So sorry, but been quite busy to blog…

Let’s continue with the rest of the BFC pictures and experiences =)

The first day, afternoon we did The Rafting Challenge!

Including several challenges, quite fun..

Taking on the Tower of Hanoi (learning point, try to think one step ahead. Adaptable to real life? Oh I think so..)

I had by this time realized I’ve gotten 7 mosquito bites..(it’s horrible for someone like me since I’m EXTREMELY allergic. Everyone thinks: “yeah yeah, how bad can it be?” until they see it with their own eyes, it’s bad, very bad..but when I got home that evening, I discovered a few more, adding up to 10 mosquito bites..

So the next day, I went to Sentosa in thick pants, and long sleeve..SO hot! I looked ridiculous, but I rather steam than getting more bites, plus, it looked so disgusting..;)

We spent the first half of the day doing the DISC profiling, nice and calm..until the afternoon and we went out for the High Elements..

If you remember, I posted about climbing up the 10m pole and jumping off of it?

Well..tadaaa!

Think this is right before I let go of the trapeze..

What a rush..I was horrified! So scared! I’ve never done something like this. The pole was shaking, it was high and the pole so small..

I really thought about giving up cause I couldn’t lift my leg to stand on the pole..but with the encouragements from the team and realizing that this is an amazing experience instead of seeing it as an obstacle, I insisted to at least to fail while trying than to give up.

But seriously, I was worried I’d vomit and it would like splash on to my team mates on the ground haha..eeew!

We had dinner after this and we were then on our way to Bintan..

We arrived there late so we just settled in and went to sleep..think that was the most uncomfortable living standard I’ve been in. Even when I went camping when I was young, it was still cozy and comfortable.

Normally I’m quite sensitive, I’d say. But this time..it didn’t bother me too much. I just didn’t want to get more mosquito bites, so I slept in my sleeping bag, and placed anti-mosquito patches on it hahaha.

The next morning, we woke up to go for a group morning jog at 07.30! Ah!

Was OK, but still..I hate running! After a humungous breakfast, we only had time to re-apply mosquito repellant and sunblock before getting onto the bus which took us to our biggest challenge..

After the 10m high pole, I thought I was OK with heights..Oh, I was fooled..

Facing a 25m high pyramid, we were divided into 3 teams to in a spiral, take on the challenges along the way, each the top and take a flying fox down..150m long…

So, on with the safety gear..

Then time for safety practice round for the safety wires (yes, we were wiring each other)

Belaying (is that how it’s spelled?) my team mate up to the pyramid.

After being briefed of the safety and me asking if there ever been any casualties or severe accidents, we got each other up on the pyramid. Starting on a height of appr. 6-7m..As it’s not as high and I wouldn’t be alone (like on the pole), I got a shock when I realized how scared I got when I got up. The first challenge was to walk across a wire.

Hahaha, priceless, you can see how scared to tears I am! 

First of all, it was scary cause it’s not a challenge which you quickly can execute. Once up there, we had to stand on the wire, waiting for the rest of the team to get up, secure their wires etc. THEN we could start moving. To endure the fear for that long while standing and a wiggly wire..not so fun..my legs were shaking and cramping. Plus, the wire which we can hold on to was moving too..and I was too short to be able to use it to “rest”. I felt like a cuttlefish hung to be sun-dried! hahaha

When we reached the end of this challenge, we have to change wires from this challenge to the next one..which added on to the pressure and stress.

See the pole on the right side with the tiny platform? That’s where we change our wires (Changing wires on each other adds on to the element of teamwork and intensifies the experience)..the challenges after this didn’t have any platforms though haha

So challenge number 2 is yet again walking on the taut wire with thick ropes we can hang on to.

Honestly, I wanted to give up here..it was really scary and hard..and it was only the 2nd challenge, how would I be able to get to the top? But for some reason, I continued.

After this, we had some rest in a cage. Third challenge was the one I was scared of from hearing about it at briefing. We had to get across the log without holding on to anything but our team mates. At this time, we’re appr. 8-9 m up high..

I still remember that we had to stand on the log waiting for the entire team to get on their wire before we could move. I was so scared I’d wobble and fall. Then my team mate held on to me and said: “Claudia, you’re fine. Think you’re standing on the ground and on the ground, you wouldn’t suddenly wobble and fall right?” hahaha, actually it has happened to me before haha but I appreciate his effort to calm me.) I remember how I was super focused on to be calm and just move. Until the cameraman told us to stop, look at him and smile for this photo..haha…I was furious! haha

Then we changed wire for the next challenge..wires again, but one for each foot and without holding on to anything but team mates..oh my..I guess you can see how high we are now..

Requiring us to agree on how to move to keep the wires as still as possible, so we decided to move one person at a time, calling out each movement. Took longer time, but helped a lot in stability!

Changed wires again. Now to cross this swaying bridge with a gap..not fun! Each movement made the bridge sway like crazy, especially during weight transfer when each team member crossed the gap.

We’re all across!! =)

Happy to reach the second resting cage. As this is about teambuilding but also about leadership, we were told that someone else had to lead for the next challenge and it has to be someone who hasn’t lead before. So I was up..

This is the resting cage. (Like I told the facilitator, normally, this is my normal level of being adventurous. Just being in a cage like that at that height. So I was already proud of my accomplishments so far!)

Anyway, this is how it looks like when we change wires. Since they’re in clusters for each challenge, they can only reach back so far. So here I am changing from the cage wire to the next challenge wire. I mean, doing challenges is one thing, but whilst resting and changing wires, we’re still in a not very “comfortable” and “unscary”  situation!

Very high up now..

Next challenge was to get across a climbing wall x 3, and yes, changing wires whilst being on the wall!

I had heard scary things about this challenge, so I was very worried. Funny enough, this wasn’t as scary as the other challenges. Maybe because I could hold on to something and face a wall instead of looking out, seeing how high up we are.

The challenging part was that we weren’t really aiming to climb up, but sideways, making it a bit difficult with feet and hand placement whilst being synchronized with the rest of the team. As we have to wait for the team members, in each challenge, the teamleader has to go the stretch twice to fetch the safety wires from previous team for our own team to use. So yeah, I went back and forth in this challenge, then to wait for my team. This was my only resting position I could come up with at the time haha!

After three sides of climbing walls, we reached the third and last resting cage. The next challenge was a repeated of the parallel wires.

Then to change wires to do “The Leap of Faith”…

The team before us. You can see the top of the wall in the middle, but here you basically have to leap across to the other platform. For short legged people like me, it was a big leap haha…(I can laugh now, but at that moment, I was crying and trying to keep my vomit down…)

Once we got to the other side, we changed wires again to climb up the last bit..

To finally reach the top!! YAY!!!! (Our team name was Furious Five, which is why we’re doing our martial art poses..I think I’m the snake? haha

From here, all we had left to do was to step over the rail you see behind us…and jump…to take the firefox down…thought it’d be the easiest thing..but really..it was scary hahaha..

Group photo taken before we started our pyramid challenge..I’m so grateful to everyone, would not have been able to do it by myself! LOVE!

Being so high up was scary, feeling I was out of control made it worse.. but with encouragement from others. I was reminded that it’s about the mindset. And that this could just be viewed as seeing things from another perspective and overcoming fears. Through this challenge, I especially saw things in a different light. I’m capable of more than I think. That when I feel so sick to my stomach because I think I can’t handle the situation, I actually can. I just need to have faith in myself. Having a great support group reminded me of that..This is definitely applicable to my daily life!

So go and climb a tower today! hahaha