OVE’19 embarked on our first ever overseas bonding trip together on the 3rd day of the New Year, 2019! We were close before, but little did we know we how much more of each other we could learn from this trip.
Arriving at the villa in Johor Bahru, all of us were mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the villa that we booked. It was breath-taking. Immediately, phones were out and the photo-taking of our beautiful and humongous villa commenced.
The first day was fun-filled with some orientation games, barbeque and Netflix! The orientation games definitely helped our members become much more familiar with each other’s names and pronunciations! We blew off some steam with the BBQ, grilling some good food and filling our good mood. And with our satisfied stomachs, we wrapped up the day with a fantastic movie, Bird Box which kept us on our toes!
"The bonding trip was really a good way to connect with friends. I love our late night conversations and it helped me feel much closer to the OVE family. This trip is a good start for the semester ahead and I am sure it has formed the foundation for the group to become even closer." - Matthew
Day 2 started off with pool games segment, which was the highlight of the trip! Water always makes games much more fun! We played find the bottle, captain’s ball with our very own takoyaki ball and also some water fight. It was a splashing great time, the girls were rough and the guys were tough. However, the fatigue hit us and well… since nap time was allocated; we made full use of it.
"I feel that the bonding trip was truly fun, memorable and definitely allowed the members to bond and get to know one another better! I especially enjoyed the pool games and relaxing on the unicorn float, as well as napping on the hammock!" - Sharon
Recharged from a good’ol nap, we did our secret santa or should I say… "Sabo Santa". The santas gave their santees 3 hints and they have to guess their gift. Guess correctly and you get your gift, guess wrongly and well, add a drink to the king’s cup and you’ll have to drink it at the end of it all. Laughter filled the room and congratulations to the brave ones for swallowing a revolting drink. And with that, we ended off our second day!
The last day, we had our very own Top 4 making our scrumptious breakfast! Eggs, bacon, pancakes, mmhmm! Not just a feast for our tummies but our eyes as well! Not long after that, it was time to leave our amazing villa… Many were disheartened, some claiming the villa to be their own but we can safely say we have lived a dream the past few days.
It was an amazing 3 days of bonding that will continue to grow and foster as we look ahead towards our Cambodia trip in summer this year.
"It was a really very memorable experience in JB with the OVE family especially being the programmer in-charge. At first I was afraid that it will be boring for the team, but it was heartening and satisfying to see how the team get to chill and interact with each other. Really, a big thank you to everyone for making this bonding trip memorable and fulfilling for me!!" - Xiao Wen
As Adrienne C.Moore asserted, “We define family in many different ways: not just by blood but by people with whom we find a common ground and a common bond.” Through this common bond of helping and loving others, each of us has found a family in each other. A family we will treasure and hold on to for the rest of our lives and forevermore.