1: OBS Camp

So yup, I'm gonna blog a long long post (hopefully) about my OBS Camp which happened between 19-23 November 2012! :)

Day 1

Met up with the other campers from my school, at school early in the morning and Mr Maran went to the assemble place together with us at Punggol but a bus hired for us by the school.

The Campers from my schoool. Kekeke my face was like really cannot make it because I was still damn sleepy. Damn.

We were being separated into our respective groups after a short while and coincidently, I was in the same group as the other 3 of my friends from my school, which means less awkwardness in the group! Yipee yay! So yup, we were in the group called Armstrong which I suppose was named after a great, or at least, leader. We had to sit in a circle and introduce ourselves to each other and there were so many awkward silences in between times when we don't know how to continue the conversation. After that, we walked to the jetty and, common sense, took the boat to our campsite!

Upon reaching the campsite, we put down out bags and everything into a store specially for our group. Oh wait, before that, we had to decide 5 pairs of group leaders for the 5-day camp. And blah blah blah, we had to change into our long pants to learn some belaying skills in case any of us has 0% knowledge on belaying. After that, then, we went to put our bags into the store. Because every group must have a store-keeper and non of my group members wanted to be, I volunteered myself and pulled Lily along with me. Hehehehe.

Settled for lunch after that and separated our food for the next few days into our food bins. Went up to the C&C where we had to climb 101 steps in order to reach there. Tiring but I liked it because my pair of fat legs get to loose fats hehehe. Chee Tong, our instructor, taught us how to built the tent that we would be sleeping in for the next 5 days and my tent partners were Shabrena, Dionne and Lily! Settled for dinner after that. We had to cook our dinner for ourselves everyday and Chee Tong taught us how to cook rice using solid fuels and a pot! Cool or what. I didn't know that we can cook rice using solid fuels! After dinner, took a bath and gathered for some leadership small lessons in a shelter. Just nice after the lesson, the fire alarm rang and yup, fire drill! It was nothing much actually. But the whole OBS campers got scolded for whatever reason I forgotten heheh. After the drill, was bed time. And that's all for the day. Good thing that my group had already bonded a lot by the end of the day. We were like buddies who haven't met for ages! Hahaha.

Day 2

Breakfast for second day was just bread and some oreos. After breakfast, we had to pack our stuffs into the given bag pack as we were going on an expedition for the next 3 days. After that, we went on with our high elements activity at C&C, where we slept last night! Thank God I didn't have to climb all those stupid wood logs. Yup, rock climbing for our high element activity. Well, not exactly high elements but ya, you know, it's still climbing on something so maybe it should be called climbing elements hahaha ok no. And the pictures shall talk!

Dionne, Shabrena and Lily

Jac Minn getting belayed by the belay team: Jasper, Farhan, Narin and Joshua.

Our tired faces after failed attempts on climbing to the top. :( My arms were really weak and I have no idea why is it like that because I used to be able to climb to the top. SIGH.

After the high elements, we had some time to make sure we had brought everything that we need for the 3 day land&sea expedition. And, off we go!

Taking a group photo before we leave our campsite.

We kayaked to OBS Campsite 1 from morning till evening and setteled for the day there. It was god damn tiring because my arms turned weak suddenly and I didn't have strength to kayak properly. Good thing is, my partner is really good at kayaking and said that I can rest whenever I want! Also, we didn't have to carry those heavy bag packs while kayaking hehehe because our instructor sent those bag packs to Campsite 1 by boat! That place was much more luxurious than Campsite 2 where we previously were at, because there's less mosquito bites and we didn't have to cook dinner for ourselves! Upon reaching, we quickly took a bath and built our tents then met Chee Tong at an open space place for some small leadership lessons again! And that's all for the night.

Day 3

In the morning, we had our usual breakfast and then refilled our 4Litres bottles as we were going on a land expedition. We had the Pulau Ubin map and were given 3 checkpoints that we had to go to before going to our campsite for the night. I wasn't a geography student so I didn't have to read the map. Yup, I went to fill those water bottles instead!

After that, we set off to our expedition with those heavy bag packs on our back! Bad part is, Chee Tong wasn't going to lead us so we had to find our way to the campsite. There were many mosquitoes and I almost went crazy because I couldn't stop scratching them! Anyway, I was leading with Lily, Aqilah and Farhana while we were walking to those checkpoints. Heheh pro or what. And guess what? In the end I was the one reading the map because the navigator complained that she wasn't a geography student and blamed us for choosing her to be the navigator. Grrrrrrrrr. She was the one who kept on holding on the the map while the others was looking for those checkpoints on the map! Well, it's okay because we are a group, we have to tolerate each other. :)

While we were on our way to the last checkpoint, we saw wild boars! Everyone almost died of heart attack as we were afraid that they will chase us. But we all stayed calm and listened to Chee Tong to walk calmly away. When we were almost reaching our campsite, there was a sudden heavy downpour so we had to put on the poncho given! Those were not ordinary ponchos and they were made of some really thick material which idk what is it. Just very thick and water proof. It's in yellow colour and when we wore it, we looked like ducklings! Hahahaha!

