FOODyssey: 27th of February, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel
BY KOW ZI SHAN
Promised with a night of good food and good fun, over a hundred of us streamed into the reception area. When our daily school attire was usually nothing more than T-shirt and jeans, it was exciting to see over a hundred of us so dressed up for the first time in a while. Between photo booth pictures, we played a game of human bingo, where I got rejected by multiple committee members in my attempts to ask them out, and tried to convince fellow scholars to fist bump and high five me.
Upon entering the ballroom, we were greeted with “airport security” who scanned us before walking on the red carpet to a luxury plane ride to… China! In a challenge to transfer beans with unconventional chopsticks, participants were handed “chopsticks” ranging from a pair of spatulas, broccoli and bamboo poles. It was surely a sight to behold, as our Chemistry professor, Prof. Felipe, hilariously filled his pair of bamboo poles with beans. Soon enough, the ground was littered with green beans.
Of course, we were graced with beautiful performances throughout the event, which features our own Adele, Mathangi, the band Rusty & Co., Wang Lei, the unconventional band Macaroni Giangcoli Broccoli, and even an impromptu performance by Hui Qin! The rest of the night was one plane ride followed by another, stopping over at India, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Hawaii with a sole mission: to help Chef (Prof) Tan prove his worth!
In an unexpected turn of events, we were kidnapped at Mexico by a drug lord and made to entertain him. Rising from our seats, we grabbed our dance partners cautiously and took to the dance floor. Our instructor, Sharon, from a previous Holistic Development event Danza Dolce, introduced us to the background of the waltz, the dance we were about to learn with our partners. Personally, I couldn’t have been more excited for the opportunity to try out another form of ballroom dancing! She started us off with the triple beat and its rise and fall action. Foundation steps from the basic box step to left and right turns – before we knew it, we were all twirling around the dance floor, though somewhat awkwardly, but all in good fun. After one final dance, we returned to our seats for our last destination before home.
Wrapping up our FOODyssey was a Sushi making challenge in Japan! All hands on deck, we were armed with plastic gloves as the final food showdown started and we all became our own chefs for the night. It was remarkable to witness the creativity the scholars displayed with some rice, seaweed and a basic few ingredients. While our creations were interesting to look at, the impressive artworks featured were definitely dubiously edible by the end of the game.
As the event came to a close, our CN Yang passports (notebooks) were filled with stamps (stickers) from all the countries we visited in the short span of four hours. Although we might not have been able to fulfil our individual travel plans in our short recess week, it was a great journey around the world and it sure was a good time together for the scholars. Of course, this refreshing start to our recess week is all owed to the D&D Committee who had been working tirelessly for months to prepare such a light-hearted fun filled event. Taking a few final photos on the red carpet, our arrival back to Singapore signalled that the night was over.
