Just came back from ares camp. it was really alot of fun!!!
so.... we were scheduled for the 8.30 slot... met vincent on e bus n he told me that he was from the 6++ slot but slept late... we later got to refer to him as (half of) ' loveboat'.....
so a grand total of 10 pple ( we hit double digits pple!!) frm our class went. me, both ryans, kaixuan, celestine, xinlei, clement, vernon, haoran n alfred. were placed into gp 4 wif 06s78 n loveboat. vernon elected as gp leader. WHAT?!?!?! haha. something unpleasant happened at the jetty but ya.. who cares? THROW HER OUT OF THE WINDOW!!!!
day1:
had leap of faith. its like u need to climb up onto a tall pole n then leap for this trapzee thing above u. sigh i didnt manage to grab it. was scary up there man i was shaking like siao... i am afraid of heights la.. then we had fun wif clement =) while he was hanging up there... haha..
then lunch and rock climbing n abseiling. rock climbing was quite unsuccessful cos i made it like 4 panels up.. haoran is like some monkey la.. went up so fast... er then has abseiling..there was onli a wall for like 3 panels, then u simply lowered urself down... i enjoyed it though i had a death grip on the rope.. managed to see the east of singapore while on the tower... had a nice instructor (apparently he was amy n cass's uncle) who encouraged me n made sure that i did everything right n kept calling me sayang... haha...
ok then dinner. er... the girls helped to prepare the food, i was just tearing the aluminium foil n salting the food... it was just a mix of potatoes, carrots, oninons, hotdog n butter... but very nice!!! (the cooked ones). the boys had to keep the fire going... tough on them.. then the packets just began to split open n the food just fell out.. er.. so we had to salvage the food la... then me, kx, xinlei took over a boys n began to look after e fire.. haha we 3 so qiang.. fan until got fire then put it out again... haha...
at night didnt sleep that much. we just sang songs in front of the cabin n enjoyed ourselves.. played cards too.. our tent was abit lopsided (n really stuffy) but at least it lasted throughout our stay..
day2:
the FUNNEST.MOST EXCITING. FANTASTIC day of the camp. sent off vernon, ryan tan n clement in the morning. sob... so our gp had like 7 guys then left onli like.. 4. cos s78 had 2 guys but they switched gps with loveboat ...
we did rafting in the morning. had 3 tasks we needed to complete. divided into 2 gps of 10(green) and 9(blue). firstly needed to squeeze our entire gp into 2 small squares of carpet. cos we had i extra person, ryan k hoisted alfred onto his shoulders.. we won!! n we had 10 pple... Mwahaha... (hey must haolian abit ma cos i really tot we would lose) so we received like 6 barrels.
task 2 was like holding hands then untangling ourselves. we sucked at it. totally stuck la... just lost graciously to blue team where they were quite fast... got like 8 poles?? forgot.
then task 3 was fighting for ropes. important. had to fill balloons wif water then walk like a caterpiller to the ending pt where cass was standing. it was a tie cos our gp was fast but dropped e balloon when we were almost there n the other gp catched up... so we each got 9 ropes.
then the planning n tying. er we drew a 'masterplan' in the sand... then made a square frame n tied 4 barrels to it. then amy commented that artemis tied the raft like ours n they were unsuccessful.. so i was like.. uh oh.. but hey.. it dint come apart when we launched it into the water.. the race is that 5 pple were supposed to paddle it to the opposite bank then the other 5 were supposed to paddle back n take apart everything. fastest gp wins. we won cos there wasnt any competition. ok the raft came apart on the first half of the journey but we fixed it n it was fine for the return journey.. =) my knots qiang ah!! haha..
had jetty jump later. the platforn was like 3-4m tall la... it was abit scary when i had to put one foot out n jump n then wait until i hit the water.. closed my eyes all the time... but it was fun la.. had a nice time soaking myself in the water waiting for everyone. everyone helped xinlei too cos she didnt noe how to swim... cass took a long time jumping n it made me feel that instructors have their fears too... so it was very very brave of her to like, be up there n encouraging everyone to jump la... spent a WHAT moment in the water... so nice.. n sang the chelsea song (issit?) on the way back.
