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PYP 4 field trip to Panchgani

Has anybody heard about the PYP4 field trip? If not, then let me tell you about it. We enjoyed adventure sports and a visit to NASA. Someone fell 8 times, and one of our classmates got a new nickname. Read more to find out all about it.

Day 1 – 14 February, 2018

We left MBIS at 8:45 am on the 16th February and we reached Panchgani around 12 noon. Everybody was excited. First we had a delicious lunch, then we were showed to our tents. We rested, settled in and changed out of our uniforms.

About one hour later the camp instructors divided us into four groups. I was in group 4. Our first activity was to come up with a group name, slogan, and a cheerleading dance. After we had showed it to our class the instructors told us to make a flag and find the materials to do so. Everybody thought we had to find the materials in nature but the instructors were around to actually give us cloth, paint and coloured pencils. We finished in 15 minutes and then searched for a stick to attach our flag to.

After we completed the flag creation groups 1 and 2 did the Burma Bridge. While those groups did the Burma Bridge, groups 3 and 4 did laddering. What is laddering? Laddering is to climb up a ladder suspended from a tree. When you have reached the top, the instructor told us to sing a song and as we sang a song, the instructor released the rope that was holding us up, we fell all the way to the ground. Except the instructor held on the rope so we didn’t hit the ground. It was scary for some classmates, but not me because I have done it before.

At dinner time they said we had to make our own food and it was a Jungle Cooking Competition. My group cooked a pasta dish with tomato sauce. The only problem was that we were up against Tommaso and his team, Tommaso is Italian and we were scared that we would lose. A miracle occurred and we beat his team. Our designers, Aamos and Pablo, spoiled the dish by putting too many plants around our plate, thus wasting precious leaves and flowers from Mother Nature.

That night when we went to our tents we noticed that our beds were as hard as rocks, but we managed to sleep.

 Day 2 – 15 February, 2018

On the second day Dongwhi who was in my tent woke us up at 6:00 am but that was fine even though we had to wake up at 6:30 am. For breakfast I had pancakes and eggs. The twist was that I opened my hard boiled eggs with my head by smashing it on my head and it did not hurt. Some people thought it was funny so they took photos of me and Donghwi with their cameras.

After we ate breakfast the instructors made an announcement that we were going rappelling and caving today. Caving was cool because when we first got closer to the cave we saw panther poop from the early hours of the day. The instructor found it and explained it to us. Caving included entering a cave and lots of climbing. It was not hard for me because I have done a lot of climbing before.

Next we went rappelling or abseiling. Rappelling basically means that you are suspended by a strong rope and climb down a mountain vertically. Safety precautions were a belt and a harness. Everybody did it except one or two students  who were afraid of heights – we learnt to respect each person’s decision. To me it was a new experience and I would like to do it again.

When we had completed the adventure activities we were tired trekked back to the camp from the mountains.Upon our return to camp, we had lunch and rested inside the tent. We were not allowed to run around outside because it was too warm. In my groups some of us took naps.

The afternoon activity was a trip to the NASA Observatory where we saw pictures of the different space missions. One of the instructors helped us build a rocket which we launched by means of a foot pump. Our rocket was named Encolitus B14 after a movie called Encolitus. After that another instructor showed us how to make a telescope so we could make one ourselves. They also showed us the history of telescopes and the different types of telescopes. Do you know how Galliano was blind? We learned that. Galliano was blinded while observing different planets because he looked at the sun and the sun blinded him because it burnt his eyes. The morale of this it do not point a telescope to the sun! We also launched bottle rockets using tablets and water. We tasted dehydrated food and built puzzles wearing gloves to imagine some of the difficulties astronauts may experience.

Back at the camp we had cafeteria dinner and an exciting 45 minutes night trek followed. The instructors took us down into the mountains where we saw some bats and creatures that only come out at night.The day concluded with a campfire and roasted marshmallows. Those were yummy because they were soft and mushy.

It was a good day. I fell asleep really quickly.

Day 3 – 16 February, 2018

It was sadly the last day. Most of us woke up at six again. Dongwhi was our alarm clock. I wanted to sleep more but no, we could not do that.

After breakfast the camp instructor had one last activity. It was an obstacle course. If you have ever seen the show American Ninja Warrior, it was basically that. It was outside on brown soil. Some of the obstacles caused us to get dirty where we had to crawl under bars and under those bars was the soil. One of the obstacles that I loved the most was where you had to jump into shallow water to clean yourself off. Mostly everybody’s clothes was muddy so we all had to take a shower after before changing into our school uniform, pack our bags and rest awhile before we had to go. We had a delicious lunch and did some shopping at Mapros and that concluded our field trip.

You have probably been waiting for me to share our pranks, but these will remain our secrets and make me smile when I think back on our experiences!

By Lucas Nielsen

Tuesday, 20 February, 2018

 

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