practical science

Birthday shout outs: Kerena's 18th (O5O8O9); Jessica D.'s 18th (11O8O9); Kylie's 18th(11O8O9); Mimi's 18th(13O8O9); Bryan's 18th(13O8O9); Nona's 18th(14O8O9); Jenny P.'s 18th(16O8O9); Matthew Ly's 18th(17O8O9); Andy L.'s 18th(18O8O9); Maria N. Jnr.'s 17th(19O8O9); Clara's 19th(19O8O9); Nathan C.'s 18th(2OO8O9); Christian's 18th(21O8O9); David Chiv's 18th(26O8O9); Adrian's 22nd (3OO8O9); Mei's 18th(3OO8O9).

So guess how I celebrated the end of my trials? I finished reading the manga Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット,) by Natsuki Tayaka. Yep! I FINISHED!!! If you want to know what it's about, go to this site. Anyways, that was my weekends gone before science camp, at Narabeen, began. I was packing for it on Sunday night and knew I was going to forgot something, but I ignored it anyways. I was right. I forgot my PILLOW xO! Hence, I had to borrow Maylina's spare one. Thank you May!

CAMP! CAMP! CAMP!

Our last camp of year 12, explicitly for those who does a science subject =). Majority of us went, except for approximately 10 students. I know it said it was going to be 27 degrees, however they seem to forget to tell us about the incoming strong winds and rain. Or we just forget to continue listening and didn't hear the rest. Hence, while we waited for the bus, it started sprinkling. Lisa L. was actually quite content about the weather because it meant that she didn't have to do rock climbing. That funny, funny girl. She was right, she didn't have to do rock climbing once we got there but ironically, she had to do it the next day with blue skies, sparse clouds, moderate temperature and slight wind - another words, a sunny day =). LOL! Mrs. Rogers was in charge with the students on the students on the bus and Mr. Ward, being afraid that we would gang up on her, accompanied Mrs. Rogers on the bus. Maylina, William and Chi Sing was driven by Mr. Kolouris and Fianna, Cindy V., Cindy H. and Athena were driven by Mr. Dowes. According to these students, it seems like both of these male teachers have a preference for an exciting, adventerous life with their screamo/rock music and dangerous driving. ROFLMAOS! Anyways, luckily I didn't vomit on Lisa during the bus ride ^______^' (I'm prone to travel sickness) and it was pretty hilarious listening to the people at the back singing various songs coming from Chiv's musical device (I couldn't see what he was holding), but I think I prefer to listen to my own music thanks xD.

There were 3 activities provided by the organisation: ropes course, initiative activities and rock climbing. Hence, we were split into 3 groups; Lisa, Yunyi and I were in the group doing initiative activities. Unlike the other 2 groups, we stayed inside and played games. It might sound boring, but it's actually quite fun and competitive. Some of the activities were played in drama classes, while others were new to us like the 3 way thumb wrestle and fencing with our fingers. There were also problem-solving activities like using just 2 ropes to lift a bucket of water out of a circle, without dragging it, and stacking empty milk cartoons as high as you can.

The girls' dormitory.

Yunyi and I in our dormitory.

As usual, the girls and guys dormitories were split up. There were common rooms between the 2 sections of each dormitory, and it even has an arched roof, chairs, cupboards, a sink and a television! How cool is that?! Like at camp, in year 10, Lisa was sleeping on the top bunk while I was at the bottom. In our cabin, there was Lisa L., Maylina, Yunyi, Fianna, Cindy V., Cindy H., Athena and I. There were communal showers, so some of us showered at the same time. Of course NOT in the SAME shower, but next to each other >=D.

The food was definitely better than what we had at last year's camp and we even had dessert, which was chocolate mousse. Liem and I had a little chocolate mousse food fight LOL! THE FISH AND MASHED POTATO WERE YUMMY! =D Oh yeah! People were actually taking photos of the teachers (Mr. Kolouris, Mr. Ward, Mr. Dowes, Mrs. Bremet and Mrs. Rogers) and their I-phones LOL! Practically everyone in the science staff room has one LOL! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture myself. Trivia was after dinner and the competition was heating up between the table groups. I'm proud to say that I helped my group win some bonus points with 'who can eat a biscuit the fastest.' The winners? A table full of boys for the 18- group and the teachers for the senior group. You may be thinking 'why are the teachers in it as well?' and this would be my answer: because they didn't make the trivia, it was the staff from the organization. Besides, Phillip was part of the teachers' group LOL! So what were the rewards? Tim Tam biscuits, Minties and Golden Valley fruit yogurt =). GUESS WHAT?! Wildlife animals actually comes into the dinning room once in a while. There was a possum, a cat and a bird which we saw so far =D. We were most fascinated by the possum xD!

The possum that we found!

physical activity - trivia.

