Firstly kan, wanna wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Actually I didn't realise it's already 2007 until I walk into the living room this morning and just went, "Eh hari ni new year kan??!" Hahaz, slow sikit ah... Ad, ingatkan aku ni dah 2007! Last year I kept thinking it was already 2007, jangan plak this year I keep thinking it's still 2006!

Hmm... Since it's a new year, memang patut lah eh kita reflect on what we'd done last year and do as the saying goes, "buang yang keruh, ambil yang jernih". And for me, I think the event last year that most affected me and taught me a lot of lessons is KRC4. So, I shall talk about the activities we did during KRC4 and what lessons I (and maybe the other participants too) picked up. :D

Sidetrack: I just visited Kak Aishah's blog and came across the story when Rasulullah was on the brink of death. That same story flashed through my mind on the last day of KRC when all of us sat in a circle in the Dewan Perhimpunan and Cikgu Roy talked about Rasulullah for all of us to reflect on. Many started to cry then. For Rasulullah's love for us, his umat, is so deep and strong. We were on his mind even when he was on the brink of death, even when Malaikat Jibril told him that all the malaikat were waiting to welcome him. For his love for us, don't you ever forget to love him back. Not just with your mouth, but with your heart and soul and mind. Peach be upon him, our leader who leads us to the straight path to Allah s.w.t.

KRC4 was time and money well spent. Every minute of the day, you have an activity arranged for you, yet you still had fun and amidst that, you learn. And most importantly, you don't miss your prayers.

Ok! *opens log book* Eh nasib baik ade log book, it really helps to refresh our memory about the camp... Boring boring tu buka lah eh buku log.

Hmm... The official passing over of participants to the camp commandant took place on the night of the first day we reached Nur Lembah Lenggong at Seri Demak, the surau aka our temporary meeting place. Cikgu Fauzan told Ust, "Jangan takut, mereka akan selamat di tangan saya... SELAMAT DIKERJAKAN!" Sheesh! Dahlah Ust cakap KRC4 will be more challenging than previous KRCs! Since I didn't attend the first three KRC, I had no idea how to gauge his meaning of 'challenging'. Alhamdulillah, I managed to overcome all my fears, even that of darkness, and emerge a better Muslimah, a better friend, a better person lah at the end of the camp. I'm not sure yet if I can be considered 'Remaja Cemerlang' 'cause only the test of time can determine that.

Our first activity under Cikgu Fauzan and co after the passover was led by Cikgu Roy. He taught us that whenever we meet our friends, we should hug them and pray for them, "Semoga Allah memberimu rahmat, rezeki dan kebaikan yang banyak!". We did this (ok, I admit that after some time the doa was forgotten and we just hugged each other haha) to all our friends of the same gender then. Sadly though, after the camp, I only did this to Nazihah...

After that, we played an ice breaker game which required us to memorize every single participants' name including their father's name! I was the third last person, which meant that I had to memorize 30 other people's name. It wasn't an easy feat alright. Nama Melayu ni banyak yang panjang2. Dah lah tu, nama yang satu bunyi macam nama bapa seorang lagi and macam2 lah. Hai, memang memeningkan kepala! Tapi Alhamdulillah... I memorized all 30 names... Kesian Nadirah.. She was the last person so nak kena memorize 32 names. Tapi takpe, it was alright kan? 'Cause we helped her if she forgot anyone's name. It's not a test of memory that whoever gets anyone's name wrong would be punished... Anyway yesterday, Sis Nurain and I tested each other on some names hehe.

Then we had to arrange ourselves according to our age. It certainly surprised me to know that Hamzah aka Obek is a few months younger than me. I always thought like he's like this abang2 who cares for the juniors. And his perlantikan as co-faci made him seem even more abang2 to me! Lol. Anyway, the oldest and youngest participant that is Brother Mohksin and Nadirah then had to appoint the Penghulu and Penghuluwati, and they are Isa ("Jussssst 19!" tak boleh lupa ni) and Liyana. Following that, we were grouped into 5 groups and had to appoint a leader. My group members (so proud of the progress of my group up till today) include Khairul Hafidz, Zikry, myself, Irsyad, Nazihah, Fahmi and Nadirah (I think it's correctly arranged in descending order of age: 19,18,17,16,15,14,13 as of last year :D) and we appointed Nadirah as the leader eventhough she was the youngest. I think we wanted to expose her to leadership. Then, together everyone sang Raihan's 'Iman Mutiara'. Feels so united... One voice, one destiny?

