Reach the sky;

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Too much to say, too little time. So I'll summarize. By the way, we are BATTUTA!

Monday:
Went of and all. So like, took the ferry. At the beginning, we got split into 2 different groups and me Siao Yi plus Angel got separated from the rest of 3U. We were so sad! (But we love Battutta LOADS now! Haha) So yeah. Just started packing for all the expeditions and all, which was ok. We did some trust falls too. Quite fun. Plus a few games here and there. Plus basic belaying. Belaying, may I tell you. It scary. More for the belayer. Cos' if you're not holding down to the ground hard enough, and your friend falls, well simply put... So do you. Haha.

Tuesday:
We did hiking elements. Climbing a rock wall and all. Dang I suck. Took forever(10 minutes) to reach the 2nd last panel and in the end gave up before I reached the top. I'm so short... Couldn't reach the overhanging rocks and all. And when I pulled myself to the front of the last panel, I grabbed the loose rock and fell back down... Haha. So weak. Abigail went all the way to the top lah. Haha. So pro. She is secretly a bodybuilder I tell ya'. Then we had basic kayaking and had to kayak all the way to Ketam. About 1 km away. Me and Francine became the sweepers. Then half way, my hat dropped, and so the sweeper fell behind. Haha. Had to pitch our tent in some granite-y place. So hard to pitch lah! Everything was wet cos' of the rain and all. Plus it was freezing. We had to use rocks to hold the thing down. Thanks goodness for Cousteau guys. Haha. Had sentry duty as well. Quite ok. Time flew by. Poor Ali couldn't sleep though. Cos' of noise pollution.

Wednesday:
SEA EXPEDITION! Haha. So we split up and me and Francine's kayaks resumed our sweeping position. Plus we set off 15-30 minutes later than planned. And like, all the SeaX leaders had to pick up all the trash cos' no one wanted to. Ah well. My group was relatively helpful though. Yay for Battuta! Was pretty fun. I love it actually. Despite the fact that kayaking for 6 hours is tiring. It's so much easier to kayak in the river and all than at sea cos' of the currents you have to fight with. Haha. Thank goodness for the rain though. Everything was all so cooling. Haha. And the track pants I was wearing wasn't long enough to cover the whole of legs so like... Now I have a couple more tan lines and it looks retarded. Oh well. It'll fade soon. Hopefully. And so we reached Camp 1 at 3! That's like, an awesome kind of time considering we planned to reach at 4.30 and left late. so we were rewarded with a shower. Only the people took FOREVER inside so being desperate, me Siao Yi, Geraldine and Celine bathed under the shower taps by the swimming pool. Haha. The sleep was horrific though. Pitched our tent on some slope so like, simply put, my back was aching. Oh, plus we got dinner, supper, and breakfast the following morning without having to cook. Dinner was great, Milo was awesome, breakfast was revolting.

Thursday:
After washing up in the morning, we went up to unpitch our tents. Luckily for us, the horrible position we chose to pitch our tent served us well in the sense that cos' of the rain, we were under the shelter of the trees so while the tent next to us became a swimming pool, ours can be said of as the island in the sea. Haha. Then it was the horror. Land Expedition. I'm ok with all the back breaking backpacks that smell horrendous and all, but the mosquitoes ruined my mood. They ESCORTED us out of the forest! So itchy! Cleo was bathing in repellent like every half an hour or something. Abigail was super funny. Every time she killed a mozzie(which might I add happens on a rather frequent basis), she'd go: "Haha got you loser." and laugh in a cynical manner. VERY FUNNY. Low Ann had mountains on her. Janet and her counted and she had a total of... maybe close to or over 200 mosquito bites. I have no idea how she did it. We got the longest route for LandX(I think Ah Meng, our wonderful very awesome instructor whom I miss the most out of OBS camp chose it on purpose) but we were the ONLY group, yes I said only, who found ALL 5 checkpoints and made it back to Camp 2 on time. GO BATTUTA! Good thing I wasn't sweeping or of any role that time cos' I'd have ruined everyone's mood cos' of the annoying mozzies. Plus I fell on my ankle again... Oh well. At least we gained the most satisfaction out of it all.

