It was the day before camp. My mom and I packed my suitcase with clothes, a flashlight, books, shoes, a sleeping bag and a bunch of other essentials. Later in the evening, I was rolling around in my bed, too excited to sleep.
It was soon morning. I wore some comfy clothes, packed my day bag (a small bag for the first day items: lunch, water, hat, etc.) with all the necessary items and headed for school. My classroom was filled with laughter and chatter when I entered. All my classmates were delighted, full of cheer and ready for camp.
We went outside to grab our luggage and get on the bus. We all waved our parents goodbye excitedly while exiting school grounds and entering a large bus. It took two hours to get there, so I read, talked, played games (Chinese whisperers, hand games etc) and enjoyed the ride!
The bus stopped. We had arrived at camp. After setting up our cabins (which took most of our morning time), we did the flying fox, a very long zipline. It was a long way (practically a hike) to get to the actual zipline tower. We had to go all the way around because the zipline went right over a lake! At first I was slightly scared, but joy took over, making me go on it anyways (it was fun). Then, we did laser tag outside with heavy metal guns. It was hard running up and down, but it was a lot of fun doing it with friends. Our team sometimes won and lost; surprisingly, most of the time the red team kept winning. The blue team only won once (we were swapping teams, though)!
During the night, I ate a rather unpleasant pasta for dinner (I tasted it, not ate it), extra sweet vanilla ice cream (for dessert) and a scrumptious slice of garlic bread (side dish). Afterwards, we headed off over to the last activity for the day…
We did a Passports of the World game, but it was very hard having the boys in my group constantly scare my friends. To make it worse, this included having to run back and forth to find flags and record them at the main building. Our team ended up losing (of course) and we went to shower; we did our nighttime routine and then slept.
When I woke up the next day, I did my morning routine and went to have breakfast. After the more improved breakfast, we got ready for the next activity. Approximately during midday, we were all prepared and ready.
I couldn’t wait for the next activities! Anticipation rose across my body because I knew that the last (two) activities were going to be amazing!
We walked over to the first activity because this was where we were doing something called ‘abseiling.’ They said it was climbing down a high wall with a harness, so I was slightly apprehensive not knowing what was ahead of me. It was a bit of a walk, so we sang a weird and slightly long song to lift up our spirits. Then we arrived…
The wooden tower was way taller than I had expected. It was almost twice the height of my house (my house is one-story)! It had a separate little rock-climbing area and some rope keeping the tower up. The ground was filled with bark that felt soft and kept finding its way into my shoes. A few minutes later, it ended up making me feel as if sharpened pencils were poking my feet.
The tower also included a rock-climbing side. It was kind of scary thinking about climbing down such a tall tower because I’m scared of heights! Our guide first showed us how it worked and soon everyone was strapped into a harness and waited for their turn.
When people did it, it didn’t look too scary, and I thought it would actually be kind of fun. My friends tried it first though because I wanted to be last. Then the helmet was passed over to me…
With great fear, I journeyed up a lot of stairs inside the tower. There were a bunch of boys waiting and a ladder that went right up to the top; it was hanging over the dark abyss below. I, obviously, had to go first. One boy felt sad for me, but honestly I didn’t want to waste a second. We were supposed to hang over the edge of the tower, which I did, but it was kind of hard having only half of my foot on solid ground. I slightly tripped while trying (the harness held me up), but I actually got the hang of it and soon I was climbing down the wall of the tower.
I finally felt the weird feeling of the bark beneath me. I made it! My teacher helped me get off all the ropes and clips attached to my harness and I went back to sit back down. Once the rest of the people had finished, we went to the next activity.
The next activity (sensory trail) was pretty easy. It was fun having blindfolds on and doing different stuff without knowing what was (literally) ahead of us! We had to hold a rope and the shoulder of the person in front of us and walk forward.
I felt loads of different things taking sharp turns and the need to dodge weird metal things. It was so weird.
‘A brush? Wait no! What is this!? ‘I thought.
There were too many things to comprehend. Feeling some kind of rope rest on me, I walked forward, letting it hang up again. Then I heard.
“You can take off your blindfolds,” from our male instructor.
We got to see what we went through at the end. It was so much more different (from how we thought it looked)! There were brushes, hanging ropes, stacked tires, metal obstacles (shapes: star, irregular, circle etc) and loads of other creative stuff!
Our teachers said that the buses had arrived. Everyone grabbed any luggage and brought it over so they could store it. The rumble of the bus grew as everyone entered. We once again rode back to school. At the “tiger turf” (a football field), we found our luggage and were dismissed. Before I knew it, year five camp was done for me!
About the Author
Hi, I am Kate, a 5th grader who loves traveling with my family, drawing, and singing. It is truly amazing to be a part of this fantastic program. I love it! Anyway, I am the firstborn, and I have two younger siblings. I also LOVE to make snacks for my mum to eat and I also LOVE to watch my dad show me his kata (a karate thing) that always makes me want to practice MINE!! Also, my favorite color is yellow, and I like dogs; my favorite breed is a German shepherd, no offense to any cat lovers out there… I am also a REALLY kind person who loves the city (mostly countryside) and shopping with my family, and I like wearing dresses a lot because they are so comfortable. I also make books and read in my spare time for FUN! (I hate running for a special event).