Sisters' Island(Part I)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Camping at Sisters’ Island organized by TPAC and ELF from 12th – 15th, Odyssey of Discovery. (Warning! Lengthy post ahead)
Day 1
Was told to report at outside bookshop at 8.30am, and though it was 8.15am when I reached their registration booth, I was still de first to reach…
Slowly people came, few were late and I was put into group called Balares (BER-LA-RIS), members: Cassandra, Desiree, Jasmine, Jing Xing, Leslie, Peng Hao, Sabrina, Serene, Victor, Zheng Xiang and me =D. Facilitator is Dorothy. By de way, our group was de only group that started out with full force while Group A was missing. =D
Activity started off with ice breaker, stepping on de map while flipping it over. At this point of time, our ice practically melted from de early group hug under de sun. Then we had Thigh Wrestling, objective is to slap each other thigh. Fun if you love to inflict pain.
We were given 2 cloths to make our own flag and individual bandana, with a pirate theme. Yohohoho!
We got a chance to build Tower of Wishes which was to be used in upcoming Magical Autumn II and learnt how to tie poles together to make them stand up. Following was lunch, Chicken rice! We had to wait for de rain to stop before we could erect de towers.
Then we had 3 games, passing ropes while holding hands in a circle, 70s no NG, where we complete a series of challenge and if anyone screws up we have to restart from de beginning and…undoing ourselves from a very complicated knot from holding hands of de person opposite us.
Then we went to set up de Towers of Wishes after de rain lighten into slight drizzle, then off we go…to shop for our group food ration for our days on de island.
Each group was given $100 to buy food, and we have 11 people to share around. After buying de compulsory stuff on our FA’s food list, we got other stuffs including fresh fruits, which is a bad idea unless wrapped up very very properly. Tell you why later…
By then it was around 4pm+ so after putting down de food stuffs and changing my attire I headed for CO room. Performance in 3 hours time. Meanwhile de campers went to set up de tents, that’s all I know bout what they did while I was missing. Performance was nearly screwed up at de start cos they were all still eating, but everything still went smooth after that. Songs finish, I got my junior to help me keep my instrument while I rush back to my camp mates, to find TP mass dance over and them doing chicky dance already. (I’m graduating yet I still don’t know de steps for TP mass dance!). A funny event, Victor wanted pull down someone’s pants and was running around de field front of Mensa and there happened to have a kitty shitting nearby. Victor nearly crashed into de cat which made it flee at top speed. Poor kitty…though Victor seems to be good at chasing away animals…more later..
Magical Autumn II over, and we had to demolish all 4 Tower of Wishes and move them back to TPAC storage room. And then it was wash up time! pH went to swimming complex while de rest of us guys went to DES toilet to shower. Once everybody was comfortable, 4 of them went out to buy stuffs while I stayed in de tent, and we slept around 11pm+ end of day 1 with peaceful sleep…or not…
Day 2
Woke up at 2am when people screamed: “RAIN! RUN!!” And we practically dragged our tent with everything inside to de nearest shelter and our remaining night was spent along de sheltered corridor. My phone and torch was in de tent de whole time…good thing neither got wet. So after drying de inside of de tent, and killing mosquitoes inside de tent, we got our rest till 7am.
Woke up, wash up, pack up, we got ready to move back to SDC for breakfast right after…RAIN AGAIN! So we had a detour from DES to ArtSpace then SDC building. During breakfast we learnt something new – water causes colour to come off bread wrapper. Choices of nutella and strawberry jam for spreading on de bread, and de jam was touched only once or twice. Then we started playing our own games. Many many games…with some funny moments.
Bus came and we had to move all our things from SDC to ENG carpark. And we had our first scare, cause some people didn’t bring along their IC and we were scared they wouldn’t be able to cross de water without it. An experience from previous TPAC event where some people were really sent home. However it seems for Sisters’ island it was ok, but it caused a big panic within us. Some even went home and rushed down to de pier.
Marina South ferry terminal, moved things again, and decided to finish off our bananas to carry one less foodstuff. Our nanas was soaked when it rained on our first night and look disgusting, but we still had to finish it. Readers do protect your bananas from any wetness. =D
Smooth boat ride, and we reached Big Sister Island. After briefing, we set off for our campsite, named ‘Sea View campsite’ by AC president…but after exploring de whole island, practically every corner is sea view…with a small forest located in de middle. Good thing for de tress, cause they protected us on our last morning on de island.
