MINing of Life

Friday, 27 June 2008

Sec 3 Cohort Camp @ OBS, Pulau UbinY

Many must be wondering where had I been to and what had happened to me as I was "missing". Oh well, I was away for yet another adventure and this time round at Ubin under the supervision of Outward Bound Singapore (OBS).

Do bear with me if this post is too wordy for you but really, too many things happened and I want to try as far as I can to note down every single detail. So...

*****
Day#1
Soon after flag raising in sch, the Sec 3s were on our way to Punggol Jetty to catch the OBS boat to OBS Ubin Camp 2. We finally arrived and got into our split groups and I was in Magellan. To my surprise, Si Yuan, Clarissa and Eileen were in the same group as well! (Gosh, is that fate? Why am I always with Clarissa?)

So basically, these were initially
the close ones: Clarissa, Si Yuan, Eileen, Edwin Peter
the known ones: Farhan (1), Faris, Ashraf, Gordon, Darren, Mark, YiSong, ZhangXin, Si Yan.
the unkown ones: Glen, Han Siong, Instructor Bernard, Instructor Bibiana.

Before lunch, we were with our groups, cheking out what's in our store and some ground rules and administration works.

And our duty list...
Day 1 i/c: Edwin Peter
Day 2 i/c: Gordon
Day 3 i/c: Chiaw Min
Day 4 i/c: Farhan
Food i/c: Faris
Store i/c: Ashraf
Bathing&Welfare i/c: Han Siong
Time-keeper: Eileen
Medical-kit i/c: Glen

In the afternoon, we had a low-element game of 'Trust Fall'. It was quite fun, really.
Bernard: Magellan, remember the drill. Magellan, are you ready?
Us: Magellan ready!!! Magellan Pull!
Person falling: Falling!
Us: Fall on!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Though I'd done this before during Youth Congress camp with group mates hands as the "landing mat" rather than having groundsheet with proper handles for 10 hands to hold in OBS, I realised that I was still afraid of the height and the nothing-at-your-back feeling, and I ended up bending my body.
We made Bernard did the fall too... and Bibiana signalled us from Bernard's back to wrap him up after his fall. So fun!!! So funny!!!

So up next was the belaying practice to prepare us for Day 2's high elements. Bernard was a little too stressed up about the safety rules and became quite unclear in his instructions, so he flared up all of a sudden but then apologised for his short temper. But I think it was ok lah~

As Bernard had something on, Bibi took over. She then thought us how to pitch our tents with the clove hitches half hitches and all those little little outdoor tips (guides rocks for this, it was common sense to us... hahahx... sry, should maintain humility xP). Then as most of them continued pitching the tents, Si Yuan, Clarissa, Faris and Me were busy cooking for our watch, all 16 of us. And we prepared hotdog rice, braised peanuts and our very own secret recipe: Chrysanthemum Tea!
In the midst of cooking, it somehow looked as if it would be pouring anytime, so Bibi told us to get the big blue plastic mat known as 'tup' to build an emergency shelter over our food. Since WE 3 VERY EXPERIENCED GIRL GUIDES were around (Mag's got to be glad and honoured about this man), Magellon was SO LUCKY that we were the only ones who knew how to build it up. (No lah, actually the Farhan and the few also very smart; they thought of using the tent pegs to hold the poles and twines to the ground.)
Then we realised that we were the only watch which was down at the outdoor sleeping area cooking and holding our "BOMB SHELTER" while the rest were under the concrete shelter having their dinner comfortably... (so what, Magalinis enjoyed ourselves =D)

After showering, we were supposed to start packing our trekking bags with clothing, food and equipments. I was made the 2nd food i/c to help Faris out 'cause food was very important and we didn't want to bring too much to add to the total weight or too little and someone would get hungry. And all of a sudden, there was a fire drill! That took up so much time that we only had 10 minutes left to pack before lights out -.-

*That night's sleep was the best out of the 3 nights.

Day #2
Bernard gave instructions for us to had breakfast and strike our tents before 7am, I thought our watch was the only 1 which had breakfast before our morning exercise. Anyway, we played many many games, did some warm up, had some 5-dunnowad work out, quite an intensive jog and a cool down. Shiok man! I loved it! I was perspiring like... just shiok lah.
After morning circle when we were given time to write in our little OBS journal and we signed in a Commitment Book if we agreed to commit to the regulations inside.

We were then given some (really some, like 20 minutes) to pack and then we were off for high elements. Magellan was so lucky to get the elementary rock wall to climb. So that was my challenge for myself. It didn't seem too tough to climb because I'M A VERY EXPERIENCED GIRL GUIDE but it deceived me =( I climbed till only half of where I had expected to reach.

Anyway, after lunch, we continued to seize whatever time we had to continue packing until it was time to line our bags up and head to the jetty. Whatever for? It was time for kayaking!!!! We learnt how to kayak (it was a recap for me and some others), we tested our PFDs-personal floatation device, practice capsizing, learnt the T-rescue, learnt the Wet-exit and due to time constraints, we missed out 1 more and set off shore for Jelutong.

