i'm back home!

i mean home is where Prince George's Park (PGP) is. My room. Gosh, i miss my bed.

i was at the Science Orientation Week (SOW) since last Thursday. My Orientaion Group (OG), is called 'The Ring', the Japanese horror flick. (i realise that Singaporeans like to say things in short-forms, most of which i don't know anyway.) Our SOW is divided to 4 houses, which are the Romance, Animation, Action and of course, Terror. So we're the H.O.T (House of Terror). In each house, there are 4 OGs, all named after movies titiles, which is why the theme is "Scinemania". i'm the only Malaysian in my OG, and except for one guy who's from Hong Kong and who's been studying here since like forever, everyone else is local. And they're the first bunch of Singaporeans i've make friends with.

Through them, i realise: i'm a year older than the girls (i'm actually same age as some of my seniors in my OG), and a year younger than the guys. This is because they only have 4 years of Secondary and the guys have to go for two-and-a-half- year of national service.

Ok, on the first day, we have the usual station games. Very tiring. Have to run around the campus to go to the various stations. But it was also quite fun. Then we have the 'CORS bidding for Dummies' course. CORS is the system in NUS in which the students have to bid for the courses and modules they want to attend. It was one of those things that was mind-boggling to me when i first came here. But now that i understand, the system actually allows a lot of freedom. It's a bit like buying stocks. Haha. Hmn..maybe after all this practice, i'll have more luck at the casinoes?

Later that night, we have the Secret Pal dating game. We're all blind-folded and then paired up. Had a small chat session and we're not to reveal our name to each other, the usual SP stuff. Then we're supposed to exchange a letter. i wrote him only 3 or 4 lines but i got a page in return. *gulp* Guilty.

Speed dating comes next. It was quite fun, 'cause one of the few questions people will ask is 'Which JC (Junior College) are you from?'

"I'm not from any JCs."

'Oh, poly (Polytechnic) then?'

"Nope." Then there'll be inquiring looks.

i met a few Malaysians too. One even come from Terengganu.

We stayed over and slept in tutorial rooms. And it was damn cold. i never felt so cold in my entire life. My teeth was clattering and i was shivering so hard i can't fell asleep. Not to mention the sleeping bag i borrowed from a friend is only matress thin. i ended up walking my OG mate who's sleeping next to me to the track. She has a habit of running every morning. Because there's no bus at that time, we walked to the SRC (Sports and Recreational Centre). i thought it was kind of cool to walk around the campus at 6 when it's still dark and there's no one around. And boy, she really can run. She ran 10 rounds while maintaning her speed. She didn't even pant much when she finished.

The second night is fright night. i thought it'll only be like what i did during secondary school camps, like only walk around blind-folded and the seniors will try to scare you. i was so wrong. Before that, we have to watched the thai horror movie 'Shutter'. And so the 3 stations we go have a similar story. Everyone was saying i was brave because i didn't close my eyes with my hands like other gals while watching the movie. Yeah, right, i just shut my eyes. Haha.

The first station is the one of the toilets inside faculty. We have to go in pairs. Before we enter the toilet, there's this 'ghost' who tell us the story bout the 'ghosts' inside and we're supposed to complete some 'tasks' for them. The story-teller 'ghost' has white pastly face and later everyone agree he was trying too hard to be scary that he even stumbled on his words and lost the story line. Some even find him funny because he was sweating and the make-up on his face is falling off.

The toilet was dark, only lit by candles. And there are red blood-like stains every where. The mirror is full of words scribbled in red inks. The 1st 'ghost' with white make-up who's the 'son' make us played marbles with him (You may find this is funny). Then he purposely throw the marbles away and ask my partner to fetch them. i was left crouching on the floor outside the cubicles and facing him.

Suddenly the cubicle door flung open and the 'mother' was sitting on the toilet bowl. i freaked out.

She was clad in a red gown, and i tell you, the make-up is real impressive. And with the lighting, the result is so damn scary. Her face was horrible. It's pastly white with streaks of red. i was so scared that i refused to look at her but the 'son' keep saying like 'Look at my mother. Look at my mother.'

Then he asked me to fetch his 'baby brother', which is actually a rag-doll like bundle, and passed to her mother who's still sitting inside the cubicle. And she suddenly sprang on me. i think i just come short of screaming my lungs out.

i think that's the scariest of the 3 stations. The 2nd station is at a 'deserted' house at Kent Ridge Road. The 3rd station is in a dark lecture hall. The story is nearly the same, which required us to pass a 'sacred grass' to the 'spirit' lying on the floor to free her form the cult that killed her. At the 2nd station, i was so 'stoned' that i pass a water bottle to the 'spirit' when she ask for the 'sacred GRASS'. The bottle probably belong to the 'spirit' to quench her thrist. i later learnt that someone passed her a cardboard that was a prop. The other 'spirit' standing was seen trembling slightly trying to hold back laughter.

Later that night, one of the guys told us some ghost stories from his national service stint. i think the guys are really proud of thier NS training. They're always telling some interesting stories about it.

We're suppose to have the inter-house games on the third day but it was rained so we ended up going home early.

SOW continues tomorrow. It's the Freshman Inauguration Ceremony.