♥ BABYT'S WORLD OF CRAP ♥

Thursday, April 07, 2005

12.30 p.m. is the time for lunch everyday, which I sometimes skip because I really can’t stand the food served by the canteen. Seriously, if there were anything I dislike about the camp, it would definitely be the canteen food and the toilets. The food in the canteen is always too salty and the drinks are often too sweet. But what do you expect, I mean at least you have food to eat, right. The toilets were, not exactly dirty but then the water’s condition is pathetic. Sometimes there’s worms inside the water, so every time I scoop the water, I double check whether there’s any worms in it. At times, we even have to bath dirty, brown coloured water or sometimes worst, no water at all. Anyway, so from 12.30 p.m. to 2 p.m. would be our (non-Muslims) break time. The Muslims will of course have to pray at about 1.30 p.m., so they wouldn’t call that period a ‘break-time’. In fact, I kind of pity the Muslims because except for Sundays, they really don’t have a time for breaks like we, non-Muslims do. Another example would be from 6.30 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. at night. During this time, we would enjoy ourselves because we have plenty of time to bath, eat and hang out but the Muslims, they have to rush through their dinner and bath in a hurry so that they can go for their prayers on time at around 7.30 p.m. I guess. Then about an hour later they have to pray AGAIN. What a life. In addition to that, they still have to attend numerous lectures on Islam. I’m not criticizing their religion, in fact I respect their discipline and obedience but you will definitely not see me being part of their religion.

At 2 p.m. sharp or earlier at times, will be our physical training session. The module I love. Well I know I’m not the sporty type but it is kind of fun to have some muscles working. For the physical module, we train in flights – Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, a bit different from ‘Kenegaraan’ (Nationhood) where we work in smaller groups. So I’m in Delta (for physical) and BATIK or D1 (for kenegaraan). Complicated…not really. Anyway, there are so many fun activities arranged for us in the physical module. All I really like except for……….marching. There’s absolutely nothing anyone can do to make me change my perception on marching. I mean, not only for me, I’m sure most of the girls there hate marching mainly because of the burning hot sun that would cause so much damage to their skin what-so-ever. For me the sun is just a small issue (not to say that it’s not an issue) but the real deal that makes me despise marching so much is that I was kicked out of my school’s marching team not once but twice before. Marching brings back a lot of sad memories. Sigh. OK back to NS. The physical module was like I said my favourite because I get to do a lot of things that I would not get to do normally. For example, going for the flying fox was one of the best experiences ever. When I was below looking at the people up there who were ready to jump, I was kind of confident that the flying fox isn’t going to be a problem at all for me. I was ready to take the challenge but I waited a long time for my turn. Finally my turn came and I was so ready for it. But it wasn’t until I was on the way up there that I felt really nervous. I thought I was so brave at first but apparently I was wrong. I need to be up there to feel the fear. Fortunately I’m not afraid of heights, so it was not that bad for me but for some people, they had a really hard time persuading themselves to slide down. I tried to remain calm and pretended that I was fine and that I don’t feel a bit of fear when in fact I was extremely scared. I keep thinking that I cannot embarrass myself like some of the girls did in front of the guys below there who were watching. I won’t give them any chance to laugh at me. So, with the little courage I have left inside of me, I slid down the wire and thank God I landed safely, not a perfect landing but at least I was safe and sound. Besides flying fox, we actually got to learn some self-defence skills (Known as Tempur Tanpa Semjata –TTS). I’ve always wanted to learn some sort of martial arts and I was really glad that I finally had a chance to. The best thing is it’s free. Unfortunately, we only have enough time for a few lessons, so we only learned the basics of kicking and some other simple manoeuvres.

