IM BACK!!!

Yea! I'm back from my 7-day OBS course!haha... yeap it was one hell of a course!!! haha.. through this course i really learnt alot about leadership and discovered more about myself..even though i have walked this earth for 17 years... there are still some parts of me that i have yet to discover... This course has really been a journey of self-discovery... one that i have never embarked on prior to this course... I shall now share this journey with everyone... :)

1st Day
We arrived at OBS Main Campsite at on pulau ubin via a ferry from punggol jetty. we were then introduced to our instructor. His name is Gideon. He looked kinda cool with his long hair.haha.. then we started off by introducing more about ourselves to him. Then we began the first of our activities.Yeap..we learnt how to tie some ropes such as reef knot n etc... haha...yeap..den after that we proceed on to learning how to belay when someone is doing rock climbing or other activites which require it.

After that.. we were off to the challenge course which was in the form of the ship which Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore in. The challenge was to climb up to one of the high points and walk without any support but ur rope n belayer, in mid-air with shaky wooden planks dangling precariously. I was the first one to try the highest point. I was seriously very scared. I was kinda reluctant to walk. and whenever i wanted to walk i would always take a step back. I was afraid to face up to my fear of doing such challenge courses. However, with the help of my fellow OB peeps... i managed to complete it..even though i was the slowest to complete it... Thanks Guys and Gideon!haha..i realli appreaciated ur support n encouragement..hhahaha!!!

And as for our bunks, it was more like a chalet actualli with beds which were sleepable and toilet which kinda nice.hahaha..lolz Actualli

2nd Day

Woke up had breakfast and all. Found that the food there was quite okie...actualli... had bee hoon and some fish cake.... n for lunch it was rice with some other side dishes like chicken/fish and veggies and soup. hahaha...but it was outdoor cooking for lunch that day.

The main highlight of the day was actualli kayaking. However the day was spoilt with thunderstorms around the island.so we couldnt do much activities . We had a theory on different types of leadership and the OBS staff who was giving us the lecture was realli funny!! and we had an enjoyable time plus there was air con....haha..

Gideon also introduce us to our cutter sail which we would be sailing on for the next 3 days. It's name was Endeavour. What a cool name. Think it really fits our purpose for our coming to this course.

Later that night we had to prepare everything that was necessary for our cutter sailing expedition which was gonna last 3 days 2 nights... so that means no bathing time..haha

3rd Day

Cutter Sailing!! haha.. i was so looking forward to it..that i couldnt wait to get onto the sail the moment i got up!!hahaha.... but when we went onto the Cutter ( its the name of the ship which we would embark upon our 3d 2n expedition on!! ahaha.... however it was not to be initially..
when we began to sail..i wasnt feeling veri well... and my head was spinning and i felt like vomitting..everyone was realli concerned...haha..thanks for the concern guys....den gideon told me to try sniffing Orange skin..to suppress the nausea feeling...well it certainly did help...den for the journey i did that...so it wasnt so bad till we reach our destination for the night which was a small island near pulau ubin... we camped there and had our field cooking dinner there....hahaha...

4th Day

This was one of the highlights of the Course..the day started off rather well...by having our morning dip into the water to kiss the bow..as a sailing tradition to pray for more wind for the rest of the day.We then continued our expedition along the way there were a few storms..but we managed to come through them peacefully... even though we had to have our lunch in the rain...hhaha...
Since the first day of the expedition...we managed to learn a few sailing commands...such as Crew prepare to tack! which was to change the direction the cutter is sailing and also Crew prepare to jibe! which kinda meant the same thing... the second day was better for me in the sense that the sea-sickness wasn't that strong... but i still sniffed orange skin lolz..

However the worst storm was to come....while sailing near the OBS main Camp...there was a sudden storm! and we had to deal with it immediately...the howling wind and the choppy waters were making our job veri difficult..n i realli admire Gideon...because he was able to guide us without even showing a hint that he was panicking...But the wind was just too strong that we couldnt control the boat at all... In the end we almost capsized... But at that moment my mind was filled with nothing but the main aim of helping to stabilize and control the cutter....all my sea sickness was gone at that moment...

And as they say...there is always a silver lining behind a cloud...we managed to get through the storm... hahaha...woah..n we realli showed team work by helping to roll the sails when needed during the storm....hahahaa.yeap.thats wad OB n leadership is all about!!hahaha

So for the night we slept on the cutter where we anchored it near the OBS campsite 2...

5th Day

2 more days left... i counted..and the day was kinda...slack... Samuel was the group leader for the day... he was trying to best to lead us in sailing to Ceck Java which was at the other side of pulau ubin.... but everyone was kinda tired..so in the end we didnt manage to sail there... we then marked the end of our Cutter Sailing Expedition by returning to the OBS main camp...
later that night we had to trek all the way to OBs camp 2 to camp there...n samuel realli showed his leadership by constantly encouraging us along the way and singing cheers all that!! .hahaha..
waoh...i realli saw a whole new Samuel... hahahah...

6th Day

Second last day... hahah....and it proved to be the most tiring of all...because we had to kayak 23km from campsite 2 all the way to Ceck Java n back..to the middle, cut through the swamps and kayak back all the way to camp 2!!... When we reach Ceck Java we were alreadi tired.... and my arm was aching badly... den we still had to kayak back n thru the swamps...we were stuck there for i think 2 hrs.... OMG...that was when i felt all the strength in my body had left me...but.... i still told myself to go on... n my kayaking mates who were kai hoow and jocelyn did the same....when we finally got out of the swamp and went pass the green light which meant the OBS campsite...was near....i was REallli relieved n happy....n we summoned my last ounce of strenghth to kayak back to the campsite....

What a tiring day.... when we went back to the main camp....we juz went to sleep... haha..everyone was realli tired!!.haha

Last Day

hahah..well...our last day on the island....it has been an amazing journey so far...haha..yeapp... the memories are just so priceless.... haha...yeaps.... when the guys woke up..we found our body filled with marker drawings..done by none other than the girls when we were sleeping....n i tink i got the most drawings...i had both on my hind legs, on my face,ears and arms..omg...n they said that they even lifted my leg up 3 times....n i couldnt feel it...hahha....i was tooo tired.... man!! .....what do u expect hahaha..... nvm.. i will hv my revenge... mount Stong expediton next month.....hahah.watch out.. hehe.... we then left the island at about 2 plus... we took one last look at the island and the main camp....this was where we had a fun-filled,challenging and amazing 7 days... Woah...im sure the bond between us wil have become stronger after this course..yeap..hahah....and thanks Gideon....for ur guidance...we certainly have learnt lots of things from you!!!hahah... Im sure gonna miss OBS 2007...hahaha... OBS ROCKS!!!! hahaha...