Mohican Madness.Ab Camp 2005
Saturday, June 04, 2005 @ 5:42 PM
Alpha – Bravo Camp
30th may to 3rd June – 5 days of pure, intense suffering n exhaustion yet it was quite sweet & rewarding
Day 1ne – well , the harsh reality was stuffed rudely right into my face. Usually I thought that camps never started on time ,however, contrary to my assumptions , this was no adventure camp and it started on the dot. I received a rude shock as I trudged with my mega large backpack, sleeping bag, water bottles when almost everyone was orderly lined up in straight lines in total silence. Rats , I was late for my leadership camp! What a “ great “ start…ya…it seemed, or rather was a physical training camp , complete with military styled commands & punishments & time limits. In a desperate attempt to keep myself away from the radar , I threw my bags down & joined the latest line while keeping a look out for sonia ( my group member ) . then ,out of the blue , the commandant SCREAMED OUTLY “ ON YOUR BELLY”…, everyone scrambled to be in sit-up positions .. then he shouted “ TOO SLOW & ON YOUR FOOT “..by the time , the group mastered the agility it took to get in the 2 positions in spilt seconds-impossible to me in lighting speed. Then chin chin Lan ( his weird name ) ..” no STANDARDIZATION “…as legs had to be in the same direction. So he demanded that that we redo, redo, redo & redo …continuously .what a rude shock I received, my mind was a total blank. In the midst of the physical toture ( almost 50 push-ups), he lugged them to us whenever he was not stratified with the answer , he repeated said “ YOU WILL BE THE FUTURE LEADERS OF AJ , WHAT KIND OF SLOPPPY BEHAVIOR HOW ARE YOU GONNA LEAD AJ TO GREATER HTS ) “….that was only the introduction – to AB camp.
-my group was MOHICAN- at first , we were quite frosty-ok actually I did not make any friends, I did not plan to anyway then as the challenges progressed by the days , we were sort of glued closer—
Summary
1) lots of physical activities on the day to emphasized the fact that it was a physical training camp- stations required groups to perform situps,pushups,running (lots ), sending people across without touching the ground ( sending a crate across to the ground with the use of planks , memorizing objects ,key punch ,caterpillar and other that brought out the spirit of leadership.
2) rough tone of command- set the disciplined & strict tone
3)lunch required us to feed each other. Ok , unluckily , my feeding partner was altheltia who has a rather small mouth so rice just kept on falling out of her mouth.
4) more physical games which we did not mamaged to complete in time & got more scolding during the de-briefing sessions. The cause of the downfall- - too many ideas & strageties , no common goals , too many people leading , yes we do recognize these mistakes but we had trouble to avoid them- in a way ,everything was so fast-paced ( we had 30 seconds to rush from one venue to another ) that we barely had time to reflect.
5) dinner requied us to tied our hands up while eating WE ARE READY INSTRUCTOR ,GOOD MORNING TEACHERS ,PERMISSION TO SIT DOWN INSTRUTOR.
6)stupid bunk inspection – how in the world u can standardize everything, arrange all furniture , clean up every speck of dust till it is spotless all in 1 minutes , naturally we had to do push-ups- haiz…
7) bathing time – 3 minutes sleeping time :4 hours
Day Two
1) sickening PT ( Physical torture ) at the crack fo dawn when it is all dark & cold at 6am . seeing how punctuality is so importatant , I woke up at 5.15 am. With a mnd still half sleeping , we had to do PE stuff again ..on the belly….
2) prepare for the tumulus island training at sentosa..well I was actually looking forward to this trip when I can revisit the attractions of the island resort- after 10 years. There were 5 different games held under the azure blue skies & scorching merciless sun at the Tanjong Beach which had really sinking fake sand. Well , that was the lowest day of the group where we lost all 5 challenges consecutively (same team mistakes were repeated as usual ( too many leaders ), teams just have The edge and our spirits were dampen to an all time all. Personally , I just felt sick and I started to blank off as the journey was physically exhausting . as punishment , we were given 20 punishment bottles to carrying around the amazing race and the shabbiest lunch ( which consisted of bread and peanut butter & tuna spread) – there’s no free lunch in this world
3) we also had a very very long, emontional ,frank reflection sessions where some bad blood was spilled but it was certainly meaningful and helped perked up spirits
4) for the amazing race , we were given clues which lead us to various stations , however the clues were in foreign languages ( Punjabi , French , Italian , talalog ) which required the help of tourists around the island. The clues leads us to musical fountain ( after 1 ½ hours of endless walking & finding that the instructor was only hiding behind a bush), where we had to take down particulars of 20 strangers , Passage of nature ( natural trail ) which had really big spiders, bee hive ,steep slope. Some people were handicapped and blind-folded and lastly sandcastle –building ( being resourceful)…yay we completed 3 out of the 8 stations.
5) dinner was near the ferry pier when we were photo targets of amusing china tourists.
6)- personal reflection in a form of essay. All of us were blind-folded and each hold to a par in aj separately to straighten our thoughts of the camp. It was a resting period for me.
7) night- briefing for Service Learning for AWWA cilnets.learnt how to carry a wheelchair up stairs and ledges. We had chosen to design a obstacle course for our pals in Ang Mo Kio West Park…hahaha I was station master with Geraldine ( IJ tp band gal ) , Qi Xiang ( the storyteller ) and Ryan ( the wushu man! )
By then I was mentally & physically drained , so no wet weather ideas came up so we merge both ideas.
