The Star's BRATs camp: Kajang, August '08

Before I start, allow me to wish Janelle a sexy eighteenth birthday! More lamb stew please!


picture from The Star

You know the saying, out of sight, out of mind?

As bitter as the deadlines to the assignments at the camp were, I still want the sweet stuff to stay in my mind.

Personally, I'm grateful that the bunch in this Kajang camp were the bunch that they were. The bunch that rocks, blogs and FaceBooks! ohoho.

The Bitter Stuff:

1. Receiving an SMS about the Toastmasters Installation Dinner article that's due for TM's blog.

=_= *bangs wall* Pandai betul budak ni. Got time to blog about it but no time to write up on it.

2. A phone call in the middle of a group discussion.

Phone calls and SMS are strictly forbidden when completing assignments, tenkiuberimuch.

3. I fell sick!

On the third day I woke up with a bad sore throat. Then it developed to slight fever. And it was the day we all basked under the sun at the rubber estate ;P

4. The water piping system at our villas.

Turn the water on and a whole orchestra comes alive from behind the walls. *cue: Four Seasons*

5. WE DIDN'T GET TO GO TO KAJANG PRISON.

Our group was supposed to do a video on Kajang Prison, and according to the facilitators, they had to go through lots of red tape to bring a group in there. On the day we were supposed to go, we found out that half of our group members did not have their MyKad with them. So, we had to switch with the group going to the rubber estate. :[ o well.

PS: Learn your lesson! Always bring your MyKad wherever you go or else you kena jail time for 18 years...

The SWEET stuff
1. The food!

Oh. They had maple syrup at the buffet for breakfast and four types of cereals, including a strange unnamed one which was obviously rabbit feed (muesli la). And the barbeque under the drizzling rain on the last night-how romantic can it get?

taken from rachel's blog, edited by me

2. The people!

Melissa was my group senior who was a big help to all of us. Aimee was another senior and she drove us nuts with "How many horses?!".

Kimberly Taing (unique surname!) is the editor of Umbrella (my groups name. guess who suggested it) with a big heart and bigger patience!

Michelle is the Kajang native.

If you ever bump into Zhi Li at Sunway College, ask him to do a Joker impersonation! It's chillingly good.

Serena is the relatively quiet girl with tonnes of ideas to contribute.

Rachel has big eyes and bigger personality from SMK BU4. Also from BU4 is Alwin, tall, lanky and taken.

Lavinia did not go with us to the estate but was taken to prison!

Kah Mun is always pronounced as CarMen (lol sorry!) and is a pro at WMM.

SONIA! My long lost friend from Brats Jr '05, and we only found out about that on the last day at lunch! ahahaha.

Ian is this really poetic boy who could describe me really well, eventhough we've only been in the same group for four days!

Oh! And I met many facilitators who are seriously experienced in their line of job (journalism). Among the people you might have read of in the papers who were there were Niki Cheong, the guy behind the column Bangsar Boy (StarMetro, every Saturday) and Sharmila Nair, the youth writer.
Before the camp, I used GoogleBlog to search for MTVAA and this blog came up as a result. Who knew it'd belong to Su Ann, a Brat as well? I only found out when I got home.
Tze Hui is another Klang girl! She remembers me from Brats Jr. too, and her primary classmate Yin Xian is my best friend. Six degrees of separation at work.

3. The things we learnt.

Teamwork, meeting deadlines and dealing with problems that cropped out of nowhere. And how to take good pictures!

picture goggled
4. The fun that we had.

The games on the last evening, the Chong Wei-Lin Dan match (yes we managed to catch it) in a small hall with 25+ people cheering along, oh and Suraya! My roomie! She cracks me up with her boarding school anecdotes. XD Reminds me of Khadi.

5. Things I never knew!

Like, there's this place around Inti College area called Forensics (?) that isn't about CSI but is about debates and all that which has cute guys in it too. Do I make sense?

6. Pigging out on Satay Kajang with 40++ people.

AAAAHHH it was so much fun. Nevermind the fact that Haji Samsuni (or however it's spelt)'s satay isn't all that delicious. (There's a better one opposite Anjung mamak, also in Kajang)

7. Losing (and finding) the Nikon Coolpix cameras they provided to us throughout the camp.

Thank you Jesus for helping me to find it back! I will never neglect my belongings again. Especially if they're not mine. Not that I neglect them in the first place!

Read the report on the camp here. More details available in the Ole Brats edition on the last Sunday of this month.

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