That was all for the first night, that is with Cikgu Fauzan and co. As usual, when you're with friends, how exactly do you manage to sleep early?? We ended up taking group photos haha. I think at 1 plus I finally managed to sleep despite some girls still chatting in the room and the guys appointed as imam and bilal practising outside (I slept at the bottom deck of the bed right behind the door-when opened). But before long, at about 3am, I jolted awake due to the coldness and even with the lights on, I couldn't fall asleep back... I got up to increase them temperature of the air-con. I saw that it was put at 16 degrees throughout the night, no wonder I was freezing lah! Toss and turn I did, but couldn't sleep even after putting on a second layer of clothing. In the end, I read a book under my torchlight until about 4am when I went over to wake our dear Penghuluwati up. One by one she woke the girls up to bathe in the super cold freezing water said to be from the sungai. The Penghulu overslept by the way and broke his promise to wake the girls up. So much for knocking the door until it breaks down to wake us up haha. Liyana had to go next door to wake them up lah... Lesson learnt: Don't depend on others too much :P

After Subuh, which was done individually in our respective chalets instead of berjemaah at the surau, we had morning exercise with Cikgu Norsyam. Did the normal warm-up in front of the surau before going for a jog along Sungai Perak. The jog was really refreshing! Wish I can have morning jogs along a sungai everyday... After the jog, we played two games. The first one was to test our focus. Try it out! First place your right hand on your left ear and your left hand on your (I almost write 'right' lol) nose then change, place your left hand on your right ear and your right hand on your nose. Can? Repeat it a few times slowly, then try to go faster. If you don't focus, you'll end up having the wrong hands at the wrong places hehe. So FOCUS, not only in this game, but also in LIFE. The second game required us to run around with arms spread and making aeroplane sounds. So kiddish! Lol. We looked like a bunch our deprived children lol. In this game, when Hamzah shout a number, we have to run to form groups of that number. The point of this game is to make us listen for instructions, communicate and act fast. It teached me another lesson too... If you don't know or unsure of something, ASK! Don't just assume... I assumed that in this game, guys couldn't mix with girls, and I ended up being the odd one out... We then cooled down and before walking back to Seri Embun, the dining area, we did this cheer that when Cikgu shouted KPR (standing for Kem Pemantapan Remaja), we're supposed to jump in the air and shout "Cemerlang!" Woo hoo!

At the dining area we had our breakfast. Or was it morning tea? Wasn't sure lol. While we were there, we surely visited the dining area 5 times or more per day. They thought we needed the energy I guess hehe. After morning tea/breakfast, we berkumpul at the surau to do a short matching game where we're supposed to write our personal data on a piece of paper and put it in a box. When another person pick out our data, he/she was supposed to match it to the owner and get the owner's signature. Mine was so hard! I went around asking people about whose data it was but like no one knew... Even after time was up, I couldn't find the owner. When we sat back down, I asked the person beside me and it turned out that the owner was sitting right in front of me, Hanis! Lol. Hanis, susah betol nak match your data to you!

After that, we were asked to write our names on another piece of paper and put it in the box. Then we were asked to pick out another piece of paper and the name on that paper is the person whom we're supposed to observe and write nice comments to boost his/her morale throughout the camp. The game is called 'Secret Admirer'. It's something like 'Angel and Mortal' cept that when you're stuck in a camp with no shops, how're you supposed to buy/make something for your 'mortal'? The game was kinda cool, but it's like everywhere you go, you feel someone watching you and observing your every move. This helps us to jaga our actions, make sure we act appropriately at all times. Relate this concept to Allah being Maha Melihat. I'm not saying that our secret admirer is relative to God, don't get me wrong. Just the concept. It's kinda automatic that you tend to be more aware of your actions when you know people are observing you so since you know that Allah and His para malaikat are always observing you and recording down whatever good and bad that you do, shouldn't you jaga your actions at ALL times.

Aha! Time to get in groups to come up with the group name, logo and motto. Our group agreed on 'Persantren Lenggong', or PL for short as we think that we're like in an institution (persantren) obtaining knowledge at Nur Lembah Lenggong. This was one of the reasons for the kitab or book in our logo with our motto 'Teguhkan Iman, Kukuhkan Jati Diri' written in it. Behind the kitab is a palm tree with a sungai running at it's feet to signify the place we're at. Hmm... what else ar? Zikry know better since he did the explanation for our group's logo. Anyway, during this short discussion, there were some disagreements between the members. Maybe because we don't know each other yet. Haha, tak kenal maka tak cinta ke?

