My New year Resolutions & Targets for 2007:

Now to achieve them. Hello 2007! May it be an enjoyable year for all!

Its time again, reflection time! Oh yea with that in hand I guess I hadn’t had the opportunity to wish everybody (and on a rather late note) a very happy Merry Christmas 2006, Selamat Hari Raya Haji and a very Happy new year.

Alot has happened since I came back, namely greeted by new of Singapore flooding around the Thompson area, good thing my family didn’t do our pre-christmas shopping there like what we did last year. What’s more this month also marks the most amount of rainfall in what 100 over years in Singapore? (if I didn’t get the facts wrong). Saddam didn’t get to see 2007 and Thailand got 7 big explosions to welcome the new year.

Reflecting on last year’s resolutions to achieve, I didn’t exactly achieved all of them but with some twist and turns, I guess it would turn out to be, the resolutions I’ve last year:

To attain a study grant or scholarship: I did not qualify for one & sadly, academic excellence is not recognized as part of the selection it’s all bursaries. There are no other open scholarships for the year without a bond & awards solely based on good grades. However, the only thing I got was an unexpected book prize presented to me by the director MM during the final year assembly at the convention center recently for topping the cohort in the IDEAs module. And damn! one prize can only be issued per student, if not I wish I could have walked away with 16…. Be Fitter & Leaner To clock at least 30km a week since April 2006 (when I started my weekly running log), having a logged millage of 742.39km till today. Also ran a half (AHM) and full marathon (SCM) this year. Maintain my BMI (20.8 now) Still around 21.3… not too far off… Maintain my cumulative GPA at 4.0 Yes it’s still at 4.0, this semester’s exams are coming soon… ekk! Do better in my $$ Business $$ I recalled one of my teachers teaching entrepreneurship saying: “for students, a good source of side-income will definitely be e-commerce”. Man hell is he true… not to mention a very good source of passive income. Business is good & I will bring it further next year. Better Time Management I now not only manage school and personal projects, but work too. Moreover, I am currently managing 4 project groups in 4 different modules as team CEO & strangely I kinda enjoy it, so is my team. Definately you don’t need a PhD in Management to do that.

2006 was a good year for my family & me. May 2007 be a more prosperous and safe year for all of us.

24th Dec Sunday- The days just seem to pass by faster and faster, this is the last day in Medan, Indonesia, also our rest day where we get to do sightseeing and shopping. Got out of bed 8am local time which means about 6 hours of sleep from the last night (where many got less having BBQ overnight).

Good I bathed last night too when the heater was working, contrary to Chenling, my roommate who kept complaining about bathing last night in icey chilled water and the cold highlands- best combination. By passed all the morning toilet madness with my personal water store of mineral water, whee planning goes a long way!

Interesting I have to share the experience of brushing teeth in Indonesia (or places where tap water is undrinkable) you have to stash water in a bottle and gurgle your teeth with it, and use tap water (not clean) to wash everything else, always rather confusing having take tap water as drinking water (and for granted) in Singapore.

What will we do with peili and lots of excessive jellys? Stuff them into her mouth of course, too bad she can only hold 6. Ok enough talk about this, lets get back to the agenda.

Visited the local market where I can finally spent all the remaining money I had left before flying off, coupled with Lisa’s dad bargaining skills it’s the best combination for a load of souvenirs - keychains, accessories, and wear-ables.

Brastagi market	Horses & shops!	Pony rides!

One of the most interesting things we saw (besides the ever abundance of horse waste lined along the route) is the presence of a mobile KFC restaurant- Made out of 2 trucks back to back with a makeshift large mobile tent as the eating area. One truck is the mobile kitchen while the other is a cold store for food. We visited a Buddhist temple where we brought a gift bracket (with money shared from all of us) for Ann as a birthday present. Lunch was back at the in house resort where the elders go about deep frying all the remaining uncooked BBQ items to finish up so we can start packing and cleaning up the place before leaving.

Ning, Nesh, Malcolm and Pelili had pony rides back at the resort before wrapping up and heading back on our long bus trip to Kota, Medan. Lisa’s dad brought us to the highland hot springs, where added with sulphur, has medicinal healoing properties for skin.