Pitched our tents again, while avoiding ant nest and dead falls (branches which is likely to snap of trees any moments) then we begin cooking our own lunch. Maggie and pastas with mushrooms. Turned out quite well considering it was most of our first experience with de cooking equipments. Victor tried to chase after a monkey which came to ground level and we had to call him back, as he was being targeted by few other monkeys.
After lunch, our first game on de island – Olympics. Somewhat like de previous ‘70s no NG’…and we got a bad start so we ended up as de last team and was greatly demoralized from being de last and at certain point we had to find a hidden deflated beach ball in de sand but apprantly de FA gave us de wrong clue, so they gave us one instead. Though demoralized, we still had our own fun when required to bring de beach ball into de sea, round a pole once and back to de shore. Amazingly, de other 4 teams (ELFs members took part in this game plus our original 4 teams under AC participants) were stuck at de last part, looking for scrambled words to piece into a full sentence. End up none won that game. 15mins break and..
Captains ball! 5 team style. 5 teams scrambling for de balls. Beach balls 5 points, soccer balls 10 points, tennis balls 20 points, squeaky balls 50 points, and a secret item 100 points. Turned out to be an old and dirty rag marinated with many things, and I identified sesame oil.
For dinner we had mashed potato and hotdogs, baked beans and Maggie again! I think I’m starting to love those instant mashed potato.
Had a nightwalk, divided into 3 parts, where we take turns to enter de toilet to look for a item, considering it was really dark with no electricity on de island and all we are given is a piece of lightstick. Then we were sent off one by one to walk from de toilet to de other side of de island where we then had a group walk, to read bout de island history. Reached de end and had to wait for remaining group to arrive so we sat in a circle and had ghost stories before switching to lame jokes. I liked what we were told at de end of de activity. He asked if anyone didn’t felt fear during de walk, or did we look around if will anyone pop out and scare us, and said only 3 types of person doesn’t do fear - blind, newborn and naïve people.
Nightwalk ended, went for shower. Open showers, nothing to share here (It was too dark to see anything anyway). 5 guys, one tent, with our bags and box of foods plus stench from our wet clothes. Terrific combination.
Day 3
6am+ someone’s alarm woke de whole camp with some random lyrics that went “ I’m begging you for mercy”. That person will beg us for mercy when we throw that person into de sea…
Biscuit and bread for breakfast, took many photos with Victor’s cam before he and Leslie went back to mainland since they have something on de next day. We joked that monkeys will follow Victor onto de ferry to revenge on him. Then its 9 people left, 3 guys 6 girls.
Day 3 first activity, something like trust fall, but de whole group is to carry one person up into de air, and everybody gets a chance to experience it. As you can see for what my team has left, it is a feat to complete with 3 people over 60kg. Which brings us to our next activity…
Flags picking! Here each team is to carry one person and go around picking coloured flags on de ground. Condition of carriers are blindfolded, and lifted person is de only one with sight. For a certain very obvious reason I ended up being up in de air carried by 7 of them, with one girl sitting out as backup. It was hard to measure distance and had to make sure direction was right. We got 2nd with scores of 5 teams at 33, 23, -, -, 9….i forgot de other 2 scores. Seeeeee…lightweight is good =D
Then we started our Treasure hunt from de jetty. Before we started we were required to paint each other face to look like pirates. Till now, I have no idea how do I look like…have to wait till people send me pictures…and ZX has sexy blue eye liner. someone painted AC president’s face till look like Hitler. Anyway, this activity was a little screwed up from unclear instruction and a little mistake caused from previous game. And we ended it with a splash in de water. Played in de water since I couldn’t swim. They had water polo and wrestling and I got a cold and nearly a fever.
Lunch time, they prepared de food while I bathed and took my temperature after, 36°… Yay ee~ Mashed potato and pasta and Maggie.
Funny when we start de next activity did we realized one from each team was missing. They were ‘kidnapped’ and we have to save them. Running around doing challenges to win keys to save our friend, a total of 8 keys and each group guessed 4 times before guessing correctly. We had to sing national song which we picked Mari Kita, spelt our FA full name with our butt, blow 2 balloons till they burst and sit on each others lap in a circle. We ran around a lot back forth and carried our missing friend back to de start, in de previous manner. We won de other team by split second even though they reached first, cause we unlocked our friend first! Hooray for Balares! Our first and only win. ZX shoes was breaking too and he ran barefooted for de team. Isn’t he great?
