General update 19/2

A happy belated valentines day and happy chinese new year to all!
I think vals day is purposely put just before cny so that some lovesick ppl can spend a memorable day together before they are separated for the chinese new year celebrations.

From 12 to 16 feb i was away from home the whole time, doing community outreach as part of the serve programme and staying over at one of my group mate's (shannon) house.
Heres the things we did during those 5 days, sparing details to save time.

Monday, 12 feb

early morn - got up early to make a long trip from home to simei mrt, scheduled to meet at 8.15
met the group of ppl who didnt stay over and had breakfast at bk.

morn - met up with the rest and made our way to Simei care centre. (SCC) We had our briefing and intros at conference room

late morn - adjourned to counselling room to have a lecture on some mental illnesses. (SCC is a place for recovering mental patients.)

anoon - had lunch at canteen. (lunch for all 5 days were free.) free time till 2
then had another short lecture

early evening - went to hall for some cny celebration with the patients

evening - went back to shan's house for a moment of free time and then dinner of prawn mee.

late evening - shan's dad chauffered us all to SJSM to attend a sermon by clement wong the drama mama.

night - made our way back and went to jes's house for planning next day item.

Slept at 1+ after washing up and whatever stuff we had to do.

Tuesday 13 feb

early morn - woke at 6+, wash up, had american breakfast and met up with the girls to go to SCC. (guys stay at shan's place, girls at jes's)

morn - had a briefing about the place and some info about the patients lasted till noon.

early anoon- lunch at same place. this time only can choose mee rebus or mee soto. i chose mee soto and it had damn lot of black pepper n grated chilli. those who ate it got red in the face, tears in their eyes and rushed to get a drink, which isnt free. many gave up halfway.

anoon - had quite some time to do our own stuff. the rest went to do music pract while i stayed in the counselling room alone to think over my choice of poly courses.

late anoon - conducted telematch session for the patients to have fun.

evening - had debrief

late evening - had dinner at some coffeeshop at tampines mall. chicken rice. shannon and sarah left for the airport instead to send a fren off.

night - waited a long time at the playground outside shan's house for him to return from airport.
i had to use shan's comp to submit the JAE form before i joined the rest.
we practiced our *specially composed love song* and then went to jes's place for planning for next day chapel.

slept at around 1 again. yet another night of insufficient sleep.

Wednesday 14 feb

early morn - some of the guys went for morning walk, but i chose to sleep longer, so woke up at 7+. No breakfast provided, so we meet up with the girls to have it at tampines mall.

morn - went to st andrews community hospital (SACH) . This is some kind of old folks home, where the not- so- serious- ailment patients are sent over from CGH. We had a briefing about the place and the stuff they do and info on the patients.

late morn - had wheelchair training.

anoon - lunch at canteen. can order rice, 2 veg n 1 meat. Then we went back SCC hall to practice and make whatever preparations for chapel later.

late anoon - conducted chapel session for the mental patients. We did songs, skit and games.

evening - debrief at counselling room.

late evening - dinner at some food court. had curry chicken noodles. Then went to shan's house for a while

night - spent the whole time sitiing by the pool while most of the others went swimming and suana at jes's condo.

late night - made our way back to shan's and then did reflections on the past 3 days stuff

slept at about 1 again. accumulated lack of sleep.

Thursday 15 feb

early morn - woke at 7, had breakfast at tampines mall again, and went to SACH.

morn - lectures

anoon - lunch at canteen. after that we visited patients in pairs to bring them greetings and chat with them.

late anoon - helped to wheel the patients down to chapel for hokkien service.

evening - debrief

late evening - big dinner at shan's house. got DIY pohpiah and 2 low-hays. (1 of which was bought by us, as a gift for shan's parents.) later on also got choc cake dessert.

night - planning next day item at jes's house. took a long time planning. got so bored and started reading a name dictionary. (and made some interesting finds like the meaning of Claudia. hehe)

Yet again, slept at 1. surprisingly i didnt fall sick during the whole time.

Friday 16 feb

early morn - first programme starts abit later, so i could wake up at 8. had american breakfast again, but this time with taiwan sausage.

morn - time for Orange Blessings. We went around the whole hospital giving 2 oranges and a red packet to patients, nurses, office workers, cleaners and all other staff. the red packets contain a card with verses on it

late morn - did our item for the patients at day rehab centre, then lunch at canteen.

anoon - visited patients again, supposedly to followup on yesterday, and bring closure. I finished visiting those in my cubicle (all females), so i went up to another cubicle for males to visit.
I find theres much more affinity between the old and young if theyr same gender.

late anoon - final debrief, reflections, and summary of outreach.
== community outreach officially ended ==

evening - back to shan's house to pack up, get our belongings and head home. Shan's dad gave each of us a red packet.. and it contained $10. big amt to give sum1 he hardly knows.

late evening - spent on a long trip home by bus. bus 12 to city hall, then 174 to home. reached home about 2 hours after departure. Spent $2.30 on bus fare.

ok thats all for the community outreach. but just after that comes chinese new year!

17 feb - new years eve. paternal relatives came over for big feast.

18 feb - visit maternal relatives in afternoon, then paternal grandparents house at night.

19 feb - visited a rich colleague of my mum for dinner. but he gave no hongbao. =(

20 feb - at the time of writing, im about to head for pine grove soon for cell gathering. cyaall!