finally! haha.. wanted to blog on OBS since fri.. haha.. can say that it's the main motivator that makes me wanna blog again.. after ages of not blogging, opening n closing of a few blogs. haha. ok.. worried that i may miss out things, i have jotted down the events during OBS in point form.. so hopefully, i still can rmb.. haha.. i have oso refrained myself from reading others' post on OBS so that i can post wat is originally mine.. ie from my own experience n in my own shoes.. haha. those who nv read my blogs b4.. sry.. but i uses alot of short forms. haha.
Now.. into the main topic..
the day b4 OBS
as some of u noe.. my medical report was not submitted to MOE cos of some probs w e clinic.. so i only came to noe tt i cleared my checkup for OBS on mon itself (e day b4 OBS).. a part of me wanted to go n experience OBS.. since i may nt hv e chance again after tis.. though i gave up a chance in JC.. well.. tis tym is gonna b different.. haha.. cos it's OBS Professional.. haha. but e other part of me dreaded gng.. i was afraid.. afraid tt i cant come back alive.. well.. i m nv confident of my physical health.. haha.. ppl who noe me noe tt i nt v healthy. haha. i thot i wun clear e medical checkup.. haha.. i had childhood asthma.. though well under control.. but sometimes.. a bit difficulty in breathing.. den sometimes wanna vomit.. but nth to vomit.. haha.. n gets bus n car sick at times.. lol.. such a troublesome gal right? haha.. w a mixed feeling, i went to purchase a big bottle of OFF insect repellent.. so auntie hor.. haha. and some fuels.. drag till night tym den start packing bag.. n my nick on MSN was smth like.. dunno whether i can make it back alive. lol. haha.. was a bit worried.. really. haha.
1st day of OBS
met my dear frenz from e table of noisy scholars.. Danver, Emily, Lynnette, Lily Tan (ok.. a brief intro of who we r for those who dunno.. there was a meetup session for scholars on fri.. tis grp of us.. 9 in total.. were seated tgt on a table.. we were e noisest grp.. laughing e most.. but oso e most bonded grp n e grp tt drew e most attention cos of someone's AFRO hair.. haha)... we were suppose to meet at Punggol for a gd breakfast b4 we set off for OBS.. was expecting a nice mac breakfast.. but when i reach Punggol, realised there's no mac there.. jus a cafe tt has a strong smell of oil tt kills all my appetite.. indeed a breakfast in denial.. haha. we met at 7am.. n i left hse at 5.45am.. :( haha. den after tt, we walked a big round to e bus stop for our bus to e jetty.. reached e jetty.. gt a shock! so many ppl!! haha.. wait wait wait.. got on ferry.. reach ubin.. OBS camp 1..
we were all crossing our fingers hoping tt at least some of us will end up in e same watch.. den we watch em trying to sort us out.. cos of e medical reports.. n trying to separate e local scholars from e overseas ones.. well.. there are 100plus ppl.. 67 local scholars.. dunno how many overseas.. den they ask e local scholars to spilt into boys n gals.. gals in grp of 7 i think.. den guys in grp of 4.. dun quite rmb le.. den lyn, emily n me manage to grp tgt.. but both lily did not manage to grp w us.. den so coincidentently, our grp is grp w danver's grp.. so 4 of us from e noisy table is tgt.. out of 6 who came for OBS.. yay! haha.. a gd start apart from e breakfast in denial.. haha. our grp has 14 ppl in total.. 9 gals n 5 guys.. indeed.. there r more females in tis job den males.. haha.. ok.. time to introduce my watch mates.. we r in BARKER.. our instructor's name is SZE JUEY (we all thot it was CJ as in e initials till we saw his name sticked on his belongings.. and i was asking.. is tis his name? haha)
e gals:
Lynnette - studying Chemistry
Emily - studying History
Eleanor - studying Life sci
Nicole - studying Life sci
Michelle - studying Life sci
Chengying - studying Geog
Emelyne - studying Life sci
Seleena - studying Eng
n me.. haha
e guys:
Danver - studying Life sci
Brian - studying Chem
Ho Lun - studying Maths
Jun yi - studying Maths
Tzer Yeun - studying Life sci
n.. they r all in NUS except me.. :'(.. jus like i m e only one gng to NTU in our noisy table. haha. but tis tym.. sci wins in our watch.. while arts win in our table. haha.
