last unofficial visit- 29/12/07

okie... it seems fated that i end up in the music station everytime...hahaha!

this week i filled in for the green group leader so, yup.. cnt really choose which station to go to... anyw, rite.. 1st time distribute name tag... kinda blur and jin zhang... cuz dunno who is who and den dunno which tag belongs to who and dunno who is from which group (okie.. confused just as i was?) but thx to ppl like algie, boon song, justin, samantha who helped me to gather my ppl (esp those xiao di dis and xiao mei meis who knows much much more den me - realli impressed =)... yup... so before i realise, they already very orderly.

back to the music station... it was a lot of fun despite the no singing. Instead, we played musical islands and musical chairs. of cuz... smart ppl like me and lixian found a way to beat the game- dance around the newspaper (when the music stops, just need to step into the newspaper). but my fave part come when left only 1 newspaper we try to get everyone try n squeeze inside. hahah... good way to bond!

after that, everyone danced den the dancing got really high, we started to hold each other's hands (okie.. dun think otherwise). i meant EVERYONE held hands, form a circle, move in and out of the circle (similar to the "the more we get together" dance during our kindergarden days) + some cha- cha- ing initiated by shawn + the choo-choo train thing.. basically everyone was q high den the residents who where initially q sian oso become v high when they join in... haha... really can the smile on everyone's face as we moved along...

the second part however, wasn't so good cuz it rained halfway and lot of ppl got really wet. we walked around the park outside. i was actually quite relieved to have the relaxing walk instead of the normal games. haha... and barely 30 secs after i commented the clouds were really "abnormally" black it started to rain liao. as we rushed back, already some (very heroic) volunteers were already rushing out with umbrellas to shelter those who got stranded... wow... very thoughtful lor...

hmm... wat to say? unlucky it rained 5 mins early? or lucky it hasn't rained 5 mins earlier?


-sh

christmas celebration 22/12/2007

i think since there are 481 (WOW!) photos uploaded, must make full use of it! + everyone is dressed so prettily..




haha... okie.. this is not dressed thou. but i wonder who drew this creative pic...




happy Tan family; Mrs Tan, Mr Tan, Janel, Fred (in real: ivy, shawn, fanny, terence)




classic scene... hahaha! drew the most laughs



lonely christmas- terence cnt seem to get enough of his rubik's cube




buffet dinner: most anticipated???




Behind (or after) the scene...


santa claus (kah soon) and his reindeers (ying yi and kelvin)




angel-cum-narrator (Wuzhen) + her xiao mei mei friends




this is not easy!!!!!! the cutting, stringing, untangling, hanging...

whose hands are these??? helping santa (not snatching presents!)

okies... all this are some interesting photos... i think everyone enjoyed themselves alot!

and most importantly...

BIG thank you to those who made all this possible: organisers, helpers, game masters, performers, volunteers, residents...

Merry Christmas! =)

-sh

The Hippo Tour

A busride on the Hippo Tour costs $23. Yesterday night I had the privilege to go on the Hippo Tour for free with the residents!

So Shawn made 2 trips with the MV van to Lavender MRT where the trip started, the bus made its way down to Bugis and then round Suntec, past Esplanade, Parliament House, then towards Tanglin Mall, where the residents got down, went to the loo and of course, took pictures with the beautiful decorations. Undoubtedly, Tanglin Mall has always one of the most beautiful decorated setups every year.

And as we made our way to Orchard Road where it was flooded with people everywhere, the residents were like screaming and waving from the upper deck. Of course we had to make sure they do not jump out of the bus! Thankfully they behaved themselves and I am pretty sure that they enjoyed themselves a lot as well. Throughout the whole trip they were "wow-ing" all the way at the dazzling lights and screaming MERRY XMAS at everyone who were looking at us from the pavements and bus-stops.

What a way to welcome Xmas! Before I sign off, here's some of the pictures. I liked the snow flake one a lot. I think it would not be possible to take this picture from ground level.

Ich wünsche euch allen Fröhliche Weihnachten und einen guten Start ins neue Jahr 2008!

