Anyway, I really really thank God for the opportunity to co-organize the College Camp with Ren Yau and Rachel. Truth to be told, Rachel and I were last minute additions. While I was informed briefly by Pastor Sue to assist Ren Yau in organising the camp, I didn’t know there was much work to be done as I thought it was similar to the Kampar camp 2 years back.

I remembered we were pretty backdated in the camp preparations when we had to think throughly about what theme to use for the College Camp this year. Ren Yau and I had to dig deep into our ‘thinking box’, and with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit we manage to stumble upon 1 Timothy 6:12, which talks about fighting the good fight of faith. Hence, we decided to adopt the verse and themed the camp Go The Distance.

It was pretty suitable, now that I think back. HAHA! Going the distance in food, hmm.

The venue was El Sanctuary, Alor Gajah. None of us had been to the place before, that includes the adults that went along. We had to rely on information from those who had been to the place before, and the reviews we got were all pretty good. Of course, they were proven to be true as we totally love the place!

We had a bungalow to ourselves. We were initially supposed to be taking the chalets located around, but some other bunch beat us to it and the people at El Sanctuary allocated the bungalow for us, of course for a higher fee. Thank God we were later than the previous bunch! Having the bungalow made life so much easier for the camp committee! I couldn’t have imagined how I could play my game on the 2nd night if we had no personal hall to use.

Awesome accomodation, it got the boys dorms and the girls dorms with 35 beds each. Superb! Hey its even better with only 15 of us staying in for 2 nights. Haha!

Planning the Rescue Mission on the 1st day, was a total last minute thing. Ren Yau was cracking his head as to how to do the ice breaker, since we have Melody whose from FGA KL joining us, and also the twins who were always very quiet. With no idea how El Sanctuary look like before the trip, we just had to cross our fingers hoping the terrain would suit the different stations we planned just that morning itself before leaving for Alor Gajah.

Eggs and flour, anyone? We drafted a story about how the 3 of us (camp committees) got separated and kidnapped while camping, and the campers need to solve 3 different tasks to unite us back together again. When the 3 of us got back together, we made each team ‘dig’ for treasures, which were actually mentos sweets from a bowl covered with flour. The catch? They didn’t know there was a 2nd layer. Hahaha, this was totally Ren Yau’s mischievious idea!

So what they saw were just flour on the top surface, while Rachel had previously mixed flour, eggs and some water and dumped in some mentos sweets at the bottom surface. Totally wicked!

The group picture above was the results of their quest!

We also brought along a guitar and a keyboard for Praise & Worship purposes.

The other best thing about this camp was that we actually get to watch the World Cup in HD! Haha, the owners have Astro B.yond over at the cafe area, so we decided to hit the place for the Brazil vs Portugal match.

It wasn’t an exciting match, many of them were doing everything else but watching football in the end. Ee Leen was busy with the iPad the whole night long!

We spent the whole of Saturday in Malacca town. If you had read my previous post, you would have been enlightened on our agenda for the day. Eat, eat, eat and eat! We did get to have some sight seeing around town of course.

The cruise tour near Quay Side.

The scenery around Quay Side.

Christ Church Melaka.

The one-handed statue up at A Famosa Fort.

The A Famosa Fort itself, or whats left of it.

We had also taken quite a bit of group pictures here and there, good thing Ren Yau was there to handle my camera or I would have definitely missed out on being part of the group shots!

Group photo infront of Christ Church Malacca.

Group photo in A Famosa Fort.

Group photo up at the A Famosa hill.

We even had some group shots over lunch and pork satays!

Table #1 at Heng Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls.

Table #2 at Heng Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls.

Yours truly, Kevin and Ji Ern in pork satay shop.

After a fulfilling (not so fulfilling as we were pressed for time!) trip in Malacca town, we headed back to El Sanctuary for shower and dinner. Did I mention the food prepared by El Sanctuary were awesome? I didn’t? Okay so now I’m telling you. Haha! Awesome homecooked food, too bad I didn’t manage to take photos of any of it.

The agenda for Saturday night was the game I had planned for weeks, with ideas sought from Lydia, and the game turned out to be quite successful. Hmm, it might get a replay over at one of IMPACT meetings as well. Ngek ngek!

Oh well, Ren Yau and I had to do a brief demo, and both of us ended up blushing like mad. Oh well, wheres the fun and laughters without some added spice? At least it cracked everyone up! Good times indeed.

