I went to the camp with a feeling of trepidation and underlining hope. Having experienced several rather…unpleasant camps previously, I wasn’t too keen on repeating any of those fiascos again. Thank heavens/whoever’s in charge up there, for the CSCC camp was beyond awesome.
The first day started off slow…We had the usual ice-breaker games and were then sorted into our respective groups. Mine was Hecate. It links to the trio of witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (something like that lah).
Personally, I rather liked my group’s name. It’s kinda exotic, ne? Even though nobody could agree on its pronunciation right to the last day (Hare-Kate? Hare-Curt?). And that we were consistently forgotten by the other groups during the “bombing” games (Or maybe they just didn’t want to bother with the issue of pronunciation).
Og course, when it came to addressing our GLs, Hecate had to be different too. Everyone else called their GLs "Daddy, Mummy" or something similar.
We call ours "爹 (Dieh) & 娘 (Niang)". In the reverse order. XD
Our 娘 wasn't too pleased with being the 娘 while his fellow GLs got the 爹 role.
辛苦你了，娘! Both of them were good at they do and I'm really glad they were our GLs.
Anyway, the first order was to create our own flag by obtaining materials from the GPs of each station. Basically the purpose was to embed manners into our heads. I was reminded of my primary school days again when we had to greet every single person instead of just adding a “s” to their position. It didn’t help that the GPs all had designated unique names to call themselves. Hula Girl, Silent Speaker, Mr. Spongy Spongebob, were just some of the normal ones. I LOL-ed at the innocuous-sounding Mr. Soft Balls, Horny Mustard & Horny Cheese Pie (Just Mispronounce the latter two!).
Ok. I’m digressing. Back to the flag. I was really glad I got to help out with the flag’s design this time (YAY!). Pity for the lack of time/colours available though. Everyone finger-painted the design on while playing a warped form of musical chairs. Despite the constraints, it was honestly fun.
We packed up and went to the Camp Christine somewhere near Lim Chu Kang area. I think. The bus passed by a long road of cemeteries (Part of the sights) and a goat farm sign. Anyway, the camp was reminiscent of those traditional summer camps in America near lakes and right smack in the middle of forests. Camp Christine wasn’t far off from that. We had a nice sea view and nostalgic-looking wooden lodges with names. Most importantly,they had
BEDS.
And PILLOWS.
And MATTRESSES. =) =) =)
But before we can properly appreciate the comforts of the beddings, it was GAME time. Once again, there were different stations to pass through. One of more hilarious ones was the Shampoo station. The guys were made to remove their shirts and squat in front of us girls (like P.O.Ws waiting to be shot). Then we had to shampoo their hair to produce suds which were to fill a bucket as much as possible. The resulting shampooing…Well, I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for (some of) the guys or to laugh at their expense. In a bid to maximize foam-production, one girl (Who ah? XD) ended up making her guy lose a lotta hair. You can practically see the black strands floating around in soapy puddles lol.
When they got (most of) the soap out, the guys had to each carry a girl and run in circles barefooted (on the burning pavement) singing the Barney theme song. Yeah I know. -_-“…I don’t think I can ever get used to being piggy-backed. Y’know, that feeling of your butt hanging in mid-air and you’re gonna fall off any moment if you don’t attempt to strangle your partner in a chokehold. No offense to Jim (the partner) though. You did well. It’s just that I like to keep both my feet firmly planted on the ground.
Another was a Fruits game. There were 2 dice. One with bodyparts printed on it (e.g. Hand, Thigh, Forehead, Knee, etc…) and the other with fruits (e.g. Grape, Banana, Orange, Apple, etc…). A boy-girl pair took turns to roll the “bodypart” die and then one would roll the “fruits” die. For instance, if the boy rolled a “hand”, the girl a “forehead” and the fruit “banana”; the boy has to hold a banana to the girl’s forehead and they have to walk in that manner to a pail to deposit the banana.
The first pair was unfortunately ill-fated enough to get the “cheek-to-thigh+banana” combo. Lolz. The transportation was awkwardly funny. I just had to laugh at this part. Maybe that was how retribution came about. I was paired with Edward and our combo was….”forehead-to-knee+GRAPE”.
