Saturday, October 4, 2008

veni, vidi, vici!

Ha. I googled the above cos I forgot the correct term. I know i read it in form 5. heh.

Anyway, NTC was a bipolar mix of horribility and fun. I hated every single second of being dirty, wet, cold and tired. It rained for three consecutive days. My clothes and shoes were wet and dirty the whole time, and I was so extremely uncomfortable that looking back now, I don't know how I stood it. Thank god I had Asha the mother of the Lims as my patrol member. She is THE BOMB la. She was so well prepared she brought an extra uniform and ponchos and little pipe cleaner thingymajiggys for the banner. So when my uniform was soaking wet, she provided me with a fresh, clean one. Oh my gawd. Just to have a clean uniform which isn't sticky with sweat or soaking wet was... sweet as honey. When my raincoat tore slightly, she gave me a new one (which ironically tore anyway and so I had to sew it back but it tore again after that, so, what the heck. haha)

In all the four days, I bathed only once, brushed my teeth twice, never passed motion, never looked at myself in the mirror and never combed my hair. The schedule was so gruelling we didn't even have time to bathe! And even if we did, the toilets were so damn filthy (read: a used pad was lying in the sink!) it took away my mood to bathe. Some of them semangatedly got up early in the morning to bathe but i didn't bother la. So cold ok. We had to brush our teeth using the hose in the toilet stalls because... the pad in the sink remember? *shudders*

Ok the above paragraph makes me sound like some gross filthy person so moving onnn....

I hated the bugs, I hated having to walk 10 minutes each to and from our campsite, I hated the rain, I hated being dirty, I hated being wet and cold, I hated having to eat with utensils not washed properly, I hated the toilets, I hated the lack of sleep, i hated being dirty, and oh did i mention i hated being dirty?

But the experience, knowledge and new friendships I gained from this camp made every single tortured second worth it. I have absolutely NO regrets coming for camp and I have so much respect for the commanders who put it all together.

And apparently our batch had it so much easier compared to previous batches, so I'm not complaining.

One thing that really got me was how little I know and how inadept I am at some of the skills. And how some things didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. For example I had to demonstrate the square knot to my patrol advisor. I do the square knot ALL the time ok, tying plastic bags, my shoes, my drawstring pants etc. I can do it in my sleep la ok. Left over right, right over left, pull. But when I had to demonstrate it somehow the thing just didn't turn out right. I had to try it like 4/5 times. I bet cmdr. J was thinking what a doofus I am. But I swear it's the string ok, the silly green string that just didn't turn out right.

I spent two hours washing all my dirty things just now, and I took a long longg shower after that(even soaped up twice babehh!) I tell youuuu... the feeling of clean, fresh water washing away the dirt and grime is refreshingly heavenly. And the knowledge that the experiences of the past four days is all over now, is pure bliss. I desperately need sleep, but I've got SO many assignments to complete I don't know where to start. I'm already forgoing my preplanned trip to KLpac tomorrow because I simply won't have time to finish all my assignments. And I lost my voiceeee!! I sound like a freaking toad now!!! I wanted to call Sherrene but I realised that she probably wouldn't be able to hear me so ahhh I'll just talk to her tomorrow.

And i found out today that the Sel#1 aunty commanders whom you would expect to be discussing children and husbands and vegetables, are actually pretty, err, hormone-charged.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.