Day 1: I left for the camp in the national service bus with some of the girls in the bus crying and my parents and family members waving me off. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel that sense of foreboding and I have to say the NS bus is much better than the usual buses we enjoy. Unfortunately, I was sitting alone and I didn’t know anyone. Thank god for me, I made friends with someone the minute I set foot into the girls’ dormitory. The experience in camp from that point on was one I would cherish and never forget!
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| Do not be fooled -it's not this cold there! |
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| Pre-NS |
Here’s our daily schedule after that:
6.00am: Wira dan wirawati, anda dikehendaki bangun, bangun, bangun!
(FYI, it has a melody to it!). Then, there’s an assembly at that ungodly hour and a morning exercise which varies from day to day (my
favourite was the aerobics which had not-so-little
to do with the hot instructor) + breakfast.
8.30am: Yes, all of the above was squeezed in that short a period. We had classes with a syllabus! Nothing like in school! It was fun and interesting and everyone was open minded, teachers included. We were free to express our ideas and opinions, encouraged actually…there were no repercussions if you said you’re not enjoying class to the teacher’s face! Everything we said was accepted and respected as our own opinions. There were tons of performances and presentations we had to do, sometimes in front of the whole camp….and if you know me well, you’d know that I enjoy performing a lot!
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| My PK class- PK 1, PK1, lu pikir la sendiri! |
8.30am: Yes, all of the above was squeezed in that short a period. We had classes with a syllabus! Nothing like in school! It was fun and interesting and everyone was open minded, teachers included. We were free to express our ideas and opinions, encouraged actually…there were no repercussions if you said you’re not enjoying class to the teacher’s face! Everything we said was accepted and respected as our own opinions. There were tons of performances and presentations we had to do, sometimes in front of the whole camp….and if you know me well, you’d know that I enjoy performing a lot!
10.30am: Brunch followed by more classes.
12.30pm: Lunch and a well deserved, much needed break. We slept mostly due to the fact that most of us stay up late at night talking!
2.30pm: Physical activity, again at an ungodly, blazing hot (and by that I mean skin-might-peal-off-at-any-time hot) hour. Despite that I have to say I enjoyed it, probably because I was doing it with my friends. The activities varied from tali tinggi (flying fox, walking on ropes at scary heights), tali rendah (more like simple and fun games), sukan kreativiti (included us running around trying to collect water in a bottle with holes, jumping from one poncho to the next and many more weird yet surprisingly fun games -you’d think they were childish and easy…but they’re NOT!) and of course the ever famous (or should I say infamous?) march pass! For the first time in my life I loved it! I even VOLUNTEERED to join the kawad senyap! (shout out to all my NS friends who joined the ELF here! To those who didn’t, you missed out!!!!)
4.30pm: Tea time!
5.30pm: Sports and recreational time.
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| Our syllabus |
12.30pm: Lunch and a well deserved, much needed break. We slept mostly due to the fact that most of us stay up late at night talking!
2.30pm: Physical activity, again at an ungodly, blazing hot (and by that I mean skin-might-peal-off-at-any-time hot) hour. Despite that I have to say I enjoyed it, probably because I was doing it with my friends. The activities varied from tali tinggi (flying fox, walking on ropes at scary heights), tali rendah (more like simple and fun games), sukan kreativiti (included us running around trying to collect water in a bottle with holes, jumping from one poncho to the next and many more weird yet surprisingly fun games -you’d think they were childish and easy…but they’re NOT!) and of course the ever famous (or should I say infamous?) march pass! For the first time in my life I loved it! I even VOLUNTEERED to join the kawad senyap! (shout out to all my NS friends who joined the ELF here! To those who didn’t, you missed out!!!!)
4.30pm: Tea time!
5.30pm: Sports and recreational time.
6.30pm: Dinner. Yes, it’s that early!
The night activities varied in time and activity. We had rehearsals for performances, talks, religous classes, etc + supper (if you're keeping count, that's the 6th meal already! So no, we do not come home skinny.) Other activities we had included jungle trekking, search and rescue missions (fake ones!), shooting (the M16 shooting is overrated, believe me that wasn’t the best part of national service), community service (the worst activity in my opinion because we spent more time travelling and waiting for buses than actually doing something….and the service we did wasn’t all that much of a help to the community in my opinion).
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| Delta in the sports closing ceremony |
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| Flying fox |
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| One of the sports day |
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| Delta after winnung the Kontrak Kita Janji |
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| Our beloved flag! Hand made by Delta's team of artist! |
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| Christian's religous class |
Day 76: The days flew by without us noticing although there was a board in the
hall which showed us how many
days we had left. We started the camp ticking off the days and praying it’ll go by faster….but after it
hit 20 days, we didn’t even want to look at the board for fear of knowing how fast the days were flying by. And when
it hit the 10-day mark, there
were trainees trying to change the numbers on the board to make it read longer, trainees trying
to cover up the board, the cry-fest had arrived….we just couldn’t stand to look at it any longer!We had the closing ceremony in the morning which included a performance from the kawad senyap and then, we partied the night away!
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| Kawad senyap |
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| Delta's final performance (Ape lagi??!! Terhegeh-hegeh!) |
The day we had to leave was a bittersweet occasion…we didn’t want to
leave our friends but we missed home as well. I saw a teacher telling the students to get onto the bus and stop
having last minute talks with their
friends because we were running late, the one that really got me feeling sad
was seeing the GUYS CRYING!
You know it’s something really saddening if even they’re crying….don’t even get me started on how the
girls were! And so the three month journey
ended the same way we came…crying! Albeit for different reasons. The one thing I witnessed there that I
didn’t see anywhere else was racial equality and unity….at least
among my friends there and from the teachers as well.
There’s a lot I didn’t mention, I couldn’t fit it all. But that’s the overall
experience. I was blessed to have the BEST dorm-mates! We barely fought and we
got along very well. They were my family when I had none there. I miss them
EVERY SINGLE DAY! Muax!!! Love ya’ll! GOOOO DELTA!!!
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