Thursday, May 11, 2006 : Camp-ex
Crap. I don't know how to spell it. Is it Camp-X or Camp-ex? Anyways, I can't go. =( bloody SPM. Next year BETTER be a better year if not I'm sueing the Education Ministry.
Its sort of a sequel to D2YC (a buddhist youth camp). Yes, yes, I know I'm not a buddhist but I join the camp for discipline purposes and well, for experience. I also got to learn about Buddhism! Sweet! Now, before this turns into a Moral essay, I'm going to skip the stuffs I learnt.
Such memorable times those were (eh, Su Ling? haha). Food-wise, I'd say the modern/high-class temple (wats it called? where most of the monks were female?) was the best. I had 4 or 5 bowls of rice! Wooo! Deprivation from good food for 3 days can really build one's hunger level. The eating habits at the temple was really strict!
They even separated the boys from the girls. Sexists. Haha. I love that word.
It goes like this; there's like this looooooooooooooooong-ass table. Lotsa people will be sitting at the table. There will be an imaginary line on the table horizontally. If any of your plate (rice/dish) is in the upper part of the imaginary line, the monks will come and refill that plate. Its really kind of cool. Uber cool system.
Silent and disciplined. I was amazed. It abolishes the need to call out "HOI, WAITER, MALI MALI!". They have unlimited refills too! Dam I was fucking full by the time I was done.
My cousin, Augustin, was one funny ass. His plates were over the imaginary line. So the monk kept on refilling his plate. He doesnt know Mandarin either. Then, when the monk saw his plate was already full, she pushed the plate back to the lower part of the imaginary line.
My cousin, not knowing what the invisible line meant, looked at the monk with the blurrest pair of eyes I've seen for awhile then pushed the plate back above the line. Then the monk pushed it down again.
This continued for quite some time until finally someone beside him (obviously not me) told him. I was busy laughing my ass off. It was hilarious watching my cousin and a monk take turns pushing plates. You try imagining it.
Though the good food doesnt come with sacrifice. Before the food, we(participants of the D2YC) had to sit in a room where we were given a speech on something I had no idea of. I was half-asleep, trying to figure out what the monk was saying. She was speaking Mandarin. I know shits about Mandarin!
My trusty translator was boring the shit out of me too. The only part I found him useful was during lunch when he translated the whole plate-in-plate-out system to me. =D
After 2 decades, the speech finally ended with half the room asleep. Even the commitees were dozing off! Good examples kononnya~
Again, they separated the girls and boys during the speech. Sexists. Haha.
Then there was the treasure hunt. Tiring shit! I felt like drinking the pond water.
All in all it was a good experience. Yup yup. Not going for this year's Camp X but I will be for the end of the year's camp, if Sebastian helps me get in again. Haha.
Last year I submitted my form late and by right, I should've been rejected for the camp. Lucky I had inside connections. =D Unfortunately, my friend, who submitted his form later than me, couldnt get in. Hilarious, I tell ya.