This semester break, the much anticipated training camp leading up to our Cambodia trip finally took place! As its name suggests, it’s a camp tirelessly planned by our team heads to ensure that the activities we have planned for Cambodia are as foolproof as possible. Despite the ulu location, everybody eventually found their way to the chalet and we dived straight to work!
At the start of the semester, we were split into 3 main teams – Cultural Night, Baking and Cooking Night teams. After much preparation and planning, each individual team finally brought their hardwork to “life”. As soon as we set our bags down, it was off to the mall to get all the ingredients for the test runs. The baking team was the first to test their dish, cupcakes. Despite it being late at night, everyone stuck to their objectives and whipped up some pretty great cupcakes.
Besides that, the cult night team gathered everyone to learn a mass song and dance as part of the performance for the Cambodian kids. It was a challenge memorising the songs of different languages and remembering the dance moves but our “instructors” were very patient and broke it down well for us to catch on (it helped that we’re not completely hopeless when it came to singing and dancing). Also the fact that everyone was such a good sport and super enthusiastic about it made it an enjoyable experience.
Of course what is an OVE camp without little doses of fun and games as well? Our heads planned some team bonding games which unleashed the competitive sides of everyone. Some games were physically straining, some mentally challenging, some even thought provoking with important lessons about Cambodia tied to them.
From making homemade Kaya to rolling Tangyuan balls, day 2 was filled with a ton of cooking! The team got down and dirty with their hands despite having little cooking experience, they figured their way around the dishes! The atmosphere was chaotic as 6 dishes were being cooked simultaneously. But overall, the arrangement worked and the food was great! The dishes were prepared just in time for dinner and it was a surprisingly delicious spread. There were definitely areas that could be worked on but that’s the point of trial runs, to fail and figure out what could be done better for the actual run. So great job team!
All in all, our first training camp was a success as we checked all our objectives and are so much more prepared and well-informed for the actual trip (which is happening soon yay!). As we countdown to D-day, the OVE members will be busy fine tuning the activities so that our time in Cambodia will be as fruitful as possible. Thank you for your big hearts and hard work guys! Let’s continue keeping this spirit alive!
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