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 ... :-)