There is no tomorrow, no tomorrow for us.
So I'm back from OBS woohoo. It was a week of hell but I completed it!! Bloody Pulau Ubin would be the death of me. But before I start blogging about stuff, someone left a comment on my previous blog post. Okay, honestly I only can think of one person when I read that comment. I'm not really sure but I think I'm right.
So if it's you, then I would start by apologizing. I don't know what caused us to become what we are now. It's mostly me, I believe. And I still haven't mustered up the courage to talk to you again. But whenever I think of you, there is this immense sense of guilt building up in me. You've tried your best to make our friendship work out but I've done nothing but destroy it. I have no idea whether the broken string which ties me and you together can be fixed but I really hope we will be able to talk to each other normally again. Thank you for still caring even after how much a bitch I've been to you.
But if it isn't.... well, still thank you, I guess. (-:
So I told Cass that I would blog about how crappy every single day of OBS was so here goes.
DAY1 (131021)
Day 1 was still bearable. After the teacher waved us goodbye at Ponggol jetty, we arrived at Pulau Ubin. And we were on the big boat, just outside the base camp, when they showered us with the history of OBS. Well, I obviously wasn't paying attention because I was panicking about how I was going to stay alive in that hellhole for such a looooong week. All I know was that OBS was created for sailors(?). Then we got our groupinggg. I was pretty satisfied with my watch, which helped to make things easier for me. So yes, team WASHIONGTON. I had Cass, Lush, Kerryn, Isabella, Tan Qing, Yuki, Angelene, Rachel, Lujia, Emily, Siyi, Tarcius, Ryan, Yiliu. A pretty decent group hehe. We started off with one ice breaker (stupid blow wind blow) and had a tour around base camp. The whole place was bloody big and the so many slopes. I felt like dying whenever I walked up the slope okay. Then, we had lunch. Hmm, the food there was pretty okay. Well, it was better than what I expected. BUT I LOATHED DOING THE WASHUP. I STUPIDLY SIGNED UP TO BE FOOD IC WITH CASS. THAT, ITSELF WAS A BIG MISTAKE. sighpie. So after settling down, we had this game thingy. Okay, maybe it wasn't a game. It was a life and death thing. OKAY IT'S NOT A GAME. We had to turn around, 'trust' your watchmates and drop backwards, hoping that they won't kill you or die with you. As much as I hope I died, I didn't. So then, we learnt how to belay. It wasn't much, just climbing up a pole, chanting some lines and let get your ass back onto ground. But after that, we had some 200 seconds challenge. As a group, we had to complete a total of 4 stations within 200 seconds. We failed. ): It was pretty sad, considering the fact that I gave in my all. Even though I hated OBS, I remember trying my best in everything I did. So yes, be proud of me. The challenge was tiring but everyone tried their very best, so it made me want to do my best as well. :')
OKAY THEN THE WORST PART OF THE DAY CAME. PHYSICAL. TRAINING. I don't know why they do this to us. Maybe they hate us or something. We ran 2.4km, and because of the fact that I (obviously) didn't train, I felt like dying. And there were puddles of mud everywhere, my shoe became so dirty. ): Even after the 2.4km, they didn't let us go. THEY MADE US DO STUPID EXERCISES WHICH DROVE ME CRAZY AND IT WAS ONLY THE FIRST DAY.
Thank god they allowed us to bathe and have dinner directly after. After everything, we had a briefing on coastal cleanup which happened on the 23rd and we went to sleep. Sleeping wasn't much of a problem because base camp had decent beds. And I was freaking tired.
DAY2 (131022)
PHYSICAL. TRAINING. AT. THE. START. OF. THE. DAY. Met up at 5.55am because they happen to love the number 5. OH THEN WE PLAYED MY FAVORITE GAME OF THE WHOLE ENTIRE CAMP. MINGLE. We had to go around chanting "MINGLE MINGLE I WANT TO MINGLE" with our index finger on our forehead. It's so damn cute. Then they would give us some stupid instructions and we will just have to abide by it. It got really funny cause they told us to out our left butt cheek onto something purple but we heard it as 'left cheek' so out faces were all on someone's purple shirt and Timothy was like "guys what are you all doing". It cracked me up so bad haha. Then, we did the stupid exercises and ran 2.4km in our watches. We took 22 mins ++ lol, which was longer than yesterday, which took us 21mins. It got us pretty demoralized but what came after was even worse. TREKKING.
