As usual, we do not like crowds so to watch a YOG event is never a priority in our list until........my dear child was given a ticket to go and watch an event at the eleventh hour.   It seemed that the teacher realised that there was no representative from her class and that was how she got the ticket....  I struggled a little initially as the venue of the event was not stated in the letter of consent.   I was not sure how crowded the place would be and being a tiny person at her age, I was afraid of stampede .....sounded like 杞人 

Anyway her "once-in-a-lifetime" experience argument won the case, I signed my consent.  Then I thought....."Hey, isn't this once-in-a-lifetime" for me too?  Even most of the forum parents said the same!!"  So I attempted to purchase a ticket to the same event but to no avail.  Anyway, on the day of the event, it was raining non-stop since 4am, I thought it would be cancelled.  Nevertheless we braved the rain to arrive in school and found that only a small group of lower primary were going for the event.  As I was walking away after checking some details with the teacher, lady luck smiled on me....someone rang to say she would not be coming hence the teacher offered me the ticket.  I was so grateful!!  Thank you everyone and thank you God! 

Well, unfortunately upon arrival I found out that there was no parking at the venue.  Under normal circumstances, with the rain, the distance and the lack of car park, I would probably be seeing red at this time, but I was high-spirited instead as I saw the banners of YOG  flying high everywhere and of course the availability of an assured entrance ticket brought down my anxiety tremendously,  I parked at a nearby place and took a cab, again God bless, I car-pooled with another mummy for the taxi.  All these good vibes ushered me into the game venue with enthusiasm even though it never stopped raining.

By now, you would be wondering what game event I went?  Well, when I said I had to go and open the gates for the highly excitable horses, I meant it.  It was the Equestrian event. 

I read briefly on the news that we actually had a participant from Singapore for this event so that thought triggered my new-found burning patriotism for Singapore.  

Yes I saw her in action and she was GOOD, Caroline Chew!    I did not know how to read the scoreboard until the end of the entire game so I was not sure if there were penalty points clocked by her during her ride.   However, given that she cleared all the hurdles perfectly with only a slight brush on one of them without bringing it down, I assumed she had no penalty points taken off.  That was a team game, so Asia as a team did not fare as well as her individual performance.  The gold went to Europe team, silver to AustraliaAsia(HK+China) team and bronze went to South Africa team.

Details on Caroline Chew can be found here: http://hcunite.com/?p=3509

Latest news is Caroline Chew got into the finals for individual event. Yeah!

I also chatted with the YOG volunteers as I was curious where they came from...That batch at the event were our JC kids, also citing once-in-a-lifetime experience.   

Just wanted to share their chic-looking purple tees with you and they were also issued a nice lime-green pouch which my camy did not manage to capture.

Last but not least, my once-in-a-lifetime collection.....yes on impulse due to this OIALT slogan, I bought the entire collection of the Merly and Lyo badges of all the sports events in the YOG.  Here's a demonstration of my sinful patriotism to support Singapore's YOG...

 They are really cute....a closeup on Equestrian....

And another super cute one like siblings rivalry under "Wrestling"... I could not stop laughing when I saw this one......

Here are more stuff on the cute mascots which I could not resist...

By the way, the medal winners went home with a plush mascot each as well as part of the prize, Merly for the gals and Lyo for the guys, but their version is a mid-size version, likely (6-inch).  Those on sale were the small ones(3-inch) with a hanging chain and the big ones (8- inch) are those posted here(up left).

Well, not only the school taught the kids well, the parents too!! 

Dear God, forgive me for I have sinned but it's Once-in-A-Lifetime!!!!  

PS: I have a video clip of the prize giving ceremony but it's a little too long to be uploaded.