Outward Bound Singapore

Alrighty, back from the gruelling and torturous OBS. This post has been dragged for so long. Haha. Before going to Pulau Ubin, already heard seniors talking about how fun and exciting it is, and people actually cried; so sad to leave the place on the last day? I was like, 'Wow, really?' However, everything must also experience for yourself before you know the true feeling, so we embarked on our own OBS journeys.


Day 1
Ha, it was Yan Ping's birthday on 2 June. Met up with AJ at Jelapang LRT station, and we set off. I felt like a clown coz my bag was so big. I was walking across the hockey pitch when I heard a group of people singing birthday song. I was actually wondering whose birthday was it. Then it dawned on me! Of course it's our vice-chairman. How could that have slipped off my mind? Passed her a birthday letter, also forgetting that I should give with Brandon together. Gathered in our respective watches and saw many people I did not know, oh but Ming Hui talked to me, haha. The buses slowly picked us all up. Actually wanted to ask to sit with Malcolm but oh well, sat with Duc instead. Had a chat and talked about quite a lot of things bah. I could not be humorous and make the conversation interesting, though...-.-

Arrived at Punggol jetty. We just sat down but got up again. Saw a few of my fellow classmates and went hello here and there. I took initiative to talk to someone okay? A boy from band by the name of Kun Liang. Never seen him before in school wor, then he said, 'So I am good at hiding.' Okay, that was...funny? Oh, we had to separate into camps 1 and 2. I was in camp 1 yet I did not know that it was FAR better than camp 2 until later... Okay, the facilities looked good, with dormitories, canteen, parade ground, hall, learning centres, clean toilets... Okay, come back, I did not see so many things at first. We went up to hall, and our watch was Marshall under an instructor named Ahmad. First impression of him was good; he was joking with Ming Hui. We proceeded to a spot and did some group activities. We wrote our names on masking tape and pasted it on our shirt. There were Body Balance, Human Knot... The games broke the ice between us and gave us our first opportunity to work with one another. Introducing the 16 Marshalls: Ming Hui, Kun Liang, Zi Jun, Malcolm, Nicholas, Zhao Yang, Asyraff, me, Xiao Ling, Hui Ping, Cheow Lin, Yi Lei, Jie Wei, Audi, Siti, and Vivian We got to know about our dorm, and the introduction to the equipment in the store etc. Everyone took a water bottle with a capacity of 2 litres each. After some time, we went for a little trek. Upon reaching the destination, Ahmad told us to fill our bottle caps of water to the brim and walk on a short, narrow brick wall, which is the circumference of an enclosed area. Of course we tried hard to save the water. Upon finishing, Ahmad asked if we had notice an eagle flying pass, a wild orchid, a golden web spider, etc, but we did not notice most of them. He asked us to go a second round but this time, notice the surroundings while maintaining the water. Ok, what was the purpose? Well, he told us that the water is something we cherish in life, and the surroundings are the details we often overlook. For the second trial, we lost more water than before because our attention was not as much on the water. And thus, some things that we may want to have in life, can also be our distractions. Towards the evening, we had a belaying practice. Thereafter, we whipped up our own dinner, and set up our own tents. 8 boys and 8 girls was really easy to divide. 4 of the same gender in a tent. Well, good night. That's all for day 1 ONLY.


Day 2
We had our PT. There was a circuit consisting of 5 exercises. First, push-ups. Second, crunches. Third, back raise. Fourth, leg bend. Fifth, heel raise. We had games too. 'Aye Aye Captain', 'Caterpillar Scissors-paper-stone' etc. They bonded us together, like with Barker, our buddy watch. After breakfast, we headed to the jetty. Ahmad gave us something like a card that can be used to attach photos. We wrote our 1st journal entry of day 1 in it, and he also told us an inspiring story. In the afternoon, we went for a little trek again. This time, we played a small game. One of us would observe what were our strengths and weaknesses while playing, and the rest would be blindfolded and walk to a tree in a chain. Lose contact, restart... After 'open-numbers', Jie Wei became the observer. We re-started really lots of times, but we finally did it. It was drizzling, but nobody complained. We were so jubilant to complete it eventually. Jie Wei said we were able to plan well, like count the number of steps to the tree, but the front people walked too fast, resulting in losing contact on the shoulder. Next up, we headed to another place. There was a quote, and Ahmad told us to memorise it.
"Courage is the complement of fear. A person who is fearless cannot be courageous."
Ahmad brought us to a network of tunnels. We got into a cell, and stayed there till the lightning alert was off. Ahmad was outside and we talked in the cell. Some joked, and there was fun and laughter in that brief period. Then, came a challenge. One by one, he had to go through the tunnel and find an opening, indicated by a lightstick. Ha, it was okay, coz nothing to scare us, but upon exiting, Zhao Yang was there to scare people from the top.