So after lunch, we packed up all our shit. The tent was bloody heavy and we had to carry our own personal items/clothes as well as cooking pots. I'M PRETTY SURE MY BAG WAS OVER 15kg OKAY!! I was literally dragging myself while walking. ): Then, the instructor suddenly told us that Tarcius couldn't go because of his sprained ankle. UHM, HELLO. THE STRONGEST GUY IN OUR ENTIRE LEVEL CAN'T GO. @(&#^&(#^ So, we had to split up his stuff and it added onto our load, I guess. Sigh. AT LEAST I'M STILL ALIVEE. Heh.
But, we got lost everytime we met with a junction. So we basically stood there and allowed the mozzies to bite us. Freaking bloodsuckers. >: Well, I stuck with Ryan because he speaks bullshit. And his bullshit keeps my mind off all the shit which I worry about. Honestly, I seriously have got to thank him. I would have died during the trek if it wasn't for him. :-) Hmm, so we trekked our way to some ahma's house (With lots of help from Jiayi) and took a break there before turning back out to the same junctions. At that point of time, I thought that it was just a waste of time and effort because we just enter her place and look around before walking a looooong way back out. But I guess it was an eyeopener. It's amazing how someone is willing to live in Pulau Ubin with no water, no electricity. I would have died there omgosh. I mean, she has to take the trouble to walk to the well, fetch water and to also go back to mainland to get food supplies before going back to Pulau Ubin. But apparently, she likes the simplicity of life in Pulau Ubin. She has no entertainment other than her radio. I can understand how she feels though, cause sometimes I think that mainland Singapore life is too complicated as well.
Ah well, so while trekking our way back out, it started to rain. OKAY, IT'S A BLESSING IN DISGUISE. We had to switch a place to stay, which was the second base camp. At the second base camp, there's water and toilets so it's better than the original place we were supposed to go, which is basically in the middle of nowhere. BUT HAVING TO TREK IN THE HEAVY YELLOW PONCHO AND HAVERSACK WAS SHIT. I was so worn out but staying in the tent wasn't that bad. The tent was pretty much very thin, so we could hear one another when we start talking. I slept with Lush, Cass, Isabel and Kerryn. We were so noisy hah. I mean, we were talking normally when Isabel suddenly went,"Mingle Mingle, I want to Mingle." AT THAT POINT IN TIME, IT WAS SO DAMN FUNNY. Omgosh. And next to our tent, was Tarcius, Ryan and Yiliu. Tarcius couldn't shut up and Ryan couldn't stop laughing. We were eavesdropping on their conversation and it got pretty funny at times.
DAY3 (131023)
We met at 5.55am once again yay. We were still on our land expedition but it wasn't that bad, I guess. It felt better because we had Tarcius with us. TARCIUS + LUSH = BEST NAVIGATORS EVER. We barely got lost and we were all pulling onto one another's bag strap. With all the encouragements, it made everything much more bearable and fun. Singing 10 green bottles while trekking was definitely a whole new experience. So we trekked in the morning to some Ketam Beach. It was really dirty there. ): So we did coastal cleanup from 7am - 9am. Hmm, time passed by pretty quick. We then had a little break and a big circle sharing with the whole cohort. I barely paid any attention cause I was eating hehehe. So we then set off to the bloody highest point of Pulau Ubin and then headed back to base camp. Sigh we got lost once and took a big turn. But I clung onto Ryan again and he was pulling me for the whole way psh. It was nice of him. The worst part was climbing up the freaking mountain thingy. But I actually saw people. MEANING THERE WAS CIVILIZATION. The rocky floor was really scary but after climbing up, the view was really nice. And if you scream, there will be echo. It felt really good to up there hehe. Then, we headed back to base camp but before reaching, we had to this challenge thingy.
We had an hour to hold hands and walk on this long wooden plank thingy. We had to go one round and if we fall, we had to restart from the nearest platform. ONE HOUR SEEMED REALLY LONG BUT IT WASN'T. It was really hot and I felt like dying while having to balance on the plank. ): We didn't get to finish the whole challenge in the end, which was pretty disappointing, considering the fact that we only had a quarter left to go. But still, in the end, we ended up 'quarreling' in a way. There were a few disagreements here and there. Now that I think about, I feel pretty bad about it because it was Jiayi's birthday as well, and we caused her to feel upset. Oh well. So then, we just headed back to base and we had our BATH. HEHEH.
