Sunday, July 10, 2005

camp ehi passiko rox!

yeah~ im back frm my buddhist camp =P it was a great n enriching experience for me.. really learnt alot frm this camp N made lots of spiritual frens. haha most of e pple have this misconception that buddhist camp is all about chanting n chanting all day.. in fact we only had e puja (chanting of prayers) at e start N end of every day.


ehi passiko (come and see)
day1

met kitty at cck mrt station first. then met up wif e rest of e camp members at clementi bus interchange. we took bus 173 to Bee Low See Buddhist Temple - a temple behind bukit timah food centre. first day was quite relax.. aft registration we got split up into diff grps.. haha im in DANA grp (dana means generosity) did abit of self intro.. after that our grp leaders taught us how to fold a lotus using a serviette. it's actually for a game similar to "angel n mortal" but ours was "lotus bud n gardener". we got to write letters for our lotus bud (known).. signing off wif a nickname (mine is "crappy") =P then we will receive letters frm our gardener (unknown) e lotus that we hav made will act as a "mailbox" for e letters. we played some ice breaker games for e whole camp.. my whole grp got forfeited in e first game. haha so suay.. did e "monkey, gorilla, chimpanzee" song wif stupid actions lolx. then we had a short sharing session on buddhist etiquette by e seniors. hmm quite interesting to see e diff ways of prostration. =)

lunch was vegetarian.. haha one of e members in my grp (dave) hates vege.. then started discussing abt sneaking out for macdonalds meal wahahha xD anyway before any meals we got to do a food reflection which goes like this: "we are grateful, together as a family. we are grateful, for e food we eat. we are grateful, for e beings which have brought e food to us. let us eat in mindfulness, and may all beings be well and happy. sadhu.. sadhu.. sadhu.." haha every grp will have to take turns to wash e dishes.. N today was our grp's turn to wash! quite fun cos it was a time for us to interact better n play with water! lolx.. =D

after lunch we went to dharma hall.. each grp has to come up wif a grp identity using e materials provided - 2 orange coloured cloths, bamboo pole, ice-cream sticks, chalk, marker, masking tape N scissors. we cut up one of e cloths into strips..then stapled half of e "gold coin"(taken frm e gold coin choc) onto one side of e strip.. N we wore it on our wrist. for e bamboo stick..we tied a cloth onto one end of it..then hidayat n guan liang(combi of guang liang n pin guan =P) drew a few dana symbols onto e cloth. besides that we got to think of a grp cheer. haha ours was damn lame. we started by saying "ohm... ohm... ohm..." with our palms together, after that stamp our foot n shout "dana, dana!" *repeat*

right after e grp identity thingy we had a dharma talk on "clearing misconceptions on buddhism" generally e talk was quite good.. except for a part where there's an intruder (one ah pek) trying to challenge e speaker. kept rattling on and on like nobody's business.. dun really get e point he's trying to convey also. =X following next was e singing session.. they invited 2 pple (one frm NTU buddhist society, e other juz graduated frm SP) to teach us e songs. really loved e songs(some were self composed) not only that their melodies are nice.. e song lyrics are extremely meaningful too~ ^-^

after that we played some games illustrating e 6 paramitas.. namely dana, sila, shanti, viriya, dhyana & prajna. personally i liked e "shanti" game.. where 2 pple have to hold a balloon (without using hands) , walk a distance to one table N search for green beans in a container filled wif red beans (wif only 12 green ones inside) each pair will take turns to play n to get as much green beans as possible (must b at least 8 for each pair) e challenging part is that there is a time limit for this game. i think it really shows e shanti paramita, which means having patience, tolerance N endurance. this is bcos one of e vital requirement of this game is patience..without that we might have given up easily esp due to time pressure. another interesting n meaningful game would b enlarged version of "snake n ladder", which showed e viriya paramita (viriya = diligence, energy, effort) the "snake" n "ladder" illustrates e ups and downs of our life.. N it takes a lot of effort to reach our ultimate goal of attaining enlightment (finishing point)

