the camp

basically, i don't think this camp rocks. or sucks. just neutral. not too good, not too bad. but i didn't really enjoy it. if you asked me, i would have rather not gone.
what struck me about the camp was the incredibly poor planning by the teachers and the camp fit instructors. its like at this standard i can also plan the camp over the weekend. just need the number of participants then can liaoz.
anyways lets start with what i like about the camp.
i like my group. i like it more than 6t. well well, thats obvious. anyways the group got lots of fun people, track vice capt, girls floorball vice capt, volleyball vice cap, bridge chair, girls gym vicecapt, chinese dance vicechair and 3 councillors of whom one, i sort of abhor. anyways. dun wanna discuss too much on this blog about these people. ask me if u want to know more.
i like the looooong free time. we had like 1 hr to bathe everyday like wtf, that is excessive by any standards.
that's all i liked.
i dont like the activities. amazing race was really really stupid. the activities were just normal teambuilding junk, and there was no reward. and the reason for this race is tt in leadership there are no rewards and whatever. bullshit lah. as a leader u do whats best for ur club. u act in the best interest of ur members. the interest of ur members should be what motivates u. and lailai my facil said something like we should all put in our all in everything. what cock. theres no bearing in this amazing race, even more so when theres zilch reward. on top of the really stupid games and long walks and swarms of mosquitoes and the burning sun.
what i learnt from this activity is that people need to be motivated with something tangible. they must have a goal and a reward, they must feel that the activity is meaningful and that they have achieved something. then they will give their all. not like in the spastic race.
kayaking was soso. some people were damn lag, and i didnt really talk to dawn, the girl i was kayaking with. anyways later we were screwed cos we didnt volunteer. as leaders we should volunteer whenever possible and all. because we didnt volunteer to be pointer or sweeper and whatnot, we didnt exhibit this quality. eh wake up facils, the fact that most of us did not volunteer to do this is because we were unsure of our kayaking aptitude. most of us have kayaked at most 5 times, and were with new kayaking partners, so we wont know how we would perform. we did not know whether we were even proficient kayakers much less competent pointers or sweepers. ok granted this is ccal camp, this is a controlled environment, we can make mistakes, but face it, even if the env is controlled, there are still consequences to be borne when we screw up. on top of it, leaders must know when to step aside for someone else more capable to take over so that everyone can move forward quicker and easier.
low elements was quite fun. learnt that im quite pro at balancing. apparently no one can balance as long as me on my toes. so i virtually tiptoed throughout the bridge thing as people cross my stone. and i was the only one who didnt fall off the log. the problem with this game is that all the while we were in the sun. and anyway most of us have done all this at least 2 or 3 times already so we were quite pro, clearing most of the stations quite quickly.
rafting was stupid and a complete waste of time. we were not given adequate instructions. if not for the scout we wouldnt even have any knots tied properly. the sun and my screwed mizuno (which i decommissioned and buried there) didnt help. anyways we finally built some crap raft. the sail couldnt be raised, but we were, hoho, the first group to finish the race and we didnt even have to cheat, just hardcore paddle, while the other subgroups were in submarines and were kicking against the seabed.
and the facil just had to say something like why we didnt volunteer or give ideas and whatnot. well too many cooks spoil the broth. already the arrangement of the problems gave us a headache as everyone had his own opinion. and the facil had to keep irritating us by telling us that the lashing was not tight enough. please lah, even if its not tight, we can still sail, its not like the 3 bamboo poles tied longitudinally can totally shear off each other. quite obviously.
what i took away from this is that as a leader, u should not expect too much and get to the nitty gritty everytime. it makes u unpopular. and think before u speak or act. dont be an idiot.
the last activity was wakatobi jungle trail. i dunno about others, but i thought it was the most interesting activity. at least it was something special, something different and something that could only be done on bintan and not elsewhere. quite fun with the gps and all the hunting for the checkpoints.
i guess what screwed this station up was the stretchering. some smart councillor had so many funny opinions that didnt even make sense. the fact is that she was injured and we should stretcher her out, not look for the lightest girl to stretcher out. and he was like carrying for hardly a minute when he said he needed to stop cos it was too heavy for him. wtf. even a with a wuss like me who cant do a proper pull up, we could carry it for 5 mins without stopping over uneven ground.
and as usual the facils totally screwed up my day, like asking us why we were all just stoning there when they told us to stretcher someone out. well we even as leaders are not omnipotent and we were just stoning for less than a minute. whatever lah.
that's about all i have to complain about the activities.
when i come back i will continue with
campfire
toilet
the flood
in this same post.