Saturday, January 08, 2005
To Strive To Serve And Not To Yield @ 7:40 PM
yes. I learnt all this at OBS. And even more. Contrary to others' rumours etc, OBS is NOT a takan camp. its an ADVENTURE camp. and i discovered more of myself, my internal capabilities, in the camp, in fun and challenging wayz.
1st dae wasnt so gd la. i was lathargic due to lack of sleep, and not enthu at all, thinking it was another takan camp, even worse due to the darn big bagpack i got. at least i tot i was bad. Until i saw ppl arriving in sling bags, mini bags, poseur bags, and even benjamin, my watch and classmate, arriving in 2 big red plastic bags!!! wah liao! i was laughin my ass off. damn sian. 10 ppl from Amdunsen, my watch, were the first to arrive, due to overtaking a 60 seater boat on a speedboat. waited 1+hr for the rest to arrive lor... slept on my bag. we were actualli welcomed by a grp of 21 day campers. scared me actually. junda was oredy shaking on the boat. scared of the water he said. wahaha! we passed by camp 1, which looked damn nice. but camp 2 was kinda old, although acceptable la.
after talks and talks, we got to noe dat our instructor was Serene, a 20+ lady/ger/teenager, watever, not bad la. admin was tedious. all the stuff. and we had first lunch. all biscuits. damn sianz. I became the medic ic!!! i was told i betta use OBS haversack, for preservation of my own. WAHAHA. had team building games like the ringing the bell, which we called "Fall for free". dinner and tent pitching was a hard affair, due to my absence of memory on tent pitching and the dinner, which wet and burnt rice. in the dark. on the beach. i saw changi and ponggol from where i was. it was kinda parallel to Ferd Quek looking at Singapore from Tekong during his army days. the tot of having an adventure outdoors for 3 days 2 nites to me didnt sound pleasing at all since i onli saw trees and thick bushes, covered by a medical briefing including snakes, boars and wasps. not toking abt jellyfish too... dat nite, i slept wif Junda, Tee Yong and Ben. conked out quite fast.
2nd day: wat a screwed up start... raining HEAVILY. couldnt reach the store in time. i was totally drenched. i put my shoes outside and it was drenched inside. (it was waterproof was outside). went to the store in 1 poncho. 6ppl shared. drenched like siao. late for activities lor. supposed to be 8.30. by the time pack our bag for the 3 day expedition, 10liao. i didnt bring prunes for fear of having to dispose of my natural waste. pack and pack. den had kayak lesson. i didnt listen much coz 1 star cover everything le.
lunch was a simple affair b4 the briefing on our sea expedition. This expedition was gonna be done wif our buddy watch. (dunno how to spell, but its pronounced rélay) 2 sea ex. leaders were to be chosen from each watch. after decisions, Junda and I were chosen, while Brandon and Peng Di were chosen from Rélay. We chose Brandon as main navi, while i would assist, and Yao Hua as port, Siang Huat and Jun Liang for starboard and Tee Yong and Chin Yang for sweeper within the group formation we were gonna move in. It was decided that brandon, nicolas (his partner coz double seater), junda and i would get in first. Tee Yong and Chin Yang'd get in last, after co-ordinating the launching of all kayaks. off we went. not too smoothly. co-ordination and communications was a little tedious. lotsa ppl got near the rocks, which aint safe, and it took quite some effort to stay clear, have ample space and wait for everyone to launch kayaks b4 setting off.
we started off slowly, coz many ppl din noe how to kayak. first time. den slowly, we speeded up. however, due to some reason of brandon and nicolas not knowing how to kayak, thus zig zagging left and rite, junda and i took over the leader role. shouting, communicating to the other groups, trying to get everyone, including ourselves in line, maneouvering kayaks thru all obstacles, like outside of rocks, thru boats and kelongs was tedious. we had to get from camp 2 to a quarryside on the other side of the island. on the way, we passed by camp 1. it looked absolutely beautiful!
anyway, when we reached the bend of the island, the rough part of the sea ex came.... at the beacon of Tijam (or stg), the whole bend was rocky, even very diff to see hidden rocks. and not to mention, the winds came in and the sea was quite choppy. people were getting dangerously close to the rocks, so we had to move out, going against the waves, to "safer seas". I know we were supposed to take a break soon, but we couldn't. it just wasnt safe enough. by the time we got past the rocks, most ppl were quite tired and demanding for breaks. at this pt, the current was still pushing us inwards. given no choice, Junda and i told them to take a 5min break. we formed a raft for that. but no sooner had we done that that Kim Chuan (rélay's instructor) told us it was not safe and thus, we had to continue. Finally, at calmer waters, we had an official break. although many of us hit the sides of the fence surrounding Ubin, it wasn't important. finally, after another mentally straining hour, passing 4 ferries which surfaced large waves for some excitement, we reached our destination.
