FTB wasn't exactly fun, but i did learn quite a bit.
our faci kept emphasizing that there was a difference between games and activities, and boy there sure is!!
the first day was the least fun.
we went through briefing, icebreakers then proceeded to our first activity.
it's called finishing line, and the whole group has to cross a line at the exact same time, right down to the point of entry.
okay so we tried a few times and didn't succeed in the end.
after every activity there's a debrief, where the facis try to reconcile the learning points.
the most frustrating thing about debriefs is that they don't actually tell you the answer! they'll just keep asking questions to make us reflect and think alot. and during the first debrief we learnt the golden rule of all activities (i can't ever forget this, they drilled us so much) is to plan, simulate then execute.
our second activity was to build a 5-level pyramid given 15 party cups.
the cups have a square boundary around them, and we're given a rubberband and a length of string each, so we've to use those to move the cups. any body part that crosses the boundary will be burned off and can't be used anymore.
so we planned, then tried to simulate, but couldn't find anything close enough to replicate the plastic cups, so we skipped the simulation process, much to the wrath of the facis.
but the execution was an amazing success!
during debrief though, the facis kept squeezing possible simulation ideas out of us, and said that simulating during executing is expensive.
we had lunch after that, the caterer for the camp is the same that caters for the SAF. the food was always, always rice with chicken/ fish/ veggies/ egg. this battered fish thing which was pretty much mostly batter presented itself at EVERY meal, it even came in a spicy sauce version at our last meal.
but for breakfast we had hokkien mee for the first morning and mee siam for the second, and i thought it was too oily for breakfast so i suggested biscuits for breakfast in my camp feedback form. there's a constant supply of biscuits with the operating commitee, but i thought it too wasteful if i ditched my breakfast and went for biscuits, and probably the other girls would do so too.
also during lunch we came up with a cheer. the most enjoyable part of this camp were the games and cheering, but we got very little chance to cheer as compared to jc orientation because this was a teambuilding camp, not those orientation camps made completely of games. i hope biz camp will be brainless fun though!
after lunch was another activity, sacred circles, king of demoralising activites.
there are two very tall bamboo poles, one has a bunch of five filled hula hoops tied together.
in between the poles there are two bamboo poles with two lengths of raffia string between them.
the aim is to get the hula hoops out of the first tall pole, get it through the raffia strings, all team members must also cross to the other side through the raffia string, and finally get the hula hoops over the other tall pole.
the hula hoops cannot touch the ground nor can any body part touch the hula hoops, and as we're crossing the raffia string if a body part touches the string it will be immobilised. we're provided two bamboo poles.
so we planned, simulated the carrying of people on two of the guys' shoulders to get the hula hoops out of the pole as well as carrying people through the raffia string.
just before execution our facis told us we'd be muted during the game. we managed to get the hula hoops out, but got stuck at the raffia string and kept restarting. we decided to change the method of crossing the string there and then, but nobody understood each other cos our hand signals suck. finally our faci asked us if we'd like to take 10 mins out of execution to plan. after planning we managed to get three people across when we managed none before!! but we reached the time limit so we didn't complete the activity.
during debrief our facis emphasized motivation, cos our morale was very low during the activity. and they explained that if our plan was good and solid, and if everyone knew their role then muting us wouldn't have made a big difference. and they also told us to keep in mind the contraints of the activity, and think out of the box. also, we didn't know it was possible to plan during execution but they said if the situation looks bleak and we know for sure we can't get much further then it would be wise to take time out to rethink our plan.
thank goodness that was the last activity for the day! after that was NIGHT GAMES!!! but SMU takes safety very seriously so night games were played from 8:30pm - 10:30pm, and most were in lighted shelters. and of course all in the OBS compund. Not very fun but considering the stuff we did for the day, and seeing our facis loosening up, it was like jumping into a huge river after a week in the desert. don't laugh at my similes :(
our group only played two games, after which we were quarantined hahaha! cos one of us had a fever, so he was sent to tan tock seng for a checkup. by the time we were released night games were over, so we had a ftb-wide debrief and went to shower and sleep.
