Charlie Group Day 8

As today was our last day of camp, we spent the bulk of today taking down tents, packing up, loading everything up, and, of course, returning to HQ. We woke much the same as the last few days, at 7:30 a.m. We had a breakfast of instant noodles, eggs, and spam. Then, we got to work. First off, the tents had to be taken down—it was a multi-step process.... that took much longer than expected. The total time spent was almost an hour more than the projected estimate. We had to hang the fly (the outer layer of the tent) to dry, and the dirt and sand had to be cleaned off. We did a more complete clean-up once we returned to HQ.

We had a choice between staying a while longer at the campsite to do some activities, as well as eating lunch, or visiting a canoe museum but having a late lunch. We unanimously decided on the latter. However, the museum was too expensive, so we headed straight back to HQ. When we arrived, we did a full clean-up of the equipment, and washed the Sprinters. Then we had an extremely late lunch/early dinner of BBQ pork rice. Tomorrow, we will be going over water safety and CPR. Serious business.

Brian

I wake up in the morning

I brush my teeth

I go to the van

I wash my hands with soap

I drink water

I eat watermelon

We go to the highway

I go to the tent

Justin

Today was the last day for our camp trip but we didn’t do much today. We spent our time cleaning and packing our things before we left. Packing up the tents were a lot harder than setting them up which was very annoying. After getting back to the HQ we had to clean even more so it wasn’t a very fun day at all.

Andrew

Today was very fun, and interesting. Unfortunately, our last day at the camp site was yesterday, so we had to clean up all of the equipment. After spending a whole morning leaning up, we’re drove back to headquarters. After unpacking all of the equipment, we cleaned the headquarter from top to bottom. Also, I think I have a total of 20 mosquito bites all over my body.

Matthew

Today was the day we came back to HQ, Monticle. On the way back we were tortured by Raymond! He played his funky chinese, canto songs. When we finally arrived at HQ we cleaned every container and utensils. It was pretty fast! Now we are just waiting for our chinese take out. Yeah there isn’t much today but tomorrow is Watersport day! AWSOME!

Jordan

Today was not the most enjoyable day. We had to pack up our bags and clean the campsite to check out. This process lasted long as we did not prepare as well as planned. We had to clean equipment and disassemble tents. Taking tents down was the easy part, however rolling them up into a bag was difficult. This took an extra hour than planned as we tried multiple times. We were still able to check out at noon. 3 hours later, we arrived back at Monticle HQ and we were stuck doing more cleaning duty. We had to clean the vehicles, building and equipment. After a lengthy day of sanitization, we were all glad we retuned, but we all felt tired. For the rest of the day, we were able to relax. I learned that hygiene is important, even if it may take a while; it is worth it.

Andy

                Today was all about cleaning up because we were departing from the Warsaw Caves campsite and returning to Monticle HQ in Markham! Too bad Billy had not returned when we left the camp.

                On the way back we tried to visit the Canoe Museum but it cost too much to get in. So we missed that opportunity. After hearing some music everyone in the Sprinter was annoyed about, we sat in silence the rest of the way home. (Those on the other Sprinter got to listen to the radio, while we simply had to listen to Raymond’s CDs!

                Clean-up continued following our return. (I Did The Sprinter). That’s about it for today. Practical training will resume tomorrow in preparation for the ultimate challenge of the 19-day program!

Jason Wong

We woke up at the same time, we first packed up our luggage before breakfast. We had ham, instant noodle and scrambled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast each tent group was assigned to do tent packing and cleaning up. My tent group took down two tents. It took close to an hour to do it. We had two choices do activities have lunch then leave or pack up and go to the Caadian Canoe Museum in Peterbrough. We decided to go to the 2 option but when we went to the museum we can’t afford to go so we went back to HQ. We unloaded the luggage and the food and we cleaned up the sprinters, food boxes. P.S. we had watermellon before we left the campsite and we didn’t have lunch.

Roman

Today was our last day camping day. We packed up in the morning ad arrived back at the HQ at 2:45 p.m. On the way back to the HQ, we slept and mostly listened to “weird” asian music. We cleaned up at the HQ and now I am waiting patiently for the dinner. I am looking forward for tomorrow.

