DAY 1:
Everyone gathered at the foyer cause all of us were allowed to skip assembly. Me and Sam were nervous about the groups that we were put into and i really wanted her to be in my group. Unfortunately, my wish was not granted. She was placed in Raja while i was in Dhanabalan together with Sylvia, Chloe and Zoey. Said all our goodbyes to friends and board the bus and off we go to Punggol Jetty. As usual, there was morning traffic. After reaching the destination, all of us chit-chatted for a while more before we sat in out groups and waited for more people to come. While waiting, we were told to eat out snacks cause at the campus, there will be no opportunity to eat out snacks so all of us shared Chloe's Mini Oreos. Then we waited again. I was nerve-wrecked cause i really don't know what to expect, but was excited at the same time. Then finally, the time came for us to board the ferry. Took attendance and settled admin stuffs and my group's instructors were Ahmad and Shamil. Blah blah blah... Then Finally boarded the ferry and off wee go. Assembled in the main hall and started with group intro and stuffs. DAY 1 is the most awkward day out of the 5 days. Really. Played teamwork games and trust fall then we had to settle the food rations for all the 5 days. Unfortunately, while were packing the food, it started to RAIN. Which means that our kayak session had to be shortened. Bummer. After packing the food, we had to carry all out stuffs up in the RAIN to our store which was the furthest on the hill. Bad luck i guess. Then it was briefing and stuffs and finally, NO MORE RAIN. Off we go for kayak session with Eng Soon (buddy group). Lesson was fun but super tiring at the some time. The T- Rescue was what that made my arms tired. The kayak just had to be freaking heavy. Session ended at 6+pm and we have not pitched out tents yet. Went to wash up first while the guys were cooking. My first time eating food that was cooked outdoors. It was nice, i have to say. Then was around 10+ pm when we started pitching out tents and some unknown place surrounded with huge trees. Slept around 11+. It was freaking cold, i must say.
DAY 2:
Woke up at 5 and had Physical training at 6+am. Flag raising was super unusual. Did some games with Eng Soon which was _______. There was this colour game which don't really have a point to it and once, the instructors said to place the nose on something pink and so happened i was wearing light pink bermudas that morning to the KC people all went to my bermudas and me nose was on Yu Shan's rubberband. Then all the other people who could not find anything pink to put their nose on had to to a forfeit was was the nonsense Do-Do dance. Obviously all the guys had to do the dance and some girls also. This was the KCians first escape from the dance. After games we did sit-ups, push-ups and other stuffs then its off to rafting. So far, all the camps that i went to, all the rafts that were built were an epic failure. However the raft that my group built together in OBS was a SUCCESS! No one went overboard. Apparently it was a race to find a certain treasure. My group won and the treasure was a bottle of cold syrup water and we shared our treasure with Eng Soon. After that we had jetty jump. It was AWESOME! Then we had rock climbing and our challenge was to solve the word puzzle to find out where the night's campsite was which was campsite 2. After solving, we went to our store to pack the stuffs for the land and sea expedition. When we were done packing, Ahmad and Murali (eng soon's instuuctor) told us that there was something important going on in camp 2(1.5km away) and our campsite for the night had to be at some place which was 3km away. Another bummer. The bag that i was carrying was the food and including fruits. OMG, it was darn HEAVY. I combined stuffs with Sylvia so she carried another bag. Had to cook dinner first before setting off and our rice was taking AGES to cook. In the end, dinner was 3 in 1 rice. Porridge was at the very bottom of the pot, cooked rice was in the middle( i think) and uncooked rice was on top. We cannot wait any longer so we just ate what we had plus it was already getting dark. In the end we had to track to our campsite IN THE DARK. I cant see a thing. I wished i had night vision. LOL. My shoulders were already starting to hurt cause the bag was too big for me. Too bad for me, i guess. Reached campsite, pitched our tents and had briefing about the toilets which, FYI, was at the beach. Then Lights off.
DAY 3: (worst day for me)
Two words, LAND EXPEDITION. OMG! In the morning me, Chloe,Zoey and Sylvia, un-pitch the tent, first day without bathing with water. Not so gross yet. Began with map-reading session and plotting of the stations on the topo map. The guys was doing the plotting while i gave out the granola bars and other snacks. At least, my bag was a little lighter. Then off we go to track. We had like freaking A LOT of stations to covers so we did road-blocks to strike off some stations. Lik Xian was leading first then it was me and Zoey to lead the group to the highest point of Pulau Ubin. I was seriously really tiring, climbing up the hill with the darn heavy bag. After tracking back down we had lunch, which was bread and my bag should be a little lighter, but i could not feel the difference. Traded bags and continued the journey to the rest of the stations till we reach viewing tower Chek Jawa. On the way, i saw Sam and her group who were like resting. On top of the tower, we were told where our campsite was for the night. Initially Ahmad told us that it was FREAKING ALL THE WAY BACK TO CAMP 1. I immediately felt like crying already. OMG! I'm like already dying, tracking from one end of the island to another end which was like 13km (I think). But apparently he was trying to shock us. So out campsite was about 5km away from where we were at. All of us were like walking at a fast pace except me. I was like at the back of the group. I was disappointed with myself cause from the start of the land expedition, i was among the people who were at the front of the group. Terrence was like motivating me to go faster, but i cant talk. I had no more energy to talk. I was like failing myself. Anyways, i still made it to the campsite. The wind there was like so AWESOME and we had loads of time before the briefing for sea expedition the next day. So i helped to cook dinner in one pot and talk and talk. Yes, i got my voice back. We also had briefing about santry duty which every tent has to do.
