Sec 3: Outward Bound Singapore

Okay so this is my first post and frankly speaking, the main reason why i created this blog is to share my experience at OBS ( Outward Bound Singapore) and help you people who are going to be prepared for it but then i thought since its a waste to just post about OBS, i shall post more stuff regarding my life as a Singaporean student. soooooo i will be using singlish throughout my blog cause i'm lazy to use proper english. Lol...

Ok so OBS.

To start off, i guess those of you reading this are kiasu secondary 3 students who are going for OBS soon cause before i went for my OBS, i googled a lot of things about OBS such as reviews, tips and all that. ( Being kiasu lah)  I read many blogs in which people posted their experience and it really helped me be mentally prepared for OBS so i thought maybe i could do a little favour by sharing with you my experience and tips as well!

The reasons why most of us are excited but nervous at the same time for OBS is because firstly, it's a 5 day camp. To me, 5 days is quite a lot of days away from home because i hardly go for camps or overseas school trips.. The longest camp which i went to was a 2 day camp i think...? It was my p5 camp or something. Secondly, its going to test ur independence a lot. Third, you are likely to be grouped with people whom u r not very close with but definitely with few people u already know :)

But anyway, i shall start off with the packing stuff .

Packing; what and how to 

Honestly, i actually started packing my bag one day before the camp and that's perfectly fine but a great tip is start shopping for your items at least 3 days before the camp!! There will be one day in which vendors will come to your school to sell necessary things for OBS. The only thing i bought from them was the solid fuel cause its actually quite hard to find outside la. All my other friends bought lots of things cause they had a lot of money. The most popular things bought was the bag, track pants and water shoes. I planned with my friend to buy the other stuffs on sat ( 2 days before the camp). I went shopping around Toa Payoh area and managed to get 5/6 of the things i needed. The stuffs i didnt get, i borrowed from my cousin. Before you shop for your stuffs, it's best to ask around from people such as your elder cousins and SENIORS because they probably went for OBS already. This can save you lots of money.

I'll go through the packing list specifically, one by one. One thing that other blogs and my seniors didnt share with me is advice for packing. So i shall be nice and help you. Dont need to panic. ^^

1) T shirts: long sleeved* (3)

Long sleeved, as stated on the packing list is for sun protection and minimise insect bites. However, it is important to bring the right coloured long sleeved too as they will be used for different activities:

- Hiking
- Kayaking
-More kayaking

Thus, bring white colour for hiking. ( dark coloured clothes will make u very hot and sweaty cause it traps heat) . Bring a medium coloured shirt eg; grey for kayaking 1 ( the less tedious one) and black for kayaking 2. Reasons for those colours is because u would want to wear a dark coloured clothes so that when you are soaked in water, cannot see through ur bra and all)

2) T shirts: short-sleeved*

I brought 2 white ( school pe shirt) and 1 blue.

3) Shorts* (3) i brought my pe shorts.

4) Long pants*

For all my long pants, i brought dark coloured ones.

2 dark cotton- height activites, hiking
1 dark elastic- kayaking ( it dries easily and is like swimming costume material-ish so its light weighted. You wouldnt want to bring a light coloured pants for kayaking as well because can see through. If u are having ur period, black is the best)
1 grey elastic ( as an extra)

As stated on the packing list, 3/4 pants and jeans are not allowed. Dont act smart and bring a pants that is slightly longer than 3/4 pants because the instructors will forbid you to doing the height activites in such pants. Long pants is to protect you from injuries while doing height activites as well :) jeans is damn uncomfortable. nobody will bring jeans lol.

5) IC/ passport/ photocopy of birth cert

I brought my IC cause its the lightest and take up least space. Dont worry about losing it cause the instructors will ask you to pass to them and keep it safe for you. Just keep it in ur wallet with your money.

6) Towel- small and large.

I brought both but didn't use the small one. Up to u whether u want to bring both!

