On the 16^th January 2006, we had our school’s level camp in Japanese garden. Dressed in PE attire and track pants, the students were unusually chatty and were in great excitement. Everyone seemed to be looking forward to this survival camp. After the morning assembly, Sec 4Es and 5Ns waited for instructions to be given out. At nine plus in the morning, the classes moved out in an orderly manner. We boarded the school buses and set off to Japanese garden.

We reached there half an hour later and were warmly welcomed by the camp chief, Victor. He delivered a short message and told us some of the camp rules. We were then broken into groups and I was in Group 19, together with Wei Lun and Vera. As I knew most of my group members, we got connected and started to chat away.

Not long later, our instructor, Marvin, came and brought us for the ice-breaking. Due to the limited time left, we didn’t introduce ourselves. Instead, Marvin just told us some of his rules and regulations. A few minutes later, we were asked to assemble again for the tent-pitching. It was my first time pitching a tent and of course I was very excited. After the tents were correctly pitched, Marvin instructed us to carry all the tents to one side. As his instructions were not clear, it ended up with many people getting scolded by him. Many people were growling as they thought that it was not their fault. At that very moment, I found that the camp was rather disorganized. Their bewildering instructions making us bemused. As a result, we spent more than one hour just to pitch a tent.

After the tent pitching activity, we proceeded with the general stations. In which my group played the “spider web” game and the “swinging rope” game. We, as a whole group, helped one another to get over to the other side. One of the boys asked the thinnest boy to sit on top of the tallest boy’s shoulder in order to stretch out to get the rope. Both the boys stretched out their bodies just to get the rope over to our side. I found that a dangerous attempt for both of them, what if they fall? I was hoping for Marvin to cease this. To my great surprise, he didn’t! However, in the end we managed to get the rope over to our side by other method. From these two simple activities, we learnt to co-operate, communicate and build the team spirit within the group members.

After the game, it’s almost 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Everyone was feeling hungry. [However I was not.] Thus we proceeded to the grass land outside the toilets and to have our packed lunch. The rice was not delicious but still edible. I was sorry being having to admit that I was choosy over the quality of the food. After the lunch, we waited for a rather long time before going for other activities. My friends and I thus found that the camp was not well planned and was lacking order. We started to prepare our camp fire performance. My group’s name was “Shunba” and we joined group 18 and group 20 and was called “Boliao”. Our group practiced with a few cheers led by my friends. However after two hours of cheering, we were exhausted. Many of us just sat on the grass and rested. Luckily not long later, the instructor came and cheered with us for a while before proceeding with other game. We played the “net” where each individual of us had to crawl over the “net” without anyone holding on to the net. This made the net unstable when “climbing” up. Many of the team mates were very scared to fall, especially the girls. No exception, the fear struck me too. When I was “on the net”, I was very scared to fall and felt like giving up. But I tried my best to overcome the fear and pulled through. In the end I managed to “climb” over to the other side.

Followed up, we went to pick some dried leaves and twigs for our field cooking. We were given rations and solid fuel to cook our dinner by ourselves. It was dark and many of us didn’t know how to cook a dinner, not mentioning how to start the fire. Anyway we still cooked our dinner but I didn’t eat because I found the food unhygienic. After the dinner, we washed up the utensils and went for our shower. As expected, we had to queue for a very long time. However, I had to say a big “thanks” to Mdm Koh for helping out with the water distribution during the shower time. Sad to say, many of us took only five minutes for the shower. Vera and I thus kept thinking of leaving… we missed our homes desperately.

After the quick shower, we gathered together again for the instructor’s debrief. Thanks God, it was a short one. We went to sleep without taking our supper because we did not feel like eating. I slept with Pei Wen and Pei Qi (Low) in one tent. We intended to chat till midnight but didn’t because we were all too tired. We woke up at 6.30 am in the next morning. Unlike some, I was feeling good as I had a good rest the night before. I thought sleeping in a tent was a fantastic experience for me. Morning exercise was a quick one. Next we went to prepare our field cooking for breakfast. It was Milo and bread. My group didn’t cook the Milo as we were all lazy to. Thus, we just ate the bread with jam. I was upset to hear that they had not enough bread for us. Again, we had to waste time to wait for the bread to come. How this could happen when they knew how many group were presented? I was totally disappointed with them. They were really atrocious at planning and running a camp, hope that I was not rude to command on this.

During dragon boating, we were grouped in eights. My group members were: Jian Lin, Wei Lun, Tian Kian, Huang Jun, Hua Qing, Pey Lih, Vera and I. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly as I like water sports very much. The handsome instructor, Zhi Xiong, kept splashing water on us. After getting up from the dragon boat, we were all drenched. Talking about the kayaking, it was my favourite. Zhi Xiong was there again to guide and not forgetting to splashing water on us. Vera and I paired up, we cooperated and paddled well. Next, all the kayaks lined up closely together in one row - we played a game - the people on both ends had to walk over from the kayak to the one at the opposite end. Vera and I were at one of the ends while Pei Hong and Hui Lin were at the other. On the whistle, Vera and I, Hui Lin and Pei Hong started to run across the kayaks in the center to the opposite side. We tried three times before obtaining our best timing. We took 15 seconds to complete the task. However, during the attempts, I fell into the water and my kayak was capsized once. No doubt, Vera and I were wet again.

