Day 3

8th of May 2008. My group skipped Physical Training in the morning as we were in charge of serving breakfast to the whole cohort. Taking care that not a single student will escape to the toilets to wash their dishes, I brought out toilet papers for some who claim to want to dry their dishes there. I couldn’t afford to let my class wash the toilets on the last day as that was the threatened punishment given to the class who broke the rules.

We did some lower elemental courses such as climbing over high walls with only the support of group mates. It was worthwhile breaking my old wound while climbing over as I’ve never done that before. Further on, we lifted two huge and heavy tyres out of a tall pole and put them back. At another station, the group had to squeeze standing on a high and small platform and shout cheers to satisfy our instructor Yuan Shan. It was hard for us not to fall apart.

As I had an open wound, I could not go out to kayak in the sea. However, I went up on a motorboat with two of my friends who were also excused along with an unknown instructor. We talked of kayaking and the sea, and saw how the rest of the class survived under the ‘torture’ of the instructor who was teaching them kayaking. He scared the wits out of some girls, nearly capsizing their kayaks. I missed much of the fun they had. We had abseiling; some of us felt it was the easiest obstacle to overcome.

We spent the rest of the afternoon learning and practising the dance steps and cheers. Love the dance! Love the Cheers! We were all so hyper up! I couldn’t stop being lame for a moment! The evening drew near, campfire started. We were the second class to perform. Everyone’s eyes were on us, it was time for us to show what our class was made up of. I was proud of my class, I saw my class like never before, and I gave my all to my class. I was sure that everyone gave their all. The campfire was the best I’ve ever had in my life and yet the longest too. Our instructors, Tammy and Yuan Shan, shared their dedications to us. It brought me to tears when it dawned on me that the camp was soon ending. As we slept for the last night, the rain pattered on the roofs of our huts, also cooling down the heat left by the bonfire.

Lower Elemental Courses

My group.

The other half of the class.

My friends and I in the motorboat.

Abseiling.

Getting warmed up for the campfire.

Our performance.

Another class's performance.

Our teary-eyed instructors dedicating their final messages to us.