Wednesday, June 11, 2008
5:13 PM

Mendaki and An Adventure

OMG.
i totally need to blog.
:DDDD

ok, i've lost the interest now but ever since the start of it all, up till when i was in the car back from mendaki, i couldn't wait to blog.

haha okay, here goes..

as i had to go for mendaki (CIP) today, i left the house at 12.0something for Bedok mrt.
then just as i was walking out of the estate, i remembered i had forgotten to bring my plants drawing block thing that i had drawn last night (part of the lesson for the kids supposedly) as well as my umbrella (the sky looked as if it might rain).
so i went back to get it (more time wasted).
so i've no idea what time it was when i finally left the house..
maybe 12.1something?

anyway, i wasn't sure who else other than Grace was going today, (mind my blur-ness!) and i didn't have Grace's number in my phone. -.-
i tried to find out who was going today by checking my email (that was before i left the house) but to no avail.
anyway i thought i'd survive so i just left after being frustrated not able to find the email saying who else was coming today.

wrong thinking.

now you might start going :/ ?!

here's the real story:

okay, we were supposed to meet at Bedok mrt's control station, so i had to first of all take an mrt to bedok.
walked to bus stop opp. RGS then saw 105 quite fast so i took it.
got off one stop later at far east plaza.
then walked ALL THE WAY to orchard mrt.
it was quite a long walk; crossed roads, walked a long way from the underpass up till the mrt itself (took quite long okay).
well, it seemed like a long dist. to walk.
oh ya i forgot to tell u i was listening to iPod.
i seldom listen outside coz
1) i don't take public transport that often
2) don't u find that on the bus/ train or on the road, it is very noisy? and you can't hear the music properly, you must cup your ears to block off the noise before you can hear.

well anyway.
i finally reached orchard mrt and figured by myself how to go to bedok! :D
yay me; i had to take to city hall from orchard, then change to the green line and take all the way (quite a number of stops) to bedok.
so that's what i did..
i only could sit for like, one stop, after ppl got off at Dhoby Gaut (sp?), the stop before city hall. (i think)
then the green line journey was very long and i had to keep standing.
okay even worse, it was long.
i was halfway there and checked my phone: 12.46 pm, uh i guess i'll be late, hope they will wait and be there!, as we were supposed to meet there at 12.45 pm.
blame me for my inexperience. (my first time going to mendaki and taking to bedok!)

okay then the worse part came.
i got off at bedok mrt, not very sure where to go so i guessed i should go out of the waiting for train place and followed the exit sign down the steps (or was it escalator?)
anyway, i checked my phone and saw 4 missed calls and 1 message from this number, not sure it whoms it was of.
anyway, i decided to call to find out where they were (coz e number must be one of my sl group member's mah..)
then called and recognised the voice.. it was yin xin's.
she told me they were not at mendaki yet; that they were at the bus stop (the message read: sry if you're going to mendaki but it's late so we're leaving first) and she said to meet them at the bus stop.
so i asked her how to get to the bus stop then she told me to go down the escalator and then.
i suddenly couldn't hear anything.
so i said, hello?
then checked my phone to realise that it was out of battery and went flat just like that!
ok that happened MANY times already. especially at the times i needed it most! my life was DEPENDANT on it.
argh! D:

so anyway, i decided i'll go to the bus stops to try and find them.
oh apparently they thought i was kidnapped or something, when my phone died and they suddenly couldn't hear me; i found out when i met them at mendaki later.
so i went to the bus stop just outside the mrt station, the small one, but couldn't see them there.
then i saw this big bus interchange just opposite so i thought maybe they were there (i recalled in the email vera sent previously that we were supposed to take bus 31 to some lagoona place and then take to somewhere else thereafter. omgz confusing.)
walked over to the bus interchange. my, it was huge.
and i was kind of lost.
sooooo, i walked about all the different-places-where-you-queue-to-take-the-bus-with-railings but couldn't find them ):
so i was like, shit, how?
they'd most probably have gone off for all i know.
*panicks*
will i be stranded in this alien, unfamiliar place for the next few hours? or will i not be able to make it for medaki today?
super drama-tized.
but it was freaking scary ok, you, being stranded alone, without any phone to contact ppl, (luckily i still had money with me), at a place that you've never been to before and with a place to rush to asap.