Later that day, we packed our stuff into a backpack and place them onto a speedboat that will help us transport to our destination. We got to experience tri-yaks. Yeah, we used tri-yaks instead of kayaks. There was a practice session and capsizing was fun! OMG, I crazy hor? But I don't want to capsize during the expedition of course. After gaining the basics, we headed to camp 2. Oh my, that place was like... gloomy, dead, spooky, eerie... I was complaining all the way till we reach a grass patch, where I was happy to see some humans finally. Once again, we prepared our dinner, and showered. Wahseh, the cubicles, all clogged and flooded. Sian diao, I really missed camp 1, like from heaven banished to hell. At night, we sat in a circle to have some small activities. But before Ahmad came, we talked among ourselves. However, I said something that angered somebody. Seeing his anger, of course I quickly apologised and wanted to explain. Sadly, he would not listen and kept asking me to shut up. Finally, he even marched up to me and acted as if he was going to hit me. Someone else stopped him. But, I think I had said nothing wrong at all. I was just bringing out an incident and maybe he thought I said something bad about him in front of others. I am sorry for that, but I remembered saying, "Okay, I know you were trying to have fun," which fell on deaf ears. If he was not guilty of what he had done, why would he have such a big reaction? Thus, there was a strain between us, and let me name this person Boy.

Ahmad returned, and he gave us a paper, asking us to write our name, and draw something that represented us. Then, he gave us a name of a fellow group member. We were 'ghost buddies' of one another who will observe him or her and write about their strengths and weaknesses on the last day. And Boy kept staring at me. I was angry with my big-mouth, and angry at my cowardliness. I actually feared that he would take revenge, but I should not succumb to such things. He did nothing in the end and put him aside, will come back to this.


Day 3
We began the day with PT again. After breakfast, we gathered in a circle. Ahmad told us another story, and we continued our journal. The first activity was 'Trust Fall'. We climbed up the stairs and there were 101 steps. Then, we had our climbing element, 'Double Dangle Duo'. There were six logs and we were supposed to climb in pairs till we could touch the sixth log. Everyone did it, and another success for Marshall. Lunch was on our rations. Ate only an energy bar, and a packet of biscuit. Luckily they were enough to keep me going. In the afternoon was time for the Land Expedition. We took quite a while marking out the checkpoints and planning on our routes. Only some were looking at the map, and Ahmad at the side, stressed on working together, so we got together. We set the time needed for us to reach the respective points, and set off with an ultra heavy backpack. Everyone had a chance to navigate as we worked in fours. All went smoothly until we got a little lost. Realised we overshot and headed for point 4 before going back to 3. On the way, I saw some friends from other watches. It was like somewhat happy, like a reunion. After completing the 4 checkpoints, Ahmad revealed where we were going to stay for the night. It was an unofficial campsite, or a public campsite, whatever you may call it. In the end, we took less time than planned, and Ahmad was so proud of us.

Barker was already there when we reached. Well, they set off far earlier than us. No showering that night, and that place was terrible. No real toilets and there were two separate paths leading to the beach to answer nature's call. One for boys and the other for girls. Had dinner, plus an extra bun from my ration. Jie Wei had to leave coz there was going to be an CO event. Everyone was like so sad to part with her, and formed two rows to see her off. She felt shy and finally, we bade her goodbye as she left in a speedboat. There was a briefing on the next day's Water Expedition. When I heard that it was going to be half an island and needed to pass through the maze-like swamp, I was like, 'OMG.' Four leaders were appointed. One to navigate, two at the sides, and one as the sweeper. They were Malcolm, Ming Hui, Feng Yu, and Roger. We shall remain in our groups as for the practice session. That was me, Hui Ping, and Nicholas. As it was a public campsite, animals or other people might come. Thus, we had sentry duty. Every hour, the people will change, and we slept for 7 hours, just nice for 7 tents.

When my tent-mates came out, there was no one on duty. The previous group did not wake us up; we had our own alarm. Luckily nothing happened that night. I felt that it was nice chatting and having one another as company. Kun Liang drew a symbol on the sand with a stick. According to him, it was named 'The Grace', found in a book. But well, I had no idea.



Day 4
Everyone woke up, and after some packing, we set off back to camp 2 to take our tri-yaks. Another trek with that heavy backpack, but well, it was going to be the last time. Some time were given to us to prepare. During this time, I heard something.

