Written by: big pp head raynard, small pp head zhaoxuan
You know that feeling when there were not enough seats and then they still decide to close? With YIH undergoing renovations, there’s no more speedy phat kaphrao to save you when your lecture@LT11 is in 10mins.
And it’s not just the people you used to know (or so you thought), the general landscape around our beloved, beloved hall also changed. The most obvious one has to be the algae being cleared from our basketball court! Thank you Tian Han, freshies, and that Y3 nurse with a bad knee. But I didn’t have to tell you that, because it’s general, common, cannot be more noticeable, news. (Other less significant differences include a construction site popping up right in front of RH)
Would like to add that if you can’t read between the lines, your critical thinking might need some work. Luckily, there should be enough GE modules (I’m not sure because I don’t have to take them) that can hopefully train you to read texts longer than whatever one word answers they’ve been replying to you (if you aren’t getting replies, you also need to read between the line(1) ).
Let’s go January !
Soccom b2s
Back2School, although not exactly the one you’re currently in. Social Comm had its first event of 2023 with a throwback to the youthful days. It’s not a social comm event without food, drinks, treats, and a lucky draw chance to raise your overall living standards in hall (we all be kinda huat, but some do be huat-er).
The real highlight of this event? Wearing your old school uniforms, only applicable to those who did not let themselves go chonky.
Photo credits: BOP/Claudia
I personally believe that everyone has at some point dreaded wearing school uniforms, some of us even chose the Poly route based on that decision (insert arbitrary personal anecdote about a friend). Yet nostalgia is something hard to beat, the grass is really greener on the other side. My secondary school happens to be greener than RH, free milo for the first reader to DM me with the correct answer.
Don’t forget to visit your old teachers from time to time if you can. The unfortunate ones had their schools closed down.
IHG
IHG Opening Photo Credits: BOP/Claudia
It’s timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for the single most important event of every AYyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Raffles Hall did stellar 🙂 this year, and that deserves a story of its own so we’ll keep this short by congratulating all our RHathletes on a mega job well done.
RHUAT TUGETHER
The IHG portion above was just a breather before another social comm event. We now proceed onto our Chinese New Year event!1!1!1!1 less spooky than last year’s iteration because the vid got nerfed.
Firstly, I feel that it is essential to explain the name. RHuat came from RH’s favourite past-time of adding a H to any word that contains an R, because most of the time the H is silent and only changes the spelling. This time round, they added an R to H, which changes the pronunciation. (if PH is pronounced as an F, what should RH be pronounced as).
Huat is, in gen z terms, a ✨manifestation✨, like shouting “HUAT AH” to manifest bountiful fortune and amazing luck. Although it can also be used as an exclamation or filler word, equivalent to “slayyyy💅”, or “YASSS”. Below are a few scenarios where it is appropriate to use it.
Auspicious saying at a louhei when your Chinese cmi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusheng) (not to be confused with Block 6’s block head)
When your friend
Drops their phone/ipad/laptop/chicken rice/kopi peng
Hits the goalpost, commonly known as the “tiang”, ofc during a wholesome, recreational game of football/floorball/handball, or any sport that has a goalpost, because this means they actually concede double instead of scoring
When you open your red packet and see blue (applies to Singaporeans, for people like me who do visiting up North, that’s unfortunately, not very huat)
“Tugether” is a wordplay on “together”, which signifies plurality, and the mandarin word for “rabbit” because it is the Year of the Rabbit. I can’t think of anything to verbose for this portion so I’ll stop here. You noticed how I haven’t actually touched on the event itself? That’s because by left, no one actually reads the RHecap to know what happened exactly, so we’re providing an alternative opinion and random thoughts to type down.
Photo credits: BOP/Yi Hui
So for the by right. RHuat Tugether has your usual gamebooths with cheeky CNY-inspired games as well as sinful CNY treats.
The highlight of the night has to be the lion dance performance by NUS’ very own lion dance troupe. And the lion's behind was none other than a fellow RH resident, green comm head Ansenn! It’s heartening to see that regardless of age, we are all enamoured by cultural performances, as much as Singaporeans like to proclaim a lack of culture.
HUAT AH
Welfare or Well-fed?
If you’ve been in RH long enough, you would notice that once in a while, our comm hall would have a different whiff, a fresh breath of air. I’m referring to Welfare Committee’s distribution of Chateraise’s eclairs and cream puffs! (the only time the queue is longer than Techno’s caifan stall)
As with any other food events in hall, there has to be a catch before receiving the goodies right? (after all, there is no such thing as a free lunch). Wrong. The only catch being that you make it back in time on the ISB.
Welfare Comm’s food events are always as simple as that. Queue and collect. Do remember to follow Welfare Comm’s instagram account (@rh_welfare) to be up-to-date on the latest tasty treats.
Food to my mouth, music to my ears
Always adored that cafe that keeps playing your favourite songs? Or always wanted to send a song request to a radio station? Well, our RHesidents got the chance to do just that with Culture Committee’s annual Jukebox initiative.
Culture Comm's Jukebox 2023 poster
With a different theme each week, from week 3 to week 6 (currently still ongoing at the point of writing), RHesidents could drop their best song recommendations along with a short description for their bop (the slang, not our camera friends) to be played over the comm hall speakers during dinner time. Whether or not the music was audible amidst the daily sea of laughter and gossip is another question, but we would like to think that it was an interesting change of environment when eating in the comm hall.
Aeac alumni mooks
Thai food seems to be a recurring theme. Although my Thai doctor friend (currently in his tea appreciation phase) might argue that this is nothing compared to the real deal in กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์ (Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit), colloquially known as “Bangkok”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok#Name.
Over here at Phoenix Press, we value knowledge, and you’re likelier to be more fun at parties when you share fun info tidbits rather than
"They don't know I lead, excel, overcome."
Another fun info tidbit is our go-to-mooks. The man delivers your mooks right to our RH doorsteps in his fancy german car, and he’s quite the lovable dude. So show some love by leaving a google review the next time round.
(I’m getting pretty jaded by the amount of post-vid new norm news)
Alumni and External Affairs Committee (AEAC) has been putting in extra work this AY with so many events that involved our past residents, and this AEAC mookata session was just one of them. While mugging alone in your room could give you a decent CAP, getting along with others and knowing people can get you pretty far ahead in life. Just something to think about.
Photo credits: AEAC/ Xavier Thng
JCRC Walkabout
One way or another, each segment of this article has referred to food in some form or another. To burn off the mental calories, let’s take a walk. A walk to give out foodies. Otherwise a chance to get up and personal with the servants of the people. RHesidents are social people, it’s also essential that we mingle with the spirits you only see sometimes here and there.
In hall, there are two things we can never have enough of. The first one, castrated-male-labour-cattle (pronounced “ox”) points. The second is munchies. A predominantly nocturnal species, it is vital that our blood sugar levels stay high. Lest your 2359 paper turns out more bland than Week 6 Tuesday.
I think that if Singapore were to have a national snack, it's got to be kueh bangkit.
Photo credit: JCRC/VPI Chen Kai
Orang nampak, orang suka.
No one says no to “free” munchies.
See you next month kthxbye.