Our day started at 7.30a.m., when we all arrive at school and assembled outside the auditorium. All of us were very excited, eagerly waiting for the unfurling of the events to come. It was our first time participating in a hike organized by the company. We tumbled aboard the bus, and chatting and slapping on sunscreen.
We were walking along, when Mrs. Poh told us to run. It was not a very brief distance, but we still had our store of energy full. I guess it was akin to a warm-up run, but nevertheless, many of us arrived breathless. Then, our hike officially started. Our aims for the day were: happiness, excellence, resilience and determination, and the first letter of these four words form the word “herd”. I think that, within this word itself, it is also full of meaning, as a company and patrol is like a mini herd and we take care of each other.
Our first station was just a short distance away, on the event lawn. There, we took a Kung fu pose jump shot, and “competed” against patrol 9 in a game of dog and bone. The “bones” were foodstuff and scrapbook materials and the patrol that got the item gets to keep it, to be used or eaten during the hike. There was a twist to the game, as there were multiple choices and the person with the number corresponding to the correct answer had to do ten jumping jacks before running out to grab the bone. It was very funny and everyone was trying to jump as fast as humanly possible.
In between the two stations, we were trying to complete the tasks given, such as navigating the maze, finding out that the red, blue, yellow and green objects were recycling bins, taking a picture of the garden house and searching for a flower in the flora walk. Out of those activities, the one with the most learning points is the maze. Each of us held on to a section of the hemispherical football and tries to control the tiny ball that is within the maze, guiding it towards the centre. It was vexing at first, as we were not very successful and the tiny ball had a mind of its own. However, through patience and perseverance, we finally managed to coax the ball into the centre of the maze. Teamwork was important, because if one of us were not of the same mind as the others, the ball would not go in the direction that we wanted. We also learnt not to be too agitated and form a strategy first, before proceeding calmly; slowly but surely.
As we were overambitious and tried to complete all of the tasks given, we did not arrive in time to go through the 2nd station. Despite running part of the way there, we still did not arrive at station 2 in time and could only complete a part of the station. We learnt that we should prioritize, and also, though it is a hike, but we should not stroll either, but move faster. Still, this did not dampen our spirits, but we continued the hike.
At station 2, we were given a map and told to find the shortest route from point A to B. it was deceptively easy, so much so that we suspected a trick at first. After we had arrived, we had to answer some questions that required us to think out of the box, a.k.a. 欠扁问答题s.
At station 3, the activity requires us to stand in a line and hold crushed paper balls in between our shoulders. There were questions to be answered and the correct answer merits 2 steps forward while the wrong answer earns us a step back. It was difficult, as there were paper balls on both our left and right, thus, if the paper ball on the right is dropping, one cannot move to narrow the grip on the paper ball, since doing so will cause the paper ball on the left to drop. This game requires teamwork and helping each other, as one person also cannot hold on to any of the paper balls.
At the fourth station, we were given a large piece of newspaper, and the whole patrol had to step on it; not feet are allowed to touch the ground outside of the newspaper. There were slips of paper scattered around us and we were to reach for them. On each piece of paper is a question number corresponding to a question. The newspaper would be folded for every two questions answered wrongly.
At the last station along the southern ridges, there were several tasks to be completed and our patrol split into three different groups. One pair went off to take photographs of different objects using different camera settings, another pair had to answer questions put forth by the station master. The rest of us searched for a plastic bag that belongs to our group; it contains slips of paper that with the steps for developing negatives. We rotated the jobs and after we found the plastic bag, we had to rearrange the slips of paper in the correct order.
The end of the 5th station means the end of our rural hike. Before continuing on our way to Vivo City, we took many photographs that were in the mobile task booklet
Upon arriving at Vivo City, we finished some more photography tasks and almost did not see the hike I.C.s when we went to the assembly area at the fountain. After we had eaten our lunch, we stayed at Long John Silver’s for awhile to do our scrapbook.
We assembled and was dismissed for a shortened version of activities in vivocity.
In the first station, each of us had to come out and imitate the person or object that is given to us. It is a game that is unlike taboo or charades, as we could talk, but we had to become the given person or object. There were guiders and leaders of the company and other rather random objects such as staplers, and carrot. Next, we were given 15 minutes to go and source for the objects, or anything that can represent the object, and take a photograph as proof. We went into Daiso and used our creativity and what we could find there, coming up with connections that were slightly stretched, such as a pen that looks like an ostrich wearing a tutu, to represent ballerina, an eraser that looks like a stapler, etc.
We were then given a clue to the next station, which was in front of the Food Republic, and is all about food. This time, we played “taboo” and all the words were foodstuff. This station tests our communication skills and how we communicate as a patrol. Then, according to another clue, we had to find a kind of snack, buy it and eat it in front of the station master. Another bonus required us to memorize a little poem that is part of an advertisement.
After these two stations, we assembled for company games!
We played all the games in an outdoor pool, with the water barely reaching our knees. The first game we played, all of us were given an identity, either a duck or a cow. Then, closing our eyes, we had to find others of the same type. Once the game started, there was a cacophony of moos and quacks, as each of us tried to find a match. When the game ended and we opened our eyes once more, we saw that all of us we standing in little groups. Through this simple game, we realize that strategy is important, and the point of the game was not to try and outdo each other with the moos and quacks. Instead, we should get only one person from each group to call out at a time, so that it is much more organized.
