Off To Camp I

I was on official duty this afternoon at this camp site. The campsite is at the outskirts of town. We were briefed about how to get there. But somehow, once on the wheel, I missed the junction and had to turn back. Thankfully I realised it before I went too far.

A few kiosks dotting the grounds, and dorms in the background ...

My task was to accompany the kiddies, 20 members of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, who were participating in the annual school level co-curricular camp.

What did I do? Nothing much, really. I watched over them as they were being briefed by the camp commandant on duty. Then, I herded them to the field where they participated in the ice-breaking and team-building activities.

In the evening, I helped the kiddies get organised. All took out from their bags their cooking stuff.

Sorting out the food for the next 3 days ...  

The kiddies had to prepare their own meals at the camp. They were instructed to bring canned food. These were the contributions by the 20 of them - canned sardines and mackerels, canned chicken curry, canned corn and baked beans.

. After that, it was cooking time.

Dinner ... Sardines in tomato sauce

No sweat really. The kiddies opened up cans of sardines and poured them into a wok to heat up. They also cooked a corn soup with egg. These 2 dishes they ate with plain white rice, which my colleague had cooked for them in an electric rice cooker. Convenient, eh? I looked around and all the other kiddies in the other units were having sardines with their rice too!

The kiddies were then assigned beds in the dorm. They settled themselves in and then freshened up for dinner.

One of the girls' dorms

The teachers too had their dinners at the same time. Of course, they had better food. All teachers were requested to contribute food stuff of different kinds. Some bought rice. Others bought eggs. Some gave biscuits. Some were instructed to buy fresh ingredients. And of course, we had good chefs amongst the teachers. 

Hot and spicy sambal

Blanched tapioca leaves, cucumber slices, blanched ferns to go with the sambal

Fried chicken

 Mixed vegetables

After dinner, we took leave as the next group of teachers relieved us of our duties. All of us ladies were a bit apprehensive driving out from the campsite as it was really dark and the road was pretty isolated. So we left together in a convoy. I was glad to have my colleague in the car with me as chatting with her made the drive a bit less boring.

Tomorrow I'm driving out again early in the morning. I am the designated Duty Officer for the morning shift. Heck, I have no idea what an officer on duty does .... my colleague tells me to "make sure all activities are carried out according to schedule". Hmn ...........