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Wednesday, December 1, 2010 @ 5:48 PM
ITC Hello since no one has done a post on ITC yet I shall give my account of it. :D As quickly as it began it has ended, and it has no doubt left me with great memories but I am not going to reiterate the events of each day though each was special in its own way. Just going to write what comes to my mind ok. It started on Friday morning when I took a cab with a fee of $4.80 to school after my mum said she won’t be taking me to school, and was pleasantly surprised to see the lights to QM room on 5 mins before the stipulated meeting time. Packing and cleaning up of dorms breezed by and FAM was pretty crazy but I am sure we all sort of learnt something and had fun. And it was also here that the Chinese accent that would define how we speak the next 3 days took shape. Height elements next. :D First the damn tall walk that albeit scary was pretty free frag, and it was also here that we truly demonstrated our cheering abilities WOOOHOO. The challenge pool was next and it was here where the cheering got more subdued because everyone was so damn scared. Good job for all those who managed to grab onto the pole, but for those who didn’t good job too cause I think being able to jump out was already a victory in itself. Wah so cheem right. The doubles thing was quite cool too, highlights being J&I’s bonded walk and Liwen scaling that thing with a freaking blindfold spanning the gap between her nose and forehead. Of course the pro basketball team and their inspirational coach provided much entertainment too. Survival was no doubt the highlight of the day and it was plain clear that everyone was looking forward to it. Which was precisely the reason why it got pretty frustrating waiting outside the door for the uncle to unlock it because everyone can’t wait for it to get started. After the enjoyable food test where Caijing performed nearly the whole test on a rolled up tissue paper and then a banana skin, a shelter and 2 traps were created by each of the 3 groups.  In the case of Zhihao then it was more like a shelter and two similar traps.  Dinner was served and everyone was understandably dejected since the long-awaited survival session was over. Ribena was great though. Night walk couldn’t be carried out because of a couple of reasons that we all know, but it’s seriously ok Isa at least it prepares us for what may go wrong next time during other events like OH or YLTC right. At least this is but a camp for us only so it’s really ok. And it was pretty fun walking together too. At least for me la. Recreational WOOHOO. Highlights being Zhihao’s rant in Chinese and Derrick’s vein-popping outburst. 1151 was a great number too. Sea ex the next day and it got pretty tiring at the end wasn’t it. Building sandcastle atop instructor’s kayak while waiting for the safety-boat-that-couldn’t-save-itself to be replaced or repaired or whatever but the main point is it took a shit load of time. But it was ok since otherwise we may have arrived too early and missed the exciting end part where the waves and wind provided much entertainment. OH YA I forgot the part where the fish jumped into Reb’s boat HAHAHA! That sort of wakened me up since the return leg till that part was pretty dull. Oh the switching into double’s boat was pretty cool too, and of course getting on and off the kayak since I had this lingering fear that a capsize was sort of inevitable someway or another. OH YA this reminds me of Reb’s capsize at the shore HAHAHA. Why do you get all the fun. Murderer was pretty fun and Sarah seriously outdid herself and surprised me in being such a pro lier lol. Cycling was cool and xiaoqi finally knows how to cycle (minus the turning and going up the slope). Oh ya dinner before that was damn nice. The trip to Ubin was alright, and watched Love for the first time and I found it ok la. Packed for land ex and had safety briefing and it started WOOHOO. The last ride was the first checkpoint for us and it was pretty hard finding it until we called Sarah from 35th and she gave us some advice.  It is actually pretty simple and near to the hut. Then went to the quarry and Chek Jawa, the clue to the latter being simple but Isa commenting that Mr Alex found it freaking hard, which was pretty cute. Climbed up the tower and played charades under the sun.  The answer was Stamford Raffles We walked on the broadwalk and the scenes were damn cool. Camped at a hut for lunch and rain soon threatened. It was damn cool cause we were facing the sea (or water body or what la) and we could literally see the rain coming in towards us from like 300m, then 200m, then 100m and taadaa.  It was also here that I took the picture of my brown cow.  Walked to the british house where we met reb and co., took a quick picture and left for the tallest tree, at which point rain fell once more.  At the british house LOL I just remembered Derrick was saying that Huiying commented “This tree very tall meh?” lol no I think Huiying you taller.  At the Tallest Tree Camped at some hut which was like filled with people and us wearing the ponchos make us look like some characters from harry potter as noted by Sarah. Not that we cared lah though we were pretty out of place. Solved the “hen had a mouse” thing and proceeded there. Oh ya there was the cookie monster house thing which genius me managed to guess after my group overshot it by 50m before I made the million dollar guess.  Proceeded to the house.(Which Team Xiaoqi came here 3 times as Zhihao can't stop reminding us)  I think it was here we tried solving the Sudoku puzzle, where Sarah with her “I-can’t-explain-but-it-is-correct” argument did much of the puzzle, with Jeremy and I only chipping in at times to make it seem that we are not actually leeching off her. Handed up to Isa who did not bother to check, and while I thought this was because she had absolute faith in our intelligence, it was only after xiaoqi commented that I realized it was because there was no answer key HAHAHA. Next we went to the legendary LANG HUT WHICH IS SO FREAKING FAR UP THERE AT THE MAP, the funny thing being that all the way J&I and OK ADMITEDLY ME felt that the route we were on was familiar.  