~bs

x'mas party =)

helloooo.. hee i seldom blog coz i dun hav my own blog...so dunno how to blog.. but since wc strongly encourages all of us to blog ytd during our meeting, n to help our 2 frenly publicity liaisons in keeping our blog active, i shall learn how to blog haha =D n since i'm waiting for the uploading of photos to finish, i shall blog now.. the uploading is so slow... i took 84 photos! =p

ytd's x'mas party was a success! haha well done all those involved in planning it! i tink the games were interesting =) i esp love the one on the ramp and the balloons one in the recreational room =) sin hui's station was not bad too, a new n creative idea haha.. the skit by the 4-members family was cute n funny too! n the gifts made for us by the residents are pretty.. =D the buffet was also great.. =)

but some residents couldn't eat without tables.. poor elicia was kneeling in front of chee wei to help her hold the plate while chee wei was eating.. but chee wei couldn't eat fast.. so poor elicia was holding her plate for super long.. so poor thing.. so i went to help her hold while elicia could go n get food to eat =) beng chuan couldn't eat properly without a table too.. i let her sit on the floor with a chair as her 'table' to put her plate on.. initially she was eating fine.. but later on rice was all over the place alr hahaha oops.. =p hmm mayb we should let those residents who couldn't eat without tables eat at the dining area, or mayb place a few tables for them.. =)

n yesss... the removing of the double-sided tape with cotton wool on the stage drained us out.. so hard to remove!!!! arhhh pls dun ever use double-sided tape for decorations again.. =p

okie finally the photos hav finished uploading.. shall stop here n go eat my lunch now haha =) byeee.. cya guys again next week! =) n hav a MERRY MERRY X'MAS n a HAPPY NEW YEAR! =)

double sided tape + stage surface in hall = bad

sort-of removers of double sided tape: erasers, feng you, broken plastic forks.

okay, personally i never celebrate christmas, unless it's like a gathering or something, but at the christmas party, i could really feel the excitement and the happiness around... when the residents showed me their presents... like john and his watch and mary jane and her new shoes (which are really really nice - white and pink!)... plus the pretty decorations! oh and everyone looked great today! all dressed to kill (:

we (me, mary jane and mavis) went from station to station; from the picture puzzle game, then to the christmas dish game (i love the octopus drawing xD and the turkey!), then to the roll-ball-down-ramp-and-see-its-path game, then the obstacle course (mary jane was damn pro. i felt damnnn clumsy next to her), then the eggtray :D game, and finally the throw-ball-through-clown's-mouth game. gosh i think i better pay better attention to the names next time.

got queues at each station sia... the redemption counter was even worse! but they all looked so cute in the red santa hats and the feathered masks (:

then was the christmas musical... so cool to finally see everything acted out on stage so smoothly, after reading through the script... liked the way the songs were combined with the play, so the residents could sing along with the parts they knew, like FALALALALALALALA and SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN, dance, and clap along. thought yehui's burying hidden meanings in the musical was pretty cool too, like for the white christmas scene...

then it was time for cake and presents and food in general! by the end of the day i'd even been requested to get a plastic bag to contain a resident's presents lo... it was the end of the day for some, while the hippo tour was waiting for some, and the clearing up waiting for another bunch of us.

after throwing away stuff, and general tidying, the end of the christmas party saw most of us sitting, facing the walls, scraping double sided tape off the stage... like fa zhan. fa zhuo. uh... punishment la. hehe cya all next week (:

-eh

visit 15/12/07

okie...last week's visit goes like this...


3.30-4.30-music/sports/cooking/art & craft
after the singing session last week, me and stella piahed (then subsequently crawled X_X) to the 5th floor to do the cooking this time round. yup... this week's menu is TADDA!!!!!VEG SALAD!!!!


hah... ok.. not surprising.


anyway, its not really veg salad... since there are tomato(which is really a fruit) and crab meat STICK (which is dunno crab or meat) and RAISINS!!! haha...personally, i find the combi v wierd >_<" ...but then again resourceful volunteers always managed to come up with interesting (nevertheless edible) recipies =) SO... hmm... basically we dun really need to do much... just make sure the residents cut properly and follow the steps. yah... and there are 2 types of dressing.. so i just hold out both of them to let them choose. yup... pretty easy.


while i was the dishwasher for the day, elsewhere (downstair?), eehiang was the pianist. WOW... for the music station another group of high support residents were playing "london bridge is falling down"... an exciting game we all used to play before we grew too tall for the "bridge". those who dunno what this game is about, we actually have 2 ppl linking and holding out their hands high (pretending to be the bridge) while the players will take turns to go under until the music stops and the "bridge" falls and caught one of the players. for the art and craft station, they were doing origami- folding paper SNOWFLAKE! this one i got no idea thou... din know paper can also fold into snowflake one haha... finally, the last station, they played captain's ball, which eh... dun need elaboration.


