COUSTEAU AND CAROL ROCK!!!

Everyone is blogging about OBS and I shall blog about my experience in Pulau Ubin too, gonna be LONG (1st experience mah so don't complain). Firstly, OBS ROCKS! Mobile too! Hahah. My watch is called Cousteau and my instructor's Carol (short for Caroline). She told us to remember Oh! Carol. (once we shouted for her using it) I admit that we weren't as close to one another as some other watches, but I felt that there was this invisible bond that was pulling us together, even Carol, pulling us closer as the days passed. Dunno lar but I was very sad when we had to separate, though I didn't show much.

Day One: It was quite fun at Punggol Jetty. A few of us 3/14ers were being weird. Rachel and I stood opposite each other while waiting and we placed our bags on our feet. Then Kaixuan and Yunxi did the same. And for some bizarre reason, we became teletubbies, with myself being Dipsy with my funky hat. Ah well. Anyway, at Pulau Ubin, basically it was rain rain rain and more rain. At the 1st look at my watch, I assumed that most of the watchmates I didn't know were dao and we weren't as enthu as some other watches. But Carol was so friendly and approachable, very eloquent also. She told us something that struck me, "Misery is an option". We could go through OBS being miserable and regretful but we could actually choose to be happy and treasure those 5 days in a different world which would be so much more fruitful. That can be applied to our daily lives. I think I shall remember this always.

So... that day we only learnt how to pitch tents and we got to try it at a grassy area near the mobile campsite. Surprisingly our tents stood for the whole night. Mwahah! But we didn't sleep in them (slept in hall instead) coz it was raining heavily. Darn cold. Then store so squeezy also. Sorted out some foodstuff also. Wah! They gave us so much food lor, dry rations and canned food and rice and fruits. Actually I could tell that our morale was quite low. Coz it kept raining and we were cold and wet and depressed. I sort-of regretted going for OBS, felt that it was pointless. I guess that was what many many people thought of at that point.

Day Two: We learnt belaying techniques and how to wear our harnesses and helmets (Carol demo-ed on me, so fun!). Carol also taught us this "Thigh wrestling" game. At first I thought it was Thai wrestling. Scared me to death. But we were actually supposed to hit your partner's thigh to win. So fun! I got into the finals with Xin Wei. And she won. Haha. Belaying was quite fun but I think climbing was much more fun. Being the belayer was quite tough, I was quite scared I'd get pulled off when the climber was getting down. The tug was so great. Yup. After that we went down to the beach to prepare for kayaking. Whoa! Carol is a certified lifeguard, cool or what. She made us test our lifejackets down in the sea. We had to put our arms around each other and float, taking our feet off the seabed. So fun lor. We were screaming quite loudly if I'm not wrong. Hahah! Carol also taught us kayaking methods, what forward, backward, stern rudder (how to spell?).

In the mean time we also had to wait for other 3 watches, coz we were be going Sea X with them for Tues and Wed. So we were like 1 big group. Oh yah. Our buddy watch was Cook and their instructor was LJ (the one who wears hairclips and hairband but he rocks!) He was really funny. During the briefing, he was like saying that if the double kayakers were bored, they could talk to their partners for entertainment but for the single kayakers, they could just talk to their kayaks instead. SO FUNNY (but lame)! He also said that for the back people, if we felt something warm in the kayak, we'd know our partner did something and the person would kena one big slap. Haha! The other watches were Da Gama (instructor: Daniel who liked to wear shades and take off his shirt - poser? [not, says ickypoo!]) and Hillary (instructor: Kennieth - not many encounters with him so don't really know him well). Yup. Anyway, all 4 watches kayaked like mad (for about 2-3 hrs?) to a rocky area not very far away. Then around half of the journey, LJ and Daniel (I think) were choosing 'lucky' kayaks to capsize so that we could get some experience in saving one another. My partner, Charmaine (Eng) and I were lucky not to be chosen and there weren't kayaks for us to rescue. And we tried hard not to get close to the safety boat. Haha!