We also did kayaking, which was really fun. We had to walk a few kilometres to a lake nearby for the kayaking session. On our first session, we had to learn swimming even though I already know how to swim. The lake water was extremely dirty not to mention smelly and we have to actually submerge our whole body in it during our swimming lessons. Only after submerging our bodies in water that we had completed our ‘swimming lessons’. I don’t even understand why they have this swimming session at all. It doesn’t really help those who don’t know swimming because in the end they still have no idea on how to swim. Furthermore, we wore safety jackets and that can somehow prevent us from drowning. And only after completing our swimming lessons that we get to do some serious kayaking, well which only lasted for a few minutes. My only problem after the kayaking session was that my face began to itch because I am sensitive to seawater. My whole face was red with rashes and everyone kept asking me the same question, “ What’s wrong with your face?” and “ Why is your face so red?” I kind of like attention, but not in that embarrassing way. I asked the medics for water to clean my face and those irresponsible freaks just wouldn’t care. So I asked the trainers for permission to go back to camp to wash my face and they were really nice to allow me to do so. I had to run a few kilometres back to camp as fast as possible in order to save my face. What a day. But then I didn’t regret at all because I did get to try kayaking. If I told the teachers about my allergy, I’m sure they won’t allow me to do it.

Then there was of course the ‘Kembara Halangan’ (obstacle course), which was the highlight of the National Service programme. Who could forget the monkey racks, the Tarzan swing and the 6 feet wall? I’m not really a physically strong person and so it’s not such a big deal that I fell a couple of times while doing the monkey racks and the Tarzan swing. But then I did enter the Obstacle Course Competition, where we had to compete with the other flights. When I was in camp, occasionally I felt that some of my group members discriminated me because of my small size or should I say, my stunted growth factor. They hesitated to let me enter the competition at first even though I only volunteer to become a substitute. They needed 30 girls in the team and 5 girls as substitute but then there were not enough girls in Delta, so I volunteered in order to complete the team. They questioned my abilities when I handed in my name and I was really pissed at that time but I managed to control my temper, but not for long as I started complaining about it when I was back in the dorm and practically the whole night. My friends listened and were really supportive. They kept consoling me and telling me that it’s a good thing that I was not chosen for the competition. To me, it was not the fact that they did not choose me that bothered me, but it’s because they underestimate me because of my size. I mean, like my close friend, Huey Ning, just because she’s tall and pretty, people trusted her abilities. This is actually not the first time my group members deduct my chances of taking part in competitions. Before this, I was not chosen to play volleyball for the team because I am…once again SHORT. Well I don’t mind that I’m not chosen at that time but then it’s like they do it to me all the time. But in the end, I managed to enrol myself as a reserve for the obstacle course competition and what happened was on the day of the competition, one of my friends was sick and guess who had to fill in her place - me! I was really nervous at that time because that was my chance of proving myself to my teammates. I have to nail that competition to win their trust. Even though I fell while doing the monkey racks and the Tarzan Swing (which caused 2 points to be deducted from my team), I feel proud of myself that I managed to complete the whole obstacle. When the results were announced, I was overjoyed when Delta won the obstacle course for both the WIRA and WIRAWATI category. I shouted too loud when I heard the results that I almost deafen the girl standing next to me. Seriously.

