Apprehension

Battleking. Sai Yok Camp. Khao Ming. Crescendo. Thailand. Tomorrow. One more day.

I wonder why we're flying Thai Airways and not SQ (which happens to be the airline of choice for most other overseas exercises or official government business e.g. school trips). Maybe, like Jeffery suggested, the SAF wants to pull some strings with Thailand, no thanks to "recent happenings" in the country. Haha. Maybe. Speaking of which, political relations between the two countries are a little strained now, but I guess it shouldn't be that bad in that rural part of northern Thailand huh.

Besides that, I don't really know what to expect. After all, I'm considered a real newbie, unlike the cadets, who, not too long ago had the experience of being stuck in Brunei an extra three days because of the haze. Not only is this my first overseas exercise, but the first one dealing with live artillery ammunition. The amount of work, preparation, cleaning, accounting, safety measures... Oh my goodness lah. And not to mention having to adapt to the tom yam and the vast diurnal daily temperatures - from as high as 40+ degrees Celsius in the day to as low as 7 degrees at night (if the cold front that they're talking about actually materialises). I'm still having that dreaded cold now, (probably caught from Jonathan Low eh) although most thankfully, the sore throat's more or less gone. No wonder the apprehension's understandable. Haha.

Details of the exercise aside, poor Marianne Lee would have to take the Seventeens by herself for three weeks or so, unless someone else can stand in. Mentoring would have to be put on hold, unless Andrew can take over for a while. Then again, mentoring has been on hold since the first introductory session with Christian. Haven't even been able to meet up with Nicolas Chew. Students nowadays seem to be so busy. Yup, even busier than stay-in NS personnel.

Ah well, the challenges or a "new" education system. Having to take an additional H1 subject adds on more work and extends the lesson time every day - yes even in a play school like MI. During my time, lessons ended so early and we even had the option of not attending school when we felt like it. Okay, that was a personal, self declared choice lah anyway. I don't know much about the IB programme, but I do know the rigours of the system through the materials my brother has to study. And not to mention the various CCAs and enrichment programmes that one has to be involved in order to achieve a "holistic" education. Busy busy busy. Oh well.

All my bags are packed, I'm still not ready to go though. But I'm really glad I'd still be able to go for KPC's 50th anniversary dinner. Now that'd be a sumptous send-off! Will be gone for sixteen days or so. Guess this'll be my last entry for now. Until then, Sawardee Krap!