I did Istana duty during Chinese new year, Hari Raya, Labour Day, National Day and Deepavali. For the first duty, i was stationed at the main gate. I had to make sure no one got in unless they went through the proper procedure and i learnt that a smile is important when greeting goodbye to visitors. After that i was shifted to crowd control as there was a band coming. It was tiring but i felt proud serving the nation. For the second duty, i was stationed at the main gate again. I did the exact same thing i did on my first duty except that i made new scout friends along the way which was good. For the third duty, i was stationed to control the queue. The queue was quite short throughout the entire day so it was pretty good. However, it started raining which i got drenched as i gave away my poncho to a visitor in need. I felt like it was worth it. The fourth duty i was stationed at the state room. It was quite tiring standing there for a good few hours but seeing people smiles made me happy. I was glad to be able to serve the public The fifth duty i was stationed at thd main gate and it rained very heavily so there wasnt much people. However, I made alot of new friends and enjoyed serving the nation with them. Overall, it feels good serving the nation, doing something only a select few can do. Seeing people's smiles also encouraged me along the way when i felt exhausted. I would definitely come again for future duties if i had the chance. However, next year is my O Levels so i might not have the time to take part in more service projects. I have learnt that I can make other people happy as I can be there to assist them in anyway possible. For example, i can help them by giving them information they need like how to go to orchard. Another example is giving out raincoats to people who have none so that they do not fall sick. This is how I can make the world a better place for everyone. I also tried to encourage the mindsets of people from other countries to think that Singapore has kind and polite citizens so that there will be peace between the singaporeans and the other foreigners. Overall, Istana was pretty clean but we tried to clean up whatever trash we saw along the way as well to make the place better than when we originally came there. Dates i have served Chinese New Year - 9 Feb 2016 Labour Day - 1 May 2016 Hari Raya Puasa - 6 July 2016 National Day - 30 July 2016 Deepavali - 29 October 2016 Upcoming duty Chinese New Year - 29 Jan 2017