Groupshot before departing	farewell dinner	bidding farewell at the airport

Farewell Medan
Back in sutomo, we gathered all our belongings and bid farewell before meeting up with the rotary president and the Medan rotary group on top of Lisa’s family who brought us to a nearby “fast food” restaurant (they call their eaterys “fast food” unlike back home) for dinner where we all chat heartily. However, looming over us is always the evident sad fact that as all meetings and trips, there will be always a departure - in a few hours time. We took countless number of photos for unrememberance at the departure hall, not to mention always thanking the host and the Medan rotary club and president for their hospitality during our stay in Medan. We bid farewell before boarding our flight on time. It’s back home for now.

This ends the chapter and last day of the Medan, Indonesia community service. It was a fulfilling trip with help & aid offered to various organizations, something just monetary support won’t be able to fully fulfill. Yes it may be demanding an tiring at some points but the end results in the end are extremely rewarding - something money can’t buy - like putting a smile on somebody’s face, spending time or brightening up someone’s day - it’s simply something priceless. Notably are the school and old folks home visit where our contributions greatly impact and goes in benefit for the locals. We can be rest assured that out efforts will indeed go a long way, for time to come.

Thats all folks, for now.

[ Trip Photo Album ]

23th Dec Saturday - It bag packing time and we are heading to Brastagi! We were told to split our bags into 2 sets, one to bring up, the other left at home so we can pick it up on our way back tomorrow (& it beats carrying all our luggage up there too). Breakfast this time, is the beehoon version of the banana leaf breakfast we always had. Sleep felt funny, as if I had never slept but I can vaguely remember some dreams I’ve, which is a good thing as that means I’ve entered REM, no wonder I do not really feel so ‘dead’ had a bad heaty throat too but that cleared by with some throat clearing and drinking lots of water.

It was not till late morning where we made our way downstairs of sutomo where our charted bus for the day arrived - which was totally unexpected of us. Initially the plan was to travel for about an hour plus of the 3 hour journey before having lunch midway, but we had lunch in Kota instead as the Medan juvenile people arrived late, prompting us to have lunch at a nearby coffee shop (duck beehoon) where we waited. “People here, rubber time…” as said by Lisa’s dad as he came popping around with his vitamin-c evanescence tablets as our lunch beverage, similar to that we had on our first night in Medan. Our bus trip started after meeting up and greeting the Medan juvenile volunteers on the bus. Our trip saw us making our way through different towns and cities before climbing uphill, there came our first stop for the day, the orphanage.

The Brastagi Highlands	The scenery	foggy and cloudy but not too cold either

The scenery in the area is definitely a good break from the urban madness at home, with beautiful fir-like trees coupled with nice cool dry air. We were greeted by a burst of English architecture upon entering the compound. Something fresh and unique in a Muslim country. The place is all nicely laid out with a large big green garden at the front, with a brick red cottage/church sitting behind.

Orphanage Visit
There we were welcomed by the pastor of the catholic orphanage, Bethlehem Orphanage, where we were led through the area past the animal farms, food stores into the backyard where we were greeted by a school of children and young adolescents all sitting on wood stump seats laid out nicely in the rear court yard. Its interaction time with the kids again, not to mention making balloon sculpture and figures for the kids as well, they simply love the balloons. The only problem we had was the balloons tend to burst easier in the elevated highland being more rigid, but that didn’t stop us from putting a good show and balloon making performance for the kids as a whole. The kids here all come from a very poor background, (that’s one of the requirements to be accepted into the orphanage) having lost one or both parents here is where they live, work, farm and play. Funding the orphanage is money earned from the agricultural vegetable crops and meat sold to the slaughterhouses (they keep pigs there too) are used to run the orphanage operations as a whole. Very much a very self sufficient organization I say, with the kids at heart.

They are a happy bunch	Meeting the pastor	Interaction time!

The kids do understand basic English, making us rather dumbfounded trying to communicate in Malay at first, where they actually understand our English in the first place, we forgo games, given the limited space the court yard and stick to getting to know them and us better. The gathering ended with handshakes and personally issued gifts (commodity items such as sarong, etc) for everyone as whole. We were given a tour of the area by the pastor who brought us to the monkey cages, pig sty and the rabbit huts. Thereafter we were treated to tea and pastry before ending the visit with much commemorative thanks.

Overnight fellowship BBQ
We continued the journey up to the highlands passing by a few rather interesting landmarks an Aqua bottled water factory, not to mention scenery of endless green rolling hill covered by white clouds. We also tried the steamed corn served from the roadside stores during a bus pitstop - a nice smooth touch for sore throats in the highlands.