So after dinner and bathing, we had the presentation for the coastal cleanup. Ours wasn't the best but Lush was really good. She went on with her "I envision a future..." speech which was REALLLY good. The rest of the watches did skits which was pretty funny as well. But after that, we were separated back into our watches. And we did this thing where we took turns to write what we liked about every single person in the watch and something which they could improve on. All the notes were so sweet I thought I was going to get diabetes. <3 At night, we were all lying on our beds while reading all the notes and I was smiling throughout okay.
DAY4 (131024)
SO WE STARTED OUR 3D2N SEA EXPEDITION. HONESTLY, KAYAKING WAS FUN. BUT SCARY. We had to kayak on the big open sea and I thought that I was going to die anytime because there were huge ships all around and we were like tiny ikan bilis omg. Then it started to rain like crap, and the thunder all. IT WAS JUST SCARY AS HELL. And it was my first time paddling wth. When we learnt how to kayak, we had this capsize drill thingy and it was the worst experience ever. It was pretty cooling when we capsized but no. NO. NO. I do not want to capsize in the middle of the sea. But thank god, the wind and tide were all in our favour so we arrived really early. We aimed to reach our new camp at around 4.30 but we reached at 3.45. We were 45 mins earlier which called for a celebration. SO WE HAD THE QUARRY DIP. YOU SEE THE CLEANEST WATER EVER IN PULAU UBIN THEN YOU TAKE A STEP FORWARD AND IN YOU GO, DEEP INTO THE WATER. But it wasn't very high, so I went first heh. I was so scared I would back out, so I just went all #YOLO. Psht. I felt really clean after the dip though. I should have stayed in there longer but my foot couldn't touch the floor so I just got out asap. Hehe.
BUT THAT CAMPSITE WAS THE WORST CAMPSITE EVER. THERE WERE NO FACILITIES. LIKE TOTALLY NOTHING. YOU WANT TO SHIT, YOU HAVE TO USE THE POOPER SCOOPER TO DIG A HOLE BEFORE SHITTING AND THEN YOU HAVE TO BURY IT BACK. I didn't shit for a really long time omg. AND I DIDN'T BRUSH MY TEETH FOR 3D2N OMGOSH. I DIDN'T BATHE. MY HYGIENE WENT TO HELL. >: Dinner was pretty okay, I guess. The rice was shit but better than nothing. Oh, then I stupidly offered to be sea expedition IC for the next day. Omgosh, I looked at the route and I felt like crying. The amount of portages we needed to go through was like mad. And we had to take into consideration the time we needed for every single part of the route. Sigh. After planning, we gave our briefing, then we heard about some 'century duty'. It's the worst thing that can ever exist. Each tent had to take turn to wake up and look after all the bags and stuff. But thank god, my group was in charge of the last duty so we weren't disturbed in the middle of our sleep. Hehe.
Before sleeping, we had our circle thingy again. Cass started talking about how tired she was and it made me tear up and when Isabel talked about how she missed her parents, I just broke into tears. I'm pretty sure I was pms-ing at that time, but I couldn't stop crying. Haizz. I was dreading the next day like mad and all I wanted to do was go home. T_T
DAY5 (131025)
So we woke up at 4.30am to do century duty till 5am. Omgosh, we woke up to see Eaten and Tarcius on the floor staring up into the sky. They were talking about the half moon. About how it was crawling into the light or some bullshit. It's amazing how they could stay awake even though I was tired as hell. So we did our usual morning routine, but now we had to carry our kayaks onto the beach and load our stuff onto the safety boat. We also had a blessing circle, where we shared our group journals and also had to scream out a word of success, before everyone echos that word. It was really sweet and I started crying again. OKAY HORRIBLE MOODSWINGS LA.
Then we left off and I was the sweeper, so I was right at the back making sure that everyone moves forward safely. Hmm, it was really nice being right at the back because I could see everyone. ^^ Then we went into the swamp. HORROR CAME. The first portage was the worst. The mud was freaking disgusting and we had to climb out of our kayaks and also had to carry them around. Gosh, they were the heaviest thing ever. I thought I could avoid having to get myself all muddy but I just yolo-ed right at the end and just plopped myself into the mud. Eaten and Do Yeop were the sweetest people ever. They helped the first person all the way till the last. Just when I got over the first portage, I told myself that there were 3 more to go. -_- Sigh, but the rest were better. It wasn't that muddy. The first one was slippery and muddy which was bad. ): So then, we got to the place, which was a bloody freaking maze. The route wasn't printed on the map so we had to use trial and error. And the paths were freaking narrow, so when we had to do a U-turn, it was seriously troublesome but we still managed to reach our second base camp safely. SO THANK GOD.
