We'll walk onto the sunshine together
wah, the blog seriously dying, only 2 posts in half a month. anyway, just came back from ccal camp @ bintan after 4 days of non-stop fun. lots of things to talk about there, got no photos yet, maybe i'll post when i get them. warning: this is going to be a really loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong post, hope you don't get bored before you finish reading =)Background Info
the whole camp is based on the 5 models of leadership.
1. Encourage the heart
2. Enable others to act
3. Challenge the process
4. Inspire a shared vision
5. Model the way
At the customs
had an exciting escapade with wee pin at the indonesian checkpoint, but not really appropriate to mention here, so ask us about it if you're really that curious =)
Delta force
my group is D3, for those who are interested, its a bunch of cool dudes namely sarah (touch rug), yan jin (harmoc), amanda (council), jasela (astro), adam (adhiyatma), james (odac), jordan (council) and ye chuan (wushu). really really nice people, though it is unlikely they would see this, but i think you people really made ccal camp really really really great for me =)
Nirwana Gardens Resort
we had our camp at campABLE and the campsite was super nice. its situated somewhere in Nirwana Gardens Resort. the resort had nice aircon hotel rooms, big comfy beds, clear swimming pool, great restaurant food, clean toilets, nice clear beach just within walking distance and first class service.
however, even though we are theoretically in the resort, we are not getting the resort, but in fact some fenced up isolated part of the resort which has nice... erm trees? but isn't really that bad, we also get nice spacious tents, nice rocky ground to sleep on, great restaurant leftovers, muddy toilets, nice clear beach just out of walking distance and first class self-service.
and some groups of people even get to enjoy the waterbeds, one group are the teachers who were living in the hotel rooms (ok maybe not waterbeds, but nearly as nice anyway), another group are the people who didn't or couldn't (thanks to FIT) pitch their tents properly.
but actually, the campsite was really great (for a campsite). had a pair of deers in it, first time in my life seeing deers out of the singapore zoo too. oh deer.
Oh shit, oh shit
the first shit is dedicated to the pair of deers living right beside us. not that hard to guess what shit it refers to
shitting is really damn shitty at the camp, first you have to take off your shoes to enter the toilet. next you have to use this toilet with manual flushes (you scoop water and pour into the toilet bowl). then you have to throw your toilet paper into a dustbin right outside the cubicle (where there is this huge collection of used toilet paper). finally you leave the toilet wondering what you stepped on while in the toilet.
and being full of shit, i went to toilet twice on the 1st day, thrice on the 2nd day, twice on the 3rd day, and finally once on the 4th day.
then theres the other ppl who decided that shitting wasn't their style, so they tried to ren3. one such example is james lee: he was eating like 3 packets of food (per meal) on the first day. but on the last day, he reached saturation point and even half a packet of hor fun was too much for him. since he could barely breathe with all the shit overflowing out of his mouth, he decided to sneak off to the resort toilet when he had the chance.
Don't be rash
after the second night, i woke up having a weird sensation on my back, kinda felt like a hundred ants biting you at once. at first i hoped it wasn't rashes, but as the day went on, the feeling continued and random wild thoughts made me hope its rashes and not the result of some weird insect bite or bacteria infection or fleas or overdose of prickly heat or incurable disease or - ARGHHHHHHHH *runs around screaming hysterically*
anyway thankfully the feeling is gone now after lasting for 2 days and it was probably rashes.
suspect of crime: a suspicious looking sleeping mat
age: unknown (probably very old)
nationality: odac room
last known apartment: BTB 5 ODAC room #02-111 (BTB stands fro black thrash bag)
description: likely to have stayed at home for too long after an expedition without a bath
so to all fellow odacians out there, pls don't be rash (or rather if you don't want rashes), wash and sun your sleeping mats before using them!!!!!!!