so anyway i was kind of panicking; i was suprised that i didn't cry! :D
which is kind of a good thing.
haha i'm calm and strong B)
okok i'm jk.
the only thing that i could think of that might work, (heck, that was the only thing i could do) was to call my parents for help and advice.
but i needed to find a public phone first.
okay, i did consider borrowing from a total stranger (hopefully they'd lend me since i was in my school uniform and all and wouldn't be some youngster trying to cheat their phone and run away with it), but i thought it'd be kind of strange so scratched the thought.
it's better to depend on yourself right! :D

so i went to this provision shop kind of kiosk in the middle of nowhere in the bus interchange, asked the two aunties manning the shop and they said hou mian (behind) and pointed vigorously to the wall.
i walked along her instructions but couldn't really find the phone, so went back shortly after asking her, "is it behind nearer to the entrance" in chinese.
then she, a tad frustrated, pointed to the wall and said, "it's behind, told you already, its behind the wall" in mandarin.
i guess all aunties are like that lar.
so i thanked her and went to behind the wall and found it.

omg i tell u first i wasted so much money on public phones today!
i had coins with me (luckily (:) so i slotted in a 20 cent coin into the machine at first.
the phone seemed a bit oily and dirty (dirty was imagined by me but after all dunno how many millions of ppl have used it before right..) anyway i bet it's dirty lor.
oh anyway however disgusting that phone seemed, i put it beside my ear (no choice who ask me never check my phone have battery or not) and listened.
then after that when i was really talking to someone i had no choice but to really put it at my ear and listen properly..
and kind of make myself forget abt how dirty that phone could be.
anyway i'm kind of ranting and not telling you what happened.
i put in 20 cents into the machine and dialled my mum's number.
no one picked up -.-
so there was another 10 cents worth left so i called again, or maybe called my dad's number. again no one picked up. so it was wasted.
tried dialling both their numbers again with another 20 cents but it was in vain.
so i decided to call home, even though i didn't know how my maid or sister would be of much help.
i was desperate anyway, didn't have much of an option.
so i put in a 20 cent coin (my last 20 cent coin at that) and dialled my home number.
btw those 3 numbers are about the only numbers that i can memorise, other than my own number and 2a's number.
oh ya and i couldn't call the mendaki girls as their numbers (okay, yin xin's number) was in my phone and my phone was flat!
k back to the point, i called home and my maid picked up; the voice was quite soft so i had to cover my other ear (hoping it would enable me to hear more clearly) and cover my nose and mouth (i had no idea how it would help but i just did it).. it kind of worked actually, i could hear somewhat of a voice.
i asked to talk to my sister.
then told her the sorrowful plight i was in ):
i was so sad and scared.
poor me.

then she, suprising me, was fairly calm and logical and helpful, abt helpful she didn't have much abilities to help but at least she made and effort; i would have been too uncalm to think about what was the best to do.
k lar, most of the time she is more calm and can-think-in-a-logical-and-practical-what-we-should-do-sense than me.
anyway, she helped me check on the internet how to get to mendaki.
apparently, there were two medakis - wisma mendaki and another yaya (??? :O) mendaki or something like that.
she didn't know which one it was, so did i.
i told her it was the malay one.
(i found out it was the wisma one later)
oh and she told me how to get to the yaya one.
cuz she thought that was the correct one, instead.
a bit of a disaster.

oh anyway the 20 cents used up so the phone was beeping so i rummaged in my wallet which was in my bag, for another coin but all my small coins were used up and i only had (wow, suprising! :D) 3 or 4 one dollar coins so i just dumped it into the coin slot.
at least i had unlimited (or a very long time) to talk and that felt safer.
so she told me to take either bus 16 or 14 (bus 16 was cheaper) to some chiangkat?? place (i couldn't hear wth that place was called and had to have her repeat 3 times until i was nvm) and then walk to mendaki after alighting.
i was a bit *stare blankly mouth agape* kind of a face but decided to give it a try.
after all, what else could i do?

