TP16 Scout Troop Gathering

Marist Scouts from my batch met up at the Harbourfront Sakae Sushi. There was Hanguo (Henry), Biwu, Damien, Mingming, Elgin, Heli and myself.

It was an awesome gathering and we relived our fondest memories of our Scouting days in Maris Stella. Some of us were also from the Cadet Scout Troop in our primary school. We reminisced our antics and Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn adventures with much gusto...

Like the time when we all went through the De:xuf:to training camp. De:xuf:to meant Discipline, Suffering, Tolerance. I don't know who penned those words but it sure brought back fond memories!There were the confidence-building solo nights at the nearby Bidadari muslim cemetery, uncountable push-ups in muck and grime at the Canal next to our school, drinking mud water for water parade, eating nothing but raw eggs and semi-cooked chicken in Pulau Ubin. National Service was nothing compared to De:xuf:to days of yore.

Then there were the various pioneering projects we did all over the school. We would build structures, towers and bridges out of manila rope and wooden spars. Structures that could take our own loads and more! They were engineering feats in itself. It is probably no wonder that a few of us are trained as civil engineers later in life.

Then there were also the fantastic pyrotechnics (our own mix of gunpowder by our resident pyro expert - Yijie) and the Dancing Lizards during our annual campfires. We were known as the troop with the unusual methods of campfire lighting and abseiling not off walls but off railings and parapets. Our rapelling harness was also improvised from manila rope instead of standard safety gear. On hindsight, we lived a dangerous ECA. Parents would probably ban their children from joining our scout troop in present times.

Then there were the politics involved which - on hindsight - was fun to and actually quite diplomatically resolved.

Of course we all relived our memories of our rare combined meetings with the other Girl Guide companies. There was the combined hike at Ubin with St Anhony's guides (Fiona, Teresa, Kim) and the combined meeting with the Hai Sing High guides (Wenhua).

And there are still so many memories of our scouting days. Too many to recall in one short 2.5 hour gathering.

Hanguo is now a teacher.
Biwu is in LTA with the Circle Line project team.
Damien is now a doctor and he's married.
Mingming was and is still Manhunt... haha... he's in Deutsch Bank.
Elgin is in Renault.
Heli is in Infineon and still has dreams of being THE entrepreneur.
Songping is an RSAF Fokker50 pilot after getting his medical degree.
Westy is in Spain with his Spanish wife and his furniture business.
Gerald Ong is married to a Bruneian lady.

And there's Timothy Lim. Our dear Scout Master who let our seniors torture us to bits which turned us to tougher teenage boys. He was supposed to turn up for the gathering but he had an appointment.

Till then... perhaps someone's wedding...

"Too too taleh nickle one-two!
Oi oi cheelei cheelei Super lei!
Kuchee teh teh, kuchee teh!
Kuchee teh teh, Super lei!
SHout it out! Sa!
Shout it out! Sa!
Shout it out! Sa! Sa! Sa! Sa! Sa!
Oh.... Hai Sing! Tong Jun! All the Way!
We like it here! We like it here!
We found ourselves a Home! A Home!
A Home Sweet Home!"