Until I realized at night that my period came. >:
DAY6 (131026)
So we woke up to our normal morning routine again. OH YAY. It was the last day of the whole sea expedition. SO AFTER THE LONG PERIODS OF NO SHOWERING, WE FINALLY KAYAK-ED OUR WAY BACK TO BASE CAMP TO HAVE OUR LONG SHOWERS. OH AND BRUSHING OF OUR TEETHS AS WELL. We also had to wash up everything. My fingers became so wrinkly hehe. Then, we had the high elements. Which was something I don't want to remember. I still haven't gotten over my fear of heights and I swear climbing up one step of that really unstable ladder took me a whole load of courage. But I'm still freaking disappointed in myself. I should have listened to Ningyih cause I was just one step away from the second part. But still, I gave in my all la. ): OH THANK YOU KERRYN FOR CHEERING ME UP.
Then we had physical training. IT WAS THE BEST. PHYSICAL. TRAINING. FOR THE WHOLE OF OBS. Even though running the 2.4km was the world's most tiring shit ever. Everyone gave in their best and this seriously spurred me on okay. :') We were encouraging one another and we barely walked. Sigh, especially at the last 100m stretch. My legs were burning like crazy but we still all gave in our very best and sprinted. We managed to clock in our best timing of 19 mins even though we aimed for 20 mins which was so heartwarming. All the hard work paid off, seriously. I felt this sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.
After that, we had celebratory dinner. Moodswings took over again and I felt like crying throughout the whole preparation and eating of dinner. I had no appetite and I barely ate anything. ): And I just dragged my lifeless body around with Cass. We helped to clean up then we looked for random spots to sit and rot our lives away. ._. I really thank Cass for just staying with me. Even though we didn't talk to each other, just her presence made me feel comforted sigh. Then, when we had our circle, Lush said that if she had a choice, she wished she didn't go for OBS. That hit me right at my heart and I just broke down. All I could think about at that time was how much I hated OBS and how much I wanted to just go home and never have to worry about anything. I was at my breaking point already. Sigh, so after the tidal wave of emotions, we just went to sleep. Hehe, until Tarcius woke Cass and me up for supper. They were really sweet. I mean, they didn't ask us to cook or anything. Masterchefs Chia and Wee did all the cooking and we just woke up to eat at 3am in the morning before going back to sleep. Hah. It was the best part of OBS. Waking up to break some rulez. BADASS RIGHT. :D
DAY7 (131027)
BEST. FREAKING. DAY. OF THE WEEK. I SMILED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE BLOODY DAY. I WAS LIKE FREAK YES, I'M COMING BACK HOME WOOO. So before leaving the place, we had some liferun thingy where we walked from one place to another in the OBS compound to reflect on stuff. It was this liferun which made me think back about the past 7 days and how much I've grown and matured as a person. As much as I hate OBS, it really gave me a whole new experience and pushed me to my limits so that I could learn more. So, after all the reflecting, we did the JETTY JUMP! I WAS SCARED AS HELL WHEN I LOOKED DOWN OKAY. UNLIKE THE QUARRY DIP, THE JETTY JUMP WAS LIKE 2M OFF THE SEA. >: Originally, I wanted to chicken out, but I DID IT AND I FELT REALLY HAPPY AFTER THAT. :) I JUST CLOSED MY EYES, TOOK A DEEP BREATH AND PUSHED MYSELF FORWARD. IT WAS THE LONGEST FIVE SECONDS EVER BEFORE I FELT THE WATER. But after I jumped, no regrets were left behind. Hehe. :-) After that, we did last minute clean up and packing before bidding the place goodbye.
So even though the whole OBS trip was really shitty and exhausting, I have to say, there were times I had fun. I loved the fact that we would pray together at night. It was very heartwarming. And with all these hardships and challenges, I felt as though I became closer to people, especially Kerryn. We barely talked at the start of the year, but now that we spent so much time together, we became much much closer. OBS was seriously an eyeopener and I do miss it at times, but no I do not want to go back there. Hehe.
YAY TO SURVIVING OBS.
Bye and love you all.
MUACKS.