DAY 4:(most enjoyable day)
I remembered, my tent had duty at around 3+am, if im not wrong. The Scouts, so nice, made us warm Milo. Omg, the taste of Milo was so nice. In the end was spent out time making milo. HAAHAH. Before that, i remembered Julian telling me that someone from the other girls' tent was moaning my name. So weird. Then when i asked them, they told me no one did it. Strange. Someone was sleep-talking i guess? After my tent's duty was Terrence's tent duty. In the end Me, Zoey, Chloe and Sylvia didnt go back to sleep, but start preparing for the Sea expedition. WooHoo. So exciting. All of us (Dhanabalan & Eng Soon) woke up so darn early, but in the end we had to wait patiently for Mr. Sun to rise. When the sun was starting to rise, off we go to the sea. I was in a double kayak with Sylvia. Then the fun started when all stated kayaking. Our destination was back to Camp 1. We had to kakak around the circumference of Pulau Ubin and aiming to break the record held by previous groups. On the way, we played games, heard jokes from Murali, sang songs, enjoy the big waves, had unofficial races and said HI repeatedly to people. We were rafting up at one point and the people the in the kayak beside me and sylvia so happened to be my long-lost friend, Afiqah, whom i last saw 6-7 years ago cause she migrated to Dubai. Unexpected things really happen in OBS. "Expect the unxpected". Eventually we reached Camp 1 in 4h 45mins, if i'm not wrong. WE BROKE THE RECORD. Yeahhh! Thanks to Sylvia, the pro, we had fantastic coordination. Washed and stack back the kayaks and off we go to wash up (finally, with water) , and ate lunch. Some went to pitch tents while some others helped to wash the ponchos. After that we had another task to do. We were told that there was an emergency near the reservoir and our help was needed to rescue these people ( it was not an emergency at all). All our stuffs were put onto 2 stretchers, one for Dhanabalan and the other for Eng Soon. We were actually supposed to transport the 'spirit of Dhanabalan' from one end of the obstacle course to the other within a period of time, if not, it'll die. The stretcher was so heavy because of all the heavy water bottles. So we drank as much as possible to make the stretcher lighter for the guys to carry. The obstacle course seem easy but the challenge we had made the obstacle course the hardest course i've ever encountered. In the end, we failed. Its rather saddening even though we already tried out best. For dinner, both groups had celebration cooking. Each group had to cook a meal and build a shelter for each other. While cooking, it RAINED. Another bummer. Oh well, what to do.We also had to present it to each other. Eng Soon's presentation was like super HILARIOUS. I shall not go into details.HAHA. In the end, we ate what we cooked. It was a test to see if we will do our best for others. Then alfter clearing up the place, it was the other highlight of the day, NIGHT WALK. I can say that it was the BEST NIGHT WALK i've ever had. We had to walk at around 100m(i think) back to the campsite from the start of reservoir without any light source, ALONE. We were only allowed to use the light stick that we were given when there's and emergency. And absolutely no talking at all. I was the second girl and the 6th person to go as we had to go in intervals. I was proud for myself for making it till the end even though the eire vibe was all around me and i felt something brushed pass me. After everyone completed the challenge, we go ready for sleep. Me, Juliani and Selan had i chat on the walkway while the others went back up to the store to get their sleeping bags and stuffs. Selan told his hilarious and scary (in my opinion) night walk experience. Everyone should hear it. Then it was lights off for everyone.
DAY 5:
Last Day of the leadership course. Sigh. Time really do fly very fast. Had Physical training and Flag raising in the morning. As usual we played games. But this time, it was with the rest of the groups. After morning PT, we went to clear and pack the stores. Some people were washing while some others were counting the number of stuffs. Had fun laughing and playing at the same time. Yusuff, really funny guy. HAHA. Exchanged contacts and blah blah blah...After we had the store checked, its off to the main hall. Then suddenly, we had a note to change into our wet attire. Everyone was like OMG, we pack everything nicely already. Anyways we still had to do it. So all of us thought that we will be the one of the fortunate groups that will do the Jetty Jump twice. And our thoughts were correct. We JUMPED AGAIN. It was fun. Swam back to shore together as a team. On shore, we were presented with out certificates of completion. I survived the 5 days. After washing up, we had debriefing and reflections. I was getting really emotional probably because i really did cherish what we did as a team and the challenges we managed to accomplish with the help of motivation from each other. Learned about the Johari's Window and wrote on the papers on each other's backs about what they felt about us. More reflection and camp 1 debriefing and off we go to mainland Singapore. Other schools went first while KC and CH ferries got delayed due to bad weather. YAY, longer time in OBS campus. Me and Sam talking and talking non-stop. When the weather was fine, we boarded the ferry and off we go... And i was panicking about the amount of homework i have to complete and worrying if i could catch up.
