Friday, August 10, 2007
Hall Orientation
Haven't blogged for the past two weeks or so because I've been quite involved in hall orientation. Not as part of the orientation committee or anything, but as the photographer cum cameraman. When I'm not holding an SLR, I'm holding a video camera. It was pretty fun as I got to see most of the activities without actually having to join in and do silly stuff. So I could just watch other people do silly things and take photos of them, hehe.
One of the highlights was the hall initiation. After playing a disability game, all the freshies were ushered into the hall and told to sleep on mattresses there. The sleeping area was surrounded with tables placed vertically, forming a little enclosure. After we switched off the lights, the seniors went to prepare for the next event.
We had to build a 100m tunnel through the carpark for them to run through, ending at an open area which would be surrounded by seniors holding up huge panels to block their view of the surroundings. The tunnel was built with vertical tables, thick poles, lots of rope to lash it all together, many sheets of tarpaulin to provide the roof and lots of masking tape to hold the tarpaulin to the poles. We didn't just drape it over the structure as we didn't want the supports to be inside the tunnel, where it might be dangerous.
We worked through the night, lashing two poles together horizontally to form support beams, then lashing them to the table legs. After that was done, we brought up the tarpaulin, rolling them around the supports and securing them with masking tape. There was also a slope in the carpark, and we had to build across that as well. At the same time, some of them were preparing the phoenix, rigging up a pulley system to pull the phoenix up the face of block 5. There were also others cutting out all the street lights by placing cardboard boxes on them. This was quite a difficult task. The person had to climb a ladder, then using a makeshift tool which consisted of two poles and a platform, raise the box and place it over the street light.
We were finally ready at 5am, and went to the hall to wake up the freshmen. They were lucky, this was a whole hour earlier than last year. After taking them for a short run around campus, they were brought through the tunnel to the gathering area and handed the orientation shirt. The panels were then brought down and they were told to turn around to watch the phoenix, which had been painted with luminous paint at the last minute.
After that, they went back to the main hall, where they had a bit of cake before going to sleep. Meanwhile, the seniors went to clear up everything before breakfast. We were taking up the carpark, so we had to clear it up. We managed to clear everything and rearrange all the tables in the hall before 7, with no sign that there was a tunnel there last night. All the poles had been transported back and kept away.
As a result, many of us hadn't slept the whole night. We went back after breakfast and slept after that. While I did go for this event last year, it was quite different seeing it from a senior's perspective.
One of the highlights was the hall initiation. After playing a disability game, all the freshies were ushered into the hall and told to sleep on mattresses there. The sleeping area was surrounded with tables placed vertically, forming a little enclosure. After we switched off the lights, the seniors went to prepare for the next event.
We had to build a 100m tunnel through the carpark for them to run through, ending at an open area which would be surrounded by seniors holding up huge panels to block their view of the surroundings. The tunnel was built with vertical tables, thick poles, lots of rope to lash it all together, many sheets of tarpaulin to provide the roof and lots of masking tape to hold the tarpaulin to the poles. We didn't just drape it over the structure as we didn't want the supports to be inside the tunnel, where it might be dangerous.
We worked through the night, lashing two poles together horizontally to form support beams, then lashing them to the table legs. After that was done, we brought up the tarpaulin, rolling them around the supports and securing them with masking tape. There was also a slope in the carpark, and we had to build across that as well. At the same time, some of them were preparing the phoenix, rigging up a pulley system to pull the phoenix up the face of block 5. There were also others cutting out all the street lights by placing cardboard boxes on them. This was quite a difficult task. The person had to climb a ladder, then using a makeshift tool which consisted of two poles and a platform, raise the box and place it over the street light.
We were finally ready at 5am, and went to the hall to wake up the freshmen. They were lucky, this was a whole hour earlier than last year. After taking them for a short run around campus, they were brought through the tunnel to the gathering area and handed the orientation shirt. The panels were then brought down and they were told to turn around to watch the phoenix, which had been painted with luminous paint at the last minute.
After that, they went back to the main hall, where they had a bit of cake before going to sleep. Meanwhile, the seniors went to clear up everything before breakfast. We were taking up the carpark, so we had to clear it up. We managed to clear everything and rearrange all the tables in the hall before 7, with no sign that there was a tunnel there last night. All the poles had been transported back and kept away.
As a result, many of us hadn't slept the whole night. We went back after breakfast and slept after that. While I did go for this event last year, it was quite different seeing it from a senior's perspective.
