From 17th to 20th October 2007, I participated in a 4day-3nite OBS COURSE. The instructors insisted that it was a course, not a camp, that it was a learning experience, not a physical training camp. Initially, we (2B) were supposed to go from the 22nd to the 25th with ProEd and the rest of Aphelion but because of I-dunno-what reason, we joined the Ortus & iSpark batch. I think it is to balance the participants out and to encourage interaction between M'sian scholars and local students from other consortiums.
Anyway, before the camp, I somehow got the impression that it was a very physically challenging camp, with the focus on physical activities. Therefore, I was very reluctant to go to the course and hoped that the medical checkup would deem me unfit to participate in OBS. However, my hopes then were dashed when the medical practitioner, or doctor in 'chim' terms deemed me fully fit to participate in OBS.
The night before the camp, I packed all the stuff needed for OBS. The next day, students from the 1st batch (our batch) set of for the OBS jetty at Punggol Road End. Reaching Pulau Ubin OBS Singapore Camp 1, we were told to settle the admin & miscellaneous matters, like the store for our watch, 'Munshi'. That day, we had the Trust Fall and Belaying. In between, we had lunch at the Cookhouse, which was a cafeteria & food store in 1. We also pitched tents just outside the Camp 1 grounds and just in the surrounding jungle. I heard that Shi-Jie, Chern Yuen, Alanson's group and Shien Yang group,etc had to camp deeper into the jungle. Must have been hard to get out. In the evening, we cooked dinner by the beach. We had canned curry chicken, canned corn, Campbell soup, and rice. At the end, most of the curry chicken and corn had been eaten before the rice was cooked and the Campbell soup was dished out. Some people, like me, tried to eat the rice with the curry and remnants of the canned dishes, while some ate the rice with the soup to give it some taste. Also, some people did not eat the rice. At night, we had a fire drill. Then, after supper (green bean soup), we went to the campsite to rest. I shared a tent with Joseph Kang (2L), Wei Yao, Jun Wen (2B), and Zhun Song (dunno what class). Anyway, I found it to sleep as it was too stuffy for me. Soon, the rest had slept, leaving me awake. I found the sky astonishingly bright but as I did not know the time, I decided to wait for a flurry of activity outside. Then, Bian He came over. He helped to clear the air in the tent and improve the circulation. He said it was only 3 a.m. and Chee Shuan and many others were just lying down resting, not asleep. After that, I tried to sleep and the next thing I knew, I was already 6.40 am.
My tentmates and I were late for morning PT. To our surprise, we did not get a direct punishment or scolding. The instructor use the self-reflective method to tell us off. I feel that if anyone in the watch had taken more initiative, this disaster would have been avoided. In the morning till 1pm, we were instructed on how to canoe, self-rescue, capsize drills, etc. I was in the same canoe as Joseph Kang : . We did the capsize drills but our partner canoe abandoned us halfway as a storm was coming in. The instructor of my watch, Nadia, told Instructor Syed to bring the other canoe duos back to shore; Sean Lai, Zheng Jie, Wen Shen and her left to rescue Joseph Kang and I. Joseph Kang got the bow of the canoe onto that of Sean Lai & Zheng Jie's but he could not pull/push the canoe up. I tried to ease his load but he still could not do it. At the end, after 30 minutes, the storm was going to strike, so Sean Lai came out of his canoe to help and it took him just over a minute. After this incident, we went for lunch. That night, one of my watch mates went back to the 'mainland' as he had a swollen toe and needed immediate medical attention. We were also informed of the land expedition and sea expedition for the next 2 days. We had navigation basic training. That night, I had a much better sleep as that tent was not as stuffy as the night before and partially because Zhun Song had changed tents.
The next day, we set off by foot. Zheng Jie was the navigator for our watch. Throughout the journey, we took turns to carry the bags as it was tiring to carry the backpacks for the whole journey. As my backpack was considerably lighter than the others. I volunterred to carry it throughout the journey. The resting break enabled me to do so without collapsing due to fatigue.
At around 1 pm, it rained. The instructors had guided the groups to a abandoned temple to seek shelter. That day, we bulit a raft that failed, jumped into a abandoned quarry filled with rainwater. The water was surprisingly clean and clear. At night, we cooked our meal. It consisted of the instant noodles only as we thought we could finish the food and this was the only time we could cook it. This night, we had Justin and Wen Shen from Marshall in our tent as they had somehow lost 2 tents and were severely lacking in sleeping room. I found it quite hard to sleep as Justin talked a lot in his sleep and moved around vigourously. Jun Wen had flu and thus snored loudly. But I got to sleep somehow at around 1.30 am.
On the last day, we set out on the sea expedition. I was in the same canoe as Joseph Kang again. We could not manuveur well and this caused us to drop from the first few to the tail end of the formation. Many times I felt frustrated towards him. He would stop when we were very in the wrong direction. He stopped as he felt tired but he should know that others were also very tired. At the end, we reached the shore back at Camp 1.
After clearing up, we left Pulau Ubin. It had been a fruitful but tiring course. It tested us mentally, not as physically as I though before. My main regret is that Jospeh Kang seems to still not know that he is somewhat self-centred and is a bit too enthusiastic sometimes.
