North Carolina Outward Bound School

Departing on a flight at 7+ in the morning is really not a thing for me so being with Gideon and Bibiana made this experience a little better. What followed was a near 20 hours flight time that I had to endure as this is the longest I've ever stayed off the ground. Transiting in Tokyo was a nice experience however this was the first time I've been to Japan without stepping out of the airport, sian siah!!!! Well, this was better than the transit in Chicago as I was brought to another room for questioning by the immigration officer, lesson learnt "PRINT YOUR DOCUMENTS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE E-TICKETS OR E-VISA". Eventually it was mentioned that the officer had an over dosage of his routine medicine thus his crankiness, now that explained why. I had mine too if not my hand would have spoke to his face.

Being attached to NCOBS was really an eye opener and I am really assured of Kurt Hahn's philosophy being carried on through OB programmes in this part of the world. Out of a concrete jungle, I really felt in tuned when I was introduced to the environment that I would be exposed to for the following five days.

The woods, the staff, the structures and the programme which I was able to observe right from the course preparation refreshed me. As someone who has experienced pre-course briefs, the one conducted prior to a 5-Day programme for the Woodberry students (all boys) was inspirational. I felt like conducting the course with the Instructors man!!!

I was treated to pumpkin carving for the first time in my life and it was a cosy gathering of staff munching away on homemade cookies over hot tea. Such is the way of life over there. I can say that the two staff hired to provide meals for the staff there is really talented. They can easily whip up tasty meals not just referring to recipe books but also trying out online recipes, shiok!

During the observation of the 5-Day programme, I realised that the service projects is very much alive. The boys had half a day of service projects at the campsite and they had to improve the trails trodden on either by participants or public within the woods. I observed a framing and participants were asked to share their thoughts on giving back to the community and it is something which Singapore students would share as well. We are after all able to identify with the current generation regardless of the different countries we are in.

On the last day, I had the opportunity to trek to Table Rock and bouldered on some natural rocks, check it out.