There is no tomorrow, no tomorrow for us.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 4:09 AM | 0comments
So I'm back from OBS woohoo. It was a week of hell but I completed it!! Bloody Pulau Ubin would be the death of me. But before I start blogging about stuff, someone left a comment on my previous blog post. Okay, honestly I only can think of one person when I read that comment. I'm not really sure but I think I'm right.
So if it's you, then I would start by apologizing. I don't know what caused us to become what we are now. It's mostly me, I believe. And I still haven't mustered up the courage to talk to you again. But whenever I think of you, there is this immense sense of guilt building up in me. You've tried your best to make our friendship work out but I've done nothing but destroy it. I have no idea whether the broken string which ties me and you together can be fixed but I really hope we will be able to talk to each other normally again. Thank you for still caring even after how much a bitch I've been to you.
But if it isn't.... well, still thank you, I guess. (-:
So I told Cass that I would blog about how crappy every single day of OBS was so here goes.
DAY1 (131021)
Day 1 was still bearable. After the teacher waved us goodbye at Ponggol jetty, we arrived at Pulau Ubin. And we were on the big boat, just outside the base camp, when they showered us with the history of OBS. Well, I obviously wasn't paying attention because I was panicking about how I was going to stay alive in that hellhole for such a looooong week. All I know was that OBS was created for sailors(?). Then we got our groupinggg. I was pretty satisfied with my watch, which helped to make things easier for me. So yes, team WASHIONGTON. I had Cass, Lush, Kerryn, Isabella, Tan Qing, Yuki, Angelene, Rachel, Lujia, Emily, Siyi, Tarcius, Ryan, Yiliu. A pretty decent group hehe. We started off with one ice breaker (stupid blow wind blow) and had a tour around base camp. The whole place was bloody big and the so many slopes. I felt like dying whenever I walked up the slope okay. Then, we had lunch. Hmm, the food there was pretty okay. Well, it was better than what I expected. BUT I LOATHED DOING THE WASHUP. I STUPIDLY SIGNED UP TO BE FOOD IC WITH CASS. THAT, ITSELF WAS A BIG MISTAKE. sighpie. So after settling down, we had this game thingy. Okay, maybe it wasn't a game. It was a life and death thing. OKAY IT'S NOT A GAME. We had to turn around, 'trust' your watchmates and drop backwards, hoping that they won't kill you or die with you. As much as I hope I died, I didn't. So then, we learnt how to belay. It wasn't much, just climbing up a pole, chanting some lines and let get your ass back onto ground. But after that, we had some 200 seconds challenge. As a group, we had to complete a total of 4 stations within 200 seconds. We failed. ): It was pretty sad, considering the fact that I gave in my all. Even though I hated OBS, I remember trying my best in everything I did. So yes, be proud of me. The challenge was tiring but everyone tried their very best, so it made me want to do my best as well. :')
OKAY THEN THE WORST PART OF THE DAY CAME. PHYSICAL. TRAINING. I don't know why they do this to us. Maybe they hate us or something. We ran 2.4km, and because of the fact that I (obviously) didn't train, I felt like dying. And there were puddles of mud everywhere, my shoe became so dirty. ): Even after the 2.4km, they didn't let us go. THEY MADE US DO STUPID EXERCISES WHICH DROVE ME CRAZY AND IT WAS ONLY THE FIRST DAY.
Thank god they allowed us to bathe and have dinner directly after. After everything, we had a briefing on coastal cleanup which happened on the 23rd and we went to sleep. Sleeping wasn't much of a problem because base camp had decent beds. And I was freaking tired.
DAY2 (131022)
PHYSICAL. TRAINING. AT. THE. START. OF. THE. DAY. Met up at 5.55am because they happen to love the number 5. OH THEN WE PLAYED MY FAVORITE GAME OF THE WHOLE ENTIRE CAMP. MINGLE. We had to go around chanting "MINGLE MINGLE I WANT TO MINGLE" with our index finger on our forehead. It's so damn cute. Then they would give us some stupid instructions and we will just have to abide by it. It got really funny cause they told us to out our left butt cheek onto something purple but we heard it as 'left cheek' so out faces were all on someone's purple shirt and Timothy was like "guys what are you all doing". It cracked me up so bad haha. Then, we did the stupid exercises and ran 2.4km in our watches. We took 22 mins ++ lol, which was longer than yesterday, which took us 21mins. It got us pretty demoralized but what came after was even worse. TREKKING.
