Manisha's Reflection

Date and time: 14th March

Time:0630 am

There's this siren thingy going off right now. Blaring and blaring like nobody's business. And that makes me wonder if it's the Defence sirens thing. Like whoa, we gonna get bombed. Should i hide under a table or something? But you know what? I’m already halfway to school, struggling with my huge bag, sleeping bag and shoe bag ready for the ANNUAL TRAINING CAMP 2007.Plus my family is peacefully, save for a little snoring, sleeping. Should i be glad to die this way? I guess so. And anyway, the siren stopped, so I doubt I'll be dying anytime soon. Some things happen and make you think in early morning , dont they? And they help you appreciate the things around you, and yea, they make the world a more beautiful way from your perspective.
…

Back to the point, I reach school and we are made to sit in our patrols, a handful of guides arrive late and the punishments are already increasing. We load the stuff onto the bus and set off for Camp Christine. The mood is not as cheery as expected and I spotted a dismayed face among the seniors. Yet we sing and cheer till we arrived at our destination.

(lets continue in past tense ya, or else it’ll be too boring.)Soon, tents were already beginning to be pitched. We(VP) had to shift our tents a few times as the tent adjacent to ours was already close to ours, and our tent couldn’t be pitched under the tree. Nevertheless, we managed to complete the pitching and soon, I was called to help out with the kitchen shelter. We were unable to finish with the kitchen shelter on time, due to a couple of mistakes, causing us to redo the gadgets many a times. We were getting exhausted, yet Mrs Ong stayed on with us in the kitchen shelter and tried to help us in any way she could. Thank you! We(the sec3 QMs) didn’t manage to take part in the games as we were already behind time. The cooks patrol-VP had to begin cooking the dinner and I was secretly glad it was our turn that day! We cooked instant noodles with mushrooms, crab and a few other ingredients! The seniors(Zhiyan and Huiying) helped us and of course our very efficient QM(Jieling). Thankyou(:

Then we cheered and also discovered our new after cheer-YES! I am glad that the downpour, and a few other minor problems didn’t manage to dampen our spirits:D Next was the night walk and frankly speaking, I was nervous. Yet all of us managed to go through the challenging and narrow pathways; many of which were uphill and downhill. I was also one of the first few take on the single walk. It was not one of those typical brightly lit paths among the hdb blocks we usually take in Singapore so it was an achievement for all of us ,ya? We were then served green bean soup which i didn’t manage to finish so my patrol members kindly drank it up for me!:D After which we took our bath, and slept after chuyun and qiaoyin returned from coh. I slept like a rock till I was woken up the next morning!

The next morning we started off with PT, which was a rather good way of waking me up,haha! The next game which needed us to get our water bottles back from the obstacle course, where the water bombs were being thrown was an enjoyable one for us! But being a ‘blur’ kinda person i nicely forgot to bring my water bottle over to the field, nevertheless I took part in the game and retrieved nafeeshah’s water bottle!

Soon after we began preparing for the outdoor cooking, and I quickly tied the tripod stand, chopped the corn into pieces and removed its top layer, and marinated the chicken. Then I had the tedious task of poking the metal wire in, I managed to get only the first in and the second halfway through before seeking help. Our chicken took a longer time to heat thus we began to feast on the sweet potato and the other ‘delicacies’ as we were terribly hungry.! Then we had a few wet games before the weather turned against us and we were back in the lodge. Then we ate and played. Once the weather decided to change its mind and befriend us agn, we could be seen playing in the field , I should say like little children.(points to the pictures where I was laughing retardedly) . I was soaked throughout in coloured water and I wanted the games to last longer. The campfire kept our spirits up, and most of the patrols performed remarkably. The long awaited night game finally arrived, the crux of the camp. It was thrilling and exciting, it made me so happy! This was mainly because had known they were my seniors, thus I wasn’t as afraid! But the one at the toilet was the scariest!:(and I remember being awake till 2am.
Striking the tents and clearing up was done remarkably fast, and before we knew it was time to go!

To my patrol members, I apologise if I lost my temper a few times, and for being rather impatient. Nevertheless we rocked!:D and we won most efficient patrol! This camp wouldn’t have been possible without the combined effort of all of us including all the seniors and teachers who helped plan the camp and make it a success. I have truly enjoyed myself. This experience will always be a part of me:D

And as I lie here snugly on my cushioned chair, I hope to go back there, to camp Christine, one day to experience or in fact to re-experience a few(more) days there.

MANISHA.