The resort is like a row of townhouses, all lined along the contours of the hilly highlands. There’s quite alot of such resorts in the vicinity, so I guess it’s a popular getaway for the locals. The lack of the BBQ pit prompted a need to build one, where we came prepared with bricks and wire meshes to construct our home made bbq pit, (not to mention after some serious engineering considerations to effectively employ bricks and wire mesh to build it & hold food, duh). Other interesting happenings are such as using the kitchen gas stove to light the charcoal (having forgotten fire starters, but then there came diesel accelerant). Then there’s my trademark chinchow dessert & Ning’s made fonde with bananas and raspberries. On top of the regular fillet, hotdogs and crabsticks. We celebrated Ann’s birthday in the wee of the night, with cheers and cake for all. Everyone on the trip also each received a souvenir Mayan pyramid each from the host as a gift. Coolies!

overnight fellowship BBQ!	Ning’s speciality chocolate fondue	Prize presentation

Luckily there’s hot water in the bath as well, with the exception of not very well maintained plumbing, bathing from a bucket of water is not that of a far cry either. Went out for midnight walk before turning in for the night, the climate is so cooling, there isn’t any air conditioning (not that we needed that at all), it’s cool to the extent of comfort and not that too cold either, it was a pleasant night.

[ Trip Photo Album ]

22th Dec Friday - Today would be the mental hospital day visit, for many it will be a first time experience stepping into one, coupled with all kinds of freaky stories Ning told us the day before. Breakfast was hokkein mee on banana leaf before embarking on about an hour’s long journey to the hospital which is situated in a rather remote rural area.

Mental Hospital Visit
Outside, it looks like any 2 floored building which could be mistaken for a school unless you notice the signs on it. There, we were introduced and brought round by Dr Wilson, the doctor on duty for the day. The patients were housed inside long houses lined along a central white tiled walkway, ranging from the ‘intermediate’ ward to the ‘advanced’ stage of mental unsoundness, where their controlled dosage of a drug to keep them sedated is being lowered as their condition improves. Sadly, a handful of the patients are more or less normal, but their families just refused to take them back. Then there are some who just got thrown in (some even recently) because of repeated family violence, deeming then as mental patients.

Dr Wilson	The long houses	stories from the patients

We get to interact and learn about some stories from the patients in the long houses, including the ones were deemed normal are allowed to roam the compound area freely. Some stories are rather touching while some are quite hard to believe, after all we must not forget that mental patients tend to be deficient in distinguishing reality from fiction, the realistic form the unrealistic, so there’s a degree of trust and belief we put into interacting with the patients (also as cautioned by Dr Wilson himself, besides also the possibility of being splat by patients). Nevertheless leaving the paranoia behind,

The place is a government funded hospital so everything there is more or less subsidized. There we were also introduced to the brain mapping and ECG rooms, a place for them to determine the degree of ‘brain unsoundness’ and the following treatment thereafter, ECG is more an equivalent of the Men-In-Black neutralizer - To wipe your mind clean of something (like an incident, thoughts of suicide, etc) for recovery.

Admin Time
The trip will end with a fellowship rotary BBQ on the last few days of the trip. Found some time as the end of the day for some shopping for the coming Sunday’s BBQ items at nearby Brastagi super market. It seems like BBQ shopping revisited - just like shopping for my track & field BBQ last week. At least my memory of required items, foodstuffs and accessories are still fresh in my head, allowing an accurate gauge of the needed amount of quantities for the needed target audience -29 people. Trademark items includes chinchow dessert, boneless chicken on top of the standard hotdogs, crabsticks & nuggets. Even Nig had plans for a chocolate fondue, prompting a raid at the chocolate sections. Nesh married to a 12kg box of Mangos which he’s gonna so heroically bring back home. Besides the lack of boneless fillet & seafood, (which will be purchased separately at carrefour later) there was a brief moment of Peili zipping around in the shopping trolley prompting some orderly attention by the guards, otherwise shopping was cool.