4.30-5.30- Mass dance
i really liked this part...very successful, i feel. the dance which is choreographed by ling wei (sorrry.. not v sure the name) + demo-ed by shawn is comical, and like the title suggested "merry moove" is a merry dance and make us merry when we dance. we twriled, clapped, marched, act cute, posed, and my favourite, RWAAAW!!!! scared each other. best of all, the dancing made all of us laugh as we bumped and stepped onto each other's feet. yup... kinda like the mass dance during the orientations, but this one is way funnier! den rite.. some of the residents really LOVE the dance so much that they dance until on top of the stage...


okie.. that's the stuffs we did last week... this week will be christmas celebration. must come lor...


got buffet and log cake... real one!

-sh

a concert of celebration =)

anyway, a bit of update for those who din get to go to the MYG anniversary~

in the midst of our mugging, MYG celebrates their 35th anniversary at Lee Guan Chian Garden School...

we waited.

basically we waited until everyone is q sian... haha... and i think our residents are the best!seated so nicely...

finally!!

3 daugthers of old Zhang (AMK Project)


Dance performance(Terra Hope Project)


Puppet show ( East point project)


Wushu & Kickboxing (Reach out project)

In case u haven notice, the 2nd performance is by our residents from mindsville.. its a dance performance.

erh.. ok.. more about the performance...actually they were carrying brooms and sweeping the floor as they dance to the catchy tune "dancin' in the moonlight". yup... so its like depicting their busy lives...( cuz they were busy cleaning and sweeping).. not literary saying they sweep the floor for mindsville for everyday lah...

hmm... did i confuse anyone?

We are proud of you! this pic is taken on 8/12 at TPY. (the last person is shawn standing in for one the residents.

yup... that's about what's going on for the MYG anniversary... i only went for the rehearsal for the LGC Garden school.. the rest who went can go add in..

First Visit after Exams - 8 Dec 07

It had been quite a long time since I went back to Mindsville and things have changed a lot. This time, we split into three groups – singing/cooking/sports. So I was at the sports group. They were just starting to demonstrate the game when wei chung came along to ask people to go to the music station as they were short of people there.

Having not been to the music station before, I sort of understood why it was not quite a popular choice when I realized what we were supposed to do O_o Cos I realized.. gasp.. that volunteers have to sing along with the residents :O. But it was not so bad after all because everyone was just being so sporting, singing along that my initial self consciousness just disappeared.

At first everyone sang songs suggested by the residents (mainly thomas’ choice). They each held a compiled stack of lyrics consisting of both Chinese and English songs. We sang some modern songs like ‘专属天使' ‘老鼠爱大米' ‘better man’ as well as the classics like ‘top of the world’ and ‘yesterday once more’. Luckily I had sort of heard some of the newer Chinese songs before so I was sort of able to fake my way through. The atmosphere was light hearted and it was really a very enjoyable session.

Hmmm. Then the funfit for this week was something new. The high functioning residents had to verbally guide their volunteer, who was blindfolded, through an obstacle course. The activity for the low functioning group was less taxing for the volunteers :) A volunteer and resident pair had to balance a ball between them while going through the obstacle course. Being attached to lai hoi, we completed our turn quite quickly and so I had time to sit down and observe the high functioning groups. Quite entertaining actually :p

Besides the resident and blindfolded volunteer, there was also another volunteer to help the resident with providing directions. It must have been quite a bit of reassurance knowing that someone else is there to help out. But still, it didn’t stop accidents from happening ^_^ I saw blindfolded volunteers banging into chairs and kicking over the bottles on the ground. Not to mention sort of being stranded (while still blindfolded) when they reached the end of the course. Once there was someone giving a resident clarifications on directions, “ Your left is his right. Your right is his left.”