Then after we landed (we were late and the sun was setting), we had to keep our kayaks, then pitch tents and cook dinner. Wah so tiring. I think that was the point I felt really pissed and impatient. With myself and my watchmates. We weren't working together and were only thinking about ourselves. *sobs* In the end, everything was sorted out. We had our dinner and pitched our tents. Due to laziness, we only pitched 2. Can you imagine? 2 tents for a watch = 7 people in each. We were squashed like mad. How demoralising. My tentmates and I were taking turns to sit up while the rest lie down to sleep. It really was the worst night ever. *sighs* Lesson learnt.

Day Three: Aching all over! Hard stones and sticky sand everywhere. Well, welcome to mobile life. I was surprised our tents actually stood. I was thinking that they would fall. You know, early in the morning, I could hear Celest and her tent people talking loudly, about wondering how come their seniors said OBS rocks while we were suffering. Haha. So loud lor. Even the instructors could hear them in their tents!!! So they were like "oops".

Yah. Anyway we were late for our activity coz we were doing all those essential stuff (like breakfast, pack bag). Supposed to meet at 6+, met at 8+ instead. I think the instructors were quite bu shuang. Then we kayaked around more than half of Pulau Ubin for 10++ hours! Crazy. Sooo tiring. There was this part of the sea where we were going against the tide and me and my partner were lagging behind with some people, I almost wanted to give up and faint. Arms like breaking already coz I was at the back seat and stern rudder was taking up most of my strength. During the journey I was quite frustrated (but better than Battuta's Rachel, who was swearing alot, I heard) and gave some people the black face. I'm so sorry! Yeah. And then we connected with the instructors' boat a few times. Once LJ was throwing us food, like feeding seals. And he also splashed yucky seawater at us many times, to hydrate us. Then got one time I think Daniel and Kenn (not sure) were swimming in the sea to compete against each other. Wah still got energy. Pei fu pei fu. Dunno lar but I rarely saw Carol around. Mostly saw Daniel and LJ. I guess they must have been the ICs.

Anyway we were super behind time and the current was going against us (but better than Battuta and the other watches, which had the rain and storm and current going against them). Everyone's mood changed. Coz at the beginning the journey was very smooth and everyone could joke and talk around. But after the turn, many people were struggling. There was this time when a whole lot of us were near those fences. We must have looked pathetic coz LJ was saying something like "Ok la ok la, connect to the boat". But after awhile they had to go save those behind people (very far back) and they left us!!! It was really terrible coz we had to break raft and many of us were drifting to the fences and stuck there. Michelle's (aep one) kayak even got stuck onto some tree-y thing. Horrible!

And I kept saying "Die lar die lar", then Char was saying "Dor! Don't say die. We can do it. We're reaching" That was why encouragement was so important. We were lagging behind most of the time after the turn lor. I heard that the front people almost got lost, they almost went towards Malaysia, coz the instructors weren't with them. Sounds scary. Luckily we didn't. I guess we finally made it after a long time. So tired already, legs were painful because of sunburns and must still do see-saw for the kayaks and lug them to storage. But I guess if we didn't do it, who would? Not the instructors. That was our responsibility. We must also learn from Carol (NY one) and Shizhen, who were extremely helpful and cheerful throughout the entire journey.

At around 6 to 7 something, we had to trek across Pulau Ubin in the dark! And after our Sea X somemore. But we shouldn't complain, coz the instructors were kind enough to send our packs to the other campsite for us. Or else we had to carry them. I guess we really gave them alot of trouble. Felt quite bad. Don't want to say much about the walking. A significant thing to remember was that Daniel (or Kenn?) was telling us not to just look in front of us and keep walking but also to look around the dark surroundings... we might see fireflies. I so badly wanted to see them. But we didn't, sadly. The trek was ok. Either too dark or too bright (instructors' torches shining right at my eyes, what you expect). Heard voices in the woods. Felt scared. And poor Yinghui behind me. I guess she was really exhausted.

