Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 4

8 hours of trekking ~~ last activity of the the camp. Sad :( make sure to leave any comments ;)

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7am
I woke up and stared at the ceiling. Welcoming the last activity of the camp (best welcoming technique ever) LOL? I was worried for Shim. Even in the morning she looked gloomy. Poor Shim.

8am
After the morning exercise, I didn't see Teacher Andy. Usually the teachers will be eating at a table.

9am
Our next activity starts at 10 (I think) so we have time to get ready. I finally asked where was our teacher-in-charge. My friends said that he went to the hospital. My heart nearly stop. WHAT?! Apparently, the night before the other teachers tried to remove the needles, one of them released a red vein to the heart. Teacher Melissa said the red vein releases the venom.

Hah... our group was doomed. Wenxiu and I shared one backpack, it was mine. It was big enough to store our drinking water, food and a few cooking water (1 litre) it was heavy. Me, Wenxiu and Jordan took turns to carry the bag since all of our supplies were in there. I volunteered to carry the bag first because I figured the starting will be easy.

I was really tired and terrified but on the bright side we were the first group who trek. The 5 groups were infront. So if the ones behind can't catch up we had to stop and wait.

12pm
The sound of water rushing made me calm. We were trekking beside the white water rafting river, the facilitator said we need to cross the river at the double-decker rapid. The trekking wasn't that bad as summit climb, in fact, it was a thousand times better than summit climb. It wasn't easy, I had some help from Jordan and I ended up helping Adam.

Kok How was infront of Jordan. I then realized it was good to be in the front because if the ones in the back can't catch up. We can rest while waiting for them to catch up. Hahaha.

We reached the double-decker rapid and everyone had to wait for their turn to cross the rapid. There was a long rope tied across the rapid. I had fun resting. Haha. Appreciated the time. Tr May Peng was slowly killing a big fat leech. Joseph was afraid of leeches and he hid behind my back XD.

I didn't had trouble crossing the rapid as I'm a water baby(according to my dad). Group 6 then continue our journey.

3pm
After 3 hours of relaxing trekking and fresh air. We finally had our lunch. Yep at 3pm.

The other 5 groups were already eating their lunch. We have to start our own fire, find wood, boil water, cook our lunch. Wenxiu and I went to find wood and leaves. The boys started the fire. It was fun. We took turns eating magge mee. I wasn't that hungry. I didn't know why. :/

3.30pm approximately
We finished our lunch and went back the same path. We had to cross another small and shallow river. We hold hands and cross haha. Jordan was carrying the bag now because it was light because we used up our cooking water.

The sky was getting darker and we knew it won't be pretty. We rushed ourselves through the trekking path.

5pm
Time to cross the rapid again. The current was super strong. We can't go one by one know. Everyone had to go all together. It was tiring to fight the current. We held on tight to our rope. Wenxiu almost let go of the rope when we were at shore. My heart was racing, my legs tried to stand to the ground. I was really tired when we reached on land.

It started to rain. Great. The trek was slippery and muddy. I'm all the way back now because we went to the wrong path thanks to the guide. Tr May Peng was behind us and another bunch of helpful boys. Joseph was helping us crossing a wide gap. It was tough and scary. I slipped a few times but managed to grip onto the trees. *PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 5: TREKKING IN THE RAIN*

I was pissed. Because it rain and I was all soaking wet but it made no difference because we were already wet.

We were almost back to camp. I saw the bridge and the road. Cheers! Oh. Get this. The rain stopped when we reached back at camp. Dragging my sloppy legs, I went back to our dorm and bathe with Wenxiu.

6pm
BBQ DINNER
7pm onwards we have our free time. Finally! I tired texting my parents with my friend's phone but it doesn't work. Damn. I hung out with KHENG YUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, David,  Fifi, Yiting.we sat the cafeteria dancing to music. Just chilling.

Tr Andy was back from the hospital, turned out he was fine. Tr Melinda went to the hospital because she can't bend her back. Other than that, it was a peaceful night.