So after lunch, we packed up all our shit. The tent was bloody heavy and we had to carry our own personal items/clothes as well as cooking pots. I'M PRETTY SURE MY BAG WAS OVER 15kg OKAY!! I was literally dragging myself while walking. ): Then, the instructor suddenly told us that Tarcius couldn't go because of his sprained ankle. UHM, HELLO. THE STRONGEST GUY IN OUR ENTIRE LEVEL CAN'T GO. @(&#^&(#^ So, we had to split up his stuff and it added onto our load, I guess. Sigh. AT LEAST I'M STILL ALIVEE. Heh.
But, we got lost everytime we met with a junction. So we basically stood there and allowed the mozzies to bite us. Freaking bloodsuckers. >: Well, I stuck with Ryan because he speaks bullshit. And his bullshit keeps my mind off all the shit which I worry about. Honestly, I seriously have got to thank him. I would have died during the trek if it wasn't for him. :-) Hmm, so we trekked our way to some ahma's house (With lots of help from Jiayi) and took a break there before turning back out to the same junctions. At that point of time, I thought that it was just a waste of time and effort because we just enter her place and look around before walking a looooong way back out. But I guess it was an eyeopener. It's amazing how someone is willing to live in Pulau Ubin with no water, no electricity. I would have died there omgosh. I mean, she has to take the trouble to walk to the well, fetch water and to also go back to mainland to get food supplies before going back to Pulau Ubin. But apparently, she likes the simplicity of life in Pulau Ubin. She has no entertainment other than her radio. I can understand how she feels though, cause sometimes I think that mainland Singapore life is too complicated as well.
Ah well, so while trekking our way back out, it started to rain. OKAY, IT'S A BLESSING IN DISGUISE. We had to switch a place to stay, which was the second base camp. At the second base camp, there's water and toilets so it's better than the original place we were supposed to go, which is basically in the middle of nowhere. BUT HAVING TO TREK IN THE HEAVY YELLOW PONCHO AND HAVERSACK WAS SHIT. I was so worn out but staying in the tent wasn't that bad. The tent was pretty much very thin, so we could hear one another when we start talking. I slept with Lush, Cass, Isabel and Kerryn. We were so noisy hah. I mean, we were talking normally when Isabel suddenly went,"Mingle Mingle, I want to Mingle." AT THAT POINT IN TIME, IT WAS SO DAMN FUNNY. Omgosh. And next to our tent, was Tarcius, Ryan and Yiliu. Tarcius couldn't shut up and Ryan couldn't stop laughing. We were eavesdropping on their conversation and it got pretty funny at times.
DAY3 (131023)
We met at 5.55am once again yay. We were still on our land expedition but it wasn't that bad, I guess. It felt better because we had Tarcius with us. TARCIUS + LUSH = BEST NAVIGATORS EVER. We barely got lost and we were all pulling onto one another's bag strap. With all the encouragements, it made everything much more bearable and fun. Singing 10 green bottles while trekking was definitely a whole new experience. So we trekked in the morning to some Ketam Beach. It was really dirty there. ): So we did coastal cleanup from 7am - 9am. Hmm, time passed by pretty quick. We then had a little break and a big circle sharing with the whole cohort. I barely paid any attention cause I was eating hehehe. So we then set off to the bloody highest point of Pulau Ubin and then headed back to base camp. Sigh we got lost once and took a big turn. But I clung onto Ryan again and he was pulling me for the whole way psh. It was nice of him. The worst part was climbing up the freaking mountain thingy. But I actually saw people. MEANING THERE WAS CIVILIZATION. The rocky floor was really scary but after climbing up, the view was really nice. And if you scream, there will be echo. It felt really good to up there hehe. Then, we headed back to base camp but before reaching, we had to this challenge thingy.
We had an hour to hold hands and walk on this long wooden plank thingy. We had to go one round and if we fall, we had to restart from the nearest platform. ONE HOUR SEEMED REALLY LONG BUT IT WASN'T. It was really hot and I felt like dying while having to balance on the plank. ): We didn't get to finish the whole challenge in the end, which was pretty disappointing, considering the fact that we only had a quarter left to go. But still, in the end, we ended up 'quarreling' in a way. There were a few disagreements here and there. Now that I think about, I feel pretty bad about it because it was Jiayi's birthday as well, and we caused her to feel upset. Oh well. So then, we just headed back to base and we had our BATH. HEHEH.
