heyys.

back from OBS since yesterday.
outward bound Singapore.
it was great fun to go there
and explore more about yourself and others.
so tday's post will be abt the 5 days with OBS.
with the help of the journal to refresh my memory.

we set off from school, the pier.
the boat took us to pulau ubin.
most if not all of 3A was in camp 2.
loads of ppl remarked that camp 1 was much btr.
admin was done there, then we had diff duties each.
wenxuan and I were the store keepers throughtout the camp.
the store keepers are in charge of the store,
which stores all equiptment like tents, harnesses,
whistles, lifevest, bottles, and all that stuff.
we put the bags there too.
we started on a 'learning tree'.
had to put all the learnings of the day on the tree
and at end of 5 days the tree would flourish.

oh, we were put into a group too.
I was in team 'Shackleton'.
Sir Ernest Shackleton was a explorer which went to the south pole to explore,
i think.
all the rest of the team names were also names of explorers.
the first few days we were working in individual teams.
but from day 3 on we worked with 3 other teams to form 'BRAVO'.
Shackleton, Marco polo, Magellan and Livingstone.
cool names, haha.
Shackleton comprises of Kendrick, Alan, Jia De, Wen Xuan, Yi Fan, Ruo Lan, Abigal, Yan Ran,
Yee Sing, Sharlene, Sandra, Shu Wei, Karin, Tie Ning and me.
mix of 3A and 3D. :D
oh ya, our instructor was Nadia.
cool person.

day 1,
we learnt to belay.
A-B-C-D.
haha, forgot what it stands for but safety was most impt in this activity.
ms lee belayed me so I knew I was in safe hands.
after that,
we were taught to cook and pitch tents.
we must do these in the late afternoon where there was light,
or we cannot see.
haha, the first day was the best because we got to shower properly,
eat nice food, sleep in nice tents.
we packed the backpacks they lent us with necessities for living out for next few days.

day 2,
we rocked climbed.
haha, I was very scared to go down after going up.
zzz, not because it was high.
it was because I was scared there was nothing to hold on to when I came down.
the top descend was scariest.
fortuantely Jia De was steady with belaying.
He let me down slowly and I trusted him too.
haha, I was shaking when I reach the ground.
ms lee saw that I was shaking and she helped me untie the rope
because I couldn't move my hands properly then.
we learnt to kayak.
haha, everyone had to do capsize drill in the sea.
the sea looked so clean at far.
but really, once you get down in the water and taste it,
you will know so much more.
salty and dirty, haha.
I loved the kayaking part out of the camp the best.
at the feedback form they asked what you liked best.
I wrote kayaking, because it was memorable and enjoyable to be in the kayak.
anyway, we learnt that if we use left to pedal we went right.
basic physics.
so we kayaked to another an ulu place.
camp MACHOR.
the beach was full of algae and sand flies.
but in the campsite it was much btr.
it was full of rocks.
so we used it to hold the twine to hold our tents.
successful for this day with rocks.
haha, here at the forest there was much mosquitoes.
which looked upon me as food.
without much defense, I became their food.
I loved what we cooked on the second day.
noodles, campbell soup.
simple yet very satisfactory when it's warm and when everyone ate from the same pot.
because we did not want to go through trouble of using too many mess tins,
we ate from 2 pots of noodles of diff flavours and 2 other mess tins for campbell soup.
we had compassion for friends too.
we left food for teammates which havent ate yet instead of finishing everything while they were away.
we did sentry duty, much because we were in forest lands and it was not particularly safe.
haha, that day I had stomachache and used the toilet there.
toilet as in in the wild.
okay larr, not too bad sanitation in the wild.
that was what i thought until after OBS.
instructor Jonathan briefed us on what we were going to do tmr.
his accent rocks.
monotone and broken english.
that's why it rocks and everyone was amused at his jokes.
haha.
he told us we were going to kayak around more than half of pulau ubin.
haha, it sounded tough for a beginner kayaker like me.

day 3,
our team was already quite bonded.
not very but quite.
we roughly knew each other, 3A, 3D and NCC.
linked affliations.
anyway, we went on sea expedition as promised yesterday.
but it was raining in the morning.
cat 1 storm.
cat 1 means high lightning risk.
so the sea was a definite no-no.
we used our pnchos and covered ourselves with it.
huddled tight to keep warm, and some sang songs. :D
then we pushed our kayaks out to the sea.
Jon wanted us to paddle fast to fight against the incoming currents.
we needed to help one another to push each other's kayaks off the shore.
and we did what Jon asked us what to do.
it was so cold Jia De said his teeth was chattering.
yeah it was that cold.
we carried kayaking with all our might.
then after a while, the storm died down.
then there was the sun.
zzz, I knew I was going to get sick, haha.
the formation of the kayaks had to be diamond.
or else big ships might think that we were bananas and they would run over us.
Hence BRAVO set out tgt.
Kendrick was navigator.
Ting Xiang and Wei Cheng was starboard or ppl at the sides.
and Chi Kan was sweeper at the back.
fun though exhausting.
we could use the sea as the toilet here haha.
we just had to get down our kayaks and do it within breaks.
we ate our lunch at sea.
the instructors threw food towards us.
Jing Yen loved oreos the msot, haha.
then we continued in the basking sun.
then at last we were at our next campsite.
KK campsite.
it was btr ground there, but more mosquitoes.
how i hate mosquitoes.
there we pitch tents and cooked dinner.
rice with sardines and curry chicken in one pot.
wonder why never use the toilet after that.
haha, joking.
the food was very nicee as we were all hungry.

day 4,
we were late in meeting instructors and were told to unpack then pack our backpacks.
we were mostly late for most meetings with instructors.
hard to get everyone tgt ready to meet instructors.
okay, we carried our backpacks and trekked.
we went to freshwater quarry to bathe ourselves after 2 days of no bathing.
haha, not literally just jump in water and get on rafts we built.
water was nice, btr than seawater.
then we changed out of clothes we wore for 3 days.
cause we needed to wear long sleeve long pants.
most of us had one set.
then we didn't know it took so long before going back to base camp.
so we rewore it over and over again.
then at last after bathing we changed to dry clothes.
we went trekking later with heavy backpacks and water bottles which we shared to carry.
Kendrick navigated us towards base camp and we needed to find checkpoint too.
haha we went there as 3rd group to arrive and we set tents.
then we had cooking competition.
haha, with our bread with chicken luncheon and tuna garnished with peanuts,
we won.
but we could not finish the food at the end because everyone had no appetite.

day 5,
go home day.
did store keeping and lost loads of stuff.
had to pay for it, zzz.
then we did reflections on the tree.
we did souvenir shopping.
shirts etc.
I think shirt quite small for me haha, so must wear it more often before it cannot fit me anymore.
oh ya, my sis can wear horr. :D
so we went back skool and then went to harbourfront KFC to eat.
haha, ate so much because it was first time in 5 days we got to eat fast food.
yeah, I can see now why Alan says he's getting mroe spoilt.
haha, weird how we ppl think.
in school everything seems too boring.
then at obs everything is too harsh because we're not used to it.
then back again we say we miss obs.
wow, weird us.
well, at least some of us.

hence, obs can be concluded to be interesting and fun.
I learnt that teamwork, time management and orderliness is very impt when living in a group,
even as a team we should put others before ourselves.
then that way, everyone would be happy.
'very good'. said in Jon's style. ;D

okay, been here too long.
gtg, bye.