CEP

Well, this is what I have been doing for the past 5 days. What is CEP? Unlike the ordinary Olympic Games whereby athletes come, compete and leave, the first Youth Olympic Games has a unique feature : All the athletes are going to stay throughout the competition regardless of the status of their events. Therefore giving them time to experience the culture in Singapore. Culture and Education Programme (CEP) will organise activities to allow the young athletes to learn about culture and other aspects of their careers. There are currently more than 50 activities planned out, and more to go. These include Networking workshop, Career workshop, Chat with Olympians, Island Adventure, Community Projects etc.

Sounds monotonic?

Ya. The organising committee fed us with this information throughout the whole 5 days ....

Anyway, for your information, I volunteered as a CEP programmer. CEP training camp which I attended comprised of 60 local programmers and 30 Young Ambassadors from all around the world. But the training camp was amazing. It was totally a different level of fun. We got to meet so many 'Big Shots' so to speak.

The part where I like the most is the 'Chef de Mission Dinner' (French) = Chief of Mission Dinner. Everyone dressed up formally (more formal than prom I think). Each of us is allocated to one table seated with 9 other Chef de Mission from other countries. This gave us a first-hand experience in networking with people of different cultural backgrounds while trying to promote CEP. This was the first time I had a French full 6-course meal (as opposed to the 9-dishes Chinese style meal). Half of them tasted weird .... like they used herbs from another planet but the rest was awesome ! The dish I love most was the raw lobster (with some weird sauce) .... and the Lemongrass Ice Cream !!!! Omg .... I wished I could taste that again. As much as I want to blab about what we did everyday, I couldn't as it would take forever to out them in words. Fortunately, we have a video recording :

We went out with a few Young Ambassadors to Balmore Plaza for chicken rice and ice cream.

Marcus (CEP), Patricia (Brasil), Quienken (Trinidad), Sophia (Paraguay), Pamela (CEP), Elise (Australia-Gold medalist in Sailing in Beijing Olympic), yo, Brendan (CEP), ZQ (CEP), Eun He (Korea)

Random shot. Red=CEP. White=Young Ambassador.

Chef de Mission Dinner. My new found sister - Jess (CEP)

My favourite food of the day - Raw lobster with WEIRD sauce.

My table during CdM Dinner
Robin (CdM New Zealand), Cicil (CdM Seychelles), yo, al-Khairi (CdM Afghanistan), Ansari (CEP), Shannon (YA Papa New Guinea), Kolo (IT Officer of IOC), Jessy (CdM France), ***** (Executive Secretary from Papa New Guinea)

Me and Marios (Young Ambassador from Cyprus). He is an Olympic Cyclist.

Sophia (Young Ambassador from Paraguay aka my Spanish teacher) y Yo

Yo, Mr. Ng Ser Miang ( VP-NOC Singapore), Pamela (CEP)

al-Khairi (CdM Afghanistan) and I ... hmm ... Hands wrapping ??? I guess it is their culture gua ...

Another group photo.

Press conference with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, Jacques Rogge

Picture with Mr. Rogge (IOC President) and Mr. Ng (VP of NOC Singapore)

My favourite!!! Hippo bus ride ... we were cheering throughout the trip from Marina Bay all the way to Chinatown .... Cool !!!!!

Pictures with my dearest CEP and Singapore YOG Mascots (Lyo & Merly)

To be honest, I don't feel I deserve this spot as a volunteer because all the other CEP people got lots of credentials .... while ironically I think I am the only Malaysian who applied. That's why they chose me gua ??? Anyway, I am really grateful to be a part of this experience ....

PS : I love my Birthday GIFT .... thanks for all that you have done ... :-)

Away

Tomorrow CEP camp is starting. No laptop, no internet = no communication. Well, treat it as a 5 days break la ... good news is : I am going to attend a dinner with some Singaporean Ministers and the Deputy President of Singapore ... although I have no idea what his name is ...

Anyway, I also feel terrible about some things:
1. W** H** - Can't go to your performance and celebrate your birthday .... But I have given our tickets to my friends so they will cheer for you la ...

2. *** M** - Your roommate won't be around this weekend. So take good care of yourself and don't get too stressed about CBC211 ... :-)

Adios!

Working on NTU Open House 2010

Last Saturday was NTU Open House. In obligation to IPhone, I worked throughout the day for a couple of extra bucks. Turns out that there was so much fun I didn't want it to end. Just talking to the lecturers (as their colleagues as opposed to students) is a totally different experience. Not to mention chatting with my current/future Teaching Assistant (who have control over the fate of my experiments) ... And I met another Malaysian TA who was also working with me ....


Well, I was in charge of the 'Slime" booth. 10 hours of experiment was so tiring. On the bright side, seeing people get stunned by what we did was awesome. The experiment was a demonstration of a special kind of fluid which defies common Fluid Law, it is known as Non Newtonian fluid... I reacted the same way (if not more) when I first did the experiment. Best thing is, now that I had the recipe, I could actually do it at home .... can cheat small kids ...lol


Now I shall let the pictures talk.