Free time – dinner and craps and drizzle. FA got us to guard their HQ from monkeys while they went away for some business so we sat in their hut and had lots of lame jokes which got ZX into stitches and cramps from too much laughter. Our talent time was also finalized only at this point of time. Then we had our dinner before it got darker. Our only light source is our torch and de moon. Beautiful full moon. Rice, chicken curry and more Maggie for dinner.
Talent time, ELF and AC put up a very nice show for us, and this is what Balares did..
Are you ready Balarians?
Aye captain!
I can't hear EUUU~
AYE CAPTAIN!
OOOOO..who lives on the wonderful Sisters' Island
We Balarians!
Babaric and fearless but awesome are we
We Balarians!
All of our power is something you shun
We Balarians!
Come to the island and you will see us
We Balarians!
We Balarians!X3
We.....BALARIANS! "Once there was a pirate known as Captain John. He had a pirate friend known as Sabrina. They had heard many tales of a beautiful, kind princess who lived on Sisters’ Island. Being a smelly old pirate that he was, he decided to embark on an odyssey of discovery in search of his love. However, to get to sisters’ Island, Captain John had to fight and defeat 4 other pirate ships. When he neared the island, Sabrina became a mentally unstable and retarded, and she wanted to kill Captain John for no reason. Captain John was very scared. Meanwhile at Underwear land, Serene Potter was playing around with her teleporting machine. Serene says "TAKE ME TO AN ISLAND FAR FAR AWAY" and she appears in front of John. John is shocked by her appearance but began telling her of his problem. Serene concocts a potion to save him and warned him that the potion could only be taken upon seeing the princess, it was only then it would work. However, in Captain John's panic, he drank the potion before seeing the princess. And do you know what happened to Captain John????? Actually, we don't know either. THE END"
Serene went from a quiet and reserved girl into a hyped up Hermione. And ZX got a new name…
“Mother Dorothy, has 11 children, 11 children
Some of them were tall, some of them were short
But none of them was right”
After de show, wash up time and more free time. Lights out supposedly at 11.30pm but no one cared. Balares sat in a circle and played more games. We played ‘Go Back Jump’ for around 2 hours and only manage to reach 30+, twice. And half way, a fat grub dropped onto ZX thigh. Good thing he didn’t slap his thigh else it would have gone squish. Then we retired back to our tent, 3 guys with lots more space! Which helps a lot cause….
Day 4
It rained at 7am, and we were stuck in our tent which was flooding slowly. Nigel then told us to take shelter in de nearby hut instead. So we took our stuffs and ran. Wind was very strong…if not for de trees behind our area, our tents would have collapse. When de clouds cleared we did area cleaning, picked up litters in de grasses, beach and washed away de sands in de toilets.
Final pack up, headed to jetty and back to mainland. Took pictures on de boat. And then bus ride from Marina South ferry terminal back to TP.
We still had to clean our tents, dry them and pack them again…everybody got wet here, played with water while we worked. Then we had lunch and when we couldn’t finish it…’Go Back Jump’ solved de extra food problem. Loser ate and everybody targeted Leslie who came back. Poor him.
Last debrief, Caneris got de best group award, but everybody got some goodies. More photos taking, then me and ZX headed back to lab to visit de others for a while. Zack couldn’t take my hyperness and my odour. =D
Cab home with ZX…and now I miss hearing them all laugh.
Randomness
Jasmine head was smacked with powder and she looked as if smoke is coming out of her hair when we touch it.
Chris had to act as de princess for our skid.
And he got stuck with that name.
Even Nigel called him that.
Nigel acted exactly like a monkey.
Monkeys had sex in tree tops early morning.
People who chased after monkeys alone got chased by more monkeys.
We saw a monkey emo after it dropped de food it stole.
Jasmine spilled de most food.
Desiree dropped a packet of rice and spill some.
Cass says to wash those in packet and those spill separately.
Desiree ask if to wash with soap.
Cass replied ‘Ya’.
During laming session Mother Dorothy became Mother Two Roti.
And I gained 2 new abilty, digging sand and night vision.Everybody got dark, Sabrina turned red.And she had Balares printed on her leg. How Cool.
Next post shall be spammed with photos…When I get my hands on them.
JeeOnn left after 9:10 am