Operation Orion 2010!

Back from 15 days without facebook, my com and away from civilization. Without the luxuries of modern society and everything else we take for granted. After this experience, I can safely say that Operation Orion is the single best decision I have made this year.

Where strangers become family!

 I joined Orion, knowing only Gim Hoe, Vionna and Jiamei at the start. But as we go through the planning and fund-raising, met up with more great people and it turned out that we were a really fun bunch of people that clicked really well! It all started when a random group of people just gathered for a single purpose - to make Operation Orion a success.We were all engineers in the making, but came from various departments with different characters and specialties, but like Xiying puts it, through this trip, "... strangers become family". I'm just gonna mention a few of the very important highlights of the trip (there're just too many! =D):

Somewhat the main attraction there. Mind you this place is not like SG at all. But the people are way better!

The trip to Mount Hope Training Centre in Balaikarangan, West Kalimantan, Indonesia was indeed an arduous one. First we had to fly to Kuching, Malaysia, before taking a bus to the Malaysia-Indonesia border. We have to clear the customs again, before taking another bus to Balaikarangan. Super long and tiring trip, but it was all worth it, the moment we stepped into Mount Hope. We were greeted by enthusiastic cheers and warm hospitality by the staff and children there. From that moment on, it suddenly struck me that this is gonna be a really meaningful experience for me, and as expected, it turned out far better than what I had expected. Simply awesome.

Daily Routine!

The day usually starts really early as breakfast's at 6am, while the day ends really late, usually around 11 to 12. But I never really feel as tired as I am in Singapore. So the day begins with breakfast, followed by some programmes activity (e.g. chiildren interaction), followed by construction, then lunch, then construction again. All the way to the evening, then some games with the kids. Next up is dinner, followed by some free-and easy activities (though somehow we always had things to do.. whether programmes preparation or more activities.

Preparing for the Christmas Dance

Preparing the singing!

Preparing the logistics for the next day programmes!

On a nice day, we get free time for some cards or Monopoly Deal!

And as the days of construction work has taken its toil on us, free time became... zZZZ

Yes we talk everyday! =D

At the end of the day, we always have a sharing by the welfare IC for the day, as well as some HTHT. I think Behind all the friendly faces, there's so many stories and experiences. I've gotta admit that I've learnt quite a lot from others sharing their experiences. So thanks people for being to open and sharing! =D

Children Interactions!

Secondary School:

One of the 3 classes of awesome kids at the secondary school. The programmes team planned some interesting science experiments for them. They are pretty bright kids and could actually follow what we're doing. And I felt that they really enjoy them so much more than what we expected. So it was an awesome experience for both the kids and us. Many thanks to the translators - Adeel and the class teacher (oops I really can't remember her name - extreme right of photo). Also, we played a few orientation games with them and they were so fun despite the imperative language barrier.

Primary School:

Morning Exercise!

Snowman making!

Started off with some random aerobics exercise conducted by the staff there. It was really fun. They should teach our primary school kids the exercise too! Hahaha. Had loads of fun early in the morning. Basically the programme was to make origami and paper plate snowman. I thought that it would be a disaster since I couldn't converse much using Bahasa. But a big thanks to Pey Mun for helping me ALOT with the translation and helping to control the kids. Haha. And this showed me how appreciative the kids are of the little things that we did. I'm sure that if we were to do this back home, we would probably get snubbed at. Haha. And the kids are so cute lah! Haha. =D

Kindergarten:

The kids are sooo cute!

My first programme at Mount Hope. The kids are soooo hyperactive! Haha. They are so accommodating and cute despite me struggling to even remember my colours in Bahasa. Haha. Anyway a great job by the team in getting the kids to do some colouring and spotting-the-difference (which became colouing template in the end coz it was too tough! Haha). But I was so glad that the kids enjoyed what I prepared for them, and also a big thanks to the teachers for helping out a great deal! =D

First Weekend Break: Trekking and Ayam Penyet!

The TV Tower!

Me on top of the TV tower!

It's the first weekend and we'd decided to do some trekking up a nearby hill where the TV tower was. We got to climb up the super tall TV tower! Through the trek, I got the most ever number of mosquito bites per unit time - in the 20s. Haha. But it was really fun singing our way up the hill. And climbing up the TV tower was even scarier. But once u get to the top, everything seemed worth while. The view was breath-taking. I could see the entire Mount Hope Training Centre from there, as well as the entire town of Balaikarangan. Awesomeness. Anyway a refreshing morning indeed.