When we were done, we went to the dining area before moving our things from the chalet of the first night to a dorm, Mahsuri Lodge. The dorm was spacious but there wasn't any air-con, seriously it's ok. The toilet had more cubicles than the chalet toilet, which means that we can wake up later hehe. But then, the toilet quite dark... As Haza mentioned in her blog, macam gua!

After choosing our beds (I didn't have much choice 'cause I was late so I had the bed one bed away from the toilet and directly opposite the door...), Fatayaats gathered in a circle to know each other better and to promote Fityan to the new members. Hope they'd join!

At about 11, we made our way to our permanent Dewan Perhimpunan, which happened to be right across the girls' dorm hehe. At the Dewan, we sat in groups, but before we could start making our flag, we had to write our first note to the person whose name we picked from the box that morning and we took turns reading a piece of note from the box each.

PL's flag turned out really nice, personalised with a tracing of our hand and our names in them around the flag as a border. The flag indirectly brought PL together as it was a common thing shared by all 7 of us. We had to bring the flag along with us at all times so we decided to take turns to be responsible for it. By the way, we learnt 3 very important words: Please, Thank you & Sorry. Ya, you must be thinking like, "Hey come on la, everyone knows them" but, do you use them? That's the point of this camp. We don't only learn the theory, we apply it in practical life.

After lunch and solat qasar jamak Zohor with Asar, we had Base Game. Initially, it was supposed to be Flying Fox first before Base Game but well, manusia hanya merancang, Tuhan yang menentukan, there was a power failure and they couldn't operate the Flying Fox. For Base Game, we had to create a game that can be played by the groups at the same time only with whatever materials we can find there and then, which means grass, twigs, sand and whatever we have on. Hmm... the games turn out quite creative afterall, must be the effect of Singapore Education system lol. Anyway, my group came up with the game 'The Highest Tower'. The objective is just to build the highest tower using whatever things they can find; shoes, twigs, themselves etc. Hehe, we didn't have to do much to prepare for it except to set rules and regulation, but it kinda backfired 'cause it was a rather unfair and rather dangerous game. I was overlooking Sri Embun group where Faizal carried Kamarul and once Kamarul fell almost hitting his head on the ground... Oh, forgot to mention that we did the Base Game at Pulau Rahding, a small island attached to the main site by a swaying bridge.

After Base Game, we played this Soldier Game where we had to 'Move Up'-be on guard/ready, 'Fire'-shoot and 'Take Cover'-lie flat on the ground and get ourselves dirty haha. We not only played this game on land, it continued in the sungai oso! Not just any sungai, but a fast-moving one... It was kinda challenging to 'take cover' in the sungai 'cause when you squat down you're like automatically lose balance and pulled by the current. There were a few times the current made me lose balance but Nazihah and Fahmi were always there to help get me back on my feet. Thanks guys! Two times we had to go through the sungai and on the second time, Fahmi being more skin and bones than flesh was freezing. Poor guy.. What's more was we had to stay in the sungai longer this time. This experience brought PL even closer as we, especially Zikry, joked throughout the way and we had a lot of fun. Also, each member care and protect each otherand after the experience, we were like grateful to one another and you can feel the teamwork which enables us to progress forward.

At nearly 6pm, after a short break to have a drink and treat any injuries, we finally get to go on the Flying Fox! Musang Terbang lol, kiranya kitorang ni musang2 ar ni? Haha. Macam mana agaknya musang terbang eh? Anyway, I got to go on the Flying Fox for 2 times! One as per normal and the other as supergirl! Hehe... The supergirl one pain seh... Yang biasa tu pernah buat masa Sec 3 Resilience Camp at Pahang, but the supergirl one new experience, yay! Best... Memang gerek ah...

When most of us were done with the Flying Fox, we made our way once again to the dining area for dinner. It was super cold ok. Our clothes were wet and the wind was blowing on us. Nak makan pon tak senang hehe tapi takpe, mesti bersyukur! Lepas makan, we all headed back to our dorm to bathe, get into clean dry clothes and rest before solat Maghrib & Isyak and then proceeding back to Dewan.