Day 3 – the start of slack
1) even worse PT where I just gave up and pretended to feel dizzy and fall out but they made us catch stars anyway
2) more leadership games….we actually did very well for the morning games since karn left us so there was no longer confusion. By this time , the leaders were quite destine , theyw ere always , the PR Hunk , Andrew , cheerful chick sonia and “outspoken gal “ wen E . first the group had to travel on 2 wooden planks while transport as many water across , then there was the colour coordination tests when we had the find colour strips around blk 11 – without the ability to talk , then we were blindfolded in LT3 and held to find colour paper, the worse thing was we had to lined up according to group in order of PDGs all in darkness. I got only rubbish paper but thankfully remained in my group after being shrouded in darkness. Then there was this obstacle course in which we had the support netballs and egg with1 finger each. The ultimate task was to build a parachute which will ensure that 3 eggs will be left intact even after dropping from the 2nd floor, we build straw support around it and cushin the bag with a lot of crushed newspapers. However, 2 eggs broke.
2)proposal writing for SLs….more planning on the stages and safety aspects of the game . THE SAFETY OF CILENTS MUST NEVER BE COMPROMISE …then we were given the whole afternoon to write down the proposal or rather slack. Writing the script for stationmasters , how to engage them in a friendly and affable tone and to maintain their safety at all times and cost.
3) excution of game. The real time was a clear indication that we had actually overlooked a lot of loopholes especially in the safety aspect though the proposal seem seamless , this shows that practicality is important. Instructions need to be more brief and clear , there must be spotters all the time , etc.
This is how the game goes. 1) transport egg with spoon 3) dip sponge to transport water to bowl till ball floats and blow if off 4) shoot to toilet paper with water gun.
Qi xiang’s thrilling introduction story about james bond style captives in England and china and Africa was enjoyable!
Day4 – AWWA Day and Land Ex. ( out of a AB Mode )
Finally all the hard work pored into the planning of the games and logistical checking came to good use ( sort of) . with the help of a trolley , we transported chairs ,jerry cans,pails to the park to set up the obstacle course. during the 4 hours , only two groups played the game and the rest of the time was talking, not chatting with this quiet , shy monotonous instructor ( just like me ) qiu teng about leadership qualities . the same old things were repeated over & over again ..yawn ..the first group only had the young client who is a wheel chair user. I could see that the fellow campers were showering him with 100% care and affection , we station masters helped to cheered our friend and even yam seng together. Then our group came and we even had a wonderful watergun fight..the instructors had so successfully shed off their strict and icy image and they were actually quite fun people to be with actually , cracking all the lame jokes. Andrew shoed his maternal and warm side him. He is totally charismatic! And can totally click with our pals. Ok . our pals were actually consited of a family , geremy ,germaine , g-something ( a pair of fraternal twins ) . we had the best lunch session ever , there was no need to greet instructors in a 1-2 fashion. It was like being in heaven. Lunch was fabulous ( the nasi byrani was awww……) by this time , I was totally like a sick love puppy. I did get to know our buddies that well, so I just gave them a warm handshake and smile . then during the video presentation , the groups were ecstatic with joy & all broke in thunderous applause whenevr buddies from their group appeared in the video. Actually these people are no different tform the average joe on the street , the only difference is only physically. They are actually bright and great people, who are more determined and independent . I was almost touched to tears when I saw the scene where people is crutched struugled to walk up on their on with their strong will.
Thereafter , we watched a movie k-19: the widow maker starring Harrison ford about the causes of the downfall of the ill-fated Russian submarine. We were exposed to various types of leaderships – welfare oriented or dictatorship . I did not speak up much as I started to feel really homesick , I kept on telling myself how I just wished to get on with my life and I really got to brush up on my studies for the mid-year. There after was the netball games with a endless list of rules, GW
Land Ex.
Initially – wake up at 4a.m to get ready for the inhumane expedition
Then the shock came when we were abruptly woken up from our bunks at 11pm.. in confusion I thought that my watch was spoiled . rats , I oonly had 2 hours of sleep , how in the devil am I going to survive the inhumane 20 km walk stretching from AMK , hougang , sergangoon ,kovan ,ubi ,enous to bedok. With a dazed mind and a lot of anxiety , let the walk begin. Throughout the walk , I was literally half-waken, I knew I had to press on and persevere , and i certainly did not lead well. If not from the constant motivations and pushings from members , I will have certainly given up.by the time we reached joo seng , I was going dizzy and started to walk unsteadily , but still had to endure on. On the way , we were gullibly subjected to lies which emotionally blackmailed us..all those white lies which did more good than harm actually was the driving force. Those of felica being emotionally distraught and how an overseas call was made,m&ms specially bought. Oh great..and the fake phone call tot ell us that some group was catching up behind. Well , I did contribute once when I spotted a kovan sign opposite..hahaha..finally we reached Bedok Reservoir park with a sweat-soaked bag and shirt , and aching hips ,legs, arms. We did it, I did it, we were the 2nd team to reach the finish line and had to transport Geraldine over a few kms using arms…breakfast was the best..roti prata and nasi lemak……then aback at school , it was OTOT..own time own target..a very wasteful lunch followed by a touching reflection, write cards for all members ( nothing much to write about actually ) and a skit and a buffet dinner
Then it was finally the long awaited good bye…
Kenneth is the name, Kenny is the nickname, green is the colour and obsessed about Magazines, fat kitties and cream and this blog is under construction
