`cheesecake and muffins~

the past

take a walk in the alley of yesterday

December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 October 2008

Saturday, March 08, 2008

2:05 PM

BACK FROM OBS!!! and yes, i survived it! =))

i dun like the feeling when you just came back from camp and settling down back to reality. it's a loss and a mixture of feelings. and i'm missing OBS, maybe not the bad parts of it. but oh well, its a time when you get caught in the middle.

anyway, OBS! watch 13, COLUMBUS. came to OBS feeling like excited, scared... Din was nice, he put up with alot of our crap, seriously. 1st day, learnt how to pitch tents, belaying and cooking outdoors. basically, first day was nice, not so dirty and mild. camp 2 is NICE, although it's not the resort kind of site, but it has the campy feeling. we did the trust fall thing, which was quick and gd. =) and yeah our camp site that night was quite nice, except that it rained so the ground was muddy. our rice was uncooked for dinner. haha. but overall outdoor cooking is not bad. =)

2nd day morning was really bad.cos firstly they asked us to wake up very early in the morning, we had to unpitch tents, which was muddy and dirty and wet, and then pack our stuff into OBS backpacks, which amounted to like 12 backpacks a watch. and wash up and change... I HATE PACKING. and so, yeah, ppl got pissed, stressed and frustrated. but anw, we had some retarded morning exercise and went to learn kayaking! =)) kayaks are HEAVY. seriously heavy. but after that we learnt to paddle and capsize, which you get to taste seawater. and then rescuing capsized kayaks. which was really funny when we did it in the open sea cos we kept drifting and sandy and dawn couldn't get their kayaks up onto ours. and the jellyfish scaring and all. it was like screaming frantically. haha. and we all got freaked out by a durian in the sea. anw, after the rescue thing we kayaked to camp 1. which was funfunfun but the current was quite strong so poor arms!

anw camp 1 is seriously like a resort. its so NICE and civilised!! but i'm sorry i like camp 2 better, it has a campy feeling! it has the OBS feeling. in camp 1, we did height element, which looked VERY VERY scary i wanted to cry alr. but is it a miracle or what, i still managed to climb up until quite high, higher than my personal goal. so yeah i guess its called realising yr potential huh. camp 1 had like a canteen so called and we had REAL food! =) but of course we still had to wash our cutlery and stuff. and we pitched tents in a nice area, where its not very dirty. so camp 1 was quite a luxurious stay so called.

3rd day, after morning exercise, we played some games. columbus, cook, cousteau and dagama made camp 2B! and we won the skipping thing which was quite weird cos the prac went pretty bad. and then, we learnt how to read maps for trekking, which i really didn't get. no connection with maps, ty. later we trekked for like half an hour, did the obstacle thing and it started to POUR. rain dampens the spirit really badly, and we had to take shelter in this place in the middle of nowhere. stayed there for like hours. and we played games in there. the BO-LIAO tribe and the crazy superheros. and i gta say jingzhi was dressed up really WELL. so she had like powder and ropes and weird hair! chongmin was some weird dude. haha. but we figured she looked more like L. =)

and after the rain stopped, we had no time to navigate the way ourselves and had to depend on the instructors to lead us. kind of sad but then less time trekking haha. so trekking with heavy backpacks is not really FUN and for the first hour everyone was quite dead, because of the rain. but then i'm really glad ppl started high-ing, singing and made the whole trip very light-hearted! so the trekking memories are relatively good. everyone was so high when we finally made it to camp3 and helped each other massage. atmosphere was good UNTIL we started pitching tents and realised that it was a natural campsite which meant that it was just trees and grass and the nearest toilet was far away and there were stray dogs around. and because we came late we had to pitch tents and cook in the dark. it was so frustrating cos at one point it was so disorganised and everyone was irritated. camp3 was the worst night of all cos we squeezed our backpacks into the tent, which was badly pitched, and we had to do DUTY. for security reasons! and we had to wake up at 4 in the morning. the bad thing is, our tent's duty was at 3.05 to 3.25. so after that we couldn't sleep and started packing. which means i only got less than 4h of sleep. =( that night was bad. alot of pissed ppl, alot of swearing.