Jonathan’s team was simply amazing, they could fit 3 persons into that tiny hula hoop! And I thought the hoop was small enough to not make them so greedy hahaha! I shall leave you readers to ponder about it without revealing too much information regarding the game, since it might be having a replay in IMPACT. Wouldn’t wanna spoil the surprise now, would I?

As usual, happy times passed by amazingly quick. After Sunday Service on the last day, we presented thank you gifts to Pastor Sue, Aunty Irin and Uncle Stephen for watching over us, not to mention driving us around. It gotta be really exhausting, but we were all glad they were willing to sacrifice for us.

The Camp committees with (From left) Uncle Stephen, Aunty Irin and Pastor Sue.

With heavy hearts, we ended the camp in prayers and close the session with a complete group photograph consisting of all the campers of IMPACT College Camp 2010.

IMPACT College Camp 2010 Group Photo #1.

IMPACT College Camp 2010 Group Photo #2.

You are probably wondering who took the picture. :p Don’t panic, there was certainly nothing supernatural, haha! We managed to make use of a stand to do a timed shot.

So it came to an end, the College Camp for 2010. We spent the afternoon in Malacca town again for some unfinished business, and then made our way to Seremban to meet up with Datuk Roland Wong for dinner. After that, it was a longgg and tiring journey back home to FGA USJ.

You know, the truth about camps is, they bond people together. Likewise, I strongly believed the ties between each college-going youths were strengthened throughout the course of the camp while we did activities together, eat together, watch the World Cup together and even slept together (I mean, in the same dorm!). It was definitely fun while it lasted. I personally had much memories to cherish and to keep for a lifetime!

That being said, I miss College Camp 2010 already. Lets all continue rocking on for Jesus!

P/S – You can view more photos of the camp here.

Purdue University

Despite this whole Big Ten University rivalry going on, I had the quick urge to don on a Michigan shirt and see the reactions I get as I walk along the streets. But wth lah! I totally forgot about it! And ended up wearing a shirt about a Baseball team in which I have no clue about – to make things better: I bought it in Malaysia, 2 years ago!! Walking in the USA with such a shirt might attract interesting attention:

—

Scenario 1

Stranger: HEY! You’re a fan of blah blah blah (I practically stop listening here, cause I have freaking no clue on what they are talking about).

Jian Wei: [Control Macho tone] SURE!!! Let’s hope they have a great season this year! (I swear I don’t even know where the hell this team is from, what more their performance?)

—

But so far I have been very very lucky! Imagine if someone comes up to me and say this:

Scenario 2

Stranger: HEY! Who’s your favourite player?? Mine is blah blah blah! (While he is talking I would pee in my pants I would tap into my debate mode brains and figure something out! By the time he finishes, I would have the stunning counterpunch!)

Jian Wei: [Very professional tone] I from Singapore lah!!! We don’t watch all these things wan!!

Moral of the Story: If you are every in trouble, blame the Singaporeans. XD

—

Azfar, our AWESOME tour guide!

We spent the first day, touring the campus, by our awesome tour guide, Azfar and heading to the gym!! Yes! I do run! Or walk… But the point is, almost every god damn building we saw in Purdue that day belongs to the Engineering Department! Almost every thinkable subsection of engineering has their own big-ass building! From chemical engineering dept to mechanical to Moon-Space Fighting Dept (Aeronautical and Space Dept? Since Neil Armstrong is a Purdue Alumni, they aren’t shy to flaunt it!). They even have a MOON ROCK in their Neil Armstrong Building! Which is the size of my balls a tang yuan.

The size of the moon rock! Not my *ahem* OK!!!!

We also met up with Uma, Amy and Julius whom we have not met for more than a year! And that’s when Timothy prank called Uma as well. Eu Win got it on tape. HAHA! I’ll post it as soon as I have it from Eu Win.

That's after we pranked call Uma! =)

Since it was the optional orientation week, we had people at strategic corners of the campus handing out free hand drinks that tasted much like KeeKAAPOOOO. And when it came to our turn to pose in front of the Purdue sign, I felt the angels from Michigan summoning the spirit within me to answer my call of duty to flash out a “Tak BAGUS” sign. Here it goes….TADA!

WACHHHAAAA! Take that Purdue!!