ok.. our grp cant wait to noe n rmb each other's names.. so we keep wanting to hv rounds of intro when we shld b doing other things.. haha. like when we r suppose to come up w our grp goals, we insisted on noeing each other first.. haha. our instructor keep asking us to wait.. settle e goals first.. haha. b4 tt, we competed w another 3 watches for a game of alphabet.. c who fastest.. we r e last.. haha. but we did improve.. haha.. den we play ZOOM.. we sat in a circle.. each was given 2 cards.. cnt show other ppl.. can only communicate n let others noe wat is on our card.. den we r suppose to lay out e story in sequence w e cards facing down.. at e beginning of e game.. i was quiet.. partly waiting for a chance to talk.. n partly cos i was observing.. haha.. looking at e direction e talk is gng.. i thot we were nt getting anywhere n tt we will nt succeed.. but to my surprise, we DID!!!! n there was nt a single mistake!!!! yay! WELL DONE, BARKER!!! cant believe it.. looks like we r all gd w our oral ar.. it's like incredible.. cos even though we can describe wat's on our card, does nt mean tt we can arrange it correctly n w/o a single mistake.. out of 28 cards.. nt 1 wrong.. wow! n we only noe each other for a few hrs.. it's only our 2nd game as a watch.. cool!!! i hv no words to describe le.. as we were unfolding e story, i was holding my breath.. so excited.. i jus find it so cool n unbelievable.. haha. den finally tym for lunch.. was so hungry.. cos i did nt hv my breakfast in denial.. i dun eat much in e morning.. n e oil smell turns me off completely. haha. ok.. meals r buffet style.. but i dun hv much appetite though.. mayb cos in camp? haha.. well.. was still trying to tell myself to enjoy myself since i m already there.. dun worry bout things.. haha.
after lunch, went to our bunk, put down our stuff, was introduced to our store rm.. we gt changed into our long pants, took out helmets n harness n went to meet Sze Juey. taught us how to put on helmet n harness.. den taught us belaying.. we tried doing it using those simple pole first.. cos main pt is to learn belaying.. nt really climbing yet.. we spilt into 3 grps of 4 n it ends up gals one side.. guys one side.. n i found myself w e guys all of a sudden.. haha.. den CJ (in short.. lazy to type. haha) was saying.. y spilt guys n gals.. now i noe y students oso spilt guys n gals.. cos top nt str, bottom oso nt str.. haha.. so we mixed.. den he went around asking e guys.. r u taken.. they all replied no.. den he say.. e next qn to ask is r u gay.. they all say no.. haha.. den he say wat is e prob den.. haha.. ok.. for my team, i was e first to try belaying.. danver was climbing.. when he reach e top.. sit back so tt i can lower him, i tell u.. i can feel like i m flying off e ground.. i 4got whether it was jun yi or ho lun who was beside me.. he was nt doing belaying.. we got him to help.. haha.. so tgt w e gal behind me (i 4got who.. mus understand.. i think i took e longest to rmb e names of ppl in our watch n match it to their faces.. only manage to did so nearing e end of 2nd day.. haha).. 2 ppl hold me down.. so i did nt fly up.. u all mus noe how heavy dan is ok? he is bout 22-23kg heavier than me.. haha.. den while others try belaying him.. they oso felt as if they flying off e grp.. haha.. even ho lun or jun yi who tried belaying oso felt e same.. so DANVER, u r heavy! haha..