wasted $1.40/ $1.60 at the first phone booth then. esp on calls that were never picked up -.-

so i combed the area, humongous, trying to find the metal railing waiting place that had bus service 16.
at first i saw the wall painted 16 but saw that bus 16 didn't go there so i walked elsewhere in search.
then finally after like forever i saw this blue, circular sign saying 16 and bukit merah.
but being unsure whether bus 16 really stopped there, i asked this auntie whether bus 16 would come here or not.
then she was fairly helpful lar, she said it would.
so i hopped onto the metal railing and waited.

waited for quite long leh.
oh then there was this girl in school uniform, a white blouse tucked into a green skirt (at first i mistook for rjc but i saw the school badge and realised it was not RJ) and asked her for the time (as i suspected i was running late).
heng it was only early one something; the lesson was supposed to start at two although we were supposed to meet earlier and it was quite late larh paiseh but at least it wasn't 2 yet.
saw bus 16 parked there but the driver was out..
then after that another bus 16 came and ppl got off and i saw this girl in rg pe attire (not relavent) but still gave me a sense of familiarity and reassurance ya la doesn't make sense coz she walked away, probably going home and i don't even know her. um then i thought, can i go up the bus, i better go now lest the bus gets driven away.
um so i was like a bit awkward, not knowing if i should walk to the bus or not, a bit blur, eyebrows furrowed, taking steps upforth and back, ppl staring.
then this uncle (with dentures sticking out quite gross) nodded, signalling that the bus was here and i could get on.
btw he was pointing at the stationary bus without the driver, but he was right..
i didn't get him at first coz i'm not used to all these stuff and i'm a little blur (actually can't blame me oso lar).
then another auntie said that the bus was here and i could get on. (i realise this post is getting extremely detailed)
i saw the bus driver getting on the bus and ppl swarming up the bus..
so i just followed the crowd, knowing that i was getting on bus 16.

the girl in uniform and the boy in earphones who was waiting there as well and the auntie who talked to me and the old uncle with dentures sticking out weirdly and others all got onto the bus too..
i sat down feeling a bit on tenderhooks.
i didn't know what would be my future, where the bus'd exactly lead me to, where i was going and what would happen later.
the bus started (moving) and not long after that i went up to the front and asked the uncle if this bus was going to mendaki.
he stared at me saying he didn't know what mendaki was.
omg i'm having deja vu now, half related to that matter.
then i was nvm, do you know any place called chiangkat or of some sort?
he again couldn't hear what i was saying properly! super pissing that blur bus driver dun even know anything about singapore how to be bus driver!
RAWR. *scowls*
then he repeated my "chiangkat" into "chiangee" or something, i seriously can't remember what was the chiang-something my sister told me, it could even not have been chiangkat, nor can i remember how the bus driver pronounced that chiang-something wrongly.
anyway, he didn't know what the hell i was talking about so i was nvm again.
then i sat at the seat in front.
then i went back to my original seat.
the girl in the uniform was sitting behind me, so i asked her where this bus was going, since the stupid bus driver didn't know a thing and i had difficulty communicating with him.
(omg i'm going to take ages writing this post, i wrote so much already and i'm not even half through)
kay gonna take a rest first. (:
k i'm back to continue..

