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??!!