2010 reflections

I tried to write my experience this year backwards; and I failed. So I am going to start from chorological order or whatever I recall first instead and do this in point form since I do not have much time :P
Significant events of 2010 (not in any particular order)
1) Hostel
Pretty much the first great thing this year. Hostel= freedom=happiness=knowing where all your stuff is=more organized=more efficient studying+ more friends+ spontaneous class outings+ cluster outings+ random fighting with roommate+ random outings with people+ more convenience
My room was 1 m above the track: O
Staying in block B on the second floor was surprisingly cold for me. Maybe it was because my room faced the field. I have already written a post on this so I shall not elaborate much.
2) 505 the awesome
Title describes it all. I am really thankful for each and every one of the 505ers. :D we have an awesome class spirit and most of us can get along together quite well. Maybe it’s also due to the fact that most of us have known each other for so long 505 was not awkward at all right from the beginning. We won the class deco hands down, had a few spontaneous class outings and epic karaoke sessions. What more can I say?
3) The spontaneous 406 class outing
The only time 406 ever went out as a full class. That was cool. 505 and 406 are both great in their own ways. 406 has more random funny stuff that I miss here in 505: P
4) Cell mentoring
I became a cell mentor this year and took on a new cell. This is one of the most invalueable experiences I have had so far. I feel that CMing has made me mature a lot more and helped me in my walk with God. I have written a testimony on it. Hope I get to share this at leader’s retreat this Thursday.
5) Coach Paul
I know you probably will never read this, but thank you for putting up with me for the past one year or so. You have helped me to improve tremendously and I have learnt much from you. Too bad I do not have the talent and the time. :X I managed to hit my PB this year and I am looking forward to breaking it next year if possible.
6) Track Nationals
Just relax and run. All your effort and training will show through your competition so don’t get too tense or worried during a race. True enough, I enjoyed nationals much better this year and I made some new friends. 
7) Temasek Dialogue
Well, this was the first time an English teacher actually thought I had talent which was how I got selected for this. (amazingly.) I guess this provided some insight on some SAF related stuff and really showed the charisma and wit of our government officials. I would still consider the former more significant though 
8) Youth sports conference (YOG)
Well, I had a short post on this before in June. Main significance: I got Mr C.Kunalan’s autograph!
9) BIG module on locomotion
Come to think of it, CMing is really different from teaching kids. Maybe its just due to handling different bunches of people? Well, I blogged about this before. so yeah. Enough said.
10) Grace retreat!
This was amazing. I learnt many things from the speaker pastor Zane Anderson. Faith in faith or faith in God? The stronghold of rejection. So many things were loaded into my mind for pondering during this retreat.
11) Detection of Picoplankton in Reservoir Waters using Chlorophyll Filtration Methods
ARP lol. Well, it has been tedious, but it has been a fun experience as well learning new things, getting soaked while out on a water sampling trip, recycling filter paper. Hope the report turns out well.
12) IGGY
How should I describe it? This was one of the major highlights this year. Gosh, everything, from the 14 hour plane flight to the people was an eye opener for me.
Okay so let this suaku talk about the plane flight first. The flight to Heathrow airport was my first time flying to somewhere with a significantly different time zone. I transited in Dubai. It was kind of embarrassing being an unaccompanied minor at my age, but well, parents always have their worries don’t they? I was really amazed by the packaging of all the different meals on the plane. It’s just so compact and convenient. I was really impressed by the cereal packaging where the cereal came in an air tight plastic bowl and the milk in another bowl packed ontop of it. All I had to do was to peel off the tab on the milk and pour it into the cereal bowl. Watched a few movies too. 5 min into twilight and my monitor crashed. -.- lets just hope it was not because the movie was too bad. The transit in Dubai was pretty uneventful. As unaccompanied minors, Christopher and I were made to sit in some room and wait for our next flight. The trip back was more eventful though. We were not unaccompanied minor so we went to try macs in Dubai that interestingly tasted the same as back home, except that their chili sauce tasted different because it was from Egypt. Different timings that I could not keep track off and an erratic sleep pattern made me lose track of my meals but well, I did not really suffer jet lag. (Okay, I did sleep through English class. But that happened only once.)
Warwick wasn’t exactly in London, about more than an hour’s drive away. I switched to London time using my handphone app but was one hour behind probably because of daylight saving time. Met Becca at the airport who was there to pick us up. Becca was my SM during IGGY is really interesting. She’s studying psychology and like Mathematics. Vishnu from Dubai was also on the same flight as us and he happened to have almost the same uniform as our school so we nearly mistook him for one of our seniors. He’s really tall but surprisingly only 14 years old.
Summer weather in London is a little dry, chilly with temperatures mostly below 20 degrees. It’s usually nice and cold. Well, at least with a sweater. Their rain feels more like a really tiny but constant drizzle. Its really different from what we have in Singapore.
Stayed at Tocil, the dorms in Warwick that are really pleasant and have a homely feel. I would still prefer NUS high hostel though, as long as the same awesome people are around. The pantry is well stocked with food. I met up with the rest of my awesome SM group, the ICE queens. We decided to call ourselves that as we were all born during the winter period. Liz, Sham and Heather are from Brunei, Ksenia is from Russia and Becky is from London. Our awesome JM, Gemma, was also English. I was really glad that we all managed to get along really quickly and became good friends. The epic single ladies dance, Sham going after a grasshopper with a pair of scissors, the disco/gala dinner, this have been the ride of a lifetime for me. Heather and Ursla, if you ever read this, also too, please keep singing and wowing your audiences. This is no joke, your voices are so far the best I have heard.
Med Sci was awesome too. I really love each and every one of you people in the Med Sci class. You have all made this such a great experience. We all got along well, had fun doing the film and music video, and did many posters together. I’m sure this would all be precious memories that we hold.
by the end of two weeks, it was obvious that none of us wanted to leave. But well, life had to go on despite all the wonderful memories and experiences forged here. IGGY was certainly a once in a lifetime experience I would never forget.
13) Mad rush with work
Yeah, two weeks of heaven in London and then hell until school exams ended. I have a post on this too 
14) More random outings with 505
You guys are the best! Thanks for teaching me to appreciate KOI. :D
15) RHEMA
The most tedious but worth it and fulfilling experience. Okay I’ll let my secret out now. I joined the planning comm simply because I wanted an excuse to invite my friends to come and I did not have any other strong reasons to invite people. Well, but serving has really taught me a lot more. God looks at the hearts of man and not result. I learnt many practical things too, like how I will never become an accountant nor an artist. But still, I feel that all the effort and struggling was worth it. Rhema has become a success not because the comm. planned everything well nor because the night rallies were amazing but because people who came were touched by God and quite a few want to know about God. Shane came! This really came as a surprise. Firstly, I was not planning on inviting him considering I had not talked to him for quite a while since we changed classes and so it would be awkward. So I asked Jojo and she happened to suggest inviting Shane, something I was a little against at first. But well, Shane agreed. Miracle 1. Throughout this time, God had placed an urge in my heart to continue to pray for him. Miracle 2, during the altar call on the last night of Rhema, I asked Shane out of obligation if he wanted to meet the Rhema counselors. Surprisingly, he agreed. I discovered he was actually quite open and wanted to know more. I am praying he will continue to stay on with the YAYP cell and get to know God personally too.
16) Leaders retreat
Happening tomorrow that’s why im finishing my year end post today :P