2 days back from obs and I miss obs alot. OBS was a great experience for all of us. I learnt so many things and I wish to stay the way I decided I wanted to be after obs. It was a tiring 5 day experience but we had so much fun together. Livingstone was a great watch. OBS was an eye-opener for me. it was like a refreshing gush of air that took me out of the normal busy, hectic life. (which if you notice, the reason i want to become a farmer is something along these lines). It is hard to explain the feeling, but it's just the feeling of satisfaction and meaningfulness within.

FIRST DAY OF OBS 080310

we all arrived in school early that day, to do ISL.2 which in the end we couldn't bother asking how to do the uncompleted questions in excitement of going to obs. we were all sparkling clean in orange camp T and track pants. our bags seemed to weigh a ton THEN(notice the THEN) . we went to punggol jetty with our teachers. cai tou! hehe. and then we sat in our watches and applied sunblock and insect repellent and listened to llewell talk. llewell said, your mind is like a parachute and that you have to open it, and if you don't open it and jump out, you will ahh~ and fall. haha. and then there was briefing on how to handle our period. (whether male, female or shamuel.) haha. I remember some instructors names! i rmb mei sze and chio bu! haha. anyway, after that they told us our watch names and instructors (WHICH LLEWELL SKIPPED OURS) and at the end llewell was like: ahh. who did i skip? watch 19: US!! (raise hands) llewell: ahh~. u see! all the instructors taken up already right. yes! your instructor is me. HAHAHA. and after tt he still forgot to tell us our group name. haha. then we followed him to some grass area where we sat in a circle and did the name introductory game where we threw the monkey toy around and introduced ourselves. and he told us our watch name: LIVINGSTONE. and he told us to sign some sheet of paper which apparently wrote all our ages as 257 years old. haha! Then, we went to the toilet and took a picture after that. (llewell made some funny expression in the picture! D: haha! and that's the only photo i have of him.) anyway, we soon left for pulau ubin on boat. and finally reached camp 2! oh yeah and on the boat llewell told us some lame joke. he asked: how do you tell which tentacles of an octopus is the hands and legs. and the answer was. knock the octopus head and those that go up are the hands. which didn't exactly make sense so we were all like stare.. haha. then he said: no meh? hahahhaha. then we reached camp two and sort of got a tour, and gave our hps, money etc to him. (and saw his self-claimed magic show, which was uber lame. haha! he just said sth like: (after he collected all our stuff) the magic is that all your things disappeared! or sth like that. oh yes! and we saw an instructor changing in the instructor room! haha!! cause the glass windows were frosted, but he stood so close to it you could practically see him changing (only the shadows). then llewell was like: why ure so excited? haha! then we waited for him to come out and started laughing like crazy when he came out. haha! llewell was like: eh. don't stand so close to the window la. free show ah. haha! then the guy was like: enjoy! hahaha. then we went to livingstone storeroom to check all the ponchos, ground sheets, and haversack zips etc. and folded them nicely. then he showed us how to pack an A-frame tent. haha. so after that, we had to take our life vests, whistles, and change into our wet attire. cause we were going kayaking! we first collected the food for five days and then ate lunch (the apple was very nice :D) then we carried down the 8 boats down to the beach where we were about to kayak! First, we entered to sea and floated inside! haha. then llewell said we had to go in (including head) on the count of 3 and if someone's hair was not wet we must do again D: so we went in. and THE WATER WAS. salty. and i tasted alot of it somemore. then we had to do it again. haha. after that, we picked up our paddles and started having paddling lessons! haha. it was pretty fun. except the part i couldn't see (and can't hear well from the beginning) cause i was not wearing my specatacles. we then learned how to capsize the boat and escape from it. I was kinda scared at first and didn't dare to go. (oh yeah. and halfway while in the sea! llewell found a water lizard and let it crawl on him. haha) okay, so in the end, i did the capsize! (AND NOW I FIND IT DAMN FUN) but the salt water went up my nose. haha. and we learnt how to see-saw the boat after that (to let the water out) , and flip it back over. oh. and i can't remember why, but we were laughing about llewell being too heavy. haha. okay. then he taught us how to rescue each other in sea. the paddle method and the frog method! and jincheng kept playing with the water lizard there after. haha. so we finally got onto our boats! and kayaked out to sea! yay! we were suppose to paddle to the yellow buoy! we had a little trouble at the