For lunch, we decided to give ourselves a good treat - Ayam Penyet at a local stall. The chilli was super spicy, but super nice. Teared while eating it, but it was just too good. The Kampong Chicken was awesome too. Haha. Anyway I think we enjoyed all the retarded games (which Sid introduced) we played at the table more than anything else - and the loser had to eat quite a bit of the super potent chilli (while we hid the bottles of water =D).

Christmas Celebration!

Just a bit later on that evening, the people at Mount Hope had their annual Christmas and the programmes people (which includes me =D) had organised a sing and dance segment with the people there as well. 

Xiying with the balloons!

I would really like to thank the Orion team for being so sporting and actually learning to make sculpture balloons and making an awesome 200+ of them to give to the people. I know many of you all had to endure the bursting balloons and the fear of twisting and turning the balloons, but you guys were simple awesome! Just by looking at the kids faces, you could really tell how thoroughly they enjoyed themselves. 

Dance rehearsal!

Christmas Party!

And many thanks to the team for being so enthusiastic that night (and throughout the entire trip), and the performance was a roaring success!

Staff Interaction!

Chicken Rice!

Jeremy and gang prepared Hainanese Chicken Rice for the staff at Mount Hope, which was delicious and the staff enjoyed it thoroughly as well. I think that its really thoughtful of them to think of cooking for the staff. I think food transcends all boundaries and they can really feel the love and appreciation that we put into preparing the food for over 50 people.

Many of us tried very hard to interact with the staff over almist every meal and I think its really a job well done for the team. And when language barrier's a problem, hand signs work best! Haha. At least that's what I've learnt through this trip. And you will be surprised at how appreciative others will be of you if you put in the little bit of effort to try to learn their language. Great learning experience indeed.

Damn awesome shot by Adeel!

After that Programmes team planned a bit of fireworks for the staff and kids at Mount Hope. Apparently they were much more experienced in playing with them so yupz, a million thanks to the many kids who helped me with the fireworks. And the display was awesome. Had a really fun night indeed!

Construction Work!

Rehab Team!

Rehab Team Again!

Bumming after loads of hardwork!

On somedays we're so shag and wet that we do stupid things =D

But at the end of the day, we (especially johnny) still love our sieving machine!

We left our mark at the place! 

Tree Planting!

Was part of the Rehab Team for construction and our main job was repairing the many damaged pathways, drains, planting trees and whatnot there. Really really tough work, especially for the girls with lots of digging and sieving of the sand. But awesome job team! Big thanks to Kean (Boss), Adeel (2nd Boss), Johnny (Foreman) and the team, Jiamei, Vionna, Winnie, Xiying, Shin Yen, Tze Yuen, Xia Lang, Mei Xian, Kok Ann for the hard work. I'm sure we're damn proud of what we've achieved in this short period of time! =D

Sid's favourite concrete mixer!

Step 1 with the team name carved into it =D

Staircase!

And in the true spirit of teamwork, we went on to help the staircase team and the final product was sometime all of us were so proud of. The staircase team was plagued with much difficulties but the amount of flexibility and tenacity that the team exhibited was just awesome. Big thanks to Linda and Wenying for being such good leaders. =D (Oh and by the way in this pic we were preparing for the visa dance! Haha. Will probably upload it once jeremy's done with the editing. Haha!)

Telematch/Dance!

We also organised a telematch for all the kids. We played Captain's ball and it was great fun indeed! Credit has to go to Mei Xian for getting the names of all the kids and organising them into groups for the games. We had lots of fun despite the rain and stuff. But as the rain poured to heavily, we switched to our wet-weather plan - dance!

We taught them our Christmas mass dance which they enjoyed so much. The rain dampen our plans, but it sure didn't dampen our spirits! Khai and Xiying are amazing to be able to multi-task and teach the kids the dance. I'm sure the kids enjoyed it as much as we did! =D

Soccer!

Don't be fooled, these kids are pros. And the ground is super muddy! =X

Team Spirit!

The super co-ordinated Orion Lady's Team!

Soccer game at the indoor Futsal court!

