Exploration I Retest and 人日 Celebration!

At last, after a torturous three month wait, we are finally given the chance to re-take our Exploration I test.  A 15km hike route ending at the Visitor Centre of Bukit Timah Hill.

Just when we thought we had it easy and escaped further ordeals, we were given one last MGR.  It was the Bukit Timah Hill Summit, 163.63m above sea level.  We charged forward with the end in mind.

After the last section of climbing up the Bukit Timah Hill, we had a Yu Sheng Ceremony with the Ventures and Leaders. We had a whale of a time, using chopsticks to lift up the Yu Sheng as high as possible.  We also took the opportunity to celebrate the birthdays of the January boys with a cake that had no candles.

The Birthday boys were happy and glad that their birthday was celebrated with Scouts.  I know I was.  It was a great experience venturing around new areas through our hike.  What an eventful day!

Young Aviator Course

We went to Scout HQ for the pilot Young Aviator Course for Cub Scouts on 14 January 2012.  We are honoured to be the first batch of Cubs attending the course where we learnt the history of air planes and about the different parts of an aeroplane.

After that we had a mini competition.  We were grouped with different people from different schools and had to work together to make a paper aeroplane that could fly the furthest. Although my group lost, it is okay because we had fun and made new friends in the process. 

After lunch, we had a field trip to Changi Airport Terminal 3's Aviation Gallery. It has many information panels about planes which we used to complete a worksheet.  We have to search for the answers within the gallery. 

When this was done, we had to travel by SkyTrain to to Terminal 2's Aviation Gallery where we also did a similar worksheet.  It was a wonderful trip and fun course.  I am looking forward to receiving my badge!


More photos on Facebook.

Total Defence Proficiency Badge Silver

Each year on 15 Febuary, we commemorate Total Defence Day, which marks the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942.  In the Total Defence Proficiency Badge Course, we are reminded again of the importance of self-reliance in our defence and the role that everyone plays in it.

We learnt the specifics of Military, Civil, Economic, Social and Psychological Defence both at the national and individual levels.  About how our government and its agencies are protecting the people of Singapore, while asking us Singaporeans to play our part.

We now appreciate our country a lot more, and are prepared to do all we can in collaboration with our government and the community to promote and protect Total Defence.

We are to complete some projects before we can be awarded the Total Defence Proficiency Badge.

The First Meeting Of The Year The World Was Supposed To End

2012 kicked off on 7 January for Soaring Eagles Open Scout Group.  Most of the Secondary 1s had activities in our respective schools so we met at 1230 hrs. We helped to pack up the Scout Den, moving all our equipment from the various places into a new centralised storage in the Den.  Serpent had also designed a section for us to hang our uniforms during our weekend meetings.

Soon, it was time for lunch - we had pizza before engaging in the cohesion games.  It was a good time for us to strengthen our brotherly bonds.  We had not met for over a month now.  We played Rollick which was a kind of reverse charades.  Two "guessers'' from each patrol remained while the rest of the patrol must engage in "acting out" the words.   After a few practice rounds, the patrols competed against each other.

We were particularly impressed with Beaver who was the only leader who was game enough to join our team.  Unfortunately, Eagle patrol emerged the winners.

After the competition, some of us played Munchkin while the rest of us continued playing Rollick but we were the "actors" while the two ventures, Sampson and Dominic pit their vocabulary to the test.

We left each other that day having shared lots of laughter and I'm sure we were even closer than before.

5th Cub Scout Camporee 2011 - Western Australia (Day 3)

Only Day 3 is posted here.  For more reports and photos, refer to Cub Scout Camporee Blog or individual day logs:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, Day 5 and Day 6.

We woke up early this morning to have breakfast at 7.00 a.m. and to meet the Australian cub scouts 8.00 a.m. for the flag break ceremony. Each Singaporean cub scout was paired with an Australian Cub Scout for the day's activities. They were separated into their respective troops and departed for the activity stations that not only fostered bonding between the Cubs, but also trained them in their confidence, physique and leadership.

CRATE STACK

TREKKING THROUGH THE FORESTS OF MANJEDAL

TUNNELS

CANOPY AERIAL RUNWAY

ARCHERY

Everyone had an opportunity to experience all six stations. The activity ended at 4.00 p.m. Lunch was held at the dining hall in between the activity, depending the efficiency of each troop.

Everyone was allowed to rest until dinner time as we were all very tired. In between, many Scouts gathered together to do trading of Scouting collectibles at Trading Post. Many were excited and enthusiastic about trading, a traditional Scouting hobby.