12am
I decided to sleep early but ended up talking to Kheng Yue. It was the last night in Gopeng. It was disappointing. Aside the bugs and lizard eggs, it was fun sleeping in a Sleeping bag with only 2 ceiling fans. The air was cold and fresh. It was peaceful . At last, my eyes closed.

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 3

I would like to call this day: Trekking day. Most Tiring day! Enjoy ;)

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7am
I had a good sleep. Kheng yue woke me up. I crawled out from my sleeping bag *PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 4: I SLEPT IN A SLEEPING BAG* we got ready for the morning exercise as usual for half an hour.

8.30am
Briefing back at camp
Our next activity was CAVING: GUA TEMPURUNG. I went caving before with my dad so I was kinda looking forward to it. We had to ride the truck again for 20 minutes. Which was a good sign :D All 18 groups were going together.

9am
Truck ride :D
WOOHOO! Dibs in the front as always. Li Pahn and Dylan were beside me and Tr Andy was behind Dylan. I personally like the front because I got most of the air and I can see what is going infront. We will be the first one to duck and avoid getting tree-slap.

9.30am
Briefing
Mr. Lim, the facilitator, briefed us. There was another group for those claustrophobic people. Wenxiu went over leaving us with 9 members. Then we were divided into 4 groups. Our group was Group D (I think) 2 groups were going in from the same way. The other 2 the other way.

10am
Stairs attack
It wasn't that tough as the one I did with my dad. There were built in staircase for us to climb. And they were steep and long. But I must say, the rock formation were stunning. It was tiring climbing up and if went really slow when we were going down. Everyone was. Because the stairs had gap in between and it was stewp.

11am?
Along the way...
The guide warned us that we were getting wet so it would take some time to cross the river. So we waited. At that moment, I was with Chee Foong, Yong Yie, Han Zern and Teacher Grace! :D while we were waiting on the staircase. We chatted. I must say, I get along well with people who I'm not close with.(not that I want to brag) I seldom talk to kheng yue and the others except at night.

We had a good talk, Teacher Grace and I were jumping from topic to topic and we talked about LOTR *fangirls* k.

12pm......???
Getting wet
After sliding down a steep slope. We had to drop into this small hole and fall into the stream. The water was cold and we had to move slowly, we had to lie on our belly and pull ourselves forward. We were all soaking wet. Lucky for me  I was wearing my headlamp so it was safe :) I decided to crawl with my elbows against the ground but the pebbles and stones were hurting my elbows and knees. I had to tolerate it :( but we had to walk often and the boys in front of me were cracking jokes.

1pm
Back at camp~
We were all soaking wet. Back at the truck and in the cave. I got tips about our next activity: SUMMIT CLIMB, from Chee Foong and Yong Yie, they already did summit climb. We were the last group to do summit climb. They said it was reallt hard ab andd tiring. The slope was steep and they made me worry. So I kept on saying to my group mates: we're gonna die for summit.

3pm
Briefing.... @.@
God. I wore my V-neck T-Shirt and leggings for comfort. Because we were going to do a lot of climbing and my rubber boots. The old facilitator briefed us. The weather was getting bad that day, we were planning to reach Level 3 of the climb. Basically, we were climbing up a mountain.

3.30pm
Ughhh....
Jordan was infront of me (ky said best to have a guy infront or behind of you, so they can help us) hah.... Celene was behind me. We were the last who go up. Group 1 first then follow by group 2... I was slow because I got tired easily. Celene, who isn't a help much, keep saying: Chelsea, you need to go faster we're left behind blah blah blah. I was like thinking, dude, you're not helping.

I breathed really loudly XD I was tired out. I'd never been so tired in my life. I took big steps that's why my thighs hurt. And we cant rest until the next level because we were the last group. Sad. 

I gotten help from nature. I grabbed the trees to stable myself and for my own support. And that was why I got a sort-of splinter on my left palm. But eventually I got it out. 

Jordan was a big, he got himself a stick and he helped me throughout. My thighs and muscles were hurting a lot! We were only at Level 1.

4.30pm
UGH.....
Ok, my legs were going to break. Shim and Lionel quit and went back to camp. Yiting was with us now because she rest. Tr Andy was infront of Jordan and he encouraged us, which was good actually. It helped. I guess?