The next day was pretty much a visiting friends day. It started off on a really wrong note when we had to wait for more than an hour for a bus that was supposed to take us to Uma’s place. WTH man! So being fed up of waiting, we just boarded any bus that will take us downtown (that’s where Uma is staying) and wth, it landed us 10 blocks away from the place where Uma is staying. What a way to start the day man!

Trying to mengecutkan the damn spagetthi!

And upon reaching Uma’s place we were greeted with a laboratory in kitchen. Their hypothesis: The spaghetti will shrink when soaked in cold water. This is to make it less soggy. Verdict? Well, it’s edible and it’s very nice of them to have cooked us lunch considering it was their very first few days. Of course, a mandatory group picture before we head of downtown to search for the main hunt of the trip: Ee-Jieh!

Ee-Jieh's place. But he wasn't there!!!!

Fond of body building and exotic comments, he is one of our main sources of entertainment back in INTEC, especially among the boys. He is the Distinguish Professor of Women Issues specializing in Women Anatomy. =) We literally, crossed over a river (on the bridge lah!) and walked blocks to find him in his apartment based on Uma’s memory, which wasn’t exactly a very efficient compass but it got us to our destination safely despite some hiccups. BUT HE WASN’T THERE!!! And he has no cell phone! OMG! This is just unbelievable! Feel like castrating him!!!

The team morale was crushed upon knowing the absence of our distinguish professor. *sobs* Knowing that time is running out, we headed for the Purdue Campus for dinner with Aida and Fareena. Since it was puasa, early dinner with them was a little tricky. They both needed to be on ABC (Allah Bagi Cuti) for an early dinner to materialize. So on our way to the Purdue Campus…

Jian Wei: Eh Uma! Ask Fareena if she has period or not.

Uma: *dumbstruck* Why you so kepo want to know whether she has her period???

Jian Wei: If she has her period, come let’s eat lah! (Malaysian spirit mah!!)

After dinner, we were both brought to their place to for Hari Raya COOKIES!!! I know it’s only Ramadan, but for a boy who hasn’t savoured keropok lekor and apam balik for a year, the sense of time between festivity and fasting has blurred tremendously. Due to fatigue and a loaded belly (as least for me LAH), we failed to muster the courage needed to sweep of those arsenals of cookies. Never mind, knowing Fareena, it’s still gonna be there a few months later. I can go ambush it later. NYEHEHE!

Arsenal of cookies. =P

Despite it all, Eu Win and I felt that the Purdue trip would never be complete without a yum cha with Ee-Jieh. So we decided to take a 30 minute walk to his place….again – at 10.30pm. This time we found him. =) We even decided to bunk at his place thinking that it is closer to walk from him place to the AmTrak station in which we will board a train back to the City of Chicago. I hogged his bed; Eu Win and Ee-Jieh chatted till it was time for us to go.

Us with Ee-Jieh at a place called XXX. Suit his demeanor! JJK!

Somehow it was quite sad for me to leave, knowing that it ultimately shows that my summer break is up. And that 5 hours of chat isn’t enough to catch up with 1 year worth of gossip. But oh well, as the train moved from the West Lafayette Station heading into the vicinity of Chicago, I chose to do something better than drowning in the miseries of parting…..

An End to an Awesome Road Trip!

I watched ‘PS I LOVE YOU’ instead. =)

Eu Win: Eh! When you wanna go back Michigan ah?

Jian Wei: *lying down on the inflatable mattress; feeling like wanna pang sai* Hopefully on the 21st!

Eu Win: Urghhhhh….Jian Wei, you know that today is the 18th right??

Jian Wei: WHAT???? SHIT! Where got time for road trips?

Eu Win: We leave tomorrow lah!

***

It was 9pm ++ at night, mind you! After some very last minute fb-stalking for friends who are so kind to allow us to gate crash their place for the night, we left Chicago the very next morning at 11am for our male-bonding spontaneous road trip to Indiana University Bloomington, which is an excellent American public university! A part of me was really excited as I would get a chance to meet most of my INTEC mates whom I have not met for more than a year!

We boarded the Megabus on a 3 hour ride to a place called Indianapolis. And speaking of road trips, which more often than not elucidates the aura of spontaneity, our trip to Bloomington was one hell of a road trip. We have no clue on how to get to Bloomington from Indianapolis, except whatever Hafidz told us the night before: take a taxi to the airport and get a shuttle from there. But being the epitome of kiamsap Malaysians, we thought we could cut corners by finding a direct public transportation from Indianapolis to Bloomington without having the need to fork out so much on cabs etc.

