Nafeeshah's Reflection

i've been scratching my legs all over lahhh. i cannot stand mosquito bites (thanks camp christine) but yeah, ANDERSON CLOVER GUIDES ANNUAL TRAINING CAMP 2007 :D 'twas the bombbbbbbb!

DAY 1 :D
all of us reported in school at 0645. did roll call, checked attendance and we loaded all the gadgetpoles/food/firstaidkits/waterdispensers/bags onto the bus and soon we were on our way to camp christine! :D (p.s: my bag was only a trip to thailand instead of africa ah this year!) we sang cheers all the way to the campsite. HAHAHA and the sec 2s are so fun to spook, cos when we passed by the lck cemetary i told them their nightgame/walk would be there and they believed! ;D

we unpacked, had a briefing and then we pitched our tents. we were the first patrol to complete our tent but it was out of the horseshoe formation so we had to move it back and it was heartpain lah to see all the guylines untied ): but yeah, we managed to complete it and then we had lunch! first day's lunch always rocks cos auntie mariam cooks it for us :) i guess every year, everybody experiences the same problem, and tht is the tents are too close to one another and then having to take more time to move the pegs and the whole tent all over again! its time-consuming and ALL JUNIORS SHOULD RMB! take alot of pacings before you start first and tht all runners should be in one direction so it'll look neat yeah? :D
continued with gadgets after that and i am actually quite disappointed in my own performance at tying the knots and all. my patrol, VP, did a new design for the clothes line and we experienced a few difficulties as we couldnt mallot in into the ground firmly, and tht caused it to shake alot.

the rain was a real dampener ): but we still had fun! and of course, we managed to roll down the tent walls and remove all the clothes hanging at the clothes line into the tent in a pretty fast time! and then we played games in the rain and all of us looked really cute/funny in ponchos! hahaha, and those in the pink national day parade poncho really stood out! ;D we played the game where we had to stand up tgt with our partners without letting go, and my partner was junying! okay, i think i was really rough cos i was the one who always feel onto the mud x) but it was such a fun experience! sorry ah junying ;D and it was really fun when all of us where in one big circle and the mdms started pushing us onto the grass! (HAHA IZZAH NOW'S THE TIME TO GET RID OF YR FEAR/DISLIKE OF WET AND SOGGY GRASS! ;D)

and then we had to play another game where all of us had to sit on each other's lap and stay there! i guess at the start we were all quite uneasy as personally, i felt the person i was going to sit on was going to suffer lah! but after a few whiles i think all of us trusted one another and we managed to stay tgt and united when huixin and lirong mdm headbutted us! :D ALL HAIL CAMPERRRRRRRS! campers unite lah! train traaaaaain! ;D

but soon the rain got too heavy and we went into the lodge to play more quiet games. but thank you sec 4s for planning wet weather programmes or else i guess we would have just rotted there and waited for dinner to arrive! haha. being cooks for tht dinner, my patrol didnt play all of the games but we helped jieling mdm cook noodles with egg soup, cabbage as well as mushrooms :) it was OH SO VERY NICE food compared to last year and three cheers for jieling mdm for making awesome food throughout the whole camp!

after dinner, we had our night walk and my patrol, VP, had zhiyan mdm leading us. and we were the first patrol, and i was more relaxed than last year's night walk even though it was a new route :) it was a rather challenging route as they were slopes, leaves, drains but im glad we managed to overcome it all! :D personally, im proud of myself for this nighwalk as i managed to overcome my fears and keep a cool state of mind haha :D and like huixin mdm said, its the only time we get to be in a dark deserted place with no lights alone and its a good exposure for all of us. and also, if you're afraid, look up the sky and see the beautiful stars (you could see constellations! :D) and you wont be afraid anymore :)

we had green bean soup for supper and then we had our baths :D i know its besides the point of going to the camp and having a bath, but i tell you THE NICE/COOL/CLEAN WATER FELT SO GOOD ON MY WET/STINKY/STICKY SKIN! lol and after tht, we had our sleep. the seniors and PL and PS had to stay up for coh, so i kinda pitied them ):

DAY 2 :D
we woke up at 5 to do our punishment and personally, i thought it was really very slack. we only did about 150 compared to last year's. and halfway through, huixin mdm made us play games tht we couldnt play ytd due to the rain so it was pretty fun! we had to play water games and again, it was about teamwork and communication :) we had opening ceremony and I WAS COLOUR PARTY AGAIN! :D (hahaha, its such an honour to be doing colour party, i swear lol) and then we had our breakfast which was in the lodge.

