Here are some of our pics taken on POC day and the last day of our 21st ERSC... ...




LFAV

64mmx20m hose & nozzle


Rear of PL

Fireman Cabin inside PL

Encik Fadzil cutting his cake

Some of the Dromitory 3 people eating their dinner at 11pm!

Last look at Dormitory 3

Falling in to book out for the last time

We had never been this slack before for the past 23 weeks. Most of the time we were slacking in our dormitories.

Monday, we had our Term 4 IPPT. It's quite comforting to know that ard 40 odd of us got silver and close to 20 of us got silver. But still there's a couple of us who failed. Here were my results: SBJ:225cm; shuttle run:9.5s; pull-ups:10; sit-ups:43; 2.4km run:9:24 min. Finally I got my silver after 6 months! =p We got ready our LF and PL to pass down to the 22nd batch before having our lunch (for the non-muslims). It's actually quite amusing to say commands in chinese while going to the cookhouse. lolx In the afternoon, we took our 21st ERSC photo. We went for our POC rehearsal at the auditorium. Everything was still not complete then. We were happy to hear that we need not go for the morning 5-BX anymore for the rest of this week! woot!

Tuesday, we had our Term 4 SOC test. Not sure the timing though; cause we weren't told about it. But I passed; that's for sure! =p Then, we went for our rehearsal again.~

Wednesday was a sad day for us as 5 of our coursemates couldn't make it to the finishing line. It was a pity as some couldn't make it for their IPPT while some didn't pass their theory papers. Hope that they'll still stay strong and excel in whatever they were posted to. Well, we were having our rehearsal the whole day.

Thursday was the day of our POC. We had a quick rehearsal in the morning. Then we went to collect our personalised items from the store. It was quite alot to bring home. We slack from 3 plus pm all the way until dinner time, then it was time to get prepared for the final showdown! Everything went well; all thanks to our Enciks in fine-tuning us for the entire ceremony and not forgetting those who were involved in creating our 21st ERSC video. Some had tears welling in their eyes. It's one of those moments when you'll have emotions taking over you. It was quite a relieve and also a sense of pride and satisfaction after getting our Sergeant rank. To think that some of us who had the thought of getting out-of-course during the first week of the course were standing on the stage receiving their hard-earned Sergeant rank from their loved ones. Lots of people turned up; loved ones, ex-coursemates even our ORD-ing PTI turned up. Took lots of photos. Rota 1 even bought a cake and made a momento for their DRC who will be back to Clementi Fire Station soon. Back in our dormitories, everyone was having this funny feeling when trainees started to greet us "Good evening Sergeant" or "Good evening Encik". But we all know that we wouldn't get such greetings when we were posted to station. So may as well enjoy this short moment. =p Slept rather late that night... ...it was our last night in CDA... ...

Friday was our last day in CDA. Woke up feeling rejuvenated. We were the organiser for the 3rd Firemanship Skills Competition of the year. Sad to say the 22nd ERS didn't performed their best today as BOC won almost every events. The winner was obvious halfway through the competition. Anyway, after the whole event ended, we went back to our dormitories to clear any rubbish left by us and then headed to our classroom to receive our postings. I was posted to Alexander Fire Station - a station specialised in tackling HazMat incidents. Must brush up on my HazMat stuffs already~

Our course had ended but not our friendship. Wish all of you guys a good week ahead and get prepared for the real thing after your block leave for those who are going to station and for those going to SRB may you pass down your knowledge effectively and those staying at CDA as instructors may you get good trainees to train (but try not to tekan them so much =p). Hope we could still meet up with one another some other time. =) Anyhow, our Enciks were actually not that bad afterall.

Shall post our POC photos some other time.=p

POP OOHHHHHHH!!!!!~

Zc, les, low, john and me was suppose to go for Klunch this morning but low wasn't free and the worst thing was that the place is fully reserved. Sigh... ...