I was about to give up but I keep telling myself: if others can do it, why can't you. So I kept going. We reached Level 2. Halfway through we had to go back down because it was going to rain. So we went back *cheers!*

I had to slide down on my butt because I am very scared of falling down especially when it comes to downslope.

6pm....
Finally!~
I couldn't carry my legs any further it was hurting so much! Wenxiu and I went back to the girl's dorm to bath because we weren't doing any activities after that.

Lucky for the form 5s, they went white water rafting :(

7pm....
Dinner! :D
BBQ dinner~~~~ woohoo. My mood went down because of my legs. They were so damn painful. Muscle crams. :( later on, we could chill. But the teachers got a little activity in store for us.

8pm...
A little activity
We were in our groups, the other 9 groups went for jungle night walk. Our Activity: we have to tie 5 rafia strings to 1 rubber band. Our goal is to make a plastic cup pyramid. Trick is: we can only touch the end of the string.

9pm
We had a little trouble with it. Each group was splited into 2 groups. I was with Bugh, Wenxiu, Joseph and Shen Yin. We were kinda frustrated and tired.

The other group's teacher in charge were there but there was no sign of teacher Andy. He had a few stings on his arms and it was swollen. I figured out that he must be tired out and was sleeping. 

11pm
Shim and I went down to get my phone because my mum couldn't reach me since day 2. THERE WAS NO RECEPTION! I tried calling and calling. No luck. I did sent her a few text messages but it didn't got through. I told Teacher Yuen Shin I got muscle cram and she gave me heat rub. Aw... :3 I applied some on my legs. Every step I take, it hurts so much.
12am
Midnight
Shim told the girls that she doesn't want to do the next day's activity: WILDERNESS SURVIVAL. So I went down with her to talk to Teacher William, Teacher Melinda and Teacher May Peng. Teacher William asked me to go up leaving Shim behind. I don't want to but I had to.

Shim came back crying and we had to comfort her and help her. She had a hard time with the summit climb and she doesn't want to do wilderness survival.

1am
I went to sleep with kheng yue with my muscle crams. Shim was down in the teacher's dorm. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day. I was told we were going to be in the jungle for 8 hours. Trekking. So I needed some good sleep. I climbed in my sleeping bag with my muscle crams, regardless of the uncomfortable pillow and floor.

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 2

This was my most favourite day!~ enjoy :P
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7am
The air was cold, but I like it. Everyone in the girls dorm started to wake up and went to the toilet. Of course, me and wen xiu went to the toilet together and brush our teeths there. We didn't want to change in the toilet as it was disgusting. So... we changed in the girls dorms. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 3: CHANGING IN AN OPEN HALL HAHHAHAHA. We're all girls, come on. I changed into T-Shirt and shorts because that day, for Group 1 to 6, are water activities.

7.30 am
Me and my friends rushed down to the field for our morning exercise. The ashes from the campfire were still there. Everyone's faces were sleepy and half dead. I found my dear group and lined up in a single file. An old guy, one of the facilitators, guided us. We did some simple exercise, the normal stretching exercises. After that, we were split into 2 big groups. Each group had to form 1 inner circle and 1 outer circle. They were a few teachers doing it with us. We had to talk to the person opposite us from the inner circle. I was at the outer circle.

8.30am
Breakfast
FINALLY! We were all hungry and bored of the exercise. Most of us don't like the old facilitator. Our breakfast was fried rice/meehoon with crackers. I can't say it was really nice nor it was bad. After we ate, me and wen xiu went back to our dorm to get ready for our first Activity: White Water Rafting. (Y) this was the only activity I was excited about before camp. And little did I know, it was our first Activity!

9.30am
Group 1 to 6 gathered outside the first aid open hall or which I called it... the girls dorm. One of the facilitators briefed us on what will happen and what if this happens.

The boat has 3 sections. Front, middle, back. There were two platforms to divide the sections. So ended up with spaces in each section. I thought we were suppose to sit in those section and paddle but NO... we had to sit on the side... it's hard to explain I'll show you the picture.