7) Sun protection- hat/cap, sunglasses, gloves, sunblock cream, lip balm, after-sun lotion.

Haha. This one right, out of all the items, i only brought cap and gloves. I didnt use the gloves at all actually. Best advice is dont bring the other stuff except cap and gloves cause you can simply borrow them from ur kiasu friends who have space in their bag to put all that shit. I didnt bring sunglasses cause im already wearing spectacles. Very few people used it anyways. I rarely used the sunblock cause im not scared of getting dark. Teehee

8) Shoes for 'water' activities.

This one i borrowed from my cousin. I lost it in the camp though, sorry cousin. I feel damn bad... But anyway these type of shoes right, you can use
- old shoes which you dont want but must cover your foot (eg; school shoes)
- diving shoes ( most people brought that one. Is the one i borrowed also)

Dont bring crocs! CROCS Although it covers your foot but it doesnt fully cover your toes. Also, make sure ur water shoe fits your foot really well and tight. Im sure u dont want to lose it and let ur poor shoe sink until the bottom of the sea.

9) Shoes for 'land' activities

I brought my school shoes lolol. cause my school shoes are already very comfortable. I just change the colour of the lace haha. Most of my friends wore school shoes as well but just make sure its not those type of flat bottomed school shoes cause that will be uncomfortable to the max. However, if you have sports shoes, by all means. bring it!

10) Reusable plastic bottle for drinking purposes. ( at least 1.5 L)

I bought 3 water bottles which are 1L each and regretted it!! Not cause its 1L but it leaks and u know what, just buy those carbonated drinks in big bottles like coke, sprite. They are the best. U can use the mineral water big bottle one also la but the bottles of carbonated drinks are harder and better. Just bring one of that plus a norm size bottle. Btw, u wont need to fill up all (1.5x3) L of bottles. Ur instructor will just ask u to fill at least 3L or something but my friends and i only fill 1.5, enough for drinking. U might think its too little water but then dont forget toilets are not always thr for u and thr will be a day where u have to pee in the forest cause no toilet. If ur bag no space, nvm, they will have 2L bottles which u can borrow.

11) Sandals/ slippers. I brought slippers. Used it only to go toilet and bathe.

12) Hand sanitizer for hygiene. Aiya just borrow from ur friends can already

13) Writing materials- small notebook & pen. Dont bring! Waste space only. Plus they will provide.

14) Other personal items:

~ Fork and spoon, toilet roll (for camp out purposes) I brought metal fork n spoon and toilet roll. important.
~Pocket knife ( bring also never use...)
~ spare spectacles. (incl spec retainers/hooks) I brought it but never use, which is a good thing cause it means i never lose my spex. I strongly advice u to wear retainers because u wouldnt want to lose ur spex while kayaking. If you dont wear, it'll drop. As for hooks, u dont have to look like a retard and wear it all the time. Before kayaking, just use your cotton twine and tie the two ends of your spex together, leaving enough space for you to wear it through ur head. Tie two knots to make it more secured. All my friends wearing spex did this btw.
~ Camera and spare battery. Dont bring this shit, just dont. For like the first 4 days, camwhoring and picture taking will most prob be ur last priority.

15) Undergarments 

For guys, just bring ur underwear. Bring 4 at least cause at least 2 will get wet?
For girls, i brought 3 bra, 2 cotton panties and 5 disposable panties. The disposable is not uncomfortable and in fact is very convenient cause u can just throw it. Plus if u having ur period its best to bring disposable cause u can throw ur disposable+pad altogether. =)

16) Socks. I brought 4. for kayaking, u dont need to wear socks.

17) Recycled super market plastic bags

Bring as many as u can LOL. of different sizes. You will be needing these to
- put your dirty clothes in
-put ur happy food
- if u got ur period, to dispose ur pad in during day 4 which u wont have access to toilets. So even if u dont have ur period, i guess u need also to throw ur toilet paper.

