Remember that song..by..?

Texan doing a wonderful job on the mic. He sang a couple of Hokkien and Mandarin numbers which went down well with our beachcombers.

Jeffrey Chua, the friendly and likeable General Manager of the T C belting out a cool song from the 60's...supported by his staff.

Do you know something?

Staff always support and appreciate a "boss" who can sing or who makes an effort to join in even if he or she can't sing very well.

In this case, no problem...Jeffrey can sing quite well. He told me later, he was a former scout and scout leader.

No wonder!

In red shirt is Mr Seng Joo How, a Consultant with the ATC., another likeable chap.

OBAMA's Favourite Town is...ALJUNIED !

For all you folks who weren't there, I would not blame you if you are shocked by the title of this post. But it is true! At least from what I had personally seen and heard when all the teams conducted their presentations that day, backed up by their facts, findings and reasonings...all neatly summarised on huge charts and wall paper. One team even used a laptop!
See the photo...OBAMA and his soon to be famous 1st family raising their hands in agreement...YES, Aljunied IS OUR KIND OF TOWN!!! [ Mrs Michelle Obama to little Mallia: "Do you know where on earth this place is honey?"
Mallia: Nope! But I read nice things about them on their Blogsite. They are NICE people, mom!" ]
Photo:
Daisie and her team doing a fantastic job with their presentation masterpiece. Unk Dicko surprised everyone by singing, "What A Wonderful World" while strumming on his Ukulele, as the concluding portion of D2's presentation! You know what .."it was so WONDERFUL to have you singing that most appropriate song by Louis Armstrong!" so said team members. An exchange after that....
[ Next time can do for us again?
Sure, but next time got appearance charge fee, huh, don't forget! ]

Hey ATC folks, Unk Dicko suggests you all send these masterpieces, together with the others, to President- elect OBAMA at the White House...as a proactive friendly gesture.
Why would I suggest that?

Because as a newly elected President of the USA he needs to go on Goodwill visits and make good friends even firmer. And how could he not choose to drop over at Aljunied to see his favourite Town? Especially after learning how we have embraced him even in a far-flung corner of the world called Aljunied but conceived at Bintan. Logical? Por Fa Vor? Comprehende? Ah....ah so deska !

ps: Don't be surprised if Obama chance upon this blog, he just might hire Unk Dicko as a L O
for his SE ASIAN sphere of influence.

Beautiful Bintan

On our arrival, we were ushered to the Orzo Restaurant, a special cosy place, for a late breakfast spread.

The food was really good and sumptious. And once the tummy was taken care of...it was time to get down to the business at hand., the seminar proper.

The Welcome address was held at the Manado Conference Room by Chairman ATC Mdm Cynthia Phua.

That was followed by Ice breaker activities carried out by staff of

aAvantage Consulting, the organisation engaged to do the team building programme. The official seminar programme then followed. Bintan time is 1 hour behind ours. As I was not involved in the seminar proper, I took my camera and went for a stroll around the huge grounds of the resort and ended up on the beach front. The scene before me was most inviting and captivated my heart. These were some of the images I snapped.

There were many deck chairs on the beach front. I dragged one under a shady Casuarina tree and laid down. With a steady breeze blowing gently and in the simmering heat of the early afternoon sun, I closed my eyes to enjoy this free of stress luxury of soaking in the sea, the sun and the sand.

Goodness old me!

I did not realise it. In less than 5 minutes I was sound asleep and when I awoke....3 hours had elapsed!

There were more people at the beach as I looked around.

I walked back to the main lunch area the Kopi O Restaurant. Most of the others had finished their lunch and were on the way back for Part 2 of the seminar. Me? I took a lunch of fruits...very healthy. They had a goodly spread.

Thus fully recharged, I decided to drop in on their seminar at the Manado Room.

I was curious what they were all up to when I went in.

All of them were seated on the floor with papers,scissors, glue , staplers, markers etc.

They were divided into teams for the challenge of doing a 6 minute presentation.

After watching D2's team and what they were doing, an instant idea hit me. I can add some spice for them.

To find out more, do read the next post.

Serangoon Adventure at BINTAN !

The Aljunied Town Council organises a yearly Retreat for all their Town Councillors, staff and spouses at exotic "overseas" venues such as Batam (last year) and Bintan, this year.

10 councillors from Kampong Serangoon, plus yours truly (unk Dicko ) led by Chairman CCC Daisie Yip, joined the other adventures from the other component kampongs...nearly 2 busloads full.

Early that morning, our group met at Hougang street 21 Bus terminal where 2 private buses ferried us to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

I knew quite a few people from the other "kampongs" as I was with them at the Batam Retreat in 2007. Thus, it wasn't surprising that the very first thing that many of them asked me was," Hello unk Dicko ! Did you bring along your little BABY ? "

They were of course referring to my little UKULELE !

If I had said No, the smiles would have vanished.

Instead, I gently pulled out my ukulele and asked, " would you all like some sing a-long?"

Our busload of people were singing from Hougang to Changi, non-stop!

See...what a tiny little baby can do?

For those of you who would like to pick up ukulele playing...let me just say there is hardly any music school that offers such a thing, guitar yes..ukulele no.

So, in the world of the Ukulele...people such as myself are a rarity, especially in Kampong Singapore.

We boarded the ferry at Tanah Merah and settled down for the 1 hour journey to Bintan. Time was about 9 am plus.

Weather was perfect..a little hot.

On arrival, after clearing I and C at the Indonesian side, we arrived at Bintan Lagoon Resort where we were given a local, native WELCOME by this group of performers...with lots of kumpang drumming and other exotic musical items.