after lunch had TEAM CHALLENGE PYRAMID. highlight of the camp. its that tower thing (photo below celestine's entry). had to go through like 12 obstacles as a team cos everyone was connected n we needed to make it through all if not we would all be stuck. we were the 2nd team which consisted of alfred, celestine, me, xinlei, kaixuan. in that order. so firstly was this rope thing where had to walk sideways clutching a like as chest level. quite ok. then was another one where there was like 4 manila ropes hanging down n we had to swing it to the next person. that was also ok. then was a bridge to a cage where we rested n drank water. then was a log sloping upwards where we held hands n inched forward.. me n celestine's safety rope got entangled n we had to like.. walk around one another on that log to untangle the ropes.. then just walked across.. later was a rope net where we went sideways.. that was the easiest cos it was the most stable... but when alfred reached the end then his carribena stuck. sulaiman tried to help him but it was stuck fast so he has to ask for a spanner.. then all of us made it through to face a rocky bridge where we again held hands n crossed. then another cage n we rested n sang songs. sulaiman kept asking whether we wanted to carry his 7kg backpack fullof first aid stuff.. next was the rock wall where we has to climb sideways. good thing the hand n footholds were very good. had a little problem cos there was a little outcrop n xinlei couldnt follow my route as she couldnt reach... so sulaiman was like trying to pull her up to reach the higher handholds but then her foot cannot reach the footholds n she felt unstable... but she also crossed it safely la.. but then her carribena stuck. but no need spanner.. heng... n sulaiman asked kaixuan to do a song before she could proceed to climb up..
then had to climb up to this broken bridge where it was like 2 disconected parts n there was a big gap in the middle. it wasnt on the same level cos the opposite part was slightly higher. so u cant jump unless u have long legs (like haoran). have to ask the gp mates in front to hold tight. i felt unstable n grabbed celest's safety line n gave her a nasty shock. im very sorry, celestine. so i held on tight to xinlei's hand la when it was her turn. then was another rope ladder where we climbed upwards to the top for the flying fox. wa.. ultra ultra nice view la... drank some orange flavoured glucose... then went zipping down... so fun!! the wind so nice la...
our gp was the lucky gp cos we finished everything then the sky looked like it threatened to rain(there was lightning) so they stopped the other gps from continuing. but later amy told us that the next day everyne shall do the flying fox so at least they still got to have some fun....
had campfire prep n dinner. we decided to do the ice kachang song n the window song.. so fun la... we were just laughing n singing. i think it was even better than the actual performance itself... hehe..
the campfire was a small affair. the other gps had nice items... i liked the funny play. the funky chicken was quite nice too... when they went 'um.. um..' in the end.. liked the instructors songs too.. like the one they composed n the 'linger' song... then had to dance ares fac dance.. wa like i noe how.. so me n celest just pranced along following haoran's n kaixuan's movements.. enjoyed myself la...
had a nice debrief. amy gave chocolate to everyone =). i guess this camp was not was bad as i imagined (but maybe i went through worse camps than this one) everyone made it fun!! esp the guys i might add. they were gentlemen.. kept serving us breakfast, lunch, dinner n milo n were always the 'boosters' when we did the low rope elements like the pole n tyres n others... =) three cheers to them!!! (be a man.. do the right thing)
day3: (ok this entry is getting abit long)
felt like i stayed there forever. the rest of the gps did the flying fox while the first 2 gps slacked. then was the low rope elements where we did 2. the tarzan one (i forgot the proper name). we had to swing across the rope to the other side without toucching the red carpet. vincent n ryan went there first while the others helped. made a 4 armed chair for the 'monkey' to sit then lifted her to grab the rope then swing across. everyone made it la. if we couldnt grab the rope or lost the glove then had to do forfeit which was a jingle. but it was fun doing it. hee.
ok then was the rock wall. which was abt 3m tall i might add. vincent went first n ryan k went last. everyone was either boosting, being spotters or helping to pull at the top. everyone went across safely until we reached the last person. cos there was a rule which people that went across cannot boost, only be spotters. so the 3 guys on top removed their shirts n made into a chain.. n dangled to ryan in order to pull him up but it came apart. so i tied 2 fishermen knots (which is the safest knot but it took a long time n lots of rope n failed once but nvm..) and it succeeded on our second attempt!! cos amy let all of us boost ryan up.. he was onli halfway across when the guys started singing ' we are the champions...'
it started to rain. ran back to save our towels n tents n belongings... then packed up the tents n had a nice lunch. the rain became a minor drizzle n we played bridge in the hall. then it was the end of camp. we got drinks from amy n cass n walked back to the jetty singing ice kacang n window songs all the way... so nice...
slept a little on the boat (where we had the entire boat to ourselves).. it was going ultra slowly...
all in all i had a nice time. =) thanks to everyone who made this camp a fun one to remember in my jc days. hey someone gotta teach me the ares dance ok?
-ying
LOVE 06A11;
10:03 AM