Not a bunch of grapes, not a grape with its stalk on but a single stalkless round GRAPE.
Dear god.
Edward had to knee/squat on the ground while I held my knee out and balance one-legged. That position was cramp-inducing for both parties. We could barely move a few cm without dropping the grape. Someone suggested Edward carry me while I put my knee to his head O_O. I can’t imagine how on earth that is possible unless either of us were made of rubber. Still, we managed to trough on despite all the dropping.
Whew.
After us though, everyone were lucky. They got easy ones involving hands. Secretly, I think the luck was forcibly turned through sheer force of will (It was like a gambling den loh. People were shouting for the desired outcome and it happened. Just like that.) Along the way, I heard the GPs considering if they should include a durian for the fruits selection next time. So watch out 2010 campers!
The other stations were more or less normal. Like the one where we had to fold a canvas sheet in half using only our feet and while standing on it. And the Spider Web game with multiples gaps of varying heights and sizes in which members must be moved to the other side without touching the web. Also, the one involving balloons being wedged in between each person while the whole group attempts to cross an obstacle course in a single file. The last of which left me rather high-strung since it was the first game and already needed such a high level of teamwork. But overall, the games were fun. It was the stepping stone to becoming 同志 [doshi] or なかま (Nakama).
But the more memorable activity (not necessarily in a good way) was none other than the Blind Game. Simply put, they blindfolded the whole lot of us and made us follow whispered intructions (and ignore other distractions). Simple enough?
Hell no. It was sheer agony to be left in the middle of nowhere with only the distorted mumurs in the background for company. Not knowing what the hell is going on, or what will happen next or most importantly, WHEN will something actually happen. I actually fell asleep during these periods of solitude.
Following their instructions was…confusing. My Dieh & Niang warned us not to heed other voices except their own. But when I listened to that, one of the GPs ended up physically pulling me away from my group and to a grassy patch where I had to squat like a P.O.W. At that point, my mind was swarming with thoughts of causing my group a forfeit for getting myself captured and possibly having to do the forfeit on my own since I alone allowed myself to be pulled by the GP along with a endless litany of “ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitshitshitshitshit”.
Then we had to regroup again (Still Blindfolded), using a designated ANIMAL sound. God. Hecate had to bark. Like a dog. -_- ….While other groups were frantically bellowing/bleating/mewing/quacking (and creating this massive cacophony of noise), I couldn’t hear the “barks” of my own group. My guess is that they’re just as reluctant as I was to bark. In the end, I found my group by following the half-hearted “Woof-woof” (literally that).
Over what seemed like forever, we were separated, rejoined, separated, left alone, rejoined (Did I get the order right?). In one of my solo trails, I was led to a patch of wet sand and made to roll around in it. Then I got to sit around with some of my group to properly appreciate the feel of clumpy wet sand drying onto us like a second skin. We got to chat with an anonymous GP (who vehemently denies he is Horny Cheese Pie), which killed some time.
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any messier, the weird yeast-like mix came up. It smelled like the bread in a McChicken burger. That was beyond gross. It got into my hair, the inside of my clothes, shoes & possibly my unmentionables.
Ugh. Although I was practically blind w/o my specs, it was clear we looked like someone just barfed on us. Needless to say, the clothes were discarded w/o hesitation. Even if I did miss that T-shirt a little.
The GPs were hilarious. I was following the guy in front of me when I heard a male GP trying to distract him. I heard this “C’mon. Don’t be shy. Gimme a kiss. *lip-smacking sound*”. Lolz. Then he giggled like a schoolgirl. It was like “Tee-Hee”, something an Anime schoolgirl would do. XD LOL! Besides that, feathers, fingers & cool breaths to the ear were employed to make us all lose focus. Some of them kept trying to initiate conversation (despite their previous insistences that this was a SILENT game). While I didn’t want to appear rude, I didn’t want to keep talking especially when there might potentially be a forfeit (for not obeying instructions) later.
They say it was a game so we would trust the GPs, but I feel it’s more of a personal test of endurance. Teaches us to
Well, all’s well ends well.
*Shall post the 2nd part once I'm done with it.
