Ok...now that I have some time to spare, let's see if I can finish up this amazing tale known as 'Survivor Series'...as seen through the eyes of The Boss. Ok, here's the continuation of the amazing journey of 14 trainees on the journey of self-discovery...
12.00 pm : The 3 groups have been assigned their respective camping spots. Even the commanders have chosen their place. The girls we're pretty happy with the spot assigned to them...as it was on a relatively high ground, nearby a stream, safe distance from the smelly boys. They marked their territory by throwing their stuff all over the place...The guys we're even more creative. They marked their area by peeing all over the place. Typical guys' tactic. Well done, boys.
By this time, 80 percent of the girls said that they wanted to go home. They couldnt stand the leeches, the mud, and the jungle. However, all this was about to change...
12.30 pm : The girls have begun collecting firewood and materials needed to make their shelter...like wood, bamboo and vines. Things are progressing nicely for them. 6 of them make quite a team, I must say. Working hard and most importantly, working as a team.
As for the guys, no progress as of yet. Most of them are still wondering when will they be given the keys to their hotel rooms...trying to figure out what camp they actually signed up for...most of them looking lost and in need of counselling.
The leaders also got their construction project underway. Cutting and chopping up bamboo and wood to make a shelter big enough and worthy of admiration.
3.00 pm : The girls' shelter is complete. It looks good...a fantastic effort considering the fact that
all of them are first timers in Survival Camp. The shelter structure was made of bamboo and roofed with fern leafs. Good job, girls. Have a look at the photos. It looks good...just like 'em, girls!
As for the guys, not bad...things are going well. By now they have an IDEA of what they're supposed to do...and have begun collecting wood for fire and shelter. I noticed they kept looking over at the girls...trying to get some idea of what they're supposed to make.
The leader's shelter is up and ready for occupying. Looks good...as expected. Able to fit in all the campers and high enough for people to walk in and out without much hassle. To celebrate the successful construction, the leaders decided to have a house warming...by cooking chicken curry with rice for lunch. Mind you that this was a party for 3... just to add to the stress factor for the campers.
4.00 pm : The time has come to get down to business...its chicken-slaughtering time!!! For all the foul smell and suffering the chicken put us through...its time to get even. All the campers were armed with their survival knives...looking menacingly at the poor innocent birds. The campers took their chickens to the slaughter area, beside a stream. This is the time where men and women are separated from the boys and girls. Believe me, what happened next isn't child's play. Life was at stake. Dinner was at stake. There was no room for error...
Somehow I had this feeling that the chicken knew it was going to be slaughtered. After all, one of the 5 decided to commit suicide even before we had the chance to slaughter it. Most of them said it died due to suffocation. But I believe it died because it saw someone's face...
4.20 pm : The walk to the slaughter house was interesting...the campers were coming out with all sorts of methods of making the chicken's death less painful. Some suggested drowning the chicken. Some even said why not hit the chicken on the head till it faints, then cut off its head. One camper even suggested twisting its neck. Another suggested that we use the chicken to eat up the leeches, then cut its head off the next morning.
4.30 pm : First up...the boys. Most of them have never done this before in their lives. The idea was simple. One guy would hold the wings down firm, another would hold the head and pull, and the third would cut it off. Simple eh? haha...that's what we thought. When the first group tried to do it, they ended up sawing off the poor bird's head. All this thanks to their blunt survival knife. The chicken probably had to endure almost 30 seconds of head-sawing. And when it finally came off, what a relief. For the chicken, I mean...God rest it's soul. The term 'headless chicken' really made sense now...thumbs up for the guys that made it happen.
For the guys, it wasn't really a hassle. Most of them we're brave enough to do it. The fun part was when the girls tried to do it. When it came to Phaik Joo, Lisa and Cheryl's turn, it was them who ended up screaming all the way...instead of the chicken. As Phaik Joo was sawing off the chicken's head, her own head was turned away...screaming and sawing!!! What a sight...
Laura, Alison and Amy Joy too had a fun time. But maybe not as 'drama-queen-ish' as the previous girl's group. However, their chicken seems to be the most active and energetic off the 5. While having its head taken apart, the chicken was flapping furiously and causing all sorts of problems to the girls. A job well done by Alison for safely securing and making sure that the headless chic didn't go flying about.
All in all, great fun...moments in life to remember.