Had a long much needed rest back at home before heading to the rotaract president’s home for dinner at night. It’s surprising of her to invite again. We had home cooked food with a rather large spread - chilli crabs with fried buns, prawns on top of 2 kinds vegetables and fried sotongs on top of a rather motherload of dinner table chatting our group has (not to mention lameness and craptalk) courtesy our rather noisy, overly-entertaining, side-splitting but rather interactive members. As told by Lisa’s dad, the Rotary president just simply loves inviting and hosting dinners at her residence, it’s something which makes her happy and she deeply enjoys it. That is also why they too, try their best to frequent the president’s home for social gatherings- To keep her happy.

It will be a long day tomorrow…

[ Trip Photo Album ]

21th Dec Thursday - Woke up early in the morning, then it’s an hour plus trip out of Kota Medan to another neighboring smaller town where we encountered rather interesting padi fields and cow crossings upon reaching the rural area. Where the old folks home we are visiting for the day is located.

Old folks home visit
We were greeted by the caretaker at the home. Armed with face masks and latex gloves, we split ourselves in 2 groups- one caring for the elders themselves doing feet washing and pedicure while the rest will task ourselves to clean, sweep and mop the premises and their living quarters.

Free old folks home	A mission to clean the place	Including the elders themselves!

It was not easy cleaning up rooms which had not be kept in shape for years – and it’s not as easy as it sounds either, having to meet up with aged long accumulated clumps of lizard waste, cobwebs spilled urine/spit stools, prompting a water change for our mopping pails- which will all turn completely black right after cleaning one small room. Thanks to Lisa’s dad brought some scent/disinfectant tablet which he dissolved into the mopping water for a touch of hygiene and fragrance, also to rid the unbearable musky smell evident in a few rooms.

Many of the elders speak their mandarin dialects, which I personally understand and able to converse with, given my own grandparent’s naive language. We also get to converse with a few elders who were in their rooms during cleaning who kindly tell us about how appreciative they enjoy our company, besides sitting down for a casual chat or two, which I kinda have problems doing as I can only understand dialects but not good at speaking at all. But I guess actions speak louder than words - Mopped 6 rooms in all, a tiring yet full filling task given the happy smiles from the occupants.

sweeping, wiping and mopping the premises	The place is indeed dirty.	but the rewards at the end are priceless…

If only they could see me smile behind the mask (the one we wore when cleaning the area), we all have funny feelings, like a sign of happiness with company yet mixed with pity for them. I just feel that little bits like cleaning up their area and chatting with them - it’s just one of the things you can do in your abilities to make them feel better, given their situation (and mind you it don’t not always have to be monetary aid). The satisfaction you get from their response especially when you reveal your smile behind your face mask, it’s just little things like that which can make a person’s day.

Before leaving, Isabella’s dad chatted to us about the differences of Singapore old folks home and the one in Singapore. As it’s a trend back at home for parents to throw their parents into old folks home. In his opinion, he will never put his parents in a home and just leave or abandon them, even if it means buying a whole new home and employing maids ($150-200sing/mth) to care for them personally. As filial as it sounds, it’s very different back in Singapore though, it’s just too expensive. Furthermore given our pace of life, there are many contributing factors of the increased dominance old folks have in Singapore such as better healthcare and higher life expectancy.

After giving the place a whole clean up, we bid the elders farewell and left the place thereafter on our long journey back to the city of Medan.

Admin Time
On our journey back, took some time to reflect on the standard of living in Medan - it’s so much relatively lower than home. The average happy worker earn the equivalent of about $sing200-300/mth (in Singapore standards it’s something to be alarmed at) but with things very much cheaper here, it sufficiently adequate and would definately be beneficial to the poor as a whole. However, to the rich, sadly it’s a point of exploitation , thus the large rich poor gaps here. At least sanitation and water here is largely adequate and of a accpetable standard, thus reducing or eliminating such contributing factors leading to possible poverty here.

Our last stop for the day was the Medan wildlife museum for a visit. Showcased are an assortment of animal exhibits, spanning 2 floors and ranging from antelopes to a myriad of birds, bears and big cats, on top of a rather minute insect collection. Lined along the walls are all awards, certificates & photographs of the hunter (owner and founder’s) hunting trips around the world - A nightmare to any wildlife conservative- gunning down of majestic white rhinos, antelopes, big cats, all proudly displayed as exhibits and plaques line all along the walls. We met the founder halfway through the exhibits, where we chatted momentarily, he told us that he is based here and his wife, a Singaporean with their daughter studying in a Singapore University. Heh. We were given a goodie bag filled with 4 packet drinks each upon our exit thus finally justifying the high entrance fee.