No, I did not sleep. Even if I did, it was for an hour or two. What do you expect? The thrill of being on camp, away from your parents and school, and residing in a place where you've never been before, for a night, was just too overwhelming! And yes, there were instant noodles provided by Lisa =). After dinner snack, here I come =D (I'd say midnight snack, but it wasn't midnight at that time). You think Lisa and I are Asian, I should tell you about the boys! Noodles, meat, chopsticks, bowls, hot pot equipments, etc.! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the teachers surrounding the boys eating hot pot just outside the dinning building LOL! They were so organized and all! All I was holding was a cup of instant noodles LOL! Even Mrs. Bremet was commenting on how the girls were lacking in the food department, but Mei replied back with how instant noodles can be chucked away afterward while the boys had to clean their hot pot equipment afterward xD. Go Mei! Anyways, so what did I do for the most of the night? Fianna, the 2 Cindys, Athena and I were at the common room watching a horror Korean movie on SBS, but since we missed the first part of the movie, it didn't really make sense to us and hence, we watched Miss Universe instead. Australia managed to make it to the top 5, but it was Venezuela (Stefania Fernandez) who took out the gold. The Miss Universe 'O8 was so happy for 'O9 that she practically threw the tiara on her head, but it fell off ROFLS! That was so hilarious! China received the award for Miss 'Congeniality' and Thailand received the award for 'Most Photogenic.' Go China and Thailand! I couldn't take it anymore, so I attempted to go to sleep. Alas, the strong winds, mosquito bites, random noises of people entering and exiting the room and my mp3 music kept me awake for the reminding of the night. Before I knew it, it was 5 AM and Lisa and May began packing up. By 7 AM, I was still in bed, but May was already outside for a jog.

Miss Universe 2OO9 crowning moment.

The ropes course.Philip and I at the ropes course.
Patrick on the ropes course.
Jessica on the flying fox.

Jackie on the rope course.

Before breakfast, I went to do some site seeing and photographing. Everyone was almost done by the time I reached the dinning room xO. After breakfast, we had a lesson about studying for science subjects. Mrs. Rogers taught us about the 3 Rs - review, revise, recall. Then we went to our separate science groups (Biology) and went through booklets and then we separated into different groups again for the day's activities. This time, I did the rope course while Lisa got stuck with rock climbing ROFLS! Philip was my partner for the activity and in my group, I was the only girl who attempted the 2nd level of the rope course and boy was I scared! I was practically flying away with the cargo net! I'd right a small summary of how I was feeling during the rope course, with ostentatious language techniques and explicit visual techniques but I'm just not bothered to express my trepidation of that time. However, I'm proud to say that I faced my fear of heights (acrophobia). Okay, I wasn't THAT afraid of heights, but I was still scared! Idiotically, rather than slipping on the rope course, I fell when I was running , while pushing the hook, back to the staff member on the 1st level. I also fell on my butt while trying to stop Philip from hitting the ladder. Okay, Jackie was lucky enough to do 3/4 of the rope course because Thi (Tina) was his partner, and she didn't want to do the course at all. Not even the flying fox. Anyways, I also have to comment on Patrick's amazing running/swimming exiting style while he was doing the flying fox. It was quite spetacular LOL! Oh, and the coversation between Mr. Dowes and Anthony was hilarious! This is a summary of the conversation:

Mr. Dowes: asdlkfjsldfjds You can carry the ladder.
Anthony: asdfjsdfieoaifds childhood obesity sir! ajdfadslkfj
Everyone started laughing.

According to Patrick's explanation, it seemed that Anthony was trying to say child labour, but it turned out as 'childhood obesity' instead ROFLS! Anyways, after the activity, we were split up into our 2nd science group again for practical work. This time I was with Senior Science. Mr. Dowes sure likes to torture us. Walking us up and down slopes, walking through bushes, etc. Thankfully, it was only for an hour or so. We had lunch outside so we get to see the refreshing scenery of the area and then we had to leave. To those who were sitting at the back of the bus and were STILL energtic enough to be laughing and giggling the most of the way back to school, I give you a round of applause. I am just amazed by your enthusiasm. Even after the activities, the sleepless night and the exercise during the practical experiments, you still had some energy left! The rest of us were just listening to our music and sleeping or playing with our DS. I was so exhausted that I didn't even hear Mrs. Rogers say that there were no morning lessons today. Hence, when I reached the room with no one outside, I went to the staffroom to be told, for the 3rd time, that there was no lessons today T_T. I literally hit the bed and fell straight to sleep, all the way to this morning. Now, I suffer from mosquito bites, a swollen eye and aching muscles. All I can do now is just wait until it all goes away.

My Senior Science practical group.

PS. I love you Kelly xD You just know me too well xD! Thank's for the latest One Piece Episodes.
PSS. I'm so happy that I've improved on English xD !!!