After that, some girls in my team started to believe more in me and that’s why for the next competition, which was the ‘rakit’ (raft) competition, I was asked to join. I was actually not the first choice but because other Chinese girls were having ‘monthly problems’, so I was their last resort. I hesitated at first because I really have no idea on how to ‘rakit’(raft) as I have never in my life done it before and suddenly, without any practice, I would be thrown in the middle of the lake to compete with other groups. Besides, I doubted I have enough strength to even move the ‘rakit’(raft) but I secretly hid my doubts as I don’t want other people to look down on me again. So what I did was, I tried searching for another Chinese girl who can take my place. (We need a Chinese girl to complete the team because they need multi-races in a team) Unfortunately, most of them were having ‘female problems’ and the only girl left was already in D1. (Delta was divided into two raft teams, D1 and D2) So I had to do it although I had zero confidence. But at that time, I was really happy that they at least, began to trust me. I was really excited during the day of the competition and was really hoping that we will do well, not win but at least not in the last place. But my worst than worst nightmare happened that day. We’re up against Charlie, our strongest competitor (Alpha and Bravo are usually not good enough) D1 went first and they did a wonderful job overtaking the ‘Charlians’. D2 (my team) was supposed to continue their glory, but not only did we fail, we were so bad that we were disqualified. The competition goes like this: We were supposed to raft about 50 metres to a buoy and from there make a U-turn back. D1 goes first and make a turn to return to the starting point. Then D2 continues and make another turn to complete the competition. But what my team did was we lost control of the raft and end up some where in the middle of the lake. They had to ask the rescue boat to actually pull us back to the starting point. Before this, we were laughing at the Alphians for being disqualified for the same reasons but now it’s our turn.
What’s worst was that when I reached the bank, everyone (even one of the teachers) was telling me that I was the one rowing the oars in a completely opposite way from the others. In order words, I was the one who caused my team’s defeat. I felt extremely embarrassed with myself. I mean, my teammates trusted me for the first time and I screwed everything up. I really didn’t know where to hide my face that day. I kept running away from all the Deltians. (That’s my creative way of calling the members of Delta) I told my best friends but it didn’t help much, I still felt like hell that day. Luckily most people were too focused on the rest of the competition to actually notice me much. I hate it because for once, everyone was right; I’m pretty useless and I’m weak. Later, Delta’s physical teacher, En.Aziz, told us not to hold grudges or blame each other for the loss. (The more he said, the worst I felt) The WIRA lost to Charlie actually earlier before us. At least they were not disqualified like us and they didn’t have anyone to blame. But for the girls, it was pretty obvious that I was the ‘losing factor’. I think even the teacher know it. Sigh. Charlie won the raft competition by the way.

Life has to move on no matter what. Soon, everyone was concentrating on the ‘Marching Competition’. Boy, am I glad that I’m not part of it. I can’t march anyway so I better not waste my time and my teachers’ time. But I had a wonderful time watching the marchers do their thing. Well as usual, it’s a competition between the four flights – Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. This time, our greatest fear wasn’t Charlie as we saw them practising and they were, well…. not as good as us. This time Bravo was really good. Bravo was known as the worst flight for they never won anything at all before this, in fact they always came in last. Not this time. On the day of the competition, they were outstanding. Bravo performed first, followed by Alpha, Charlie and Delta was last. Even though the marching was not perfect, but seriously, what do you expect from a bunch of teenagers who were given only a limited time to practice. I truly admire the marchers because they actually managed to march so well even though they were only given a few hours to practice, like two days before the competition. I definitely wouldn’t be able to achieve that accomplishment. You can give me a year and still I won’t be able to do what they did. Okay, Okay, calm down. The results?? I know you are eager to find out. Well apparently according to my teacher, Delta scored the lowest for the marching part. In order words, our marching was worst than Charlie. (I totally disagree but it’s the judges’ decision) Bravo was obviously the winner; even the blind knows that. But fortunately the Delta marchers dressed up really neat and so they scored a lot of points for the uniform section. (They conducted a uniform inspection before the competition and points were taken for that category as well) So overall Bravo was the winner (Surprise! surprise!), my flight –Delta came in second, followed by Alpha and this time Charlie took the last place. Muahaha!!!!! Bravo of course deserved the taste of victory. As for Delta, we’re happy that we were second; we thought we were last (The teacher lied to us when he told us we were in the last place)

Well I guess Charlie deserved to lose at least once. I mean they won the ‘raft’ competition and the sports competition before that. There was a sports competition earlier on (before the Hari Raya Haji holidays, if I’m not wrong) where each flight had to compete in 3 types of games – beach volleyball (my favourite), beach football and netball. I did not take part in any sport, well mainly because I was not wanted. I did volunteer to try out for volleyball, but obviously I was too short. Nevertheless I had such an enjoyable time supporting my flight and my friends who played for their flights. I didn’t know that watching a sport could be so exciting and fun. But in the end, Delta performance was not as good as Charlie. We came in second and third place for most of the games.
Needless to say, Charlie was the overall winner again.

