What: A video gift to Rui En, our All Time Favourite Artiste, from RBKD and fans from all over the globe

Where: Across 17 cities in 10 countries

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Xinyi, Club President (Singapore):

“I wonder if we can mobilize a flash mob, and if Ch8 SA team would be keen.

Get fans to gather at a place and get everyone a mortar board. Then we do a class photo in video style, congratulate her and then throw our mortar boards.

Doing it at the new MCS’ 50 steps would be nice. What do you think?”

That’s how the “50 Steps Mortar Boards” idea started, exactly one month before Star Awards, a really last minute project.

It’s an unprecedented attempt, Channel 8 has never done this before, but heck, I was determined to try. I’m so glad that they agreed.

The next few days were crazy. Reaching out to fans without telling them anything about the idea, it does make you wonder if anyone would sign up for the unknown.

But the response was so overwhelming, we had to scramble to order more mortar boards with just days to go.

What about our members & fans overseas? There’s no way we are going to exclude them. And so this morphed into the ambitious “Fans of the World” project you are seeing today.

Coordinating fans from around the world was no easy feat, not with the tight timeline and difference in time zones. If we had more time, we would have been able to cover a few more cities & states in Australia, UK, China, Malaysia and USA, and also countries such as Germany, Philippines, Hong Kong and Brunei.

But it was still heartwarming for the fans from around the world to step forth, especially the ones who drove hours to film the 10s video in front of a representative landmark. It was really touching to hear them do that.

Over in Singapore, we may not have the Hollywood sign or snowscape, we have instead, strong winds that would blow our mortar boards off our heads and super strong sun that caused us sunburns even though it was supposed to be sheltered.

The video looks short enough, but coordinating close to a hundred people, and capturing the right angle meant that we probably “graduated” more than 30 times that day.

Cheer > Throw > Pick up > Get in position > Repeat.

Yea, we did that at least 30 times across 2 hours. A few of us even sustained bruises when the mortar boards hit us after we sent it flying in the air.

Interestingly, none of the graduates present threw their mortar boards at their convocation. Did you realise that there was a heart formation by the way?

The SG video was split into 2 components – the Sarang Haeyo video involving only the members and the mortar boards video involving both fans and members.

Even the Sarang Haeyo video was not much easier. We had to record so many versions because often, what we imagined isn’t what transpired in reality.

Just like the editing process too.

We thought this was a simple enough video and we would take no more than 2 hours. In the end, we took more than 6 hours before finalising on this version.

But I am sure, that very night when the video played on the screen, everyone who participated was glad that they did.

The video couldn’t have been more timely.

Sarang Haeyo.

PS: Just like this project, this entry was a last minute one. Wrote this within an hour and a half after my dear blogmaster realised we should have done a post from the SG perspective as well. Hope this gives you a glimpse of the thoughts behind this project even though this was written in haste.

All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years' Gifts | Comments Off on All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years’ Gifts – Fans of the World Video (Organiser)

What: A video gift to Rui En, our All Time Favourite Artiste, from RBKD and fans from all over the globe

Where: Across 17 cities in 10 countries

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Janice (California, USA):

Filming the video at Hollywood took half a day as my friend and I had to hike up the mountain to reach the spot nearest to the Hollywood sign. Although we experienced difficulty finding our way to the sign, it was worthwhile when we got to see the Hollywood sign up close for the first time.

Also, the scenic view we saw of Los Angeles from the mountain was breathtaking.

I was delighted to see many fans from various countries showing their support for Rui En in the video, and I was glad to be able to contribute for the video.

Thank you RBKD for arranging this surprise for Rui En and compiling all our videos~

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Lydia (London, Currently studying in Leeds, UK):

I filmed the video during my 1st trip to London after 2.5years in Leeds, UK.

The video was filmed at a tourist attraction, Tower Bridge, and hence there were lots of tourists there. I was super shy to do it in front of so many people but I decided that I should just do it since I am already there, and that was the only way to convey my heartfelt congratulations to Rui En.