start cause we kept turning in circles and made no observable progress at all. haha! but later on, we got the hang of it and jincheng and i reached the yellow buoy first! yay! later we all gathered there and held onto each others kayaks. we were grouped into 1 and 2. (we were 2) and 1 was to capsize first while 2 recues them in sea! haha. we rescued michelle and xingda! it was a tiring process but we kept laughing. haha. they finally did it! and flipped over! yay!. then it was our turn to capsize. and jincheng wanted to capsize (while our turn to capsize had not come yet) so much that she jumped into the sea herself and we had to rescue her up. haha. after that it was our turn to capsize and apparently the boat hit my head while i was capsizing. maybe thats why i have a bump behind my head. ahhh. noooo~ then jincheng and i had great difficulties getting rescued! haha. our rescuers were joy and hannah! haha. yay! so we took very long and finally were rescued. (at the start when we capsized we were near the giant rock, and when we were rescued, we drifted about 100m away already. haha!) and i gulped down like alot of seawater. esp cause i had to dodge the kayak which was about to hit my head. haha. then we took long to return to shore. it was a little tiring. and it was getting dark and we had not bathed nor cooked nor pitched tents. haha. we were really laid back in time when we had finally moved the kayaks back. (and my finger was squashed between to kayaks and it still hurts till today. haha.) so llewell helped us to rinse. as in spray water on us. so the sand gets off our clothings. and we went to change to our dry clothes. and some people rinsed D: no wonder they took so long. and i was waiting outside unrinsed. D: nvm! i tried to wet my hair while waiting. so not that bad. haha. (and i hugged clean chia cause i was dirty. HE HE) then we quickly prepared the stuff for our dinner. and it was already dark then since we were laid back in time. we were led to our campsite (down the stairs near block 5 i think) and llewell taught us how to pitch a tent! it was my first time seeing a tent being pitched! so cool! haha. (and our tents had to be pitched near the forest! ): cause the rest of the spots taken up) so anyway, some of us cooked and some of us pitched tents. which was when we found out we lost a ground sheet. anyway. we lost a ground sheet. so one of the tents could not be pitched. anyway, we cooked maggie mee that night. we were taught how to light the solid fuels (which are poisonous) and cook. so some of us opened the cans and some cooked. and some threw the thrash. (tin cans had to be cut on both sides and squashed flat, and the plastic had to be tied up before disposing. and biodegradable and non-biodegradable had to be separated) and so we ate maggie mee, some fish.. sardin? and corn! haha. and the other watch gave us some leftover rice :) yay!. jie lin and i shared one mass tin. anyway. it was getting late, and we had to have a briefing. so we went leaving the place half cleaned. anyway, we met up with llewell outside the instructor room. and there was a FIREDRILL! (for fire drills: if its rings all the way at camp 2, its a real fire! if it rings, pause, rings its a fire drill. if it rings at camp 1 its a real fire.) so we gathered near the jetty there. and sat down. instructors talked to us and breifed us etc. and they told us not to go to the male toilet again. haha! instructor: my friend was using the toilet when he turned his head and saw a nanyang girl. haha!! so funny. and llewell helped us borrow a ground sheet. yay for llewell. even though we felt kinda bad since we lost one on the first day. so on the way back after the fire drill while we were walking, jolyn asked if llewell was sad (esp cause he kept sniffing, i think he caught a cold. haha!) and asked if we're very irresponsible so he was sad. but he said no (with the funny expression) and then jolyn was like: are you some camp comander? llewell: (shocked face) why? jolyn: cause in the morning you were the first to talk, so maybe you are some important ic. llewell: must be in charge to talk first meh? (suprised face) and so on.. he kept sniffing. so after the fire drill, we went to pack and some went to wash up while some went to clean up the cooking area. then we gathered back at the campsite. and soon it was lights out. it was 11.26 when we ended our last breifing that day with llewell since it was previously interrupted by the firedrill. so we went to sleep in the tent for the first time. the order was jincheng, me, hannah, joy from left to right. legs facing the door. it was very hot and stuffy, apparently i woke up almost every hour. and joy, hannah couldn't sleep well also. i think i disturbed hannah alot while waking up. haha! joy was scolding the rooster in the morning. haha! and jincheng slept very well. so tada. end of day 1 of kayaking. :) (oh yeah. forgot to mention. there was a stray dog at the tents that night! and lots of grasshoppers jumped on us that night too while cooking)

