-OBS!!!!-
I feel bad about not updating my blog(sorry!)... and I really want to keep the memories of OBS forever... so, here goes =)
Day 1
The first thing I saw when I step onto Pulau Ubin was this magnificient building that looks like... an ancient theatre/temple. (haha!) neway, the pt is this:
'You cant discover new oceans unless u have the courage to lose sight of the shore' whoa. That was - cool. Hmm.. we're separated into watches (btw i didn't my watch on that day cos i THOUGHT it wasn't impt) and Lien, Xiaomeng, Esther, Lanfang, Hannah(and 'Hannah' spelt backwards :P), Yen Yeen, Meiqi, Lilin, Ruth, Cheryl, Ivy, Jennifer, Rachel, Shu Ying and me formed the
Rajaratnam Watch with instructor - Ellen! Haha, but later we decided tt we didnt like e watch name and so it became the
Banana Raja watch. hee. so cute rite. The 1st day wad pretty boring... it's like a repeat of sec 2 lifeskills camp! Knots and lashing.... lotsa theory on belaying... it was partly the weather's fault la! The instructors were saying tt it must b ny gals' curse!!!! humph! Then we played this blindfolded game where we're supposed to find our way, as a group, form one tree to another. Amazingly e try-out run was pretty successful, but the real one failed... haiz! We walked all the way near the kayak and boat reapairing area which so.. wayyyyy~~~~ far.
Lesson learnt: Always plan before u act. Gee. this lesson was put into use the next activity - building e basah (spelling?) haiya.. aka the shelter la. hoho..knots and lashing skills, was particularly familiar with the clove hitch man.. haha. Anyway our basah was FANTASTIC! 3 cheers! and u know what? Ours was the most steady one, being able to still stand with the heavy rain and bla... rox! Oh yea, did I mention? I am in residential. hehehe. Nice comfy beds and yummy yum yum food. I think they feed us too well.. not too sure if I lose any weight... haha. We were complaining to Ellen tt we want mobile in e morn, then after seeing the dorm and looking at the terrible terrible weather... hehe. forget it, be practical man, we've got 5 days to survive.
Day 2
Was forced to wake up early in e morning at 0555! Gosh I had such a nice night. But I woke up realising my fingers numb! Was so shocked at first... but realise it was only mosquito? bites. Man.. how horrible can those pests get? bite my FINGERS. I cant move them for the whole morning!!! Luckily I brought my MOPIKO with me. hee. The morning PT was pretty fun... haha. We played games, did jumping jacks... then the 5BX then the forever-dreaded-10-rounds-the-hall-run then.. then.. nan zhong quan. urgh. but i guess it sorta entertained the instructors a bit... :s Oh yes... OBS instructors ROX! So damn physically fit and mentally strong and cool and friendly!!!!! ahhh! All lifeguard trained, all went thru a 72 hr endurance test (without food!) peifu ah! Haha, and we suspected Ellen's already a mother. okok, enuf of sidetracking... ha. We did e indoor rockclimbing which was about 10m tall. I was so so so afraid when I was stuck up there.. My life depending the the person belaying me... (I think it was Yen Yeen). I managed to climb to 7m... above my target, but till now am regretting tt I didnt jian chi dao di to reach the top :'( sobsss.... Lien was so damn li hai!!!! reach the top in like... 5 mins?? and me there looking like an idiot starring in awe. Esther was totally steady man! Reach e top blindfolded! HELLO! BLINDFOLDED!
Lesson learnt: Perseverence!!! Later in the afternoon we did kayaking... woa... never going to try capsizing again! The feeling was horrible... plus I am almost a non-swimmer :( totally bad ... Lilin and Ruth were so poor thing!!! got cuts all over...! Like a cat fight ... But it was fun la... haha. Better sea than land... :D The best thing of the day was the night trail... ! I was so horrified when told to do the solo walk... All the noises ... thought of snakes and wild boars really FREAKEDDDD me out... ahhh! But was so glad in the end I walked thru e forest... haha. Luckily we decided to drop the idea of going in pairs e last minute... muack! Luv myself.
Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts becomes ur actions. Be careful of your action, for ur actions becomes your words. Be careful of your words, for they become ur character. Be careful of your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Day 3
Gee, after the PT we had the morning circle... It was pretty horrible. The few minutes of quiet time made me wanna cry! It's better not to think too much stimes ya. Maybe bcos our watch wasnt v close, and it was already the 3rd day!!!! and i always felt guilty when I thought i saw ellen's disappointed look. haiz! Natalie is v nice!!!! She is so funny! Lincoln's so lucky!!! Oh, + holt and their DEANNNNNN! anyway, we bananas, lincoln and gandhi went to OBS summit and did this tripod challenge thingy. walking on the think branch thingy was really freeeeaky! Thx to the belayers (lanfang and lien)... thx thx thx!!! hahaha. Feel like doing it the second time now!!! oh ya, we built a raft too! It was pretty succeeful considering we're guide-less and NP-less. Our barrels were to the edge of dropping off, but hehe, who cares! we managed to reach the destination in the end. Haha. I was in the middle with my feet dangling in sea water. Haha, was quite comfy except Hannah kept reminding me about the jellyfishes tt might sting my feet! Followup was e real real cool Jetty Jump! Was having jelly legs stepping onto the platform... then... SPLASH! and I wanna do it again! hahaha! so fun! It was funny also to see others jump. hahaha. Oh and we saw those mobile peeps kayaking to their campsite! Meiling said she saw yanting, I didnt see tho, wasnt wearing my specs. ha. The worse thing about OBS is my shoe!!!! By the third day I guess the shoe contained more sand than my feet.
Soggy sand. Yucks... I forgo my socks immediately after the 1st day. it was simply too disgusting to look at..
ewww...
Sea Expedition - Day 4 and 5 (Raja, Gandhi, Lincoln, Holt)
Sea X rox!!!!!! It was v fun kayaking in the storm and all... tiring, yes yes yes.... but it was really an experience... haha. Resi's really lucky. We kayaked WITH tide. for about 8-10 hrs... there wasnt much sun to talk about so no sun burn for me :D but a bit tanner la. haha. Kayaking in the rain was scary yet fun when the waves come and pple screaming... hahaha! sea X leaders rox! haha, was so afraid tt we'll capsize! and was really v tired.. arms aching like mad... luckily lien kept pushing me and I can do it!!! wahaha! Anyway we had our lunch on this so called 'beach'. Ate the BEST lunch in my life. Bread and biscuits... yeayea, the mobile peeps had these everytime... but haha! was quite fun having it just once! everyone standing since there's nowhere tt we can sit..... tide so high and weather so cold that the sea felt like a hotwater bath.... huddling together to feel warmer... so nice!! Oh yea, of course the mass peeing session. haha. probable tt's y the sea water was warm anyway :P So we kayaked and kayaked and kayaked... as if it is an endless route tt we all wanna reach. Alas! When we reach, we had to line up all the kayaks, do seesaw and carry the blue bins tt weighed like 50 kg(or more).. ahh! Broke all our arms! oh, and the Jelly cans! ahh! Then we still cant rest! Build basah, start fire, cook our own dinner... haha! Cooking was cool~ we mixed rice with curry with mushrooms with tuna! hehe! v delicious! really! not kidding u know! Ellen helped us cook the rice a bit... haha. she's v nice!!! The worse thing of the whole expedition is SLEEPING in the basahs!!! with wet and sandy ponchos as blanket! it was sooooooooo cold! I shivered the whole night! couldn't sleep well, was depending on lanfang and lien for warmth cos they were sleeping beside me ma, obviously the ponchos were of no use at all. urgh. anyway we woke up like 4?? am to warm ourselves with some fire... haha. used up all the fire starters and solid fuels tt we could find. so we hafta pack everything... carry e kayaks again near to the sea, and SET OFF! again! but this time shorter dist, and BACK TO OBS CAMPUS! woohoo! But... but but but... BUT, we still had to so see saw all over again, carry 31 kayaks to wash and back onto the 'racks' (i dunno what's tt called). ahh!! was really exhausted!!! so we were supposed to pack everything to get ready for home. and guess wad? Ellen went for a meeting and we were left instructorless when all e other grps were buying time to spend the last minute with their instructors!!! So we each wrote something to tell Ellen wad we wanna tell her.. and ruth wrote a poem~! v lihai! and was v sweet of her... ! We had our last meal together as Banana Raja watch, last time eating the real nice OBS canteen food, last time seeing the words
'Coming together is beginning, Keeping togther is progress' in the canteen. last time washing up cutlery together.... and all and all... suddenly I miss everything!!! then Ellen appeared again!! wahahah! thank goodness she's back! or I'll really leave OBS with regrets man... so she told us tt
the real Outward Bound course starts when we leave e Pulau Ubin Jetty, in search of our real self, facing and overcoming new challengers... so nice.... so nice.... We presented certs in the OBS manner-to each other. I got Lien's and Hannah gave mine to me.. the hugs were so nice, congratulating each other for becoming an OBS graduate, rmbring one another, rmbring this 5 good days we had as a watch... On the ferry back to home i thought i really enjoyed those 5 days! I realise there r many things I can actually do when i thoguht i couldnt. obs obs... ellen... all the instructors... bananas... obs obs! I want to go back again next time!
Ships are safe in harbour, but tt's not what ships are built for. Struggles in life can make us stronger, whereas a life with no struggle at all will cripple us. Thank you, and good bye...