at night, we learnt meditation frm bro sebastian. i find e short meditation v relaxing n peaceful for e mind. it not only helps u relieve stress and clears ur mind, u will become more focused n concentrate better aft meditating. ^-^

zZz-ing time! haha.. my room is shared wif 3 other gals.. my fren kitty, qing ling (from my grp dana) n mei ling (frm shanti). i think living in a temple is far better than nus halls cos here we got our own toilet n e room is air-conditioned heh.. =P hmm.. we returned to our rooms at around 10 plus. all of us started writing to our respective lotus bud. cant believe i wrote " hey hey~ kim sim.. i dont know what to write. erm.. so just tell me more abt yourself. thanks! that's all. =P - crappy" wahahha really very crap sia.. xD me n kit super high that nite.. so we sat at e staircase outside our room (so that we wont disturb qing ling n mei ling) did some camp cheers(lucky there wasnt anybody around.. if not they might think what is e 2 crazy girls doing there in e middle of e night haha) n chatted until 1 plus b4 gg to bed heheZ.. =P


day 2

aft morning puja.. we went to dharma hall n got into our respective grp for e "blind breakfast". our grp was blindfolded first.. then my gardener (frm e other grp) came n brought me to e dining area for breakfast. there's a point when there's a small step but my gardener didnt notice haha.. then i lost my balance but luckily didnt fall (if not so paiseh) =P haha breakfast was quite yummy.. we had mee wif some vege n vegetarian luncheon meat. my gardener was quite xi4 xin1 hehe.. like asking me if i wan chili for e noodles.. N if i wan any drinks. he made a cup of cereal for me.. even made it warm so thati wont scald myself =) so thoughtful~ hee.. after our prayers we started to eat. my gardener cut up all e vege n "luncheon meat" into smaller portions so that it's easier for me to chew. then he will help me scoop e food onto my spoon n give it to me haha. =D feels so pampered lolx.. cos e rest all eat on their own. hao3 bu4 rong2 yi4 finished my food le..but i was still hungry heh =X then my gardener went to get another serving for me heeZ.. aft breakfast he told me their grp going to wash dishes after that. haha then i heard somebody calling SHANTI wahahha! xD that's when i know he's frm shanti.. but i think i quite slow cos i havent figured out which is him =X

after that was song n dance. sang alot of nice songs.. one of my fav songs was composed by my lotus bud heh. ren bu ke mao xiang~ didnt know he was so talented =P haha that song really touched my heart.. it goes like this:
as we strive for e things that give us everlasting pride
e wheels of time rolls on and on and takes all in its stride
wind of fortune - restless mounts that never will abide
free e reins and just enjoy e ride
as we face e loss of loved ones, tears we have to fight
e stage of life goes on and on and actors fade frm sight
storms of passion - thunder clouds that turn day into night
free ur heart and u will see e light

song session was followed by dance. haha that dance was super high.. it's a fast song - "speedy gonzales" haha.. =D after that we had a couple dance.. abit messed up wif e steps lolx. but nonetheless me n my partner(qing ling) still had fun haha.

