Retreat

We gathered at Tampines interchange at 8.00am early in the morning. Everyone looked so restless because it was school holidays and we usually wake up at 11.00am. We took bus 29 to Changi Village to meet Sir Desmond. Laughter and chatters filled the bus. It sounds as if we have never been to a chalet before. Like little children we drop off the bus.

When Sir Desmond arrived, he looked so tired and his hair was like a beehive. We wondered what he did last night with the campcraft team people.

The chalet was a five minutes walk from the Changi Village. The chalet looked rather run down. It was not what we had expected. Soon, we were allocated to the boys’ and the girls’ room. The girls’ room was very spacious while the guys’ was so cozy.

We were flipping and tossing in the bed, enjoying ourselves when Sir Desmond knocked on the door. He announced “Meeting at 9.95am”. We thought we could play all day, but too bad, it was our retreat.

After the meeting, we were divided into groups. We were given a topic and suppose to discuss within 20 minutes and give a presentation. The topics were about our squad, our cadets and the whole unit. There were about four topics. We had fun discussing, but most of the time we were chatting. At first, we were very enthusiastic about the presentation, but it died down when it came to the third presentation. All of us gave a very wonderful presentation. There were also jokes during the presentation so that none of us would feel bored. During the presentation, 25 of us squeezed onto the king size bed. Can you imagine how small are we? But nevertheless, we had an enjoyable time.

During Q and A, we answered the questions with wisdom and ‘intelligence’. As usual, Marvyn talked the most. He took 17 minutes for a 5-minute presentation. We were laughing at his funny actions and also the way he speaks.

Soon it was dinnertime. We had BBQ near the Changi beach. The sea was calm with light cool breeze. All of us were crowding around the BBQ pit, trying to cook the food. Under the dim lights, we spread butter on the food, squeezed each other, and fan the charcoal. It was hot and humid; therefore, we were perspiring like hell. I wondered if any of our sweat had fell onto the food. After half an hour, we thought that the food was ready. Some of us became the guinea pig and ate the ‘cooked’ food. YUCKS! Especially the ‘cooked’ chicken wings. It was tasteless! We continued BBQing for another hour or so. We did not eat a lot, but we do enjoy the BBQ.

We were at our rooms playing mahjong. Can you imagine? We also played Tahiti. Don’t worry no money was involved. Soon the boys joined us with their Play Station. We played through the night. At around midnight, we went out of our boring room and went to Changi Village to buy some snacks at the 7-Eleven. While going there, we happen to see some ‘Bapoks’ (gays). There were so many of them. Some of them were very beautiful, even prettier than real girls, and it made some of us jealous. But whenever they talked, there would be a man’s voice, coming out from a ‘girl’s’ mouth… We stayed there for almost two hours just to see the ‘Bapoks’.

The next morning, everyone looked so sleepy. The boys were still playing their Play Station, of which they played throughout the night. Imagine us sleeping through the night with the noise made by the boys. We washed up and got ready for the next meeting.

We had a meeting on how to approach the Sec 1s on CCA recruitment day. We had the Sec 1s’ ICs to demonstrate and the CIs became the Sec 1s. The scene was so funny and we laughed our hearts out.

The meeting ended and it was time for us to go. The 2 days - 1 night chalet had been a wonderful time for the squad. It further strengthened the bond among our squad mates.

SSgt Crystal Yong