So after dinner and bathing, we had the presentation for the coastal cleanup. Ours wasn't the best but Lush was really good. She went on with her "I envision a future..." speech which was REALLLY good. The rest of the watches did skits which was pretty funny as well. But after that, we were separated back into our watches. And we did this thing where we took turns to write what we liked about every single person in the watch and something which they could improve on. All the notes were so sweet I thought I was going to get diabetes. <3 At night, we were all lying on our beds while reading all the notes and I was smiling throughout okay.
DAY4 (131024)
SO WE STARTED OUR 3D2N SEA EXPEDITION. HONESTLY, KAYAKING WAS FUN. BUT SCARY. We had to kayak on the big open sea and I thought that I was going to die anytime because there were huge ships all around and we were like tiny ikan bilis omg. Then it started to rain like crap, and the thunder all. IT WAS JUST SCARY AS HELL. And it was my first time paddling wth. When we learnt how to kayak, we had this capsize drill thingy and it was the worst experience ever. It was pretty cooling when we capsized but no. NO. NO. I do not want to capsize in the middle of the sea. But thank god, the wind and tide were all in our favour so we arrived really early. We aimed to reach our new camp at around 4.30 but we reached at 3.45. We were 45 mins earlier which called for a celebration. SO WE HAD THE QUARRY DIP. YOU SEE THE CLEANEST WATER EVER IN PULAU UBIN THEN YOU TAKE A STEP FORWARD AND IN YOU GO, DEEP INTO THE WATER. But it wasn't very high, so I went first heh. I was so scared I would back out, so I just went all #YOLO. Psht. I felt really clean after the dip though. I should have stayed in there longer but my foot couldn't touch the floor so I just got out asap. Hehe.
BUT THAT CAMPSITE WAS THE WORST CAMPSITE EVER. THERE WERE NO FACILITIES. LIKE TOTALLY NOTHING. YOU WANT TO SHIT, YOU HAVE TO USE THE POOPER SCOOPER TO DIG A HOLE BEFORE SHITTING AND THEN YOU HAVE TO BURY IT BACK. I didn't shit for a really long time omg. AND I DIDN'T BRUSH MY TEETH FOR 3D2N OMGOSH. I DIDN'T BATHE. MY HYGIENE WENT TO HELL. >: Dinner was pretty okay, I guess. The rice was shit but better than nothing. Oh, then I stupidly offered to be sea expedition IC for the next day. Omgosh, I looked at the route and I felt like crying. The amount of portages we needed to go through was like mad. And we had to take into consideration the time we needed for every single part of the route. Sigh. After planning, we gave our briefing, then we heard about some 'century duty'. It's the worst thing that can ever exist. Each tent had to take turn to wake up and look after all the bags and stuff. But thank god, my group was in charge of the last duty so we weren't disturbed in the middle of our sleep. Hehe.
Before sleeping, we had our circle thingy again. Cass started talking about how tired she was and it made me tear up and when Isabel talked about how she missed her parents, I just broke into tears. I'm pretty sure I was pms-ing at that time, but I couldn't stop crying. Haizz. I was dreading the next day like mad and all I wanted to do was go home. T_T
DAY5 (131025)
So we woke up at 4.30am to do century duty till 5am. Omgosh, we woke up to see Eaten and Tarcius on the floor staring up into the sky. They were talking about the half moon. About how it was crawling into the light or some bullshit. It's amazing how they could stay awake even though I was tired as hell. So we did our usual morning routine, but now we had to carry our kayaks onto the beach and load our stuff onto the safety boat. We also had a blessing circle, where we shared our group journals and also had to scream out a word of success, before everyone echos that word. It was really sweet and I started crying again. OKAY HORRIBLE MOODSWINGS LA.
Then we left off and I was the sweeper, so I was right at the back making sure that everyone moves forward safely. Hmm, it was really nice being right at the back because I could see everyone. ^^ Then we went into the swamp. HORROR CAME. The first portage was the worst. The mud was freaking disgusting and we had to climb out of our kayaks and also had to carry them around. Gosh, they were the heaviest thing ever. I thought I could avoid having to get myself all muddy but I just yolo-ed right at the end and just plopped myself into the mud. Eaten and Do Yeop were the sweetest people ever. They helped the first person all the way till the last. Just when I got over the first portage, I told myself that there were 3 more to go. -_- Sigh, but the rest were better. It wasn't that muddy. The first one was slippery and muddy which was bad. ): So then, we got to the place, which was a bloody freaking maze. The route wasn't printed on the map so we had to use trial and error. And the paths were freaking narrow, so when we had to do a U-turn, it was seriously troublesome but we still managed to reach our second base camp safely. SO THANK GOD.