I believed after that we carried on with our lunch. We had to cook ourselves too. Hence Vera and I only ate the plain rice provided. Mr Goh saw that and gave us two packets of packed rice. We were grateful for his kindness. We washed our cooking utensils and carried on with river crossing activity. Due to the bad weather, we were not able to play the game and instead, used the time for campfire preparation. I was so sad and crossed my fingers, praying for the rain to stop. We practiced our cheers once more for more than two hours. After which, we went for our shower again. This round we were given a longer time, however still inadequate. Each of us just took about five minutes to bath. Some of my friends did not even have time to shower and had not showered for two whole days!

As it rained the afternoon, we were asked to go back to the tentage to pack up our stuffs and moved them to the long house. We were all frustrated at the unexpected rain. We arranged our bags aside and waited once again for our dinner. Dinner was packed rice and we were glad to have a proper meal again. Unbelievable, I finished up all my food. After the “delicious” meal, we started to prepare our grant camp fire. Campfire performances were the highlights of the camp. Everyone was in a high spirit to cheer and to enjoy. After the campfire, we took our supper while having our last debrief by Marvin. After being assigned to our sleeping place, we turned in soundly.

The next morning we kept the tents and headed for breakfast. The mee hon was very dry and tasteless. After the meal, we gathered again in the long house for the prize giving and final debrief. Group 10, 15 and my group, 19, crowned the three best groups. We were given a small token. Soon after that, we lined up and walked to the main gate where we assembled according to our own class. I was so happy to see my classmates and teachers again and was even happier with the thought that I could soon get to sleep on my cozy bed.

To sum up, I think that this camp, though not well organized, was useful in teaching us skills and values. Unlike the other adventure camps which I had attended in the past, I have learnt a lot of skills from it, for instance: pitching a tent, paddle a dragon boat, field cooking and many more. I enjoyed myself to the fullest and will definitely encourage my juniors to participate in meaningful camps like this.

Written By: Wang Yajuan Kathy [24]

Class : 4/6

Date : 19/01/06

On the 16^th January 2006, we had our school’s level camp in Japanese garden. Dressed in PE attire and track pants, the students were unusually chatty and were in great excitement. Everyone seemed to be looking forward to this survival camp. After the morning assembly, Sec 4Es and 5Ns waited for instructions to be given out. At nine plus in the morning, the classes moved out in an orderly manner. We boarded the school buses and set off to Japanese garden.

We reached there half an hour later and were warmly welcomed by the camp chief, Victor. He delivered a short message and told us some of the camp rules. We were then broken into groups and I was in Group 19, together with Wei Lun and Vera. As I knew most of my group members, we got connected and started to chat away.

Not long later, our instructor, Marvin, came and brought us for the ice-breaking. Due to the limited time left, we didn’t introduce ourselves. Instead, Marvin just told us some of his rules and regulations. A few minutes later, we were asked to assemble again for the tent-pitching. It was my first time pitching a tent and of course I was very excited. After the tents were correctly pitched, Marvin instructed us to carry all the tents to one side. As his instructions were not clear, it ended up with many people getting scolded by him. Many people were growling as they thought that it was not their fault. At that very moment, I found that the camp was rather disorganized. Their bewildering instructions making us bemused. As a result, we spent more than one hour just to pitch a tent.

After the tent pitching activity, we proceeded with the general stations. In which my group played the “spider web” game and the “swinging rope” game. We, as a whole group, helped one another to get over to the other side. One of the boys asked the thinnest boy to sit on top of the tallest boy’s shoulder in order to stretch out to get the rope. Both the boys stretched out their bodies just to get the rope over to our side. I found that a dangerous attempt for both of them, what if they fall? I was hoping for Marvin to cease this. To my great surprise, he didn’t! However, in the end we managed to get the rope over to our side by other method. From these two simple activities, we learnt to co-operate, communicate and build the team spirit within the group members.

After the game, it’s almost 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Everyone was feeling hungry. [However I was not.] Thus we proceeded to the grass land outside the toilets and to have our packed lunch. The rice was not delicious but still edible. I was sorry being having to admit that I was choosy over the quality of the food. After the lunch, we waited for a rather long time before going for other activities. My friends and I thus found that the camp was not well planned and was lacking order. We started to prepare our camp fire performance. My group’s name was “Shunba” and we joined group 18 and group 20 and was called “Boliao”. Our group practiced with a few cheers led by my friends. However after two hours of cheering, we were exhausted. Many of us just sat on the grass and rested. Luckily not long later, the instructor came and cheered with us for a while before proceeding with other game. We played the “net” where each individual of us had to crawl over the “net” without anyone holding on to the net. This made the net unstable when “climbing” up. Many of the team mates were very scared to fall, especially the girls. No exception, the fear struck me too. When I was “on the net”, I was very scared to fall and felt like giving up. But I tried my best to overcome the fear and pulled through. In the end I managed to “climb” over to the other side.

