Summer Camp EIRE 08: An Experience

take a deep breath; this is going to be a long one with unnecessary details all over it.

i just got back from camping out for 5 days; despite the sunburned and peeling face and lips, sore legs and a throbbing toe, i am feeling amazingly swell :)

it was my first time in Northern Ireland (it's part of the UK, thus is a separate entity from the Republic of Ireland), so i was pretty excited. i was Kak Sya's co-driver so i stayed awake for the most of the approximately 5 hour drive. Cork is waaayy down south making the journey quite a long one, but with drivers like Kak Sya and Kak Di (kitorang convoy dua kereta), we managed to reach there quite early biiznillah. as we were entering the north, its difference from the south became more and more apparent; especially the English-like houses and the yellow car plate numbers. it felt really foreign to me.

the location is Tollymore Forest Park, County Down, Northern Ireland. when we finally reached there and stopped at the ranger's booth, we found out that despite being furthest from the place, we were the very first ones to reach there. the camping site was this huuuugggeee field surrounded by tall trees and mountains; the place is gorgeous. after checking out the nearby forests and figuring out some glitches, we began setting up the tents, which is an addictive task, i must say.





after we got that one done and over with, we decided to venture through the forest to take a peek at the river. i really, really, like the forests there, they're very pretty. it's a different kind of pretty from tropical forests though. here, have a look.





i can babble on forever if i am to write about what happened during those 5 days, but here are the highlights;

The Tent
they arranged the participants according to our tempat asal so that we can get to know each other and maybe meet up during ur summer break, so naturally, my khemah is the Pantai Timur one with three Kelantanese ladies; me, Kak Ina and Tihah, one Pahang...ian (?); Kak Faizah, and one nomad member; Kak Di, orang Pantai Timur yang universal (long story). we all got along really well especially me and Tihah (well, we're technically friends since our Naim years), so that contributed a LOT in me having a fantastic time over there :)


Pengisian Dikala Hujan
seperti yang diramalkan oleh Yahoo! Weather, dua daripada lima hari tu hujan..since agak impossible untuk program dihentikan terus everytime it rains (forgive the sudden rojakness), sessi pengisian diteruskan jugak walaupun hujan masa tu agak lebat..tapi takdela buat kat tanah lapang, it was held in the middle of the forest untuk mengurangkan siket kebasahan yang terjadi~ and masyaAllah, masa tu Atiq kagum sangat-sangat-SANGAT. why, you may ask? because NOBODY complained, and NOBODY ponteng or stayed back in the tent, walaupun takde orang paksa pun untuk keluar dengar pengisian tu. sejuk sungguh hati berada dikalangan orang-orang yang soleh. semua orang redha je stokin lencun seluar lencun..bila dah tak tahan duduk sebab basah, ada yang berdiri...tapi yang penting, nobody complained; i really can't get over that fact. it's just amazing.

Gadget-making
i've only camped out once before, so when the camp commander mentioned there we're going into the forest to collect some wood to make gadgets, i had no idea what she meant by 'gadgets'. later on, i found out that 'gadgets' = ampaian, tempat letak pinggan, meja, etc. oh, and also a panji for each kabilah.




War Game

for this activity, the small groups are mashed up into two big groups according to the arrangement of the tents. our group won both pre-war immunities; extra water balloons and flour. we wondered for a while of whether we should use the flour to track our paths back to our base once we found the opponent's base (it was pitch black in the forest, we played from around 11.30pm to 2.45am), but we decided against it in fear of the opponents using it to track our base. atiq kena jadi attacker. rasa takut jugak masa tu. bukan takut hantu atau takut gelap atau takut hutan (i would have if this took place in Malaysia), tapi takut nak perang. pantang nampak flashlight sikit, cuak musuh datang. terfikir betapa gerunnya pejuang-pejuang yang betul-betul diuji Allah dengan jihad pedang. fuhh. takot.

kelakar jugak in a way sebab kitorang takut nak guna flashlight takut team lawan nampak, tapi kitorang kena guna jugak sebab tak nampak jalan. hasilnye, beberapa kali jugak la suluh2 kat depan, ada semak depan mata hehe. naseb baik tak terlanggau. ade sekali tu siap kaki tengah langkah pokok yang sangat besar pastu takleh gerak sebab sekeliling penuh dengan dahan haha. adoiila. lepas tu ada sekali tu, empat orang musuh ade nyorok kat pokok depan mate kitorang, tapi by the third suluhan baru kitorang betul2 sure ade orang kat situ. lepas tu, diorang dengan semangatnye jerit "serang!! serang!!", atiq ngan Kak Az punye la berdebar lari nyorok belakang pokok tapi takde pon diorang baling belon keke. adeyh. pastu tibe2 diam and bile kitorang check check, dah ghaib. suluh sekeliling, tak nampak pun semak yang penyek or any other track yang diorang tinggal. by that time, atiq dah start cuak; betul ke diorang yang atiq nampak tadi. huhu. rupenye diorang jatuh longkang, patutlerr tak nampak. ingatkan pakai magic apelar. lulz.

