Back after so long, the big exam is over, but I did not quite get the feeling I thought I would have. I imagined myself being immensely excited about not having to look at books at all for 2 months and be at my liberty to do whatever I liked. However, that did not appear to happen and all I felt was a mere "It's over" in my head. I am happy, but not any happier than the same period in the previous years. Maybe it's because only after the exams did I realize that I actually had a shorter holiday period than usual. Whatever the case, I am glad that I get to play at all. I owe my parents so much.

A couple of days ago, 29 November, my class had 1 night Chalet, so I'll just go through it in order. I arrived at Pasir Ris Station at 1.40pm. Having never been there before, I assumed that Pasir Ris and Downtown East were just about the same thing. So while we were told to meet at Macdonalds in Downtown East, I stupidly headed for Pasir Ris Macdonalds. That didn't matter though, because no one kept their word and met at Downtown East. We were to head straight to the Chalet. In the unfamiliar region, I was absolutely unsure of where to go. Ming Xuan told me to take bus 354 and drop off one stop later, which I did. Then I checked Google Maps and went in the direction the map plotted. I walked on and on until I passed another bus stop which 354 would have gone to, but the Chalet was nowhere in sight. At that point, I was very annoyed because there was not a single classmate around. Ming Xuan called me again and requested that I head back to the first bus stop, at Downtown East Macdonalds, after which I got frustrated. It was already 2.10pm, I had been there walking for a whole half hour. I headed back, saw a Macdonalds sign in the middle of the car park labelled "24-hours". Making a 360˚ turn, I saw NO Macdonalds at all. Then I picked a random direction and walked ahead. After a while, it came to me that Macdonalds could not be that way. Disheartened and angered, I stopped to ask a cleaner if he knew where Macdonalds was. He pointed me in the opposite direction. I went into the building, walked on a bit more, still NO MACDONALDS AT ALL. Ming Xuan called me once more, and after that, finally found me. He led me to the Chalet. Aggravated, I asked him where the hell Macdonalds was and when I finally saw it, I thought in my head "Which stupid person put the Macdonalds sign outside but hid the actual restaurant deep within?" A 5 minute walk to the Chalet brought me to the rest of my class, about 12 people crammed into a small room with 2 beds, at long last.

Shortly after, Nicholas, Samuel, Apollos, Waise, Zhi Ming, Xu Kai, Darrin and I made our way to Wild Wild Wet. And then.... we waited. For Samuel's father, who had some way to get a discount for the tickets which would bring down the price from $16 to just $9. Quite a bargain, worth a 20 minute wait. I told Ming Xuan to take my camera and start spamming photos in my absence. Once we got past the entrance barrier, we went to deposit all our stuff in the locker. Everyone else was wearing slippers, only I wore shoes because I don't have slippers to begin with. To be honest, Wild Wild Wet isn't fun. 4 rides and only one which could scare me enough, but not long enough. The Lazy River was ok, and the waves took too long to wait for. So I'll just skip the Wild Wild Wet part. Only interesting incidents were Waise and Apollos losing their glasses in the Lazy River. We left the pools at 5.15 and showered quickly. Then we left and headed back to the Chalet. Along the way, we met Dingsen who told us that Ms Tan had arrived. So we went to "ambush" Ms Tan outside Mcdonalds and brought her back to the Chalet, where the barbecue team had started on their job.

The Barbecue took a really long time to start, there were 3 other groups of people near us who were also barbecuing and I believe they all did a better job than us. Apollos, Alex, Gerard and some others were watching the Mama awards in the Chalet. I think that K-Pop is stupid because the singers all rely on looking good which their fans are only interested in. They don't even understand what the K-Pop bands are singing. So anyway, I joined the lazers and just went to watch 神探狄仁杰. I was so immersed in it that I didn't notice Mr Wu's arrival. First thing to be cooked was a lot of Fried Rice, and Satay. When Zhi Ming took the role of fanning the barbecue pit, he accidentally flipped over several satay sticks when the styrofoam piece used to fan hit the grill. And we had plastic spoons with no big ladle or something to scoop large amounts of rice, so instead of scooping one spoonful onto a plate and then eating one spoonful from the plate, I took spoonfuls of rice directly. Just 10 mouthfuls of rice made my dinner.

