Songs of Innocence and Experience

The CAT camp was one of the most fun times I ever had :D...

Day One

It all started on Friday. After the lengthy closing ceremony, and after about two or three hours of preparing for the trip, we were finally on board and on the way there. On the way we were watching mindless brainwashing programs meant for children - Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer... But then again, I suppose I would prefer that to Wowowee... which is even more mindless... Anyway, we got there in the late afternoon. It was already dusk when we prepared our tents, and by the time night had fallen, we were waiting for food to be delivered. While I had already eaten some dinner of my own, I would eat again, of course. That day was mostly uneventful... except for the treasure hunt!...

Well, like the math treasure hunts, we were given a string of clues that would lead to our next destinations. I'm proud to have been able to obtain a clue for our company (that is, Delta 1 + 2.) It was a very tiring experience, running all over the place, trying to get to the next destination as fast as possible... After that long and tiring experience, we had to sit down and plan our meals for the days ahead...

The night was... well.. eventful in my tent. We were... talking about "stuff"... Well, I can't really talk about it, but it really was fun... Thanks, guys...

Day Two

Because of our "talk" in the early morning, I barely slept... for only thirty minutes or so. Still, I was able to wake up at 4 am, which was what I planned. I tried to take a bath, but there was already a line of people waiting by the time I got there. After waking my friends, I was just waiting for the foodstuffs to come.

Our breakfast was champorado. While some of our platoon-mates do know how to cook, we were pretty much noobs when it came to making a fire. Ah, Lost in Blue makes it look so easy. It took us a long time to get a fire going, and an even longer time to cook our food. But it was worth the wait. The champorado tasted good. Only problem was, it was about 9 am when we started eating... So, after preparing the ingredients for lunch - tinola - we went boating.

Boating was fun. At first, I really was scared of simply boarding the boat, as though the water and the boat were incapable of supporting my weight. But I did find myself on it, and I had a lot of fun. After doing the "task", in which we were made to go around a number of buoys in the lagoon, we had some free time to go our own way. While we rowed, some of the other groups splashed us... But still it was fun...

After that, we went back to camp and tried to cook tinola. Well, it did taste good, and there was the distinct smoked taste produced by the combustion of charcoal. Problem was, due to the limited number of utensils that we had, we had to prepare two servings at a time. Not all of us were able to eat lunch... But I was able to...

Paintball was next. It was all we wanted it to be - and more! It is a shame that i got knocked out pretty early... If I had some funny or exciting story, I'd share, but I don't... I was, well, trying to sneak through an enemy... and I was shot down... But, oh well... We won! I mean... at least we think we did...

After paintball, we went back to camp.... except for me, because I foolishly left my phone at the paintball site, and had to go back all the way to the site, and back again. While the rest of the battalion (military term for batch) was out swimming, we were unable to swim at all... because the pool would already be closing by the time we got back.

So instead, I got started on cooking our dinner... which was pork steak. After having washed the pork, I was tasked to heat it, because it looked... wrong... After a long time, we finally got around to marinating it. While the others were preparing the fire, I was busy marinating it, chopping calamansi... After that, when the fire was ready, I proceeded to cook it...

First step was to remove the "sauce", which would become the "sabaw" of the pork steak. After searching for a container, we finally found one, and poured the sauce carefully into it. We took the pork and put it on some plates, because we needed to heat the wok first. Next, the pork was put back into the wok, and fried. Since the serving was very large, we had difficulty with that. Soon, however, we decided to put the sauce in. I had to carefully mix the pork and the sauce to make sure that the sauce seeped through the meat, and the pork was well-cooked (which was difficult due to the serving size.) Eventually, I'd added the chopped onion rings to the mix. I still feel that it was lacking, though - one or two onions for 2 or so kg of pork... Well, after that, we were simply stirring it, making sure that the meat was cooked. Eventually we got around to tasting it. The sauce was rich in flavor, a mixture of soy sauce and calamansi and meat... We adjusted it by adding some soy sauce and water, to make it taste better. And while all of this was being done, the others were preparing carrots for some buttered vegetables. Problem was, the corn that was bought was a cream of corn soup, and not corn kernels. So, we ended up with "buttered vegetable soup." It did taste good as well...

I'd like to thank my platoon-mates for helping me a lot when it came to cooking the food. Without them, there would be no fire to cook with. There would be no light to illuminate the "kitchen". There'd be no carrots chopped, and there wouldn't even be a buttered vegetable "soup". It really felt satisfying because we were all working together, each member contributing his share, working towards the common goal. While Lendl and I were the ones at the stove, cooking, I wouldn't be able to cook without the fire you had maintained all the while. (Flame On! - Sir Vlad) It really is hard to prepare the flame, and to maintain it all the time. And it's even harder, when smoke gets in your eyes and irritates them. I was in pain for a while because of that... But it turned okay in the end. I'm glad it tasted good... Thank you guys :D. We did well...

So, after eating, we were supposed to have a "cultural presentation". But in the end it never happened, and we just rested. So, there, we had another talk again, this time in Kim's tent, because Vien and Dandy were already sleeping in mine. It was, well, fun also, but it was a pity it didn't last as long, because we were already quite tired and sleepy as well.

After waking Kim up, we went and took a bath early, and it was a good thing there wasn't much of a line that time. I immediately proceeded to cooking afterwards. We had scrambled eggs and longganisa for breakfast, and it did taste good. We had to clear our campsite afterwards, and since we were noobs, it was hard for us to do so. We had some physical fitness training, by doing the Petron Fitness Trail thing... It was difficult for me, for obvious reasons. I had hoped to be of more use, but I am that weak...

Eventually, I had to find the utensils that Kim had borrowed. It was difficult, since they were all over the place. I hope that I didn't miss anything, otherwise he would be in trouble. By the time we had cleaned the rice container, he had already left the campsite, but it was a good thing he was still in the vicinity. While waiting for the van to carry bags, we had time to take pictures. However, Vien got hurt in the process, and got some wounds. It's a good thing he received first aid immediately. While first aid was administered to him, we went all the way to the buses and carried our stuff all the way. The journey back was quite uneventful, because I had fallen asleep for a while. It was only a matter of time until we were back in Pisay, with the sense of reality that was all too familiar. Still, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and not even reality can dampen that.

Lastly, I'd like to thank Kim and Serl, for all the times we had during this weekend. It was fun being with you guys. And I'd like to thank my tent-mates too: Angel, Dandy and Vien. It was a pleasure being with you guys...:D