So we went to watch Miami Vice after having lunch at KFC with the buddy meal coupons I brought. lol

The movie started off okay, but it went downhill and became quite boring throughout the rest of the screening. Quite a pity to spend my 1 day pay on this un-exciting movie. haha I rate it 5.5/10.

Accompanied zc to Suntec and then to Bugis Village to buy present for some gal. lol Anyway, I'm very positive that Bugis Village isn't my kind of place. Poorly ventilated, over crowded and partially smoke-logged. If there were to be a fire going on there, you better say your last prayer as there are a few missing fire extinguishers and I doubt the capability of their water sprinkler system. lolx

Don't know why today was kind of boring. Perhaps it's because of the movie which kindled it off. Anyhow, shall rest well for the coming IPPT and SOC test. Pray hard that I'll be able to get silver (just like how I got my silver in NYJC =p) or at least a pass. =x

Sweat...Dry...Sweat...Dry... ...It had been this kind of routine this week. All thanks to our 10 Final Exercises.

Monday we had Final Ex. - Black Oil (oil tanker) and Firestorm (2 units). I was the hose feeder for Black Oil and PO (pump operator and search & rescue team).

Tuesday we had Final Ex - Inferno (3 units) and Marina (ship). I was the fire fighter for Inferno as well as Marina. However, the assessor failed the 3 of our corsemate for Marina. Think he already got the idea to fail us even before he met us. lolx He just left with the score sheet unwritten.

Wednesday we had Final Ex. - Smoke Out 2 (Basement) and Blow Out (LPG bullet tank). I was the fire fighter for both. Surprisingly, for Blow Out, we did it in our fastest time of less than 30 minutes for the exercise to terminate. =p

Thursday we had Final Ex. - Highrise (8 storeys or above) and Salvage (road traffic accident). Highrise was quite challenging as the fire floor was smoke-logged. It was so thick that I couldn't even see my friend who was like less than 1m away from me even though I had a torch on my fire helmet. It's quite scary when the assessor said that in real situation, it would be worst than the simulation here. =x

Friday we had Final Ex. - Smoke Out 1 (furnace basement) and Red Sea (HazMat incident). Smoke Out 1 was my exercise and I was Sect. Comd. 2 in charge of the Staging Point. I didn't realise that until my Encik told me just before I went inside the risk area to do search and rescue. =x But luckily I passed! =p Red Sea was the finale and also the most difficult to pass as Rota 1 failed theirs in the morning. I was assisting the Staging OIC as a runner. Fortunately, we got a good commander in charge of the whole situation and other previous station personnel controlling the whole exercise. If not, we wouldn't have passed this tedious exercise.

Swee! Finally we had finished our Final Exercises. Now it's time for us to pass our last IPPT and SOC Test then rest and relax. =p Hopefully everyone can pass out next Thursday! =)

Greenday
Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Like my father's come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends

6 MORE DAYS TO POC!!

Woke up in the late afternoon. Had my breakfast and went online. Soon, there's a plate and a bowl lying infront. It was lunch time before you knew it. lol

After several failed attempts to launch a game of dota with les, we gave up; and I turned to my PS2 and continued my 2nd game of FFX then played abit of NFS-Most Wanted. Was really bored. Yawn... ...

After getting really bored, I went to take a 3-hour nap until 7pm. It was time for dinner then. And I'm online again. haha

What a lazy Sunday.

(Anyway, I rate Singapore Dreaming 7.5/10)

Wonder how's low going back to camp? lolx =p

A heavy rain was imminent before I left home to city hall to meet up with zc, low and quek at city hall for dinner and movie. But fortunately it didn't rain while I was on my way there.

