Ok I survived OBS.... haha
Well... most of the activities are quite fun - like kayaking, abseiling, jetty jump etc. Except the land expedition: for the uninitiated (and the RG peeps going next week) this means carrying a 20kg backpack and walking all over in EITHER rain or suffocating heat and humidity.
But we kena mobile... the camping quite sian ah... especially when it rain and rain and rain... everynight pitch up tent, go sleep, then half hour later it will start pouring and the tent become swimming pool - i don't mind if the water is clean (that will be like sleeping in a bathtub of sorts) but it's all muddy, sandy, and basically gross. All this pitching up of tent bla blah blah takes up a lot of time leh... But a tent, being such a small confined space, really encourages u to know your tentmates better... got one night me and my tentmates (choon how, yongsheng, renyong) talk and talk cos cannot sleep (read: too uncomfortable to sleep)... Den we didn't really have proper food (except a couple of meals at the canteen)... only dry and canned rations.
Actually rain got pro and con also lah... at least not so hot, so dun sweat so much and stink so much and dun get so much bites. Then i was navigator for the kayak sea expedition.. then got one time rain so heavy until whiteout, visibility less than 20m, navigate the kayak also got to tikum tikum with the compass and map, if got obstacle u won't see until u r very close. But den my kayak the front hull got 5cm crack, the more water u bail out the more goes in.... so choon how and i ended up kayaking an extra half-kayak load of water around... then lag like shit. in fact the instructor told me after i used that kayak they condemned it... haha.
I think OBS makes a ripoff profit from the equipment replacement.. one mess tin charge $7.40??? just a metal piece of scrap that dents easily cost 7.40? rip off man... well, it's a COMMERCIAL operation after all...
Top: cook watch, half of 3C class... Really got to know everyone better through this OBS. Made friends with everyone, especially some (u noe who u are :-))
Will Zhang was right. OBS really brings out the best in some people and the worst in others. I've heard horror stories from certain friends from XYZ class about their bo chap, selfish, and slack watch, and am really quite happy that my watch really got quite good "gotong-royong" (合作）spirit. Everyone is basically nice to each other, and all contribute to the group :-). And in fact i see that everyone (or almost everyone) has some sort of leadership potential that just emerges at the appropriate moments. Quite hard to find such groups of nice pple.
Well, so at the end of the day, i find that i both love and hate OBS... it is certainly an invaluable experience.. but i could have done away with some of its things. had my share of fun and suffering. I got to know my classmates better, but the mosquitos and what not also got to know me better..... It has allowed me to appreciate (and love) comfort even more, but thank god it's over.
