I just came back from Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) on friday at about 3pm. I had a lot of fun there and also meet new friends and grew closer to my classmates. In the beginning I was super scare to go as I was not close to any of them and I was always shy so I was socially awkward with people i am not close with and it also take a long time for me to make new friends.
On monday, I went to school at the same time but what was different was that I was in my PE attire with long track pants and with two bags on the way to OBS later. After assembly, the teachers brought us to the OBS reception centre to send us off to Pulau Ubin to the OBS campsite. Once I arrive at the OBS campsite the only thing that i could think off was can I survive the next four days. We when to put our bags in the store at our dorm and sat down and have a round of introduction, my instructor for this camp is Jun Wei. He is super kind and friendly and not to forget super funny. After our introduction he collected our phones and wallet to safe keep them for us, then he brought us to the cafe for "fresh food". "Fresh food" means food cooked by the vendors. Our lunch consist of a chicken drumstick, cabbage, lemonade and an orange or apple base on your choice. Next, we when to do an activity known as the "trust fall" where you have to fall from a platform onto the sheet that your friends are holding. Before falling, the instructor would ask you what you would like to achieve after the five days and after that you will fall. This activity is to build the trust between each of us, I was afraid at first but still manage to complete the activity. The next activity we did was level 2 in building trust and that was belaying. In this activity you have to belay your friend when they climb instead of the instructor, it was not that difficult in my opinion. For dinner, we had outdoor cooking and we cooked our own dinner, we had rice with canned tuna, campbell mushroom soup and curry chicken. We used solid fuel to do our cooking and it was my first time cooking rice using solid fuel instead of the rice cooker. After our dinner, we went to pitch our tent and when to brush up and sleep. We did not sleep until 2am in the morning as we were busy chatting with the boys in the opposite tent and we played truth or dare. I think it was after this night I open myself to them and became close with all of them.
On day 2, we went to do rock climbing and the same we had to belay out friends again. In this activity when every we reach the top of the rock wall we earn a question for the expedition that we are going to do, we earn a total of thirteen questions. We also learn some kayaking skills like how to paddle, how to change the direction of the kayak and stop the kayak. When the instructor saw that we were ready he brought us to the sea and we did the floating test to test if our life vest is okay to use, after that we have a capsize drill. I could not swim so I was super scare when it was my turn, my partner and i when into the kayak and kayak to the instructor then we have to lean forward and hug the kayak. While hugging the kayak i was actually crying as i was afraid what if i could not eject myself out of the kayak. We shake the kayak left and right and finally left again and the kayak capsize, i straighten my legs and close my eyes when we capsize and i floated up to surface. I was super happy as i had overcome my fear. After everyone had capsize, we conducted a rescuer drill to learn how to save your friends when in the sea. When the drill finished we kayak to another camp that was one kilometer away from the camp that we were staying at yesterday.
Day 3 mark the day of our sea expedition we had to kayak almost one round around the whole of Pulau Ubin to the next campsite again. We kayak a total of eight hours over a distance of sixteen kilometers. we all became tanned after kayaking. After kayaking we pitch our tents and cooked our dinner, we did not have the privilege to bath as the toilet is a public toilet and do not have showering facilities so we had powder bath on that day. At night we open the tent door and left the mosquitoes net there and look at the sea and chat with each other to know more about each other. By that time we were already quite close than before.
Day 4 is our land expedition, we have to trek back to the camp that we arrive on the first day without any help from the instructor, we have to trek back to camp on our own but we can also use the questions that we acquired from the rock climbing activity to help us find the way. During trekking we had to visit at least four tourist attractions and complete some mini games on the way, just as we were all tired we would encourage each other and also sing a song together to distract us from the tiredness. We had combat ration for lunch together with canned food, the combat ration was scrumptious i had the malay style tomato rice with chicken. After lunch we continue with our trekking. We trekked for around eight hours and a distance of maybe 16 to 20 kilometers. After trekking we went to pitch our tent and when back to your dorm to unpack our bag and stuff before heading to the place to cook our dinner. It is a OBS tradition to have a variety of ingredients and allow the students to cook a meal that consist of a staple food like rice and three other side dishes and the food cooked must be linked to the theme, the theme given was life in OBS. We cooked scrambled eggs with a mixed of luncheon meat, button mushroom and long bean, we also had stir-fried vegetable and not to forget the most delicious pan fried luncheon meat and also a bowl of steaming hot soup to keep us warm on a cold rainy night. As it was raining that night, our tents were also flooded so we had to sleep in the bunks provided.
And finally the last day in OBS, we waked up at 6am and wash up. We went to the expedition court to report and did our morning exercise before we went to eat breakfast. After breakfast, we went to the area where we pitch our tents and unpitch it before bring it back to the dorms to wash and hang back to the original place. We also had to put everything that we had used in place like the mass tins, whistle if anything is lost we have to pay for it. After everything is in place, we went to the multi-purpose hall (MPH) to assemble and do some reflection and get our certificate for completing the OBS course and also our group photo. After that was done, we when to the cafe to eat "fresh food" and after eating we went to the souvenir shop to buy some clothes. After buying all those things we when back to the (MPH) to assembly while the instructors gave us the final talk before sending us back to the OBS reception centre.
Through this camp i have learn a lot about myself as well as my friends, i grew closer to them also became friends with them. This camp is fun, exciting and tired at the same time i am glad that i decided to go for this camp as it has created a lot of wonderful memories for me and also allow me to overcome my fear although i went home with hands and legs full of mosquitoes and sandfly bite not to forget sunburn on my scalp, lip and shoulder but still…... I love OBS, I love BoSeng (My watch name). If you have the chance to go for OBS, i strongly encourage you to go, cause it is really fun and enjoyable.
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| Edvina!!!! |
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| What OBS mean to us |
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| Zaimah!!! |
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| "Fresh food" on the last day of OBS for lunch. |
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| Daniel!!! |
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| Shahneezar!!! |
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| Nicholas!!! |
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| My friends and classmates that i grew closer to during OBS |
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| Lynette |
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| Tammy |
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| My certificate and group picture |
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| BoSeng <3 |
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| BoSeng 140418 |