I learn something new each time... =)



s :)

visit 8/12/2007 + MYG 35th anniversary

okie.. its turning dusty liao..

today quite a number of nus ppl turned up for visit. yup..er obviously and logically. hahaha.. there's the normal 2 parts. the first part is the singing/cooking/sports/... is there a 4th type? any, each group is divided into their group colours again. Erm... Den i got the singing session again ( twice out of the 2 times since the new programme) yup.. its v cool act.. after singing a few songs the residents actually go up one by one to sing. ALONE... i think they are v brave and really enjoyed themselves! and the other residents all got clap or sing along to support...

but of cuz.. the volunteers also need to sing... after a series of sabo-ing, all the volunteers sang "guang huai fang shi"


altogether lah.. phew!


for the second part, hehehe... i thought it was v interesting, really good way to build teamwork and forge friendships. . the high function residents lead the blindfolded volunteers through an obstacle course. yup... good time for them to take revenge by giving wrong instructions or trying to add some new obstacle infront. but im sure most of our residents are v kind to us. on a more serious note, i think this game is a super-creative-never-play-before thing which make us volunteers really dependent on the residents (i guess people always expect things to be the other way round)... makes us really appreciate them in the process. For the low functioning, the game is simplied by pairing the residents and volunteers and a ball together to pass through an obstacle course. definately no less the fun and challenge.

for the third part... some of us went to toa payoh hub for the MGY 35th Anniversary which is erh... beside the toa payoh interchange (surprised that place existed, it seems kinda "underground") personally, i think without the performance, its quite boring. not to mention that ppl like boon song and terence fell asleep when the vip is talking. o.O

that's about the activites for today... appologize for the lack of pictures and the quirky quirky captions that last time shiyun and ee hiang used to do... will try n post once i figured out.. Paiseh.


hahah... btw today all the volunteers were asked to sign one rules and regulations form...


there's one line : "no taking of pictures for publicity purposes, unless permission,"




HUH??!!

someone is dreading the blogging of today's visit. but since it's my job, and since i'm so responsible, here we go! a full report of today's very exciting mindsville visit. i mean, we DO need to keep records, right?

when i reached mindsville the first person from NUS i saw was that someone dressed in the beautiful bright yellow charity fiesta shirt. we were chatting for a while AND THEN... bright yellow flashed across the corner of my eye and i turned to see another certain someone wearing exactly the same shirt. so qing lu fu zhuang can!

anyway. today the programme was carried out a little differently from usual. we all sat at the steps as usual, and after a while split into the 4 different groups. instead of giving the name tags out straight away, there was this strange ritual where the residents had to stand up and go towards the group leader to get their tags, and say thank you. after that, the residents interacted with one another...

in the new system, the activities are carried out separately for each group; i.e. the green aren't combined with the yellow anymore, or the blue and the red. i was with the green group, and we were doing art and craft today... we made those telephone cup thingies! you know, the ones with styrofoam cups and string? pretty standard decorating, with coloured paper and markers... it was nice to see the residents concentrating and (i think) enjoying themselves, doing something they liked. no idea if the cups worked or not, but heh they were pretty so who cares!

honestly i'm not sure what exactly the other groups were doing. hm, but besides art and craft, the other activity stations would be music, sports, and cooking. i can't wait to move to the music station!

after the stations, we went for the keep fit thing (i think it's called something else but i can only remember "fit". what was the other word arh?) which was a stroll around mindsville. 3 times. gosh. tiring leh. me and sye moi slacked and went 2 rounds only :p eh i felt that they would've enjoyed strolling in the neighbourhood more, but maybe the rainclouds prevented this. cuz about 1/3 through the second round, sye moi was giving me this look like, why the heck are you leading me around in circles??

then we undid all the exercise by having coffee cake! the birthday cake of november babies (baby), damn dua pai la! he sat there and gave this uber attitude thumbs up at the rest of us.

then... singing session. the residents who'd just gone through the music station sang, as well as the TH idol... i felt a problem with this part of the day was that only a few of the residents were involved. yea. but someone was singing so passionately, eyes locked on his beloved (who was desperately hiding behind a pillar), walking into the audience to seek her out! how could we deprive him of this rare chance to express his love???? (gah sorry i'd been analysing a love poem last week.)

the lift was screwed up so we walked up to the 5th floor... thus ended today's mindsville visit. (:

jiayou for the finals and stay sane!
-eehiang

last visit 20/10/07

last sat was our last official visit to mindsville... =(

thou was just a regular visit, i think its quite meaningful as well, cuz each time it's a different activity... hahaha.. and we all got a sense of Wei Chung's culinary skills as well!

oh yah...the activity for last sat was popiah/photo frame making and sports games for the 2nd part.

first of all, for the popiah making... i think its still edible lah.. hahaha! cuz terence got the wrong popiah skin (the one for frying). i thought it was really funny that some of us were debating whether we should steam/toast/fry it first or just use like that (ack! >_<"). but in the end i think the popiah making was still quite successful, salvaged by the nice veg filling. actually, the uncooked one made by Wei Chung looks very close to the real thing. hmmm... sounds a bit scary..

