CAMP SERIES: EPISODE 11

Lesson learnt; rinse and never repeat.

Who else went through this in boarding school? You'll get punished because you're waiting for your bestie to finish dressing up so you both can leave the hostel together. Your bestie is always late but the last time you ran out of the hostel and left her when the final bell for the next activity rang, she didn't talk to you for a week and that was the most miserable week of your life because she effortlessly recruited your other mutual friends to the beef when she told them the story. After junior class though, I left that senseless behaviour for people who had the strength. 

   While on camp, it was easy to lose track of time especially during that break between lunch and siesta. People used the time to eat, gist, sleep, watch movies, wash their clothes and do a lot of other things because the break usually lasted for up to 2 hours. One minute you'll be gisting and laughing then somehow after you've just finished spreading your clothes out to dry and are about to fetch water, you'll realise that you have just about 15 minutes left before the beagle goes for evening activities. That's when you'll start struggling to remember where you left your toothbrush and toothpaste, why you didn't go to eat at maami market before coming back to the hostel or why you didn't give the yam and stew they prepared in the kitchen for dinner a chance. In all these, you'll be wishing your clothes can magically dry up so you can just take them inside with you to avoid stories when you get back. 

I know you went to a boarding school, but that was a long time ago and though a good start experience, cannot be compared to the race you'll have to do on camp. 

I'm really glad that I wasn't in this category, but God bless you that in all this chaos, you have this friend who's always relying on you to wake her up when it's almost time, it'll be a bigger ‘blessing’ if she's as slow as a snail but always wants you to wait for her. 

My bunkmate and corner mates were sweethearts; we had our corner sponge for dishes, another for shoes and we even shared bath bowls and buckets sometimes. We would often wake each other up, but luckily, we were all very aware that albeit a sweet corner-love relationship, it could only go as far as it got, I don't know if you understand.

I had a friend in the adjourning room, but when I saw her still sleeping one day when I was rushing to the bathroom in the last 10 minutes before the beagle, I knew the waiting love wasn't one I could start and end successfully, and by the way, she had sweethearts in her hostel too who were always sharing her bread spread with us. 

I got in trouble so much in boarding school for waiting for my friends. I always wanted to have people around me, so I did whatever to make sure I had friends. Once beaten twice shy. Besides, boarding school punishments for late coming were 3 or 4 strokes of cane, crawling, e.t.c, but camp punishments by FEMALE SOLDIERS were deeper. A babe like me washing the general toilet? Or doing sit-ups? And at my big age? God forbid. 

Time wastes for nobody, neither does Sewe.