Each boat has 6 people and 1 guide. We get to choose our own teammates :3 I went with Yiting, Shim, Milton, Darryl and Chin Yu. We know each other but we're not close *exception Yiting and Shim (mah awesome friends)* Our group was just right because we had big and sma size :3

10am (approximately)
Our guide was Adik. All the guides spoke English which was convenient. We had to carry our rafting boat to the river. Behind us were the teachers : Tr May Peng, Tr Melinda, Tr Andy,  Tr Zax and Tr Angie. How cute! All the teachers in one boat! :3

They were a few codes to remember, when the guide says it we have to do what he says:
Paddle forward
Padde backward
Boom boom: When we were approaching a big rapid, we have to sit at the space below us
On the line: we have to return to our
Positions
Hold the rope: When we were approaching a rapid we have to hold the rope beside us which was attached to the boat.
High five: everyone lifts their paddle up on the air and hit the water.

10.30am
Action time! :D
We had a fun time carrying our boat to the river(situated outside the resort) because Tr Zax was making fun. We settled our boat on the river and everyone got in. I was personally scared but really excited. We can never let go of the T-grip (paddle). We did a warm up rapid, a small one. Milton fell out of our boat, everyone panicked. Then one of the guide threw him a rope and he grabbed on to it. Phew. Shim then was really scared.

3 sat on the left side of the boat, 3 sat on the right side. The guide was at the back.
Left: Darryl. Milton. Yiting
Right: Chin Yu. Shim. Me

The river was 2 km long, 15 rapids in total. At the... 4th rapid. It was the biggest rapid, it was a drop, I must say. When we dropped, the whole boat was flooded with water, we almost sank. There was another rapid, double-decker, it was 1 drop after another. It was really fun!!

There was one rapid, Milton and Darryl went to the right side (our side) and the boat almost capsized. But they went back to their original position.

11.30 (approximately)
Rest stop
There was this big rest stop. Where the was no rapid. Every boat had to capsize. Our guide asked Yiting, Milton and Darryl to move to our side on his signal. When they moved, the guide moved too and used the rope to capsize the boat.

I never experience this before so it was new to me. I was really scared, what if I couldn't get up. What if I was stuck. When the boat capsized, Water went into my nose, someone was on top of me. My hand still held on to the paddle. It was hard to swim to shore with my left hand occupied and the current.

We then rest and played water and swam around. Teacher Zax and Teacher Andy climbed up a tree and jumped down from the tree. A lot of us followed them and climbed the tree. There were a few who did a backflip. Teacher May Peng climbed up too. I didn't want to because I was tired and just want to relax. But me and Yiting cheered them on.

11.45...?
We then continued our journey. The rapids weren't that huge anymore so our expectations went low. Because we were the 4th group to go, the teachers boat was infront of us. At one of the rapids, they were so proud and confident, they waved to our boat and be like, bye!!! But who knows, they were stuck at the rocks. They had to bounce to be free. Then our boat went, it was our turn to say bye.

My left hand was painful because I was holding the T-grip too tightly.

12.30pm....?
We saw the boats infront of us stopped and they got off. Uh-oh. My worst moment. The rafting came to an end D: I was so disappointed and was begging for more. It was so fun! >< even Shim, the one who was scared, demanded for more! We climbed up a small slope and saw the truck waiting for us! :D

The truck ride was really fun, we had to stand at the back of the truck. I and a few friends were standing by the side. There were tree branches and leaves coming right at us and we had to duck. We joked that when we said boom boom, means duck because branches were coming. I got tree-slapped a few times. But it was so fun :D

1pm
We were the first group who arrived back at camp. The other 2 groups were not back yet. We returned our equipments and wash our boot because it was an ocean in my boot. XD me and Yiting washed our hair because the helmet was smelly XD we were already wet so why not?

I went back to the dorm and got my towel and decided to head to the canteen. Teacher May Peng was relaxing on the hammock near our dorm. She called for me and we chatted about camp ^^

2pm
The other 2 groups were back. 1 of the groups look exhausted and was sweating A LOT. Apparently, they got lost in the jungle. I shivered. We had our lunch in our wet outfit. Our next activity was WATERFALL ABSEILING, we're getting wet again so why bother to change?

