little brother no more...

it's enlistment day for my little bro today.. and i got to go with him all the way to pulau tekong to see what it's really like.. it's actually my first time out of mainland singapore other than to sentosa manz.. and we ge tot take a ferry which actually reminded me of my trip to penghu which i had to take a 4 hr ferry.. but that's besides the point..

i guess if i were to just say bye to him from home, i wouldn't have felt that strongly of his enlistment.. afterall i had an elder bro who had been thru it.. and ns is definitely what it used to be and these recruits seemed to be treated pretty well nowadays..

but being brought thru the tour of their living and training spaces really made the fact that "my bro is going to be enlisted and going to train to be a man" thing more real.. haha.. quite an experience.. and now i can say i've been to tekong..

one thing i feel quite strongly is that parents these days are really quite overly protective.. come on they are sons and they can take care of themselves so don't get worried about things like what they will be eating, how much they will be eating and how often the ferry will come when they book out.. and demanding to know when the air con in the recre room will be fixed? come on, i dun even think that they should have air con there in the first place.. i just think that if it's going to be an easy life in ns then what's the point of putting them thru it to waste their time and tax payers' money. i guess it's easy to say this cos i'm a girl and i dun need to go thru it but i do believe that one can really grow in face of hardships and adversities and that is when u learn not to take things for granted..

so good luck to my dear little bro for his BMT.. enjoy your time in the 'chalet'.. till i see him 2 weeks later.. maybe i'll miss him..

the 'chalet' that he's going to be living in during the whole of his BMT... looks good from here doesn't it? but i heard it's especially depressing when you stay in those rooms that face the sea and see teh ferries come and go everyday.. cos you know those ferry can take you out of there but you can't get out!

i'm sure you can spot my geeky looking enlistee bro straight away.. the black plastic rim specs and long unkempt hair.. and they made all of them tuck in their shirts..

daddy and mummy say bye to their little boy..

as we were leaving tekong, we see these guys booking out.. and many of them seemed to be struggling to run with their heavy haversacks.. quite funny to see them running in that.. ok i'm just being mean..

was just thinking how surreal this place actually feels.. this is near the ferry terminal.. if not for it being a military training ground, i think it has potential to be a great resort place.. haha.. my holiday mood kicking in..