The second game played was blow wind blow. However, there was an alteration to the game, instead of being people, we were cars and each round, and there were conditions to be met, before we could settle into our new places. There were situations like: a flat tire and we had to roll on the ground for ten seconds before running back; ERP gateways and we had to go to the centre of the circle to get monopoly money; car wash and we had to submerge ourselves in the water before running to a new place. Needless to say, most, if not all of us, were wet before the game ended. Mostly, it was from well-meaning friends who wanted to help each other cool down, there were even a bucket and cups floating around. It was fun.
The final game that we played was musical box. There were a number of things being passed around and the music was provided by us, as we sang guides’ songs. There were different rounds, with a different thing being passed around each time, like ice cubes, rice grains and half a banana. The people who were lucky enough to be holding on to the item when the music stopped had to go to the centre of the circle and do their forfeit.
Then, it was prize giving and then we were dismissed. Though our patrol was not part of the top three, we had tremendous fun throughout the day. We learnt many things, such as perseverance and determination, and we tried our best to achieve the four values of HERD. We also came up with a new patrol song!
Love guides!:)
It’s Saturday, 4 September! Excited and geared up, we went to school on a happy note. All the year1s were really excited about the hike despite the uncertainty as this is our first hike.
For rural hike along the southern ridges, we had to grin broadly for one minute, I thought we looked kind of foolish as a patrol grinning so widely together, but it was fun as I felt the patrol togetherness through this activityJ
Then, we had to compete with another patrol for dog and bone. We were supposed to answer different questions, and the first person from each patrol who managed to finish 10 jumping jacks would be able to grab attractive prizes. It was a joy to see everybody trying their best to complete the jumping jacks as soon as possible to get prizes for the patrol!
Then, it was time for patrol scrapbook!
We then quickly kept everything and moved on to the next station when time was up. As it was quite a long distance, we completed different mobile tasks on our way to the next station. We were exposed to Nature too- we even spotted a hummingbird!
On our way there, there were times where we got lost and forgot how to head to the next station. We gathered together as a patrol and tried to find out what was the correct route to the next station. WE cheered along the way and kept our patrol spirit high.
Finally, we figured our way to the 2nd station! It was the maze and we have to solve it. After we solved it, we had to climb up using the way that we drew on the paper while the rest of the patrol mates had to remain downstairs to answer different questions. I was the one that was “kidnapped” with my year two senior and so we ran up and remained in girl style pumping position. Even though there were only two of us, we continued to cheer. Cheers do boost our spirit, we pushed ourselves all the way till our patrol mates “came to our rescue”
We headed off to the 3rd station, not forgetting to complete our mobile tasks along the way!
The 3rd station was something like putting balls of crushed papers in between your shoulders and moved forward and backward together as a patrol to prevent the papers balls from dropping. We had to answer questions regarding waters correctly to take a step front. It was a test about our unity as a patrol and also our common knowledge. We successfully completed the task! It was indeed an achievement because there were difficulties but we overcame them as a patrol.
The 4th station was to squeeze together and stand on a piece of newspapers and answer questions about lands. It was quite fun, to squeeze with your patrol and answer questions. Some of the questions were really foreign to me. I guessed there is a need for me to brush up my knowledge of Singapore!
The last station was to sing a song loudly to grab the attention of a station master. We had to answer questions about photography while the rest of patrol mates had to find plastic bags and take a picture of 10 different things. In the meantime, we collected some objects from nature that can be used for our scrapbook, for example, fallen flowers.
Finally, we headed off to Vivocity! We had our lunch and worked on the scrapbook. It turned out to be really pretty! After that, it was urban hike. We had to play taboo in our first station. I found some difficulty trying to disseminate information to my patrol members because there were some things that I could not say. This is a good way to train your communication skills
Next station is about architecture. We had to go around to take photos of different types of buildings. As vivocity is known to have unique structures around the mall, it was definitely an eye opener. Through this activity, I learnt to appreciate beautiful architecture. They are all around us, just that I did not pay much attention to them. We had to devise a proposal that is similar one of the building that we took picture of. I thought that we managed to think of different things that were very cool and unique, yet useful at the same time. Some could even be implemented in our Guides’ gadgets! Overall, I thought that that was a very wonderful experience.
We then completed our urban mobile tasks and it was time for Company Games!
Everybody was excited about going into water. We splashed water at each other and laughed. We attracted much attention, especially visitors, and most of them took photos of us having fun. I thought that we left an impression on the visitors that we, indeed, knew how to have times at sometimes and were not as restricted as we seemed. Overall, I thought that the Company Games were a very good chance for us to bond as a company, to get to know each other well through fun experiences. I believed this is a good experience that I would ever have.
With this, we ended our hike. Although some patrols did not emerge in the top 3 patrols, we definitely think that the most important thing was the lessons learnt from the hike. We bonded, overcame difficulties together and became closer as a patrol. Even though it was an inter patrol competition, we never failed to help one another when they needed help. We appreciated nature and arts that were around us. Lastly, we persevered through the hike, not only as a patrol, but as one company, because we were all in this together.
This hike is definitely a fruitful experience for each and every one!