for the photo frame making.. i thought it was quite challenging actually. yup... we used 32 ice cream sticks for one photo frame lor.. imagine sticking 32 ice cream sticks and each table seated with 5 residents. that's 5x32=160 ice cream sticks to stick within a table! all with one small tube of super-glue. well... but the most challenging part is to make the frame stand... must control the wind and hold properly and stick the ice cream stick at the correct position and angle
(while the residents were laughing at us o.O), u know? hahahah

after the cooking/art&craft session, the residents were again divided into their normal red/blue/green/yellow groups for the sports games. the objective of sports games was to encourage the residents to move around and be active. first of all, was the shaking game, where the resident will shake with the music and see who can shake more (the volunteers miraculously managed to find a way to measure with a device!) the second game was the one located at the ramp, which requires the residents to kick/bounce a ball up the ramp then the other ball can do anything to it. (hmm...i got a pretty hard time picking up the ball for lai hoi everytime cuz i suggested throwing the ball up the ramp -_ -") the third game was like the normal shuttle run. haha..remember the NAPFA test during ur sec school and JC days? the final game was the ball picking where we must find all the same colour balls to pick up...oh yah.. must thx dennis who helps to put the balls back (but also indirectly blocks the way..)

yup... that's about what's on the last visit. there were quite alot of (new? actually i think they graduate already) people who turned up. for most of us, see u all again next sem.. must go prepare for exam alr..

-hui

):

yay u are right.. it does feel funny haha.. but sighs i will be missing the last official visit of the sem oso ): cos this saturday we are having gaw (grant a wish) party (im in the organising committee so have to go). well haha u all jiayous k in carrying out the activities this saturday (: it'll be the last time this sem~*

feels weird not going to mindsville this week o.o

-hiang

When I see you smile

I would like to elaborate on Weizhong's comments about being able to displayin exaggerating actions around the residents.

As volunteers, we are not only teachers to them. Rather, we play the roles of siblings which they never have. So in a way, we should convey joy through happiness. These are the times we can really let ourselves loose and enjoy one anothers' company. We are there to spread joy. Not act like their discipline masters or whatever, although a certain level of sterness has to be there.

Nevertheless, let me put it this way - would you rather have a brother who wears a face of a stern lecturer all the time, or a brother who tries to make you smile every now and then?

Being social rejects, our trainees have, in one way or another, suffered loneliness and sadness. You can really see their sweet and innocent-looking smiles whenever you appear. Through them, you can never spot a hint of pretentious smiles from them ever.

Be it towards trainees, fellow volunteers or even the people around us, if we make the effort to reach out and make others smile, we are making evrybody's day worthwhile. Don't be afraid to display your true feelings.

In volunteering, we don't just teach the IDs. In fact, we learn from them also.

loneLEE

maf

hehs.. i agree with weichung also (: haha he managed to put out what i feel in words opps haha (: ok fine my english really cannot make it ): haha..

newae lonelee is dennis larhs haha.. -___- only he'll write about such lame stuff hor dennis? (: haha..

well really enjoyed maf this year! :D good job committee hehs (: continue to jiayous yarhs~ :D

-shiyun (:

"I realized that with these residents, I am never afraid to do stupid dances, to run around with them like a little kid during games, or to do high-5s with everybody. I am able to be myself during every visit, to put aside social perceptions because they offer no judgement on you. They have taught me how joy can be as simple as having people visit them and talk to them every week."

i totally agree with you weichung =)

- terence

Joy is Simple!

Firstly I want to thank the wonderful and capable girls of my committee for helping to set up everything for the MAF yesterday. Sorry I wasn’t able to be there to help out!

Secondly, I want to thank Ee Hiang and Sinhui (my pub team) for working together on this blog and the photos! Yay! Whoopee! Woohoo! Great job!

And thirdly, I also will like to thank Lixian for sharing something which is very close to my heart as well. When I first came to MINDSville as a volunteer just a little over a year ago, what got me over my initial apprehension (having never had much interaction with IDs before that) was sadly, not the volunteers (haha please don’t kill me), or because the programs were so wonderfully well planned out and fun. Rather, it was because of the residents themselves that I kept coming back, Saturday after Saturday, trying to never miss a session. I found that they are satisfied with the very simplest of things; be it carrying lanterns during MAF, swimming, musical chairs, arts and crafts or even very simple games, they always portray an outward semblance of happiness and enthusiasm. I realized that with these residents, I am never afraid to do stupid dances, to run around with them like a little kid during games, or to do high-5s with everybody. I am able to be myself during every visit, to put aside social perceptions because they offer no judgement on you. They have taught me how joy can be as simple as having people visit them and talk to them every week.