sleeping area was a big tiled area like that of a school parade square, and we used collapsable tents. east coast is windy at night so that made it easy to sleep despite the tent being squeezy. when we woke up in the morning i felt so tired still, i might as well not have slept at all. and also! someone was snoring crazy loud in the opposite tent and woke me sometime when it was still dark, but i was so tired i just went back to sleep.
breakfast was hokkien mee, and our first activity was super fun, it was high elements!
they got the OBS instructors to come in and direct us in using the high tower. our group got the slightly more boring one, which was walking on a line with another line above you to hold on to, then walking on another line with ropes hanging down at intervals, and finally a beam with nothing to hold on to.
debrief was short and sweet, yay!
after that, we did poison ivy, which was a network of rafia strings acrosss four bamboo poles.
everyone takes a hole and without touching the string nor going into another hole, has to get out.
planned and simulated stepping on people. we restarted 17 times!!! didn't complete, unfortunately.
in debrief we learnt it was unfair and redundant for a team to heavily rely on one person.
after that we did RAFTING!! woohoo. we really displayed teamwork here cos we all learnt how to tie the crowfish knot or sth like that, and managed to secure four barrels in 20 mins and completed our raft on time. just passed the lift, shake and kick test, so we brought the raft (super heavy!) down to the beach. it floated, we did our lifevest test and went out to sea! we had to collect two waterbombs from the styrofoam box which was dismally a very short distance from the shore.
after rafting we showered, then planned our section skit with two other groups. also learned the section cheer from another group in preparation for campfire. after dinner, did some area cleaning then proceeded to the campfire.
the campfire screamed artificial. it was a stage lit by bright lights, benches forming a U in front of it and a small pile of wood in the middle. they couldn't have a proper campfire cos 1) small fire due to space constraints 2) bright lights for safety 3)stage for samba masala to perform as well as the sections to show their skit.
samba masala is really coool! they make good brazilian music. we had a few stage games which were really funny.
all the sections presented their skit and cheer, then we had a half-hour disco night with the bright lights still on. it was still really fun though, but it ended too early.
we woke the next morning for the last activity, kind of like amazing race. WE THOUGHT OUT OF THE BOX FOR ONE STATION! the tub turn one. constraint is only our feet can touch the tub, and it has to be lifted off the ground to turn. so we brought the tub up and moved our butts instead! soo smart, i wouldn't have thought of that.
showered, had lunch then went through feedback forms and reflected on the expectations we had for this camp, our facis and ourselves. our facis totally did not fulfill my expectations of them, heh! it was to not be so serious and have fun. but the nature of this camp is such that they cannot have fun, so they're very respectable for being facis!
final camp debrief was very abrupt, and there was no ending! they didn't say which section succeeded Professor H.
i thought the organisers did a great job for the camp. the facis kept asking us to drink water and when we went out of the OBS compound for the last stand there were water tanks at every station, as well as facis cycling around to make sure no group gets lost. we took temperatures twice a day. there were practically no hiccups at all! fantastic planning and i suppose they had a lot of training and mock camps cos they've been working on FTB since last december!
FTB follows a storyline which my faci usually skipped but which I was pretty interested in so I listened to other facis whenever we were close enough to. Behind every activity is part of the story! Anyway, there's this evil guy, Xain, who has brainwashed the human race. Professor H has five agents, Venus, Magnum, Techna, Blackjack and Musashi to go against Xain. So we freshies are the trainees under the agents and our sections are named after them, so mine is Venus (which has an awesome senior faci!! she's loud, full of funny shit and super cheery). And OBS is a top secret training facility! hahahah.
In the end Professor H gets assasinated and each of the sections have to prove their worth in succeeding his throne.
They despatched us to buses going to SMU, ang mo kio, jurong east and bedok. When the bus dropped us at AMK mrt i felt like i haven't seen civilisation in ages, i was so relieved.
OKAY I'M DONE. what a long post.
later on i'm going for my friend's mom's wake. it's really sad cos she passed on suddenly, and they were extremely close. we always hear her talking about her mom but not so much about her dad. and she's an obedient kid too. sigh.
I'm finally going to see my grandaunt and uncle who're back for a holiday from the US! they were at my granny's for the past two sundays but i went to Bangkok and then to Malacca so haven't seen them yet :/
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