i know this is not the right time to blog. i've just came back from OBS, a five day four night camp. i've not done my unpacking, i've not bathed and i didnt rest. but i want to post all of these, very badly. i am scared i will lose them, i am afraid that i will forget them. ok, actually the fact is that i'll probably remember this experience forever.
i can remember how badly i wanted to go home on the first day. we reached camp 2 with our heavy luggages (which afterwards i realize are not heavy at all compare to our backpack). all i thought about was how much i miss my bed and my computer and my mum and her cooking and fans and air-cons and how unlucky i was to be in camp 2, which means mobile(we've gotta pitch tents and cook our our food, the breakfasts and lunches are always dry rations, we sleep on ground sheets which were still wet and the tents were pitched on grass patches which were muddy because of the rainy days.) and these all really suck. yea. that was what i thought.
oh we got split up into different groups, i was not with any of my really close friends. instead, i've got more than half of the group are people i dont know. please dont scold me, haha. first impression was always wrong. in the beginning, geri and keashia just looked so dao. yuanjun and sydney looked so strict and serious, my (pronounced as 'me') and meo looked so quiet and blur.
the first two days i was practically suffering most of the time. despite of the fun activities, our team spirit was totally not there. we kept dragging our feet wherever we went, whatever we did. we were always late and kept on asking for more time from our instructor, Bibi. i think we really let bibi down a lot during those days. she gathered with us every night and talked to us about what we had not done enough and ways to improve. she was so ...NICE! yes my vocab's limited, but nice is a combination of all the good characteristics i could think of of bibi.
on the second day we went kayaking. it was very fun. and that was the beginning of our team bonding. to make sure we can move fast and straight, all the three person on the tri-yak must be very coordinated. we used the most original and effective method, shouting "left", "right" together as a team. we started really slow and encountered thunderstorm which was followed by evil sun. but somehow, after 1 hour or so, we suddenly got the hang of it. i dont know whether it was because we started to work together and cooperate as a team, or that we were attracted by the "bonus" that we would have if we managed to arrive at the campsite early: a dip in the quarry. as there would be no place and condition to bathe that day, we all started to work really hard and the kayak moved really fast. finally we got the dip and everyone was so happy. that was something we gained by really putting effort into it as a group. and then at the quarry campsite we had an "anty" night. our tents were practically full of ants and yes, we SLEPT with them. ants are really good friends aren't they. haha.
then the next morning was building of the raft. we were given four long poles and four short ones, four barrels and fourteen long ropes. we were given 70 mins, it is really long according to bibi, because she said the other groups only got 45 mins. ok, whatever. altho we had three guides in our group, we still didnt manage to finish it. it took me quite awhile to realize what we had done wrong. we were not working hard enough until the very last minute. because 70 mins seems like such a big number, we did not hurry for almost half of the time. when the time was up, the instructors simply said, ok, undo everything and change into ur trekkin attire. we all knew what awaited for us would be a long and tiring journey with the super heavy backpack and ponchos and ground sheets and tents and two water bottles filled with two litres of water each and four jerricans only half filled but meant for 20 or was it 40 litres of water. before the trekking starts, again bibi shared a lot of her own experiences and thoughts with us, which really raised our spirit. we walked and chatted and took turns to carry heavy things and we waited for those who were slower and cheered them on. i think all of us should thank yuan jun and sydney for being such good leaders. they were leading and cheering the whole group up. u guys really rock!
after searching for all the check points and doing roadblock, we reached our destination, the super nice camp 1. u'll really be shocked by the difference between these two camps if u've been to both. in fact they are suppose to be equal as it was randomly decided that who were to go to camp 1 and who to camp 2. it is so big, bigger than rgs. ok rgs is not very big, i think camp 1 is almost like the size of rjc. that type that u will get lost while looking for toilets and stuff. we were all amazed and claimed that that was the first sight of civilization after three whole days. it was actually a bit exaggerating. we were shouting stupid stuff like "omg did i just see tables" and "whaaaat! fans!" that was the moment we started to appreciate stuff. we had our only proper catered meal that night. i could remember very clearly that we had rice, curry chicken, some dark green colour veggie which i didnt really know what it is but still liked, and some drink that tasted like grass-jelly drink.when we went to wash the utensils, amanda and me actually just drank the water from the tap using our hands, and we claimed that the water was sweet. who knows whether it is, i only know that it FELT sweet. all these things might look normal to u and all the residential people who spent most of their time in camp 1: catered food, clean canteen with utensils provided, tables and chairs, fans, proper buildings and dorms, clean toilet cubicals and bathrooms and everything. i have all of them at home and in school and i didnt realize how much they needed to be appreciated until the moment i stepped into camp 1.
that night we spent very long sitting beside the nice swimming pool in camp 1 (unfortunately we were not allowed to go in), playing games and talking about stuff. we laughed at each other's jokes even thou they were lame. and we talked about so many things. we were excited and happy and felt so bonded as a group. bibi told us about her training camp as an obs instructor, and the 21 days course that she's been thru. everything just felt so nice and ordinary. we were so happy together.the next day was climbing the inverse tower. i will not forget bibi's cute drawing and our very very presentable result sheet. i seriously didnt think that i could make it to the top, seriously. after seeing everybody reaching the top i got even more stress. esther kept on saying we spent 1 whole hour on climbing it ( i was paired with jiali which was quite wrong cos both of us were scared like wth!) haha. whatever. but we did it. i didnt allow jiali to give up half way, and she supported me all the way thru too. the people below never got impatient with us just because we spent very long. everybody managed to make it till the end!!! some of them even completed both towers. i shant go into anymore details because this entry has been long and naggy and plain enough i guess.
so, i'll never forget all of u: bibi, our instructor who refused to respond when we called her instructor, meo and my the two lovely vietamese scholars, sydney the food ic who was practically leading us in almost everything, laura who is super cute and cooked the rice for us, yuanjun who can write well and talk well and quite emo, li fang and ke jia, they looked quiet and shy but they were not! geri who seemed super dao when i first saw her but she is so not, keashia is also cute. she likes to say "im shy" and points her finger at all directions when she talks, irlisa who was very helpful and got many insect bites, and also amanda jiali esther ling hui who are in the same class as me this year!!!
this was what we did during the 30 secs post obs presentation today. i think not many ppl really heard us but i like this quite a lot.
here's a person there's a person and another little person
dirty person itchy person person person burnt (sunburn)
i was once a dome tent, i lived with the bugs.
i never met marco polo and that really sucks. (our watch name is marco polo!)
i was only four nights there but i miss my mum.
i dont mean to complain but i've got ant bites on my bum.
have you every seen a kayak kiss a dead fish on the kayak
trekking trekking shoulders aching baking in the sun.
is this what we eat now, is it all so cold.
is it made of maggi mee baked beans butter roll.
now our song is getting thin our clothes are really yuck
but we don't care so let us go and give bibi a hug.
=) photo to be updated.
p.s. this is actually longer than my 1200 words commonwealth essay.
Labels: obs