At about 7.50pm, the bike gang went to rent the bicycles. A 20 minute walk, at night. We were planning to do midnight cycling. When we got there, I paid for everyone first. 10 bikes, for a total of $120. Then Gerard and Dingsen were added to the gang and added another couple of bikes. Darrin and Samuel dragged two bikes each back while the rest of us returned to the Chalet swiftly. We then locked up the bikes outside the room to be used later. I was entrusted with one of the keys tied to 3 bikes, Nicholas had one and so did Zhi Ming and Waise. Ms Leng had arrived and so had Ms Yeo. Mr Wu and Ms Yeo were both helping out with the barbecuing of what seemed like 50 Chicken Drumsticks which were being piled faster than they were being drained, there were just so many! Satay sticks had increased in numbers considerably while we were gone but they were quickly taken. I wanted coke but the two litres that had been brought to the chalet were already gone, so I went to the back and got one can from the vending machine conveniently placed there.

Nothing much happened until all the teachers left at 10.30pm. Hong Fu, Ming Yao, Ashley, Kaiser and Brendan had left as they were not staying overnight, leaving 14 of us in the Chalet. I checked my phone to receive an sms. That was when I realized that the key in my possession had gone missing. I did a quick search by myself before telling Nicholas that it had been misplaced. Soon after, all who remained for the night conducted a search for the lost key. They got me to tell them all the locations I had been in the past couple of hours. Fortunately, I had been in the barbecue pit for most of the time. The only other areas I went to were the vending machine and the corridor. I flipped my bag and pockets inside out at least 5 times each. We checked the beds that Kai Xun and Alex were sleeping on, bed sheets and mattress. No success in finding the key. I also said that there was no way the key could drop out of my pocket without my phone dropping out first since the phone was larger and heavier. Given the shallow pockets of my pants, things could drop when I crouched, which I did only once, when Waise was putting a plaster on his foot. And who wouldn't notice a dropped phone straightaway? I was feeling like an idiot for losing the key as the whole class excluding Alex and Kai Xun helped me search for the key. Even jokers like Apollos, Samuel and Gerard, whom I had never thought would take things seriously, participated in the hunt. They used phone torches to check the drains and the grass around the areas I had been in. Ming Xuan and Waise kept telling me not to worry and that we would definitely be able to find the key. After a 15 minute search, while I was still at the lower floor recollecting possible areas in which I could have lost the key, I heard a shout from upstairs saying that the key had been found. My heart lifted immediately as I rushed upstairs. Samuel had found out under his bag. Till now, I have no clue how it ended up there, but what mattered was that it had been found. I had long concluded that the key could not be up in the room because Nicholas and I had been counting money there when the key was last seen. I had taken it and if I hadn't, Nicholas would have definitely seen it. It was funny because Samuel had suggested that everyone checked their bags and pockets several times, and in the end it was found under HIS bag. After receiving the key back from Waise, I blamed myself for being such a careless person and told them that I could not be trusted with the key, but Waise said that everyone made mistakes and not to worry too much. He also said that it had given them something to do. 11pm, as my classmates played cards on the floor, I sat thinking about the incident.

While the search was ongoing, I saw how everyone was putting in their best effort to recover the missing key, even people whom I thought would never help me. That was when I felt that I belonged to my class. After finding the key and knowing that the class did not blame me for it at all, I felt even more touched. I felt so fortunate, so blessed by God that I had been placed in this class. I will never regret attending this chalet. Thank you Lord.