den once we r done w e belaying, we move on to real climbing.. we were given 3 choices.. best is to complete all 3.. one is a wire to walk on w a wire to hold on to at e top, another is a log, nth to hold on to.. e last one, which is e most difficult one is 2 ropes w planks on it.. really shakes.. hv to balance.. haha.. dunno how to describe..
i tried e log first.. though i was abit afraid at e beginning, but i tell myself.. dun think so much.. jus walk.. jus do it.. haha.. so i walked.. tried to balance myself n nt hold on to e safety rope.. den my watch mates were saying.. wow.. karen.. u owe us.. u really steady.. etc. haha. den after tt, i didnt bother to try e wire.. abit cos i lazy n cos e wire is e simplest of e 3. haha... i was hesitating to try e hardest one.. on one hand, i scare cos many ppl keep falling from there.. but i oso dun wan to regret nt giving it a try.. so i went ahead.. w e same attitude.. dun think so much.. jus do it.. haha. walked.. 2nd step fell on my knees on e planks.. haha.. got up.. regain my balance.. den nearing e end, i loss my balance.. fell off.. den as i was falling off, i kicked my leg, n my right shoe flew down.. haha.. lucky didnt hit ppl. so embarassing. haha.. shoe too big.. sry. haha.. nt giving up.. i managed to climb back.. w some help from my belaying.. took some tym to climb back but i was determined to complete it.. haha.. finally completed it.. climb down w jus one shoe on.. emily ( i tink) was waiting for me at e foot w my shoe.. haha.. quickly put it on.. so embarassing. haha. i think soon after tt we go for dinner le bah.. den washup n briefing on safety.. our watch were 15mins late for tt.. e talk hv started.. n when we reach.. he's on his last 2nd pg.. we cant hear him.. we only saw e words on e board.. haha.. after tt, we met CJ.. were told tt we will b out for e 2nd night.. so need to pack our bags.. e backpacks provided by OBS.. den ask us to come up w our packing list.. n noeing tt we were late 4 e briefing earlier on, n could nt hear e person talking, CJ kindly explain to us some of e first aid again.. haha.. though he did nt talk bout starfish all these. haha. CJ oso talked bout tis johari window.. 4 parts to it.. there's a part in each person tt e person himself noe n everyone noe.. a part tt only e person noe.. a part tt only other ppl can see.. a part where e person n others dunno.. tt is for us to find out.. he told us to noe more bout others as on e last day, we will b writing a msg for each other. den we got our big basket of food.. our ration for our 2nd day lunch, dinner, supper n 3rd day breakfast n lunch. a lot leh.. haha.. den we went for supper.. supper is early.. at 9pm.. haha.. den we head back to our bunk to start packing for e next day..
some ppl were in e store.. packing e stuff.. like tents.. mass tins.. pot. ponchos, fly sheet, ground sheet, etc.. den after squeezing lyn, emily n my stuff into a bag, me n lyn start sorting out e food.. taking out those stuff tt we r nt bringing.. cos we cant b bringing all.. too heavy.. n we cant finish all.. haha. oh ya.. forgot to mention.. 1 bunk can hold 16ppl.. 8 double deck beds.. 3 so called rms seperated by doors in a big rm.. haha.. guys keep closing their rm n hv their guys talk.. haha..
ok.. here's wat we did nt bring out..
apples n oranges.. haha.. raisins.. instant orange mix.. 3 tins of lychee.. well.. we dun wan to shit outside. haha. we did nt bring fish lucheon.. it sounds weird n unappealing to us.. we left 3 packs of maggie mee, 2 cans of mushroom, digestive biscuits n peanut butter biscuits behind as they r nt individual packs.. hard to eat on e go.. e rest we bought along.. alot of cakes/bread.. biscuits.. haha.. dunno can finish nt.. haha.. yup.. after packing all e stuff n ensuring tt we hv 14 bags.. we squeeze e food into e bags n distribute each person's ration of lunches (2 days) to em.. haha.. den it's tym to slp.. lights off suppose to be 11pm.. but first night.. nt v tired.. new environment.. a bit hard to fall asleep.. so dunno wat tym i slept.. we need to assemble at 6.15.. so our alarm is at 5.30.. wah.. haha..