You seriously need these plastic bags. Dont kiam on this one.

18) Toiletries- incl. body powder or prickly heat powder, nail clipper, sanitary napkins.

Ok. Soooo im damn suay. I got my period on the first day of OBS. Thank god it came on the morn before i went to school if not i only packed 3 cause my mum keep insisting that there will be a little shop which sells spare batteries, sanitary napkins. Bullshit, there's no such shop! If you are having ur period, just bring one whole packet of sanitary pads.

For the powder stuffs, i brought prickly heat but didnt use. There is a day where you cannot bathe so if you really cant stand the heat, bring prickly heat. As for nail clipper, who cares about ur nails at OBS =.=

19) Personal first aid items. I brought medical oil in case got stomach ache cause i always have. And mopiko for mosquito bites. Surprisingly, i wasn't bitten at all haha. Cause i wore long sleeved to sleep ^^

20) Insect repellent. Just borrow.

21) Torchlight and spare batteries. Just bring it, dont share. You will need it after 8 + to walk around and stuff. U will also need it while pitching the tent cause it'll be night time and dark. U might also want to hang it on top of ur tent before sleeping so can see. You will also need it when you unpitch your tent in the early morning and making ur way to the toilet.

22) Lighter/matches. I didnt bring this cause my other friends brought. So dont bring it, waste space. In ur group, at least 2 people bring can alr. If you are planning to bring, bring lighter instead of matches because its better and my instructor said so too.

23) Postcards and stamps. Errrrrr.... dont bring it la. No one brought

24) Thin sleeping bag. I brought this and most of my friends did too. Because about at max 6 people in a tent, u can share among ur fellow tent mates. just open the sleeping bag big big and spread. You can dont bring too if u r ok sleeping on a hard surface. They will provide a hard mat so u wont be sleeping on the grass.

25) swimwear. I didnt bring. For kayaking i just wear long shirt and long pants. Good enough.

26) Cotton twine. I brought it and didnt use. Really wasted my space. Basically, i just used a bit to tie my spex so it wouldnt drop during kayaking

27) Solid fuel. I brought it but didnt use. I think u will need 6 solid fuels per meal if you have to cook. Just bring for ur group :)

28) Cash- for souvenir purchases, pay for damaged/ lost equipment. I brought $50 cause the packing list said approximately $50. Dont need buy souvenirs lah, waste money only haha. Unless you really want the shirt or smth then buy lor. :P

Alright. So how did i pack everything in my bag?! There is soo many things right. Well, i just try to squeeze everything in la. A really important advice for you is to separate your things well and put them in plastic bags. Here is how i packed mine...

Plastic bag 1- Toiletries, things i need to bring to the toilet. Such as toothbrush, toothpaste ( dont forget these things, not stated in the packing list), towel, toilet paper, shampoo, body gel ( also not stated, take note)

Bag 2- My clothes

Bag 3- slipper

Bag 4- water shoes.

And so on.

The reason why u should separate ur things in a plastic bag is so its easier to take out your things. And like if u are going to bathe, u want to be the one of the first people to chope a cubicle, thus putting all your toilet stuff in a plastic bag will be very effective cause while your friends are gathering their toiletries from their bag, all you need to do is take out ur plastic bag full of toilet stuff, not forgetting your clothes.
 As a result, you can take your time bathing and wont be the last few remaining in the toilet panicking. U can also take ur time to brush your teeth and shit if you need to. I mean, u wouldnt want to go out in the middle of the night to the toilet right? But of course, dont be so inconsiderate that your friends have to wait for you for very long for the cubicle lah. Putting ur stuffs in plastic bag also prevents it from getting wet cause it might rain at night.

So that is all for the packing section ! :D

My OBS experience! 