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After an Australian BBQ dinner,  we had an Australian/Singaporean Scout Campfire. We sang many scout songs from both Australia and Singapore, sharing different songs with each other. It was a very unique campfire, a campfire shared between two different cultures. Although it was a tiring day for our cubs, they still managed to salvage enough energy to enjoy the campfire.

SE Annual Christmas Partae 2011!!

It has been an eventful year and we opted to celebrate the year end festivities quietly in a secluded pool at Bishan Point Condominium.  We had fun and games with great barbecue food.  It was a sacred time shared between brothers.  Even our long lost brother, Ada turned up, armed with a gift.  We spent time chatting about the fond memories we shared in the year.. and indeed we had many.

As usual, the day would conclude with the annual ritual of presents exchange in the form of "Evil Santa".  Thank God for 2011.  May 2012 bring us many more good memories.  ;)

Merry Christmas, brothers.

Compliments of the Season!

Wishing all a blessed Christmas and happy holidays filled with lots of good cheer and laughter!

SE Endeavour Year End Camp 2011

The camp started off with the marked absence of Day 0 for campstaff.  It was the first time we were going to have a year end camp in Endeavour Primary so the camp staff were looking forward to a nice cozy camp to get to know the Cubs of the newest SE Group in the family.

The camp staff met in the school at about 1200 hrs and joined in the teacher's year-end buffet celebration.  It was only a couple of hours before the Cub Scouts were scheduled to arrive, so we quickly breezed through the Day 1 briefing and our roles with the Camp Chief.  We had a large number of Junior Camp Staff who were to be trained under each department head.

After the briefing, all of us chipped in to help prepare and set up the equipment, changed into our uniforms and the facilitators were out, positioned at the gates and canteens to guide the Cubs to the gathering area. After that, we took their attendance and then were introduced to the camp staff with Hidayat and Bear being the Camp and Assistant Camp Chief respectively.

After introductions, the Camp Participants were led to the parade square to have a small ice breaker which  we had until the bus arrived which was supposed to take us to the McDonalds outlet at Woodlands Point where we would have a tour of the kitchen followed by our lunch which comprised of a happy meal for the participants.

When we got back, the participants were led by their facilitators to plan for their gangshow while waiting for Serpent and Ryan to get ready their lecture on food hygiene as the Cubs are also fulfilling the requirements for their Food Watch badge.

They had an enjoyable time creating their own sandwiches and designing new tastes and flavours while earning their Food Watch Proficiency. After their Sandwich Making, they played some games in the hall held by our Game ICs. They had a blast playing the games the campstaff came up with. After their fun time at the games, they did their final preparations for their gangshow while Serpent and the ventures were preparing the Barbecue.

After the Barbecue, everyone was sent to take a shower and debrief before lights out.

Day 2 started of with a quick layout for the Cubs while the others prepared everything that is required for flag break and breakfast. After a rushed breakfast, the cubs and facilitators went on the buses that had arrived and took us to Yishun Junior College where the instructors there taught us the ways of le'archer.

The campers had a great time there and loved shooting arrows and their targets. They later blew balloons and pinned them to the target boards and were instructed to shoot them. Many of them were able to shoot down the balloon targets while some were a little off the balloon targets. The results were out and everybody was exhausted and breathless after eing under the sun for several hours. The archery was over and the bus was waiting for us.

After they were ready for their gangshow, they had their dinner and changed into their uniforms and then it was showtime!  The day ended with a fabulous campfire where all present witnessed the bestowing of Scout names on Hidayat (Harbinger Fox) and Iskander (Mercurial Woodpecker).  Serpent said that the scout names given to scouts would reflect the scout's personality and behaviour. After giving scout names, both patrols were sent to have supper of biscuits and milo. After supper, patrols were sent to have their bath and did their reflection before lights were out.

As usual, Day 3 was full of fun and games.  Everybody was having fun and throwing water balloons everywhere. They had a whale of a time and they would regard this as the most exciting day of the camp. After wet telematches, we had to do area cleaning as we were living up to a common phrase of the scouts wherever we go ''Clean as you go''. They cleaned the places they had used over the past few days. After the area cleaning, the Cub Scouts were assembled at the canteen for the prize presentation. The best camper prize goes to John from patrol Slithereen. The best patrol award goes to patrol Gryffindor and the champion of the wet telematch coneball goes to Group 3.

The camp was called to a close after prize giving and debrief.

As a Camp Chief, I learned that I have to prepare things before hand so we do not screw up the day for the whole camp and we must be alert of what's happening, or else we wouldn't know what to do next and we would sometimes realise that the games may not make sense or is unreasonable and unreliable.  Everything we do, we must give our very best.

More photos on Facebook at Part 1, Part 2.

This post was written jointly by Md Ada and Noor Hidayat.