Canoeing Contact Time

Today has been a horrid experience, but with the love of God I pulled through. I now am able to understand the power of prayer in my life, and I really thank Him for that.

As our Canoeing Contact Time was postponed due to choppy waters and bad weather, I had my make-up session today at the MOE Changi Coast Adventure Centre. Contrary to our previous session, the weather was perfectly normal today, which foretold that we would have an awesome time in the sea.

We did have a great time canoeing.

It all started in the morning at 7.15am, when all of us gathered in school, in anticipation of what was about to happen. Worried that the weather forecast of the day was not checked and verified, we were unsure whether we were able to get into the waters today, but one glance at the sea was enough to tell me that we were going to have fun.

A funny incident that happened today was that when we left for the Adventure Camp in Changi, Ms Wai was not on the bus! When we noticed her absence, it was too late - we had already entered the PIE and could not turn back. Thank God that Mr Nathan drove her here - she would not have the opportunity to kayak with us if otherwise.

The journey on the bus was interesting somehow. I sat next to Justin Chee, who accompanied me because I had no one next to me, and we started chatting. Soon enough, though, I began to annoy him (which usually happens when I randomly begin singing next to people) and his reaction was priceless!

Usually when I sing, Samuel would shake me and beg me to stop, Jonah and Emmanuel would ask me to shut up, and Wei Quan would react in a very annoyed manner. Justin, however, just gave me that look, and after a while he told me to stop. It was quite similar to what Jonah and Emmanuel would do, but his facial expression would remain etched to my memories of the year.

Finally! We reached the MOE Adventure Camp. We got into our kayaking gear (which was, for me, basically my PE uniform and a spectacle band to keep my spectacles in place) and assembled in front of our instructor, Sky. Putting on our Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) and grabbing onto our paddles, my partner, Bhalaji, and I went to get our kayak.

After quite a long briefing and a Water Confidence Test (which was really fun considering the fact that I never swam in the sea before) that involved us floating on the surface of the water with our PFDs, we finally got into our kayaks and prepared for launch. We were one of the first few, but had to wait quite a while before we proceeded onto the water.

Although it was decided that I sit in front, unfortunately I had to sit behind as I was wearing a bib (number 5 yay!) and Bhalaji took the front seat. We took quite a while to complete our rounds because we were quite slow, and we ended up not completing our last anti-clockwise round because of the limited time. However, I was gladdened by the fact that Bhalaji was really cooperative throughout the programme and showed concern for me.

During our capsize drill, Bhalaji and I were thrown off and probably was in a state of confusion, but miraculously we managed to flip the boat (with lots of teamwork :D) and got in before three minutes had passed. Thank God!

Teamwork, though (with my other classmates), was not really that superb, so I think that my classmates and I should work on building stronger bonds with each other and work together well as a team.

Things didn’t go as well from then on. After reaching back to school, Emmanuel, Kennard, Edwin, Dean, Justin and I went over to Tanglin CC for lunch, and after eating a delicious bowl of noodles, I suddenly felt uneasy. It didn’t really bother me much at first, at least until my face started to itch.

I continued to play basketball with them under the afternoon sun (which could have aggravated the reaction) and after a while, my whole body began to itch, especially my legs.

I was confused then - what should I do? Immediately informing my mother, I headed straight to school where I met Mr Anthony Tan, who calmed me down and prayed over me. Unbelievably, after saying a prayer for me (and at the last Amen), I vomited everything out (I’m sorry, uncle, for making you clean up).

All thanks to God, I managed to reach the clinic near my house in time and got an anti-allergy jab. Alleluia!

One last thing - when I was at my neighbourhood clinic, I met with my kindergarten friend, Chloe, her sister and domestic helper. When the receptionist at the clinic was closing the shutters, she didn’t notice Chloe’s sister leaning against the window and the shutters slammed her on the head! Thank God that it was bleeding though :(

Thanks to Jing for reminding me about my defunct blog! :)