Seafood dinner was courtesy of Lisa’s family at a coffee house. We had 2 types of fish on top of 2 dishes of vegetables and the usual fried sotong. There we even planned our next day visit to a local mental hospital and tied down the plans and confirmation for our arrival there tomorrow.

[ Trip Photo Album ]

20th Dec Wednesday – 8.30am (Medan Time) Woke up with feeling very sleepy after last night’s meeting, had only 6 1/2 hours of sleep. Recapping on the meeting from last night we tied down and finalized the tasks to do. The plan is to do origami & balloons for the primary school students chaired largely by the Peili, while the secondary students will do sport based activities, chaired by Nesh. It’s through some practice rounds where I discovered my rather interesting unfound talent making balloon sculptures, not that I’ve ever tried that before but I started to diversify and able to teach children not only how to draw and fold origami, but make balloon hats, giraffes on top of out door games. Breakfast was upsized meepok dry, courtesy of Lisa’s mum, interestingly it’s served on banana leaf. Later do I know observing on the streets where you can actually fold it and eat it with one holding hand, so that’s the practical purpose besides cosmetics.

Local School Visit
After a short car ride, we were greeted by the sheer energy of the children during recess upon arrival at the school yard. The visit started with us being introduced to the teachers in the admin area, where we where treated to bottles of tehbola, a bottled tea drink. Recess ended shortly after with the children quickly made their way back their classes where we will take over from - to interact with the students and teach English.

Here we are at the school!	Objectives includes interaction & teaching english	And do they love balloons…

As surprised as the children were to meet us, we quickly settled into the unfamiliar environment and quickly made good friends with the kids, though they all seem scared at first and puzzled at first, like clowns out of no where as we entered the room smiling with balloon hats. Things changed slightly with the given situation in the classroom, firstly as the place was a little too cramped for small group interaction which is critical for activities such as origami and crayon drawing. However, it turned out that the balloon sculpture part seems to be the most popular and attention grabbing part of the activities we’ve planned, so good that even the outdoor sports and origami were scrapped in favor for the balloons.

Guess the object	It’s a hit with the kids	Thats for the primary kids!

To accommodate for this demand, we played games in English with the balloons themselves as the subjects – we will ask the children simple questions like “what is the colour of the balloon?” or “what animal is the balloon?” then a kid selected from the crowd of waving hands will come to the front of the class, answer the question & spell the answer out (e.g. orange, dog), if the answer is wrong, they will be posed another question for a second chance or told to sing a song together for the class.

As rewarding as it gets, it’s also the most ideal game given us testing not only their recognition skills, but their English and spelling as well, all topped with friendly class participation and interactivity. Prompting for a surge in demand for gifts rewards such as balloon dog (poodle), giraffe, 2 kinds of swords, poodle headed hats. Which also means putting all my time and effort there not only giving out and asking kids questions, but also keeping up with the demand for others as a whole as each balloon is given away to each smiling kid with a right answer.

We close each primary class we visited with a final mega gift- My trademark 3 coloured twisty balloon hat- madly sort after by the kids, we even have kids coming out to the front of the class to sing voluntarily to claim the prize- remarkable!

For the secondary classes on the upper floors, a more knowledge based thinking game are catered to them. Mainly as they are more english literate than the primary classes, who only know and understand basic English and of course, they outgrown balloons. Ning’s class played Classic Hangman at class level while my class opted for Trival- by splitting the class into 3 groups, they are told to guess words given to them from a stated category (e.g. country, animals, fruits, etc) points are won each time a right letter is guessed correctly by a member of the team, with a 5 second timeout per team (this is to encourage quick thinking and adds pace to the game).

To encourage participation from classes with few girls, girls will get double the points (2 points) each time a letter is correctly guessed. 3 points were awarded to the team who not only guess the word but spelled it out correctly and fully too. The team with the least points at the end of each match will be given a forfeit, which in our case is to sing Christmas songs, (since Christmas is near) and do they know the song well too!

Games of English hangman	& Trival (wheel of fortune) &	Ending with a christmas song

We played for a good hour or so before having to end it all due to school dismissal time. And do they enjoyed it, the smile on their faces tells it all.

