Monday, June 12, 2006
.:YLTC 7th June to 11th June:.
No matter how far and broad the horizon is, no matter if we cannot see our target, like the sea, as long we had our end in mind and pointed our direction towards the target we are heading to, we will eventually reached our destiny....
YLTC..also known as Youth leadership training camp or You Learn To Complain (lol). In five phrases I can describe it as full of team-spirit, full of cheering, need a bit of endurance, fun and FOOD. LOL.
Done a 14km land expedition, a 16km kayaking around Puala Ubin, a supposedly 4.2km challenge run (that seems like 2.4km?), many challenging but fun team building games like the Great Wall of NJ, Spiderweb etc etc..I feel that instead of complaining about the difficulty of the challenge of these games and events, it is better to reflect on what I have learnt from that...
Okay start from where le? Hmm..okay ba, start from land ex. Maybe i could have taken a more leadership role in the land expedition by helping ern sheong more on the map reading part. Cuz in reality this hike is about following the leader, walking, walking and still walking. I never been to hike around Macritche and this hike shows me that Singapore also have many dense forests, slopes, grass, and mud. Haha. But the team spirit is great. The girls were always encouraging us to move faster and this speed up the whole team dramtically. We finished 3rd by reaching our final destination Dairy Farm Adventure Camp at about 8plus, but ONLY because my group decide to illegally went in to Mobil and buy many snacks (which turns out to be great later on).
Oh yea, our team name is called Tan Tock Seng (TTS)..im very proud of the cheer that we created...Boom boom boom, LISTEN TO OUR HEARTBEAT!! WHoo HOO!
So yea..woke up the next morning at 5am and its the jog. We ran in almost total darkness, being able to see what was 3metres in front of us. Had PT in front of a beautiful stretch of cliff (The Amazing Heights!). After PT its sea ex time! Went to Changi Sea Sports Club by bus. Nothing much new to learn, except ahem all of us wear the "skirt" aka Spray Deck. Turns out to be quite useful as it keeps out the rain and sea water from flooding the kayaks that would otherwise contribute to the xtra weight. my partner was luckily someone who had kayak b4, Ameila. It was not smooth-sailing at the start, as Amelia quickly got seasick and I rapidly got tired. I knew I had to depend on myself this time as the previous times I kayak it was with another guy and I depended on him too much. But im proud to say I made it through! Had lunch at Pasir Ris beach, near the chain of seaside restaurant. After that it was trip round coney island and puala ubin. Amelia is back and we paddle hard..but always keeping up with the group. It was kinda monotonous and drizzle kept hitting our faces like bullets everynow and then. She's actually got great endurance and I was impressed and this spurred me on to continue paddling on. Eventually we reached!! This kayaking really made me realise that my limits could be pushed much further.
Slept on benches and we woke up next morning. My team quickly realised its the third day and we should spent more time together bonding. Our teachers lead us to the beach and while watching the sunrise (which was annoying hidden by the clouds), we talked about our dreams. It was there in front of the vast sea that i realise i wanted to take on diving. I dun really noe why, but i struck me as a very fun and adventurous sport. Had a fun game of supposedly Captain Bottle with the girls. Sasha and Xinni was always the driver of the team, passing to everyone. Exhausted, we were told to find shells for the girls while they find nice stones for us. In the end we never exchanged, but placed it on the shore as a momento of our visit. Went back to Dairy farm adventure camp. We had team-building games, first up, with the pole and tyre thingy. I was among the ones we lent the shoulders while the girls climb up to place the tyre on top. Our partnership was really great! Cheered and went to the Great Wall of NJ. We were told to climb to the top without any foreign object support...i tink the wall was around 2.5m. We quickly realise that with two lines and support on the top, we could quickly made it through. We had a record time of 1 minute 17 secs with every on top. I tink contributed to the most was Jee Poh, who had to depend of himself to climb up (with us pulling front the top) as he was the last. Next was spider web. It was then something struck me very hard. Adaptability - its really an import ant Aspect of an leader. We always assumed the rules was totally right without really considering that the rules can be stretched to our advantage. We went in to the challenge with the totally wrong mindset - the go though the hole only once and cannot touch the ropes and one whole can only be used at a time. It was only when we completed the challenge den he told us that the rules did not say the number of people that can go through the one hole at anyone time - we could have held hands and cross over the biggest hole can complete the challenge. Lol. The next game was kinda like tarzan and involve swinging over to the other side. Ern Sheong rose to the challenge and his scout experience help to complete the challenge faster.
