aidylnegoy - keeping dreams alive

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AidylNegoy™
16 August 2005
Been through much more than most couples, which is probably why they are in love much more than most couples
Dream of a life of bliss the way He likes it

aidyl.

Lydia
16 April 1986
B. Sc. Business
Professional "life-is-great" announcer
Dreams of the day no one in the world dies for free

negoy.

Yogi
16 December 1982
B. Sc. Banking & Finance
Full-time admirer of the sky
Dreams of the day he can stop lookin' up at the sky and start lookin' down from it

dream quote.

"Go ahead and pursue your dream, I'll wait for you."

events.

Dec 16 '09 - Yogen's 27th!

Dec 25 '09 - AidylNegoy celebrate Christmas Down Under!

Jan 1 '10 - AidylNegoy celebrate New Year's Down Under!

Feb 14 '10 - V-Day!

Feb 17 '10 - AidylNegoy bring Mama & Yeye around Perth!

Apr 16 '10 - Lydia's 24th!

Aug 16 '10 - AidylNegoy's 5th!

Saturday, August 09, 2008

alrite folks, i apologise for the mini hiatus. been so busy with work, travel arrangements and the like to update my blog. but my blog, dead? far from it people, far from it. how can i let this space disappear when i have so many of my dear summer campers waitin’ upon it in earnest?

so without further ado, here i present, for all those who almost died from the wait..

day two – of hippo rides and orchard bites

the second day of summer camp saw the summer campers brace for a race. or more specifically, an amazing race. students, in their groups, were required to scour four cultural sites in singapore for clues, items and locations, almost detective-style. their quest would eventually expose them to the various cultures that make up singapore. after a quick brief in the mornin’, all the groups set off to their various startin’ points. i was baffled to note that some of the female coaches came in dresses, and when i fooled some of them by sayin’ they’d be runnin’ most of the time in their dresses, u should’ve seen how quickly their jaws dropped to the floor. anyhow, my group started their race at the botanic gardens. since i, like some of the other students, had never really explored the many aspects of the garden before, the amazing race provided the perfect opportunity.

the amazing race also brought out the competitor in my group 7, as evident by how we pointed coach su and her group in a totally different direction when they asked us where to find a particular clue (the clue was, in fact, juz behind us. heh..). then it was off to the bus bay to head to the next destination. this brings me to the highlight of the amazing race for most foreign students – the hippo bus tour. we moved from location to location via this open-top bus carriage known as a hippo bus. all hippo buses came fully equipped with an original singlish speakin’ bus driver and a singaporean-english-speakin’ tour guide. for almost all the students, the hippo bus ride was a first. and i could tell they were havin’ a blast, from the myriad smiles that permeated the atmosphere. my thai kids, jj and mek, seemed to be lappin’ up the fun the most.

anyway, the next destination in my group’s race brought us to little india, which turned out to be the most challengin’ of all, even for a little indian like myself. before we headed off on our voyage in aneh-land, we headed to a nearby carpark for lunch. It was there that my group found out (at the price of one filmed chicken dance) that coach lydia knew how to speak some tamil. it’s funny how, at that point in time, no one bothered to ask why she knew how to speak tamil, or how i knew about it. they were soon to get the answer to both questions. after a torrid 2 hours in the swelterin’ sun, my group finally managed to solve most of the little india answers. so we made a quick getaway (via the ever-popular hippo bus) to kampong glam. at kampong glam, all amazing racers were required to complete a series of activities at the malay village. the activities included a group malay dance, a quickfire rendition of di tanjong katong and finally, a ketupat making session. what stood out for me there was how natural my group 7-er william was at shakin’ his bon bon to a dance that was tailored largely for ladies. dude, u beat shakira or j-lo anytime man!

after the eventful stint at kampong glam, we waited for another hippo bus ride to chinatown, durin’ which time the kids used all the henna they had bought at little india to exhibit their creative expressions on their friends palms and arms. some of the coaches and i were rather impressed with how beautiful some of the artwork was. it was rockin’ stuff alrite! anyway, my group was eventually at chinatown for our last pitstop, takin’ lots of photos on the race one final time. one of the challenges, which required us to take a picture with someone wearin’ a cheongsam, made us seriously contemplate forcin’ one of the guys to go into a shop and dress up like a tai tai for some snapshots. thankfully, the unfortunate boy’s modesty was saved by knowledge that the last hippo bus for the day was on its way to chinatown. that brought the amazin’ race to an end, and marked the beginnin’ of our trip to orchard road. when we finally arrived there, i parted ways with the group, leavin’ the local students to bring their foreign friends for dinner and a walk around singapore’s shoppin’ hub. the coaches, meanwhile, gathered at orchard plaza for dinner, before headin’ back to round up the students at 9pm.

soon, all of us were back at sheares hall, weary but otherwise satisfied. thru the day, i grew to notice how a simple game like amazing race had brought out the best in my kids, and got them closer and more bonded than ever before. at 11 the coaches worked at getting’ all the kids to sleep early, while we had our own debrief. we knew the next day was gonna be even more tirin’ than the last, but we figured, why should we tell our dear groupmates that and spoil their good nite’s rest? we decided they should find out about it the hard way. or should i say, the wet way..

next post - summer chronicles, chapter four

negoy

11:49 PM