The third recce

We completed the final installment of our recce today – the march from bukit timah to macritchie. It was challenging but manageable and we made do fairly well without maps! Save for a couple of detours when one path was choosen over another, we completed our journey in 3 and a half hours. We had fun along the way, like racing down a particular stretch, and even laughing ourselves silly was we watched pearlene hit a signpost forcefully to ascertain if it was pointing in the right direction! :) Thereafter, we had lunch in the sweltering heat of a coffeeshop in serangoon and settled down for another exercise of sorts. A 3 hour meeting ensued as we hammered the entire camp programme in detail. It was satisfying to make significant headway as the weeks to camp draw near.

a group picture after our trek.:) (val took the picture)

(peering at the poor tortise in the water...whatever happened to privacy? haha.)

(a feast for the eyes! trekking isn't about trees and leaves.)

Camp Recce at Bukit Timah

We scaled a mountain today! Though it is a hill by name, it is a mountain we've conquered.:)Being adventurous and full of energy,we deliberately made detours to the summit whenever possible. After all, it's not the destination but the journey that matters. While the view from the summit wasn't exactly spectacular, it was the company of everyone that mattered. New ideas surfaced, and some considerations were made to overcome our constraints. Thereafter, we had dinner and developed camp ideas further. It certainly has more substance now, and for that, i thank everyone who has contributed in every way possible, be it in words, actions, or thoughts. :)

the steep descend

some cave we'd discovered

a group photo at the summit.:)

navigation practice - 1st combined session

Yuying and Yuhua Club Gusto came together for their first combined session last saturday. And what better way to forge new friendships than to work on a task together! This session provided them an opportunity to navigate admist the urban jungle in orchard road, as a prelude to camp. (ableit in an environment in contrast to the upcoming camp.) Still, students made the best out of it by steadfastly referring to the map and completing their task in the shortest possible time.

everyone who made this combined session possible.:)

Camp Preparation I

This week Gusto session was all about preparation for our end of year Gusto camp. We learnt how to pack a proper camping bag, waterproofing our items, map reading as well as pacing.
These essential skills were taught to the students so that they can have a better understanding for the annual event in november.

william teaching the proper way to pack a camping bag

jeffrey and kenneth doing map reading

testing the students map reading

pacing session

Next session is our first combined session with Yuying Gusto.

Jurong SSC Open House

Jurong Service Centre Open house was a roaring success last sunday. Great job to all the Gusto members who were there in the early morning to help out with the event. It's a great satisfaction to see all our hard work turning into results during the open house.

We split up into pairs to man the 6 different game stores, even though we are slightly shorthanded, everyone put in their effort and eventually everything turned out fine. The most popular game for this entire event is the marble store (the queue had been the longest from the beginning till the end).

Some photos from the event.

Hope everyone enjoyed the games as much as I do :)

Camp Recce @ MacRitchie Reservoir (Yuhua & Yuying)

Last Sunday was our first joint event between Yuying and Yuhua for the upcoming camp preparations. We hoped over to MacRitchie Reservoir for recce to fish out suitable camp sites. Despite the rainy spells, the volunteers' enthusiasium did not get drenched at all!

A good chance to get out of the urban life and embraced by the mother nature.

Hmm... could this be one of our possible camp site?

Enjoying every bit of it... =) This activity also serves as a bonding opportunity for both of the school's volunteers. As it goes... One stone kills two birds!

We do have our mischievous side as well... Jumping jack position ready! Jump!

The activity ended with joy and a sense of fulfillment, being able to complete our hiking of about 8-10km (I suppose?) within close to 3.5 hours. Of course, not forgetting our purpose of this trip, we do have a handful of information gathered for the upcoming camp in Nov.

Games Stall preparation

We started our session with captains' ball (with some physical restrictions of sorts) as a warm up. But it was apparent that everyone enjoyed the game, so the activity was extended to an hour! Still, it was good form of exercise and provided an avenue to engage in healthy competition.:)

In the next segment, we tried out the games in preparation for Jurong Student Services' centre open house next sunday. 4 ideas for the game stalls were shortlisted on to last Saturday's discussion. Planning on paper was easy; carrying it out physically is an entirely different matter.

Among the 4, one was finalised and the other game will be decided upon next saturday!