Bang balls!

Upon descending from the bus, we asked people ranging from the public, sheriff, Fed-Ex guys to employees in Arby’s. NONE OF THEM KNEW A SINGLE FREAKING WAY!!! What is this man! Heck! We even went to Greyhound for enquires! Our conclusion was: if Greyhound also tarak, we have no choice but to abandon our ‘Religion of Kiamsiapness’ and burn some cash.

At Greyhound Asking for Public Transportation

GREYHOUND PUN TARAK! DIE!!!

So we resorted to taking a cab to the airport for a shuttle straight to Bloomington; the shuttle would easily cost us $25 per person. Though the shuttle fares were fixed, the taxi fare was not….NYEHEHEHEHE! To paraphrase a little: “You can take a Malaysian out of Malaysia, but you cannot take the Kiamsiapness from a Malaysian!” *WTF??* So being a CHINESE MALAYSIAN (racist a little here), we started bargaining with the African taxi driver for the lowest fare to the airport! Poor guy! He tried to rip us off but sorry lah bruddddeeeeer! You where can fight with kiamsiap orang cina wan! We were haggling even as we were driving to the airport! Intense sial!

In the Cab Haggling - Kiamsiap Gila!

That fellow wanted to send us straight to Bloomington for an exorbitant figure, which of course we plainly refused and tried to haggle. When negotiations seem to hit a dead end, my dear Wharton best friend decided to deliver his Wharton-style ultimatum: “It all depends on you sir…whether you actually want to do business.” WAH LAU EH!! Sai ummm sai so keng ah? In the end, no deal. *So much for going to Wharton* =P

Indiana University Bloomington

We were lucky though! Upon arriving at the airport, the shuttle was already there waiting for their next scheduled pick off! Talk about the ‘Goddess of Kiamsiapness’ smiling upon us! It took us about an hour to get there and it was only during the journey we realized why no one knew of a public transportation to Bloomington – Because there were none. @_@ ”EH! Where is this ulu place lah?? Why so many trees wan??” I asked Eu Win. “EH! Why so isolated wan!” he chuckled in return.

Kiamsiap Journey to IUB!

After a hours of kiamsiap journey, we finally arrived at the Indiana Memorial Union! I have to tell you, Bloomington’s campus is just drop dead gorgeous. It’s surrounded by stunning verdant greens and lush gardens that can make any flora lover like me shudder in envy. I couldn’t help but to pose with a “BAGUS” sign to commemorate our crazy and under-planned journey. We basically spent the night at our INTEC mates’ place which felt really homey cause out of the 6, we have 2 sets of couples. So it’s like staying with a….*ahem* FAMILY. HAHAHA!

Two couples, One LDR, Three Singles = Happy Family!

***

The next day we just spent most of our time touring the awesome campus. Since we were on a very tight schedule, the initial plan was to hit the road at 8am in the morning, hoping to milk every second for what it’s worth. But aiyah! Malaysian timing mah! We woke up at 10am. FML! And being EuWin, that buffalo was complaining that his tangki (stomach) is very empty. So we had Bubble Tea for breakfast! It was one of the best bubble tea I have tasted here in America; which made the one in Ann Arbor taste like….shit.

Eu Win even decided to do some promotion for it. =P

Bubble Tea Promotion!

Alas, despite the gastronomical orgasm reaped from such a nice milky taro flavored bubble tea, cold drinks just don’t go well with me in the morning. I had to go “unload” while Eu Win waited outside for me. After the passionate ordeal, I concluded that IUB kids are spoilt brats as they are showered with various options to wipe their asses. You can’t blame me for being a jakun. In Umich we only have toilet papers. But in Indiana, they have toilet papers and also…..

Which should I use to wipe my ass? =P

I decided to use the napkins.I even decided to store some for future use! Damn cheap leh! 10 cents nia! Kiamsiap!! Just JOKING!!! =D I stuck with my conventional toilet paper. And no, I didn’t take the toilet paper home!

On Elizabeth’s recommendation, we even went to visit their preserved animals! It was comical mind you! Take a look at Eu Win’s expression:

OMFG!!! They look like me!!!!

The rest of the day was just filled with happy moments of touring the beautiful campus and catching up with friends. And thanks so much to Elizabeth, CJ, CK, Sandy, Alicia, Wei Lun and Hafidz for being awesom-est hosts! We had a great great time!

After 10 weeks of working in the airport, what more could I ask for?