Jonathan

Today, we left Warsaw Caves in the afternoon. Before we left, we took down our tents, mved the tables back, Picked up garbage, eat breakfast and more. After we left the campground, we sat in the Sprinter for close to two hours. We were supposed to a canoe museum but it was too expensive t pay. We left the museum after. We then we arrived at HQ and cleaned all the equipment. I learned how to take down a tent and fold up a tarp property. Tomorrow we are doing something we are doing something in the water and also CPR training.

Lemuel

Day 8. We’re done camping today, so we had to pack up everything. Packing up took about 2 hours, and the ride home took about the same time. Once we came back we had to clean up everything that was dirtied. Now I’m writing this.

Jacky

Today was a busy day. We started off eating breakfast and packing up the tent. We spent most of the morning packing the tent. All of us was busy to work but since some students were not very experianced with tents we spent more time than expected. Once we were done we packed everything in the Sprinter and left for home. Once we arrived we washed 80% of the equipment and are awaiting for lunch/ Dinner. I hope we go into the water soon.

Edwin Cheung

I woke up at 7:30 pm around. We start pack our tents, Cooking equipment and head to HQ. through the way to HQ, We hear some very Harrble music. Then we went back and clean up again. Today, I learn that “Pay attention to detail is very important for My leadership. I should work harder on Communication between people

Jason Wang

Today was our last day at the Warsaw Caves camp. We woke up at 7:00 am then we prepared for the breakfast of instant noodles, spam and eggs. After breakfast we took our gear out of the tents and packed everything up. We were orginally going to pack everything up in 40 minutes but we ended up taking over an hour longer than expected. After packing up and cleaning up we loaded up the sprinters with all our personal and public gear excluding one knife and the 2 watermelons which we ate just before departing. We were originally going to go to a museum along the way but the price were too high so we went straight back to HQ and had a complete clean up of all the gear we used at camp.

William

It was our last day at the campsite. We ate breakfast, which was luncheon meat and eggs on instant noodle. After breakfast, we packed our bags and set them under the trees out of the way. Once nothing was left in our tents, we folded up every thing and put it in long bags. We put out the campfire with water and prepared to leave the campsite. We came back to the HQ after a 2 hour ride.

Calvin

Today was the last day of camp. It was Monticles first time at this location. Personally I think that it was a very good campsite since there were many interesting things to do. For example it was Monticles first canoeing and spelunking. Our experience from this had taught us to wear helmets and the next time we go into a cave. Now that our camping is over the serious stuff is starting. The students now will learn about water safety, Hypothermia, CPR, and AED. It is going to be really hard for them since it is quite alot of test and it is very dry. I hope they all pass.

Ryan

Today is the day we left the camp and finally went back to the hq. We had a breakfast of instant noodles, Egg and Spam. After that I was tasked with cleaning the cooking ware and helping other work. After that we had to set out and go to the canoe museum. We could not however because it costed to much. So instead we had to drive and listen to really bad chinese music. After that we cleaned up our stuff and studying for the kayak test

Jennifer

I am finally able to write my own personal blog. Taking over this blog job without the help of Alastair is a lot tougher than I’d anticipated—it’s very time consuming. But, we’re back at HQ, so I have a spot of time now. Today, as you can very well see, was mostly a packing up, cleaning up, and returning to HQ kind of day.

The highlight of my day was a very odd occurrence. Although today’s event were honestly very boring, as everyone else would probably tell you (and I would have to agree), what stuck out to me the most today, and will probably stay with me for a while, was a three-legged spider. It was a Daddy-Long-Legs with only three legs that I’d spotted while Kannis and I were packing up our tent. It was one that I had flung from our tent in the middle of the night before I had realized what it was. I’d paused in my work to watch the spider struggle along across the sand, missing more than half of its limbs. I’d considered putting it out of its misery, but Kannis had told me to still my hand. We ended up discussing religion and our beliefs and thoughts on life and the future. It was a really interesting conversation that has left a deep impression on me. The spider passed on; peacefully, I hope.

We were also reminded that we were being observed for our student reports. It made me think about how I’ve been observing others as well. It’s in the little things, really. Such as the way that Brian’s face lights up with the brightest smile when people ask him to help with something, or the way that William is so eager to offer assistance. I really enjoy seeing our group dynamic—in all its forms.