we disembarked on a rocky area and had to lunge the kayaks up a small steep slope and a gate to our campsite. without much hestitation, we were given time to pitch tents and cook. the time constrain came from the incoming darkness and the arrival of the million (or 2) star hotel. As we needed to make full use of time, Siang huat, Chin yang and i made the fire and started cooking first. when our food was cooked, we got another 4 ppl to come in to cook while we ate, then helped out with the tents. at nite, some discussions of the sea ex were conducted b4 we slept. sentry duties were on, but mine was at 11-11.30. muz book first. WAHAHA!!! ]
3rd day: started off with a striking of tents and morning circle, which is wat we do everyday. morn circle was a game called Evolution. basically, win 4 scissors papers stone matches and u win. dotz. we den walked a short distance to the quarry, where we carried out our raft building activity. here, we applied our skills of rope lashing to make a raft. the barrels looked damn unstable and we were joking about naming the activity "swim for free", since other ppl were nt allowed into the quarry and swimming there would cost a fine of $1000. Rélay was there too.
after launchin the raft into the quarry, we did a quarry jump. YAHOO!!! SPLASH! plunged into FRESH water. wahaha!!! rox! dun need to bathe le. very cool water. rox. den we got up the raft 1 by 1. stability maintained. raft started "engine". smooth sailing. it was real enjoyable! relaxing. Serene cheekily splashed water at us and thus, i returned it too. den, Rélay came wif their raft and wanted to compete wif us. joke la, they all. sent 6 ppl to push the raft, the others paddling furiously while watching us pull away. then, their seemingly stable barrels had broked away!!! Lol. we had an easy victory. then, after bringing the raft ashore and dismantling it, we had another quarry jump, this time. very very fun! Rélay, relentless in its pursuit to victory, challenged us to captains' ball in water. joke again. our team rocked! tee yong and my defense, junda, kok thong and praem's midfield and others in attack was excellent. we thrashed them 7-1. at times, there were some dangerous conflicts, like violent attempts to get the ball from me by Peng Di, and an elbow in the groin by Rélay to Praem, but all was well in the end with mutual apologies. we had some free time in the water, in which i spent attacking Seren wif water, while the others attacked Kim Chuan. lol! who ask her go attack me. wahaha! in the end, she vigorously waved the white flag. wahaha! in spite of some revenge i think, she made us go thru 2 quarry rituals. firstly was dipping our head in the water and jumping up, shouting "Amundsen!". that was ok. the 2nd. she had to spit some quarry water from her mouth onto our head. WAH LIAO!!! grr... bo bian. lol.
the hike... was veh screwed up. its a topo map, not the maps we always use. and its scale is damn small. u walk a bit cover a lot in the map liao... we ended up lost dunno how many times la. 1st checkpt find and find like siao. den lost. wat realli pissed me off was that hardly any watch member was lending support to the navi, Chin Yang, but rather grumbling, cursing and sniggering at him. they got irritated at him easily and nvr encouraged him... if i'd known betta, i'd have blown my top at them... i didn't. we found our next 2 checkpts thanks to another already present watch, but didnt manage to get to the last checkpoint. our destination was OBS CAMP 1. WOOHOO!!! upon reaching there, we were told that we'd be sleeping beside the Flying Fox tower. and we'd betta bathe. however, we spent all 45min pitching tents, and none on bathing. we den went to the dining hall for dinner. The peak of civilisation!!! We took loadsa rice, gobbled all the food down like dunno wat and was not so full. Serene stared at our plates wide-eyed. after a quick shower, we had supper, den slept.