We started working as early as 830am. Pasting and preparing the sign boards.

NTU Open House 2010 starts!

My experiment partner (she is in Year4). Making slime ....

Don't they look lovely?

Just use your hands to give it a good squeeze ...

And release it ... TATA !!!!

Other experiments from my school include Ice Scream aka making ice cream from liquid nitrogen ...

Yes it is. It is EDIBLE ... few of us tried it and still came to school today ...

Banana hammer. 30 seconds in liquid nitrogen, a banana becomes a hammer.


My Modern Principles of Chemistry lecturer. Nothing like how she was in class ....

As usual, we worked overtime that day. I was actually quite surprised as my supervisor actually paid us overtime money ...

Anyway, right after the event, I went back to my room, bathed and went out to Jurong Point with my girlfriend and her high school friends. We had dinner at Swensens. Food was exquisite. And from what I heard so far, I can still fake a good first impression after all .... lol ...

What an amazing day. Gotta sleep.

2 months anniversary

Can you believe it? Today is our second month anniversary. Need I say more?

Anyway, today I have finally finished my mid-term exam..... wait ... not yet. Still have Spanish, but I have 2 weeks time to prepare for it. Shouldn't be a big problem. I am also watching 'Yo Soy Betty la fea' ( I am Betty the ugly ) online, hopefully can get used to Spanish spoken daily before my Listening Test comes ( which is in a month !!! )

CEP !!!

CONGRATULATIONS to me !!! LOL ... perasannya ... I just found out I was shortlisted for CEP (Culture & Education Programme) 2010. Haven't heard of it? So was I. In short, it is a programme that will 'supposedly' inculcate some values ... bla bla bla ... AMONGST THE YOUNG ATHELETES IN YOUTH OLYMPIC 2010 !!!!

Well, of course it comes with a price. I had to participate in their training programme from 20th to 25th March (6 consecutive days) and devote my August to the programme. While doing so, I am going to :

1. miss 4 days of class.... can't even imagine what that will do to me. I also found out I have Spanish mid term during the camp.

2. miss Wei Han's guitar performance .... haih ... I hope I have time to tell him later. Not good finding it out through my blog. Anyway, my girlfriend and Guat Sim will go and support him....

3. miss my FIRST 20+ birthday .... T_T .... officially old now.

Haih. It is a really great exposure. Not to mention it will light up my resume... ( Yer... talking like job-hunting adults ... CONFIRMED OLD ... ). I guess I can only do this in Year 1....

IPhone Crave

Haih ... I've been having this craving since last year .... I want an IPod, a camera, a better handphone, a mobile internet ........ and now I can have all of them in ONE ...

IPHONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Current price in Singapore (without a plan) is about SGD1000 !!!!!!! omg ... almost same in Malaysia ... Actually, I was quite determined to buy it after Chinese New Year. But I heard news that this model will have a drastic fall in price by the end of the year as another new model is coming out.... the wait is killing me ....

So many people are using it. On the street, on billboards, in the MRT even in class I'll see people sliding the screen around ...... ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH ..... It is a miracle I have survived 2 weeks since the WITHDRAWAL symptoms start ...lol

As much as I would like to follow my heart, I have also heard how fragile it can be. And the maintenance won't be cheap. Not to mention I basically work my butt off this semester for nothing. Everything will go into this phone. Haih ... so many things are holding me back ....

Let's hope my withdrawal will subside soon. Or else.... a 15 minutes bus and one swipe of NETS card (something like a debit card in Singapore) I'll end up with an IPhone. Isn't it just freaky how easy shopping can be nowadays?

De Paris Con Amor

Lol ... it is a direct translation of 'From Paris With Love' ... My girlfriend and I went to Jurong Point (A nearby shopping mall) to have dinner and catch up this movie. Love the action. Not extremely excited with the storyline. Love the casts (John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) ... she is in love with Meyers ... now I know her taste in men ... lol

This week is recess week. Wei Han flew all the way back to you-know-who last Saturday already. Left me behind. Alone. Well, maybe not alone ....lol. Anyway, I couldn't go back to Malaysia because I have work and a lot of mid term studying to do. I also make a date with my dearest grand piano for 10 HOURS !!!! ( 2 hours per day for all the weekdays ... : ) ... almost everyone is back home, so I can have it to myself .... )

Today is March already. End of next month then my first year in NTU is done. Haih ... I could still remember so clearly how E*** S***, E***** G**, A** J**** and maybe M*** J*** S****** (I'm not too sure about the last one ... pardeno ...) sent me off at KL Sentral ... now most of my A level friends have gotten into universities ... but they could still meet up quite often ... 羡慕死人 ... no worries ... July will come soon ...

My mom's birthday is coming soon. She is quite particular about everyone being there on her birthday. So far no one dared to miss it. Except for me. First time was NS. Couldn't do anything about it. And now ..... well ... lazy ad broke ...lol

All the best to all those studying !