leave of absence

i have been MIA... but i'm back from OBS! and i brought back souvenirs...

2 polo tees (i have enough t-shirts... but they were comfy... and i need more decent stuff)
lots and lots of reflections...
a nice photo of my watch
a certificate from OBS
sand fly bites (in super weird places!! just at my butt, on my hips, armpit =X)
mozzy bites (lots and lots with one weird one in particular... on my stomach. mozzy probably bit through a hole in the dry-fit shirt grrr)
a rash... at the skin fold places
a sunburn (somehow managed to not-burn while kayaking, but got burnt in the last 2 hours there while belaying people on the tripod. hmmmm.)
some OBS water... probably some sea water too
a portion of pulau ubin (sand... sand... and more sand)


it was. fulfilling. i won't go into detail... that's in the journal they gave... learnt a lot of stuff unconsciously from other people/ sharing sessions. i think the people in Barker (the watch) were just fantastic... people with a great sense of humour, enthusiastic, caring, understanding. the list goes on. i really thank God for them (they'll make fabulous teachers. heh) and i think some kingdom friendships were made. amazing that denise, heidi, angel were all in the watch... and daniel's (Arrow Vid) girlfriend hei man *wow divine coincidence* and our crazy instructor (very cool guy!) cunning Connel *grin*

major event 1:
waking up early at 5 am on sunday with denise, heidi, hei man, ian, you sheng to have 'morning service' and pray over the expedition later... it was... well... Daddy God was there all the way =)

major event 2:
joining forces in kayaks hei man and i, heidi and jonathan to tow you sheng and angel cos you sheng was a bit seasick... jonathan = clown hehe. it was so so cool. my left side died completely after that (negotiating the river was cool too! and the next day trecking we saw where we went during low tide... and there was nothing but mud)

major event 3:
doing guard duty at camp... and then not wanting to go back in the tent cos there wasn't enough space and it smelled like socks... so. we hung around outside until the next next next shift people (another watch) came, then someone had the idea of putting a poncho on the ground and we all slept outside (people with flooded tents etc.)

major event 4:
getting somewhat lost, then taking over the navigation for a while... I LEARNT HOW TO READ A TERRAIN MAP =)

major event 5:
building a catapult while half asleep with the rest of the watch (we were so tired we all got super high... and started bargaining with instructors =S) yah. and the catapult catapulted a negative distance XD... but we all just laughed it off - our cheer? BARKER relak.... that's as crazy a group as you can get i think. =D [well. we're teachers, not engineers. lol]



i say. kayaking in the open sea/ negotiating a river/ trecking in ubin with God... is really incomparable.. it's amazing to do with Daddy holding your hand... also, we got the full works of an outdoor trip - not often you get super hot sun, then rain while kayaking, lots of mud when crossing a land mass carrying kayaks, raining at camp with flooding tents - can't really get more experience than that in singapore. and what was really fantastic was that so many of my watch were Christians... there was such camaraderie and love from each person, even through all the rain and darkness and low points (like me being unable to bathe for 2 days and completely dead on my feet at the end.. not to mention cramps).

memorable? definately.