In life it can be the simplest things that are the easiest to forget. The residents of MINDSville remind me every week to never take things for granted, to cherish all the things that I have, because really, I have so much more than them. Most of all, they have shown me that really, happiness is not as complicated as what we think.

High fives to everyone! Enjoy the week ahead!

Wei Chung

P.S. Who is this loneLEE ah?

mooncake fest cele

i think yest's mooncake festival cele went v well... i saw alot of happy faces of the residents when they enjoy the game, which makes me very happy also.(haha...appologize for the lack of vocabulary)

Any, i was the IC for the bean game and the game is v simple... ummm the name of the game is "scoop the beans" and the objective of the game is to scoop the beans.. haha.. that's it lah.. wanna know more go look at the pics uploaded? :p

Btw... eehiang, that pic below rite.. i was trying to take an "artistic shot"of the bottles (seeing that someone had arranged it)... haha.. but apprently not that artistic...

sidetrack a bit... after so many visits i finally noticed the fish pond near the lift there =) ... its v cool.. got pondskater!

okie.. lame..

Enjoying A Simple Fun

Just want to share some thoughts after yesterday's MAF celebration at Mindsville. The residents are all so happy to celebrate MAF even though we are celebrating with them at such a late date. All of them have dressed up to enjoy this celebration. They are really the ones who make this celebration so fun! I think a lot of us are being influenced by their enthusiasm and their intention to really enjoy this day.

I am especially touched when we went out for the lantern walk. During my childhood days, my father will always bring me and my brother to the park for a lantern walk during Mid-Autumn celebration. In the park we will also see other children with their parents walking around with their lanterns. Those days are so fun because there are other children in the park who can play with us. The laughter and the people around us make Mid-Autumn meaningful. As we all grow up, I think alot of us didn't even celebrate Mid-Autumn with families because of busy schedules or tests.

Yesterday, I can feel the meaning behind Mid-Autumn again! When I see the line of lanterns that are shining brightly along the path, it makes me feel that I am truly celebrating Mid-Autumn again. The residents are so happy to have a chance to go out and have a nice walk. They let me remember the simple fun that I used to have in my childhood and maybe a simple fun that I have taken for granted for so long.

Yours,

Li Xian :)

Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight(?)

Aww... It's soooo ever sweet to see A君 and B小姐 looking so blissful. And what a chivalrous sight it was when A君 gave B小姐 his lantern. You guys should have seen his uber-serious facial expression... Damn classic... <3

Ok, should stop, else Karma strikes and some of you guys bring out my trauma here T_T. Wouldn't want bs to sit back and enjoy with a good laugh at me >.<

Anyway, kudos to those who came in early to prepare for the programmes, especially the boss had to be absent due to him having his papers on that very day. It's no joke to just depend on an all-girls team to set up. Luckily the chairman foreign imported an ousider to help (though don't think I really helped much cept being the odd-job laborer +_+)

Alot of you are new to organizing such stuff. So if you're satisfied with the results, give yourselves a pat on the back and strive to outdo yourself the next time; for those who feels likewise, well... Nobody's born perfect, so with this experience, we can learn and do something to improve it ;) What doesn't kill you, makes you grow stronger.

Volunteering is not about doing anything out of the ordinary to impress others. We do what we can within our limits to help.

As long as you have the heart and did your best to help make a better day for the trainees, that is all that matters.

loneLEE

MAF Part 2

I think this is very nice. Do guys still remember that the letters were done by the residents during the second visit? And thanks to the person who did sucha nice decor hahaaa.. that should make up for ur 'dishonest act' a week ago

Old Flame - notice that she's quietly grinning away..and no prizes for guessing who the other person is :D

Alrite gtg! promise to upload all the other pics + last time one this week.

~bs

btw Nietzsche was a German philosopher who went insane.. heard of the phase "God is dead?"