So after playing cards until about midnight, our dozen bikers, namely Nicholas, Samuel, Dingsen, Gerard, Waise, Darrin, Xu Kai, Apollos, Zhi Ming, Kai Xun, Keefe and myself, readied up for our midnight ride. Ming Xuan could not cycle and was to be left behind with our sleeping Alex. I lent Ming Xuan my phone to entertain him while we were gone. I teased him to go and look for the girls opposite if he was scared. So then we left for our first trip.

Nicholas suggested that each of us found a partner to pair with, whose safety we would be responsible for. It was an excellent idea, I must say. I chose... Dingsen. Starting with a round about Pasir Ris park, we warmed up and got used to the bicycles. I called for regular head counts while Nicholas led the group. After a while, Waise said that he would take the back cyclist and watch out for any missing souls or if they were lagging too far behind, so I need not worry about getting separated. Waise reported that Apollos took 5 seconds to get started cycling after he got up from a crash, which I later found to be really true and incredible.

We headed out of Pasir Ris Park onto the road, Pasir Ris Drive. We cycled into HDB Blocks, weaving in and out of close gaps. I didn't know where we eneded up but Nicholas somehow knew the way and managed to guide us back. We made a whole big round, ending up back outside Wild Wild Wet. We stopped by McDonalds to ask for water, something I didn't know they provided. Once back at Pasir Ris Park, we could not decide whether we wanted to go to East Coast Park or to Tampines, loitering in the area like a group of gangsters. We finally decided that we would return to the Chalet and decide on where to go next, since no matter what we chose, we would have to go past the Chalet. Before heading back, the whole lot of us stormed into Cheers at 2am to get drinks. I just took Dingsen's wallet and pulled out a $10 note from there to pay for both our drinks, because I had left my wallet with Ming Xuan. I still owe him $5.70 as of now, I forgot to pay him back.

Returning at 2am, I set foot back onto the floor of the Chalet and found Ming Xuan working out.... at 2am in the morning! Nothing better to do huh. With one member missing because Nicholas went out somewhere to visit his friend or something, the rest of us decided to play with poker cards until he came back. I didn't join in, because the forfeit involved eating 1 of the 30+ Chicken Wings and Drumsticks, which I don't like because I hate getting my hands oily. But it was a good way of cleaning up the immense pile of Chicken food on the aluminium foil, courtesy of Mr Wu's and Ms Yeo's cooking. Nothing much else happened, except that we were all tired and Waise said that now we were comfortable back at the chalet, he was ready to bet that we would not go out again. I went against that.

At 3am, or rather, 2.50, Nicholas finally returned, so I immediately called for another run at the bicycle, arguing with everyone's point that to make the overnight renting worth, we needed to ride at least 4 hours. And so, at 3am, I won the bet with Waise and we headed out again. It was painful to get back up though since we had exercised earlier and lost all momentum then. Buttocks and legs aching, we all revived our spirits and headed out once more. I do not remember exactly where we went, but we had to go to Pasir Ris park again and take another exit, through an overhead bridge. The bridge had a sign specifically targeted at Cyclists, that bicycles were not to be ridden on the overpass. Most of us ignored that until we were at the top, over the main road where we could be seen. Dingsen saw the $1000 fine and hastily got off. Once we were able to go downhill at the other side of the bridge, we let the bikes roll us down. I got to see Apollos crash during this trip and yes, he was terrible. He was moving at walking speed and he successfully hit a lamppost! It was incredible that something so thin could actually be of great threat to him. Anyway, we had to cross some wooden bridge where a couple stood. It was 3.30 then. When we came back at 4.30, they were still there. There was also this part where I almost crashed into a group of black people because I did not see them. That was not racist but for the first time in my life, the joke that black people could not be seen in the dark became reality.