ummmmmm. oh ya then she said it was going to orchard and some other places. bukit merah maybe?
um so i was like oic..
then got off at a random bus stop where i saw it had bus 31 coming to the bus stop.
then i remembered vera's email again, it also said take bus 31 to some lagoona place!
so i thought since i'd get lost taking that bus-that-i-didn't-know-where-it'd-lead-me, i might as well get off earlier to prevent getting lost any more than i was already.
haha, so i got off.
and waited for bus 31 to come.
oh, that place was super ulu, it was right smack in the middle of the road (of course at the side not the middle), but it was still ulu and the only building nearby was an industrial-looking factory opposite.
then bus 31 DID NOT come, well at least not yet, but this bus 196 was approaching and it looked quite professional and new (it was double decker too!)
haha.
i looked at the board at the bus stop (the one that tells us what buses stop at the bus stop as well as where they go) and realised that bus 196 also went to laguna view, and lagoona park, the two lagoona things that i suspected might be of some help.
so i boarded the bus.
okay, this time the bus driver was very blur as well, i asked him if the bus would stop at lagoona park/ club and he did not know wth those were as well. why all the bus drivers like that?
oh he didn't know mendaki too.
i don't think he knows anything at all.

anyway i was nvm, i shall see for myself. then went and asked these two girls where this bus would go to. (i've been asking so many strangers things today!)
one of them told me it goes to parkway, suntec, etc.
i asked them, do you know where's mendaki?
but i guess mendaki is kind of ulu and a place which normal ppl would not know of..
so she didn't know too.
well i was thanks.
(:

the bus DID stop by laguna view and lagoona park, but both of them were condos -.-
and they didn't look the least bit like someplace near mendaki.
i wouldn't know how to walk to mendaki from there, anyway.
so there i was, stuck on a bus, without a useable phone, without knowledge of anything/directions and running late (even more late) to a place that i was searching for.
i was, um. scared.
i was on the verge of breaking down.
okay, maybe i wasn't (told you i didn't cry already!) but i was kind of trying to feel sorry for myself.
sad fate. (just for that moment, tt hour or two)
okay, then i was sitting at one edge of the bus and the seat was vibrating cos the engine was just underneath.
oh then these quite irritating 4 boys from a neighbourhood secondary school (i'm not discriminating against neighbourhood schools hor) were talking about how their average grades were F9s.
um okay but who am i to say that since they have every right to speak anything they like.

oh then there was this uncle sitting one seat away from me.
not that it matters, i'm just listing the details that i saw just now.
oh then i asked the uncle did the bus go to parkway and how long it would take.
so he said four to five stops at the time i asked him.
so when the bus was arriving parkway, the uncle informed me..
he told me "that building in front was parkway" and told me to get off at the upcoming stop.
so i was a little blur but was all okay. lol.

i decided to go to parkway as it was the only place where there'd probably be food/ a phone to call ppl/ PEOPLE (less ulu).
and when i say ppl i mean all sorts of ppl (esp NORMAL ppl thank goodness (:)
not some weird hooligans/ uncles and aunties who i can't really communicate to due to language barriers or just because they dun understand what i'm saying.
um and at least i'm more familiar with parkway than with a bus that i dunno where it leads to.

yay! parkway! :DDDDDDDDDDDD <333333333 for once.
i entered through the steps to the shopping centre.. the place where there is fish & co. and all.
whoo! :D
i almost thought i wouldn't be coming for mendaki today and would have to make up on another day.
cuz it was quite late already. AFTER THE LOOOONG JOURNEY I'VE BEEN THROUGH.
haha so i was kind of relieved..
oh and you know, cos the area around parkway is where my relatives live, i felt a sense of safety and dependant-ness. you know..
like you can be safe. ke kao.
my cousins, aunty live there and another aunty of mine works at that area.
so i have many arenas to seek help from! :D
although all their numbers are in my phone so kind of useless.. -.-

anyway, i walked around parkway, glad to be in a decent air-conditioned place with nice shops, and it being not such an ulu place as all the places i had just been to.
:D
understanding the fact that i shouldn't torture myself very well, i decided to buy myself a bread from breadtalk since it smelled pretty good and also since i hadn't eaten lunch, but only my late breakfast of noodles.
i ate as i walked, looking at what places there were and if their was a public phone which i could call from to seek help.
i bit my gum twice while eating! ):