Until I realized at night that my period came. >:
DAY6 (131026)
So we woke up to our normal morning routine again. OH YAY. It was the last day of the whole sea expedition. SO AFTER THE LONG PERIODS OF NO SHOWERING, WE FINALLY KAYAK-ED OUR WAY BACK TO BASE CAMP TO HAVE OUR LONG SHOWERS. OH AND BRUSHING OF OUR TEETHS AS WELL. We also had to wash up everything. My fingers became so wrinkly hehe. Then, we had the high elements. Which was something I don't want to remember. I still haven't gotten over my fear of heights and I swear climbing up one step of that really unstable ladder took me a whole load of courage. But I'm still freaking disappointed in myself. I should have listened to Ningyih cause I was just one step away from the second part. But still, I gave in my all la. ): OH THANK YOU KERRYN FOR CHEERING ME UP.
Then we had physical training. IT WAS THE BEST. PHYSICAL. TRAINING. FOR THE WHOLE OF OBS. Even though running the 2.4km was the world's most tiring shit ever. Everyone gave in their best and this seriously spurred me on okay. :') We were encouraging one another and we barely walked. Sigh, especially at the last 100m stretch. My legs were burning like crazy but we still all gave in our very best and sprinted. We managed to clock in our best timing of 19 mins even though we aimed for 20 mins which was so heartwarming. All the hard work paid off, seriously. I felt this sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.
After that, we had celebratory dinner. Moodswings took over again and I felt like crying throughout the whole preparation and eating of dinner. I had no appetite and I barely ate anything. ): And I just dragged my lifeless body around with Cass. We helped to clean up then we looked for random spots to sit and rot our lives away. ._. I really thank Cass for just staying with me. Even though we didn't talk to each other, just her presence made me feel comforted sigh. Then, when we had our circle, Lush said that if she had a choice, she wished she didn't go for OBS. That hit me right at my heart and I just broke down. All I could think about at that time was how much I hated OBS and how much I wanted to just go home and never have to worry about anything. I was at my breaking point already. Sigh, so after the tidal wave of emotions, we just went to sleep. Hehe, until Tarcius woke Cass and me up for supper. They were really sweet. I mean, they didn't ask us to cook or anything. Masterchefs Chia and Wee did all the cooking and we just woke up to eat at 3am in the morning before going back to sleep. Hah. It was the best part of OBS. Waking up to break some rulez. BADASS RIGHT. :D
DAY7 (131027)
BEST. FREAKING. DAY. OF THE WEEK. I SMILED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE BLOODY DAY. I WAS LIKE FREAK YES, I'M COMING BACK HOME WOOO. So before leaving the place, we had some liferun thingy where we walked from one place to another in the OBS compound to reflect on stuff. It was this liferun which made me think back about the past 7 days and how much I've grown and matured as a person. As much as I hate OBS, it really gave me a whole new experience and pushed me to my limits so that I could learn more. So, after all the reflecting, we did the JETTY JUMP! I WAS SCARED AS HELL WHEN I LOOKED DOWN OKAY. UNLIKE THE QUARRY DIP, THE JETTY JUMP WAS LIKE 2M OFF THE SEA. >: Originally, I wanted to chicken out, but I DID IT AND I FELT REALLY HAPPY AFTER THAT. :) I JUST CLOSED MY EYES, TOOK A DEEP BREATH AND PUSHED MYSELF FORWARD. IT WAS THE LONGEST FIVE SECONDS EVER BEFORE I FELT THE WATER. But after I jumped, no regrets were left behind. Hehe. :-) After that, we did last minute clean up and packing before bidding the place goodbye.
So even though the whole OBS trip was really shitty and exhausting, I have to say, there were times I had fun. I loved the fact that we would pray together at night. It was very heartwarming. And with all these hardships and challenges, I felt as though I became closer to people, especially Kerryn. We barely talked at the start of the year, but now that we spent so much time together, we became much much closer. OBS was seriously an eyeopener and I do miss it at times, but no I do not want to go back there. Hehe.
YAY TO SURVIVING OBS.
Bye and love you all.
MUACKS.
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