we had our patrol duties, and since VP was doing health, we had to clean the toilets! hahaha, so we splitted the job and me and qiao yin took care of one field toilet and the lodge toilet AND WE FOUND OUT THE LEADERS DIRTY LITTLE SECRET! lol. we were washing the lodge toilet and then we had to on the tap, and there was a frog inside the toilet bowl. so at first we thought it was dead so we just switched it on and continued washing. and then zhiling mdm came in and said the frog was actually alive! (!!!) and as if on cue, it started kicking around -.- lol. and of course, none of us were actually brave enough to switch the tap off until qiao yin the brave did it! :D yay three cheeeeeeeeeeers!

we had guides own after our patrol duties, and every year i find guides own very meaningful :) this year, we had to write our hopes/dreams/aspirations for aguides and ourselves onto a bean and place it into the clover bag. i felt tht it was very symbolic, in a way where we placed all our hopes into one place and we all work towards it in the end together as sister guides :D yessssss, and of course i wrote PNA GOLD! :D among many other things ;D

had outdoor cooking after tht, and samantha, me, qiao yin and qijin were in charge of the fire and chuyun, yujia and manisha were doing the food. so we turfed the ground and started making our fire! i think the campers did our food and fire very slowly as we were only cooking our sweet potato and corn but the leaders had already done up their bell chicken! i guess we can work on the efficiency there :) and the embers were not put to good use as the chicken was not ready. but all in all, we did a great job! :D and chuyun used her creativity to make a popiah kind of pizza and it tasted really good! and she mixed the leftovers (egg, mushrooms, prego sauce) into a tin, and tht was yummy as well :D

we asked for many time extensions and we were given until 2.45 to get everything done and have our lunch as well. my patrol greedily ate everything except the chicken which was not done yet. we 'passed up' our chicken to the leaders and then we cleared up our area.
we continued playing iniative games at the field and like always, we get wet and colourful by the end of the game! :D and VP won one of the iniative games, for being the most cooperated patrol! ;D our dear chuyun had to undergo the painful vinegar poured on her head, and it stinged her face! ): but we managed to get the next station, BY ROLLING ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER! :D and we played with coloured tofu as well so it was really fun uh ;D. and then we saw it.

WE SAW LIGHTNING. like bolt. like flash. and i was spooked. so i grabbed the hand in front of me (thanks yunjin ;D) and quickly we went and gathered back at the lodge and again the efficiency of aguides rolling down tent walls and putting our clothes back into the tents :) while in the comfort of the lodge, we had our chicken! the leaders gave our chickens names, and if im not mistaken, my patrol's chicken was 'the runaway chicken' HAHAHA. and my patrol finished our chicken the fastest, its because we got the skinniest chicken and not because we are hungry ghosts (er-hem) the lightning and thunder were scary. valerie and i were hugging each other whenever thunder crashed haha.

the rain soon subsided and after tht we played the mummy game and chuyun was our mummy! hahaha, and we had to protect her at all costs and throw bombs at other patrol's mummies! ;D it was fun and we all got wet again ;D

we had dinner which was rice (edible and unclay-ey!) and chicken and veggies. HAHAHA IT WAS VERY NICE ME AND QIAO YIN ASKED FOR EXTRAS AND WE FELT LIKE PIGS AFTER THT LOL. well, dinner is definetly better than last years haha, thank you jieling! :D
we had patrol duties and then we changed into our camp tee, which was pretttttty! :) it had purple words tht goes, 'believe me when i say i can do it!' we bathed in the dark and very fastly cos we had time constraints and the toilets were very dark! i think there was a power shortage when the lightning striked or something. i didnt bathed, just washed up. thanks to some sec 2s who stayed in the toilet with me and for shining the torchlight into the cubicle :D
the campfire was at the lodge instead of the bp ring ): tht was sad, but it didnt dampened our spirits. we waited for about an hour before the campfire actually started and i was really falling asleep as the ambience was really nice, cool and aark teehee ;D campfire was a kerosene, and adlyn and ying chyi were the emcees! my patrol had to do our performance first and chuyun was really very funny with her healthy punch lah! during practice, i was really laughing my butt offfffffff x) and qiaoyin, manisha, yujia, qijin and samantha did a good job tooo! :D
after campfire we got ready for our night game :) i was scared, but yet at the same time i wanted to go through the night game as it was a completely new experience from what happened last year. huixin mdm gave us a talk and she made us cover our eyes with our scarfs. it was alr 12, and i think some people fell asleep lol. the turnout was the game was disappointing but im glad most of my patrol members could go through all of it. yujia! even though you didnt go to all the stations, im still proud of you because you managed to overcome yr fear for the first few stations (:

our first station was the leeaders tent. chuyun (the superduper brave one!) led us into the tent. caiping mdm and saradha mdm were inside and caiping had her hair all let down and she was going up and down behind a chair. and saradha looked super creepy wearing the poncho and the torchlight shining right at her face! manisha (another brave one!) took the cluecard and we went back to the lodge.