After about 1-2 hours, we finally reached our destination - Residential campsite! Boy it was so cool. Got swimming pool, halls, bedrooms, BATHROOMS, HOT WATER, smooth ground, and all those fanciful extreme facilities like rock wall. Did some stretching in the hall and we could do our stuff. There was this Malay resi instructor who was walking around and kaypo-ing around, he was very friendly. Probably the in-charge of the resi instructors? We cooked dinner with hot water (yay!) but we were too weak then to open cans. I think Carol was quite disappointed in us. And we could finally bathe! My burns hurt alot when the water hit my skin. Great. But it was good enough we could get ourselves clean for a moment. And we didn't have to pitch tents, we slept upstairs of the hall instead. So cool. =) Oh ya! Something embarassing happened on my way to the toilet. I was about to step into the bathroom with a couple of watchmates when LJ shouted, "Girls ah, that's the males' toilet. After kayaking you all cannot walk straight is it?" So maluating lor! Haha. I was like "Oops sorry!" Stupid Sam was laughing away. To think of it, it was quite funny and I've to thank LJ for sparing me from more embarassment.

Day Four: Hmmm. Got waken up by the Resi people's cheering during their PT (I think). I had a good night's rest! :) Anyway I had my breakfast with my watchmates at the giant steps and saw many Resi people. They were all so bouncy and energetic. Unlike us, aching all over from kayaking and trekking. After that, my watch met up with Cook to do flying fox. At first we had to do a warm-up game together, but because no one stepped out when volunteers were needed, the game was abandoned. I could tell that LJ was a little pissed with my watch. Aiyoh. Anyway for Flying Fox, Carol was in charge of "welcoming us" while LJ was in charge of "getting us ready". Quite fun lar. Reminded me of the TCHS one I did last year. It was steeper but the OBS one was longer and less steep. The tower is about 5-6 storeys high and the entire length was longest in Southeast Asia and 2nd longest in Asia. Whoa.

After our simple lunch was what Carol called "our final challenge of this course". We had to climb up twiney-ropey-shaky things in the middle of the hall. We could choose any of the 2 structures, one was Snake and Ladder and the other was a log-gy structure which big gaps in between (Double Dangle Duo). My partner, Samantha and I tried the former. Because it was a buddy thing, if one gave up, the other must come down with her buddy. Sam got stuck at a point and she said she wanted to give up a few times. I kept telling her to press on and she finally did it. I was ecstatic because she didn't let go. That was the spirit we were supposed to nurture during those 5 days. I was so glad she made it. Then both of us climbed to the top together. What a smashing experience! Then Carol also climbed up, with plenty of male instructors belaying for her. Wow! She reached the top in like 2 minutes? She could even touch the ceiling coz she had to do something to the rope. Wow again! Cousteau gave her a round of applause when she came down. =) Carol rocks!

Then we trekked back to the old shabby campsite (the one with our longhouse of stores) with our BIG and HEAVY bag packs. That really was the point I wanted to raise the white flag and surrender. It was worse than kayaking. Dunno why, I've this thing with heavy bags. You know, everyday I go to school, my shoulders and back will ache. That day we had to carry a heavier bag, made me have trouble breathing. I kept pushing myself on. And pushing my bag up. When we finally reached the old hall, I was darn relieved. I looked around and saw everyone was totally exhausted. The bags ah! Oh! And that night we could sleep in the hall, coz it was raining! (When I came back home, I found out that an S-league player got struck by lightning and died, no wonder they didn't allow us to pitch tents in the rain) Yep. Packed our stuff and our store. I think the whole place was like a warzone (Carol used this word many times). Although it was tiring, I enjoyed it very much, coz it was one good time we could really bond without having to worry much about what was next on our schedule. Because what was next, was to go home, and leave OBS. *sighs* Anyway, we lost quite some tent pegs and bottles and a compass. We almost lost our trolley with costs like over 100 bucks, and map, helmet, harness, bag pack, ground sheet. But they were found in the end. We were so exasperated that I saw tints of humour around. (doesn't make sense right? nvm)

Hai. Had to sleep in shabby hall. Saw LJ making some goo-y food with Cook, which I later heard was tang yuan, for tuan yuan. So sweet right? He cared for his watch alot, I could tell. (Please Ky, don't say I'm crazy over him, because that's a fact) Then when I was almost falling asleep I heard many people running away to some other place. Wah! They scared me lor. When I finally fell asleep, I dreamt that those people ran off because there was some kayak activity again. Haha. Weird. But actually (heard from some of them), they were Cook and Da Gama people, who went to the jetty to disturb LJ and Daniel. Haiyo. Heard that they all talked until quite late. *sighs* Last day mah. Must treasure the last moments with instructors. If I were awake, I might even have went, though they were not my instructors. But they rock all the same. Coz we spent most of our times in OBS with these few instructors. Maybe because of our Sea X bah.