Sightseaing
compared to bintan, singapore's beach totally rocks, while bintan's beach totally sands. the sand is just so fine and soooft~. the water is also crystal clear, you can even see jellyfishes and right down to the bed of the sea.
we even got to see the fins of a small shark! and wee pin claims he saw a dolphin (diiiieeeee wee pin!) during kayaking.
You are such a Beach
first night was cool, we had campout at the beach!
then we realised FIT (some adventure company RJC liased with for help) is a beach (pronounced with a "t" somewhere in the middle of the word) too! their tents is extremely value-added, it comes along with broken tentpoles, holy tent sheets, lack of tent pegs and a jungle attached in it.
the dinner we had was absolutely fabulous, pasta in cream soup and tomato sauce is just sooo yummy! thanks to all who were cooking!
then that night we took a nice stroll along the beach and gazed at the stars.
since we are sleeping right next to the sea, it would be interesting to wonder what would happen if one of the ppl sleepwalks....
Starry Starry Night
the stars at bintan is really really really really nice, and you can see lots of them there. really really really beautiful. i'm missing the view already.
Interesting note:
just look up in the sky now and count the number of stars you see. thats probably nearly as many as you would see in the singapore flag (probably wouldn't be very much different even if you are reading this in the day time). perhaps the person designing the flag was counting stars then.
which explains the difference in the indonesian flag
there are so many stars you can barely notice the moon and they person probably gave up counting the number of stars.
Raindrops are falling on her head
first activity i did was the wakatobi trail on sunday(cause i missed rafting on the first day thanks to founder's day). the theme for the trail is "model the way" and it is a trek where we were supposed to find our way around in the jungle with the help of a GPS (global positioning system).
our j2 facilitator was junli and she rocks! even though it started out nice and sunny when we were setting off, within an hour, it started to drizzle, followed by a downpour.
i didn't really want to put on my poncho was it was sandy from the previous night, but i put it on anyway. ended up flipping it inside out after the sand on the outside was washed away. the poncho didn't help much, i got totally wet anyway, especially my shoes. (someone should really invent a poncho that can protect your shoes)
junli was super nice and gave her raincoat to one of my group members who didn't bring hers. so she ended up totally soaked.
our group was leading right at the front of all the other groups at the start of the trail but then we got lost in the jungle during the downpour :'( either we didn't use the GPS properly or it was malfunctioning. according to the GPS we were supposed to go north, but according to the map and compass we were supposed to go south. then the map got totally soaked and started disintegrating. then the coordinates to key into the GPS which was written on a transparency started to get washed away by the rain.
its quite scary yet exciting when it rains. the small streams turn to fast flowing thick streams. so you gotta jump from bank to bank. james made the wrong decision of trying to step into the stream. even though the depth of its sides may be slightly higher than your ankles, you can sink all the way until your knee cause of the mud (thanks james for being the guinea pig). saw a person from another group stuck knee deep all the way in the mud. his group members all frantically trying to pull him out.
so we got stuck in the jungle, surrounded by streams which were quickly building up and no idea where to go. our cool teacher facilitator ms wong started taking out her hidden stash of lollipops and wang4 wang4 and fed us while james and junli was deciding to follow the GPS or the map. thankfully another group come along and saved us. apparently the we should have followed the map and our instincts cause the GPS was leading us to the wrong way -_-. seems like "Technology has made our lives busier, not better" indeed (Qn 12, RJC GP Common Test 1 2006)
You call that pain? pain my ass
After the wakatobi trail, to my horror, i have abrasions somewhere where the light never shines. so for the rest of the night which included an amazing race, i was running like a crab. found it quite awkward to explain to the girls why i was running around like that though.
then at night, used a lot of prickly heat, seems like prickly heat is very good for reducing friction. must bring a lot for june expedition.
then next day, another guy got the same problem as me, so i offered him my almightly prickly heat and certain M18 censored details may be obtained from him or me during your birthday next year.