DAY 2 OF OBS 090310

we all woke up at 5.30am sticky and tired (other than jincheng) and unpitched our tents and kept them. we didn't want to be late again, so our actions were a little faster than the day before. we quickly washed up and went to block 5 to meet llewell. we distributed some food and ate our breakfast then we sat down to discuss about what went wrong yesterday. we were to set 5 values that we wanted to see in livingstone for the next five days. we pointed out on what went wrong yesterday and wrote down our 5 values (with jielin's funny designs. haha) which was: Time management (sense of urgency), looking out for one another, communication (as there was a problem in communication yst, esp in the timing since not all of us had a watch), initiative and teamwork. after that, we also wrote our diary for the day before. and llewell told us what we had to pack for our land expedition and for the next few days. so we went to pack all our stuff, including wet clothings, tent bags, food, dry clothes, and shoes, and ponchos and lifevests. two person would share a bag, so it equals to double weightage +poncho+ lifevest. which meants damn heavy. haha! it was even hard to put it on our shoudlers that we had to help each other. NOW i realise how my haversack was damn light. haha! so everyone went to block 5 and checked for all the items and tightened our straps on the bag. we sat in a circle and decided who our expedition leader and navigator was that day. joy was the exp leader and michelle was our navigator. everyone had to carry one haversack except for michelle but she helped carry some stuff and was our navigator. and llewell gave joy a dreamcatcher necklace to wear on. then joy asked: what is this for? and he replied: you guess la. or sth like you'll find out next time (and if you notice his answers are always like that. haha) anyway. then we set out! finally! and we were tired like after 5 mins alr. haha! okay so as we had planned out route and leanrt how to navigate previously, we were to walk about 3 km to our first destination where we were to do our activity before he told us our campsite. so we walked towards the gate out of camp two (behind the shower toilets there) and the gate was LOCKED D: but just when we thought we went the wrong way. llewell said that if we wanted him to open the lock, we had to sing every 10 minutes if not we had to walk back to the previous junction and walk again. haha. so we agreed and ask him faster open the door cause we were tired already. haha! so we sang/cheered every 10 minutes. and trekking was alot of fun! we walked for 1h30min for the 3km and rested in between the journey once. also, we went the wrong way once, so had to backtrack and walk the right way. luckily it wasnt along backtrack :) and somehow i ended up carrying a large jerrycan along with a small obs bottle which i was originally carrying. haha! but it wasn't that heavy anyway, so it was okay. oh, and while we were trekking there was once that the road split into two! but the map didn't show it! D: so we didn't know which to take. anyway, we thought for very long, and decided to take the right path. haha! and llewell took the left path! which made us very uncertain on the right path. haha. then we asked him: hahh. then isit we follow you? then he said: dunno la! just try lor. or sth like tt. and in the end both routes arrived to the same place. D: haha. After a long long time, everyone was TIRED. and we FINALLY reached our activity place. which was the cricket quarry! yay! our activity was to jump into the quarry D: so we were like. AAHH. cause we had to change to our wet clothings. haha! and in the end we changed into our wet clothings which took quite long. cause we had to help others raise ponchos while they changed and they raised while we changed. haha! so we change and llewell jumped in on his own and came up and was sitting there while we were changing. (wonder where he went to change. then we were guessing he changed in the water! haha! but he said no! haha!) and so we wore our life vest and jumped into the quarry! we had to cross our arms to opp shoulders and tuck chin in and take a BIG step and jump in! and i was third to jump in! yay! haha! it was so fun. and refreshing! and there were fishes and tortoise in the quarry! haha! so we played in the water while waiting for everyone to jump in and formed a circle in the water when everyone was inside! yay! haha! then llewell tried to pretend to tell us a scary story. and he went: let me tell you a story about this place... us: AHHH NOOO. we don't want to hear it! AHHHHHHH and then he scared us for awhile before he told us some totally not scary story! haha. anyway the story was about a boy and his father on a cliff. the boy shouted out: OIII~ and the mountains echoed back OIIIIII~ so he said: WHO ARE YOU? and it replied him: WHO ARE YOU? so he was thinking, why does the person keep copying what i say. so he shouted: DON'T PLAY LA! and it replied him: DON'T PLAY LA! the boy was very curious and so he asked his father why the person kept copying what he said. then the father shouted: YOU ARE BRILLIANT! and the mountain echoed: YOU ARE BRILLIANT! so the moral of the story was that, what you think echoes back in your life and you can decide your own life. if you say that you are going to die, you will die. and if you say you can! you can! yeah. so LIVINGSTONE CAN DO IT. anyway, we got out of the water (reluctantly) climbing up the rocks at the side. haha. and changed back into dry clothings! this time i changed on my own in my poncho. i