Friday:
Ok. So this was the go home day. It was quite slack. We were given the option of going through the bonus activity, Jetty Jump. As the name suggests, we deliberately jumped off the jetty into the sea. Haha. It was quite fun. We were the ONLY group who did it in the end. I think we're like super cool. Haha. Francine was the funniest. We had to do something just before we jumped off the jetty. A lot of us were being cliche but true stuff like screaming we love Battuta but Francine did the wink. No it's not some ordinary wink, t'was a creepy seductive flirtatious one. Super funny. Haha. Then we got to shower as well. Did I mention the showering facilities there is FANTASTIC? It's like, a million times better than St. Johns Island camp. Really. Love it. But of course, mine is still the best. Haha. Then we had some half-bonding half-reflection kind of thing. It wasn't one of those cliche reflection stuff where you look at each other and I learnt this I learnt that kind of thing. It was about commitments and stuff like that. I think Ah Meng did a really awesome job at wrapping it all up. It looked like we were the only watch that did the string thing with commitments and all. It was really really good. Then we went to buy souvenirs(I spent 50+ bucks) and left Pulau Ubin.

After that, 3 hours later, half of Battuta met at J8 Pizza Hut for dinner. Me, Angel and Brenda waited for a whole hour cos' Ali Wang and co. were late. Foolish things happened in the restaurant during dinner which I shall dutifully fail to mention but it was fun. Haha. Then I got a lift from Angel's dad and fell asleep in the car. Haha.

Today:
Oh man. I'm having serious withdrawal symptoms from OBS. I miss it so much. All the bonding that happened and the retarded-ness was all so much more than Sec 3 camp. I hope we all continue to strengthen those bonds. Miss it so much. Actually looking back now, I wouldn't mind going back and staying there for a much longer time. What Ah Meng said on the last day about why he joined OBS and all, I think it's really good. To enjoy what you do, plus have a goal and purpose knowing why is it you do it. Ah, the inspiration. Maybe, just maybe, I'll consider going back there next time, only like, maybe not as a participant. Ah well, who knows? But I definitely will join some camp thing like Camp High Achievers or OBS for a period of time, maybe long-term, maybe short-term. But definitely over giving tuition for pocket money any day! Haha. I miss the expeditions(can you believe it?) so much. But definitely not the insects and packing. I'm super lazy. Haha. Plus Ah Meng... Hope we see him again though.

Then I just realised I haven't done proper TAWG for 5 whole days. Some major catching up needs to be done. But on the other hand, I believe God was there with us throughout the whole camp. So I didn't really feel all that far away from him. Plus, the inevitable mugging I see before me for EOYS, which I have not started. I've only got 2 weeks so I'm going to start ASAP, like say, maybe tomorrow. Oops. Haha. Later there's EXIT. I can't wait to be in the house of God later on. Yippee! I hope Mali,Jingyi and Yaqi come though. Haha. It's going to be awesome.

But then, speaking in terms of reality, while I was away on OBS, things just went haywire at home. I don't even know how to react. My maid just left this morning cos' she quarrelled with my Mom and my Mom does not like to lose and since she acted on impulse, she left this morning even though she actually doesn't want to. I have no idea why they have to make things so complicated in the short span of 5 days. I didn't know how to react. Never imagined it to end this way. Like, I imagined us to have some farewell party or something before she left, and I didn't actually say goodbye. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO? I step into the car and Dad goes: "Auntie Noemi is going back tomorrow." No time to think of what to say, so like, I didn't say. Anything. Now I kind of regret it. I'll go dig up some email or something. I have it somewhere. Hope things go well for her. So now life's a little messy and yet, a little cosy. It's sort of like in Australia only we start off on the wrong foot. Oh well, things will work out soon enough. Hopefully.

Do not discount yourself because often, we can go some much further and do so much more than we give ourselves credit for. ~ Rough quote from OBS

So true. Especially with God.

“The wind played with my hair at 11:39 AM”

about me

Name: Lim Xiwen
Age: 16
Birthday: 17th April 1993

Proud member of Sec 4 Unity 09'
IGNYTER

wishlist

1. Grow in God
2. Grow taller
3. More time
4. More self-control
5. To learn how to bar
6. Fufil my resolutions
7. Leave a legacy
8. Improve in football

tagboard

links

Xiyuan
Puisan
Chloe Tan
Leryee
Ben(avon)
Davelle
Michelle Fam
Tingyan
Eudee
Weijie