LTC 2012.

hello world.

i'm back home again. actually, i've been home since yesterday afternoon but i've been too tired to get round to updating my space. so, LTC 2012. it's been a learning point for me. come to think of it, the camp is actually really short and there aren't many activities, but the lessons learnt and the friendships forged there are indeed priceless.

Saturday just saw us bonding together within our groups and our clans, trying to get to know each other and our facilitators better. then we had 2 trainings in our respective groups; tmc, cca leaders and cg reps. it was supposedly pretty dry on day 1 of camp but the coolest discovery i made that day were the bunks that we would be sleeping in. IT'S AIRCON-ED, WITH ROWS OF DOUBLE DECKER BUNK BEDS. the room was so huge that it could fit about 150 girls, like some major sleepover!

sleep on day 1 was pretty bad for me, cause i woke up at least 4 times that night. :/ i was wide awake at 4.45am though we were only suppose to get up around 6-6.30am. i suppose my body just knew something was going to happen, and true enough, at 5 am, our facils barged in, turned on the lights, shouted at us to put on our shoes and report to legacy hall within 5 mins.

so in 5 mins, all of us ran to legacy hall to find out that we had operation ''wakeup call'' i.e 2 hours of endurance training. doing 6 sets of planks, 400 jumping jack claps, 5 sets of 30 jumping jacks, 6 sets of 20 situps and unknown number of leg lifts, our head ic for operation ''wakeup call'' gave us alot ot think about. or rather, i felt that i had alot to think about. the most impactful questions are as follows:

head ic: "IN THE FACE OF HARDSHIPS AND TOUGH TIMES, WILL YOU GIVE UP?! ''
us: '' NO!!"
head ic: "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
us: "NOOOO!"

head ic: "THINK OF WHY YOU ARE HERE! at 5 am in the morning doing all these when your friends are at home sleeping in their comfortable beds and enjoying their holidays."

head ic: "IS THIS ALL YOU'VE GOT?! PUSHUP POSTITIONS, JUMPING JACK POSITIONS, PLANKING POSITIONS. HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A LEADER! "

and it goes on for the next 2 hours. though all our facils were strict with us, but they were still concerned and caring, asking us every 5 mins if we were feeling okay. operation "wakeup call" was a good reminder for me. the reasons why i need to keep going, why i must never give up in this journey, and how to prove myself worthy. all these flashed in my mind when i was struggling to hold on and not collaspe.

everywhere, all around, we were encouraging each other. "don't give up", "we can do this, everyone", "comeon! hang in there" . for that 2 hours, we truely united to push each other to our limits in the face of the hardship. "wakeup call" may sound tough, but it bonded us. then to our utter disbelief when we realised that after all that, it was only 7.30am. we haven't brushed our teeth or washed our faces, but we had a long hike ahead. so after breakfast, we set out at 8am for our 7km hike. come 12 noon we were tired yet proud of the small things we accomplished together. trekking 7km under the sun, we sang and did cheers just to entertain ourselves.

but we had a good 1 hour break after lunch so that we could freshen up before preparing for camp fire that night. the next 4 hours was spent practicing our performances and just having a good time with each other. camp fire night was emotional yet draining due to us having lack of sleep and the fact that it was the last night we had with each other. a last session with our facils, and speaking of the things we're learnt at this camp. it was pretty touching to hear that the moments we had were going to be kept in the hearts of some for a long time to come.

being enthu people, we all met back at legacy hall at 11.30pm and started playing random games till 2 plus in the morning. finally burnout and exhausted, we all went back to bed and await our last debrief. the last debrief yesterday morning was kept simple and short, with the most important line at the back that serves as a reminder to us of the things we would face in the future: "and so this marks the end of LTC 2012, but it's the start of the challenges that you will face ahead and the real beginning of your leadership journey. lead well!"

I guess i haven't adjusted back to being back yet, cause i'm still automatically waking up at 5 plus in the morning. i'm still waiting for the familiar cold water in the showers and the long endless talks with the girls in the bunks. not to mention the sound of soft snoring in the corners of the rooms. i may not know half the people who went to ltc cause there were 300 plus of us, but little things like this will still make me smile months from now.

LTC 2012 has been a good reminder of the things in life that will only come to you if you never give up and of the friendships that you can forge within 3 short days. (: perhaps it's also because i've been through failure once, so the lessons learnt really are closer to the heart for me as compared to the others. now it's a different ball game where the stakes are higher and there's no turning back. i will fight harder, and i will succeed. not for anyone else, but for myself.