Sierra November India Papa Echo Romeo

...We Inspire...

*ultos, dooswaland, rednaval, rewolfnus, syadi, moncanni, dailnendo, minejas*

This tagline here is what we all relate to Incovar. Well, i just recently came back from the 29th INCOVAR (INter COllege and VARsity) camp, or better known as the IDC. This time round, the camp was held at the Shah Alam Buddhist Society temple.

At the very beginning, before my sister even signed me up for the camp, Incovar was just another word combined from a whole set of other words and it didn't mean a thing to me. Then she had me signed up and so i was set to go for this Incovar camp which i have only heard stories of from my sister.

So, Incovar was a week away and i had forgotten all about it. But thats alright, my comitee sister could always remind me right? aint that simple. I had the whole week scheduled for a whole long list of college work. I had a finance presentation on that weeks friday, a Grapevine event on Saturday, and an assignment to finish before the end of the week. Just three events you might ask? three's a lot for one week.

So alright, i had the presentation brought forward, found a proxy for me at the Grapevine thingy and i had my team mates start work on the assignment so all i gotta do is prepeare a writeup. And on Wednesday, after an interview with one of the restaurants and a last minute Gvine meeting, I head of towards Shah Alam with my wonderful sister.

Okay, so we reach there and met a couple guys at first, didn't really get to know them yet, but they were friendly. And so i read a book and listened to tunes the rest of the night. Oh yeah, that and also some grunt work.

So first day of camp was a little off. We were split off into two types of groupings. One would be used for during workshops and group work or duty...(Reeeeeeewolfnus!!!) The other group was dubbed the "Buddy" system where we were each given a random friendship bracelet which would have another match with one or two people. And mine was paired off with my two buddies, Chin Yeong and Kirky.

*Chin Yeong, Me and Kirksman*

So all right, my dear wonderful sister managed to piss off a couple guys within the first two hours of activities with her taskmastering. Also, to makes things oh so dandy, we were given a very unique lunch - boiled veges, raw veges, boiled potatos, and all without salt pepper or even so sauce. Rabbit food it was called. And i'd eat every single bit all over again, just to see Kirk's gagging face. *evil smile*

*Rabbit Food*

As if lunch wasn't bad enough, the activity afterwards involvd walking around, tied to a team mate and blindfolded, walking around looking for cards. whoopie!! the punishment, duck walking. well...the winners side got the punishment (talk about reversed) and i was on the losers side...yay?

*Rewulfnus, after getting 5th place from the workshop. Good thing loosers get to watch the winners do the duck walk*

all of us ended up doing the duck walk, but oh well, i really don't mind, just so long i aint doing it alone. heh...

Well, that was pretty much the highlight of the day. They had us buddies feed each other for dinner, which was hillarious. All in all, the day was a pain and we were all pissed and tired as we didn't really get any rest. Well, at the end of the day we were told by the comitee, mys sis included, that they were faking being mean and evil to show us how perception works. So we went off to sleep that night being uber tired. Personally, i was relieved my sis wasn't taken over by aliens after all.

And, i found out that i was among the youngest there, being 19, there was only a couple girls who were 18. Everyone else was like.....older than me....??!!??!?!

*On the roof of SABS in the early morning*

Next day was a lot better. We were brought around the outer compound at 6.30 in the morning followed by a session on the roof. It was really nice to feel the early morning breeze and yet have the early morning light illuminate the surroundings. We were given an intro to the 29th IDC by the media team of Incovar.

Well, the workshop of the day was Freds house. All we had to do was get trough it. Altough the instructions were easy, what we didn't know about was all the obstacle courses. We had to collect 8 tickets from all the facilitators inside Freds "house" to complete the challenge lest we run the thing all over again.

*The part of Freds house where we got drenched*

So the first station was a pair of guys who would wait for you to say please before giving you the ticket. Next station was walking trough several buckets of muck. Third station was going prone and crawling under rafia string whilst being splashed with ice cold water. Fourth station was a little wierd as all we had to do was pick between two ticket colors, one was right and the other wrong. Fifth station was humilitation station where we get tags put on us. Sixth station was bully-yourself station. Seventh station was ignore station. And the eighth station was one where they painted your face with all sorts of things. Thanks for the flower Jing Pei...lol

Our lunch was another "interesting" aspect of the program. We had our hands tied to each other before we could eat. I was tied to Chin Yeong and Kirk on each hand. And so we ate. And so did the portion of the table where Kirk was sitting. Diner was also another crazy thing, blindfolding us. Thank buddha that we weren't tied up and asked to feed each other as well. XP

*Kirk trying to eat while blindfolded*

Then after that we had one of the more spiritual events. The sight was beautiful and the ambiance made it all the more serene. It was a meditation at the shrine hall and we were given the opportunity to give our offerings towards the end of the session. Truely beautiful.

*Buddha statue at the shrine hall*

Alllllrighty then, Day three. We woke up and did a little morning excercise before we had morning chow. Then we went trough another workshop, where we were supposed to be hipocritical, and had it shown to us that we are hipocritical on a daily basis.

We also had a talk from Taylors own Uncle Vijaya. He was a great speaker, made us laugh and kept us in constant stitches. Oh, and we were singing a little too after that...

*group pic with Uncle Vijaya*

*ahum..uh....singing time?*

Then the next event right after dinner was the IXP, or the Incovar Experience. This is one of those events that really touches the heart, and sometimes does hit home. Hewl, i weeped, and i aint ashamed of it. Then we were all given certs and cd's and booklets to help with our enlightenment. We're a long way off, but at least we're facing the right direction.

Final Day. Well, all good things come to an end. They didn't make us eat in a wierd way this time. Only thing was that this was a Dana session where we would give our offering of food to three monks who graced us with their visit. We were eating as silently as possible, but it was kinda hard to do so.

*Giving Dana to the monks*

Towards the end we had a talk from Brother Oh, a very cheery man who told stories that would have your sides in stitches. Then towards the end, we had a little game where we blindfolded the comitee and interogated them. It was something that you wouldn't expect to find in a temple....ever....never ever.... But no doubt, it was fun....heheheh

*group pic with Bro Oh*

*Jing Yan!*

*Buddy Chin Yeong!*

*Jing Pei*

*Kirk?*

*Poh Yee and Wen Yi*

- Walking The Tides Of Change