Nicholas led the group to Sunway Park in Tampines, which we swept past and headed to the interchange for Macdonalds, cycling freely on the main road because there were barely any cars around. We cycled into the mall, and got caught by a guard who told us that we were not allowed to do that. It was funny because when Nicholas saw him, he got off quickly and started acting like he had been pushing his bike all along. The guard was an old man, and riding a bike himself. Most rules have exceptions, I guess. Mcdonalds was closed at the mall, so we went round the interchange to find another one which was open. And once again, we headed in as a whole group, asking for water. They must have been delighted that they were going to get 14 customers at 4am, then became upset when they found out that they were not going to do any business at all after hearing our requests. After the short break, we agreed that we had made the bikes worth overnight and started our return journey. Gerard and Darrin decided to race along this long stretch of road on the way back, so I joined in. I was utterly bewildered when Gerard overtook me so swiftly after I rode past him 10 seconds earlier. He continued forward until both him and Darrin were out of sight. I was shocked because Gerard has a small physique and he still had so much energy in his legs after all the cycling we had done. He would definitely have gotten a fine if speed limits were imposed on cyclists.

We rode back the same way we came, or somewhat the same. Back at Pasir Ris Park, I did another head count. After 11 including myself, I turned my head back and saw nothing. I started to get worried but I was sure they would be ok because Waise was behind. I was more worried about who the third guy was because I knew Waise and Zhi Ming were at the back. And I was certain that I had made no mistakes in my counting, 14 isn't that big a number. So after a 1 minute wait which is really long considering the speed of bicycles, three silhouettes showed up at the back. The mystery figure was Keefe, who was tired out. I was relieved once more and we headed back.

5am in the morning, I decided that I wanted to take MacDonald's breakfast. No one wanted to accompany me, so alone, I went down to MacDonald's and got myself an Egg McMuffin and Hashbrown. It was the best breakfast yet, because the McMuffin had been freshly made with hot cheese and the Hashbrown was so crisp and crunchy. I originally ordered coke, then I wondered why I would drink coke in the morning. I thought back to last year when I used to eat McDonald's on Sundays before trainings, and I remembered that I had Orange Juice back then. So I had to change the order to Orange Juice. The lady told me that I had to "add forty" but I heard "$8.40", from $5+ with coke so I was really surprised but didn't say anything. McDonalds had always raised their prices without warning. So I forked out another 3 dollars and she repeated to "add forty cents". Really, can't they speak properly and not in shortcuts? Well, I was happy that I didn't have to add 3 bucks for an Orange Juice, so I wasn't that annoyed.

Once back at the Chalet, I started to feel tired myself, but having made it to 5am, sleeping again only to wake up at 8 or 9 wouldn't get me sufficient rest. The double bed provided by the Chalet now contained 6 people, with Alex still sleeping since the day before. The rest of us continued to play cards and do random stuff. We all took turns to bathe in the single bathroom. The chalet was small because it was made for a family of 4. I myself laid on one of the steps of the staircase and watched them. At 7am, I somehow managed to get 15 minutes of peace, alone, and I dozed off. Just 15 minutes, but it felt really good. 7.30, people were talking about wanting to see the Sun rise, so they did. Gerard and I lost sight of them and we thought they would go to the beach since that was the most likely place. But the beach faced North. We then realized that they had been at the Swimming Pool at the Chalet, which I did not know existed. Well, they didn't managed to see it come up over the horizon either, from that angle. So we took the sunbathing chairs for our own use and took a short nap there, about 10 minutes.

At about 8am or so, we woke everyone up because we needed to start clearing up the Barbecue Pit and start cleaning up the place. With people like Apollos and Gerard around, litter in the Chalet was inevitable. Together, we all cleaned up the place. Bees and flies swarmed the rubbish bin outside, where about 8 bags of rubbish by people in the adjacent chalets were placed. All 4 chalets had done Barbecue the night before, so naturally, there would be large amounts of disposables. I left at about 8.50, before the rest of my class, because I was so tired. I wanted to get home and sleep as soon as possible, after 20+ hours awake. I got a ride home, reaching at 10.30, the time that we were supposed to check out of the chalet at. That concludes my 2-day Class Chalet 2011, and I will say it was really fun. I would like to do it again in the future if possible, but that will be decided by fate.