Andrew Chan (4I03)
From the 3rd to the 5th of November, we S.4 students attended a training camp.
To be frank, I wasn’t expecting much from this camp but I changed my mind soon enough at the camp.
We started off with simple foot drills and some ice-breaking games, getting to know each other better and working together more efficiently. Nothing was exceptionally hard to do or solve, that is, until the next day.
Early in the morning, we were forcibly awakened by our instructors, ate a depressing breakfast, grabbed the tools for making our own lunch, then went hiking in groups of 10. The hike started off easy enough, no steep slopes or uprooted branches; it was smooth-sailing towards our destination. By noon we reached the top of the mountain and cooked ourselves a fantastic meal with instant noodles and instant curry packets. Then it all went awry.
The journey downhill was much worse than going uphill. Imagine yourself spending every single ounce of your energy on climbing up the mountain with a steep slope, uprooted branches and a slick layer of mud. Now try to envision yourself going down that same slippery slope. Most of my teammates were battered going down. But fortuitously, nobody got more than a few scratches or a few bruises. Do you think that the story ends here? Nope, not even close. Our hike may have been over but the day wasn’t.
We were approximately 10km away from the campsite and we could either choose to wait for the bus or walk. There was only one problem. All of us S.4 students were waiting for the same bus and the bus only comes every half an hour.
We quickly decided that walking back to the campsite would be ideal as we would have to wait for a long time before we get a ride on the bus. However, one of my teammates said that he was tired and suggested waiting for the bus. Despite waiting for an hour, we still didn’t get to get on the bus. We had another small vote and decided to finally start walking. My teammate, on the other hand, was throwing a temper tantrum about walking another 10km. To make matters worse, we couldn’t go anywhere as we had to move as a team. We had to coax him into walking and finally, he reluctantly agreed, though he kept complaining about his aching feet the whole journey.
By the time we reached the campsite, I was literally trying to hold back myself from lashing out at him. As if all this wasn’t enough, some teachers came to me personally to ask me what happened. That basically ruined my night and gave me an opportunity to learn and grow, learning how to be a better leader, teammate, and supporter and growing up with the mistakes and to not repeat them anymore.
On the last day, we had to build our own raft. I felt a lot more calm and collected than the day before as I had realized that nobody can be perfect and one has to lose a little of their wishes in order to satisfy others. We had a blast making the raft as everyone did all they could do.
After the camp, I’ve become aware of the fact that no team will ever succeed without teamwork, and sometimes one has to sacrifice one’s personal gains for the greater good. Thank you to all the teachers and instructors who organized this camp and for making it possible.
MALIKSI Jhen Ira Salarda (4D21)
On the first day of camp, we first went to our designated rooms. I got to know more about my roommates as we all gathered in a circle and talked about ourselves. It was so cool to know about them. An hour later, we rushed to the gym and had several group activities. More fun began at night. We headed out of the campsite and slept in the wilderness. I enjoyed spending the whole night time with my friends in the tent, and chatted so happily that once a teacher needed to stop us for creating too much noise.
On the second day of camp, I got up pretty early. It was an achievement for me to get up before 6am. I watched the sunrise for the very first time and it was incredible. Later that morning, we had to pack up to go back to the campsite. After breakfast, we went to the sports area where we received our equipment for the hike. Not so long after, we started our hike. The walk to the designated mountain already made me tired. When we got to the hiking place, the first few miles were very chill. Then came the steep slopes, god knows how much I was struggling. I thought the steep slopes would be the hardest part of the hike, turns out it wasn’t. In order to reach the top of the mountains, we had to climb the steepest and rockiest part of the mountain. I was frightened because first of all, it was really slippery. When we reached the top of the mountain, i was very dehydrated. I had run out of water half way through, but thank goodness we could buy water and other types of drinks. We originally planned on making Carbonara for lunch but we ended up cooking the ramen noodles they provided. The hike back down was easier. I was exhausted. When we got back, we had a BBQ. It was the first time I’ve actually BBQ-ed, I had attempted barbecuing several times before but I always failed
To sum up the last day, we performed our “drill” and had our group activities, which was super fun.
The camp has taught me to be more patient – I had to wait for my mates during the hike as some of them were quite slow. I’ve also learnt to appreciate the littlest things in life: someone or something that provides support to me. Lastly, the most unforgettable experience was when it was time to head home because I finally overcame all the challenges in the camp, and got to tuck myself in my soft bed and fluffy blanket.