Peter and I helped everyone else out to the water then we left (last kayak in other words). Surprisingly, we always end up amongst the front few. He's the best kayaking partner dude! However, JasminePoh and another guy (both from another watch: Marco Polo) had trouble coordinating and was always a distance away from the rest of us. So the instructors on the motor-boat had Peter to change with the guy, which mean Peter wasn't my partner anymore! =( But I was glad to help to speed up the journey or we would be waiting for them all the time. Our 2 kayaks were always on track, somewhere in the middle. Midway, the currents were choppy and it started to drizzle, but that did not hinder us to strive on despite how tiring it was. This journey was super duper uper enjoyable and I loved it too! We took about an hour (which didn't even felt like that long at all).

The unloading of our backpacks and water from the motor-boat was fun too. Marco Polo and Magellan formed a human chain and we just kept passing and shouting the watch that item belonged to. This was so army style lah (Bernard was an officer mah), but it's very efficient.

It was quite dark already and that was a bad sign because it'd be more difficult to pitch our tents and cook in the dark. So we quickly dispatched ourselves. Cooks (us) prepared curry chicken noodles, sambal ikan and Day 1's uncooked food. It was seriously very very very difficult to cook in the dark even though there was the cooking fire as a source of light. The tent pitchers took more than twice the time needed to pitch 4 tents rather than the expected 5.

We couldn't bathe there and the public toilet was about 200 metres away from the campsite. So we changed out of our wet attire into clean, dry clothes, then headed back for debrief and further instructions. The instructors told us that there would be night duty as it's a public area (which means people cab strole in to grab our stuff) and there were stray dogs (they bite anything). The 4 watches : Marco Polo, Livingstone, _______ and Magellan circulated the timing and Gordon managed to negotiate for us to get the last 3 slots. So Mag's girls did the 4.30am-5am slot.

Lucky for that man, or I'd die in the 4-men tent. The 6 of us were sqweezing inside and they didn't want to un-zip the netting, fearing that they'd get stung by mosquitoes and I let Si Yuan had more space to I was the one at the corner, suffocating. After duty, we got back and I just slept with the tent opened, my upper torso in the tent and the lower out of the tent.

*The worst night of the 3.

Day #3
We had to strike out tents and pack our stuff by 7am, but we dragged till 7.35am. Then all 4 watches headed to the basketball court near the Ubin Village. We had morning games and morning circle there. Then we started off our treeking expedition with Ashraf and Farhan as our navigators (which means Day 3 i/c can rest >.<).

The first game was to get a small stone and only with the right hand, throw the stone to the person on the right in our own watches. Only with 3 consecutive successful throws without any stones dropped then could we head off to the next checkpoint. At every checkpoint, we would have a game. We successfully got through the first 2 checkpoints quite easily with the game of "ascending life-jacket" game and the "turn over a new leaf" game as the first and second respectively.

The third checkpoint was very challenging. Not only was is very far away from the second one, it was also very high up... at the highest point of Ubin! It was so very pretty, I mean mesmerizing!!! We could see the quarry, the hills the tree... nothing can ever beat the beauty of mother nature! We were given the luxury to had our lunch right there, yes, the only watch to enjoy the scenery while enjoying our quick lunch.

The fourth checkpoint was yet another tough one. It was so off that we had to walk deep into the bushy area where people did their business (I could smell it even having a blocked nose) and almost into a swamp. That was the BONUS CHECK POINT! I think if you're from another watch, your won't understand this. According to our insturctor, because we were ahead of the time, we could get a dip in the swamp!!! Yes, the beautiful swamp! No others get this except us! Plus a 10-minutes swim inside! No salted water! Clear Blue water! Not opened to the public except under supervision by OBS instructor! SCREAM!!! AWESOME MAN!!! And we camwhored inside (Instructor Bernard's cam-phone)!!!

So, all freshened up, we walked another long long way to find our last checkpoint and another long long way back to Camp 2!!!

Basically that was why we took more than 7 hours to trek that journey of more than 8km and my feet was hurting though walking was my hobby. My track shoes were torn apart on the first day so I had to walk in my half-booties-half-dunnowad cheapo shoes I bought in China which had soles less than 1cm thick and base area small than the bottom of my feet, plus I wasn't wearing sock at all.

This was yet another great accomplishment!

After some rest, we unloaded our stuff and prepare for a culinery competition. (phs phs... actually Mag's cheated abit, we had those who didn't want to do the food to pitch the tents first... shhhh........) The given judging critirial were creativity, taste, teamwork and cleanliness of the cooking area. We decided to focus more on the first 2.

Since Bernard liked to tell us moral stories that had always got to do with either Ah Seng, Ah Huat or Ahmad, we came up with the Ah Huat Noodles (curry chicken noodles: canned curry chicken + maggi noodles and a bit of the MSG inside), Ahmad Soup (cambell's soup with wheat crackers crumps and bread strips as garnishing) and Ah Seng Tea ( chrysanthemum tea in an apple: boiled secret recipe tea placed in the apples which we cut a big hole to hold the tea as a cup. it kinduf gave some sweetness and fragrance too!).