Day Five: Our very last day. The day of separation with the other world and return to the real world. It was like a dream. A good dream which was made enriching with many sugar and spice and even pepper. After finishing up packing our store, we sat around in a circle with Carol. We were to spit out our reflections of this course. To me, this little session was pretty emotional. The words Carol said stung my eyes and I teared. *sighs* She told us to relive those moments during those 5 days and try and recall them. She said that although those days were definitely rocky, there would be little moments we'd enjoy. Yeah. I did remember some. Although we were frustrated, sad, gloomy, tired, hopeless, helpless at times, there were times where the sun was shining and smiling at us. There were times of enjoy. Carol was right. She also told us that if we see her in Orchard someday we must say hi to us coz she can remember us. And she said who knows, we might even get to meet her again in another OBS course in years to come and might even become instructors. She told us to try the Outward Bound International courses. A 5 day course is the shortest of all and the longest is 82 days and LJ just came back from it a few weeks back! Whoa! So li hai! Imagine kayaking for 28 days and hiking for 30 days. You must be good man!

Sigh. After that we were supposed to give out certificates to one another and congratulate one another for surviving OBS. I got Charmaine's (Han) and Jasline got mine. I hugged both of them. I actually felt sad at that time. And then Carol gave us our photos. We looked terribly wet. Hahah. But I'll keep them forever. And I'm gonna laminate my cert. We also presented her a little card of appreciation we made. I hope she likes LOTR. And the cute little coin. "Expect the unexpected". Haha. Then the whole lot of us went to some makeshift store to buy OBS products. Gosh! Those people were out to cheat our money. Poor us. But I bought a tee, a hat and a bluey bottle. Haha. So fun. I wore the hat around coz I've a love for cute lil hats, you know. I saw Daniel staring at me as if I was a black-faced lobsterish freak wearing an OBS hat. He must have thought I was overly enthusiastic. Saw many people along the way back to the hall. It was sad, you know, to realize that you might never get to see them walking the same way again, coz everyone would be going back to school life in a week's time. Suddenly felt depressed and had a group hug with Liting and Yinghui. (sigh i can still remember all these) When everyone gathered in the shabbed-up hall to leave, we all gave the instructors our infamous 3 cheers. They certainly deserved them. No doubt. When we hopped onto the ferry and shouted bye to Carol, I noticed she didn't really look at us. But she looked sad. Dunno lar but that was what I could tell from her expressions. Sobs.

I don't know. Although we were and are physically apart from Pulau Ubin, I guess the spirit of OBS will stay in our hearts for quite a long time. Through this 5-day course, I've learnt many things that could help me in my life. I learnt to be perseverant and not to give up, just like during hiking and kayaking. I learnt to be more tolerant; if it wasn't for tolerance, I'd flared up at some watchmates in a few occasions. I learnt to be more positive and enthusiastic: we can't look dead all the time, can we? As Carol once said, "The real Outward Bound starts when you step out of Pulau Ubin, that's where you'll face greater challenges." How true.

Oh man. I really really miss OBS. I miss Cousteau and Carol and all the other friendly instructors. To them, we might only just be a group of students that they see almost every week. But to us, they're like a torch in our life, shining our way through to encourage us when we think of them whenever we meet difficulties (like hiking at night yah?). OBS rocks!

Carol. Celestine. Charmaine Eng. Charmaine Han. Cheryl. Dorothy. Jasline. Liting. Samantha. Shao Ming. Shu Hui. Xin Wei. Ying Hui. Yuxiu. Zheng Ying. COUSTEAU.




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