Educational camp

After the exams I had 2 weeks of holiday for the taking. It was finally time to kick back and relax in bed all day within the confinements of my room. Surprisingly, I had forgotten about the plans I made for the holiday. I had signed up for leadership camp with a couple of friends for the holidays. The camp was held for 4 days and 3 nights and was fortunately on the last few days of the final week. The camp took place in Fo Guang Shan Temple in Kuala Selangor. I had to go through 4 days of speaking mandarin for the sake of convenience and also because I wanted to speak my native language once more.

On the first day, I followed one of my classmates to the camp due to some transport problems. The trip was originally 1 hour if the traffic was good, sadly this wasn’t one of those days. When we finally got to the temple we took our luggage and went to collect our tags that had our respective groups written on it. We were put into our groups and separated till the final day. I was shocked to see that the temple was much bigger than I had imagined. The first activity of the day was portrayed in the main hall. They talked about the history of the temple and what not to do as well as when to do it. The thing about camps is that the first day is always the most boring. After a lot of speeches and activities, it was time for a lunch break in the canteen. The rules stated that it is disrespectful to speak when eating a meal. Also, leaving unfinished food to waste is rude because the workers who wash the dishes have to wash over 600 plates after every meal. The rest of the day was spent in the hall where the organizer of the camp talked about leadership in our lives and why it’s so important. At the end of the day, I was mentally tired but learned some things worth knowing. Everyone got mattresses to sleep on as well as a blanket and pillow. 

(Second day was very similar to the first)

The Second last day was where the holiday had finally began! After the morning prayers, the activities included a few motivational talkers and a grand feast that had an interesting twist. Everyone was given 4 seeds as currency to order various foods displayed all around the temple. In order to obtain more beans a person has to complete a game. Games such as dancing challenges, singing challenges, strength challenges and luck challenges were not as easy as they seemed. I was not a very good singer but the strength challenges were my type of challenge. The luck challenge was the hardest to complete. In fact, not one person was able to get even close to completing it. During the challenges, I finally got to interact with new people and work together to complete the challenges. A girl named Xin Yi was my partner for most of the challenges. We were quite good in the challenges even though we were complete strangers a few days ago. We became good friends and exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch. Anyway, I won just enough seeds to order a meal that was suitable with my appetite along with some lemonade. It was a good day and an even better evening for me. The night was chilling and quiet, perfect for sleeping.

Finally, the last day of camp is always the most memorable. It was time to say goodbye to everyone and hope to see each other in the future. There was a lot of kindness for a brief moment in the temple. People were taking pictures with one another, hugging each other goodbye and even planning for the next outing. I managed to find almost all the people I had met to greet them farewell. A while later when most of the participants went home, me and my classmates were waiting for transport at the entrance of the temple. I had forgotten to collect my certificate so quickly ran back into the hall to collect it. To my surprise, I saw Xin Yi with her friend there walking around as if they were looking for me. They were the only ones that I left out. As we said goodbye I shook her hand and hope that we may meet again someday. 

In my opinion, this camp wasn't all that bad but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that enjoys outdoor activities more than indoor ones.