After dinner, it was another game that involve blind-folding and us making a shape, the Pentagon. Everyone contributes to suggestion and one leader emerged to examined and correct the shape while we shouted encouragements to each other. We completed the shape and even the teacher had to admit it was worth 9/10. Next was another blind-fold game and involve us to be lined up in register numbers. I realised that the game could be better if we had planned befor e-hand and lined people according the numbers b4 climbing up the bench. Another game was one involving throwing the rope to a cup. The biggest challenge was to throw it over a 4m thingy. Our lesson was that we could have used more teamwork instead of the few people throwing. But Perserverance was the key here. The last game was probably the hardest of them all. I was made to in charge of the leader of the game and was made to listen to the instructions only once. The challenge was acid lake and involve crossing a river with only three boards. The boards cannot be thrown, slide or anything but can only be placed by hand. Only one leg was to be on the board on anytime. We could have bettered ourselves if I suggest we think first before haphazardly crossing the river. The rules also said that we need someone with paralysed legs. It was the toughest of them all. Shen xiang probably contributed to the most by carrying xinni across while his toe was injuried. We spent a lot of time with a lot of failure, but the team peserve..and we finally made it though. We cheered and could feel the team-spirit. Probably some joker was annoyed or jealous of our team and started shouting counter cheer. It was a 3 teams versus 1 team situation but we still continue cheering even though we r very tired and outnumberd. Eventually someone shouted this shows TTS are alive and everyone stopped and shouted unionously the NJ cheer. It was a great day that taught me many lessons
The fourth day was obstacle course. It involve a individual's courage to scale the high poles with trust on the belayer and team. All was well and i experienced new things that I had never tried before, like flying fox, exzelling (or something that involve using your feet to go down a vertical wall?). The biggest challenge was probably the balance pole. I suck at balancing and this challenge and involve challenging up a lone pole and jumping across to reach a bar. It takes enormous courage to stand up straight on top of the wobbling pole. I felled once but I insist on trying one more time. Finally i was able to balance on top and reached the bar. It was hard and my glasses were a bit twisted from the wall and a few blisters broke. But I accomplished it and so YEA!
As this is the final night, we had better food. Oh yeah, my team were in charge of food and this really taught me to become a efficient food distributor. We had a skit...which i thought was very funny but was somewhat runined by the echoing of the canteen. But we had a great time anyway. Other teams came up to present their skit. I tink my favourite one was the skit with the person selling prawn mee. His actions was very funnny. Another one was the one who imitate chen shui bian so well. We ended the night with competitve cheering (the dynamite cheer vs the Heartbeat cheer). Then someone created NJ history by suggesting merging the cheer. Its good to noe that the student counsillors will pass the cheer on.
The last day was the challenge run. I tink the run itself wasn't challenging but it taught us teamwork was important. No matter how good you are, you must always help your members when they could not run. Anita had a cramp but we did not leave her behind. We spurred and cheered her on. After that we packed and the whole 8 groups come together and sing and sway together in the music. Many cheers happened and it was time to leave. My group went to Mad jack's and ate there. Then the guys went to play Lan and the camp was over. It taught me many things but i will summarise it here:
As a leader, we will always seek to improve by listening to new suggestion and challenge the rules. The most important part was to have confidence in yourself and adapt to the new situation accordingly, and of course Adapt.
To everyone on my group (group 1 - Tan tock seng)
ShenXiang - You are really a nice guy you noe! Thanks for the chips and things you have bought for our group and thanks for contirbuting so much in team games.
ShengYu - Woah...The small gay boy lol. Always kena forfeit de. But stay cool foreva!
Jee Poh - Yoz...the Mr Strong Guy. Its fun talking to you!
Ern Sheong - The one who is the most eloquent and probably have the most unique ideas! Rock on!
Gim Lim - Haven't really talk much..but I noe you are a nice person. Good luck in becoming a student counsillor
Sasha - The most macho girl in the group lol. You are really brave you noe..especially trying the balance pole three times. Good Luck!
Xinni - Haha. The most Siao one. Thanks for teaching us so many of your fun games!
Anita - Yea another Jap Anime fan!! Rock on!
Mae Yue - You really laugh like mad...probably after xinni. Haha
Amelia - Thanks for being such a nice kayaking partner..and ask more decent questions next time in truth or dare! Lol. jk.