After reaching the box office, low persuaded marcus to join us. lol Went to Changing Appetites for dinner. Ordered the chicken curry (the taste was about the same as the one from Curry Favor) and shared a waffle & ice cream (cookies n' cream) with low. While low ordered the seafood curry, quek - ribs curry and the odd-one-out, zc - fish n' chips. lolx Zc and quek shared a mudpie. It was quite a funny scene when a female from the adjacent table kept looking over at us while we were 'feeding' one another. LOLX Marcus came while we were eating halfway, but he prefer eating at Carl's Jr.. Then came along john, who was wearing our class t-shirt! haha =p

Watched Singapore Dreaming at Marina Square. It's quite a thought provoking show for the foreigners perhaps but I think Singaporeans may feel numb by the movie as most of us would have predicted the flow of the movie just by thinking as a typical Singaporean. haha However, we still can't set aside the very real issues still within our society. Like the ever striving Singaporeans to be successful (starting right from birth), distinguishes the better paying jobs, being kiasu, attaining high status, financial management, family matters etc. Everything comes down to 1 word - practicality. A typical Singaporean would want self-standardisation to compete against foriegn talents. However, not everyone of us could turn out to be our very own talents. So why not just be successful in your own way and lead a simple (as in under the middle income group) life instead of chasing over the 5Cs and other lavish tangible things?

It's Term 3 IPPT and I failed it! lolx Think I wasn't on form that day. All because of my SBJ again!
Anyway, here are the results: shuttle run:10.6s, pull-ups:12, SBJ:210cm, sit-ups:48, 2.4km run:9:3X (PTI didn't say the timing, but I speculate it to be around there). Hopefully I can pass for Term 4... ...which is 1 week later.

After IPPT, we had our field exercise for Bad Breath (Sewerage). Fortunately, I was turning out as BAT (Breathing Apparatus Tender) in that exercise; just need to take charge of the air cylinders of those rescuers who were inside the sewerage... ...which means I need not get into that tunnel filled with water. =p

Tuesday, we had our Carina (Chemical Agent leakage) and Emergency (threaten to jump) field exercises. Wasn't involved for Carina but was the first turn out for Emergency. Had to set up the damn heavy lift pack.

Wednesday, we had our final exercises for Bad Breath and Carina. I wasn't turned out for Bad Breath cause I suppose the control (assessor) didn't hear the message of turning out of BAT. For Carina, I suddenly became the FAP (First Aid Point). lolx Nevermind, it's a simple job anyway. =p

Thursday, we had our ship fire fighting exercise and we are doing it with the senior ERS who would be also going to be assess to be a DRC (Deputy Rota Commander). Not sure if we would be assessed as well.

Friday, we had our final exercise - Emergency. Our DO (Duty Officer) had to spend $14 just to provide the things asked by the subject (assessor). hahaha He had to buy drinks, food and even cook cup noodles for him. The rest involved either got hit by things thrown above or got splashed by a pail of water. Luckily, I was taken out from this exercise at the last minute. =) After lunch we had our Term 3 Assessment - Fire Safety and Investigation. 3 of my coursemate got caught for cheating. Anyhow, the test was relatively simple, but the mark allocation was somewhat ridiculous. lolx

2 more weeks to POC!

After reading the blog from the links given by les, I have a sudden surge of opinions running through my mind. Maybe I shall write a mini-AQ answer from one of the 'passage'.

Passage from Trisha Reloaded.

Nowadays, hearing complains about our education system is just an everyday thing. These complains came from all parties involved - parents, students and teachers.(But I shall just focus on the jeremiad against the system by teachers.)

From the Passage, Trisha states that "I hate waking up at the crack of dawn." Most of the schools now should be having only morning sessions except for some primary schools where they still have afternoon sessions e.g. YZPS. Still remeber the days where I had to wake up by 5am in the morning just to catch the school bus. Once we reached the school, we'll just slack in the classroom for about an hour or so before morning assembly starts. The authorities will rebut by saying that they did not want the children to hinder their parents to go for work on time due to the morning traffic jams and I kind of agree with them. If parents were to sent their children later or school buses arrive at each student's house later, the working adults will have to go work later too. With the addition of the morning jams, how late do you want to start work before you complain of knocking off at a even later time. lol It's inevitable for us to wake up before morning breaks.

