Sunday, June 22, 2008
Finally back from the States (Part 1)
8:45 AM /
0 comments
Hey thr! Finally back after erm...20 days?
Anw, touched down in sg at 12.30am on fri morning, via Tokyo-Narita.
Only managed to blog now cuz I guess I suffered frm jet lag. Zzzz.
In case u are still wondering, I went for ICEP USA in San Antonio, Texas (U.S) with another 11 NCC cadets, 2 CLTs and 2 teacher officers.
So yea, let's get started.
Basically, left sg on th 5th at 6.00am. It was a 30hr plane ride. Yes, your eyes aren't deceiving u...30 HOURS! That's cuz we had a few transits: Tokyo-Narita and Minneapolis-St Paul's (U.S) and the plane from Minneapolis to San Antonio was delayed for like 4 hours cuz of bad weather. Anw, the plane still happily took off after the storm, only to fly into a storm elsewhere. =.= Rly bad turbulence such tht u cant even slp. Rly bumpy ride. & when we actually landed at 10pm, starving (no dinner) and tired, many passengers were like calling home to say they actually survived. Haha, lol. Bt yea, it was THAT scary.
It's great how 2 complete strangers can share secrets on the first night. Surprising in fact.
Anw, fast forward to 7th june. We attended Summer Leadership School by the Air Force JROTC (U.S. equivalent of NCC Air) who also hosted us thruout the trip. Was held at UTSA and it was kinda like a 1-week Spec course. Yes, it was not a slack trip.
I was in Flight "H", otherwise affectionately known as Hotel Homies. I love our cheer like totally. Haha, cap movements, poses, shake butts, break dancer in the middle, flag bearer running around us. Dun think we'll get something so daring in sg. Haha. And yes, we rule! No.1 flight mantra, u've gt ur no 1 flight: No.1 in drills, No.2 in paintball, No.3 in Volleyball, out of a total 16 flights. *Beams*
We attended lectures, played sports like Volleyball & Softball (me=softball noob) and learnt the U.S drills (So gd, no need to stomp your feet) for the first 3 days. Performed our own drills too..and boy, they loved the keblakan on the March and Henta-taki with the song. Haha.
Next day at SLS was spent taking tests. Yes, academic tests on the lectures like Human Relations (Talking to a plush toy: "Awww..I'm so sorry Julie... Muacks! XD") and Conflict Resolution etc.
The last 3 days at SLS were spent at John Newcombe Tennis Ranch. Did Orienteering, Low Elements (Thanks lah, Jansen), High Elements, Paintball and Tubing etc. High elements was hilarious, with all of Jansen's jokes. Was queuing for flying fox with xinran, ken and jansen. And of all ppl, they had to end the activity just when it was our turn. Waited in the 32degrees C Sun for almost 2hrs just to get rejected. Pfft. Bt we got a chance the next day and doing a flying fox off a 15m high pole (which u had to climb up) was exhilarating!
And I loved tubing :) Went with the SG ppl. It was uber cool, with the tube shoots which was like getting rushed thru rapids, while u are on the float. Capsizing was fun too! Haha. Were despo-ly trying to kp our balance.
Anw, the last day was Pass Out Parade and boy was it grand. We (sg cadets) even had a prize presentation ceremony for ourselves where we received plagues for attending SLS. Even had a segment for us to demonstrate our drills to the 400+ cadets and parents. Overwhelming sense of pride. Thanks alot!
Kinda loved SLS, lyk the great friends we made (Rivera and Theresa etc etc) and the stuff we learnt.
Guess I'll gain lots of weight cuz food was buffet every meal with American breakfast of fries and burgers *Attempts to run on trackmill* Temp was a sweltering 33degrees C...but luckily, thr was aircon every night. Bt of course, we had to run 1.6km every morning.
I'll continue on the rest of the trip in the next post. C ya!
Anw, touched down in sg at 12.30am on fri morning, via Tokyo-Narita.
Only managed to blog now cuz I guess I suffered frm jet lag. Zzzz.
In case u are still wondering, I went for ICEP USA in San Antonio, Texas (U.S) with another 11 NCC cadets, 2 CLTs and 2 teacher officers.
So yea, let's get started.
Basically, left sg on th 5th at 6.00am. It was a 30hr plane ride. Yes, your eyes aren't deceiving u...30 HOURS! That's cuz we had a few transits: Tokyo-Narita and Minneapolis-St Paul's (U.S) and the plane from Minneapolis to San Antonio was delayed for like 4 hours cuz of bad weather. Anw, the plane still happily took off after the storm, only to fly into a storm elsewhere. =.= Rly bad turbulence such tht u cant even slp. Rly bumpy ride. & when we actually landed at 10pm, starving (no dinner) and tired, many passengers were like calling home to say they actually survived. Haha, lol. Bt yea, it was THAT scary.
It's great how 2 complete strangers can share secrets on the first night. Surprising in fact.
Anw, fast forward to 7th june. We attended Summer Leadership School by the Air Force JROTC (U.S. equivalent of NCC Air) who also hosted us thruout the trip. Was held at UTSA and it was kinda like a 1-week Spec course. Yes, it was not a slack trip.
I was in Flight "H", otherwise affectionately known as Hotel Homies. I love our cheer like totally. Haha, cap movements, poses, shake butts, break dancer in the middle, flag bearer running around us. Dun think we'll get something so daring in sg. Haha. And yes, we rule! No.1 flight mantra, u've gt ur no 1 flight: No.1 in drills, No.2 in paintball, No.3 in Volleyball, out of a total 16 flights. *Beams*
We attended lectures, played sports like Volleyball & Softball (me=softball noob) and learnt the U.S drills (So gd, no need to stomp your feet) for the first 3 days. Performed our own drills too..and boy, they loved the keblakan on the March and Henta-taki with the song. Haha.
Next day at SLS was spent taking tests. Yes, academic tests on the lectures like Human Relations (Talking to a plush toy: "Awww..I'm so sorry Julie... Muacks! XD") and Conflict Resolution etc.
The last 3 days at SLS were spent at John Newcombe Tennis Ranch. Did Orienteering, Low Elements (Thanks lah, Jansen), High Elements, Paintball and Tubing etc. High elements was hilarious, with all of Jansen's jokes. Was queuing for flying fox with xinran, ken and jansen. And of all ppl, they had to end the activity just when it was our turn. Waited in the 32degrees C Sun for almost 2hrs just to get rejected. Pfft. Bt we got a chance the next day and doing a flying fox off a 15m high pole (which u had to climb up) was exhilarating!
And I loved tubing :) Went with the SG ppl. It was uber cool, with the tube shoots which was like getting rushed thru rapids, while u are on the float. Capsizing was fun too! Haha. Were despo-ly trying to kp our balance.
Anw, the last day was Pass Out Parade and boy was it grand. We (sg cadets) even had a prize presentation ceremony for ourselves where we received plagues for attending SLS. Even had a segment for us to demonstrate our drills to the 400+ cadets and parents. Overwhelming sense of pride. Thanks alot!
Kinda loved SLS, lyk the great friends we made (Rivera and Theresa etc etc) and the stuff we learnt.
Guess I'll gain lots of weight cuz food was buffet every meal with American breakfast of fries and burgers *Attempts to run on trackmill* Temp was a sweltering 33degrees C...but luckily, thr was aircon every night. Bt of course, we had to run 1.6km every morning.
I'll continue on the rest of the trip in the next post. C ya!