Project Munitio Part 2

Day 4, 5 and 6 (27th, 28th and 29th Nov Dec 2006)The outdoor camp activities had started. There were a total of 100 odds Indonesia teachers and students from 11 different primary schools of Surabaya. I would spare the details of the activities cos it was relative boring for you guys to read about it. The main gist is letting the city kids experience the beauty of nature and learn how to protect it. As for the teachers, we were expected to be sharing the different techniques and teaching methods used in our own context.

Well… Lots of events happened within this 3 days. Ultimately killer to all of us! Firstly, the details of the camp were not convey accurately to us and also the Indonesia teachers. This lead to misunderstanding and miscommunication to both sides. On top of it, the differences in culture and communication barrel had resulted into a tension drawn up between us. Nonetheless, I was glad that as the days went by, things get clearer and the bonding between the teachers, students and us grew tremendously. We were like great friends by the end of the 3rd day.

On the 1st night of the camp, just went we were all exhausted and drained out due to the long day and stress, we need to have our meeting and also prepared for the next day’s activities. We were having our meeting and discussion in the canteen area and there were lots of flies, moths, crickets and whatever insects flying around as there was a heavy downpour. I was terrified by all these flying insects. I do not fancy them at all cos they seem to be flying aimlessly. After that day, I have phobia towards them already! I had never felt so stress before and I can’t go anywhere cos it was raining super heavily. Our bunk is at another building.

Just as the rain stopped and decided to take a shower, to our amazement, the bathroom were ULTIMATELY DIRTY due to the kids and there was no more water! As mention earlier, after certain timing, water cannot be pumped up anymore. Luckily we managed to get our shower at bathroom at PW main building, By the time, all of us gotten our shower, it was closed to 3am.

I had enough for the day and we badly wanted to rest. The girls were shocked to see our beds being occupied by the Indonesia teachers and students. There was only 2 beds and no pillow left for the 4 girls. At this very moment, I really feel like going home! What the hell am I doing in such a place and suffering like that? I also wanted to cry already. The guys offered us to sleep in the male bunk as there were empty beds. But Indonesia has a very conservative culture so we call off the ideas. The guys managed to “steal” 2 pillows for us from their bunk. The 4 girls packed ourselves together as if we were sardines in a can.

I barely slept that night. The next morning, I was totally drained out. It was an accumulative effect of a sleepless night and the “maximum 3 hours of sleep” from the previous nights. I could hardly think straight or work at all. In the end, I got "educated" by Nick. The more he point out my mistakes, the more stressful it gets and… I made more mistakes which lead off to more scolding. AHHH!!! I felt so incompetence!

Just as I tot the day had came to an end… More drama took place… For some unknown reasons, Marc had a super bad mood and it affected everyone. I tried to talk to him and joke to make him feel better but he simply ignored everyone of us, After the night debriefing, the guys dragged him out for some “Guys Talk” and I was glad that he was back to normal after that. Till now… I did not know what had happened that day. It remains as a little secret between the guys…

While the guys were away, PPY went to talk to Reesha over certain issues and it broke into an argument, followed by Reesha moving back to the old bunk. (Side track, due to not enough beds, the whole team shifted to another sleeping place. We ended up in the same room again! YEAH!!!) PPY came complaining to me about the issue but I felt that she was in the wrong. She felt down as I did not side her as we were friends since year 1 and I ended up helping Reesha. Oh well… It did not end up quite bad between us but as for PPY and Reesha, the tension and weirdness remain for the rest of the trip. OMG! I thought that it was only day 5 and so many things had happened. How am I going to continue for the next 10days?

Finally it came to the last day of the camp, it was great fun as each group need to put up some performance and we gotten the chance to experience the traditional Javanese Thanks Giving Ceremony. It was a superb day! However…

Just as I tot that things wasn’t that bad after all… there is a rainbow after every rainfall and whatever blah blah… TMD! We received our billing statement and to the shock of our life… We were over charged and our budget was running out. The group made a decision to move out of PW and checked into a hotel for the next day then return to S’pore on the 1st Dec 06.