It took me 15 mins to do that 10 second video as the wind was so strong. Was so happy when Xinyi finally approved it haha!

I watched Star Awards live through Skype call with my sisters. We were super shocked and we screamed so loudly when we saw the clips on TV. It was a great experience and I am glad I made it.

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Odelia (Ontario, Canada):

It was spring in reality (but weather-wise it was definitely still winter… extremely cold) so I decided to film in the park by my house as I was nowhere near the CN tower at that time.

I enlisted the help of my little sister to man the camera. We initially had 5 takes with various scenery and just as we were about to head back into the warmth of our house, feeling dejected that we weren’t able to get a decent shot, it began to snow! Within the span of a few minutes, the field turned white (If that wasn’t some sort of blessing from above for this little project, then I don’t know what it was…). We managed to get a few more takes (a total of 12 takes), scaring the neighbours in the process with me screaming hysterically while frolicking in the field.

When I finally watched the replay of the award show and saw the short clip of a fraction of the international fans supporting Rui En, I just felt a sense of pride of how far we had come as a fandom and also having a moment of victory as we proved to Singapore just how infinite the support for Rui En is!

Continue to inspire En!

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Celine (Yale University, Connecticut, USA):

When RBKD contacted me about making this video, I couldn’t figure out the best place on campus to film it (without too many people walking by daily). I decided to go to the place with the huge signboard that says Yale on it, situated just by the sidewalk of one of the busiest streets on campus. Who cares about the stares, it’s go all out or go home! I had to plan to do it two weekends before the due date because of midterms season and it was difficult to find friends who are free to do it plus the weather was crazy. Eventually, I managed to find a friend to help me with this. During the first weekend, it was raining too heavily which means I had to get it done on the second weekend or lose the opportunity of a lifetime!

Of all 52 weeks in New Haven, and it was spring at that time, it snowed!! I was like “Oh god, how am I going to do this!” But thankfully, it stopped somewhere at noon. My friend and I went immediately after.

We were about to start “filming” when a group of tourists walked by, wanting to take pictures. I let them take their pictures first. It’ll be so weird and awkward for them to stand there and watch me do whatever I need to do.

It was two degree Celsius outside though it looked sunny and that was all I was wearing in the video because my coat was too thick I cannot bring my arms up to form a saranghaeyo sign. I mentally rehearsed the saranghaeyo action.

My friend, holding my iPhone, gave me a “ready” sign.

“Hey Rui En, saranghaeyo from Connecticut, America.”

One take. I am freezing. I am getting out of here…

It filled my heart with so much pride seeing the video aired live on TV and getting more than a hundred thousand views on Facebook. My parents loved it and I got multiple “I saw you!” comments from my friends who saw the video. Overall, I was happy that I made it and it was very heart-warming to see so many fans from around the world coming together to make this gift possible. I’m sure it meant a lot to Rui En as it was to me personally and could not be prouder to call myself a Rangel.

All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years' Gifts | Comments Off on All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years’ Gifts – Fans of the World Video (Rest of World)

What: A video gift to Rui En, our All Time Favourite Artiste, from RBKD and fans from all over the globe

Where: Across 17 cities in 10 countries

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Mei Ita (Batam, Indonesia)

Sufiana and I started filming at 12 noon, it was a sunny day. The sun was so strong on that day. We took about 45 minutes to film about 6 takes or more and submitted 2 final videos. 帮我们录影的是我的朋友 Michell, 我们三个人真的是被晒到受不了，三番四次跑到车上躲太阳。

好几次的NG 是因为我们两个的声音太小声了还有我们两个很没默契😅 ，因为拍摄地点在空地所以需要用喊的才听得到。

最好笑的是，当我们两个终于培养出点儿默契时，突然就刮起风了，把要送给偶像祝贺短片瞬间变成恐怖片，我们两个人的头发瞬间凌乱不堪😂

因此，有好几次在拍的时候中途都要喊停，都是因为大风惹的祸！

庆幸最后还是能把录影顺利地完成。

回到家照镜子后发现自己还晒黑了不少。

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Phallin (Phnom Penh, Cambodia):