Day 1 

k so for day 1, i will be very brief with it and only highlight significant events because its really all about being separated from ur classmates and being introduced and getting used to ur watch. the morning + afternoon of day 1 is honestly not very interesting so u can skip to the bottom of day 1 cause night time quite interesting lah :)

*Watch : OBS term for "group". the people u will be working with throughout the course. consist of 16 people.

 For my watch, it was 6 people from my class, the rest from other classes. my school already showed us a list of the people we were grouped with so we were already mentally prepared.

Anyway, before i went to school, i found out that i was the most unlucky person on earth . I had my period!!! suaykia. But my best friend also had HAHAH so bleed together ! so being kiasu, i packed one whole pack of sanitary pads...

When u reach OBS after the journey on the ferry, everyone will be gathered to a hall and given a boring talk about the history of OBS and more, which i didnt pay attention to cause i was falling asleep. we were also introduced to the various instructors from other watches.

My watch name : im not gonna say. cause just in case any of my watch mates come across this blog and can identify me, im dead. im gonna be revealing EVERYTHING here. so no lies about my OBS experience here. nothing but the truth :)

My watch instructor : JY and S. I'll be using people's first initials throughout this post k! for convenience and no identification.

the instructors will be confiscating your ic, wallets, handphones and valuables for safe keeping. they will also ask u to surrender ur tibits and sweets. i brought with me ricola ( a sweet) and hid it at my bag's secret compartment. heheheehehe... oh and they will also confiscate games. my friend surrendered her poker cards, which we were planning to play in the tent before we sleep. LOL.

we also had a really satisfying lunch which was rice with black soy sauce chicken wing, fishcake, vegetables and a fruit. of course if u dun like any of the dishes, u can ask the person nt to give u. i didnt take vegetable nor fruits cause i dun like :P the drink was some sort of fruit punch which was rather nice.

The trust game...one activity that we did during noon is called a 'trust game' or smth. i forgot liao hahaah. basically, there are 8 handles on each side of the trust mat i think and everyone have to take turns to fall on the trust mat. the watch mates must each hold at least 1 handle, some hold 2. the person that is falling must take out like any hard materials on ur head such as hairclip and spectacles. then u must stand on a table with ur back facing the trust mat then fall backwards, trusting that ur watchmates hold the mat tightly cause if they do not, instead of falling on the mat, u will hit the floor. it may sound easy and not scary as ur legs are parallel to the height of the mat. but when u r about to fall, everyone will hesitate the first shot. so i was the first person standing on the right. then JY ( our instructor) was like " ok lets start with the person on the right !" then i was like shit . so anyways, i hesitated the first shot but then the second time i magically fell backwards and it felt really comforting the moment u land on the mat cause u know ure safe. so yep thats the trust game. and one of my watch mate cried cause she was damn scared.... but in the end she did it and we cheered for her

Pitching the tent. and now comes the interesting part.... well not so interesting but better than the above LOL. soooo at night we have to cook our own food using the solid fuels. our instructor asked us to split into 2; half cook half go pitch the tent cause it was already late and we were behind time. i was the half that went to pitch the tent and it was like i think 7+ already? my tent mates are K,I,A and P. K and I were cooking so A, P and i went to pitch the tent. 2 instructors led us into the forest and it was damn scary as it got darker. when we were pitching our tent, it was already 7 45ish. everyone was damn kiasi and kiasu and we were all rushing to pitch the tent. 8+ and it was like almost completely dark. people on their torchlights. then because my group were the last to finish, then A started crying like mad because she was scared of the dark and afraid we couldnt finish so ppl frm other groups helped us. when we're done, we all returned back to eat. while we were walking back right, we all held hands cause we r girls and we were all scared like mad. like later sekali a ghost jump out or smth lol.

when we finished bathing, there was like a fire drill. so we all had to gather at the a place. then we were given more talks about stuffs and what we will be doing the following days.