To the people at Mount Hope, soccer's like part and parcel of everyday life. You can see them engaging in friendly soccer games everyday and we decided that that's a good way to interact with them. Yupz, so we regularly have friendly soccer games with them. Oh we did not stop at soccer. We had captain's ball and stuff so everyone could join i the fun. Obviously we were always losing, but that's not the point. The most important thing's that all of us had fun, and sure we did. =D

Prayers! 

Although I'm not a Christian like the kids and staff at Mount Hope are, I really appreciate their prayer sessions. They cordially invite us and although we do not pray like they do, it is just amazing to see how devoted these people are to their religion. So much belief and trust. It's inspiring. Oh and we celebrated Mingzhe's 22nd there as well. Awesome.=D

Balaikarangan!

Yikes! Goldfish Rice! =X

The town's really old, resembling 1960's Singapore. But the people there were really helpful. I think they knew that there was a bunch of Singaporean students entering the area so they were extremely understanding to our lack of proficiency of Bahasa. The town sold nothing more than some basic necessities, but I guess that's enough for the locals. Things there, especially food items are super cheap, but there are some items that are even more expensive than in Singapore. e.g. football, watermelon! LOL. I guess these stuff are imported so that should explain the price - luxury items. 

Donni and Yuli!

At Donni and Yuli's place!

Donni and Yuli leaving for a short trip back home!

They are the 2 nicest people I've ever come across. Right from the start, they were the first 2 people that greeted us and they are ever so helpful during our stay at Mount Hope - from preparing us simple but delicious and morale boosting tea breaks, to meals. One night, they invited us over their place. Although its only a small place, they were so warm and hospitable. And it was a really good bonding night for the team. Really had an enjoyable night there!

The Little Things that Made All the Difference!

The super cute kitten!

The dog which trained all the other animals to run like it -_-"

Once again, the goat that runs like a dog -_-"

The Last...!

The Last Sunset!

The Last Dinner

The Last Day!

The last sunset was just awesome! And so was the last night. As you know the kids there aren't rich, and meats for them were indeed luxurious. But on the last night, they prepared us a feast of BBQ fish and chicken. I was so touched! It was especially delicious coz it represented the people's efforts and love. *goosebumps*. And on the last day, it was so touching to have everyone left at Mount Hope to send us off. They went the extra mile and sent us all the way to the Malaysia-Indonesia Border lah. So touched! Oh and I'm gonna miss Craig and Linda as well. They are the only 2 ang moh's in the photo. They're retirees from New Zealand and they are doing some social and technical work in the area. Lovely people. Had a really eye-opener talking to them and thanks them for teaching me so much! =D

R&R

Our R&R was in Kuching instead. It's a nice place, it's more like 1990 Singapore at best. Still pretty under-developed, but the things are really much cheaper! Haha. Big thanks to Chris's dad for providing the accommodation for us. We really enjoyed our stay at Kuching. And so we went holidaying for a day...

Kuching Laksa!

Some shopping! (wan ren mi! =D)

K-Box!

In the largest K-Box room with the most number of people ever!

And definitely out to irritate Wei Long!

Lady Boss in action!

Oh and not forgetting Movie! Johnny's expression is epic!

And finally penning down some thoughts we had about each other through this trip

The Super Big Pow for my last breakfast for the trip! =D

Overall I've gotta say that this trip is really a great experience for me. I've learnt so much from every single member of Orion and I really appreciate everyone on the team. Oh and I really appreciate what you guys painstakingly wrote on my reflection booklet. It's really nice of you guys. Thanks to my buddies from the Orion Programmes Team - Gim Hoe, Wei Long, Tze Yuen, Khai and Xue Wei (back home)! And bunk buddies Kok Ann, Pei Wei, Choon Keat, Sid (Sha Bi! =X) Xia Lang, Adeel! And special thanks to my good buddies Gim Hoe, Wei Long, Kok Ann, Pei Wei for being such great friends! A big thank you to you guys for making my first OCIP trip such a meaningful one! Starting to miss you guys already! Haha

Finally...

Yay. End of semester 1. Time really flies but yupz, I guess it would be good to reflect a bit about the modules I have taken this semester.

