Emergency First Response Course (4 hours Creative)

I simply took this course to learn to be a person who can use first-aid techniques that I know in situations where someone requires it, for serious injuries or even less severe problems such as cuts, scrapes and other minor things compared with a life or death situation. I feel that this sort of knowledge is invaluable as a life is priceless and if a situation arises in which these actions are necessary to be undertaken, I would be more confident in stepping up and helping an individual to either save their life or to reduce long-term injuries. So, I think that this will help me to be more confident in the future and hence, more of a risk-taker as well as a caring person when the time arrives.

Temburong Trip (9 hours Action, 1 hour Creative)

Our year went to the rainforest area of Temburong from the 9th to the 11th of October. This trip is tradition to our school and it was finally our turn to go on this trip. The trip was action-packed for a three day trip and it had us worn out - we had to go to school the next day too, so our endurance was tested. Once there, we did a little bit of team and trust-building which included falling off an elevated platform onto a mat which was held by the rest of our group members. We went to sleep but were sadly woken by the traditional fire-drill at five in the morning when we had only slept at one or two from having to pack for our trek later the next day.

Even though it rained later on in the first day, the next day, Sam (one of my best friends) and I among about five other people lined up to do the flying fox activity. This involved hanging from a rope and sliding over the river to the other side, high up above everyone else, moving at a speed where adrenaline encompasses you completely. This was the only activity that I was anxious about because I am not a fan of heights and the harness fitted around our waists but I have had dislocated hips from birth, and so, I must always maintain a safety look about everything that could endanger them. All was good however, I followed the instructions and (at least partially) conquered my dislike of heights and had a lot of fun while I was at it.

In addition to this, we did water confidence, but I am confident in water as it is. I navigated our group through the forest to our campsite for the later part of the second day. This was also an unexpected challenge but was extremely rewarding in the sense that I had just navigated 20 people through the forest for seven kilometers. I got to become familiar with the walkie-talkies to communicate with official back at the lodging area just in case something were to go wrong. Even though I got a little lost a couple of times, all was good and with good leadership skills from our trek leaders on the day, we made it to camp one whole hour early. We then continued to set up camp.

About twenty minutes after we had finished that and had organised all of our stuff within and around the tent, we got ready to cook. At this exact point in time, the other group arrived at the campsite and only five more minutes later and it started to rain, heavily. Once we had put the curses and moans of the other group, while they were putting up their tent in the rain, out of our mind, we attempted the impossible. We tried to cook in the rain. This proved to be a success and we all went to sleep full, a drastic opposite to what we all thought once it started to rain.

The next morning, we cleaned up, and kayaked back to the lodging area. Originally, I was with Sam and all was good, but then another group was in trouble as both of the people in that kayak had no experience of it before. Once we had completed an amazing swap-over in about ten seconds, I was with Wei Tze who was someone that I usually did not work with. But once we had found a balance on how we would row and use the river current to our advantage to not tire ourselves out, we were ready to go. The last corner came around all too fast and our journey was over.

We then jointly paid for a couple of lost items (a drink bottle, a knife, a something else) as a group as headed home, as tired as we were. This was an experience like no other and I hope to go back with a few of my friends for a week or so, to really get a feel for it. All in all, I felt that I gave everything my all, and helped out those who needed my help for certain activities that were not their strengths.