after a dharma talk.. we had our "blind lunch".. this time e other grp was blindfolded instead. =P haha i went to tap my lotus bud shoulder then brought him to e dining area. he was damn funnie.. stil wore his specs after blindfolding himself (as if he can see) haha.. then he loved to stretch out his hands to feel his surroundings.. but there was lots of pple around him.. so his hands kept hitting others hahaha. xD got to keep asking him dun anyhow touch lolx. at e dining area.. he walk to somewhere n say "let's sit here" haha even though he cant see.. but i was quite surprised that there really was a table at that place he wanted to sit.. damn tyco! haha i brought him to sit wif my other 2 grp member..guan liang n chin lee. lunch was rice wif a variety of vege. haha this is tricky man.. cos duno how much he eats n wat he likes. so i took abit of everything heh.. =P then he asked me to get soup for him.. N he wanted corn soup without corn -__-''' e way he talks like treating me like his maid.. GrRrr... aft that i cut up his food into smaller portion so that it's easier for him to eat (juz like wat my gardener did) haha he quite independent cos he ate on his own.. even knew where i placed his soup when i didnt tell him haha. but of cos he ate until quite messy.. got once he swallowed a whole spoonful of beansprouts wahahha! xD i cant stop laughing aft that.. he too started laughing aft hearing my laughter haha. after that he asked me to help him mix e rice wif e vege so that he wont eat e same thing again. i helped him scoop up e last few mouthful of rice.. then he said he wan to eat until e last grain of rice -__-''' i told him no more le but he took up his plate n tried to scoop e remaining grains of rice into his mouth haha. =D cant believe i ate slower than him when i can see.. cos i still had half plate of rice left while my lotus bud finished his food! haha then he wanted orange.. so i got it for him. phew~ nightmare finally over haha. =P

after lunch we went back to our respective grps.. then dave (who hates vege) kept complaining abt his gardener stuffing vege to him hahaha.. damn funnie. =D so he joked that there's 2 streams of tears coming out from his eyes liao lolx! anyway we started discussing abt our finale item. haha our grp was quite efficient.. cos we came out wif e story (related to our grp - dana) n script in a v short time =P we even had time to rehearse it a few times.. our story was about 2 beggars (guan liang n hidayat) prostrating 1000 times infront of a status (dave). e statue granted them a key - key to happiness. one day e 2 beggars were begging on e street.. met 2 elders (me n qing ling).. n they begged them for food. even though e 2 elders r rushing for time, they decided to DANA their time n merits to e beggars.

after that we had a welfare visit. went to e Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped. that's when we realised that today's blind lunch thingy was to let us have a feel of how these visually handicapped pple feels. hmm we had an enriching talk by one of e speakers there n some real life demo from a visually handicapped guy. aft e talk..we had a tour around e centre (led by someone who's visually handicapped)

back to temple~ had a talk on "lovers in love" by miss angie monksfield at night. her talk was really entertaining.. N she talks abt things really close to our heart..like finding true love, etc. i liked e part on kamma meeting.. something similar to fate. she mentioned abt meeting pple from our past lives.. if u hate somebody in ur past or present life.. u will still meet him/her in ur next life as someone whom u dun like haha. so i guess it's better to love e pple around u than to hate them ba lolx =P

zZz-ing time again! as usual me n kit cant slp.. so we stayed up to talk haha. we went to e stone table behind main hall..next to dharma hall. was stoning there as she replied her gardener's letter. sobx.. didnt get any reply frm my lotus bud n gardener ='( anyway saw my ogl (sab) a few times.. she kept pestering us to slp. we returned to our room after e 3rd time she came..but we still continued with our chat haha.. =D (she wont know anyway heh =X) oh yar forgot to mention that my grp member (also my room mate) qing ling went back cos she was feeling sick. poor thing.. thought she willl be coming back for e finale item but in e end she didnt haix..


day 3

haha super excited when i saw letters frm both my lotus bud n gardener in my "mailbox" early in e morning =D realised that camp comm had meeting n rehearses for their skit (for e finale night) until 2 am. haha rather touched that they still made e effort to reply though they must be extremely shag by then.. =)

