Nothing in Particular

OBS (Day 1) - 07/01/19

Day 1

I was the IC for Day 1, together with another guy, but I did most of the talking. It's fine. He said it was because I do too much HAHA.

We did some self-introduction in the morning before leaving for Pulau Ubin which was where location 1 was located. Okay, that sounds stupid. Anyway, location 1 is OBS Camp 1. It's really big and it was built on a hill, which Ben (my instructor) really hated because the instructors' lodge was at the top of the hill. There are 2 OBS camps and Camp 1 is bigger and newer.

In the late morning, we had a quick tour around Camp 1 and went to the multi-purpose hall for the welcome message by one of the instructors, Amelia. That was when we learnt our group was called Kurt and it is called a watch in OBS. I wonder why.

We went up to Block 6 which belongs to Kurt and Bo Seng and up to the Kurt Dormitory which was actually only used by participants in the 21-day course. Ben shared to us what OBS was like in the past. When he was our age, he wanted to join OBS, but at that time, it was only for student leaders. He asked the teacher if he could go too and the teacher said no. He said he was a rather bad kid at that time and told the teacher, "I am a student leader. I'm just not the one you are looking for." That really made everyone laugh.

We then distributed the happy food which is essentially just snacks to bring along. We then wrote our names and signed in the Kurt Commitment Book which records everyone who was in Kurt for OBS. Basically, the Kurt OBS Alumni. 

Ben then called us in one by one to surrender our keys, wallet, EZ link card, phone and any electronic devices for safekeeping. Well, except for our watches. I mean, the portable clock.

He found that we shared the same surname so he started calling me Ms Chua sometimes lol. I was like "Huh what why" and he's like "Oh cos you also Chua mah". There you go. You have discovered my last name. Well, it was more like I exposed it. It's a Chinese surname. Okay, never mind.

When he was done with everyone, he went out to check the commitment book and realised we had written our names on the wrong page of the book. He said, "Eh, you all damn cute leh." Justin said, "Thank you!" No, Ben was not done with his sentence. He continued, "I told you I folded the page for you to write on and you go flip to another page." And we had to do it all over again...

We went down to the Kurt Store and Ben showed us around like where the tents are and where the OBS water bottles are. We learnt what things were needed to be brought out when we go hiking. We put our bags into the store, grabbed our whistle and PFD, and locked the store.

We kayaked in the afternoon. We were supposed to meet at 2.15 pm but we were very late with a lot of delays since people went missing. We actually started at 3 pm. We had a practice session which was the preparation for the sea expedition on Day 3.

We did water confidence by going into the sea to get used to it. We later took 2 kayaks and learnt how to kayak and did the capsize drill. We were then taught how to empty the water from the capsized boat which was actually quite fun. We then learnt the T-rescue, how to help a capsized boat and drain the water from it. Since we would be out and sea, there would be no ground to stand on to lift the boat like a see-saw to empty it.

We did the capsize drill and T-rescue further out at sea and we actually drifted off about 1 km. One of the 2 people we were helping with T-rescue had leg cramps and it was really scary because it was as if he was going to just drown and die. In addition, we were literally at the channel where the big ships go past and it was extremely dangerous. In the end, he persevered and successfully got back into his kayak.

Since we were too far out at sea, we paddled nearer to shore and continued. My partner (Zi Yiun) and I did quite well and fast even though she was a bit blur. All is well.

We completed kayaking practice at around 7 pm.

I think it was a really fun experience that allowed our watch to bond. The T-rescue also built the trust between each other since we could actually trust each other to save us when our boat capsizes.

We then had dinner at the food house, though by the time we reached there, the food house was closing in 5 minutes. That really showed how slow our watch was.

Night 1

I remember the first night when we were pitching our tents in the woods. The girls had already pitched their tents and the boys needed help, considering how we all have never pitched a tent before and had just learnt it an hour or two ago via a demonstration by Ben.

Ben said that the girls should also help the boys. I said, "This is not Team Girls and Team Boys. This is Team Kurt. We have to do this together." Ben agreed with me and I was like "Omg nice".

Since we were the last group, we had a bad place to pitch the tents. The ground was uneven an full of branches. I did not sleep well that night. I slept on my back and woke up in the middle of the night and turned to my side (my left side on the ground). I then woke up again in the middle of the night and turned back to my back to sleep and my shoulders and waist hurt a lot. Rip.