ending of exams and upcoming cny called for celebrations. so dtrm03 held a class outing.. or rather gathering.. at aloha changi chalet. scheduled to check in at 3pm, but optional cycling from ecp all the way to changi at 8am. i was so not gonna do that, so i spent the morning 'serving' instead. about half the class (among those who came anyway) went cycling and i met the rest at pasir ris mrt to take shuttle bus. upon seeing 'aloha' i immediately assumed its the one i been to 4 times, where leader's retreat was held at least twice. only then did i find out that was aloha loyang, and aloha changi was quite a distance away.
when the shuttle bus took a turn into some small winding road with just old houses at the side surrounded by lots of greenery, i was thinking what good can come out of a chalet at this kind of place. so ulu. and indeed it was quite secluded. our chalet happened to be some sort of terrace linked to 5 other such chalets in one big block. built in 1934, and under safra. the place may have been some army camp last time.
we took some time to settle down, slack around and eat snacks that some brought for the potluck. others went cycling around the area. i forgot to bring my camera... what a waste. the place had many nice things to take. one of my fren's camera suddenly spoilt on that day, and another's was charging just when i wanted to use it. those were the only 2 cams around.
when we all returned and settled down, we all got together to play forefeit games like indian poker and 'i have never'. i got to know alot of interesting facts about them through the game. then at my turn i said "i have never had non christian parents." sadly, everyone took a card. some of the forefeits were really hilarious, thanks to them being sporting enough to do so. the highlight forefeit - licking the face of someone of the opposite sex. o.O
after that it was more free time for the next few hours. we played the classic card games for awhile, then i went upstairs to read book, watch tv, rest. nothing much i could do there. at around 7pm i decided to take a stroll around the place. was reluctant earlier cos i wanted to wait till i had a camera in hand. but i was too bored.
within 5 minutes of aimless wandering, i came across the old changi hospital. it was such an exciting find - a place infamous for being haunted. and the compound wasnt even under any security. it was just left abandoned and open to all. so not surprisingly there was much vandalism... spray paint all over the walls, broken windows, chipped walls, dismantled lights and ceiling objects. i really wanted to go in and explore the place... go to the higher levels and even visit the wards where many breathed their last. but the air inside was still and stuffy. the sky was starting to get dark, the place inside already being very dark. and i was alone. my faith wasnt strong enough. i gave in to fear and backed out after visiting just 1 room.
after a dinner of soggy instant noodles with improperly mixed msg, i told of the changi hospital to those around, and i gathered 8 others interested in visiting the place. we brought handphones with strong lights. by then it was night time alr. after climbing up the narrow flight of old stone steps, we were faced with a scene of pitch darkness beyond the entrance of the hospital. immediately half of the group said "no way im going in there!!"
the other half decided to go later at 12, when other groups of thrill seeking strangers would probably be touring the place too. but it never happened.
the night was spent gambling. real money. using blackjack. the stakes started with 10 cents and as time went by some increased their stakes until like 50 cents. i was determined not to join in such activites. so i just watched the money being passed to and fro. in the end all ended up with more or less the same amount as before. maybe i am backward and traditional to see social gambling as taboo, but i shall still stand by my views.
come 12 midnight, the alcohol party began. more forefeit games, this time the forefeit being a dose of alcoholic beverages. i hardly got to drink so i remained rather sober throughout. but some really couldnt take their alcohol well, or theyre just more reactive to it, ended up getting really high and crazy. the dance music blasting made it worse. they began dancing and singing incoherently to the music. talked loudly and occasionally screamed, threw food around. at the least funny thing, they would laugh to tears and even rolled off their chairs. indeed we really got the wrong people drunk. zk's body turned red and developed white spots all over due to the alcohol.
after the party, the place was in a real mess. it was a classic example of a wild after-party scenario. we took abt half an hour to clear up the whole place, then i went to bathe. nobody was Qing to bathe at that time, surprisingly.
when i came out i found that everyone had been gathered in the room for some class discussion about how to go about the groupings for the upcoming semester, to solve some problems we pointed out during the last sem, mainly about the freeloaders who happen to be not present at the discussion so we could talk behind their backs. after more than an hour of discussion, we came up with some alternatives and got to know the situation better, but no consensus was reached. when meeting adjourned i joined the ES ppl to go upstairs to talk more about the issue, we kept straying from topic and in the end after another hour, still no result. we just have to wait for the new sem to begin, and we will trial all the feasible methods. its good that the class is making effort to collaborate and make things better in school.
while having our discussion, 2 girls sneaked up into the guy's room and slept in our beds. when we went up they were already sleeping. so the guys slept in the ES girls room, on the floor. the floor was dirty so i went downstairs to sleep on the bench instead. here i could have 3 cushions all to myself.
apparently it was a bad choice to sleep in the living room. merely 2.5 hours into my sleep, i was awoken by the sounds coming from the ground floor room, where the CS ppl were gathered. they were indulging in crappy chatter and laughing really loudly. even with the door closed the sound escaping prevented me from sleeping. but after a long period of agony i gave in to tiredness and fell asleep for another 2 hours.
by then the sun was up and many were alr up. maybe those CS ppl didnt even sleep at all. we had cup noodles for breakfast and waited for everyone to wake up, before checking out at 9+. sum1 got injured ytd and wasnt in condition to cycle back to ecp, so i took over her bike and proceded to cycle all the way to ecp with 4 others.
we cycled along the park routes along the coast of changi to east coast. it was a side of singapore i didnt know... so peaceful and serene under the shades of tall evergreens, with nice scenery of the coastline. there wasnt much of a beach, but artificial rock barriers. the ride was very long, but i was less tired than i expected at the end of it. my butt was aching badly, though. we had travelled more than 20km and the journey took us abt 3 hours.
we had lunch at burger king and discussed about the next class outing during this 2 month break. then we took a cab home, stopping at queens road where one of them lived, from there i walked home just a couple hundred meters. i realised half the stalls a empress rd market has been closed and dismantled. the signs of farrer court's closure are startin to surface already.
anyway.. now its time to... collect $$$! apart from church activities, cny is a much better celebrated festival than christmas. at least i get quite a sum of free money every year... as long as im unmarried. haha.
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