Perservered on and finally, we reached the campsite! Everyone was like WOAH FINALLY. We even had to build our tents in the rainbut thank God we were given a canvas for us to sit on it while eating dinner. And so, we made used of the canvas as a shelter. Some of use held the canvas while the other build the tents and there were also others sitting in the shelter, TAKING A NAP. Hahahaha it's okay because their energy is 0% already. Soon after, it was night time already and we had to cook dinner for ourselves. Thank God it wasn't raining already! But the super irritating part was, there were lots of sandflies and my legs were bitten all over and I couldn't stop scratching them! :( But Dionne told me that the more I scratch, the worse it will get because those flies sort of "lay eggs" into my skin! EWWWW. I was disgusted and managed to control myself to not scratch!

We didn't get to bathe because we weren't suppose to. That's why we brought along our prickly heat powder and had our powder baths! Hehehe it was nice even though I still felt a little dirty. At least I smelled nice. Every tents had to do sanctuary duties and my tent's duty was at 2.30am-3am. It was rather scary as we saw a few monkeys and was afraid that they will attack us so we went to wake Chee Tong up and all he told us was to make some noises so they will go away. We followed what he said but were still scared so we quickly walked to other places hehehe. Finally, the clock stricked 3am! We quickly wake the other tent up and went to sleep as we were afraid of the monkeys hahaha.

Day 4

We had to kayak back to Campsite 2 with our neighbouring group called Amundsen and it was god damn tiring but also enjoyable as we were singing together while kayaking! After a few hours, we managed to reach Campsite 2 ealier than we expected, and both the instructors were very happy and decided that we will have a short activity, JETTY JUMP! But before that, we had to wash our ponchos and all the kayaks. Of course, there were pipes there. Sounds tiring but we had fun! Splashed water at each other and many many! After 1 hour of washing, we did the jetty jump! All you have to do is, step on the plank sticking out at the jetty, take a step out of the plank and jump into the sea! It was so fun but also scary when you look down before you jump. I enjoyed it!

After that, we washed up, built tents and cooked our last dinner. :( Had maggie mee and I don't know why it tasted so delicious. Hahahaha. After that, we had a short leadership lesson and shared some thoughts and feelings during the camp. After that, we went to have our last sleep in the camp. :(

Day 5

Had our last breakfast together, pack our bags, did morning PT with the other group called Cousteau and Columbus. The morning PT didn't even look like morning PT! Expected PT was to run around and do some stretching but no. We did games and yup, it was super fun! After that, we dispersed back into our groups, had our last lunch and chatted with each other for awhile.

Jasper, Hanafi (white guy trying to avoid the camera), Farhan Senior, Narin, Joshua and Farhan Junior.

Dionne and I, photo-bombed by Lily. Grrrrrrr.

After lunch, my group gathered in the multi purpose hall and then we had to paste a piece of paper on our back and then write down the strengths and weaknesses of the person. Even though it was a short activity, I had fun too.

Dionne, me and Farhan Senior.

Before we left the multi purpose hall for the mass assembly, we stood in a circle and Chee Tong played a song which describes us a lot. Sigh, most of the girls cried and I guess the guys were sad too but did not cry. Apparently, we were late for the mass assembly so we had to run with tears to the place. (A bit dramatic HAHAHA.) How sad because we were going back to Punggol jetty BY SCHOOLS. Means I couldn't go back there with my group members. :( We hugged each other and then parted ways.

After we reached Punggol jetty, we bought OBS shirts and then went home! For me, I went to have a second round of lunch with my dearest school mates at Lot 1. Heheh. Home after that and I finally took a loooooooooooooooong and relaxing bath!

My beloved Armstrong,

Top row: Hanafi, Joshua, Jasper, Jac Minn, Ying Jie, Jia Jia, Sher Ting, Narin, Farhan Junior

Bottom row: Farhana, Aqilah, Dionne, Shabrena, Lily, Myself, Farhan Senior and CHEE TONG!

Sigh, I miss them so much! Currently, we are planning to have a meet-up session. Hopefully it will be successful! I can't wait! ^^

That's all for my OBS Camp and I didn't regret going there. The best camp I've ever been to! :)

Till then, x.