1 hour, 21 minutes away

one hour and twenty-one minutes away from home. Yet, there, i felt more at home than i usually do here in radelaide. why? possibly because of the people who i am constantly arounda ll of the time when i was on camp? maybe because of the awes ome atmosphere, and the ground (LOL) beneath our feet (and occasionally beneath our bodies...our kneess...our hands...LOL)
but no matter why, i was so totally at home when at camp wi th my beloveds. seriously. it's the best feeling in the world, knowing that you are able to say anything at anytime and no matter how stupid or...absurd it is, all they can do is laugh. it's like a dream world. i love it sooo much. because with my thieu nhi people, i fit in completley. seamlessly. we walk around together, we can talk to anyone. and you know what? i thought it unlikely, but thanks to this camp, i have made new friends (with those i've known my whole life), strengthened my relationships with family members, done countless stupid things, taken a shower at 5 am, lived for 4 days without technology, slept in a tent with a million creepy crawlies, spent 15 mins spraying aeroguard nonstop, sat in front of a campfire with those i love, played uno using the light of a few glowsticks, had julian make me and nhu cry, laughed so hard i was unable to breathe, gone through major highs, and lows, realisd that eating lollies is more e ffective than panadol, kicked ass in tro choi lon, solved so many mat thu, eaten the first roast in my life, and much much more.
well what was tn camp?
well, more like, what is tn camp to me?
it is:
trust
it's all about building up trust with your group members, trust in the leaders. we took a few trust walks in the dark with blindfolds and were led all around the campsite, over, under, even through obstacles with no way of knowing what they were. the only means of protection that we had were the somewhat comforting voices of the leaders who stayed by our sides.
competition
competition to be the best between the groups. okay so my group, Rosa, won the co danh du TWICE SO UP YOURS. and we only didn't win it the 2nd day becauise...because i have no idea why. i mean we totally kicked ass in tro choi lon. seriously. they kept pushing us back, peter even made up a station to steal lollies off of us and to slow us down (keo duoc san xuat o ben israel) but we came ba ck every single time. back on top again. except for the stupid dinner station. i mean, for some reason this year, they made everyone stop at dinner and start again and we got let out first, but the thing is stupid tue was HIDING his station...hate him >__>
making friends
wow, i got to know so many more people so much better this camp. i mean, i know it happens at every single camp ,an di know that i t's normal and all because camp brings out the best and the worst in everyone, but i still can't get over how close i've become to the following people in particular: my team, Rosa, being Ngoc, Michael (especially thanks to our boat experience), Nhi, Michelle, Huy, Teresa, Tam An, Thao, Bang, Ngan. and so many more. seriously, i've just made sooo many more friends. oh and especailly Martin. LOL martin =) anyways yeah. it's just so amazing how all it takes is a few days of camping and doing the most ridiculous things in front of each other to become such good friends. because you know, when the whole doan is doing stupid things, you don't have to worry, or rather, you SHOULDN"T worry about how stupid you look. for two reas ons: 1, it's Thieu Nhi guys. get over it and de al with it, all for one and one for all. 2. everyone else looks stupid too.
learning
of course we learnt heaps, like every other year, and that has really paid off in the tro choi lon. of course =)
gaining respect
i gained a LOT of respect from people at camp this year. like Loc, he..well he said to me on the first day, "You. You better win this tro choi lon for your group. I'm expecting you to." Then on saturday, he kept on saying how brilliant our group is. because we kept getting pushed back, but kept on gettin gback on top. wow you should have heard his voice when i figured out the maths one, w ith the recurring patterns and stuff. oh and how it took us onlye about 3 minutes to work out the cube one, whereas other groups were completely lost. wow man. so awesome. and we conquered station after station and all the HTs were just so impresssed because we were able to talk our way out of eve rything. just too good. and i will never forget that feeling of satisfaction when the HTs are leaning over our group while we're solving mat thus, and they say, wow you guys have got it =) and then you just feel so good about yourself and so proud of your group because you've done it. and in record time, too, i might add =) and all those HTs who said to us, "wow, this group is in the lead again. wow you guys are awesome. brilliant. just amazing"
yep
oh and that feeling of...well, of just knowing that i have a place of my own in the Xu Doan Teresa, when Nhi and Michelle and Ngoc were going around (well those are the ones i heard..dunno abuot anyone else in my group) saying things like "wow, yen's got it covered. seriously she's soo good. every time we got a mat thu she just opened it, looked at it for a second and then had worked it out!"
and then there were the DBTs and HTs talking amongst themselves.
oh and i seriously will NEVER forget when we were solving the very first mat thu, the powers one. and i had it figured out after looking at it for a minute. and then i said I GOT IT! and then Loc was standing over the group and he said "this is a GOOD key. it's a really good mat thu" and then i was like YES and then eveyrone else helped me solve the rest of it, cause we then knew how it worked. and then Loc said "yep this group's figured it out" and then somenoe asked him "What have you figured out?" and then Loc said "we've figured out that this girl is mai chi and lan chi combined but better"
and i was like
wow.