Mid Autumn Festival Celebration, 06/10/07

yesterday was the MAF for mindsville. Mooncake Appreciation Festival. btw i distinctly remember the residents making the lettering for the noticeboard during arts and craft session. so pretty!

station games were first up! (all the pictures are from those sinhui posted on picasa!)

deep in concentration at the bean game.

memory game!

bowling! (though from this angle, i wonder what sinhui was actually focusing on. geddit? :D)


the obstacle course

haha i'm not very sure about the other station games, but at the memory game station, it was pretty funny cuz no one could remember where the matching pictures were... and the residents kept peeping, then smiling oh-so-innocently at us. TSK (: but after some hints (maybe hint is an understatement) from us, each group managed to clear quite a few pairs! and everyone was like whooping and clapping when that happened so yay. peixian, yellow does not = light green! hahahaha. but

SORRY FOR BEING LATEEEEEEE T_T

and everyone blog about the other station games please! :D

next on the programme was musical chairs... even before the chairs were set up some of the residents were dancing to the music (HEY HEY YOU YOU) and that was great. Without music, life would be an error- Nietzsche (whoever this is) said this! okay no link :DD some of the rush-for-chair parts and the running around were a little violent, but that's enthusiasm for you. hahaha. who were the winners though? *blur*

presenting the "chair"man!

after musical chairs we walked around the neighbourhood armed with lanterns. the weather had somehow cooled down by this time (just in time for there to be enough wind to complicate lantern relighting) so it was refreshing and yeah, definitely quite soothing and san-bu-ish. (is it shan or san? strolling?) and the lanterns were sooooo pretty.

like beacons in the dark! *waxes lyrical*

and then, back at mindsville, MOONCAKE!! (though some residents couldn't really eat it. was there some sore-throat infection thing getting spread around?) and the birthday celebration~ i had no idea that so many people had birthdays in october.

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to everybodyyyy(quote mavis) happy birthday to you!

-hiang

last sat

hahah!omg... someone called me dishonest! well.. the wind was strong mah... den the balloon oso keep floating away.. den i oso got no place to place my hands so put on top of the balloon.. haha!

anyway, yup... this is like quite retarded post (the sports day was like one week ago??) Thou the lack of instructions were a bit frustrating, i feel that it is not everyday that we go PJ and play with so many people... haha. Think the residents feel the same too! But den when i come back and saw the other residents having dinner (those who din get to go) feel a bit sad for them act... hope next time everyone gets to go =)

tml is our belated mooncake festival cele... oso many people will be managing games for the first time, i think.. haha.. everyone all the best!

-hui

Real Life X-Men

This is what I feel about handicapped people in our lives...

In the Marvel Universe continuity, all mutants of X-Men, X-Force, Excalibur, X-Factor and Generation X, are born different from homo sapiens.

They reflect alot with the real-life handicapped individuals in our own world. Some of these handicapped individuals are hated and feared by normal people, just because they are born different.

I know it's typical of us humans to be afraid of things that we don't know or understand... Just like the mass majority would shun AIDS patients just because we have limited knowledge about the condition.

Same goes for handicapped people, be it physically or mentally handicapped. Those who don't understand their natures might give irresponsible remarks like 'they are infectious'.

These remarks are worse than being stabbed with a knife... Imagine one day suddenly one part of you goes missing, and your peers start to shun you. How would you feel? Social stigma is a very scary thing...

All they yearn for are to have friends who love them. So stop those stares. If you have the opportunity, get to know them better. Nobody deserves to be deprived of companionship. Not even YOU.

It's because of how they are brought up, they are happy with any simple things they receive. While we, the normal people, are always not satisfied.

-------------------------------------------------------
Well, Chairman DID say that we can share our views XD
So, yeah... This is my personal interpretations =X

loneLEE

thanks to pub for coming up with a place for us to rant! i think in no time this place will be flooded with entries, reflective entries or crap ones :D

sports day was quite ok lah.. altho i agree with px that some stations could be better mananaged. was happy to get outta the hoops station. but in the first place its already quite hard to coordinate all the games on such a large scale hmmmmm

and the weather was damn hot.. but well at the end of the day if the residents enjoy themselves overall then that's what that matters most.

some pictures from the balloon station, sorry i haven got the time to upload all of them yet:

The honest people

what's so embarassing bout being honest?
Those who played cheat:

Sometimes it pays indeed to be vertically challenged :D

ok see ya all this saturday to eat mooncakes! finally get to carry lanterns, one of those childhood things that we all miss.

and yy, dun worry bout thomas. soon he'll get sian and move on one...

ok back to mugginggg 5 mid term tests next week!

