DHS-psyCOYlogy!: East Division Day, 29 August 2015

Hello Guides!! (: It was the long awaited East Division Day (EDD)! All the respective committees have worked hard over the past weeks and today our efforts will finally be paid off! We headed to Changkat Changi Secondary School for the competition, where we were welcomed warmly with a few songs. The competition then kicked off and everyone headed to their respective venues around the school. The following are accounts from guides of different committees:

Performance…

EDD is really an eye opener especially since it’s the first time I am taking part in such intense competition. Our group met up for quite a few sessions in order to prepare for the performance. We had to work on our volume, and the moves for some of the songs. Throughout the practices, I have learnt many skills- teamwork, courage, and creative thinking. On the performance day, I was really nervous before the performance. However, the other members of the group encouraged me. With their support and help, we managed to perform the skit, dance and songs as planned during rehearsals. Although we did not win any prizes, the experience itself was enriching and rewarding. I have learnt many skills which can be applied in future competitions or even in my daily life. From this competition, I have also made many new friends. We had lots of fun rehearsing for the competition. We could have improved by making more props. I will definitely strive harder to win for the next competition.

Recycled Fashion Show…

For me, I was selected to be in the Recycled Fashion Show competition, the model, with my senior planning my outfit and the materials to be used at every step of the plan. We were given one and a half hour to make the finishing touches and show it to the judges. The theme for this year was "Singapore: Back to our old Kampong Days" and my senior had crafted out a dress, the top would be folded and opened up to give that layered effect, made out of newspaper. The skirt, in addition, would also be made from newspaper and would wrap nicely around my legs. However, the skirt had a catch - which was to add palm leaves on the outside to make it fall nicely and give that "waterfall" effect. My senior also attached two strings of twigs connected by 白绳, and it was stuck on my belt. This was all designed to show how people living in the kampong back then did not lead luxurious lives, and hence had to resort to using these materials to demonstrate their creativity. The twigs represented their resilience and the colourful newspaper showed how people of different races and personalities came together to form one Singapore. It was a very innovative way of expressing our appreciation for Singapore through this dress, and even though it was a backbreaking process to prepare for this competition, Dunman High still did not win and we were quite upset. It was tough to be honest, because the other contestants had very nice costumes too. We did not win for both years, but it was a very fruitful experience where I learned how to make use of my time wisely, and made some new guide friends from other schools. Looking forward to next year's EDD!

Mini Gadgeting…

For Mini Gadget Team 2, we built in total 5 structures, respectively a stilt house, double storey house, boat, swing and a bridge. All of which are key aspects of what life is like in the kampung. During the prep dates, we would start off with introducing the structures to the juniors and allocating who would tie what. Slowly, with more practice, the timings would improve and so would our lashes. Even though at timed we would feel like giving up, but with the support of each other, we persevered on and when all of us saw the overall design when we pieced every structure together, the satisfaction was great. Looking back at the preparation we did for this EDD, I feel that everyone had done their best and winning or losing is no longer of utmost importance but the process is the one that matters when everyone helped one another to ensure that they complete the structure within the time given. However, all of us had the goal in mind which is to win the first and second of the Mini Gadget's competition and true enough, we achieved it.

EDD Food Committee…

Our team made Pulut Inti , which was a nonya kueh desert extremely popular in the past. When we reached the venue, we immediately started to prepare our ingredients. First, Louisa took out the glutinous rice and prepared it for steaming. However, we faced some problems as there were limited power plugs and hence we had to travel a distance before reaching the power supply. When we were about to steam the rice, we were horrified to find that the power plug was damaged and that we could not turn on our electric stove! Thankfully another team allowed us to share their extension plug and things went well. However, this was not the case for long.

While I was checking the time for steaming, my junior was cutting up the banana for making the tropical smoothie. After around 16 minutes, the power supply was cut off and everyone was flustered. We adapted to the situation and worked with other items first, such as the preparation for the smoothie, the plating, etc. When the power supply was back on, we immediately started steaming our rice, preparing our coconut and blending our smoothie. Finally, we made the Pulut Inti with banana leaves and the dish was ready for presentation! :)

Next, the other team was going to make a dish called mango chutney pai tee and teh c. However, we did not add the mango last minute as it was too sour and did not complement well with the other ingredients. At the start, there was already another team from another school breaking their rice cooker. This added to the tension and nervousness we felt and of course, we told ourselves to be more careful. While i was chopping the onions and garlic, our senior was preparing the mangoes while our junior took charge of the electrical appliances. Thankfully, we did not face any problems throughout the whole cooking experience except for the flooding of the sinks, the tiring cleaning up and a shutdown of electricity suddenly that caused us to panic. Despite all these, our seniors still took care of us, helped us out and of course, we managed to complete the dish in time! To me, it was my first time yet i felt it was a well done job. Although we didn't win any prizes, it was a fulfilling and fun experience to be cooking traditional food for EDD.

Booth…

We went up to the hall for the welcome speech before being assigned to our booth area. At first we went up to the library thinking that we were allocated that area due to a communication misunderstanding. After further clarifications, we were assigned a spot near the courtyard where we had a clear view of the telematch. We laid the table and arranged our games pieces neatly. In the first half an hour, our booth was pretty empty and many of us were very free. We even had time to run over and watch the performance team rehearse. Soon, the crowd streamed in and our booth was very crowded with brownies. We demonstrated the games to the brownies and they were very excited to try out the different games. After about 2 hours, we were called back to the hall for prize presentation. Though we did not win many prizes, I think we still did great and everyone had fun. At first I wasn't very keen on being in booth as I felt that it was very mundane and boring but after this experience I realised that booth is actually quite exciting and not as boring as I thought it would be.