Going back to the time we recorded the video, it was really fun yet also messy as well… There were 4 of us from Cambodia who took this video together, and yes, we filmed it by ourselves without any proper cameraman… it was a short clip, yet we took it several times, at least 5 takes, as I remember…

It was quite awkward as we filmed it in front of the Royal Palace, one of the major tourist destinations here, yet luckily we filmed it in the morning, so there were not so many tourists. The most memorable thing during the process must be the time we threw away all the shyness and tried to record the clip even when there were eyes looking at us, wondering what we were doing… On the other hand, this was our first time meeting up with each other as a group and to do something for Rui En together and we were really happy to do it…

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Patricia (Tasmania, Australia):

Filming the video took me about 20minutes, went looking for a good spot near my house with a nice background which will feature Tasmania. I found a spot along the highway, my 10 years old son helped to do the filming with me carrying my 5 years old daughter saying the greetings. We tried like 5 to 6 times, making sure that we filmed it when there are no cars driving past so that there would not have any traffic noise in the video.

After watching the video on star awards, felt really happy for Rui En that she has so many overseas fans. Also what a good job the RBKD club had done to create this awesome video.

All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years' Gifts | Comments Off on All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years’ Gifts – Fans of the World Video (Asia Pacific)

What: A video gift to Rui En, our All Time Favourite Artiste, from RBKD and fans from all over the globe

Where: Across 17 cities in 10 countries

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Bi Hui (Singapore):

It was definitely an eye opener for me and for us to film a video (secretly) for Rui En to celebrate her All Time Favourite award. A bigger surprise when I realised the production team was in the know and was liaising with us on this. 😲

It was scorching hot sitting at the staircase of the Mediacorp’s 50 steps, taking that shot where we threw our graduation hats, but it was all worth it. I still remember some behind-the-scenes moments where we had to re-film it again and again, and having the graduation hats hit us but pretending it didn’t hurt because we were on camera hahahahaha!

I loved the part where we all threw the hats while standing. The scene went something like –
Snail: “ok we are filming….3,2,1 *raise hand*” and we all threw our hats as high as they could go. At this instance, someone threw the hat (mind you, she was at one of the rows behind) so far that it almost hit the cameraman in front! We had a good laugh from that. Sorry Mr Cameraman, but HAHAHAHHA!

Nevertheless, the outcome of the edited video shown at Star Awards made me feel that it was all worth it. And to me, this was one of the most memorable events I’ve attended so far.

All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years' Gifts | 1 Comment

What: One year sponsorship of free weekly breakfast to total of 200 elderly at 4 Senior Activity Centres, rotating among each centre of 50 elderly per week

When: June 2016 – May 2017

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Xinyi, Club President:

Yet another gift on commitment. In RBKD, we firmly believe in spreading the love. To those of you who have been to Rui En’s events, I am sure you understand what I mean when you have something to look forward to and how a single activity/event can brighten your day. Yes, this is exactly what we are trying to do for the elderly, to let them have something (free breakfast) to look forward to monthly, a little something to brighten their day.

We are halfway into the one year project now, and to be honest, it is not easy. The commitment level required is high; imagine climbing out of the bed at 6/7am to cook the red bean soup/make our way to north south east west of Singapore, the force is strong to stay in bed. But when you are there, the smiles and thanks from the elderly makes you forget about the early hours and empty stomach (yes, many of us serve with an empty stomach as we struggle to get out of bed and reach in time, so skipping breakfast becomes a frequent affair).

I must say, this is the single most challenging charity project we have done so far, with the duration and cost of project enough to deter others from doing this. But we will see through this, one way or another. Because this is how we do things in RBKD. We don’t give up.

PS: You might find it unbelievable but the elderly do not know who we are, where we are from. They recognise us but we never saw the need to make known our identity deliberately. It’s the RBKD’s way of ensuring we stay true to the reasons why we are even serving.

