We are a group of
2nd YA Camp!
Hi all!
Sorry for the late post!
After such a long break from guiding
activities, the YAs were sure glad to resume our guiding journey with our very
own YA Camp! Our camp lasted for 3D2N, from the 9th to 11th
November.
DAY 1
During the camp, the YAs were split into two
groups to compete against each other for some activities. After drawing lots to split ourselves into
groups, we proceed to start our first activity – Pioneering!
This time round, we planned to build a
Castle, designed by Tse Puay (cool right!). After
collecting and moving all the spars to the field, we proceeded to tie the main
frames.
Also, we took note to check all our lashes
were standard and tight enough to support our precious castle before supporting
the main frames into a vertical standing position.
We finished up the main outline of the
pioneering structure by connecting the two main frames together before heading
for our lunch break.
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| smile! |
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| let's make a heart shape! um... you mean an oval? ;) |
After lunch, we resumed pioneering feeling
refreshed, and built the doors and added extensions onto the main frames.
Another highlight of our castle would also be
the swing suspended from the roof of the castle, which added more creativity to
our structure. As for decorations, we weaved into the manila rope and swing.
see the similarity?
our majestic castle
After dinner and wash up, we had a game of Treasure Hunt! We were split into our 2
teams and pitch against each other in various fun and crazy activities.
First up was charades where we had to draw the word given on a piece of paper within 10 seconds and continue drawing the same picture down the line and the last person would have to guess what the word was.
First up was charades where we had to draw the word given on a piece of paper within 10 seconds and continue drawing the same picture down the line and the last person would have to guess what the word was.
Next we had our sleeping bag contest where we had to hop in our sleeping bags and fight for pillows, similar to musical chairs.
Finally we had this game where one representative from each team would compete against each other to drink a bowl of water without their hands in the shortest time possible.
Treasure Hunt was definitely something unexpected and extremely fun. The games
were all out of the box, creative and engaging. They required us to perform
ridiculously funny antics, causing everyone to often bursting out into
uncontrollable laughter at the comedy gold the games created. (: Also, such
mass games allow increased interaction amongst everyone and puts our
communication skills to test, helping us to understand each other better
through enjoyable activities. :D
DAY
2/3
We
started the day with Morning PT,
which was meant to build up our stamina, as well
as to increase our appetite for breakfast. (;
We had the station style of PT. We began with a short warm up
to stretch out our tired, non-awakened muscles before moving on to our first
station, which consisted of 2 rounds of circuits.
After this seemingly mundane station, we
proceeded on to something more engaging and exciting. Already in our two teams,
we battled in several rounds of Captain’s Ball and each time a team scores a
goal, the rival team will have to do 5 push ups.
“This didn't seem like a big
deal at first, but somehow, my team kept losing! One likely reason for the
sustained losses was because we were both short, and short in numbers :/ ” –
Tse Puay
Lastly, still in our teams, we then competed
in an adapted game of Scissors-Paper-Stone, which required us to run across the
parade square.The scissors paper stone game marked the end of our morning
PT, and we continued our day with a very big breakfast. (mmmm :P)
There
was a Relay Race after lunch, which consisted of activities that test us on guides skills.
The entire relay race was conducted in 2 teams and we had to compete. The first
game that we played was mass change which reminded us of the days when we were
still juniors.
The next activity involved us tying a structure that the ICs
designed. The challenge of this game is that we could only use one hand to tie
the lashes. We had to coordinate with each other, and in this activity,
teamwork was very important.
“I think we all surpassed our own expectations of ourselves in that area, completing the
gadget way faster than we expected.” – Nicole (:
Next, we were required to blindfold half of our members.
Those who were not blindfolded were supposed to instruct the blindfolded to
built emergency shelters. This was a test of our communication skills and a
revision of our guides skills as well.
The last activity involved us placing our feet on two spars,
with our members standing on the spars. Then we had to drag ourselves using the
strings that we tied ourselves to. The fastest team to arrive at the ending
point will win the race. This game tested on our cooperation and also our sense
of balance.
“At first, my team had concerns that we would lose this round
because our average height was taller, based on the theory that taller people
had a higher centre gravity. However, with our impressive teamwork and
perseverance, we won the race with much difficulty.” – Shanice :D
Before relay race ends, we had a watermelon eating
competition! Each team had to finish half a watermelon in the shortest time
possible.
The competitive element as well as the presence of "wild
cards" was a good concept to keep us actively involved and motivated to
perform well for each activity! The recap of skills was timely as there were
some skills which we haven’t practiced in quite a while, like the building of
an emergency shelter. At the same time, we were able to have fun together!
After dinner, it was time for Night Cycling! The YAs were given a briefing
on the night cycling route, hand signals to use etc the night before. It was the highlight of our camp and we were all quite
looking forward to it since most of us had not done night cycling before! We
started off our journey by brisk walking to Lifestyle Bike N Skate where we had
rented our bikes. Kudos to the Guiders who set such a fast pace walking
that we had quite a challenge keeping up with! Lined
up in single file, we slowly made our way to Changi village.
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| night cycling comm (missing nicole!) |
It took us slightly under 2 hours to get to
Changi Village Food Centre, where we had supper :D Good food and good company
makes for a good night. There, Miss Kuah gave us the option of returning along
the same route or challenging ourselves by following the park connectors along
a different, longer course to get back to the rental shop. After some
deliberation, we decided to take up the challenge and we continued our ride
towards Pasir Ris.
For
the rest of the night, we travelled from Changi to Pasir Ris to Tampines to
Bedok to Siglap and back to East Coast. We did meet a few hiccups along the way
– to start off, the park connector got cut off by some construction work in the
middle of Tampines. We only rode to Pasir Ris on our recce, so we were trying
to navigate our way as we rode from there onwards.
Despite this abrupt obstacle, Deborah and Jie Ying, the I/Cs of night cycling,
cast aside their exhaustion and analysed the maps placed around the area, as
well as the maps they had brought to navigate us back to school.
“I
learned that keeping calm and collected in the face of challenges and problems
is absolutely essential, and panicking really doesn’t help at all. Working
together, we did eventually find our way through Bedok to get to Siglap and
eventually back to ECP.” – Deborah :D
“Night cycling did not
turn out exactly as we planned as we decided to try a different route back to
school. However, we made it with one another's encouragements. None of us
complained about being tired as we knew we were all in this together. This is
the spirit that we have learnt through guiding the past 5 years! The moment
when we found our way back to the kiosk was especially satisfying after going
through a long way.The whole experience has
taught me not to be afraid in trying new things instead of taking the usual.
Although it may not be very certain and there's some risks involved, the end
may be even more fulfilling that taking the usual route. This brings us back to
our guiding principle to step out of our comfort zone and explore :)” – Xiao Qi
(night cycling I/C)
“This night
cycling activity was definitely an experience we'd never forget, and perhaps in
the future, we can have other similar activities such as night rollerblading or
night skateboarding ;)” – Tse Puay
We are glad that we all pushed on and completed the journey as a team.
It
truly was a night to remember :)
Thank you guiders - Miss Sim and Miss Kuah, and YAs for planning this YA camp which I believed that all of us have enjoyed. Through this camp, we managed to have fun and also relieved our memories in JH guides. Also, we have forged stronger bonds with each other, improving our dynamics as a chapter :)
Labels: Pioneering, Updates, YA camp