we slept around 11+ and my tent was in charge of the first duty which was from 11-12 15 . so we had to stay awake till 12 15. we lempak in the tent instead of getting out of the tent n looking out for the rest cause it was damn dark n scary. so we talked about stuffs and gossiped a bit hehehehe. ok fine we gossiped a lot. we did confessions also.

the first half of the night was damn stuffy, but about 3+ it gets colder. so i slept quite shiok although i woke up a couple of times. i had really weird dreams..... O.o about 4+ there was a really loud HEEHEHEEEEHEHE HAHAAHAHA sound which was really creepy and scared the shit out of some of us. i was the first one to hear it in my tent but i went back to sleep n pretend nothing happen cause i scared. then K woke me up and im like nvm la go back to sleep. it was actually a monkey.

Hmmmm advice i can give u so far from first day : Bring ur torchlight with u during the night and wear long sleeved shirt and pants to sleep so u wont get bitten by mozzies and u can sleep peacefully ^0^

Day 2

Day 2 is like the most significant of all days...

Woke up at 5 cause we were supposed to meet at 6 30. tie hair, brush teeth, poop and all. unpitched tents.

Had cream bread for breakfast plus a strawberry cake from our happy food.

*Happy food: like small snacks and bread given to each individual. consist of oreo, bread, milo powder, coffee powder and more.

So on tuesday, which is day 2... we did height activities and kayaking.

I had fear of heights and i discovered that at my attempt to take the flying fox during p5 camp. instead of going down through that 9 stories flying fox, i walked down the steps in disappointment. i cried when i came down.... lol.

sooo back to OBS. i decided to take the height activities cause it really looked like a lot of fun and i wanted to overcome my fears. so initially i was suppose to do it with A as we had to do the height activities in partners. But she ditched me cause she was too scared to do it as she was also afraid of heights. Then P who initially said she wanted to do with me cause she isnt afraid of heights and can be a better partner than A as she can encourage me and A cant, also ditched me as she said that it looked hard and she feels that she will have difficulty doing it herself thus she cant bother and help me so i was like... alrighty then. so in the end i partnered with V, who was my ex sitting partner in class :)

So we did the height activity.

Height activities. the first obstacle was rock climbing which was really challenging although it seemed easy. the rocks were really hard to grab and V and i spent about 20 mins just at that little rock wall. our belayers were tired as we didnt move for very long.

then suddenly, something magically happened and i dunno why but i lifted my leg and climbed unconsciously above the rock wall and made it through the first obstacle. and i was like lempaking up there while V was trying to get up the rock wall. i forgot to help her cause i was so relieved and traumatized at the same time as i was scared of heights. but she made it and we climbed the second obstacle together. in the end, out of 3 obstacles, we managed to finish the second one. the last obstacle was like a swinging car tire plus rope ladder thing. we did not do it cause it was too scary for us so we went back down.

after the whole thing, i felt really accomplished and satisfied because i didnt know i could make it that high.

Reflection for the height activities
~Peer support and encouragement is really important because without them, i wouldnt have make it to the top.

~ NEVER DITCH UR FRIENDS. Remember i was telling u about P? The girl who ditched me cause she said she is unable to help me n gave me a lame excuse? In the end, i reached the 2nd obstacle. She was stuck at the rock wall and didnt even make it through the first obstacle. So i learnt that it is important not to ditch ur friends just because u r concerned about urself. =)

" What comes around goes around". Remember this 

Kayaking~ I use green cause kaya is green. ok i know im lame hahahaha

I was really looking forward to kayaking although i had my period. for those of u having periods, its alright. i asked the instructor and she said that its ok to kayak as the water pressure will prevent ur blood from flowing out. however once u come out of the water, it will flow normally. ( Sorry if you're a guy and have to know this...)

For kayaking, u have to get into groups of 3. Since i was the lightest, i took the front sit.

Before kayaking, the instructors will teach u basics such as how to kayak front, back, left and right. They will also teach u how to capsize and how to get back up on ur kayak. In case u dunno, capsize is when ur boat overturns, which is a horrible thing, especially if u were to capsize in the middle of the sea.

