Chapter 14: Camping, Part 4

Camping, part 4, which is the last ‘full’ day that I’m going to stay at this camp and one more chance to lose faith in humanity. You see, the thing is that every time that I wake up from sleep every morning, I always feel a sense of optimism and hope for my life, as if it’s because of the fresh air I’m used to breathing. But after the hope and optimism thingy, I brought my towel and clothing to the bathroom. I have to say, I was a little lazy when I thought of taking a shower because it means that we have to walk to the nearest bathroom and take a long shower, but I guessed that that’s the only hope for me to make it out of this place alive. Showering: check. Dressing up: check, likely to pass out from exhaustion: check. There, all done.

Now all I got to do is just let everything sort itself out and we’re on our way. Anyways, back to the real deal. I, my contingent and all the other contingents from other countries gathered in the open field to perform the usual flag-raising ceremony as we’ve done this from the past few days.

After that, we walked to a place that’s a bit further away from the exhibition part, but it’s still close. We assembled in groups while we’re there and we took a photo from the mascot and we headed to the main part of this event not a couple of hundred meters away. After that, part of our contingent including me sat down and the instructor told us to tie a knot that’s to me, is the last thing you ever want to do to make it out alive. No, I’m kidding, it’s just to tie a whole set of complicated knots like with a set of tiny ropes. It’s actually really hard, considering that the instructor didn’t speak English a lot and the fact that all of my friends are just basically in their 60% if you get it, and I was in the 30%. It took me an hour to complete the knot, but I did it although I did lose a little bit of faith in humanity considering that my friends did it bigger, so yeah, it was reasonable to be temporarily depressed.

After that difficult stuff, we got our ‘knots’ checked. Mine was acceptable enough because I just basically thought that it was all pointless for the inspector to say “This is not good enough, do it again!” So yeah, all that stuff is done and we gathered, again, somewhere in the field, perfect because it was shady so we wouldn’t be hit by the sun all day. The contingent leaders told us that we’re going to do some stuff, I can’t remember much and told us to take a break, because, duh.

While we’re at the break, the lunch break, I just didn’t because I wasn’t in the mood to, you know, fill my tummy. All the others eat, although basically most of them just didn’t like the food, but has to do something to fill their empty stomachs. And so, the break is officially done.

So the break is done, right? Ok, so we ’re told to go to this tournament and it was at a fair distance, and we reached the place and, again, assembled there. But we were given a piece of paper and told to go and try at least, 17 activities out of the 26 available. It was really back-breaking and confusing because we did crazy stuff. I remember this one particular activity where I have to fly the fox. It was basically the flying fox, actually. It was crazy. I didn’t scream, but adrenaline rushed all over me, but I made it.

After that, we went to a place a freestyler would be at best. We waited in line to see a curved ladder and climb it. It was stressing me out, with visions of imminent death. But of course, that would be too crazy, right? I know, but I’ve finally made it, which is amazing and awesome considering that I rarely climbed a ladder that crazy so, yeah, mission accomplished!

And after we’ve done all the other activities, we got to the end of the time of the tournament only to find that the others have already completed seventeen. SEVENTEEN! I felt disappointed because my friend and I have only completed six. So it was worrying for us to pass the results to the inspector because that he will either not accept it, or he throws it away. Either way, it’s really unsettling.

Ah, but after that, we bought milkshakes to cool ourselves out and we lived happily ever after. No really, we went back to the same place where we first assembled and sat there and drank the milkshake.

But after that, I was persuaded by my friend to go on a shooting range with another friend of mine. I was actually not interested at all, but I went with them anyways. When we first reached the range, I was just trying to accompany them, but they gave me a set of bullets to start shooting. But, considering that they’ve come all the way here, they did a noble thing and I went with it. I went to my gun while the rest of my friends went to their guns and locked and loaded. It was quite heavy actually because I think it is military grade. I shot, and there was actually little recoil. Allow me to explain what recoil is. A recoil, in case you didn’t know, is the force of the bullet traveling outside of the barrel of a gun and the force that makes the gun swing backward. My shooting wasn’t really accurate, as I didn’t hit anything close to 8 or even 10, but hey, at least it was one-of-a-kind of experience.

And after that, we went back again to the place where we first started to gather again to wait for the others to arrive. Once everyone has arrived, we went back to the camp. Thing is, when I’ve reached the camp, I saw visions of heaven or I’m just simply homesick. That night, it was the best high of my life. I went to the concert later that day, and we somehow danced, which I actually really hated it. Well, it was the beginning of the end, for everyone. I was really excited that we were trying to go home. Adrenaline rushed to me, and I’m always ready.

After several hours, we went back to the camp, knowing that tomorrow will be the moment of truth. Took a bath, all of the stuff I’m ever going to have to do every night before bed. And then nature sank us down, and it’s the end of camp.