After reading someone's blog, I suddenly feel that kinda passion for OBS, that kinda yearning for the experience all over again, that kinda yearning for my groupmates and all the hardships we've endured. So much so it makes me want to post about all over again.

Even thought it was 7 long months ago, it is still present now in my mind. All those kayaking, land expeditions and many more, all still entrenched in my mind like it was yesterday. Clayton our instructor, together with the enthusiastic group of Sui Sen, we made our journey of 5 days, literally in the sea w/o direction.

Im looking at my reflections everyday now. And everything became so clear to me again. First day, kayaking drills, pitching of tent, knowing group members because they weren't in my class. Sleeping in the open with rain coming down relentlessly on us at 3am in the morning that forced us to sleep with our ponchos and soaked clothes outside the first aid office at camp 1. And we're called the luckier group because we can stay in bunks. Wth.

Day 2. We did our land expedition. Cant rmb who the navigation leader was. But all I can rmb was, how we trudged dragginly for 4 hours with our 12kg load of stuff in our bagpack. When we finally reached the end destination of the quarry, we all changed into wet clothes even with female instructors looking. Jumped into the quarry and had a hell of a fun time! But after that, we went back on the hike with our 12kg bagpacks again. When we finally reached back to camp, all we wanted to do was to drop down our bagpacks and go to sleep, w/o even considering dinner. But we were forced to do our cleaning up and stuff and pack for the sea expedition the next day. Slept at 12am. Fell asleep the moment my head touched the bed.

Day 3. Woke up at 6.30am. Late for PT. Late for meeting with Clayton. Late for breakfast. But we were forgiven, though Clayton said he doesnt want to see this kinda attitude anymore. Then after that it was mad rush to get kayaks and all ready. And we're off! 6 hours of kayaking. Tide and wind against us. We struggled very badly. From 9.30am to 3.30pm. We kayaked from palau ubin to sembawang park. Especially towards sembawang park. We went as far as in between the waters of Singapore and Malaysia. The tide was strong, little we could do against it. Took us 1 hr to successfully land on shore. Then we have to start pitching our basha( tents just that no covered completely). We did a sloppy job out of it and paid for it during the night. But b4 that, cook dinner first. Had to make do with a small fire and slow cooking because the seawater keep putting out our flame. Yet befre we can eat, night has fallen and we're cooking in the dark. To add insult to misery, rain poured again. Many of our grp ran to take cover. But I rmb how yin rong, nelson and I stayed in the rain, using our ponchos to cover the half cooked rice. When we finally accepted the fact that we cant fight against the rain, we just ate the whole pot of half cooked rice that tasted like literally sh*t with mushroom juice. But at least there was sth to fill our stomachs so we werent complaining the bit. But as night fall, we were supposed to do night duty. It was 10am when we slept, and 11 when I woke up again. For the rest of the night, I was in drenched clothes and awake facing the sea breeze and random showers of rain. That coldness and loneliness that you feel is sth you'll nv be able to explain till you've actually experienced it. Really, I rmb telling myself halfway through it, that my house is only 2km away. Why cant I just run back, I know the way back. I can run back and sleep no one will notice. But i didnt. I stayed on. With my team, with my groupmates, with my friends. Together we made a small fire, whcih became bigger and bigger so much so everyone came to stand around it. Every other group there was. Until rain came and destroyed it again. Disappointment after disppointment. We were all freezing and shivering in drenched clothes with cold wind blowing at us. Thats when this phrase that our instructor Clayton told us will always be rmbed by me forever. "miserable is only an option". He said, we can choose whether or not to wallow in self pity, to stay out ther shivering or we can come together as a grp, and help one another out in this long and torturous night. Throughout the night, though we were all shivering and all, many of us hugged each other to keep warm. Thank ppl, you've made my night.

Day4. At 5am, started packing already. Managed to set all kayaks for sail at 7am. Unbelievably, we took 3 hours to kayak back. Half the time spent coming. Moment we touched down, had so much to do. Cleaning of kayaks, bagpacks, mess tins, rooms EVERYTHING! But what did my grp do, went to wash up and slept. We were supposed to meet instructor at 12.30pm. We slept till then and left nothing done. And worse of all, we discovered that we have left a stain on Claytons small stove that he lent us and now it cannot be removed. Honestly, I felt really really REALLY ashamed of myself then. As a prefect, a student leader, I was unable to lead the group, instead fell asleep with all of them. Sorry Clayton. I rmb how angry you were even till now. After that, we had lunch b4 proceeding to the MPH where Clayton decided to tell us his life story. Felt quite sad that many of them fell asleep during his talk. It was motivational. Very inspirational. So much so some of us broke down in tears. yours truly included. Then he ended it off with a story. The story of the worker and his boss.

Day5. It was finally time to go home. To see civilisation again. To live those dirt, mud and water behind. To get to use my handphone. To be able to do so many things again. Yet, as I boarded that bumper boat, I had that feeling that I am really really going to miss Outward Bound Singapore.

It was some feeling that cannot be described as I rmb all these events. I dunno why after all these months academic work, I have sort of forgotten what its like to be out there struggling with your peers helping each other out in times of need. what happened to all these in sch life? Yet Im glad I read that blog post about OBS from july 16-20. Now I can see what I've written as reflections. I hold those memories close to heart. Forever.

SUI SEN YOU ROCK!

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m.c.h.i.a.| 11:55 PM |