I HAVE SURVIVED THE CAMP! (:

WE HAVE WON THE WAR!
ALBATROSS HAS WON THE WAR!
Kudos to all my team mates & of course, not forgetting our GIs - Stacy & Vincent!
3 cheers for everyone who has made this camp a successful one!

Stacy Vincent
Gina MeiHui SiewGhim Veron Kendrick Nigel RongJie ZiXian
(In alphabetical order, girls to guys. Lol! I'm lame!)

Day 1 - 23rd March 2007
It was quite a bad headstart as we were all late for reporting.
The consequence was that lights-out strictly at 10pm. ):
We were told to pitch 2 tents per group, make a structure to support our group's flag & complete outdoor cooking by 745pm.

A lot of hiccups for Albatross!

First was the tent pitching.
We pitched the 9-men tent, which was supposed to be for the guys, at the girls' side!
ARGH.
So, we had to take out the whole tent & shift it to the guys' side before pegging it down again.
Then our position for the girls' tent was wrong!
ARGH ARGH.
We had to take out the whole tent (again) & shift it more to the right (or was it left?).
A lot of time & effort were spent to pitch the tents, so I guess we were the last group to start with the outdoor cooking.
I didn't help out with the making of the structure, but the guys did a pretty good job! (:

Next was the outdoor cooking.
The situation was quite tensed as we did not know what we should do exactly.
There were a lot of suggestions popping out here & there as well.
Chaotic & inefficient, I should say.
Fortunately, with much effort & time (again), we whipped up something nice for the Mr Chin & a senior.
I was quite sad as the process of our outdoor cooking was not as fun as other groups.
Nevertheless, kudos to Albatross for whipping up something that was nice & edible! Lol.

So, the day ended with a debrief & the results for each activity.
For the outdoor cooking, we came in SECOND!
For the design of the flag, we came in THIRD!
For the structure, we came in FORTH!
All in all, we came in FIRST at the end of Day 1, with 50 points!
This really served as a morale booster for Albatross!

After bathing & stuff, we went into our tent & had girls' talk till 11pm+
It was fun chatting with Gina, MeiHui & Veron! (:

Day 2 - 24th March 2007
I didn't get to sleep much as I kept waking up when I was about to doze off. BLEH.
Our day started when our GIs came to our tent & woke us up at 245am.
It marked the start of the Adventure Race.
We were told that breakfast will be at 6am the previous day, so we didn't expect this to happen.
It came as a shock to all of us.
So we had no choice but to wake ourselves up & follow the instruction sheet.

Now comes the killer part.

We were the slowest in striking our tents, taking down our structure & assembling all the equipment needed to be returned.
That was sad enough.
One of our ham (aka rope) was taken by a senior without us noticing.
Worst of all, we lost 5 pegs in total! ): ): ):
1 peg was ridiculously missing from the girls' tent!
MeiHui & I counter-checked with the number of pegs before we kept the tent into the tent bag.
How it go missing then?
We then searched aimlessly at the field for the missing 5 pegs.
This was demoralising enough.
I could see that our GIs & the J2s were very disappointed with us.
We had a deduction of 30 points then.
WAH, first thing in the morning, nothing can be as demoralising as this.
Fortunately, the Camp IC (Joyce) let us earn back our points by asking us to help transport all the barracks to a classroom.
Then we set off to Ang Mo Kio Park.

There, we did our first task.
It was to walk through a very dark path, with only lightsticks hung onto the trees.
I was the last person to walk through.
Everyone completed the task!
Albatross rocks! (:

After which, we hiked to Bishan Park.
We were the last group to arrive at 6am plus. -.-
I was told that when Albatross set off from AJC to AMK Park (at 4am plus), Condor was about to reach Bishan Park. -.- -.-
Okay, we then settled down for breakfast.
The REAL Adventure Race then began at Bishan Park.
We were the last to set off, 30 minutes later than the first group.

The hike was fun!
Hmm, I shall not go into the details.
We hiked from AJC all the way to MacRitchie!
There were Road Blocks & Game Stations along the way.
Albatross did a great job!
We were very united & cooperative!
Thus, we managed to complete all of them within a shorter time as compared to other groups.
I SO LOVE ALBATROSS LA! Haha.
Thanks Albatross for encouraging one another during the hike!
Thanks to our GIs, for helping us to earn points by giving us a lot of brainteasers! :P
We love riddles can!

Our hike stopped at 1pm+.
We had missed the last game station as it was closed at 12pm.
So, we had no choice but to Fast Forward.
We then took a bus to some MOE Campsite.
We were the Second group to reach the place as we chiong all the way after we alighted from the bus.
Most of the groups were in the same bus, you see.
All in all, we spent 5 hours completing the Adventure Race!

We were supposed to do General Elements & High Elements there.
Albatross started with the General Elements first.
The aim of these stations is to put our teamwork to a test.
I think Albatross did a great job again! (: YAY!
We trusted one another & really worked as a team.
We had earned the maximum point for 2 out of 3 stations!

Next up was the High Elements.
I wanna applaud Nigel for conquering his fear!
He was afraid of heights but he managed to do all the stations assigned to him!
3 cheers to you, Nigel!
None of us gave up halfway or totally!
3 cheers to Albatross!
Veron is very pro in High Elements.
Great job, my telepathic mate! Haha.
I really enjoyed doing the High Elements.
It gives me a sense of achievement everytime I conquered a station.
I believe I have more confidence in myself now.
JIAYOU!

At around 6pm+, we ended all the activities.
We had a mass debrief at the campsite by Mr Ong.
Finally, it was the Prize Presentation.
Albatross came in FIRST, miraculously! (:
We were overjoyed at that time!
I believe this was the result of Albatross's perseverance, teamwork, trust & enthusiasm!
LONG LIVE ALBATROSS! Lol.
So we went back to AJC by bus & I got home, bathed & slept at 930pm.
I was tired, but happy!
This camp really is more than a Selection Camp to me. (:

Today, I woke up with muscle-aches all over my body. =x Lol.
Especially my shoulders.
Carrying more than 5kg of stuff on your back & hike for 8 hours, this is what you'll get.

The camp has been a great experience for me.
I had certainly learnt a lot & grow a lot stronger (mentally especially) at the same time.
I had done my part & put in my best throughout the camp, hence I have no regrets or whatsoever now. (:
ODAC Selection Camp 2007 rocks!

Alright, I gonna have lunch now.
The selection results will only be out next week, Tuesday or Wednesday.
*Shivers*
Cya all! Have a great day ahead!

(Ps. Sorry for the LONG post!)
(Pss. I'll upload some photos once I finish charging my hp.)