Hello Guides!! (: Today is yet another Patrol Activity (PA)! Here are the
following reflections from the respective patrols!
P1
Bougainvillea (Tasha):
For today's PA, it was slightly different, as the 集合timing changed to 5pm
and we only had a short 1h30minutes to carry out our Outdoor Cooking, some of
us also needed to leave as early as 6 because of the last minute changes in
schedule. Firstly, we were given some time to take logistics to build the altar
- 6 中长木，2短木，8中木 and 6 长木. Furthermore, we had to bring down a mess tin, newspapers, plates,
cutlery, solid fuel, kindlings, and all the other necessary items required. We
started off by building two tripods, with two 顶角s separately, and we
tried to make it as low as possible. We also had to open the tripod wide enough
to fit the tray, and it had to be preferably at waist level so it would be more
convenient to cook. Our time limit was 25 minutes, and although we did not 过时，I felt that there were areas such as tying square lashes that could be
improved. Next, we proceeded to place the bricks and 木麻黄in the
suitable arrangement so that we could start the fire. One was already a big
problem to us, and starting two simultaneously wasted a lot of time as the
small fire kept dying out. We used up at least one box of matchsticks, and
sustaining the fires were even harder, because we had to keep throwing in
different types of kindlings. Some of us had to blow a few breaths - short,
short, long to continuously sustain the fire. In addition, the two fires had to
be sustained until we managed to get the water to boil and the food to be fully
cooked. Our seniors had bought for us marshmallows, maggie mee and came up with
a unique idea of placing marshmallow and nutella in a cone so that it would
taste like melted marshmallow ice-cream! The food was delicious and our efforts
were worth it. I felt that the Y1s gained more experience from this OC and the
Y2s also developed some of our leadership skills. I had to leave early from PA
but I really enjoyed this OC and I hope there would be more activities like
this planned in the future!
P2
Ixora (Wei Mei):
This PA we built a creative gadget, which was a monkey bar. We didn’t
have much time as 集合 was from 5pm to 6.30pm. We (the Year Twos) had
drawn the proposals so we knew exactly what to do. However, the Year Ones did
not, and it was rather challenging to help them visualise the structure as none
of them had built it before. There was also a twist where one person was had to
be blindfolded every five minutes, with a maximum of 5 people blind folded,
with a maximum of 4 people to be blindfolded. Hence we had to work faster as
our man power decreased over time. To build the monkey bar, we built two
quadpods, and connected them with two 长木s after tying
the 定脚 of the quadpod. However, we had to detach the two 长木s and build tie 短木s onto it to make a ladder separately as there was
not enough time and we haven’t tied the diagonal 定脚s that
connected the two quadpods. I also had to close my eyes towards the middle of
building the gadget and it was an interesting and meaningful experience tying
all the lashes without seeing them; it was kind of like a test of how familiar
I was with the lashes. While it was manageable, it was quite challenging at
first until I got the hang of it. Before I was blindfolded, I had to guide the
blindfolded Year Ones while they tied the lashes and help them go from one
place to another. I think this was the most challenging part of 集合, as those blindfolded had to rely solely on the instructions and help of
those who could see. We worked rather slowly, and there were many 绳尾s, but I think it was due to the fact that four out of the seven of us
were blindfolded. However, one of our quadpods was rather lose and the 木almost came out. I think we need more practise tying the quadpod, as we
rarely use it, but quadpods are very useful, especially in Obstacle Journeys.
P3 Jasmine (Jo-Anne):
For this week's PA, we were given a choice to build
either a catapult or fireman's ladder. As a patrol, we decided to build a
catapult. We were firstly given 4 minutes to take 5 中长 and 3 中 gadget poles, poncho and also sufficient 白绳. Subsequently, we were given
10 minutes to build a catapult. We tied a tripod using 3 中长 and tied 顶脚s using the 3 中 gadget poles. Then, we connected another 2 中长s to the sides of the
tripod and wrapped the poncho around. As we foresaw that we would not finish in
time, we asked for a 2 minutes time extension and did not 过时. During the debrief, we realised that we could have tied the tripod
tighter and the poncho need not be so thick so that it can hold the object that
would be shot from it. In addition, we retied the catapult for a second time,
this time, we had to do it in 8 minutes. The result was not as satisfactory as
the first one but the seniors did mention that the tripod was tied tighter this
time. All in all, as this PA was shorter than most, my greatest take away from
it is that good leadership is important in managing a patrol to scale to
greater heights.
P4
Orchid (Xin Jie):
For Monday’s PA, we build
a seesaw and I was the PL for the first part then changed to Kyna for the
second part. We were really organized and we kept to the time limit given of 50
mins. I think we did great on our sense of urgency this time as we manage to
finish building the seesaw by 45 mins, however we still had to work on the
cheering and 报时. Also,
the time taken to carry the 木s needed
for the structure to the field was quite long and could be kept shorter, another
point for improvement. When we were building the structure, we realized some
problems with our quadpod and spent quite some time on it before continuing to
build the structure. We multitasked by building the seat on the seesaw while
tying the定脚to the quadpod.
We even got all the measurements just right so there were no problems when
attaching the seesaw to the quadpod.
After building the structure, we got a chance to test it out, and took
some pictures with it. I had to leave after that so I am not sure of what
happened after that. That was all we did during this PA as the duration of this
PA to me is only an hour.
P5
Sunflower (Chen Wei):
Today
we 集合-ed at 5pm,
after which we were tasked with building a kitchen table. As I have built the
structure before for this year's orientation, I was quite excited about what
was to come. First, we took a table board, 麻绳, 4 红木, 8 白木, and 6 深蓝木. Then, we started on the tripods
for the structure. Following which, we started to tie the edges for the table.
Then, we tied the 定脚 to stabalise the structure. After that, we made a wrong move
by tying the chairs before measuring the distance for the table board to rest
on the edges. However, we realised our mistake during the debrief. All in all, we could have had a greater sense of
urgency and patrol morale. Although we were unable to complete the structure,
we were glad to be able to familiarise ourselves with the building of the
kitchen shelter :)
P6
Morning Glory (Ger Hui):
For PA we had to build a
kitchen shelter in 40 minutes. Although we did not 过时 and finished before the
time limit, I think we did worse than we could have done especially since it is
not the first time this year that we have already built a kitchen shelter. Some
parts we could have improved on, like better allocation of manpower and the
leadership, and the stability of some of the 木. After that we had to build a
structure able to transport one person which was not a Roman Chariot. After
spending as little time as possible discussing, we decided to make a
stretcher-like structure and finished it before the time limit, and
successfully transported a person sitting on it. I think a good point is that
we did not spend a lot of time deciding or arguing about what to build and
Minshi who was PL was quite good leading and making decisions.
Hope that the guides had
fun today! (:
Cheers,
Michelle
47 Batch Secretary
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