Hello, Karen please?

I was gonna write OB novel when another incident occured which for me now has priority over any other issue...

I got a phonecall today from...get this...Powerbar Malaysia!! I'm going for an interview tomorrow for Powerbar Team Elite!!!!! I'm so psyched about it that i'm a nervous wreck! i don't know how i'm going to appear as deserving as the hundreds of other far better athletes who applied. i mean, what am i going to say to them? Hey, I'm Karen. I got last for the recent Powerman Lumut. and IF i get in, i have this fear that i may not be performing up to par. scareddddddd......

***

ok. now for the OB story.

It was always exciting to anticipate my going back to OB. every year i look forward to it like a HUGE early Christmas present. This year was no exception. I was counting down the days to OB and when the day i left for Lumut finally came, i was the happiest soul ever.

Alongside Mel and Eugene we stepped into the grounds of sweet Mother Nature and was instantly reminded of all the great fun and crazy moments we had in the previous years. meeting the new CAs and several new instructors was a treat. However, much to my dismay (and Mel's) Project Trust has once again sent female participants.

Lucky for us, SIA course was running at the same time. So in those brief moments in which our paths coincided with the SIA pilots, we were granted short ogling periods. Or at least i was. Mel claims there was none that qualified as eye candy.

I kick started OYP/ACC 6 (which is the name of the course) with a bang! On the day prior to the start of course, i had to steal everyone's limelight (except Rameash's) by spraining my right ankle playing football. The silly thing was, i wasn't even kicking any balls. I was doing a throw in. yes you got that right. legs were stationary, ball was in hands, and yet i was somehow able to trip over and land precariously on my right ankle. see, i wasn't kidding when i said time and time again, that i've got absolutely no ball sense. :)

as much as my pride would not allow it, tears streamed down my face not out of pain but out of sheer disappointment (i now understand how my brother must've felt when he sprained his ankle before his race). last year's OBS had me quarantined on the first couple of days because of the conjunctivitis scare. knowing that history was repeating itself made me ever so frustrated with myself....lucky for me, i was only partially disabled for 1 and a half days. and because a sprained ankle was not contagious, i was allowed to go down and meet my participants as long as the activities they did required minimal movement.

my participants were a friendly lot. various characters and personalities. i was totally awed by the girls of Cedar Girls School. I was tickled by our local boys. I had fun. One hundred percent fun. My instructor, Azirin, was just amazing! I enjoyed every day being her CA. Including the somewhat special duties that she had me in charge of. Not like im complaining *wink*. I'd willingly watch over muscle bound, tanned high school teachers, free lance personal trainers and part time models anytime. :) And Amin, my partner in crime, Azirin's other CA...i swear i laughed so hard my sides now ache permanently. the guy has this animated face and an insane sense of humour!

this was the first time i was having my period during OBS so that, too, was an experience. Trying to balance on a sprained ankle behind moderately tall bushes to take a piss and change the pad is an act every girl should master. I reckon, if you can do that, you can do anything. haha...

and the new CAs i befriended were awesome. They know just how to make a 20 year old feel old. Xiang, Mel and Amin just made Group 2 simply explosive! haha...the new instructors are way cool. Ijan was this guy who helped me with my ankle when i sprained it. Lifu is such an angel, that we all bullied him like mad. and the others were just people i'd never regret meeting.

even the little chickadees of the Children's course had touched our lives in one way or another. you cannot believe how maju little 10 and 11 year olds are these days. And how sweet and adorable they can be, even in their smelliest dirtiest attire.

The last day, bore lots and lots of tears as the Singaporeans went up their buses and left us all with heavy hearts. I felt this pang of sadness too when Mel and Eugene were taking their last pictures of everything. I wish they would change their minds and go with me again to OB.

It's true what they say. You can never really leave Outward Bound. Once u step into it for the first time, whether or not you hated it at first, you're bound to leave with the intention to come back again. signing off, i'll leave you with this...

Group 2 yeng...Group 2 keng...Group 2 CAs mou tak teng!!!!
-Melanie Ho, 2006

Click for more pictures