Admin Time
Headed to Lisa’s old school where she introduced the place her parents and she herself studied in. She also did a contrast of the available facilities modern schools and those of the rural areas (like the one we visited in the morning), the differences are very very great, sadly, so is the rich/poor gap in Medan itself.

We dropped by the wet market thereafter to get a glimpse of this well known trademark area, it’s also where most of the poor work to make ends meet. They have alot of mini finger food stores and kiosks in a wet market area, very much like a pesar. Within the main pesar building 2nd floor (wet market 1st floor) there are clothing and lifestyle shops. Went back to Lisa’s home with Ning and Thura as we wanted some eyeshut from the day’s activities, while the rest headed back to the rotary dialysis center in aid of the blind massage for 10000rp/hour (effectively $2sing/hour) which was rather enjoyable as they told us later.

Rested at Lisa home before heading to the dialysis club president home which is no more than 3 blocks away. Interestingly, despite the proximity, Lisa’s dad wanted all of us to go there by car, as it’s dangerous to walk around at night in the streets. Steamboat was served and we had quite a scrumptious meal topped with drumlets & prawn fritters. The house is rather nicely decorated with various touches of interior decos with exception of a pretty run down exterior and first floor garage.

Dinner!	A gift of appreciation	A memorable night!

After dinner, we carried on planning the tasks and to-do lists for the task ahead tomorrow - The old folks home visit.

The night ended with a presentation of a flag of appreciation by our officer Ning to the hostness of the night and rotary president, Medan.

[ Trip Photo Album ]

19th Dec Tuesday - 7.50am (SGT) Flight from Changi Airport to Medan International Airport. It had been raining the last whole days, but that didn’t drench our sprits nor delay our scheduled 1 hour flight to Medan. We landed and cleared customs, little do we know we “brought the rain over” from Singapore as well. We were greeted by Isabella’s dad (I will call her Lisa from here to keep things short) and the president of the rotaract dialysis center. We were treated to a welcome breakfast where we get to know our host and hostness better.

Medan Rotary Center
We headed to the Medan rotary center, Medan, which is also the home of the rotaract club Medan juvemile. There we were given a tour of the facilities, a view of the dialysis, the dialysis machines and how it is performed.

The Medan Rotary Center	With a free dialysis center	Close up of the donated machines

There is a free clinic on the first floor with a healthy strength of 3 doctors, there we were also introduced to the consultation rooms and pharmacy.

The free clinic	Contributor’s board	Lisa’s granddad showing the rotary stand & bells

Furthermore the whole place is relatively self sufficient, with funds earn from the hairstyling school and blind massage (which I will touch on shortly) otherwise it’s by donations and , which comes mainly from businessman like Isabella’s dad himself, he is also one of the founders of the place and the whole place is chaired by the Medan President who is a very kind lady.

On the upper floors we were introduced to the blind massage area, painting and reemphasizing that the blind are still useful people to the community. They do this by providing hour long head-to-toe massages for 10000rp (about $1.80SGD), proceeds will go into providing for their necessities and running the center as a whole. The whole center is very self sufficient, with its own kitchen, staff and a dedicated diesel generator at the rear courtyard to keep operations running in time of power failure. What is more amazing is the blind’s ability to sense around the place as a normal human being, they can tell where people and obstacles are without even going by touch, they can even get from floor to floor in a speedily manner as well. As joked by Lisa’s dad there was once a blackout at night and the blinds actually had to lead the customers out of the premises, very commendable indeed.

Admin Time
From there, we made our way through the Medan traffic to our host’s home- Sutomo where we will be spending most of our nights there. As told by Lisa its very common in Medan for families to run businesses on the ground floor and live on the uppers, similar lisa family is doing as well. The other interesting thing in Medan is the traffic, we were told that you can get your driving license after 16 practical lessons with no test, bogged by theory? Simply pay 10000rp & you are cleared. But though given this, I can say that the drivers in Medan are very very much more skilled than Singaporean drivers, we are just too pampered on Singapore roads. With the exception of the lack of highway codes and lane markings, traffic at median is an experience by itself – Their public buses are zippy little vans, taxis are tri-motorcycles.

Visited a nearby Indian temple, where we were greeted by a kind caretaker who let us in and brought us round explaining their traditions to us.

The Tamil Temple Visit	Merdeka walk	Rotary Fellowship Dinner

Rotary Youth exchange Dinner was at a restaurant at merdeka walk (an orchard road equvilant) where we sat at a long table face to face allowing us to interact with not only the Medan Rotary members, but those from Malaysia and the members all the way from Bali.