walking on, i saw the sign with a toilet, phone and another icon on it.
gleeful, i walked on and found the public phones! :D
oh and i wasted more money.
i had forty cents change from the bread, and a few more twenty cents i don't know from where so i used twenty cents first.
called mum.
thought that she might pick up this time, but NO.
called again with the remaining ten cents and SHE DIDN'T PICK UP AGAIN.
humph and pffttt.
put in another 20 cents and called her office.
oops, first time dialled the wrong number, two numbers reversed.
hehe, remembered wrongly.
got told by singtel that that number is not in use. :P
then suddenly the RIGHT number struck me this time. right after i got the message from singtel.
but i think that twenty cents somehow got used up.
then i had 2 more twenty cent coins left.
tried slotting in both but they kept falling into the refunding coin slot, not being able to dial.
kept taking them out and trying again, but didn't manage to get it in.
so i took out a one dollar coin, not caring less, i just NEEDED TO CALL MANZXZX.
i dun mind wasting money if i could get out of the sticky situation i was in.
called the right number this time and thank goodness my mum picked up. (called her office number)
she didn't answer her phone cuz they were eating lunch.
anyway told her the mess i was in and what exactly happened to me and that i took many buses and got lost and i was sad ):
and asked her what to do?
she said she'll come over and pick me up.
and asked if i still wanted to go to mendaki.
i asked her what time it was.
she said 2.06.
so i said okay lor, since better late than never!
haha.

wow, that was quick and easy. just a word from her and i was saved! :D
i felt so happy.
a wave of relief surged through my body.
i felt liberated! :D

oh yeah, she told me to wait for her at the taxi stand..
i didn't know where it was so had to find out..

i saw scoopz near the phone booth, same level, just opposite.. realleh super near hahah.
even after eating the bun (wasn't veh filling) i wasn't full, so i felt like muckin around and buying an ice-cream for fun.
and cuz scoopz also reminded me of when me and my cuzzies went to buy the last couple of times. haha.
it had a feeling of familiarity..
i dun feel it now (forgot my feelings then!) but i rmb that was how i felt just now.
oh yeah so just for the sake of it i decided to buy scoopz, even though i'm not crazy over scoopz.
i asked to try vanilla, it was so-so, didn't really have much taste.
so i asked to try peach since it looked rather refreshing and different.
it tasted better than the vanilla so i decided on peach.
i was craving for the aromatic cone too!
paid up and took the chance to ask the girl where the taxi stand was.
turned out it was just outside and next to the bookshop which was next to scoopz.
means very near.
i walked out to the air-conditioned section; the taxi stand being just outside.
i think i bought the ice-cream partly to occupy myself while waiting as well.
ahaha.
i finished the ice-cream in a while, it wasn't that fast but i finished it before my mum arrived.
i found a blue strand of yarn in the ice-cream. then i used the tissue to dig that part out.
was just feeling relieved when not long later, i found another blue strand of yarn in the cone ITSELF. obviously i broke off that part. so much for handmade ice-cream.

waited for quite long, until i wasn't sure if my mum knew the way.
as in, to the taxi stand.
seeking reassurance, i went to the phone booth to call again.
tried putting in the 20 cents that didn't work at first but worked the second time after that.
called mum but the call was diverted.

then i decided to go back out to the waiting place.
just nice, saw my mum!
hahaha.
so i quickly made my way to her car.

i've thought:
mum is always there for me, no matter what, to pull me out of sticky situations.
sometimes i take her for granted and am even mean to her.
i should reflect and be nicer. (:
well i think i'm improving at the moment;
((((:

she called my sis for the address, then checked the street directory to find out how to go.
then off we were to mendaki!
i was about an hour late haha.
phew! end of the rocky journey. :D

i wasn't expecting much of mendaki, and was feeling very paiseh for losing my way and being wayyy late. like an hour late.
ok but the journey seemed way longer than that.
it was abt 2 hours in actual fact, possibly seemed like three?
haha so i was a bit apprehensive when approaching the centre..
got dropped off at the lobby, then went in and the lady told me the thing i was volunteering for was inside, in the hall or whatever that room was called.
haha.
then i took off my shoes (the rules) and entered the room.
okay i peeped through the glass door before entering first, to make sure i was in the right room.
haha then once i stepped in my friends were like: Amanda! :D
then they introduced me to the kids.
haha.
i stood there a bit frozen not knowing what to do.
then i put down my bag and went to join them.
:D
the kids and everyone were all very friendly! :D
haha.
i heard from my other group members that mendaki WAS fun, but i didn't know if i'd share the same sentiments.
it is actually very fun! esp when i first entered.
being around with the little kids who are super enthu is great! :D
haha.

