Monday, February 12, 2007
I'M BACK!!!

HELLO EVERYONE OCTEO IS BACK TODAY!
yah i know I haven't been blogging for more than a month now.. really busy!!!
BUT.
I must at least blog abit about OBS right?
OBS!
didn't realise i'd be so homesick... I actually cried while eating breakfast in dad's van so I ended up with a soggy sandwich... my watch was AMUNDSEN <3<3<3!!! the funkiest mobile watch ever! we learnt some belaying, cleared the store and played some games... And the first night had to be the most traumatic night of them all!! when our instructor led us right into the deepest part of the forest near the jetty, we all FREAKED OUT!! After we finished pitching three tents the sky grew so dark that it was totally impossible to build eileen victoria beatrice and ziyi's tent because hardly any of us brought our flashlights along. it was really scary, everyone was holding hands and walking down the dark forest.. we couldn't see anything at all and some of us nearly tripped over logs and stuff. amanda fell into a puddle and got this water leech crawling up her track pants. Eileen became our official IRON CHEF cos she and victoria cooked really well even in the dark!
1st time showering in OBS was terrible.
The water was so cold I was shivering.. heard people screaming and yelping in the bathroom... when I came out I think I looked as if I had just come out of the freezer...
Then we went back up to our horribly deep dark deserted campsite to sleep! ziyi and beatrice came in to sleep with yitong, amanda and I for the night! We were going all high and crazy in the tent when suddenly alex stood right outside our tent and gave us such a scare! after that we talked until we fell asleep... ziyi kept hugging me on the arm and stomach.. and I kept sprawling my legs across her!!! haha!!

2nd day was quite ok, we walked to camp 1 for lunch and rock climbing... After that we learnt how to kayak and did capsizing and rescue drills... Yitong was my kayaking partner and we were both reeeeaaallly scared of capsizing!! but we had no choice so we kayaked all the way to the "floating pontoon" or whatever u call it, and capsized there. Ziyi and beatrice tried to save us but it took too long so alex had to help us... THEN we had to do it for the SECOND TIME because ziyi and beatrice had to try and rescue us on their own without alex's help. After yitong and I capsized ziyi and beatrice were having no luck with their kayak, and in the end (being non-swimmers) we had to cling to our poor capsized kayak, drifted in the strong current until we were almost at johor, and finally got rescued by alex. wah seh... I was so seasick when I came out of the water that I wanted to cry... Everything was spinning and bobbing up and down and I wanted to puke... Though, thanks to my seasickness I managed to get some nice cold air con in the medic room and got to eat panadol!!
OH and there was a large insect in the tent which jamie, kaiyang and I killed with a notebook, a pen and a torch. EW!

3rd day. We got up quite early to get our kayaks and stuff ready. While some people from my watch were doing their rescue drills (this time in shallower waters) beatrice yitong and I were singing by the beach... SO ROMANTIC RIGHT? After that the three of us suddenly had the urge to POO so we went to the toilet to make lovely brown cookies... eheheheh.... Then, it was time for our sea expedition!! After kayaking around camp 1 in all directions I think the instructors got a bit worried that we wouldn't make it to our campsite in time. So we got to take the shorter route! Kayaking was the most wonderful experience!! Yitong and I kept paddling in the wrong direction and we almost crashed into some huge long roots at the island nearby... We were both wondering why our kayaks couldn't move in one straight line, whenever it moved it zigzagged!! survived on biscuits and some snacks provided by my darling nehneh elaine, and a single alpen breakfast bar. Then when we reached pulau sekudu farizan liyana diyanah aqilah and I went into the sea to pee!! and I escorted dorcas into the sea to pee too! haha her expression was very funny... I think all the fish and marine life in that spot must have died from all the pee... haha.. after eating some bread and getting more snacks we set off back to our campsite near pulau ubin village. yitong and I went crazy singing all sorts of wu yue tian, 183 Club, 5566 and JJ songs... the more we sang the more our kayaks went out of direction!!
when we reached our campsite yitong went to find our instructor cos she had a weird combination of gravel, sand, sunblock and MILO POWDER in her eye. ouch. I love this campsite cos there were many many many many stray dogs! but they made me miss my own dog alot... Our watch's gathering at the campfire place was really meaningful cos we got to sit down and talk and talk and talk!! The whole watch was much more bonded now and that was really great (: victoria and eileen came to sleep with amanda yitong and I and amanda woke us up about 20 minutes early, so victoria eileen and I went back to sleep!! (:

4th day. Since we were quick in packing our stuff and getting ready, our watch played a really lame but funny game. you start as an egg, then a chicken, an ah lian and an immortal. an immortal which hops on one foot sticking his hands out like he's doing yoga!! I think the immortal was yitong's favourite cos now she LOVES doing aerobics in school... even our geog teacher asked her whether she was trying to do aerobics, haha. Then we set off for camp 2 on foot... that was when alex taught us loads of VJ cheers and we taught him raffles cheers!! ahaha VJ cheers are not bad!! beatrice and I decided that we would flyyyyyy off to UK one day before the release of Harry Potter and the deathly hallows (BOOK SEVEN!) and on the day itself we'd be the first in the world to buy the book and we'd try and meet jk rowling and the cast of harry potter! IN OUR DREAMS MAN. we were discussing about horcruxes and dumbledore's death all the way back. Harry Potter fans unite!!
We cleared and cleaned the stores, and packed our bags when we went back to dear old camp 2... We had a really nice lunch, nicer than usual, coz we had bread with peanut butter, marmalade, biscuits, breakfast bars and TANG powdered orange drink which tasted so good, especially if you hadn't drunk anything but pulau ubin water for the past few days. We also built a raft!!
DINNER WAS THE BEST.
eileen our iron chef was cooking curry chicken and we were helping her open cans and plastic bags... Then while we were cooking alex came and sat right behind eileen and kept on disturbing her until she went crazy!! we also managed to practise our funky watch cheer which was really about our instructor, so everytime he left to get something we quickly practised!! yup dinner was so funny and nice and everyone laughed until stomach pain!! We slept in the multi purpose hall instead, and someone behind me was SNORING very loudly. it was so cold that I couldn't fall asleep!!!

day 5- last day.
We got up bright and early and quickly gathered at the jetty earlier than usual so that we could practise our cheer. Finally when alex came we did the cheer WHICH IS CENSORED HOHO!! AMUNDSEN IS SUPER BONDED (:
yitong and I rushed off to make coffee for alex as a thank-you gift from our watch. We begged the instructors to give us hot water and then we went back to the storeroom to get two packets of coffee! When we went back to the jetty I hid the coffee behind my jacket, pretending that I had gotten stung by a bee... some coffee spilled on my shirt AND YOU CAN STILL SEE THE BROWN COFFEE STAINS ON IT! aiyoh. yay at least we could do something nice for our instructor who was pretty nice to this crazy group of crazy people!!
Leaving camp 2 for camp1 was really sad... I actually prefer camp 2!!! Anyway, we played some station games as a class at camp 1, had lunch and had WATCH PRESENTATIONS! 30 SECONDS OF FAME! my watch presented this song called "the 5 days of OBS" which was a parody of the christmas song.
then it was time to go HOME.
felt so great to be back in singapore, yet so sad to leave OBS...
oh well, OBS was really really a great experience!!
I LOVE AMUNDSEN! EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN AMUNDSEN! me amanda yitong ziyi eileen victoria yuyun beatrice tanxin yili yisha ria jamie kaiyang alex! AMUNDSEN AND OBS ROCKS FOREVER!! (:

goodnight!!