MA1505 Mathematics I
Ok this is a relatively simple module refreshing knowledge from A level Math plus a bit more.. provided your not a careless person (like me..=( ). But the lecturer Prof Koh is the best lecturer I've ever seen. He's really interesting with all the funny comments and illustrations, and these are the things that help you remember math. His lectures are mostly full house, but because of the weird lecture timing, I ponned most of the lectures. Oops. =X Both midterms and finals are of decent difficulty, but you really need to do them really fast! Oh and the cheat sheet didn't really help me though.

IT1005 Introduction to Programming with Matlab
For me, this module's an absolute nightmare. The labs are incredibly demanding and you have to hand in one lab each week. I'm not a computing person so I pretty much struggled with the module (and also because I didn't like it, so I didn't bother revising much..). The midterms are incredibly tough but the finals was not as bad (thank goodness..).The lecturers are ok. Dr Steven teaches all the super technical computing stuff, which is hell for me, while Dr Saif teaches the CHE applications of Matlab. One thing to highlight - Dr Saif's drawing is DAMN GOOD. Hahaha. Oh and the test/exam are open book, so no need to memorise all the syntax, etc.

EC1301: Principles of Economics
Supposedly a give away for peeps would took A levels economics. The first lecturer Dr Mondial teaches microeconomics, but is really monotonous so I pretty much skipped all his lectures. The second lecturer Dr Seeveratnam taught macroeconomics. She is really interesting so I diligently turned up for her lectures. The midterms are incredibly easy but i didn't know where I went wrong at coz they didn't return the papers. Finals was way harder, and I barely had time left after completing the MCQs. Everything's MCQs so that saves a lot of memory space for me.

WP2201H: Eating Right(s): The Politics of Food
This module is pretty slack. There's no lectures so lessons are carried out in a seminar style. The groups are really small (~9) so you get as much attention from the lecturer as you want. Haha. Basically I go to class and just talk about anything food related. The readings are pretty interesting, but they really long. For an engineering student, reading those articles can be quite a nightmare. Haha. The lecturer Dr Anu is really good and encouraging, giving us a lot of feedback for the essays we submit. And its an assignment based module so there's no exams! =D But the 3 essay assignments are very long and time-consuming. But since I liked the topic so it was pretty interesting module for me.

CN2121: Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
This module is one of my 2 favourite modules this semester. Dr Jiang teaches all the thermodynamic laws, heat systems, while Dr Yung teaches all the phase equilibria and chemical reaction equilibria. Overall, both lecturers are really good, especially during tutorials. This module is pretty much Math, with lots of derivation and stuff. Concepts are very interesting, especially Dr Yung's part on equilibria. Loved it. I screwed my midterms up very badly coz I thought too hard for something so simple, and because it was so simple that many people did very well. Finals was way harder, but I could pretty much complete it. So hopefully I don't get too bad a grade for a module that I enjoyed so much.

CN2122: Fluid Mechanics
The controversial module that saw me pit myself against the department. Oh whatever. I LOVED this module. This is the other module that I enjoyed the most this semester. The concepts seem so daunting at first, with such rigorous use of math. However, do tutorials diligently and everything becomes really standard. The lecturers are ok. Dr Ti teaches all the integral forms while Prof Chen taught all the differential forms of the equations. Tutorials are... zzZZ (coz I got the other TA). There are random pop quizes along the way which are pretty decent as long as you understand your concepts. Midterms and finals are equally super duper tough, partially because there are so many high weightage MCQs (I suspect the lecturers are very lazy people.. Oops). Do or die. Haha. And this module taught me the art of open book exams. The moment you frantically open your book to refer to, you are pretty much in trouble le. Haha.

Overall, although I took 6 modules this semester, the workload is surprisingly manageable! I may consider taking a bit more next semester, but that all depends of results =X Anyway exams are finally over so its about time I give myself a break and enjoy the many better things in life!

Yesterday I attended the Keppel CEO talk after my exams before going off to celebrate Bernard's birthday. Haha. Really tiring day but I really enjoyed it.

Today woke up early (and really sleep-deprived) to get to school to settle the OCIP stuff. YAY, I'm leaving for Indonesia on Monday! Hahaha. So exciting. My first OCIP trip and I really hope that it would be a really fun and meaningful trip. Gotta start packing my stuff! Haha.