Also, she states that "I hate it that 70% of my time with students involves collecting money from them." When I was still a student, my teachers didn't had that much of a problem on collection of money. Usually it was the class chairman or minitor who collects the money and pass the exact amount to the form teachers. All they have to do were to count the final amount to double-check. Then again, isn't it taxing for the class committee to do all these non-academic stuffs. Collecting money is just a mini side quest for them.

... ..."I hate having to queue up at the copier to zap notes and worksheets for my students." This seems to be a problem with the school managment. Think most schools should have enough photocopiers within the staff room. The least they could do was to sent the notes to the photocopying shop in the school. Maybe not all schools have such practice but it's the best solution for the time being. There's no need to help students photocopy all notes (only for some urgent ones); just sent it for printing and ask students to pay up and collect from the shop. Problem solved.

... ..."I hate it when I realise, once again, that teaching is often a thankless job." This is up to the luck of the teacher. If the teacher were to be posted to a good school, where students were eager to learn and having good conducts, he/she would feel a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. However, not all schools in Singapore have such good breeds of students. (No offense to the rest of the hundreds-odd schools) This problem is more prominent in secondary schools where teenagers are more rebellious against someone who's out to control their every actions. So teachers shouldn't have such high hopes for their students to be thankful to them. However, there are sure to be at least 1 student from a class whom you'll receive the thanks from. How to make this job more satisfying? - Win over each and every heart of your students. However, this mission is quite impposible by looking at the attitudes of the new generation of students.

... ... "I hate explaining that there's no such thing called Content Reduction." Since the introduction of the "Teach Less, Learn More" movement, more project-based initiatives are coming up - PW, I&E etc. On top of that, their academic syllabus hasn't change much; just that there are more topics or requirements introduced. Now for JC, Maths 9233 will include more topics or more in-depth in certain topics. That's why I think the ministry has either mis-interpreted their own "Teach Less, Learn More" movement or they had publicised wrongly of "Teach Less, Learn More" instead of "Teach EVEN More, Learn EVEN More". (Once wrong have to be wrong all the way~)

... ..."I hate teaching National Education because I don't know how to do it without sounding like Mao Zedong." NE is a very sensitive issue and it's also up to the students whether they want to accept such patriotic massages. It's pointless preaching to them when they don't even want to listen (although they already know what's the point teachers are putting across to them). Think the only reasonable solution is to make it as interactive as possible rather than to be like a lecture style. It's rubbish to say they never receive the obvious messages brought forward to them, it's just up to them whether they want to follow. As a student myself, I feel that it was an overkill. Maybe they should revise the NE requirements again.

... ..."I hate it that teachers cannot take leave on 2 Jan to take care of their own kids." I have no qualms about this as I myself had to go alone to school on the first day when I was still a Primary 1 kid. There isn't much the parents could do. The children should have a taste of a tinge of independent. Anyhow, the teachers will be there to take care of them in school.

... ..."I hate it that my marking is never finished... ...because we have to do so many other non-teaching-related work." Marking of students assignments is a part and parcel of a teacher's life. However, the job as a teacher today isn't that simple anymore. You not only have to teach students, mark scripts and meet parents, you'll have to juggle with administrative stuffs, school events, CCA and other miscellaneous things. Teaching will take almost half of the day; the other half of the day is for the teachers to fufil the rest of their responsibilities. How many free time will they have out of the 24 hours? Think it would be during breakfast, lunch, dinner and sleep.
This not only compromises the student's learning but also restricts the teacher's social life and well-being.

Teaching today isn't just about teaching; it's about nurturing students into an all-rounder. It figures for Singapore to be firm with this concept as being a pragmatic nation, the government would want the citizens to be way ahead of the rest of the world in order to compete with the other fast growing nations. That's why it's difficult to be a student and even more difficult to be a teacher. My stand is that the education system in Singapore has flawed, making teachers and teachers-to-be in a catch 22 - to be or not to be?