We were told that there are jellyfishes and stingrays in the sea ....

While practicing capsizing, there was a dead fish floating on the surface of the water and it stank like hell. Its head was like bitten off...

Anyway, after everyone learnt to capsize, we began to kayak. Everyone had the fear of capsizing in the middle of the sea, afraid that our sunblock and bottles will sink down and our spectacles will drop ( worst) so those wearing spex all secure their spex by wearing retainers and using cotton twine to tie our spex around our head.

It was really tiring as it was most of our first type kayaking. Everyone was screaming. Occasionally, we will crash into another kayak and when that happens, my friend sitting in the middle of the kayak will be like shouting to the people on the other kayak, " STOP IT STOP IT SERIOUSLY STOP IT STOP IT" when it was like both our faults. LOL. but heng we never capsize! we also sometimes lose coordination... there were times no one wanted to follow anyone cause we were damn scared of capsizing. everytime our boat is going out of the route, we will all scream at once " ROW LEFT LEFT LEFT!!!" then when we're back on track we will chant " LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT". When we were reaching the end, we almost hit a rock and we were all panicking and used all our energy to row away from the rock.

although the whole experience was scary and traumatizing, it was definitely lots of fun and a great experience.

So from camp 1, we kayaked all the way to camp 2, which was the lousier and worse camp as it had worse conditions.There was a toilet in which there were only squat cubicles. However, there was another toilet that was further but at least was cleaner and had sitting toilet bowls.

During the night, a lot of things happened.. my friend and i cried together cause we were damn homesick. i know its only like 2 days? but we really love home thats why, dont judge us hahaha. we were not the only one though ! a lot of people cried. Also, i cried really badly cause of something and i cant tell why but JY comforted me and she is a really really good instructor. if u happen to get her as ur instructor, u are one lucky camper. she's really nice =)

Day 3

I didnt mentioned but from day 1, i had diarrhea once. day 2, twice. day 3, just in the morning, 4 times!! i had really bad stomachache and i couldnt bear it at some times. it comes and goes. i always have a weak stomach so i guess its cause of that. Thus, on day 3 i was admitted to the medical center at camp 1. Then they decided to bring me to a poly clinic at punggol so i took a ferry back. i got 2 days of MC and went home at 3.30? there were two other girls who went home the same time as me so i wasnt alone.

Anyway, although im a bit sad that i'll miss out on the hiking and even tedious kayaking, i was also quite happy lah cause i get to go home and enjoy life again. plus if im not wrong the activities that im skipping is very tiring and torturous. if i were to stay i will hold the watch back cause i'll be constantly diarrhea-ing. and it isnt comfortable to diarrhea in the forest so yeah .

Overall, OBS is a really great and unforgettable experience. i think the thing i learnt most out of this course is that my family and close friends are really important to me. when i met my close friends during obs, i was over the moon. i never knew how much my friends cared for me and vice versa. so throughout this experience, u will definitely learn how to treasure your close ones more.

Also u will be able to see most of ur friend's true colours through OBS. You will realise that most of ur friends are not as caring as u think they are. a lot of people will show their self-centered side of them. of course there are friends who u realise are better than u think they are. there are also friends who u will find really bossy and i think that is the type of watch mate a watch can seriously live without. there was a girl from my watch who is really bossy and when she "cares" for u, u can feel that it isnt sincere. she constantly boss us around and everything and a lot of ppl dun like her.

Not to mention, the water there is actually really awful to drink. it taste and smell like pool water.

If i had a chance, i will definitely go for it one more time.

OBS also makes u a more independent and caring person, depending on what type of experience urs is. so if u can, feel free to share ur experience with me as well haha ^^

if u have any concerns or problems, u can leave a comment and i will reply :) otherwise, hope u have a great and fun experience at OBS  and that my post has helped u and prepared u well =)