~bs

hur, thanks alot guys.
how did i land myself in such a predicament.
hai oh well...
anyway, thanks to you all for helping me fend thomas off.
other than that, it has been enjoyable and fulfilling so far.
work hard together la :D
-yingyi

terence says:

Mooncakes ~~

Harlo!!! Wow thanks for sharing the pics =)
sorry i couldnt make it last sat cos of project meeting

Anyway, just to let u guys know that there'll be mooncakes from prima deli this sat.... really good! its 100% halal so should be ok for all


and thomas... i didnt really see what happened but i guess pauline is 'liberated'. seriously hope that YY didnt give give her hp number or address to thomas ;p

Great Blog....

Kudos to the initiative to setup this blog....

But hopefully this will not be a "3min hot temperature" thingy...as the yahoogrp is relatively quiet...sry for being blunt abt it..:X

And oso, the username and password is kinda hard to rem...but luckily for me I do not have a acc here...so can save username and passwd.

Ppl shld be more thick skin like me to post and post, watever the cents worth of thoughts...;p

Felix Chia...(No other felixes ard hor, or must I specify who I am....)

yoz thx pub cell for setting up dis cheerful blog for us! i luv the photos n funny captions ahahah... btw wei chung u realli look siao in the first photo...

haha thx everyone who came down to help for myg sports day on a vvv hot n sunny aftnn! i noe some of u turned red.. =p but i'm sure u all had fun with the residents =) tho i tink the organisation of the event was not very well planned.. we waited for qt long during intervals, esp during the mass games relay..

hope to cya all on the coming sat for maf celebration! the activity will be at 6.30pm instead of the usual 3.30pm ya.. =) we'll be having station games n walk n carry lanterns n eat mooncakes =) cya at mindsville!

- peixian

myg sports day photos~

just some photos i took.. (: enjoy! :D

from top left: weichung looks mad; ethelonter 4 group 3 :D; residents and volunteers from group H; residents and volunteers from group G

the various games we played... from top left: crossing the river; aligning the letters from a-v; the damn lame hula hoop game; 3-legged race


from top left: group H; group G; everyone; mindsville comm 07/08 (missing: harliyani)

sorry i din really manage to get any photos of group C! ): newaes i have to agree.. thomas heart yy.. haha u better watch out yy! :D

-shiyun (:

MYG Sports Day (29-9-07)

First Post. mwahahaha

our new blog! okay right now it looks really generic but soon our written/photographed experiences will colour it far beyond any fancy blogskin. right? ;D

oh by the way this is eehiang (:

anyway, down to business: the minds youth group sports day! (at least that's what i think it's called. heehee) on a very hot yesterday, some of the residents (the lower support ones, i think) and us volunteers trooped down to pioneer junior college for sports day! honestly when i heard about this sports day thing earlier in the week my mind turned to the sports days of junior-college-and-earlier times; the times of sitting in the hot sun watching a bunch of sweaty people running/jumping around.

but this was more fun okay!

first thing on the programme was the workout, which was quite cleverly designed to cater for people sitting in the lecture theatre, which is, by the way, very comfortable.

second thing up was the station games. laihoi and i were in group C; besides the TH (TerraHope) residents and volunteers there were trainees and volunteers from other homes/schools. for the first station the trainees, in pairs, had to race holding a hula hoop with any part of their body but their hands; for the second station, they raced along a path made with cardboard pieces; the third was a typical three-legged race; and the fourth an "opposite game".

good things about these games:
1) the trainees/residents could pretty much play them on their own after figuring out the rules.
2) that they had to work in pairs. i think they would enjoy this especially back in mindsville, when they could be paired with their own friends.
3) that the games involved all the residents/trainees.

not-so-good things about these games:
1) laihoi seemed to be humouring me more than anything else. i think she enjoyed the opposite game the most, maybe because she could move around and not wait for the i/cs to count down or anything. or maybe she didn't see the point in the rules for the other games. not that there's much of a point to game rules to begin with =p

just my two cents' worth.

the mass game/relay we both didn't participate in, i didn't know why (low support/high support?) so i'm not too sure about the game. anyway, we (along with half of the other people there) sat in the stands stoning a la typical sports day, but at least it gave a chance for a rest (i saw a lot of trainees sleeping and i was tempted to join them) and to rehydrate.

then we went back to the lecture theatre for refreshments and after listening to them talk for a while and a photo, it was time to head back- back home, back to the books. urgh...

coming up next week: MAF celebrations! yeah man.

BTW THOMAS <3 YINGYI!!!

eehiang