yang paling kelakar sekali, atiq dengan Kak Az sesat sampai terkeluar hutan and kena patah balik ikut padang untuk masuk balik ke warzone, adeyh. and then mase kitorang tengah try nak carik balik base kitorang, kitorang terjumpe base diorang! pastu Kak Aisyah dengan ganasnye peluk atiq, seret ke pokok and belasah atiq dengan sleeping bag yang ade satu belon air yang takmo pecah, hohoho. ganas jugak Kak Aisyah ni. adeyh. sampai atiq jerit 'dah dah, atiq lencun dah ni' baru die stop. aigoo. the game ended when Kak Sya blowed the whistle twice. nobody won because we both had too many defenders, and both sides' attackers 'died' early in the game.

Hiking/Mountaineering (in which Atiq recited The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost way too many times than is necessary)

for this one, the Pantai Timur group digabungkan dengan group Perak, and we dubbed ourselves 'Karak'.

this was the major one for me. i had NEVER been so close to the mountains apart from when i was on the highways. i was looking forward to this one the most and Alhamdulillah, i survived it. the first ever mountain i conquered; Slieve Donard, 849 m (2,786 ft), the highest peak in Northern Ireland.


the journey from Tollymore to the kaki bukit itself was already challenging, partly because it's rocky and partly because one of my toes hurt from having a metal chair bang on it the night before, so i can't land my right feet properly. we were walking along this gorgeous stream all that while, and the view was spectacular - only at that time i couldn't find my camera amidst all the other things in my bag, so i took pictures using Kak Di's camera instead. we drank water from the stream and it was so fresh, it's the first time i've ever (deliberately) drank directly from a stream. it was amazing. all the while i was reminded of one of our ayat hafazans,

Rabbana Ma Khalaqta Haza Batila,
Ya Tuhan kami, tidaklah Engkau ciptakan semua ini sia-sia,

i think untuk orang-orang yang dah biasa mountaineering, the mountain wouldn't have been so hard to climb. but for me, a first timer and a very gayat person, it was quite challenging. at one point during the ascend, everybody was pointing at the gorgeous view below and when i looked, BAM. terus dizzy. i called Kak Aimi who was just a few steps above me to help me, and she came back down and climbed by my side, blocking the view from me. and then Kak Ina took over, and she held my hands and slowed her pace to help me. terharu sangat-sangat masa tu, sangat terasa keikhlasan semua orang...subhanallah...kagum dengan kesolehah-an sisters.

i was SO overwhelmed when i reached the top that i cried and hugged Kak Yan and Mas when i was up there. i don't exactly know why...i was just...speechless. Kagum dan gerun melihat kegagahan gunung-ganang yang akan hancur menjadi debu-debu berterbangan di akhirat nanti...subhanallah. We took our time lepaking on the peak on by the time we finally got up for the descend, it was like, 5.30pm. thank God for Summer. it's bright up until 9.30pm.


we have a member in the group that has an injured leg (but she could still walk), so we had to slow our pace down so she won't be left behind and so that she can have time to rest as well. i didn't mind the situation at all, i was quite happy to enjoy the scenery even longer. the only thing that worried me, and i believe i speak for everyone in the group too, is: nightfall. masa ni pun atiq sangat kagum dengan bi'ah solehah yang wujud. Ya Allah...takde orang moody or cranky langsung! semua orang sangat sabar dan supportive of the sister walaupun by the time kitorang sampai ke Newcastle town, the amount of time that has passed since we first started out was a startling 13 hours!

The End
the program was supposed to end on the 8th, but my flight is on the 9th and i haven't packed anything yet. so I had to say goodbye and leave early; it was heartbreaking to leave before everything was over...i really wanted to stay :(


All in all it was an experience like no other...hopefully tahun depan ade lagi! it's a breath of fresh air from the normal pengisian-dalam-dewan programs (not that i don't like those ones). i might write about random peristiwa-s during the camp later on when i had the time...as for now, i have to go finish packing my stuff!

Malaysia, i'm coming home!