today's programme was mostly on e campus trek in nus. one of e dirty games was "bowling".. we got to knock down e bottles using a ball. if we failed to hit any then we will be poured water on our head. besides that there's a point system.. meaning that if we hit a certain point then we were be poured water + flour. haha i guess i was damn suay that day.. cos i didnt hit any bottle for e first few times so i got e water forfeit. then when i finally hit a bottle i got e water + flour thingy. -__-''' sian 1/2........... another one was e "lao shu & da mi" game.. similar to "dog & bone". haha my lotus bud was e station master for this game heeZ.. =P guess i was quite lousy in e game cos i didnt get any "da mi".. N my opponent was very strong..cos he got long hands n legs. in e end our grp lost.. 10 - 30. *sigh* we were asked to do a cheer aft e game.. but bcos our grp have lost quite badly so was abit lifeless when we cheered.. my lotus bud (station master) didnt encourage us but pointed out that our cheer wasnt good.. haix..so everyone's face turned black aft that. one of our member (chin lee) even cried. but luckily next station was our qiang2 xiang4 (strength).. =) N e station master was our ogl (kwek).. so he tried to comfort our grp cos all of us didnt feel good after losing e last game. anyway this game was abt asking qian bian qns.. haha.. didnt know our grp was so good at that =D cos we managed to answer all our opponent's qns.. while they were totally stunned at our qns haha. it was also then that i got e title of "ice queen" cos most of e qns was solved by me.. so they think im e lamest of e grp lolx =P

we had our packed lunch after that. yeah as u had guessed it's still vegetarian haha. we had vegetarian nasi lemak.. i think i rather eat real vege than fake meat.. cos it tasted really awful =X after lunch..we continued with our games. we walked from e arts to e science block.. crossed over quite a few flight of stairs (feels like climbing over a mountain) before we reached. haha our grp was busy thinking of lame cheers to be used for e games later on as we were walking there. was half dead when we reached e science block.. didnt know that all e walking was juz a warm up for e next few games that we will be playing. haha we showed dave all e lame cheers that we have thought of.. then he was like -___- *freezing* lolx. i guess it's good for a hot weather like this =P hmm.. e "bursting balloon" game was quite violent i think. cos e opponent kept aiming at e balloon on my foot.. then kept chasing after me.. scary sia.. =S after that was e "dodge" game.. our grp was e defending team. me N guan liang super slack.. cos we were at e last row (v few pple can reach that stage haha) then since we had to stretch out our hands wide in order to block our opponent.. i tot of e game "hai3 dai4" (seaweed) so e both of us started playing wahahha! xD it was damn fun man~ when it was turn for us to switch team (meaning our grp was e attacking team now) it was really stressed.. cos i kept getting stuck at e last stage due to a guy (heard he's frm judo or sth) who pushed me real hard n there's practically no way for me to dodge past him.. nonetheless our grp still won heh =P next was e "lao yin zhuo xiao ji" game.. this time e game master was again my lotus bud. but i guess e atmosphere wasnt as tense as before le.. cos he's quite nice to give us some tips to win e game =)

haha quite surprised that overall our grp got 2nd place for e games heeZ.. =P lost to shanti (e grp which we played e "lao shu ai da mi" & "qian bian qns" game) by 20 odd points. after returning to e temple we rested a while in our room before heading to e dining area for dinner. haha it was our turn to wash e dishes again! yeah~~ some of e sila members came to help in e washing (including my lotus bud =P) i guess washing dishes was more of having fun than a chore le.. hahaha i kept splashing water on dave n hidayat oops! =X

we went back to our room for some washing up before attending a talk by bro steven tan on "changing attitudes". hmm didnt really understand his talk.. somemore he wasnt really good at tackling e qns that others shoot.. cos he tends to give very general answers.