2nd day of OBS (Land Expedition)
gathered at 6.15am for morning exercise.. in OBS, our morning exercise r some games.. like aiye, captain... haha.. after tt, we had breakfast.. den we went back to our bunk to prepare to set off.. CJ met us there.. gave us journals to write.. den share in a grp somethings we wan to share for e 1st day.. den he showed us e map of ubin.. ask us to say wat we see from e map.. saying it's an open bk test. haha.. we said lame stuff like it's a map of ubin.. haha.. ok.. we were setting off at bout 10am.. we r to reach our end pt which is e jelotong beach by 5pm.. he asked us to plan our route n told us some of e attractions of ubin.. like e 'shopping mall' (a place still in OBS territory.. a old woman was staying there all alone.. really back to basic.. cos she has no water supply n no electricity) they called it a shopping mall cos in e past.. there were still ppl staying there.. n they sell stuff like can drinks all these.. so when e OBS instructors need to buy things, they jus get onto e boat n go over there.. dun need to go back to mainland.. so smth like a shopping mall to em.. den CJ make tt a place tt we mus go to.. other than e shopping mall n our end pt, e rest, is up to us..we plan our own route.. other attractions include a german gal shrine, e highest pt in ubin, a monster (heard it's jus a statue of cookie monster) n chek jawa... our watch decide to head first to e shopping mall, den to e german gal shrine den to e highest pt n den to our end pt.. we shall c whether there's still tym after our highest pt den c wanna go other places nt.. but we were saying.. with our heavy bags, no lah.. let's organise another outing to ubin on our own.. w light bags.. den we go walk other attractions like chek jawa.. so as we were bout to leave e bunk, we heard thunders.. n we tried to psyco ourselves tt it's jus e sound of fireworks.. haha.. den bout 10plus we set off.. each carrying a backpack..w a lifejacket hook on.. haha.. but tzer yeun hv to leave us for mainland w a bagpack.. cos OBS did nt receive his medical form.. so need to go back to mainland, get doc to fill up e form, certify fit den can come back to join us.. we dunno wat tym he will b back, so we can only pass him e bag w 2 tents.. i was carrying our bag w e clothes n belongings of e 3 of us..wah.. e bag is super heavy.. i hv prob lifting it up.. dun say carrying it.. haha.. there's many first times at OBS.. n tis is e 1st tym i carry such a heavy bag.. heaviest bag i hv carried for e past 18plus coming to 19yrs.. haha.. when e bag was on my back, i could hardly balance, i need to lean forward, if nt, e bag will pull b backwards.. n i'll fall.. like a turtle w my big big turtle shell.. haha.. we need to bring 4 camping sticks along.. till now i still dunno wat's tt for.. haha.. i was holding one of it... it became my walking stick.. haha.. i felt like an old lady.. crouching n walking w a walking stick.. haha. i hv prob walking from our bunk to mph w my bag le. haha.. shoulders hurt like mad.. though e support at e waist does help.. but my shoulders still hurt alot.. cant wait to throw down my bag at mph.. haha.. den after taking some grp pics (btw, our grp took a lot of pics.. i think it's e most pics of all e grps.. haha..).. we set off.. eh.. i walk a bit jiu cnt le.. aiyo.. wondered how heavy e bag was.. i think e main culprit r e 2 bottles of 2L water.. hmm.. i think i hv some mental or physical barrier.. when there r heavy weights on my shoulder, i'll struggle to breathe.. like i cnt breathe in deeply.. den i'll feel short of breath.. LOL! tt's y thru out e land expedition, sometimes i was quite quiet.. cos i dun wan to run out of breath.. haha.. n i noe there's still a long journey to go.. along e way, we saw some big spiders... wahaha. small spider i oso dun dare to go near le.. haha.. these r bigger ones.. haha.. but at OBS, u will soon get used to seeing all these things.. creatures of e nature.. tt u no longer feel wat.. haha.. they can become ur 'best friends' too.. haha.