At the Dewan, again we wrote the notes for the 'Secret Admirer' game and then we had this Penghargaan session where you give an orange or two to someone who has helped you in any way before or during the camp and you wish to express gratitude. This was to teach us to show appreciation to those who has done good to us. A stepping stone lah, in the hope that we'd continue this even after the camp. I can't believe it myself, but I actually got up and give Penghargaan to Nazihah. Normally, I would miss the chance 'cause I think twice and thrice and and... to volunteer. But at that time, I really felt that I should take the opportunity and I'm glad I did. It really made me feel good, both for expressing my gratitude and for taking an opportunity. Haha, you can say I was proud of myself for a moment then. Lesson learnt: Opportunities come and go. If you take the right opportunity at the right time, you're bound to gain a lot from it. That's my current nick on MSN anyway...

Before going to supper (told ya we visit the dining area 5 or more times per day), we played another game where we tie an inflated balloon to our leg and we're supposed to go around the room stepping on other people's balloon will defending yours. I played defense haha. I defended my balloon more than I attempted to burst others' balloon and eventhough there was a time I had to hop like what till I fell to the desk for support to run from my 'attackers', I was one of the few who managed to keep their balloon from getting burst at the end of the game. This does prove that defense is better than attack, but only in certain situations lah 'cause I know in chess for example, you can't afford to keep defending all the way. After some time, the game was stopped and Cikgu Roy explained the objectives of the game. We learnt that we should care for our own property (signified by not bursting your own balloon like some did), respect other people's property (signified by not bursting other people's balloon) and do away with the need for revenge (signified by bursting the balloon of someone who tried to burst your balloon). The last one hit me right in the heart 'cause I burst Amirah's balloon after she tried to burst mine, sorry Mirah! Marliyana, dengki eh... Haiz, lesson learnt here though... Such a simple game, yet so many lessons learnt. :)

We were released for supper and to change from slipper to shoes and when we were done, we berkumpul in front of the office to look for red round stickers aka mata ikan. But before that, we got in groups first and while waiting, my group shared doa and gave each other strength as we speculated that we'd have to go for Night Walk since we had to wear shoes. Before long, we had to look for the mata ikan. The mata ikan adds marks to our score sheet. I didn't find any mata ikan... And my group didn't find many either but it's ok. A lesson learnt here: Sometimes something is right in front of you yet you still miss it then it's not meant to be yours. Anyway, instead of going for Night Walk, we were asked to head back to the Dewan. Haha, thought Night Walk... Nevermind, sediakan payung sebelum hujan, always be prepared.

In the Dewan, we had this bombing game which teaches us to BE ALERT AT ALL TIMES, you never know what's coming your way lol. Funny game. Each time Cikgu Roy points to your group, you have to cheer regardless what he says eg. Dah habis haha. My group's cheer was "Feweet! PL!". A very nice and bersemangat cheer but nevertheless we were the first to be disqualified as we weren't alert enough so we ended up watching the rest play. I laughed so hard lah!

After having fun with the bombing game, we were showed 'dakwah' e-mails circulating on the net and then a video about how adult penguins sacrificed for their young ever since they're an egg. Then, Cikgu Roy conducted a self-reflection session about us and our parents. As we've been warned earlier, don't be too happy you might end up in tears, I ended up in tears from this session. Remembered too many events. Perasaan keinsafan really drowned me... Throughout the session I was like praying to Allah, asking Him for forgiveness and asking Him for His guidance for myself and for my parents. The feeling was like so so strong... Especially when Cikgu Roy said, "What if you go home later to find them gone?" Tears just flowed then. I was praying to Allah for that NOT to happen! I remembered the motivation camp I had when I was in Sec 4, Ramesh got us to imagine sitting in a dark room and seeing your parents one by one for the last time before they leave you never to return... I just let my tears (and hingus for that matter) streak my face. Firstly, I don't have tissue (just when I need it, I don't have it ish!). Secondly, I care more about the matter at hand than how I look (which I suppose was pretty disgusting I dunno). Thirdly, I know once I start crying it's hard to stop so why bother to try and stop? :'( Luckily, they'd switched off the lights and the only source of light comes from the screen and from the candle in the middle of the room so it was pretty dark. Before returning to dorm, we sang another song about father while crying and holding on to each other.

Back at the dorm, we couldn't go to sleep yet as we had to write in our log book. Macam homework seh... Guess what? I slept at nearly 3am in the morning. I was the last to sleep so I had to switch off the lights, ish. Eventhough I had been awake for 24hours or more, I couldn't fall asleep. Haiz...

That's for 21st and 22nd Dec at Nur Lembah Lenggong, Grik, Perak, Malaysia... As for 23rd, I shall write about it another day aitez. More events, and more lessons learnt. :)