.
a yam seng with our special drink.
*til next foc! (4 months' time)*