den as we walk on, CJ was introducing some plants to us.. gt wat elephant leaves.. big leaves.. step oso wun die de.. haha.. den gt tis plant.. e stem is hollow inside.. den ants leave inside.. haha.. den gt those trees.. e trunk is used to make cane.. of course.. there r DURIAN trees, rambutan trees n mangrosteens.. haha.n tt CJ.. found an abandoned rice sack.. he decided to pick it up n say tt it hints him to start picking durians.. haha.. though he dun eat durians but he loves to pick em. haha. so he went in n came out w 3 durians.. wah.. e durians smell so nice.. w ants on it.. he say tt one is v sweet... tt's e best durian tree in ubin.. wahaha. he kept tempting us.. but says tt we cant eat any of e fruits. cos they dun wan to b responsible if anything happen to us after eating.. den along e way, he used his walking stick to pluck a rambutan n ate it.. a mangrosteen too.. infront of us.. nice one ar.. haha. finally we reached e shopping mall.. saw e old lady.. she has 2 dogs w her as campanion.. n really.. her hse r simple huts.. she tends to e trees there.. she grew pineapple too.. n lime.. heard tt she sells all these fruits to earn money.. e lime r 1Kg for $1.. so cheap right? we r lucky.. it's e durian season.. so we saw so many fruits.. haha.. den i think gt jackfruit all these.. but hor.. e field tt we walked across is full of 'bombs'.. decaying durian shells, etc.. haha.. den while waiting for another watch to join us, CJ brought us down to see more things.. he showed us a well n told us tt e old lady will collect rainwater.. if no rain, she will walk down to e well to collect water.. den he say he bet tt e aunty does nt hv a hp.. cos she cnt charge it.. wah. when it turns dark.. it's really lights out for her.. such back to e basic.. such simple life.. alone in e middle of trees, etc.. i dun think i can lead such a life.. urban gals like me. haha. will die.. haha. ask me one day w/o hp.. a bit of prob le. haha. den e old lady will oso cycle to go buy pork n other food from e villagers.. n near e well.. we saw debris of stuff.. heard tt in e past there were restuarants there.. den they shifted away.. den we saw tis big oval shaped thing n asked CJ wat was it.. he said it's a big abandoned wok.. it's so big.. a few of us can hide under it. haha. den we can see wooden pillar all these.. a few rambutan trees.. w many red rambutans. but nobody trim.. so it grew too tall tt is beyond e reach of humans.. wasted.. hai. n for us.. it's only for our seeing pleasure. haha. after tt, we walk back to where our bags r.. den e other watch arrived.. apparently, their instructor pick some durians too.. haha.. den we sat down n start eating our lunch.. den LJ (e other grp instructor) was trying to stuff e durians into his bag.. haha.. so funny.. den i was thinking, wun e durians poke holes in e bag? den CJ was helping LJ by taking some of his stuff n put it into his bag.. den CJ was saying.. i dunno y we r doing all these.. we pick these durians for em to eat.. its like we bring back 10, we'll only b eating one.. y r we suffering to bring back e durians for em?.. den LJ replied.. we r showing em (us).. how humans sometimes do silly things.. haha..
den after tt we cont to move on.. next stop.. german gal shrine. apparently, it's tis yellow small hse.. den there was tis small figure of a german gal.. ppl were offering joss sticks to it.. den there were eng n chinese news articles on it.. we sat down.. n some of us took turns to read e chinese one.. haha.. e story was that long ago, b4 war i think.. there were tis german couple w their child staying there.. working in e coffee plantation.. den war came.. e couple was killed.. their child, e german gal managed to escape.. but fell into a query or wat behind their hse.. den died.. den villagers found her body.. gave her a proper burial n offered joss sticks.. as respect to her parents too.. as e parents treated e ppl well.. so dunno how, ppl end up praying to her. after enough rest, we cont to move on..