it's slping time again~ haha today was supposed to be super shag.. but me n kit still continued with our late nite "parties".. prepared some food for our party lolx.. haha actually was just some tidbits that we got from e goody bags N from e camp comm who distributed them =P today was quite shuang cos mei ling (our room mate) went to slp with her other grp members.. so me n kit got e whole room to ourselves hehe.. =D we started writing letters to our lotus bus n gardener. haha i even helped kit write to her lotus bud lolx. she wana fake identity (so she used mine) if not her lotus bud will know who she is le.. cos e both of them are in e same grp! haha.. then quite coincidentally her gardener is from my grp.. since they exchanged letters quite often so they kept running out of paper (haha kit resorted to using her sticky memo pads) not only that i heard from my grp member (guan liang) complaining that his lotus bud (kit) too active wahahha! xD damn funnie.. anyway finished replying all e letters at around 2.30am.. placed it in their respective "mailbox" before going back to zZZz.... =P


day 4

had problem opening my eyes in e morning.. esp after mei ling switched on e lights. haha realised that i was e last to wake up again =X heh.. if we got to assemble at 7am then i will wake up at 6.45am haha. but that's e good thing about having room mates.. cos u know u wont be late =P

after puja N breakfast.. we had our dance session (aka "we like to move it move it..) this time i was paired up with e BS president shwei lin (haha abit stress).. we did a slow dance with e song "gu dan bei ban qiu" by ou de yang. =D

after e dance session.. we were splited into 3 different grp for our next activity. dana + shanti , sila + viriya , dhyana + prajna. haha we are grouped with e top team for games.. N we called ourselves e "shana" team (shanti + dana = shana) wahahha xD though e top 2 grps were together.. but we still lost in our next game - the Amazing Pilgrimage. it's a game like amazing race.. we got to find our way to 4 temples.. namely e ABC (Amitabha Buddhist Centre), Sri Lankaramaya Temple, Foo Hai Chan Monastery & our finishing point will be at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery. on our way we had to solve a few puzzles given to us N take some photos.. we left for ABC at around 9.30am.. then we had to reach PKS by 3.30pm. there will be a penalty if we arrived later than 3.30pm.. 20% of our marks will be deducted. i guessed we were quite unlucky to get this kind of sequence.. cos ABC & Foo Hai Chan are in e same area (Geylang).. so we were practically travelling from point A to B.. then back to A again! what a waste of time! however.. a relief was that there's a direct bus from A to B.. so it was still not that bad. we arrived at our destination at 3.32pm! argh.. we ALMOST made it man!! *sigh* sila + viriya 's grp was already there.. they reached at 3.27pm.. cant believe that we just lost by a bit.. anyway we had a tour around e temple. was quite fascinated by e 4 storey high buddha statue.. really cool~~ there was also a story on why one of e structure was built in e shape of a ship. it actually symbolises a ship that ferries people to e shore of enlightment/ happiness =)

back to temple~ after a nice bath.. our grp gathered at e back of e main hall to discuss about tonight's finale item. we decided to add in our lame cheers after e skit haha.. n also a small bit on e star wars scene (duey wa ke orh yi beng- follow me to e dark side) super lame -___-''' hmm.. since qing ling left we were short of one elder for e skit.. so chin lee replaced her. we rehearsed a few times to make sure everything runs smoothly. haha me n chin lee had fun with our "hai dai" thingy.. couldnt help laughing every time we did that. during one of e run through.. that cheeky hidayat (acting as beggar) grabbed my feet all of a sudden N i screamed hahaha.. i guess this is better than fright night man~ lolx.. xD

finale night! haha all of us thought that our grp will be e first to present our skit.. (cos dana is e first paramita so we are always first) but we were wrong.. cos this time they inverted e sequence N our grp was e last. haha that's why we were abit restless when our turn comes.. realised that our skit was rather short compared to e other grps. we had song n dance after that. this time i danced with one of my grp members.. guan liang. haha he was quite lost with e dance steps but we still managed to complete e dance.

