Wednesday
All of us were on 2 different shifts, mine was supposedly from 2-5pm, but I graciously swapped with Mark because he had a tennis match to play in the evening, so in the end, mine was from 5-8pm. It was the first time I helped out in the set-up of the SGF. The last time(2 years ago), we just sat down at the booth and attended anybody who was interested in our course. This time, we really helped out, in the Orchid Show to be exact. Well, we were floaters to begin with, and went where help was needed, then slowly after about 30mins, we were all settled into our more or less permanent roles for that day. I was basically the runner for the Orchids, and went about transporting the Orchids from one place to another. Initially, I was as lost as a blind rat, because the place was HUGE! And somehow, the sequence of the displays were not in order, so I had to sort of roughly memorise the stations. This was when majority of the Orchids came in, and we were all flooded with work, all scrambling around like busy bees. Hahahaha, Iqbal, Nisa, MJ and myself missed dinner because we were too caught up with our work, but oh well, the experience was more enticing compared to the food. There was a little hiccup towards the end, and we ended up staying around till 9.30pm, so we all dispersed quite late.
Just in that day itself, I met a lot of new people, and to be honest, I really miss helping out. I know it might sound cliche, but something of this magnitude is actually not easy to organise, and just by simply helping out, it really eases the burden of the main organisers. Another good point is that I can meet new people, and I love to meet those who are not Singaporeans, and really get to know more about their motherland and cultures and so on. It was a really great day for me, and it was just the prelude to what was to come the next day.
Thursday
Had to wake up bright and early to reach Suntec by 7am, and Daniel and I were supposed to meet to get a taxi ride over, but my mum graciously volunteered to fetch us, really thank God for this mum of mine. Hahahaha, so anyways, reached there early and just waited for the real action to begin: judging!! I was grouped with Loy, Melissa and our resident monk, Ching Hong. We were called 'Stewards', and we were entrusted the task of assisting the main judges to pick out the winning Orchids of their respective classes. And it was a real eye-opener for me, because the judges were all from around the world, and they really knew their stuff. They were spewing words which I can't even pronounce, let alone memorise them, and they were chatting away as though over afternoon tea. Hahahaha, it was really mind boggling for me to see how well-versed all of them were, and even the locals, who were from OSSEA, also knew their stuff pretty well. I really give these people respect, because they have such a strong passion for orchids, and their lives probably revolve around these beautiful plants. In my opinion, ALL the orchids deserved to be a winning entry, but in a contest, there has to be those who will stand out from all the rest, and this was no exception. We took about 3 hours just going through all the procedures and judging, and the winners were finally announced, and of course, that meant that we could all go home. Muahahahaha, but these 2 days were really an extremely good exprience for me, and I met a lot of nice people along the way. I guess this whole experience is one which I will keep in my heart for a long time to come, and it is a unique event for such a unique country, wouldn't you say?
PS: Happy 20th Birthday Chan Nurul Nisa!!!!! Hugs and kisses from your year 1 scandal!!!! XD Enjoy yourself over this weekend, and really let your hair down!! =)
~moey out~