4pm
Truck again it is!
We rode the truck again. Group 1 to 6. We laughed the whole way long. But I was really scared eventhough I abseiled before.

We reached the Waterfall in 10 minutes time. The guide gave us a brief demonstration. The Waterfall was 10m high. Well it wasn't THAT high. Group 1 were the first to go. Well, luck. My group was the last to go. :/ so we watched every single one of them to abseil down.
There were 3 stages to choose from: easy, medium, hard.
Easy was just beside the waterfall
Medium was in the middle of the waterfall
Hard was to the left of the waterfall Where the current was the strongest.

Adrian was the first who went down, hr went too fast and slip a few times. But he was fast. Wen xiu and I sat with the other groups at the bottom of the waterfall (not directly)

As time pass I was very cold because of the mist and the water so I went further down where Ashley and Dylan were.

5pm
It was going at a slow pace. Group 2 just went as they were limited amount of harnesses. I was really cold and was shivering, Ashley made it worst by splashing water at me. We had to wait for a long time. Lionel, who was group 1, haven't abseil down yet. Yune-wen was laughing about it and yelled hoping Lionel would hear it.

6pm
Almost there...
Group 4 was doing it. It was going at a really slow pace. I was about to become ice. Group 5 went and the teachers said that the other groups were bored and hungry so group 1 to 5 went back. WOW hahhaha. Which was good actually. Only a few of group 5 were still there.

6.30pm
Gearing up and action
Teacher May peng helped me to gear up. Wenxiu, Celene were already up there. I had to climbed to reach. It was a short and easy climb. To my surprise, ChinYu and his friends (group 5) were still up there. They said they wanted to go last. Teacher Zax and Teacher Andy were up there too. They already abseiled but they chose to help us up there :3

I wanted the easy one (but I regretted not doing the medium one ><) I made a deal with Jordan, he and I were to abseiled down together, he did the medium and I did easy. It was scary and my hands hurt A LOT.

Jordan was ahead of me but I passed him half way because my hands were really hurting. You need a lot of physical strength for this one. Right hand to hold your weight, left to lower yourself. Legs were not a problem. And you have to trust the harness and lean back.

I didn't bother to look at the camera man who was by the waterfall. And i was really fast because my hands were hurting. I slipped twice:

The first time I slipped I landed on the platform. Lucky me.

Second time. I slipped and i couldn't get up. I swung to the left but eventually I got back up and abseiled down. I reached the bottom before Jordan and realized my legs were shaking. The water current was stronger than before because it was already late. Teacher Zax said good job and I thanked him. I removed my helmet and harness and hung them up by the rope. 

Wenxiu, Shen yin and Hui en were already down,pouring the water out from their shoes. We then watched Teacher May Peng, Teacher Angie and Teacher Melinda abseiled down. 

7pm

Truck ride again!

It was dark on the way back. It was just 10+ of us. Joseph and I always wanted to be in the front of the truck. When the truck arrived, both of us shouted : Dibs in the front! And we ran to the truck and often argued who said it first. But both of us ended up in the front. 

Teacher Zax, Joseph, Adam and Wengkin were in the front. We used the truck ride as a temple run reference : night edition. I asked: where's the power up? And they laughed. Teacher Zax said: it's ok guys. I use cheat. XD it was really fun! 

8pm

We had dinner and I had to get ready for the next Activity. JUNGLE NIGHT WALK. It was from group 1 to 9. Kheng Yue and Fifi were going on the next day. Lucky... I was really tired. 

9pm

Jungle Night Walk

We had to walk in a single-file. There were a few rules to obey. 

1. We had to remember who was infront and behind of us.

2. Do not call each others name.

3. Do not scream.

4. Do not shine the torchlight everywhere. 

5. We must pass messages to the person behind or infront of us.

The jungle night walk was normal to me.  It was cooling and dark. And it doesn't seem like 2 hours. We were supposed to cross a river but the river was blocked by bamboos (yes!) So we went back to camp. I was really tired at the end of the day. Wenxiu and I went to bathe together and slept at 1am. Again

It was fun day. Rafting was awesome and I knew day 3 is a very tiring day.