A night at Merdeka Walk	A night to remember!	Planning the following day’s events

The day ended with a meeting in our bedrooms planning the line of activities for the local school visit tomorrow.

[ Trip Photo Album ]

Though this might not be the latest of news, but hey had been researching on this phone for a few weeks now and it would actually be out mid-end this month in Singapore as said by an ETEN carrier here. Yes though it won’t have a 5MP camera with VGA 30fps video, a keypad and funky looks but, I think I found my dream phone - The Eten glofiish M700 have the best blend of of features as an entertainment and navigation phone, all coupled with a decent camera (especially more than enough for moblogging on site) and what’s more, windows WM 5.0 OS. The specs are as follows:

Eten M700 Keyboard	Eten M700 Perspective	Eten M700 Front

• 400MHz Samsung processor
• 128 MB ROM
• 64 MB SDRAM
• 117.5 x 59 x 19.8 mm
• Weight 165 g
• Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU 3.2
• 2.8″ 65K QVGA display
• Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE (No 3G)
• Sliding hardware QWERTY keyboard (with funky backlighting)
• FM radio
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g
• 2 megapixel camera
• GPS receiver (SiRF Star III chipset)
• MiniUSB Charging and sync
• 3.5mm audio port (YES!)
• MicroSD expansion

Press Release: It will be coming out by December 2006 in time for christmas.

Met up with Angelvin this morning to discuss NYAA Gold matters, it turns out that alot of my daily activities actually accomplished almost all aspects of NYAA, it’s just all about writing and putting it into report… whee! Headed down to the Rapid Prototyping Center to meet KM thereafter.

This semester’s product design and development will see ourselves doing rapid prototyping, which means making use of 3D printers (Stereolithographic) such as the Stratasys FDM3000 (ABS) and Z-Corp starch 3D Printers. It’s interesting unlike normal conventional 2D printing we are all familar with on paper - with an additional dimension, things start to take another dimension of it’s own too. Furthermore, seeing a required edge over the other teams (instead of sticking to plain old clay and syroform) calls for the need of a rapid underdog maneuver - complex 3D prototyping.

Stratasys FMD 3D Printer	Z-Corp starch 3D Printer	Proposed Model

After a rush job yesterday on the CAD stations for 4hours, managed to churn up the .stl files for both the 2 products my team are designing, namely a hybrid watch and weighing scale combination (as shown above), then it’s throwing it to both the Stratasys FDM3000 and Z-Corp for overnight build of the prototype parts.

Stratasys working on our prototype	Closeup	Eugene: Say Ah!

The parts are all done this morning, so that one big load off my team’s shoulders ahead for the 3 week term holidays ahead. Dropped by JE after lunch in school with KM to purchase some Tamiya spray and acrylic paint for our model (and I think my kit-modelling skills will shine here). Played a few rounds of HOTD 4 at the Zone-X there before heading back to school. It’s easier to get an A grade in 2 player mode, (though playing with KM being his 1st time) got up to the chapter 3 Empress on a single credit… yea! Improving! Strengthened all the prototyped parts with the team (gluing most of our fingers in the process) and sanded them in prep for painting. Which will be done next week.

My finished starch scale model	Details are relatively preserved	Closeup on details

Our lecturer was impressed by the work, saying that the model had been designed in a very good manner for FDM building, with no notches promoting stress concentration, thus maintaining structural integrity while still maintaining good looks as a whole - a very good build. Not that I totally intended that on textbooks for the design, but I just followed my Gut Engineer Feeling^TM on structural strengthening while building the model (as it was actually quite a rush job for me, so I couldn’t care less). I guess thats 2 birds with one stone.

There are alot of possiblities with FDM, if permitted, I can even use it to fabricate custom handphone covers or even cup holders! Interesting, interesting indeed.

Alot of stuffs have been happening lately, namely in preps for all the events next week - the week before christmas. While most the limelight is on christmas shopping for PS3 and Nintendo Wii, there’s chalet planning on my side, ironically for only one day as I would be flying off to Medan for a volunteer community service program.