Other activities
got rafting but i didn't do it =( heard we did really well though, and the first of all the campers to set our raft to sea. great job guys!
we did a challenge rope course aka high elements, well done ye chuan for overcoming your fear of heights!
also did sea kayaking in the nice clear bintan sea, unlike singapore where we do sea kayucking.
then we had team building aka low elements. had charles as our facilitator, very lame, but quite nice also. had to climb an approximately 3.5 metre flat wall, too bad not everyone made it across, and too bad for me and james' shoulders.
had night time amazing race also, wasn't really amazing, and wasn't much of a race too since most ppl were slacking, but the activities were quite entertaining.
Food for thought
food there isn't really that bad for a camp, but they really really look like leftovers from the resort. there was cabbage, long beans, fried fish, fried chicken, fried fish, more fried fish, did i mention fried fish?
then on the last night of camp, we had "Grand Dinner" (quoted from the camp programme). which really consisted of cabbage, long beans, grilled fish, grilled chicken, sausage(finally something new), grilled fish, more grilled fish, did i mention grilled fish?
finally, on the final day, we had "Grand lunch"... need i say more?
Just like the fire, our passion will burn... out?
had a campfire on the beach during the last night, right after grand dinner, the fire started out REALLY big, the wood alone was around 1.5 storeys high.
the campfire itself was quite sad, all the groups' performances were quite sucky (including my own group's). but the atmosphere that was built up was pretty good, then mr siva sang some songs (oh no can't rmb what songs). and shawn tan was declared manliest guy and sexiest girlfriend on the same night! w000000!
then as usual, mr shah shared pick-up lines and here's his best for 2006
*looking up into the sky* "I was just thinking about time and space, if you have the time, i have the space"
then the campfire ended with an anti-climax of a video clip of all our activities. the video clip basically consisted of many zoom-ins onto ppl's faces and a temporary distraction of the cameraman by a tourist in bikini. everyone got damn sian of the video and the video also got damn sian of itself, so it committed a fatal error and closed itself. so we ended the campfire then and went back to sleep. had a S06M meeting at night and talked a lot of cock, but got chased off to sleep.
Reflections
this bit is going to be serious, so if you are already feeling bored, i suggest you go do something more productive >_<
the camp has been really really meaningful, probably the most meaningful camp i ever had. having junli as our wakatobi facilitator is probably the best thing that could happen to me as it was a really great learning experience. she would put herself in danger and be at the front helping us along even if she isn't that much more experienced and better than us. she even sacrifice herself in order to help others. remaining calm even in the most critical situations like when we were lost and finding a way to solve the problem. a really admirable leader.
it is also great to have ms wong as our teacher facilitator, a person who constantly provides a cheerful smile and keeps us happy with her endless supply of sweets and snacks. in her own way, she also played a great role as a leader by keeping us encouraged and letting us enjoy the camp to the fullest.
weakness and inadequacies can be overcomed. do not give up simply before you even try simply because you think you do not have the ability to accomplish it. more often than not, what you need is just more self-confidence, or maybe just a bit of help.
even at the end of the camp during packing up, i overheard ppl not wanting to tie up the wooden sticks cause they didn't know how to. i thought that was quite stupid cause the knots we were using the tie were just simple knots he probably used to tie his shoelaces. perhaps he should have just tried to find out how easy it is.
to all leaders in your own right out there, something meaningful they said in the camp. when you are feeling down, feeling totally stressed from your problems as a leader, just remember that out there, many other leaders are also facing the same problem.
above all, i would like to thank my group and subgroup D3 for making this camp such an eventful and fun one for me. it has been a great time with you guys and i will always remember the time i spent with all of you. thank you sarah, thank you yan jin, thank you amanda, thank you jasela, thank you adam, thank you james, thank you jordan, thank you ye chuan, thank you ms wong and thank you junli.
a leader should be a light that draws people towards the destination and not a whip that forces them towards where they do not want to be.
so with this i conclude my post, i'll post more when i remember more stuff. thank you to all those who have faithfully read this until this line. thank you thank you.
W toked kok @ 5/31/2006 09:12:00 am
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