Followed up, we went to pick some dried leaves and twigs for our field cooking. We were given rations and solid fuel to cook our dinner by ourselves. It was dark and many of us didn’t know how to cook a dinner, not mentioning how to start the fire. Anyway we still cooked our dinner but I didn’t eat because I found the food unhygienic. After the dinner, we washed up the utensils and went for our shower. As expected, we had to queue for a very long time. However, I had to say a big “thanks” to Mdm Koh for helping out with the water distribution during the shower time. Sad to say, many of us took only five minutes for the shower. Vera and I thus kept thinking of leaving… we missed our homes desperately.

After the quick shower, we gathered together again for the instructor’s debrief. Thanks God, it was a short one. We went to sleep without taking our supper because we did not feel like eating. I slept with Pei Wen and Pei Qi (Low) in one tent. We intended to chat till midnight but didn’t because we were all too tired. We woke up at 6.30 am in the next morning. Unlike some, I was feeling good as I had a good rest the night before. I thought sleeping in a tent was a fantastic experience for me. Morning exercise was a quick one. Next we went to prepare our field cooking for breakfast. It was Milo and bread. My group didn’t cook the Milo as we were all lazy to. Thus, we just ate the bread with jam. I was upset to hear that they had not enough bread for us. Again, we had to waste time to wait for the bread to come. How this could happen when they knew how many group were presented? I was totally disappointed with them. They were really atrocious at planning and running a camp, hope that I was not rude to command on this.

During dragon boating, we were grouped in eights. My group members were: Jian Lin, Wei Lun, Tian Kian, Huang Jun, Hua Qing, Pey Lih, Vera and I. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly as I like water sports very much. The handsome instructor, Zhi Xiong, kept splashing water on us. After getting up from the dragon boat, we were all drenched. Talking about the kayaking, it was my favourite. Zhi Xiong was there again to guide and not forgetting to splashing water on us. Vera and I paired up, we cooperated and paddled well. Next, all the kayaks lined up closely together in one row - we played a game - the people on both ends had to walk over from the kayak to the one at the opposite end. Vera and I were at one of the ends while Pei Hong and Hui Lin were at the other. On the whistle, Vera and I, Hui Lin and Pei Hong started to run across the kayaks in the center to the opposite side. We tried three times before obtaining our best timing. We took 15 seconds to complete the task. However, during the attempts, I fell into the water and my kayak was capsized once. No doubt, Vera and I were wet again.

I believed after that we carried on with our lunch. We had to cook ourselves too. Hence Vera and I only ate the plain rice provided. Mr Goh saw that and gave us two packets of packed rice. We were grateful for his kindness. We washed our cooking utensils and carried on with river crossing activity. Due to the bad weather, we were not able to play the game and instead, used the time for campfire preparation. I was so sad and crossed my fingers, praying for the rain to stop. We practiced our cheers once more for more than two hours. After which, we went for our shower again. This round we were given a longer time, however still inadequate. Each of us just took about five minutes to bath. Some of my friends did not even have time to shower and had not showered for two whole days!

As it rained the afternoon, we were asked to go back to the tentage to pack up our stuffs and moved them to the long house. We were all frustrated at the unexpected rain. We arranged our bags aside and waited once again for our dinner. Dinner was packed rice and we were glad to have a proper meal again. Unbelievable, I finished up all my food. After the “delicious” meal, we started to prepare our grant camp fire. Campfire performances were the highlights of the camp. Everyone was in a high spirit to cheer and to enjoy. After the campfire, we took our supper while having our last debrief by Marvin. After being assigned to our sleeping place, we turned in soundly.

The next morning we kept the tents and headed for breakfast. The mee hon was very dry and tasteless. After the meal, we gathered again in the long house for the prize giving and final debrief. Group 10, 15 and my group, 19, crowned the three best groups. We were given a small token. Soon after that, we lined up and walked to the main gate where we assembled according to our own class. I was so happy to see my classmates and teachers again and was even happier with the thought that I could soon get to sleep on my cozy bed.

To sum up, I think that this camp, though not well organized, was useful in teaching us skills and values. Unlike the other adventure camps which I had attended in the past, I have learnt a lot of skills from it, for instance: pitching a tent, paddle a dragon boat, field cooking and many more. I enjoyed myself to the fullest and will definitely encourage my juniors to participate in meaningful camps like this.

I enjoyed myself in this camp because i got to know Zhi Xiong. hahaha.. [ this is a copy of the reflection submitted to mr cheong, so its quite formal. hehehz.] good nitex.