First day of the week was already quite xiong. Apartment (1 unit) fire field exercise in the morning. Everyone's No. 4 was soaking wet and we had to go for a foam system lecture after lunch! How brilliant the schedule was! After the lecture (which most of us were half asleep =x), we had our Term 3 SOC Test. Timing was 8:29; deproved by 3 seconds compared to Term 2. lolx

Tuesday morning was slack. Half of us went for some site inspection, while the rest and me stayed at CDA packing some stuffs for afternoon's exercise and practicing on the setting up of the 'A' frame. We had our confined space practical after lunch; one group doing the sewage and the other group went for the tunnel. I was in the tunnel group and fortunately my Encik didn't fill the tunnel with water. I was acting as one of the DART (Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team) member and only had to do rescue work at the top of the tunnel, so I didn't have the chance to go inside.

Wednesday we had our LPG lesson. Was tekan-ed; had to redo the practical for about 5 times! So, we left very little time for lunch. =( After that was our Term 1 Ops. Procedure Assessment(written). Should be able to score with flying colours~ haha

Thursday morning we went for a ran around NTU campus. Our Encik told us to bring some cash as he promised us that we would stop by the cafeteria, but that wasn't the actual plan at all. Moreover, that Encik also didn't follow us! =( Anyway, we continued with our LPG practical and finally our field exercise. Luckily I'm not doing the exercise. =p The lesson ended around 6 plus as our Encik was happily debriefing us. Had to rush for our dinner before they close the cookhouse and throw away the food.

Friday we had our High-rise Apartment field exercise in the morning. I was with the Sect. Comd. 2, who doesn't really know what was happening. Anyhow, I was holding the nozzle and spraying the fire squating down. The cramp in my legs was excruciating. The day didn't end here; at least for me. I was also doing the afternoon HazMat Incident field exercise with the HIT (HazMat Incident Team). Had the chance to turn out in the HP (HazMat Pod). We were like angled 45 degrees above the ground. lol However, we were sleeping half of the exercise cause we were the last turn out. The exercise ended at around 6 plus. Since I had guard duty, I was released early to report to the Guard Room without making up the equipment. =x The rest only got to book out after 7pm. The lastest we've experienced so far.

It was my first time doing Friday guard. It was the slackiest; no vehicles moving around. There was also breakfast indented for us; we ate laksa. Only get to go home after 8am. Woot! This was my last guard duty!

More xiong trainings coming up... ...

3 more weeks to POC! =p

Lecture week again!~ This week had 3 days of fire safety lectures. Also, we had our fire badge ceremony on Monday. Swee! Finally can wear our fire badge, but that also means more responsiblity on us. We actually had to do a mini exercise on Wednesday but was cancelled as we need to do alot of other equipment stuffs. =p

Thursday had our introduction to PDV (Personnel Decon Vehicle), HDV (HazMat Decon Vehicle). Later in the afternoon, we were transported to Tuas Fire Station for further introduction to HP (HazMat Pod), HDP (HazMat Decon Pod), HSV (HazMat Support Vehicle) and VV (Ventilation Vehicle). Bookout quite late; around 18 30. We could leave CDA at an earlier time! tsk tsk... ...

Went for fire station attachment at Bishan Fire Station. I was with Rota 3 for my first day. They were nice people; they all were like friends regardless of their ranks. Only attended 1 fire call and 1 Alpha (Ambulance) call. Nothing much happening in that area. Only get to go home on the next morning 08 00 due to our 24 hours shift.

And we need to get back to the station before 20 00 on the very same day we signed out from the station. Practiced abit on my sliding pole, but was stopped by one of the encik there cause he didn't want to get into trouble if anything were to happen to us. =x We slept throughout the night. It was a peaceful night without hearing any alarm for fire call. No call is good news! =) We wanted to purchase the station's t-shirt but they ran out of stock and would only be available tommorow. Anyhow, went back home at 08 00 this morning.

Actually, station life isn't that bad afterall~ =p But the limiting factor is the sirs and enciks at the respective stations.

Countdown to POC - 4 MORE WEEKS!!!!