Fellowship Camp 2009

It has become a custom to go to Cameron Highlands for Fellowship Camp during Chinese New Year. It is the first thing we look forward in the beginning of the year. For me I always loved a change of climate for a change and a time away from home and work!!!

It was the year of 2007, it was the first year I attended Fellowship Camp. I was outstanding!!! I had a wonderful time, it was a blast! I just love it all....the freezing mornings....the cold water showers (not that they didn't prepare for us warm water....some bathrooms even had hot water showers). It was my personal choice to take the cold icy cold water showers because of the blood rush and then the warm feeling after that... It just made the whole day more bearable.

I was elected as the group leader....my group members were the most happening people....we named our group LE ROUGE which was THE REDS in French..I think. Our team started a bit down but after one fall, we excelled all the way to TOP. We were the champions. I miss LE ROUGE.

Then it was 2008, help was needed in organizing so I decided to join as a Sewadar. Well it wasn't that bad....I had a good time too....penalizing marks out of teams that made mistakes... I would say many people hated me but it was just because of the duty that was given to me. The Amazing Race on this year was the most longest....I think they had to run around camerons more than 7 kms. The highlight was made after the camp when one of the bus broke down at a rest place... The bus's air brakes got jammed. They tried their best but failed.

We ended up sending the Singapore participants into the nikitan bus and all other passengers squeezed into one bus. This was extreme....so many in one bus + the bags....it was a scary ride. First one guy got sick..then we realized one tyre was getting pregnant because of the weight overloading one side...We had to stop for a while and re organize the weight system on the bus.

Gosh what a trip back....we reached very very late.....

That was the PAST now....let's talk about this year's FELLOWSHIP CAMP 2009!!!

I decided to get back to being a participant this year... hmm.. senior participant..ahem ahem... So here it goes again Friday night meet up point, Titiwangsa Gurdwara!!! The excitement starts there...seeing familiar faces and many new faces....everyone excited!!!

I was in the first bus so what I write is what happened in the first bus... no idea what happened in the second bus. But I will share what I roughly heard which may or may not be true. Don't say I didn't warn. The trip up was good.... All the way we sang songs....we had many talented singers in the bus... We started of with Rehraas...HAHA ... Waheguru tera shuker hai that we had a safe journey!

After the Tapah rest place break, we started antakshri....left side of the bus against the right side. Oh I just love the oldies....we went from old songs to new songs....and then Chinese, Tamil, Malay....GOSH....finally we ended with some kirtan all the way till Tanah Rata Gurdwara.
{Pssssst shhhhhh: I heard the other bus watched a sad movie and slept off}.. =)

As we got of the bus.....gggggrrrrrrrr.....ccccoooolllllldddd...we could feel the chilly cold air....first challenge starts there itself....in that cold chilly wind...dragging our bags up the hill....Then getting a place to sleep....OK even though there were a lot of places here and there....my dearest group doesn't wanna split up. So the six of us endded up sleeping on 2 1/2 mattresses...Left to right....Jasvin,Jusprith,Harvin,Nampreet,Salprith,Gurdeep...Well even though we could not spread ourselves openly and sleep...we kept ourselves warm being so close.

So every night, for me it was very important I had reinforcements to keep myself warm. I know the feeling of the cold morning. DAMN COLD. I wore my favourite thick wooly pajamas, socks and another wool sweater on my tshirt. I had a good sleep and after my cold shower as usual, I am ready to face the day.

Registration was ok... since everyone were adults....we didn't need nametags hanging, we just had temporary stickers.

Ice breakers: It reminded me of the market in Egypt. Where everyone was screaming for attention...The activity was simple....pick 4 numbers out of 1 to 101... go out of the class find the name that is linked to the number and then obviously find the person and get some questions answered about the person. I think you can basically imagine how everyone was.

Grouping: Picking 5 leaders....3 guys and 2 gals....Here it goes again...someone suggested me to be a leader...Who was the culprit? Wait till I get u? I had to go up in front. Guys done need another girl. Another 2 nominations....IDEA.....no need voting...let me step down....Luckily Sanjay agreed because I had already experienced being a leader. So then the rest of the participants were open for sale.....and that's how we got into our groups.

My group: Takht Sri Keshghar Sahib
I would say my group had awesome people in it....there was a variety of all types.....musically inclined, sikhi history masters, kirtanis, hip hoppers, cool, naughty, smart, rebellious, quiet, fun, angels and devils.....A good mixture I would say. =) We just lacked a tabla player which we imported a sewadar .... of course the best, who else, Phobinder.

Well one change which was a great idea was doing Japji and Rehraas in your own group. Instead of the few do in front in the darbar as most of the participant wander in dreamland. We get to choose our own spot and pray together.

Carring on....classes were fantastic and educational....we had our laughter time with our all mighty SANJAY (SERJIT) veeerji. We also had veerji Inderjit, Amreek, Father, .... did I miss out anyone???

I'm still writing this ...not completed yet....