They ultimate winner was everyone but we knew in our hearts that if they did not emphasize on everyone being winners, ours would stand out more because all our food was edible, mouth watering, displayed creatively and we were the only watch which provided 4 servings for each of the judges.

That night, we cleared up, tried to clean the store and put everything back in place as much as possible and turned in, all collapsing anytime. Instructions wa s very clear that we had to wake up the next day at 5am, strike the tents, bring everything back to the store, wash up and meet Bernard at 6.

Day #4
It wasn't really a rise and shine. We were all late!!! Bernard came to our tents to wake us all up! So malu lah. It was already 6.05am! So we quickly got out of our tents, lifted them and carried them down to our store and spread them out for cleaning later. After regulating for the girls to wash up first while the guys pack the store then a switch after that, we had a short morning activity. The girls were leading Bernard not to have us run since the night before.
So after playing 1 game,
Bernard: Ok, Magellon, line in 2 rows, we're going to go for a run.
Girls: Huh? What?! Don't run can? Can we just jog?
Me to guys: Hey, let us stand in the front or else y'all will just sprint.
Bernard: Ok, never mind, just jog on the spot first. We're going to jog 3 rounds.
Girls: What?!
Me: Around the parade square?
Bernard: Ok, Jog on the spot. Now jog and turn 1 round.
All: LoL... *jog and turn*
Bernard: Turn another round. ... ... ... ... ... Turn 1 more round. ... ... ok, now y'all need to cool down?
All: Of course not *smiles on faces*

And we spent the rest of the morning packing the store and cleaning and everything. Some other watches went for the Jetty Jump but, so what, we had fun trying to get things back into our store. We did trading and found things. Oh, since we always found tent pegs during area cleaning, we replaced them with our lost ones and traded those too. Moral of the story... you're in advantage if you work harder.

Once the store was done after a few hours (we lost 1 jack-knife, so that's 40cents each Magalini, not so bad) it was time for area cleaning. We were in charge of the toilets. The guys we wondering how to clear the pile of dung in their loo. We girls were luckier. Our toilet was the not so dirty one and we took only 2 minutes to clean it! So we got back to the gathering point and started singing and cheering and dancing till I realised that my voice was gradually turning coarse.

When everyone's back and we've all got our valuables, Bernard had us to put down our bags under the shelter where all the watches were to gather, then brought us to the beach for morning circle as the other shady areas were taken. Bernard and Bibi apologised for having to take us to such a place but I didn't understand what's so bad about it... we had the best view of the appealing sea view by the beach. Anyway, Bernard got us to pick a stone which we felt represented us best then had us to stand in a row facing the sea. And he told us a story. He knew we'd tease him if he were to name the characters Ah Seng, Ah Huat or Ahmad. And the story goes:

Long, long, long time ago, in the southern part of China, there live this person called Steven and Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob was very good at building houses. Woah, he houses arh never fall before 1, can last very very very long. So Steven hired Uncle Bob to build houses for him.
Uncle Bob worked for Steven for a very long time. So 1 fine day, he decided that he wanted to rest. He was about 80 years old already, so he needed to rest. He told Steven that he had to take a break.
Steven couldn't bear to let him go, but he knew that Uncle Bob was very tired already. So he asked Uncle Bob to build 1 last house for him. Thinking that ... aiya, my last day already still want me to build a house, I just anyhow build lah... so anyone could tell that that house was definitely not build by Uncle Bob because the standard was too low, but he just couldn't be bothered to put his heart into it.
When he was done with the house, Steven thanked Uncle Bob for working for him for so many years. And with his gratitude, he gave Uncle Bob that very last house he built on his own.

In life, we all have 2 wolves living in our soul, a big bad wolf and a good wolf. For everything you do, you can choose to feed the good wolf or the bad wolf. You are here to learn something and I am here to help you. I cannot change your character and your personality. So now, you've taken a stone that best represents you. Forget all about the bad you have done bring back all the learning points. You can choose to let go or you can choose to keep them in you. Once you've thought about it, throw your stone into the sea, and learnt from those mistakes.

Well, I tried to hold back my tears, but the emotions ran over me. Probably I still cannot let go of the lowest point of my life, it's probably still traumatising me. I quickly got myself back to normal before everyone made a big woohaa about it.

By the end of the 4D3N camp,
the close ones were : Clarissa, Si Yuan, Eileen, Peter, Farhan, Faris, Gordon, Ashraf, Si Yan
and
the known ones were : Instructor Bernard, Instructor Bibiana, Zhang Xin, Yi Song, Darren, Mark, Han Siong, Glen

Friendship ties were made and be it Magellan, Magelini or Mag's, Ah Seng, Ah Huat and Ahmad will forever stay in our hearts because
it takes 1 minute to meet a stranger,
it takes 1 hour for us to be friends,
it take 1 day for us to know each other,
but it takes a lifetime to forget our friendship.

9:57 pm;

. . . . .