Ecotripness

Yeah, I'm finally home, regardless of the fact that it took me four days more than other non-biology students, I don't regret going to the EcoTrip one bit. Well, I was skeptical about how 'fun' it could be at first, but hey, I had fun. Lots of it. Not all delivered in one nice package, as it came with a lot of work, sweat, blood and angst too, but I guess on the whole I there's more good things to say about it than bad.
'Group 3.'

Upon arrival at the hotel in Teluk Rubiah, the first thing we had to do was set up the secretariat- a meeting room which was stinky enough at first, and eventually we helped it along by making it smell distinctively of dead fish. And then my group (Group 3, along with Nat and Feera) had to go set up crab pitfall traps by the shoreline. I won't go into technicalities, but to sum it up, it involves plastic buckets, dead fish, and digging. Getting my hands dirty was fine, but the best part of the day, and the whole trip, actually, was the beach. Sure, it wasn't anything that would appear in a Mild Seven advertisement, but the sand was white, and the feeling of walking along the line with water rising up to touch your feet every few seconds... (sigh)

'Nat: We need someone to cut up the fish to use as bait for the crab traps.
Crowd: Oh no! Bal grabbed the knife!!'


Crabs weren't all that the Ecotrip was about, though. We also had fishing and (cringe) bugs. Needless to say, the parts involving bugs weren't my favorite bits, but I made myself useful by being the book referencer why the others did the touching and carrying of the insects. (Nothing particulary huge appeared, though interestingly, we found a moth that was supposed to be native to Australia, and a cricket that was supposed to be from Europe. Don't ask how. I'm at a loss trying to explain it too).

The original sign accompanying this poor scorpion was 'Do not open unless you want to die'. I quickly fixed that. Too bad one of the teachers removed it for fear of someone being stupid enough to actually do it.

Ah, and did I mention fishing? Sure I'm not the kind to fish, and apart from fishing in Dark Cloud 2, I used to think that fishing is a stupid hobby. You put a worm on a hook, and fall asleep waiting for something to happen. Well, I was the first man from college to catch something XD. Now isn't that something? Beginner's luck, I guess, but that didn't make it any less thrilling. Wasn't huge per say, but oh well.

This was taken at night during the fishing stint. Yes, my torchlight is purple. James Sunderland would be ashamed of me.

Feera was a puzzle throughout the first day or so. She seemed...distant, and cold. Not sure whether it was the aftermath of the verbal match I had with her the day before we left, or whether she was just bitter and sad that Ben left. I don't know, it was quite unsettling at first. Eventually she got over whatever it was, and things got better.

While experiments were the primary concern for the whole trip, I was more worried about the last night- the closing ceremony for which I had to be the MC, and for the performance the Hicom had to put that night. Sure, I like talking, but protocol has never been my strongest suit, and I prefer speaking publicly when I'm attacking someone, and with Dr. Ikmal as one of the attendance, I couldn't have that now, right? (Embarassingly, when I said my salutations, I accidentally said 'Dr. IQBAL Md. Said' instead of Dr Ikmal. I corrected it mid-sentence with an 'er...I mean...', causing the room to burst into laughter. Formality got shot to hell from that point onwards.) To make the night better though, during the lucky draw, I got an MPH Voucher- much to the dislike of the audience. See, five numbers were drawn, three of which were people who were sitting at the table facing the audience- Mine, Noreen's, Ibrahim's. Rather fishy, ain't it? But I swear that the coconut from which the numbers were drawn weren't rigged. No really.

'Ladies and gentlemen, I swear that the coconut wasn't rigged!- Me and Noreen holding up the mock prizes. Have to claim those bloody vouchers when I get back to college.'

But oh well, as long as I get at voucher to spend on books XD, I don't care what they all said.

The night ended with a bang- a song from the entire Hicom. The song was 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', and Oz, me and Hilfi were lead vocals. (annoyingly, people thought that we were lip-synching) Noreen, Feera and the rest danced while our King and Queen of the Jungle (awards to the most active participants) were forced to join in.

This was taken before the actual performance, but this is the place where we sang/danced from- The Eagle's Nest.

Well, it wasn't exactly the rockstar debut I was hoping for, but tis' a start, mayhap.

And the night didn't end there, even when the ceremony was over. Noreen, Feera, Aisyah, Hannah and me went out to this gazebo/hut by the sea and we sang our lungs out. 'Wonderwall' was the only thing we sang properly. When we did 'Island In The Sun', there were a lot of lines we lost, which we had to fill with 'da da da da da's. Feera's 'Wonderwall' was last night, but really, Noreen was awesome. 'Here Is Gone', 'High', and even later, when Oz and Shahrin joined us, to which Noreen, me, Shahrin and Oz sang 'Tribute', she played it so well! 'Tribute' is a fun song to sing with a group of people. Later we hung out at the Eagle's Nest (the local eating place), playing Poker and singing Disney songs all night.

(sigh) Too bad its over. When else will we get the opportunity to be together at a beachside resort like this?

XD Next sem break perhaps? We'll all just wait and see...

'Mara scholars are vain. It's a well known fact. From top left: Me, Al, Aisyah, Noreen, Shahrin. From bottom left: Yaya, Farah, Dina, Wawan, Momad'



Now the holidays have REALLY started for me. Farah, Noreen, Feera, Aisyah, Hannah, Shahrin, Oz, peeps- return in one piece, ya hear! ^^


-------------------------
RANDOM BANTER:

Bal: Guess what I am going to say.
Noreen: THE FAERIE QUEENE!
Bal: AY! BY EDMUND SPENCER!
Noreen: AY BY EDMUND SPENCER! TIS TRUE!
Bal: (nods vigorously) TIS TRUE! THAT I KNOW IT! THE FAERIE QUEENE!
Noreen: AHACK! BY EDMUND SPENCER!
Bal: WHAT THOU ART SAYING IS TRUE! THE FAERIE QUEENE IS BY EDMUND SPENCER!

(and this goes on for hours)