but ok, nevertheless, 4th day was sea expedition day! and we had to kayak around pulau ubin back to camp2! morning was the usual stressing out and frustration, esp when we lost like 1 backpack and our group was the last to get everything on to the boat. could see that the instructor was pissed as well. but still, when we started kayaking everything got better. the weather was not bad, with a little drizzle. amazingly, there was no sun at all, for like the 4 days i didn't see the sun at all. it was quite tiring, kayaking for 6h. but it was fun=) i realised my arm muscles aren't that bad after all! and big ships at the channel kept sending big waves towards us and kept pushing us to the jetty or fence. but i got to say that we did well in kayaking! the WHOLE of camp2B! and then the funny thing was we could do our business in the sea during the expedition but alot of us didn't want to so we kept it in for the whole journey. and seeing ppl jump into the water to pee is so funny! ^^

so returned to our beautiful camp2, wet and dirty and stinky. went to pitch tent and shower. then we settled down for DINNER! and we had fresh vegetables for dinner! of course, we had to cook by ourselves, this time for our buddy watch cook! so we had a really great feast! rice, vegetables, curry, omelette... ate my fill for that one. the most satisfying dinner of all. =)

last day, mostly packing up the store, washing ponchos, tents and groundsheets. the sun finally came up on that day, but it was kind of no use right, since there were no more activities. did souvenir shopping and slept in the boat. it's like, when the boat touched the jetty and you see all the NY teachers looking at you, you get this sense of mixed feeling. like I'M HOME FINALLY! and oh crap, i'm back again.

post camp blues suck. and after 5 days you get an attachment to camp.i mean even if it's really bad at times during the camp pitching and the bitching, the packing... OBS had really fun memories for me. and you want to go back to all the luxuries but not reality. sickening mixed feelings. somehow i want to go back to OBS, without the frustration. and yes seniors do say its fun, i got to say that overall, the memories there are fun. but OBS won't be OBS without the frustration too. home is different now. seriously, i don't know which is better. and reality is BAD. it's a time when i just want to sit in the comfort of my home, thinking about OBS and not doing anything else. oh well, i suppose it will just get better after a while.

things i brought back from OBS:
1) tent pitching. which is bad when no one cooperates and the ground is dirty.
2) i learnt how to open tin cans with a super small manual can opener.
3) I CAN CONQUER HEIGHT ELEMENT!
4) trekking is fun when everybody makes it fun.
5) i LOVE kayaking!!! i'll do it again and again and again.
6) OBS brings out the true personalities in everyone. all of us can see it.
7) the process may be quite bad, but after it all you realise it's actually very memorable.

and OBS instructors are really nice. Din put up with alot of our crappiness. and even though it was so obvious he was pissed at times, he didn't vent it out or anything. he was really nice. and LoYee's "red-shirt shuai guy", vivien and chu ai. they make OBS even more fun.

but i still can't stand the fact that cousteau's instructor made APPLE CRUMBLE for them!!!!!!!!! that's too nice to take in.

anw, it's so surreal that OBS is over. and it's time to study for block test, and do projects and hw, and council stuff. this is life. too bad.

oh and when i just stepped onto punggol jetty and was walking stonely towards the bus, ms teo pulled me and like "SHIYUN i think you got into CAP!". ...(1 second)...(2 sec)... "huh. oh! erm, i may have jap immersion" choices are flung right into my face the moment i reach civilisation huh. i got to think abt this more. it's like my june hols are really squashed? but wth i alr have the march hols to handle.

there was no sun in OBS (except the last day) and i still got tanner!
maybe 305 and 312 will become closer. who knows?
and stupid chinatown project. other classes are not even doing it! why only OUR CLASS?

the blues kick in.
OBS!
shiyun.