5.00 pm : Time to clean up the chicken...if you thought cutting off its head was bad, this is where it gets worse. The only good part about it was that the campers had a nice time trying to identify which organ is which. The liver, the heart, the kidneys, the lungs, the stomach, the intestines...biology class at its best! Cleaning up the chicken was a mess. Started off with the feathers...after some time of plucking the feathers, the campers got impatient and decided to skin the chicken! Healthier lifestyle, so they said. Girls and guys do things very differently...the girls decided to cut the chicken up into smaller pieces and wrapping it up with aluminium foil, while the boys resorted to roasting the whole bird. Oh by the way, after cleaning up the chicken, this is the part where Lup Yan began to feel nauseous and fainty....
6.30 pm : Campers tried to get their fire started...but all ended in vain. With a little help from above (intervention of the commanders), the campers managed to get their fire going and begun cooking their headless chicken. Oh, did I mention that we had some visitors during the camp? Yup...Collin, Daniel the Pua, Zhi Fung and Daniel the Iban decided to drop by to see how we were coping. Thanks for dropping by guys...and finishing up our food.
7.30 pm : Things were getting a bit dark by now. The campers were still working hard to keep their fire going. Remember, no fire...no dinner. Their dinner depended on it. Some resorted to burning cardboard boxes, burning their hair, and even burning wood from their shelter. But after cooking the chicken for more than an hour...all the hard work finally paid off. It's always nice to see rangers sitting around a campfire...sharing their dinner together...telling stories of the day...laughing and smiling after a long day's work.
As for the leaders, we too deserved our share of pampering after a hard day's work of helping out the trainees and motivating them mentally! Tonight was going to be a feast for us leaders. Spaghetti with mushrooms and pasta sauce cooked over a campfire? Impossible you think? We made it possible....a lovely dinner to top off a perfect day. The weather so far has been superb. I honestly believe that God held back the rain for almost 2 days just for us to have a awesome camp....
9.00 pm : After freshening up and cleaning ourselves, the leaders decided to do something special for the night. For the first time ever in a survival camp, there was a council fire for the campers. The purpose of this special councilfire was get the campers together, sit around the fire and fellowship with one another as a family of rangers. We had a time of sharing, talking about what went wrong and what went right throughout the day...helping out one another and giving each other moral support. I dont know about the rest...but in the dark of the night, in the chill of the lonely forest, sitting in front of a campfire gave me a sense of hope...a sense of assurance that everything's gonna be alright. There was something special about it...a comforting presence...
From this point, Cmdr. Reuben felt that it was a perfect time for the Expedition Rangers to get together to pray for the needs that were in our hearts. The rangers prayed for one another, imparting blessings into the life of their fellow rangers, and then we prayed also for 2 specific individuals that had a very special need for God's touch in their life. That night, God came and visited us. Its not as though His presence wasn't with us throughout the beginning of the camp...but that night when we began worshipping God, I just felt his presence so strong in that place...the place where we were standing. I knew God was there. Its a feeling that cant be put into words...but something that needed to be experienced. The prayer session ended with a prayer by the outpost commander, who prayed over each ranger. Truly, something happened in that place that night...
10.30 pm : The rangers continued to hang about the leader's shelter. To them, this is as close as they'll be to a 5-star resort in the jungle. They continued to cook their chicken and potatoes using the councilfire...talking and laughing the whole night through. It was just a great time of fellowship. At this point, 2 rangers (Daniel and Shaun) decided to act macho by wandering off to a nearby shelter, leaving the rest behind. They attempted to re-act the legendary 'bird throwing stone' scene of past survival camps...but failed miserably as no one fell for their lame attempts. Better luck next time, dudes. The only thing that kept us on our guard was the stories of wild boars being around that area...just to note, the camp management had told us that wild boars are quite common around this area and that they would sometimes attack humans.
12.30 am : Things are beginning to quiten down a bit. Even the non-stop-talking Phaik Joo went silent for about 5 mins. A sign that she was human after all. Everyone decided to call it a night and after much deliberation by the commanders, they allowed the campers to stay together in a common area...purely for safety purposes.
And what was about to happen next, I'll save it for the final episode of Survivor Series 2005 - Part 3! Do catch the ending of this amazing journey, hopefully by tomorrow afternoon. Till then, God bless!
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