News about Boy again. He never took physical revenge on me, but he did say something at night - I 'guai lan' and very nonsensical and all that stuff. Those who heard it, had neutral feelings but I wonder how they really thought. Anyway, I was going to be 'special' in their minds. Well, okay. Sometimes life is so hard. You want to make yourself clear, yet others will never know, and you gotta live with it. This world is practical, the majority, and ones with 'authority' wins. For example in an argument, you may want to make your stand, but the other party has gathered his/her friends and they say one sentence after another. What can you do except to be bombarded? They are louder than you, they can cover what you say. Close friends, you never know how close they are. I see Boy hanging with some other boys in our watch. Yet 1 of them said, 'People like Boy will do anything meh?' when we arranged the equipment. This did not happen to me but I wonder about this: If you were the one being blacklisted in the group, will the friend you think you are so close to stay with you, or go along with others for fear that he/she get blacklisted too? Am I really that irritating or idiotic? Ok, maybe I should be more considerate towards other people, to give in to others, and more reflections have to be done.

Ok, back to the expedition again. Lunch would be on our rations once again, and I brought along whatever I had still left. Applied sunblock, wrapped a wet small towel around my head, (as my cap dropped into the sea while practising), brought along two water bottles and poncho, and then set off. The only problem was we went 1 wrong way in the swamp. It was tedious steering at such sharp angles and going against the current. Then we came to a place where we needed to lift our tri-yaks to shore and transfer to another side coz we could not pass through one part of the swamp. When lifting, some people only used eye power. Then Ahmad told us about it, and we felt bad, so when lowering onto the water again, all helped. The Water Expedition was tiring, and there were thunder. Luckily it never rained. People began singing and playing the bombing game in order to spur on. And yes, we returned to camp 1, which seemed like paradise, as those who came from camp 2 felt.

Washed the tri-yaks, and had jetty jump. Ha, it was great fun. Wanted to try again but the instructors would not allow. 2 people were afraid at first. But Marshall and Barker gave them all our encouragement, including the instructors. Finally, they did it! It must have felt great for them too. Soon after washing up, was dinner.

It was the 'surprise' Ahmad was telling us. We were provided with extra cooking equipment and food. And there was a 'Cooking Competition' between Marshall and Barker. I think everybody had fun and came up with creative dishes. In the end, no distinct winners. All BPians were winners.

We were supposed to put the life vests and whistles back into the store of our dorm, and wash the cooking equipment etc. However, many did not help at all. Some of us went to wash the equipment, and the rest went back, but when we returned, the life vests were not put properly at all. In the end, only a few helped and we were late to gather to get ready to sleep. Ahmad gathered us, and I thought we were going to face the music from him. However, he did not scold us. He said that everyone is rich, having 86400 credits everyday. It starts with 86400 and goes back to zero at night. At the beginning of another day, it replenishes itself. We can spend it whatever we like. Some people do meaningful things with these credits while some waste it. Everyone has the same amount of credits and it keeps on decreasing as the day goes by, nothing can stop it. Once a day of credits is gone, it's gone, and it is up to us to decide how we are going to spend it. What is it? It is the 86400 seconds we have each day. With that, we proceeded to sleep.


Day 5
Finally the last day. There were lots of food for us, and we distributed among ourselves. Aww, they should have given to us earlier mah. Had the chance to go to the souvenir shop and bought a white, collared polyester tee. Got into a circle once again, and everyone talked about what was the most memorable thing. Wrote the comments for the 'Ghost Buddy' thingy and pass them to that particular person. Ahmad told us 1 last story. Had one last activity too, where we had to jump and reach for the bell. Somewhat similar to 'Trust Fall'. Got certs, our photo, journal, and did an evaluation form. Waited at the hall and soon, headed to Punggol in the boat. Actually was super eager to get home, but don't know why on the last day, the eagerness was somewhat reduced. Bought an ice-cream to eat, and A&W to drink. Waited with Cindy for some people who could eat with us. Brandon said if fate permitted, we would meet on the last day. Thus, I 'created' that fate. Haha. In the end, went home with Cindy, Brandon and Ang Jason, and had a marvellous meal at KFC, BPP.
Replies
Xinni: Wow, an interesting mistake you made huh? Ha, thanks for tagging.
Brandon: But there should be fun times too? Lit up by some jokers around.
Naomi: Ha, posted. Say very fun, not exactly, say not fun, not exactly either.
Yanping: Yep, I see you had lots of fun over there. Your performance was nice :D
Below: Watch of Marshall, before Water Expedition (I looked spastic?)



Comments

Popular Posts