So that's about it for now. Will be back on the 21st! (Exam results day!!! =X)

Bum

Yes I know it's the exams period. But it's just after EC1301! And how can I ever bring myself to study on a beautiful Saturday night?! Haha. Ok it's just an excuse for me to bum around coz I just feel like bumming around.  Alright EC was slightly harder than I expected, and made a few blunders here and there, and some of the questions were really weird. Oh well. I think I did decent so hope things turn out that way. Haha.

Anyway I received an email to ask me to get my CN2122 quiz from the CHE office. And so I did that without checking whether the CHE office was even open coz I totally forgot that today's a Saturday! And I peeped through the door (actually I don't have to do this coz the door was... clear -_-") and I saw the whole stack of papers at the counter! So near yet so far. LOL. Sian. Wasted trip. And I had to climb up the stupid hill for nothing. =( Anyway it's ok, lesson learnt. Exams can take place on Saturdays, but the offices are CLOSED.

I totally don't have the exam feel now. I just feel like bumming around... like I always do anyway. =D

Ok I think tomorrow's an auspicious day enough for me to start doing some Math for MA1505 on Tuesday.

YawnzZZ -_-"

Opportunities

Ok just came back from the Shell industrial visit yesterday. It's a timely break from my intensive revision and yeps, it was a really interesting trip. Or rather, it's really an eye-opener for me to see for myself what a real world-class petrochemical plant looks like. It's really.. wow. But yupz, I'm more motivated than ever to work at Shall after I graduate. And my choice in specializing in petroleum aka process engineering is the perfect choice for me. Suddenly, I can see that whatever I'm learning in school is of 100% use to me when I get out there to work in a chemical plant. Mass transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics.. they are all like part and parcel of life working in a chemical plant. The common saying that whatever you learn in school is irrelevant once you get out to work is seriously not applicable to engineers. So technical, so exciting. Haha. And the working environment seems so enticing (ok not the ferry though... )! And in the last post I was somewhat questioning my decisions in life - I'm now very sure that the best decision I made in life is to take the leap of faith and choose chemical engineering over chemistry.

Sometimes, having too much opportunities creates headaches as well. All of a sudden, I feel like I'm flooded with tonnes of opportunity but I can't have everything I want. Maybe I'm being overly ambitious. I want to optimise my experience while I'm still in school, but at the same time, I'm doing things to restrict myself. Such an irony. But I really need to settle down after my exams to straighten out my thoughts - about what I want to do and what I have to forgo in order to those things that I want. One good example would be Industrial attachment. Should I sacrifice summer programme,  overload my overloaded semesters, and shorten my exchange just to go for it? So many things I have to consider. Sometimes it really helps to have someone experienced to talk to. I'm still not talking to my mentor because he's so rigid. Every time I try to request for some flexibility, he turns them down without giving a good reason, or even discussing with me. Yupz, so I have to find other avenues to do so. But yupz, I shall not bother too much about this now and just focus on my exams. Yikes! Econs this saturday! =(

Oh and one last thing. I'm done with my SEP application. Placed Imperial as my first choice and UIUC as my second. Hope I get it =D

Coming to the end...

Wow, it's been a good 1 month since I blogged. Haha. Life's been really busy, with the endless tutorials, essays and presentations to complete. WP is really sucking up all my time, which could be better used somewhere else, like brushing up on my CN modules. Haha, Anyway this semester's coming to a close really soon. All my lecturers completed their modules' syllabus already, so basically its like 2 weeks of reading week for me. BUT there's 2 upcoming presentations this week, one for WP tmr, and the other is for Matlab. Hmm.. Somehow I feel a bit too relaxed despite the fact that I have 2 presentations this week. (Actually I'm using the time for resting between rehearsals to type this.) -_-"

But yeps, this semester is ending but somehow I'm really worried for my grades. It's not that I did really badly for anything (ok, maybe one module.. =( ), but I'm just unsure if it's good enough? I'm not sure why I'm feeling this way, but it's just this great sense of uncertainty is getting on my nerves. I suspect its because my Programme Prof is giving me so many opportunities that I will really terrible if I screw my sem 1 up. Haiz. I dun like this feeling. It's actually making me question my choices in uni so far. Haiz.

What to do? Life still needs to go on.

Back to rehearsing my WP -_-zZZ