changed the shirt first, cause i think the bottom can see abit. haha! then yay! it took me quite long. and anyway. jie lin decided to change on her own too! haha! so after that when we wanted to change the bottom, we wrapped the poncho bottom half and asked jincheng to help us hold while we changed. haha! so fun. After jumping in the water, we all felt refreshed as if all our tiredness had been washed away, we rolled up our ponchos and helped each other pack and carry the bags. and then. llewell told us our next destination. (which apparently was go to camp 1 THROUGH camp 2) and they made us carry all our bags all the way D: haha! so we trekked back the 3km to camp 2 and this time we took 30 mins. haha!! we were so happy. despite our tiredness, we trekked so quickly. like wow. 1h faster than before. (cause we had to as we left the campsite the last from the start and we had to get to camp 1 before sunset, so we told each other to trek faster.) we all felt a sense of satisfaction and joy, when we saw the gate once again. even though some of us fell during he trekking, we peservered throughout and made this possible. We encouraged each other throughout, esp joy which i have still no idea how she can run from infront to behind! then infront again! O: so energetic! anyway, we reached camp 2 and rested for 10-15 minutes. before we set off to camp 1. we took 30 mins to reach camp 1 and WE COMPLETED OUR LAND EXPEDITION (excluding the pitching tent parts. hehe) and so we stood in a circle and rated ourselves on how we felt in terms of how much effort we think we had put in today. I felt that the land expedition was really fun, and livingstone bonded alot. we looked out more for each other, for example, while we were trekking, even though our load was way enough for ourselves, we offered to help hold stuff of those who were tired and encouraged each other all the way. :) so, we quickly put down our bags and carried the tent bags up a hill. which was as tall as the tower thing! so cool! then when we finally reached the top, llewell said that if we were to walk beyond the boundary lines (red and white striped thing) then it would be the top of tt tower and we would drop all the way down. haha! ok. so we started pitching our tents. ours was on a slanted ground. and the worse thing was. D: D: A TARANTULA WAS ABOVE OUR TENT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. the instructors helped us flick it away anyway. D: but so scary D: and the spider web was stuck on our pole D: haha! and i touched it. eek. so we quickly pitched out tents. and llewell help us to tie one of our poles the cotton twine to a tree root. so cool! i should have learnt how to tie tt! D: then he was like: see! it saves one tent peg! yeah, so we went down the hill again and took the rest of the bags and brought it to the camp 1 buildings. camp 1 was WOW. so clean, and there were BUILDINGS. O: but i missed camp 2, i liked camp 2 better :) anyway, we lined our bags at the sides and went for a small tour around camp 1! yay! haha!. then llewell taught us how to find him. and while we were outside another instructor pass by him and said: eh llewell, your mother call eh. she say your wife... llewell: pregnant? (smiles) instructor: she just gave birth... llewell: oh ya hor! i forgot (lafs and walks away) haha! so funny. after the tour we went to bath. BATH! YAY! (for the first time in obs bathing!) the toilets quite clean. and we had a good bath. even though i didn't bring my towel and was dripping wet. haha! and my comb was in the tent bag, which was up in the hill. and we went to eat after that! DINNER WAS PROVIDED! haha! no need to cook :) yay!. we met raleigh and yuxin and everyone was sunburned and they eyes all red. haha. so we had a good dinner and after that went to pack our bags neaterly and went for breifing for sea expedition! yay! sea expedition was to be with 4 watches altogether. we chose our sea exp leaders which were qianyi and shiyin from our watch! yay! then the instructors told us jokes before the expedition breifing started. (llewell's lame jokes again. haha) got one about the gorilla one. and the bird. one. haha! ok. so breifing started and talked about all the dangers and if seasick how. (smell orange peels!) and all the signals. so we went back to our bags again and did final packing and refilling of bottles. :) and then we climbed up the hill again to sleep! yay!. i slept at the side that day and the tent was touching me. D: haha. and i kept thinking: who was the one who pitched my side of the tent. haha! anyway. we slept with our heads near the door. since the hill was slanted.

DAY THREE AT OBS 100310

it started raining in the morning so many of us woke up earlier. we woke up at about 4.30? haha. i slept well cause the rain made the tent cooling :D but i was wet cause the tent was touching me! haha. and luckily someone helped to close our tent doors. but no one closed the small window the other side! haha! so rain was coming in! and we couldn't close it cause it could only be closed from the outside. anyway. slowly our butts and shirts and legs got wet. haha. and we started talking while waiting for rescue. haha! then i asked who pitched my side of the tent. and it turned out to be llewell! haha! so funny!. so in the end we opened our doors and instuctors told us to go down as a watch. so we called livingstone out and went down the muddy and slippery hill. haha! we were all wet! hehe. and so we went to camp 1 buidlings for shelter and went to brush teeth and prepare for sea expedition.

(shall continue tmr)