During the physical training module, we had to camp in the forest twice. The first time, we went to Jeram Hilir to camp there. The first time was a total disaster as it rained heavily at night causing all our belongings to get soaked and wet. I mean, we weren’t exactly given tents to sleep in; we were only given two sheets of nylon cloth – one on the floor and the other tied above as a shed. When we reached there earlier in the evening, everyone started to make their own shelter using the nylon cloth and strings. But seriously, how can that piece of nylon protect us from the rain. That’ s why when it rained heavily, the whole bunch of us including our stuff got completely drench. Our condition that night was disastrous. We were soaked and we felt extremely cold. What’s worst is that all our bus had gone and so we don’t have transport to go back to camp. Our teachers tried to persuade us to endure the night there but all of us really can’t stay in that place anymore. We were so desperate that we force our teacher to think of a way to get us out there that instant. Even though there was an activity that night, all of us weren’t concentrating because we were too focused on the rain and the condition of our stuff. Soon the teachers surrendered because they know that we can’t take it anymore. So they asked us to pack and get ready to head back to camp. That was good news but the bad news was that they only managed to contact one bus driver; meaning to say there’s only one bus available. So, I had to wait for hours until my turn to go back to camp. Alpha was the first group who went home first and Delta (My group) was the last. I was one of the last groups to return. I reached camp at about 3 a.m. Even though I was dirty, wet and smelly, I didn’t even bother to bath, as I was extremely exhausted. The next day, the teachers allowed us to sleep a little longer because of yesterday’s catastrophe. A few days after that, something really freaky happened in camp. An Indian-Muslim girl in my dorm was beginning to act peculiarly. The girl is really noisy and active but suddenly she was so quiet. Then she kept telling her friends that she wants to go home. When they asked her where’s her home, she would say Jeram Hilir. That means that she belongs to the jungle. Soon, we found out that a ghost entered her body. Everyone in my dorm or should I say all the girls in camp were so terrified. We slept together with our friends every night. Later, the teachers had to seek help from the ‘bomoh’ (Witch doctor) in order to chase the ghost away. According to my teacher, the ghost is a Siamese and she entered my friend’s body because she was angry with my friend for changing under her tree without her permission. After a few days, the girl showed signs of recovery. That was one of the scariest experiences ever in my life. I’ve heard of ghost stories but never in my life it happened to someone whom I know. It was so freaky. The next time we entered the jungle was in February, 2 days before we went back for Chinese New Year holidays. This time everything went smoothly as planned. We reached the jungle (Another one) in the afternoon and started settling down. However this time wasn’t too fun as we had to camp according to our own flights (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta) and that means I cannot stay with my best friends. Each flight is given a site to camp on. Even though my camp and my friend’s camp are between walking distance, we are not allowed to go visit other flights. This is because we were actually in a game. The game requires us to stay in our base (our own campsite) and look after our own belongings. Other flights might send attackers to attack our flight by stealing our stuffs. That’s why we have to stay focus to look after our belongings in case our enemies attack us. We were actually not allowed to sleep because we need to guard our stuff but then at 2 a.m. all of us dosed off. We were too tired. Besides, no one would have the energy to attack us in the middle of the night. Even the teachers were sleeping. That night in the jungle was extremely boring, as we have nothing to do except wait, wait and wait for the time to leave. The only thing great that night was the stars. I've never seen so many stars in the sky before. I mean, it's like the whole sky is filled with stars and it was the best feeling ever just looking at the stars. The next morning, we packed and left for camp. When we reached camp, we rushed to pack our bags in preparation to go home for Chinese New Year.

With Lots of Love & Hugs & Kisses & Chris Richardson's scent from BabyT ;