Explorace ala SMKAM..

***WARNING***

LONG POST AHEAD!!

Last day of orientation, a.k.a, boot camp.

We had an explorace and let me tell you, even though my team didn't get any prizes, we ruled the field! 10 Checkpoints. Here we go;

1. We had to score a minimum of 20 points by throwing basketballs into the basket. We had 5 shots and each shot was worth 10 points. Unfortunately, the Pare's don't have any ball-throwing skills at all. Our punishment, in order to pass through, was to let the seniors put make-up on us and then do a catwalk. Of course, the seniors did all they could to make us look like clowns and we rocked the runway.

2. Next, we had to crawl through the mud according to a path laid out for us. It's like one of those things you see in army shows with barbed wire tied to poles on either side of you and you have to crawl under it without touching the wires. For us, it was raffia string and each time we touched the string, we had to redo the course. All in all, I crawled the course 5 times. By the end of it, every one of us was covered in mud and we stunk. :P

3. We had to drink something. The checkpoint master blended some apples, onions, ginger, garlic and bananas for us to drink. There was a bit of drama here because one of my team members wasn't feeling too well so I asked her to sit this one out while we covered for her. All for one and one for all as we say in the Pare group. We would have made it through without a fuss if only the seniors had not said that everyone had to drink it. That one girl threw up and that was followed by a verbal argument between her and the seniors. All attempts to stop the fight was futile. Everyone was upset and in the end, we were shooed out of the checkpoint area. That cost us everything.

4. After the drama, Pare walked towards the next checkpoint together quietly and a little dispirited. Once we arrived at the next checkpoint, we did the task set out with a lot less energy than before. We made it through in record time though. The task was to find a marble in a bucket of mud and other junk with your toes while holding a live worm in your hands. Not very difficult unless you don't like creepy crawlies.

5. Just when I thought the worms were behind us, the next task was to scoop a worm onto a spoon and walk towards your partner who is 2-3 feet away while holding the spoon with your mouth. Sounds simple enough, until the worm starts crawling towards your mouth. I dropped the worm 3 times which earned me three brush strokes of flour mixed with water. Also, all of us had to be sprinkled with flour and then had water poured on us. By the end of it, we were ready to be baked in an oven, the only thing missing was some chocolate chips.

6. With flour and mud all over us, we made our way to the next checkpoint; the SpiderWeb. Predictably, we had to make our way through a web of raffia string without touching the strings. Each time we did, a point would be deducted and while we were making our way through the web, we were showered with flour. No need to say that we, Pare, aren't a very flexible bunch. We touched every string in sight but we made it through while laughing and on the bright side we got full marks on our very enthusiastic group cheer. Also, we were showered with eggs once we finished the Web.

7. Next, we had 10 minutes to fill up a water bottle with water. The catch was, one person had to be blindfolded and that person had to take two sponges and find the bottle that was to be filled. That person was guided by their team mates but at the same time, there were other people yelling contradicting instructions. Lucky for us, we had a good bond so we made it through quite well. After 10 minutes, we had about 100ml of water. It wasn't too good but we had fun. The next task at that same checkpoint was to blow a balloon till it exploded. The balloons were filled with sand beforehand. Everyone in my group did great, except me. I hate balloons that might burst. It's so scary. I had my eyes closed while I blew the balloon and the senior just popped it. I was close to tears but I didn't give in because I had my Pare with me. They kept me calm.

8. This checkpoint was the worst, in my opinion (excluding the 3rd, of course). Everyone except the team leader was blindfolded and their legs were tied together. I had to guide them through a figure-8 path. That was really hard since everyone was too scared to walk and all I could say was 'left' or 'right'. I hated this task. We only had 6 minutes to finish the path and needless to say, we failed. We were reprimanded, as was expected. We received a two minute penalty and we also had to eat wasabi. Even though that checkpoint was terrible, the senior in charge was great. He was so friendly and he made us all laugh. Two minutes felt like 30 seconds with him there. THANK YOU!

9. This was our best moment through out the whole race. There were 5 different plates on the table. In each plate was a different mixture.

• Water, flour and chili powder.
• Water, flour and pepper.
• Flour.
• Raw eggs.
• Water, flour and salt.

In each plate, there were 2 mentos, 2 hack sweets and 2 tic tacs. The objective was to obtain those sweets using only your mouths in one go. The tic tacs were worth 15 points each and the others were 5 points each. We managed to get almost all the sweets out. Yean Meng single-handedly fished out all the sweets from the 5th mixture in one go. She earned us 55 points in less than 10 seconds.

10. The final checkpoint was the silliest but the most scientific at the same time (I wonder if that means 'science is silly'). We had to drink ginger water and then catch the guy holding the bananas we were supposed to eat. One we caught him and finished swallowing the bananas, we were supposed to whistle. Apparently, drinking ginger water and eating bananas will hinder you from whistling. I don't know if it'll work by just doing one or if it only works with both. Either way, I couldn't whistle at all but that isn't very surprising since I've never been able to whistle. Luckily for us, Yean Meng whistled us to safety. That was the fastest checkpoint. After that, we made the home run.

We arrived at the finish line as wet and stinky as the animals in the wild. Once everyone arrived, we were told to wash up and meet at the canteen. Nadiah, Banu and I went to the nearest tap and started scrubbing mud off our hands and hair. Once we were clean enough, we changed our T-shirts and made for the canteen. In our squeaky clean T-shirts and muddy pants, we arrived and the canteen for the closing ceremony. Prizes were given out to the best teams, leaders, group cheer and so on. As was expected, my group, Pare, didn't get anything at all. We were barred from receiving any kind of gift because of that one incident at the 3rd checkpoint. The seniors involved didn't even look at us. We were of course heartbroken but we still have each other. Pare through and through. We stick together, win or lose.

Whatever comes next, I'm confident that we'll still be Pare in the end. We've created a bond that I think will last through the whole of form 6. This was the whole point of the orientation. For us to get to know each other and make friends. Little do the teachers or seniors know, however, that they've created a tiny group of rebels who wont go down without a fight. We call ourselves Pare.

On a physical note, my whole body is aching right now. My hands are actually shaking while I type this. My stomach muscles are stiff too and they hurt when ever I cough or laugh which isn't good since I'm coughing alot at the moment. Also, that one day out in the sun has made my skin dark again or as Mesh would say, I look like a Blackened Chicken Alfredo.