(8.30am-1.00pm)
Jungle trekking is actually a really nice activity. Although it was really strenuous and tough, it was still a really refreshing and awesome trip up and down the mountainous jungle. The night before we went into the lush green foliage, it rained quite heavily, which resulted in really slippery paths. I saw ground leeches here and there and heard the screams of people when they saw them. Geez people, it's just a leech, you put salt on it and it falls off. They looked like tiny earthworms that feasted on blood. Vampiric earthworms. And many bizarre flora, didn't get to see any animals though. There was this one tree that was really scary. It looked like a normal palm-bamboo plant, but up close you could see that it's entire surface was covered in sharp needle-like thorns, even the leaves. Ouch! And I learnt the hard way that they had poison in it, leaving itchy rashes that lingered on for a week. And there were some really slippery and steep paths we had to take, descending the slope wasn't the least bit easy, it took a lot of strength to hold my sheer weight in place to prevent myself from tumbling down the muddy hillside. And then we reached a waterfall, the water was really cool and refreshing and allowed us some time to wash our dirty shoes and asses from slipping every now and then. And when you slid down a slope slowly, it feels like sledding down a snowing mountain, without a sled, and on mud instead. by the end of the trek, I was already dying of thirst and exhaustion but that was only half of the day, and the following activities that day kept me awake and energized.
There was this one bitch throughout the trek though, okay she's not a bitch. She's beyond bitchdom, she's a fucking toilet bowl because she's so full of shit. Throughout the trek, she kept complaining. Examples below, " " means actual speech and ' ' means my inner thoughts.
- "Eww, I don't want to climb anymore, can I go backwards?" Me: 'Bitch, you're already halfway through and you wanna go back?'
- (Toilet Bowl (TB) slips and falls once) "Why am I the only one falling?" Me: 'GOD DAMMIT WOMAN, EVERYBODY IS SLIPPING, DO YOU HAVE EYES?'
- TB stops and cries every time we meet an obstacle, like climbing over a log or crossing a ravine, me rolling my eyes every time.
- "Why is it so hot? And dirty? And smelly?" Me: "THIS. IS. THE. JUNGLE! Not your prissy little home." "..."
- TB keeps talking about how great her brother is and will save her. Me: 'I hope a tiger eats you and leaves.'
- (TB gets thirsty, teacher walking in front) "Cikgu, bolehkah bagi saya sikit air?" (Teachers gives her water, she drinks and lets her friend hold it) Me: Can I have some water? (Friend passes to me) TB softly: "Why did you give him the water?" Me, exasperated: 'SO NOW ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD IS YOURS?'
- (A bunch of Malay kids from another school run down the hill while we're trailing behind the TB, because her royal highness had apparently hurt her leg) "Pigs!" Friend: "Don't simply say things like that" "And why not? It's like they'll hit me or something?" Me in an outrage: "IF THEY DON'T HIT YOU, I WILL. SO KEEP YOUR DAMN MOUTH SHUT AND WALK!"
And after that last bit she kept silent the rest of the walk down. And you know what? Her "injured leg" allows her to walk perfectly on normal ground. BITCH!
But all in all, the trip was really good, albeit tiring. I got to experience the jungle in it's natural form. And the bitchiness of a royal pain in the ass. I got lots of cuts and scratches all over, not to mention the sting of the poisonous rash-inducing thorns of the devil tree.
And, I had a near-death experience too. When we were walking down the slope, almost at the end. I fell into what seemed to be a bottomless pit. Thank God there was a tiny ledge at the mouth of the hole and I fell and sat nicely on that ledge, with a small tree in reach, the wall of the hole was slippery so I couldn't thrust myself out of the hole, teacher had to pull be out. Damn, I had a serious heart attack when that happened. I thank God for saving me, seriously. I would have died already if it wasn't for Him. A few of my friends saw me fall too, and they too got heart attacks, along with En Bakri. Shit. I will never forget that incident.
(2.00pm-5.30pm)
We all had our lunch, simple lunch of Assam-Kicap fish, and some other oddities, like a weird bandung jelly dessert cake thing that looked like a pile of fish eggs. The rest of them went for a games session by Taylor's University, while me, YH, FY and ZL went to prepare our station games and stuff. We've been planning and arranging and preparing for almost two weeks, and we kept changing plans on our games like every 15 minutes until the actual time for the games to begin.
FY came up with the great idea to freeze the clues and make them melt it to get the first clue. We were kept hidden, okay actually not that hidden since we couldn't go far and couldn't use too rocky/bumpy/steep grounds. In the end, the stations were just really obvious, especially mine and FY. Mine was way on the top of the stretch of road and obviously people would know to go there. That's what the clues were for anyway, and I could make them run up and down the extremely steep and long way up to my place. Evil indeed, nevertheless it was great. And I felt in control since I could make them do what they were told. Haha, manipulative indeed.
The station games were good, not to the extent of being as perfect as we concocted, but hey, you can't expect so much when we changed our plans like until the very last minute, and considering the lack of materials and henceforth. Still, I felt like the effort done to ensure success was a very, let's say, inspiring experience. Letting me learn and enhance my problem solving skills. Moving on, by then I was already super tired from the day. But the day isn't over yet. There's still the entire night until like 1am. After a sumptuous BBQ dinner, which was way better than any of the food they had there, we went back into the hall for Part 3 of our PRS module, courtesy of the teachers. I'll cover the modules in another post.
After the module we had our "Talent Time", in which we were instructed to present a short sketch based on a designated Malay proverb. Our group's carried the meaning of “先苦后甜” (I forgot the actual proverb), and our group did the mountain-climbing/jungle-trekking experience. I was already aching all over but I love acting so I did my best. In a very exaggerated and dramatic fashion. Words cannot describe how I did it, but I made almost everyone there laugh. Even the teachers found it very amusing. I had to control myself and stop myself from laughing so I put extra drama into it. Our group didn't win the best drama, but it certainly was the funniest according to many. I got so many "Love Letters" (A system the teachers came up with to lets us write stuff to each other) saying that I'm a good actor, confident and daring, even from the teachers. I guess watching all the dramas on TV pays off after all. And after our sketch, Ms Shirlena even asked me if I had ever considered a career in Performing Arts, and I was like "Whaa-?" Yeah, that's about it for the second day in camp. They cancelled our Treasure Hunt, because of time constraints, I was too tired to man the Treasure Hunt anyway, they played a game of Guess The Person Behind The Cloth, it got us to recognize faces among the camp-goers.
I went back to the dorm room and wrote a few love letters before returning to slumber-land. Throughout this day, I learnt a few things, like to be tolerating of some annoying people, they can't help but being bitches some times. (Prime example, Madame Toilet Bowl). I learnt how to scale the slippery mountainsides. I learnt how to control the atmosphere. I learnt that people have different opinions but it's the togetherness that makes stuff work, through our GM sessions every time. I learnt how it felt to have a mini heart attack, twice actually (I almost fell of the platform outside the hall because I was so oblivious to the edge and the teachers got a heart attack themselves too, haha). I learnt that being a organizer isn't the least bit easy, although we all know this I guess. And lastly, I learnt that I have more confidence, courage and acting skills than I thought I did.
Next post covers the first and third days. >>
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