next stop.. highest pt in ubin.. didnt noe tt such a pt exist.. haha.. climbed up w our bag.. hv to keep leaning forward.. or will fall back.. haha.. some part quite steep.. wah.. thot i could nt reach e top.. finally reached it.. yeah! quite nice.. but every1 too tired to feel excited bout e scenary.. can c e big query.. n e sea too.. took some pics.. den went back down again.. tis tym, cnt fall forward or we will roll down.. haha.. yay! make it back to e foot, to road.. haha. so happy. next.. our end pt.. e beach.. haha.. managed to reach there like 3.30pm.. den threw our bag, sat down n rest.. we were e first grp to reach.. den CJ kept asking.. do we still wan to explore other attractions.. but knowing tt we hv to take up our heavy bag n walk again, we dun wan.. we say we will come again e next tym.. so we rest.. start setting up tents n preparing dinner.. den other grps slowly arrive.. but we jus hv 2 tents up.. cos e other 2 r w tzer yeun.. n we keep wondering when will he arrive.. if he dun, all 13 of us will hv to squeeze in 2 tents. haha. den we cook e maggie mee.. mass cook using pot.. n ladle.. den i think LJ walked past n asked how cum we gt ladle.. it turned out tt we r nt supposed to bring it out.. haha.. but nvm.. we gt it n it helped us alot in our cooking. haha.. e thing is.. e maggie mee we were given is curry chicken flavour.. e can food is oso curry chicken.. haha.. so we decided to mix it all.. e can mushroom, curry chicken n e noodles.. w/o e seasoning.. since e can curry chicken already gt e sauce.. haha.. den we keep forcing e guys in our watch to eat.. they eat v little leh.. haha.. 3 guys share one mass tin while e rest of us is 1 or 2 person to one mass tin. haha.. den finally, tzer yeun arrived w our 2 tents.. he was welcomed back w applause.. haha.. we ask him to faster eat n he shared w us his experience out at mainland.. poor him.. he does nt hv his lunch ration in his tent bag.. so others who went out to mainland w him has to share their biscuits w him.. haha. den after dinner.. we got bout 2 hrs b4 briefing for e next day.. den our grp jus sit facing e sea.. watching a part of sunset n chatting.. v nice.. e sky turning dark.. w no lightings at all.. haha.. an enjoyable n peaceful tym...
den come briefing 4 e next day.. our sea expedition back to camp 1.. each watch suppose to hv one volunteer to b sea ex leader.. we arrow tzer yeun saying tt he was nt w us for land ex.. so mus give him e chance.. haha. found out tt we hv to take e longest route back to camp 1.. called e cross island route.. go by sea.. den thru river n mangrove.. back to river den sea on e other side of e island den back to camp 1.. after briefing, it was tym for lights out.. of course, b4 tt, we spilt ourselves into grps of 3.. cos it's tri-yak.. 3 ppl.. den our grp only got 14.. so will hv 2 left out.. we sabo danver n emily.. haha.. (cos they both seems to get along 'well'.. always arguing.. haha).. e rest is 2 gals to one guy.. den after tt, we say who will do wat e next morning.. cos we hv to b ready by 7am.. after eating breakfast.. so some will b taking down e tent, some preparing breakfast tml.. 2 tents for gals.. 2 tents for guys.. guys get to enjoy.. cos only 5.. while gals.. 4 n 5 hv to share a tent.. it was super hot n stuffy in e tent.. could nt slp at all.. think i nv feel tt i did fall asleep at all.. haha.. i was sweating.. so stuffy.. ah.. haha.. i was in e 5 ppl tent.. haha.. waited so long till 5plus when we wake up.. e toilet was some dist away.. haha..
ok.. next will b e 3rd day.. which i think i'll start a new entry.. too long le.. n i m taking v long to blog tis.. haha..
Labels: Barker: OBS