release of results for e finale item~ our grp got consolation.. sob sobx. ='( we got consolation for overall too. our allies team (shanti) came in first.. followed by sila N viriya. haha since e prize was a big bag of FOOD.. our grp N shanti shared e prize.. hehe.. =P next was a continuation of e skit that we presented.. acted out by our dear ogls heeZ.. really nice! =) i guess they have spent quite alot of time n effort preparing for it.. all e late nights meeting n rehearses. anyway after that was a candlelight procession. we were sitted in a circle.. N each of us was given a candle each. we had to pass e light from one end to e other.. then walk around in a spiral shape as we sing e song "hui deng pu zhao" (e light of wisdom). it was quite a touching n sad moment.. as we sat around sharing our thoughts about e camp.. next was e review of our lotus bud n gardener haha. we were supposed to find them n tapped them on e shoulder. wahahha my lotus bud (kim sim) was as blur as usual =X n i finally saw my gardener (jeremy)! yuan lai yuan zai tian bian jing zai yan qian.. he was always there just that i didnt take notice =X haha chatted a while with my lotus bud.. found out that he's from arts.. so smart lolx. =P then he told me that he felt quite sorry for e campus trek thingy.. wasnt intentional to make our grp unhappy. haha felt quite touched by his apology.. cos can see that he was really sincere n he didnt feel good after knowing that he'd made our grp sad that day. heeZ.. after that i went to talk to my gardener.. cos i felt abit guilty by not replying his letter (he wrote 3 to me while i only replied 1) heh.. =P

after that was free time.. shana gathered at e dining area n shared our food =) we sat there talk cock until 3 plus.. was dozing off halfway while e rest were talking hee =P guess it's bcos of all e late night parties i had with kit for e past few days that i didnt had enough slp haha. =D e other grps were playing some lame games.. while our grp was discussing about serious stuff like e bidding system haha. things like what modules to take n what not to take. lolx..

went back to my room with kit at around 4am.. talk cock abit until 4 plus before going to bed heh.. =P


day 5 (last day!)

haha today was e only day that we can wake up late.. think i woke up around 7 plus or 8am. did some packing up before heading to e dining area for our breakfast. haha there was exceptionally few pple in e dining area today.. guess e rest were still in bed. hmm but it made e washing up job easier.. it was kit's grp turn to wash. haha i volunteered to help cos their grp lack of pple (only 3 left if im not wrong) after that we went back to our room for cleaning n packing. but mei ling had already swept e floor n cleaned up our room while we were doing e washing haha. so we just had to collect our stuff n assemble at e dharma hall for our last sharing session by sister hwee san. hmm.. e sharing session was quite fun cos everyone get to share with e rest their thoughts & "wisdom" within them. first.. we had to pick a card out of a deck of cards (looks abit like tarot cards) n try to figure out what message e card is trying to convey to us. i got e card of "creativity" - a picture of a lady looking up to e moon n surrounded by some lotus n water (dun really understand e picture on e card.. like no link haha =X) hmm i dun see myself as a creative person.. so i thought e card might be trying to convey that we shouldnt be restricted by our mind.. n we should think out of e box. haha.. =D i personally like one of e sharings.. "there's always light at e end of e line. dun give up on possibilities." i guess it's quite meaningful n can be used to apply to many aspects of our everyday life. =)

after e talk.. me n kit decided to join BS heh.. saw my other grp members (dave, guan liang n hidayat) also signing up to be member! haha so happie that they joined too~ our ogl (sab) joked that i can elect for e "lame committee" president.. dave as my assistant hahaha =D then we will be in charge of planning lame programmes, outing etc. lolx..

we walked to bukit timah food centre for our lunch.. haha all of us "bo4 jie4" le.. cos we ate meat after 5 days of vegetarian food in e temple =X after that we headed seperate ways home.. i took 67 with kit n guan liang. haha realised that e both of them live in e same area.. so you yuan sia~ haha somemore they are each other's lotus bud n gardener.. guess it's fate for them to meet haha (kamma meeting) =P

really missed e 5 days of fun i had during e camp~ thanks to BS heeZ.. will cherish all e happie moments n e friendships that i have made during e camp =D looking forward to our next meeting - welcome tea!! ^o^

Posted by *Mu| and ChAng* at 10:27 PM