by the time i got there, they had already finished the lesson and teaching the kids about plants.
so we played games for the rest of the day.
first game that they were half way through was pass the ten cent coin.
it was quite fun!
then we went for outdoor activities..
played police and thief which was somewhat like catching.
running about with them was fun! they really made me feel like a big jie jie.
haha i can't believe i couldn't catch the children!
..well, i guess i was too tired/ can't balance for some reason to run super fast on the grass to catch them.
but the others could! ah i feel so useless XD

after police and thief we played crocodile.
the goalpost was the crocodile's territory.
so we had to say: crocodile crocodile, may we cross your golden bridge?
then the crocodile would reply: no.
then we said: what colour do you want?
then the crocodile would pick a colour, and the ppl with anything of that colour worn on their body would be spared, allowing them to cross without the crocodile catching them.
the kids who crossed without being caught were given yupi gummies.

then after that the boys wanted to play soccer but the girls didn't, so half of us played with the boys, half went back into the air-con with the girls.
kay yi, yin xin and grace played with the boys while li ting, sown and I went to accompany the girls.
at first they all were running about doing their own things.
then i asked them what they wanted to do but they all wanted to do different things..
so i played a treasure hunt with one of the kids and then the rest wanted to play too.
haha so i played many rounds of treasure hunt with them.. it became our main staple of activity we carried out while waiting for the boys and all to return and gather.
we gave out candy as the prize to whoever who found the treasure each round.

the boys finally returned, happy from their game.
i heard kay yi ran a lot. haha.
we gathered together and had the Q&A session.
we asked them questions on plants (what we had taught them previously) and if they answered right, they would be awarded a sweet.
it was the only time my drawing block came to use. (it was meant for the lesson but i missed the lesson)
the kids were fairly enthu.

after the Q&A, it was time for them to leave..
so they slowly left and we packed up the place till 4.30.
the lady in charge gave us some feedback..
tomorrow i'll be going again and the topic is light (my proposal!)
hmm hopefully they have more hands on and more activities which are educational yet fun so they won't feel bored.
i don't know if i should plan the lesson and bring all the stuff!
i guess i will try to do some prep for tomorrow, later! :D

borrowed grace's phone and called mum, she was at the carpark so i walked there to meet her and bade goodbye to the rest.
it was a pretty fun day! :D
whee, a nice way to get cip hours! :D
quite fun!

drove home and i almost blogged straight after i got home and on-ed my com.
haha this post took ages to post lor.
it's ten pm now and i just finished posting!
of course with breaks and intervals in btwn, like dinner + tv break! ahaha.

ok that's all! random stuff below. (:

i suddenly want a macbook.

as we grow up, we gain more experience and thus become wiser.
don't try to be someone else, be your own self, and be it to the best.
if you try to be someone else that you are not, you will only find yourself failing and being miserable. so why not be your own self and see yourself shine as you strive to improve and be a better person in all aspects? (:
one might view this (not just this but applies to everything else) as crap that doesn't make much sense and has no significance, but that is only because you haven't truly understood the gist of such statements. i've been through it all, now i finally understand some things my parents have been trying to tell me which i thought of as unimportant and let it go by just like wind along my ears. (dang cheng er bian feng haha) when you come to the realisation and finally truly understand; somewhat a sudden realisation, an epiphany, you'll zi ran er ran (naturally) understand by yourself. It's a great feeling, really. I finally understand what it means for: "i won't give anything up for it". (:

♥ her royal juiciness.-