I'm forever on hiatus HAHA. Okay, so I'm back after 2 months. May was terribly hectic, but June has been good so far :) This photo was taken in Austria/Germany #nofilter it is not a Tumblr photo!
May
May was a crazy month! Firstly, there were Common Tests ): I screwed up all my papers except for Higher Chinese and Financial Literacy. My parents were pretty cool about it because they said that they expected it, since I was so busy from the start of January onwards ): But I was rather depressed. That was my worst result ever. I used to love Math and Science until I reached Year 3. I thought that education has killed many students' interest in learning. Like seriously, what really defines education? According to the Cambridge dictionary, education means the process of teaching or learning in a school or college, or the knowledge you can get from this. Learning is defined as the activity of obtaining knowledge. I'm not being 吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸, aka I dislike the education system because I did badly in my examinations. Even the model student and smarty, Kee Ruihan, also known as Porcupine agrees that the education system has killed our interest in learning. She dislikes Math and Science too, but she has no choice but to cram them to ace in exams. We no longer learn for our interest. We force ourselves to learn to scrape through the education system, clear the A levels and get a University degree. Sure, they always tell us that we get to choose to study our favourite course in University. However, it always turns out to be untrue. It is very difficult to pave a career path in Singapore with an Arts degree, unless you're really good at it. Math and Science degrees are often seen as the more prestigious ones, and they offer a wider range of jobs. However, I don't want to get a Math and Science degree and torture myself for the 4-5 years in University by studying something that I dislike and I have a disadvantage in. When you face restrictions from your parents, teachers and the society, you don't have a choice anymore. I don't picture myself being an engineer or researcher for the rest of my life after graduation. Perhaps I did in the past when I was still in primary school. Since young, I have thought about studying Medicine in University, but it is so tough to get into the faculty. When my parents insist that I take a useful course during my University days a few years down the road instead of Music Performance, I had decided that I shall study some Finance course in the future since I'm not too bad in Financial Literacy. Argh, its tough to survive in the education system.
Okay, I think I should talk about happier things (: During term 2 week 7, we had to go for OBS (Outward Bound School). I was dreading OBS at first as I really hated going for camps. The previous camping trips that I have been to were horrible, except for the one with the Student Council in Malaysia. However, OBS was a surprisingly good experience! I wouldn't mind going again (: I was in Battuta, Camp 2. We had to cook our dinners, and we had to eat our rations for breakfast and lunch. The camp lasted for 5 days and 4 nights. It was tough, but enjoyable at the same time. I loved the outdoor expeditions the most! The recount will be in chronological order. On the first day, we arrived at OBS's Ubin Camp 2. We had to sort out our rations and pack our tents and ponchos. Then, we wrote our Battutan Charter (: It was so history-ish, as the whole watch consists of History students :D Our instructor was Instructor Siok. She was a fighter O.O We were so stunned. I'm not sure if she was trained in the army or what, but she was training us in army style, minus the push ups only. I guess she was the strictest instructor among all the instructors we have seen :0 But she is caring and she really taught us very well! We slept in tents for all 4 nights. It was rather stuffy, but at least we had more than enough space in the tent. I shared a tent with Caryn, Wenqi and Yongzi. They're all nice people :) Oh, and Battuta is the watch that I was in. Battuta consists of me, Caryn, Wenqi, Yongzi, Xuanru, Kaien, Gwyneth (Hobo), Rochelle, Elena, Hongkai, Shaoye, Shaoming, Junhong, Mccoy and Chengang. I'm so grateful that my watchmates are nice people! I guess the first activity that we did was the Trust Fall. We had to pull a canvas sheet while one person will climb up a platform, then fall backwards onto the canvas sheet. The girls and I were starting to get self-conscious because Instructor Siok made the guys stand closer to the platform so that they can hold most of the weight. This means that only the guys will know how heavy we are ._. I hope I wasn't the heaviest girl though :X The only high element we did was rock climbing. I managed to climb like 1/3 of the crooked wall haha. When I had no more strength left to hook myself there, so I just let go of the wall omg. I felt so bad for my belayer as I forgot to shout the commands :X Before that, we practiced belaying and I was flying when the climber (Shaoming) was coming down LOL. It was so embarrassing. The best parts of the camp are the outdoor expeditions: Trekking and Kayaking. For trekking, we had to carry our backpacks and walk for around 15km around Pulau Ubin >.< I think my backpack weighed around 15kg. It was tiring, but tolerable (: It was rather fun to trek with the watch! Then the next day, we had our kayak expedition. I loved the kayaking expedition although it was burning hot :( Well, my kayak partner was Shaoye haha. He was the one giving all the commands, and he's a really nice person to kayak with! We were having a picnic for almost the whole of the kayaking session LOL. We were peeling oranges and eating crackers on the kayak for half the time. The best part was, we like to lag all the way to the back so that we have enough space to chiong all the way to the front. Because there was water in the kayak and Shaoye was being flooded as he sat behind me, he was asking me to capsize the kayak ._. I was protesting all the way because yeah. Thank goodness the instructors lent us a cup to scoop up all the water in the kayak during lunch.We were the first kayak for the whole time after lunch haha :P The dark clouds looked so scary and we could see lightning so we were speeding all the way and we were in front of the navigators after lunch onwards. I think Delta hates me now because Shaoye and I were chionging while there were so many kayaks that couldn't catch up. Shaoye was like: I think everyone hates us now. But I don't think so LOL. I would be the only one being hated 'cos Shaoye is the popular guy. Kayaking was such a good experience and I wouldn't mind doing it again haha! Shaoye was like: 'cos I'm such an awesome kayak buddy that's why. Haha. Our last dinner in Ubin was a sumptuous spread, but we had to come out with our own menu. It was rather screwed, but it tastes heavenly when you have been living in the wilderness for close to a week. Unfortunately, my watch had three casualties :( Mccoy cut his finger, Rochelle had swollen lips and Chengang had Food Poisoning, according to Instructor Siok :( The last day in Ubin was quite relaxing. We only did some reflections and an activity where you had to climb up a platform, jump and touch a bell that is hanging in mid air and on a canvas sheet. Again, this activity is as embarrassing as the Trust Fall activity. After that, Instructor Siok presented up with our certificates and watch photos! She returned us our valuables as well and it felt so weird to use technology after living like cavemen for almost a week. The OBS experience doesn't just end there (: Battuta had to wait for one of the last ferry rides, so we spent the time playing 乌龟乌龟跳 to finish our rations, which consist of oatmeal cookies and raisins omg. We ate so much raisins till we all felt nauseous. Our OBS experience ended when we boarded the ferry and arrived at Mainland Singapore :(( I really miss Battuta. It's kind of sad that we no longer meet up as a watch. Even our Battuta Whatsapp group is dead forever T_T Yeah, but I loved the days I spent in Ubin and its all because of my awesome Instructor and Battutan watchmates! Many people would flinch at the thought of going to OBS, but its just a misconception that camps are horrible!! OBS is the best camping trip I have ever been to!
I think this post is too lengthy, so I will do the June post later or on another day. I think no one reads my blog, but I need this space to really "empty my heart" haha. Bye!
