Outward Bound

Jacob has posted his first experience at a birthday party here in Suzhou and now we turn the blog over to Warren to describe his experience at the Outward Bound Camp he went to as part of the school curriculum. The editor’s of the blog will lend a little bit of commentary to the blog within the “( )” otherwise, the story is Warren’s (and like any Hollywood movie, it is based upon a true story and actual events…with little “adjustments” to add a little bit of excitement and flavor).

The Outward Bound Camp is something the school added to bring kids from all over the globe together to learn to work as a team (and to indoctrinate them into the global culture….it takes a village, next week they sing the Obama song but they can’t post it on YouTube since that’s still blocked here). Each grade has a camp theme and activities. The Camp was held in Anjie and here’s the blurb about the camp from the SSIS website. “Focus of Grade 8 Camp Theme: The focus of the grade 8 camp/homeroom theme, Developing a ‘Sense of Self’, is for students to better understand what influences the way they view themselves and to develop strategies that will help them develop a positive and healthy self image. (sounds like a lot of psycho-babble doesn’t it…touchy-feely crapola!)

Packing: Mom contacted some other people from the PVO (Parent Volunteers Organization) to get some information on the camp. The one thing she found out is that the one night where we sleep in tents that we sleep in “rental” sleeping bags that may or may not be well used (in English, koodie alert!). So we went to Decathalon to look at sleeping bags or liners for sleeping bags (just to be sure he didn’t come home with some “uninvited guests”). Since the liner was 49 RMB and the actual sleeping bag was 69 RMB, we went ahead with the sleeping bag. It was larger but I thought it would still fit in my bag. I used the rolling duffel bag to carry my stuff since I needed several days of clothes and other stuff (including snacks since he wasn’t sure of the dining options….squid chunkies anyone?). It took several different attempts but everything was finally able to fit in the bag.

Day 1: Went to school as normal and then everyone gathered to load up for the 3 hour ride to Anjie. We used 3 of the school tour buses for everyone to ride. It was loud on the buses; it seems that some cultures speak very loudly regardless of the circumstances. You would think that these kids were yelling at each other but they are just talking. I tried to ignore them but it was tough. We got a bag lunch before we boarded so we ate while we traveled since it wasn’t clear if we were stopping for lunch (makes you wonder, are there rest areas like on the highways in the US and Europe?). We arrived in Anjie at a hotel to eat lunch, or our second lunch if we ate the bag lunch. There was deep fried chicken, ribs, green beans, rolls, and watermelon for lunch. Once we ate, we went out for a hike up the mountain. The minimum time for the hike was 2 hours, it took us about 4 hours to get up the trail. I slipped several times getting my shoes and pants muddy. There was a lot of bamboo on the trail. After the mountain, we walked through a village with the local wildlife running through the streets; dogs, chickens, etc. We got back on to the buses and rode for another 30 minutes to the campsite. The weather was bad, it had rained during the day and was supposed to rain through the night so there was a discussion about if we would sleep outside. Due to the weather, the decision was made to sleep inside a room that would fit 10 people; bunk beds were available so we didn’t sleep on the floor. There were only 7 kids in my room so it wasn’t crowded.

Day 2: Our day started with a 7:00 am wakeup call. I was up earlier than 7 due to the local chickens making plenty of noise starting early in the morning. At 6:30, I went outside and saw some locals walking bears (yes, bears). They appeared to be training the bears to walk on their hind feet and not all fours. They had the bears muzzled and a lease attached to the muzzle. If the bear got down and started to walk on all fours, the “trainer” would give them a crack of the whip and back up they would go. The bears were small (about 5’ high), black with white on their stomach. I got one photo of this (which you can find in the photo links). Anyhow, we packed our things and headed out to the hotel (where they would stay for the next night) by golf carts. When we got to the hotel, we dropped our bags off in the rooms and headed to breakfast. We had french fries, celery, green beans, noodles, roll type things (yes, that’s his very astute description, really narrows it down) along with hot juice and hot milk to drink on the menu for breakfast. After we ate, about 9:00, we met in the lobby to get on the golf carts to be taken to bamboo forest maze. It was supposed to be confusing but we (me and two other kids) found it to be simple and finished it in record time. We actually went through it again just because we had the time. We then went to raft building where we were given 8 inner tubes, 4 short pieces and 6 long pieces of bamboo and some rope to make our raft. It took us about 30 minutes to build the raft so it could float and hold 5 people. It had to float across the lake and back (about 25 meters across) with the 5 people. After that, we went back to the hotel, ate lunch. Lunch was fries, orange chicken, kung pao chicken, noodles, celery and bread. In the afternoon we walked to Roman catapult. We had 8 pieces of bamboo, 4 small pots and string to make our catapult. It took 15 minutes to build to try and shoot water balloons at the other team. After all the water balloons were gone, we went to rope walking. We had to rope walk across a small ravine. Once completed, we grouped together and went to the scenic spots. Each team had a tour guide and we had to take photos of our group around the entire park. Once that was finished, we went back to the beginning and then searched for food (this would be interesting, when I see what they eat I wonder what they would not consider eating). After this, we went back to the hotel at 5:00, dinner was scheduled for 7:00. Dinner consisted of chicken, fish, pork, corn, rice, vegetables, noodles and rolls. Then we prepared for the Talent Show. People had signed up for the talent show months back and so they got up and performed their stuff; dancing, singing, poetry, etc. After the talent show, it was time for bed.

Day 3: Again, the 7:00 am wakeup call for the day. We had to be eating by 8:00am and then be packed and ready to leave by 9:00 am. After the loaded the buses, we had to do our homeroom team work which was camp reflections, design a homeroom t-shirt, come up with a chant (and sing koom-by-ya). Our homeroom chant was “2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate, 8A”. (That’s right folks, I’m a very proud parent. What inventiveness! What creativity!) After this was finished, we got back on the buses for the return trip home. First we had to eat at a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place. They had live ducks & chickens in cages just outside the restaurant door (now that’s fresh!), so we were a little nervous about this place. We had chicken, tofu, rice, corn on the cob, rolls and vegetables for lunch options. After that we got on the bus and headed back to SSIS. I slept a little on the way back since it wasn’t as loud on the return trip as it was on the way there. It rained on the way home and there was a leak on the top of the bus. When the buses stopped at a rest stop to help one child that wasn’t feeling well, the bus driver tried to close the “trapdoor” that was leaking and he could not get it done. It was funny to watch him use all his might but he couldn’t get it to budge. It remained open a little and the leaking continued but it wasn’t leaking on anyone so it wasn’t that big a deal.

That’s my trip to camp. It was fun.