we could hear the other patrols screaming and running from the lodge and toilet and because of tht, we were really frightened! but as least, we had a rough idea about what was inside, so tht was to my patrol's advantage. our next station was the toilet with seepeng mdm and lirong mdm inside.

the toilet was dark, with only a candle lit. red, bloody words (written with lipstick) were written
on the mirror, and there was a cubicle which said enter! and we did, and the toilet flushed by itself (seepeng pulled it lah) and then her head popped out and started floating! we turned around and wanted to go out and then the door started banging so tht was a shocker. we went into the cubicle where seepeng and lirong were and then we stood and observed them. then seepeng suddenly 'came back to life' and said something very creepily lah. CHUYUN'S SUPER BRAVE LAH OKAY! and then she said boo again to us. lol, and then we made our way back to the lodge.

our next station was the one at the lodge. we had to call 'emily the strange' and there was this spooky ringtone and it was like the barney song only there was this spooky spooky laugh at the end of it! zhiyan mdm and huiying mdm were there in their ponchos and they handed us a tin of catfood.

the next clue led us to the sangam lodge above us, and this i was terrified because of all the screaming from the previous patrols. and i want to say a big thanks to all my patrol members who gave me faith and hope and lots of encouragement! :D we went up, and all of us were very reluctant to go into the lodge. zhiling mdm and syamira mdm were inside and there were alot of shockers during tht station! the lego blocks fell suddenly and syamira mdm just appeared out of nowhere. eeks. well, we managed to finish tht station bravely :)
the last station was at the pax lodge. we went up and there was jieling mdm on a poncho so we looked around for our clue and we found it and we proceeded down but yiteng mdm stopped us and asked us to go check again but jieling scared us all by boo-ing us from the back! well, tht was the only time my patrol screamed, and im really proud of you guys VP! :D

the game was an eye-opener, and come to think about it, what was i really scared of? the seniors or my mind playing tricks on me? it always happens every year, not that we WANT to feel scared, but the feeling just comes to us. all the 'scary' people were the seniors, and were they really scary? haha, not really. :) well, we learn and i shall be brave-r next year! and especially the sec 2s cos you guys will be the ones leading yr juniors for next year camp! :D
we had to our supper after the games and all of us were really really tired. for myself, i couldnt even feel if i was in a dream or really living reality lol. my patrol went to send out the rubbish but the gates were close so i helped to scrub the pot and i couldnt even feel pain. haha, i went back to my tent at about 2.30 and wrote a letter for my manito! :D

i love my manito, yes i do
i love my manito, yes i do
i love my manito, yes i do
i love my manito but i wont say who
i've got a feeling warm and gay,
as she cast her eyes my way,
i will reveal her name one day,
but who she is i will not say! :)

i closed my eyes and i was in lala-land already lah. i was really tired on tht day and usually i'll take about an hour to fall asleep but tht night, it was in a blink of an eye. morning came even faster. my whole patrol was awake by 5.10 to clean the groundsheet, remove the newspaper and we got ready for breakfast! my patrol was doing orderlies that day and we were had hard boiled eggs and bread and pandan cake and milo for breakfast! we cleaned up and we took down our gadgets and cleaned them.

due to some unforseen circumstances, we werent able to strike the tents, and the sec 3s were asked to stay back. all of us were tired but im glad all of us stayed back and helped with the striking of tents :) and it was a remarkable achievement, we striked down 6 tents in 45 minutes! :D woooohoo, well down aguides! so while the sec 2s took back everything to school, we were striking the tents and then we waited for our bus.

we did our reflections while waiting for the bus, and the bus seemed to take forever to come. when it did, all of us greeted it like it was water in a desert hahaha. i found some comfy seat and i was soon asleep. and finally we were back into civilisation! :D we took group photos, and memories like these will always stay in my heart :)

big big thank you to huixin mdm, caiping mdm, zhiyan mdm, weiching mdm, weixin mdm, huiying mdm and all the sec 4s as well as mrs ong who came down to help us during camp despite their own commitments and all :D yr presence has definetly made camp much more enriching. and to the sec 4s who planned all the proposals, only now do i know how much effort it takes to get proposals done :D so thank you guys very very much! :D

and i also want to say lots of thank yous to my patrol members, chuyun, qiao yin, manisha, qijin, yujia and samantha for being the people who were always there for me in the period of tht 3 days 2 nights. even though it was a short experience, you guys definetly have a mega place in my heart :)

'coming together is a start, staying together is a progress, working together is a sucess' :D and like the end of every single day, aguides has made me not only happier but also feeling more accomplished with every task i do :)

Nafeeshah