2008 New Year Countdown

Who would have ever thought that 8 of us in the Befriending Family would actually spend our New Year's eve together? It was unprecedented, but many thanks to Kit and Terence for initiating this idea! So here we are, all 8 of us, at....happening Sentosa?.....uptown Orchard Road?....Modern Vivocity?.....no....Morbid NUS. Hahaha. But no la it wasn't that bad at all, especially when we went to MacDonalds for a dinner treat! $1 cheaper than outside, all 8 of us got to save as much as $8 on our meals! Worth it right?

More than worth it, one of us was even caught with love at first sight with Miss Macdonalds, and he couldn't contain his bursting passion! I can't help but was suddenly struck with an enlightenment why Ronald MacDonald has such thick lipsticks, its a SHE! The girls, envious with Miss MacDonald's attractive power, tried to be like her. Unfortunately, they lost out in height =p. But good effort!

We then proceeded to walk around parts of NUS, in search of the elusive night creatures of NUS, and one of them is the majestic Brown Owl. I wonder why people laugh at me when I demostrated the sounds owls make? "Hoot Hoot" i went...and its TRUE!!!! I really heard it before!! Too bad the owls left their nest and all went for their own countdown, for we didn't manage to find any...

As if my crap wasn't enough, the group then seem to hypnotically followed me to climb 6 storeys high of steps, to search for the rooftop garden. I must say, either everyone gave me alot and i mean alot.....of face, or they are very obedient! =p Again, it was a little disappointing. Although the view was spectacular, the grass was overgrown and the place looks a bit messy. Then i realized it was about 6 years since I last came here. Another sign that I'm old.

Finally, we retreated to Forum and took some silly pictures to entertain ourselves. It was only 9.30pm! We took and took pictures, and Yi Xin tried to entertain us with a trick question with a dollar note. I managed to guess the right answer but too bad i couldn't keep the note as a reward...With still 2.5 hours to go before 2008 comes, what can we do?????? In the end we decided to do something unprecedented once again....we will countdown early!!!! And as if that isn't smart enough, Yi Xin found out that Brisbane's time is exactly enough for us to countdown in 'real time'!!!!! And so within half an hour, we count down to a new year!!

Welcome 2008!!!!! Yeah Yeah!!! It was an intriguing New Year's Eve for me, but hey we enjoyed ourselves didn't we? Here's a toast to more silly but enjoyable activities in 2008! Befriending 'wan sui'!!! =p

Posted by Uncle Ben

:::Touching Moment:::

I would pinpoint of the touching moments @ the outing at vivo. It was when the race had ended, and the befrienders, youths, and the social worker, sock ling, gathered around for dinner. As the food places were crowded, we ‘da-baoed’ , sat at the rooftop sky park in a circle and had our dinner together. When we had finished our dinner, we sat around, and started to share about our expectations, in regards to BGR. It was indeed a rare moment for all of us, and every one of us shared about what we look for in a relationship partner. I was touched when the youths opened up to share to us; I felt that they were becoming more mature by the day, and that moment really taught me to treasure their teenage years and what they had to offer. This sharing, coupled with the harmless teasing and dimming of the lights of the sky to welcome the night, really was one of the most touching moments in my befriending journey.

LotSa fUn!

One of the more memorable activities was definitely our outing @ VivoCity. It took place in June 07, during the school holidays. We had an amazing race and had to run all about the huge shopping centre to perform tasks and find our next destination. We were divided into two groups, according to our befriender-befriendee pairs. It was indeed a golden opportunity for us to work together, and more so an eye-opener for me, as I witnessed leadership skills from my befriendee. I felt a surge of pride when I saw how the youths in our group actively gave suggestions as to what the next clues may be, and how they led us to them.

As I reflect on the outing, I recall how sporting the youths were. We had to complete tasks at the various stations, and a few of the tasks were “embarrassing”, as they would be sure to illicit stares from passers-by. However, with the continuous urging and encouragement by the befrienders, the youths let their hair down, all in the name of fun and bonding. One “embarrassing task” was @ the 3- storey high snowman. All the members in each group had to tie their legs together and walk a short distance. Initially, the youths in my group were complaining about how immature this particular task was and how ‘paiseh’ they felt as we were in a public shopping centre. However, it was heartwarming to see the friendship at work, as it was the rapport which eventually convinced the youths to join in.

This activity was a good way of catching up with our befriendees during the school hols, and even more so a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the friendship. =)

(by Yixin)