Spiritual Onions

The Journal of Trainee ECHO-119

Excerpt 2-

Never rely on that which may be unreliable.

Nothing is reliable.

Saturday evening. Two boys get possessed. Everyone’s pretty freaked out but a group of Muslim trainers seem to have it under control. One of them asked for onions. Don’t ask me why. They shooed the rest of us out of the block.

Sunday morning. Last I heard, both of the boys were sent to the medic and are still there.

Sunday afternoon. One boy is released. As we assembled to do a roll call, the aforementioned boy is repossessed. He goes stiff as if rigor mortis is setting in.

Sunday evening. We eat dinner early. As I fork some rice into my mouth, a girl screams. And then screams again. Everyone stands up and backs away from her, with the exception of her closest friend. She then clutches her chest and screams again as if something is trying to get into her. They seat her down as she is sweating. One of the trainers go over to her and there is no further screaming. She is then brought to the medic. All of this takes place within two minutes.

Sunday, right now. Everyone is more spooked than yesterday. I think I’m one of the few that are unafraid. They’re now gathering us according to religion. I assume they’re going to let us pray or something.

Chi

Note from Sarah: For the next three months, Sam will read out his journal excerpts to me on the phone when we get to talk on weekends, and I'll post them here. Here's post number one!

Sam waiting to board the bus.....off to NS.

The Journal of Trainee ECHO-119

– Excerpt 1: They have a nickname for me now: Chi. I’m going to assume it’s the equivalent of “chink,” but in Malay. Incidentally, tea at breakfast today was diluted. “Chai” means “tea” in India. I wonder if it’s a metaphor for our Chinese culture, and how it’s going to fare here.

Hmmm….so much to say. There have been so many things to get adjusted to, and many things outside my comfort zone. For starters, we have to wake up at 4.30 in the morning. For those who know me, you’d know that that’s usually when I haven’t slept yet. We have ridiculous rules such as not being allowed out of our dorms without wearing long pants, shoes, and tucked-in shirts. There’s also nothing to train parkour here. Everything’s made out of chipboard and wood. It’s so frustrating. And in the whole camp, there are only nine of us who speak English, and only one who speaks it proficiently; that being me. There’s also way too much to say so let’s just leave it as being incredibly crappy, but just enough to get by. I miss my normal life.

The stroke of midnight

Tomorrow morning will be really busy so I'm blogging right now. Today is the day that I leave for NS and I have to be up by 6 so get ready. To all those of you who reminded me to get an early night, you have my insincere apologies. ;)

My cell phone number while I'm there will be 0176920093. I'll only have my phone on the weekends.

I've also given my sister posting abilities so she may update my blog for you guys once in a while.

The 82 day countdown begins now. :)

Parting

is such sweet sorrow.

Pah, only those part of the Tan family clan will get that. But that's not the point.

I'm leaving this Tuesday to spend three months doing what I would prefer to describe as "wasting tax payers money". Well I'll be sure to make loads of friends at NS and it should to be fun in that respect. But put them together and you'll realize that I'm actually indirectly spending tax payers money to make friends. That should put your hearts at rest, knowing that the painful sum you parted with last month will go towards my network of friends.

But anyways. It's a flurry of packing and getting things in order. I've been deciding what's too precious to take at the risk of getting stolen, and what's too crappy to last me the whole duration.

Hopefully my state of mind lies in between.

5 More Days

Till I wave goodbye to a comfortable life.

National service is creeping dangerously close and no, I'm not ready for it.

:)

Dedicated to,

A boy,
A son,
A man.

Someone I knew,
Someone I didn't know,
Someone wish I knew better.

One who lived,
One who thrived,
One who felt pain yet enjoyed life.

Loved to jest,
Loved guitar,
Loved.

Flash of speed,
Flash of air,
Flash of life.

A wake,
A memorial,
A cremation.

Boy,
Son,
Ash.


Dear Vern,
Rest in peace.