The purpose for this trip is to assist and understand the nature and reach of the various voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs) in Medan, Indonesia. Which will encompassing a visit to an orphanage, teaching children arts and crafts for the coming festive season. Visiting a salon where the poor take up skills to work so as a local Free Clinic funded by Rotary of Medan Sudirman and a local Dialysis Centre to look at the seriousness of kidney disease in Medan. Moreover, time will be spent at a Blind Massage Centre funded by Rotary of Medan Sudirman, ending with a conduct student exchange/ visit Clef Lip Surgery clinic and farewell dinner on the final day of the 5 day trip.

So that means rushing alot of projects, ICA and task before hand. Noteable things are rapid prototyping for product design development where we get to print 3D objects in plastic from the models we design in PC, cool.

Chalet wise next week, Derrick & I would still be in charge of food for the upcoming Track & Field Chalet next week, tentative Sunday IMM Giant to purchase all the stuff there. Then I will stay only till Monday night before my flight on tuesday morning.

Then it will be christmas dinner to look forward too thereafter.

Just as Geoff flew back to Melbourne last Thursday, it’s another reunion with my old primary school classmates. Had dinner at Suntec’s Country Manna where I had the chefs recommendation of the beef cubes on pasta and the usual set, all for $27 including the extras. Ironically this outing was planned 6 months ago, but last minute call offs from those in camp, duties, projects (e.g. even my kindergarden-pri friends Jiawei and Jiaming all caught up in camp), etc and so led to only 4 our us (Weisheng, Sherlyn & Alwyn) making it for the dinner from the intended group of 8-10.

Nevertheless, dropped by to marina square to meet YeKoon (she couldn’t make it as she had to work at Giordano, which was having a midnight sale that night). She is the head of the outlet and we can get 30% off anything in store, not as if we wanted to buy anything but just to say hi. But she was kinda too busy to be pulled off her work anyway, wished her the best of regards and made our way to tcc at citylink for some coffee. Where Junhui (the Ahbeng) came, then followed by a very very late Valietia around 10pm. Weisheng settled for a $3.90 cup of expresso which he found rather not that value-for-money after all. Considering his umm personal declared nett worth being $25 in the bank and $25 on him, so thats $50 in all (Sue him if you may lol…). Where Sherlyn and I settled for a more value $6.90 tall cup of Oreo Frappo - Tasty.

As I’ve got in contact with Weisheng & Sherlyn 2 years ago, so theres not much catching up compared to the rest who I have not met in a decade! Alwyn ballooned to what was definately a contrast to the slingy thin head perfect I know back in Qifa primary 1994-1996. But interestingly still most of them can still be recognised by face. Only few can recognise me though, allowing me to masquerade in the mist of their confusion. They all know who Shaun is, especially if you just ask “the artist & the fish” (my cartoon character trademark I used to draw alot back then), then they will all say - Shaun? Only that they do not know who at the table is Shaun.. haha. saying that I’ve changed alot

From there we get to talk about Junhui participation in the Channel-U Superbands (on keyboards with his band) where he got kicked out early in the elimations. Then theres the talk about John Chia, Qie (Chia) Weichong, (who we alway know back then always being called chong chong by his parents duh) as one of the Superstar finalist and how his life had changed to avoid fans (especially those little screaming mei-meis who treaten to tear you apart just to bring home something off you to worship) in public. Haha so much for fame and immature fans… And the speculation of John being a Faggot (as most guys in Fashion design are, as claimed by Valietia), besides also knowing that Junior could not make the outing as she’s sick, or maybe caught up with her girlfriend.

Weisheng will be flying off to guess what - to Melbourne next month for his 3 years Bach, while Alwyn is in ACCA accounting, Sherlyn in NTU accounting - final year, Junhui is working after being unable to get into all the Polytechnics with his higher-ITEC and Valietia in NAFA doing dip in fashion design after barely making through NYP Accounting, now doing what she really like.

Cheers to Weisheng, Sherlyn, Alwyn, Junhui & Valietia for making the outing. Guess the next one won’t be coming so soon with the main organisers away overseas next year onwards. In the meantime, chill.

Millege for the week (7 day period 4-10th Dec)
SP Gym 3 Sets Weight Training + Threadmill 6.5km - Wednesday
SP Gym 2+1 Sets Weight Training + Sunset Way Canal 9.3km - Friday
Tiong Bahru Park Run 15round - 15km MSD - Sunday
Total Millege for week = 30.8km (103% of 30km/week target met)