A Great Start leads to a Great Week!

9 Jul Thurs 6.48pm

We had a great start to the week on Tues when we went to Dutch Springs for our Business Project team-building activities in the morning. The activities required us to function together as a team and to tap onto the synergy created by having diverse members in one team.

But the real fun began after lunch time when we went to the Dutch Springs waterpark where they had slides, rock walls and many other cool water structures. The lake was 50 feet deep and everyone who entered the water had to put on life jackets. The weather was pretty odd on that day. After just 30 mins, it started raining and everyone had to get out of the lake. The air became chilly but after the rain stopped, the sun came out and its warmth was immediately felt again within the snap of a finger.

I lay lazily on the reclined beach chair to sun tan and after I was feeling adventurous, I put on my life jacket and tried to enter the water. However, when I dipped my legs into the water first, it was really cold (around 71 Farenheit which translates to be around 24 celcius)! That's about the temperature of air-conditioning. When I looked down into the water, it was very clear and I could see the bottom of the lake. That was also when I realized that 50-feet of water = very deep.

So I decided to just continue to lay lazily on my reclined beach chair to close my eyes, relax and continue sun-tanning. Fortunately, I applied sunscreen or otherwise I would have been sun-burnt. The sun's rays were strong and after every 15 mins, I had to flip over because the skin would get hot. Well but in the end, I was still happy that I managed to get a tan without getting sun-burnt.

Before leaving, we took a few wild and crazy shots which I'll refrain from posting here. Haha..... =;o) Overall, we spent a nice, fun, relaxing day at the waterpark to destress and recharge.

Then came Wednesday - the day where Singapore had it's country presentation. The Global Villagers are a bunch of supportive people. Before the presentation, many of them came to me to express their faith in me that I will do a great job.

During the presentation, the audience was very responsive which was encouraging. I enjoyed presenting to this bunch of wonderful audience. Overall, I think I performed well and got the highest mark in my group of 8 countries. Dick Brandt also chose me as the winner and even referred to me as an 'energizer bunny' who was full of energy and recharged the tired audience who already viewed more than 10 other country presentations before mine. My score of 37/40 was probably among one of the highest of all the country presentations so far.

In the evening, I decided to join a group of Villagers to watch "Transformers 2" to celebrate. We took a cab to "Rave Motion Pictures" cinema and had a takeaway dinner at "Red Robins" restaurant.

On Thursday, we had our Guide Group meeting and Adam the limpy guide (that's what he calls himself because he broke his leg and was on crutches) thought that it would be fun if the entire group could gather in Smiley kitchen to make sushi. It was the first time I was making sushi and I think I did a pretty decent job.

And on Friday, we went to..... New York, New York - the Big Apple. Michael, Khan, Chenyao, Enguerrand and me watched the musical 'Chicago'. Thereafter, we shopped for souvenirs and of course I bought plenty for my loved ones back home!

I came back on the 2am bus and reached home at 4am. (Oh wow, I just realized that I'm now referring to Lehigh University as 'home'). Anyway, I slept at 4.15am and woke up at 6.30am to go fishing with Dick Brandt, Matt Prosser of USA and Sayid of Krygystan (somewhere near Russia).

Merrill Creek was a serene, beautiful and peaceful lake where the scenary was gorgeous and it was an amazing place to be close to nature. Of course, our purpose there was to go fishing and true to the purpose, Matt caught the first fish. However, as it was too small, we had to release it back into the lake due to regulations.

I then caught the first BIG fish at 21 inch, 4 pounds. (Not bad for a first-timer huh?!) The trout put up a fight and it took me near 5 mins to reel it in. It was a taker and we could of course bring it home to cook it. Lemon, onions, pepper with the fish baked in the oven for 30 mins produced a delicious fish! Thanks to Matt who did the cooking, we got to enjoy our catch-of-the-day. I ate plenty of fish and the knowledge that I caught it with a fishing rod made the meal extra pleasant!

It's now a late Sunday afternoon and boy, am I feeling a bit tired. Tired BUT fulfilled! It's been truly a pleasant, relaxing and memorable 3rd Week in GV and I'm sure there're more good stuff to come in Week 4. I wish I could write more but there's limited time - so many things to do, so little time. There're loads of other pictures in my Facebook photo albums so do have a look at them.

P.S: Mummy, Daddy, Sis and Uncle Jay: I miss all of you and despite having a whale of a time over here in Bethlehem, I haven't forgotten about FAMILY =;o)