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 1

Sorry peeps. I was busy lately. :/ anyways. I will be updating during this 2 week holidays so be sure to keep up! ;)
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On the 25th of May, my school, PTS organized a leadership training camp for form 4 students. My lovely parents allowed me to go ^^. It was a 5 day 4 nights camp in Gopeng, Perak. There were different activities everyday. White Water Rafting, Summit Climb, Waterdall Abseiling and much more!

25th May
9 am
I was in the bus with all my group 5, 7,8. I was in Group 6 along with Wenxiu, Celene, Joseph, Adam, Jordan, Bugh, Hui en, Shenyin and Milton. I must say we get along pretty well. There were 18 groups in total. Each group had 10 team members. Our teacher in charge was Tr Andy.

I sat with Ashley (group 5) in the bus. It was a 3 hour trip to My Gopeng Resort.

12pm
The bus couldn't go in to the resort area so we had to take a truck. We had to stand behind the truck with our bags :D it was really fun! PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 1: GOING ON A TRUCK RIDE. Because we were lifted from the ground the trees and branches got to slap us. XD so we had to duck.

We arrived at My Gopeng Resort. We had to pass our phones or valuables to the teachers to be stored in the safe room. Since then my parents can't reach me and I cant reach them because of the poor reception. The guide there: Mr Lim and Mr Kok How. main guides briefed us and welcomed us. We had lunch at the Bamboo cafe located in the resort.

1pm (approximately)
The teachers then assigned us to where are we going to put a night, either dorms or tents. I was assigned to live in tents with 20+ girls including my classmates.

3.30 pm
Team building activity
Each group had 2 to 3 hours to come up with their on tribal dance, statue, symbol with a stone, costumes and war cry. Adam, our general group leader assigned us to who is doing what (actually I assigned them hehe) wen xiu and Celene were doing dance. I, hui en, shenyin, bugh were working on our statue. Milton and Joseph were working on the symbol. We left aside the costume. It was a tough job getting the statue done. Our dance and war cry were simple and weird. :/

6 pm
War cry
We had to present our war cry to the teachers and the camera-men need to film it. :S it was kinda embarrassing really :/ after that we get to bath under the icy cold water. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 2 : BATHING WITH MY 3 OTHER FRIENDS. We had to make it quick because it was going to rain. Sadly, it did. We had to run in the rain to go to the canteen. Our bags were in the canteen, the teachers moved it from the tents because it was raining. We can't sleep in tents because they were wet so we had to sleep in the first-aid open hall.

7pm
The girls and I took sleeping bags and settle down at the hall. The sleeping bags were new, the floor was dusty but by day 2. The facilitators put a sort-of plastic sheet on the floor. And they layed down all of our sleeping bags nicely. (How sweet!) We then had our dinner, it was simple and nice.

9pm
Campfire/dance
Everyone gathered at the huge field and there was a bunch of wood stacked up. We were looking forward to the campfire but my hopes dropped when they said we had to present our tribal dance. Great. :D our tribal dance was more or a story and we had to sacrifice Tr Andy. It was the boys's idea. All of the performances were really funny and crazy. There was this form 5 team, they took all sorts of different songs and changed the lyrics : I want nobody nobody but William (a strict yet cn be fun teacher) I knew you were sexy when you walk in (points at teacher William) that was really funny XD

11.30pm
After the last performance, we all demanded for the fire. One of the facilitators brough a fire torch and lit the fire. Everyone cheered. It was really beautiful. The glowing ashes were flying out from the fire into the air like fireflies. It was really nice.

12pm
Sharing session
Group 5 & 6 had to share out our own opinions and what we thought about Day 1. The usuals: make new friends, can't wait for the next day, had a lot of fun. Everyone was really tired including me. Duh! 

1am
Zzzzzz
All the girls had to sleep at 1am everyday. We were all tired. But sadly for me, because of the floor, I couldn't sleep. :/. My bones were on the floor and it made me really uncomfortable. I tossed and turned and finally slept but was awaken and k couldn't go back to sleep. I'd only slept for 4 hours. But I know, I was going to enjoy this camp :)