in case yo udidnt' know
that is the greatest compliment i could ever get. serioulsy. for starters mai chi is the bomb at everything. she's incredibly smart. knows her tn stuff really well. she's just like chi huong. and lan chi is the maths girl. wow them combined is like the super girl. the wonder woman. the TN guru. but to be BETTER than them COMBINED? that's more than i could ever ask for
well, it hink that elated me for the whole of camp, and most likely the rest of the tn days; knowing that my skills not only match the combined knowledge of mai chi AND lan chi, but knowing that people see my skills as better than them. well that's it. i guess i know what i should be capable of, i mean, look at lan chi. and look at mai chi. if i'm them combined w ell, who knows how high i can go. maybe even higher. hope for me.
anyway
what else is ca mp?
camp is being compeltely stupid in front of everyone
and not caring
camp is talking in mixed viet and english and knowing that eveyrone understands you
camp is talking in perfect synchronisation with someone else, in both viet and english mixed into the same sentence, with the exact same words in each la nguage. wow that was awe s ome
camp is playing games where eveyrone gets humiliated
camp is being scared by peter and his stupid bang band game
camp is the thrill you get when you've won something for your team
camp is utter humiliation
camp is suffereing, it's hy sinh
camp is singing across tents with phong's tent; belting out lame old songs until othe rpeople come out and check our tent because they thought we were out in the middle of the tent circle singing. we were that loud =)
camp is getting completely soaked on the last day by EVERYONE
camp is awesome.
i love it.
but as always, good things must come to an end.
"Man dem buong loi theo anh lua gian tan
Tinh anh em ta theo anh lua tran lan
Tim ta day con khac ghi bao nhieu moi tinh man nong
Lua dem nay tan nhung lua tim con chay am tham ngan doi
Biet ly muon phuong ta nguyen dem lua thieng rai rac khap chon
Mong mai sau ngon lua thieng chay len dot long moi nguoi."
i love that song
and i purposely stood next to those i love because of the son'gs meaning
also that song is just so..beautiful
it's perfect for what we feel at that time of camp, when everything is coming to an end
when we take a moment and think about all we've achieved, and all that we've conquered. all of the obstacles we've overcome and all those people we've made friends with. it's thinking about the love going around in that circle, and knowing that no matter what, we'll always be friends. forever. as long as there is TN in this world, there will always be that long lasting friendship that is formed wherever tn goes. we were singing that song about a half hour before van left. van came back guys =) well, because van came back, she had to leave. i guess all good things really do have to come to an end. it was an awesome week and a half with you, van. and it was an even awesomer camp.
there is so much left to say
there is so much more that i could tell you all about TN
and the emotions that everyone gets, the feeling of belonging that yo uget when you know that you're in for good
they're just so indescribable
i've only barely scraped the surface of all i have to say.
i just wanted to say
that although we were so far from home
we were all at home in our hearts
what, with each other, and God
we're complete at camp
it's just so enlightening (okay, bad word) but it's just so GOOD
i dunno how else i can sayit
but it was thanks to this camp that i realised how much more at home i am when i'm with my TN friends. no offence toanyone. but i never really realised how compeltely happy i am when with TN people, talking in two languages at once, talking ABOUT the randomest things. oh and doing the stupidest thing s in the world. and and and
sigh
i wish i could have recorded every single moment of that camp; of all the past camps, record every little emotion i feel, every thought i have about the camp, abuot the people around me. and es pecially record every single moment i have with each person. sometimes i just need to glance around the dining room to catch the eyes of all those i love. and we share that moment. and i just wish so much that i could engrave all of those moments into my heart. into my heart and into my head. never to be forgotten. but alas, we must forget. be caus e we are human. but i don't wan t those memories to go awa y too soon
....and to think that i ever thought that i was never fully happy. seriously man. camp needs to be longer. much much longer.
this year, just when we were getting used to the shit on the ground, just when the ground was getting clean from us kicking it all aw ay , just when the smell was completely gone and just when we were all settled and happy, camp ended. oh well. it'll come back next year, right? =)
for all those who didn't go: you missed out on way too much. maybe it wasn' tthe best camp, but i choose not the judge how good a camp is. why? well, because every single camp has its good points and its bad points. but yes, it was awesome. that's all yo une ed to know. and you missed out on it. longwood was awesome too. old woodhosue was aweso m e too (my group won! WOOT)
for all those who went: i'm glad i was able to share that experience with you. i'm glad that you undersatnd the lame jokes we make about camp (just like wyd people) (LOL THIEN DO AAHAHAHAHAHAHA) i'm glad you went to camp. next year for sure =)