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Melissa, Participant:

I consider being able to volunteer with RBKD for the Breakfast Project a great opportunity for me to do something for the community. Without RBKD’s initiative, I would definitely have trouble finding places to volunteer at because I wouldn’t know where to start, or know which organisations are transparent and reliable; that my helping them would benefit others directly. That’s also why whenever I come back to Singapore from Sydney during my school holidays, I would try to go volunteering with RBKD as much as possible (even though it starts really early in the morning and sometimes I really need more sleep).

I really appreciate how RBKD makes it so much easier for me to do something good, and the Breakfast Project is really fun for me because I get to wash all the cups and dishes after the elderly finish eating – I love washing dishes! I just find it so therapeutic.

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Jonah, Participant:

It was a simple help out by serving food and drinks to the old folks. At the same time I am returning a bit of favour back to society by providing some form of service to the elderly who contributed to society back in their working years.

Sometimes things around us tend to make us take things for granted as we been living in a country with basic needs met compared to the less well-off countries which have a harder time meeting their basic needs. Young people like us should help out by volunteering if they willing to use some of their time and effort to give back to such a stable society and economy.

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Madeline, Participant:

The breakfast project was a great way to get myself out of bed early on a Saturday morning; we spent the morning preparing and serving food – with bananas, biscuits, bread, coffee and macaroni soup prepared for them, they definitely had quite a spread to choose from!

In the middle of the session we live-streamed Joseph Schooling’s historic gold medal finish, and as Murphy’s law would have it the stream got cut off right before the race ended and we were left hanging. But we returned to serving breakfast feeling super pumped up.

A simple breakfast might not seem like much to us, but hopefully these sessions would bring these elderly together, spark some meaningful conversations, and give them something to look forward to each month

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Yeeling, Participant:

Usually during my school days as a CCA of community service my teacher would bring us to elderly’s homes and chat with them, but this time around was my first time joining the breakfast project. We prepared the food by ourselves and served them. After, the smile on their face will make you happy.

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All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years' Gifts, Community | 1 Comment

What: Sponsorship of four trees (representing RBKD) in Rui En’s name, at East Coast Park, through NParks under the NParks’ Garden City Fund

When: 28 May 2016

Where: East Coast Park

Participants: Allan, Ashley, Ernie, Xinyi, Yanjun, Yanling, Yanping, Yeeling, Yvonne

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Xinyi, Club President:

Planting the trees as a gift has always been our plan since 1.5 years ago. The symbolism of taking roots and growing from strength to strength is the exact message we wish to convey to Rui En, on this milestone year. That of commitment. Planting trees make sense.

But things didn’t go according to plan. The only way we could plant trees in SG (unless you plant it in your backyard), is to go through NParks, but for the past one year, the planting site has always been at the newer townparks which weren’t the most ideal for us.

Thankfully, there was a slot in May to plant trees in East Coast Park, a place Rui En had filmed at frequently. All’s good, and I’ll leave my member to share with you what went on that day. (Speaking of which it was nearly cancelled due to thunderstorm that morning, luckily the skies cleared for us, and we could proceed in the drizzle.)

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Ashley, Participant:

My first time participating in a RBKD activity and was happy to join in such a meaningful one.

We were gathered at a relatively ‘unknown’ point of East Coast Park (Green overhead crossing at Area B) on a light drizzling Saturday morning. There was a brief planting demonstration by the friendly NParks staff, before we ventured out on our own.

We split up in groups of 2-3 pax to plant the 4 trees. The actual tree planting process involved preparing the planting earth by digging the hole deep enough before putting the tree in place, backfilling and compacting. The transferring of the tree into the hole looks most difficult as the tree is quite heavy to handle – thanks to some of the NParks crew who helped out too.

A morning well spent with the nature and RBKD, and hope to return soon to ECP to observe the growth of our 4 RBKD trees.

All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years' Gifts, Community | Comments Off on All Time Favourite: Our 10 Years’ Gifts – Tree Planting at ECP