Day 4: morning activity was after a delicious breakfast of kuay tiao. we had to climb the inverse tower... the ZZ log and the C.C. OMG... it looked quite tall. i tot i could make it. i was WRONG. Junda and I went 3rd, after kok thong and Hong Liang made it and nearly made it, henri and sam finished it. junda got cramp and couldnt continue. by the time i was just up the net, my whole body was trembling half dead. palms sweated half crazy and whole body went weak. i told myself, i muz conquer the ZZ long and my acrophobia, which is quite serious. so i continued up the log, which was swinging half crazy due to the arrival of Jun Liang. as i was about to get to the first log of the ZZ formation, my hands suddenly shaked uncontrollably. i was like... CONTINUE!!! But my body juz could not take it. my totally weakened body forced me to ask for a break in my activity and come down... i felt dejected, ashamed, and totally down after this activity. and the teasing from henri and sam didnt make me feel betta...
after lunch, another nice meal, we proceeded to go to the internal rock wall for rock climbing. this time, i told myself, i MUST make it to the top. Chin Yang and i climbed together. i chionged up the rock wall quite fast and chin yang had a bit of a time following, but at tile 7 out of 10, the difficulties came. the rocks were very small. i managed to pull myself up, using my hand power. till i was at tile 9. i was just 1 rock away. but i couldnt reach up. it was too far. moreover, the 2 rocks i was stepping on were very small. i was slipping... "Belayer, watch out! i may fall!" i cried to Yu Tong. he braced himself. suddenly, i just slipped and fell... hanging there, i felt a sense of total failure and utter distress...
"Yong Qian! U wanna try again? go back and use the blue rock on ur rite!" Serene shouted. i saw the blue rock. quite big. Chin Yang used it juz now so i couldnt use it. After a little hestitation and fear of failure yet again, i decided to give another shot. this time, i used the big blue rock and hoisted myself to juz 1 more rock ahead. with a lunge, i pulled myself up and DID IT!!! "YES!!!" i shouted out wif triumph. i heard a burst of applause for me below. beaming, i turned around and shouted "thanks everyone". i felt a burden lifted off my chest. i hadn't let Serene's confidence of me fail this time round. after coming down, i thanked everyone who had helped me do it. i juz can't explain the sense of relief coming from me. but in coming down, i had overstrained my hands and cut my fingers, so i had to apply deep heat.
During the reflection session, Serene compared the rock-climbing to our lives. the belayer, anchorman and asst belayer are ppl who help u get to ur target, while the rocks are stepping stones, such as failure, stress etc, that motivate u and help u reach ur target. u cannot reach ur target alone. interdependancy is vital. thus, when successful, we shd appreciate others' help. u help others reach their target, they help u. juz like u take care of ur safety equipment, they ensure ur safety. this impacted me alot. it tot me abt life. it tot me abt selfishness. it tot me about social bonding and teamwork. it tot me to appreciate wat my family and frens have done, helped me, supported me, encouraged me, to become wat i am todae. this is the most meaningufl part of OBS dat i'll remember forever...
we then had a hike to camp 2, and i had mixed feelings abt returning there. i had so much enjoyed OBS, but yet felt like returning home. i didnt noe wat to do... but seeing my bag again, i felt like i belonged back there. haiz...
we had a clearing of store. somehow, somewat, due to EXCELLENT, and i repeat, EXCELLENT, co-ordination, we managed to pack store in 1.5hrs. the best record so far has been 2hrs. 30min scraped. WE ROX. and Henri and Sam, whom we tot were slacking, actually cooked 1 big pot of noodles for dinner for us. we were real appreciative. so the nite was quite enjoyable.
dat nite, we had a reflection session on OBS. Ben tot that Henri was slacking coz he didnt noe abt the noodles. that caused a conflict. it became verbal implicit attacks.... it got resolved, not so amiciably... during my feedback (written) session, i decided to express my gratitude to Serene for the bit of encouragement she rendered that made me make it to the top of the rock wall. to her, it may have been a small word of encouragement. to me, it made a whole lot of a difference. it made me understand lots of stuff, not just abt rock climbing, but about life... OBS realli has made a great impact on me...
last day: cleanup. i spent lotsa time cleaning the mess-tins to be so shiny. using sand. and detergent. rubbed my arse out. den we headed to camp 1 for our finale... it was so anti-climax. a tok by Bob koh, andrew lim and some mini activities that seemed to be so superficial, so irrelevant to the kind of experience that OBS have put us thru, learning lots of stuff and executed so perfectly thanks to their professionalism and experience in this area. i dun wish to tok abt the finale except that to many of us, it was there for the sake of being there.
my watch and a few others waited nearly an hour before the boat returned to ferry us after ferrying 3B-3G. i was kinda reluctant to leave OBS, but excited abt going back home. rite now, as i look at the cert of OBS and my watch's foto, i beam wif pride for the experience i went thru, but with a little sense of shame that i didnt put in my best effort in some activities. OBS has realli influenced me a lot. i realli wish to go for the 21 day course if i have the time. OBS, till next time... I salute u.
TO STRIVE TO SERVE AND NOT TO YIELD
he left a mark
