Survivor week; at its Peak

      Thats what they call it here; Survivor week.  For good reason.  I didn't understand it at first, If you recall.  I was typing up my blog just before getting on the bus and looking forward to just being on the beach, tanning, surfing, and maybe late night fires during the sunset.  Yyyyaaaaa... About that... This was probably one of the hardest weeks I've had in a LONG time.
       We get to take a ferry there, which is fun in itself.  26 of us in a little ferry for 45 minutes with our bus.  That's a party all in itself.  Then, its go time, getting tents up, starting to cook, setting up the lecture space, and generally setting up camp.  Soon its evening, and we're all pretty awake still as its excited to be camping 100 feet from the beach, but the staff suggest we sleep, so we try.  Then, middle of the night, about 1am, I hear my school leader (Michael) say in my ear
     "You have 2 minutes to get dressed and be outside, wear shoes."
     Half asleep, I find my shoes and socks, but on the shirt I wore yesterday, and think, 'we're probably just going for a midnight run on the beach! fun!'  Boy... was I wrong.
        "Follow me" says Hannah, who becomes our leader for the rest of the evening.  With me is my India team, all of us half asleep and confused.
"You will be timed, and you will be scored against the other teams, bring your A game" yells Hannah, at this point, we're on a full out sprit.  We quickly come up to a swam.  Cold, deep, wildlife all around, tall grass, and only one flash light.
   "You will have a few obstacles to complete as a team, this is the first"
   She points to some ropes tied between trees, we had to get the team through those ropes without touching anything.  The holes were small, so small I couldn't hardly fit into them.  It was like trying to put a pizza into a oven, ever so carefully, to not burn yourself.  But instead of a pizza, we lifted each person up and through the small openings, every time we touched a rope, we had to start over again.  There's 7 people on my team.  It took up an hour and a half.
      After many attempts and fails, we finished!
      "Yes! Back to sleep!"   I look at my watch and its 3am, just enough time to shower and sleep before morning lecture at 7:30.
    "Follow me."  says Hannah again. "You now have to dive completely into the water, under the ropes, touch the tree as fast as you can."  
     Gross
 
    The night went on like this, with many different challenges, including, but not limited to; Eating onions and peanut butter, walking on a tarp for 30 feet without every touching the sand, eating a bag of raw fish (bait), balancing on a 2x4 in a line and switching the team from one side to the other, drinking 2 liters of carbonated water, treading through the swap, 70 push-ups each, running a mile, and generally trying to push us to our limits.

     8am rolls around.

"Its time to check for ticks, and leeches" Says Hannah.  We celebrate, knowing its over.  But as it sinks in, we realize, this was only the first night...



The week was really good though, as a team we were forced into conflict and tough situations so that we would know how to deal with these in times of need.  I don't have pictures of much of what we did, and the hardships we went through, but I will have some of the fun that we had!  And I can't even begin to explain how amazing the beach was.  So clear you could actually see your feet when standing chest deep in the water.

Ya, I was sitting on a rock, then a wave got me..

















This is my friend Julia... She's from Canada and going to Inda with me!