Right on our way to Lang Hut And our claims were further supported by Jeremy who claimed he could smell the incense around 5 minutes before we reached lang hut. The water body that was of close proximity to us until a latter stretch also convinced me we were on the right track since I remembered that the guan yin stood by a water body. Despite all this we ENDED UP AT LAND HUT. But it was good in a way that we met Xiaoqi’s group on the way to the guanyin statue and we took a together picture at V=IR.  The rest proceeded to german girl’s shrine while xiaoqi zhihao and I returned to camp, and were followed by a brown dog on the way. For a freaking long way. The two zi-high people beside me achieved nothing with their singing but eventually the dog left us alone. As in not following us but I think he never had the intention of leaving us alone. Slacked around for a while before the guys set up a tent while Huiying and Caijing looked on approvingly while eating their coconuts, which was more than enough to provide us with the motivation to keep on going. So we just toiled and toiled knowing that we can’t let either of them down, though it was only the next day that I realized/remembered Huiying was my mortal and the way I thanked her for her contribution later made me seem more like her demon HAHAHA. It was also here that the dog that previously followed us FREAKING REAPPEARED. He left soon after but another dog quickly took its place. The preparation of dinner was quite chaotic, but the best part was no doubt the cooking team demanding for the sacred lighter, which we as QMs duly searched for it bags after bags. And it was pretty funny when I gave Caijing 2 sticks telling her to create fire the conventional way, AND SHE REALLY TRIED DOING IT. At last the lighter was found in the most unlikely of places, and that is the same plastic bag in which contains the food which in turn was in the possession of the cooking team. It is ok we understand we really do. After that it was a case of screams and yells as the cooking team tried to prepare something edible. Of course there was our guest who was lying there for much of the cooking process.  LOL I JUST REAlIZED WE CAN SEE THE GUEST IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER There was cause for celebration as we were packing stuff in preparation for the next day when I found my water bottle. Night walk next, but not before we tried tackling the toilet that had 4 dogs on sentry. Campfire where the fire was small only because a large proportion of it was transformed into the passion and enthusiasm burning in our hearts. I can’t believe I typed that.  Anyway it was pretty fun la, but the sleep that came after that was more enjoyable. But the highlight of the day was no doubt my 2.30am sentry. So I dragged myself out, laid the poncho and laid there with Reb gazing at the stars, which sounds freaking romantic but not when there were periodic reminders every 3 minutes not to fall asleep and it being 3am in the morning. And of course I was trying to make conversation by pointing out the unique feature of the 3 stars in a line that was in the sky, only for her to reply that she sees a lot of lines in the sky.  I was refering to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation) Somehow we survived and I got to sleep after pushing Derrick to one side after they managed to miraculously cover the entire area of a 8-man tent though there were only 3 of them from what I can remember. Packed tents in the morning and the guys were thoroughly amused at how the tents were able to squeeze into the bags no matter how large they originally were when rolled up. It was only after we saw the label that the tent bag was able to take 8 people (as printed on its side) that we realized our initial concerns were unfounded. Returned to school and mroc was pretty fun. But undeniably it is a great experience and when you realize it is going to be the last time we will go through this together, you kind of miss it when it all ends doesn’t it? So let’s do it again next week :D Cleaning up took a longer time then I expected, a good 2 hours. There was the slight drama of the auntie looking for her lost string but it is ok. Slacked in classroom for a good 1 hour before having lunch at curry wok, where the accent just wouldn’t go away. Guess who finished her food last. 7 of us went to watch confessions next and on the way we played the songs name game. Bought tickets, had desert and watched the movie which at times made me feel quite uncomfortable. But it was decent. So that’s all. Anyway you know I was saying during the briefing by Mr Alex before land ex that the thing I enjoyed most was the interaction we have enjoyed these few days, and at the end of it all my sentiments are the same. Because I think the activities we have carried out before and much of the other things were really like YL minus the tensed atmosphere and all, but one thing that is different is how we are now truly a batch as opposed to during YL. Not to say that we weren’t bonded during YL but it is in my opinion that our interaction during this camp was something special. And I was saying it is easy to stay bonded during happy times but it is during the tough times togetherness is much needed yet hard to achieve. But I am confident that we will be able to achieve it. Because we have to, and because we have it in us to do so. This year has nearly ended and frankly looking back, I think one of the greatest things that has happened to me was not getting elected into council. :D PS. I realized that the next post after this will be the 36th post. So the person posting it better make sure it is something special. No pressure though no pressure. |
