'How did Jonah characterize God?' was one one of the questions in the paper that stumped me and my team. We were going through an intense competition- the Character Quest. The quest was being held at Presbyterian High School."You have 15 minutes left..." the Sir in charge announced. Racking our brains, we sought out the answers for the difficult questions. Finally, at long last, we scribbled down the last answer just as the time allocated was up.
For the past few month, we had been training long and hard for this national competition organised by the Singapore Boys Brigade. My team, as well as a few others were representing our company. It certainly was a golden opportunity as well as a privilege. There were 64 other companies taking part in this competition, and over a hundred teams of four boys.
The first segmented, being a written test, was more of a test of our bible knowledge of three bible characters- Abraham, Gideon and Jonah. The second section of the quest is more physically demanding. In two hours, we are to go to different stations located all around the school compound, play the game, and collect as many points as possible. I would like to elaborate more on this. Let me tell you about my experience...
"three...two...one..." the Sir in charge sounded a horn, and all hell broke loose. 164 different teams raced away in different directions, putting their navigation skills to good use.
Looking at our maps, and running at the same time, we carried out our strategy. "Head for the stairs, and go to the third level, on the double!" Our team leader, Sergeant Eugene whispered to us in a low tone. Racing away, we reached our first station- "Minecraft". The aim of this game was to use lego bricks to build a structure similar to the building shown in a photograph. The more buildings we created within five minutes, the more points we got. Racing away, we worked as a team, thus swiftly accomplishing the task, and earning ourselves 40 points.
Spurred on by our first success, we raced on to a few other different stations. There were a few which required modern technology(iPad), like Scrabble, and Marble shoot. Two of my favorite stations were from the air and sea dimensions. The first was a station where we had to fold paper airplanes and throw them through hoops held by fellow team members. I was appointed 'pilot' of the plane. With Adrenaline coursing through my bloodstream, I threw the classic plane. It flew straight and true. Gliding peacefully through the calm air, it flew through all three hoops, before coming to a smooth landing.
The second station(water dimension) was something like baseball, but instead of a hard ball, we had water bombs. This was far more tricky, as water bombs are delicate and burst easily when hit. The aim of the game was to throw water bombs into plastic bags, which were held by two catchers. There was a batter, and the water bombs thrown had to come into contact with the bat, before landing in the large plastic bag. Eugene and Billy, another team member were both accurate throwers, and at the start, we managed to get a few water bombs in the bin. However, when it was mine and Yao Wei's turn, the shots began to splatter our team members with water instead(every one had to have a try at pitching, catching and batting). As we could retry the station, we did so. Thankfully we fared better, and as such gained a decent number of points.
The finale, which as an arena game was extremely fun as well. We decided to challenge another team from the same company as ours to human table soccer. This game worked exactly the same as table soccer, except that humans(we) represented the figurines. I played the defender, and as such had to continuously prevent the ball from entering the goal. For some unknown reason, I did numerous headers, and barely used my legs! Yao Wei made a joke in mirth"Caleb uses his head a lot!"
Well, although we did not win, I still enjoyed my self a lot. I would certainly like to join CQ again next year!
