But I'm not doing that (obviously). I'm back home at the base.
Here is my Survivor post.
On Wednesday afternoon, all 32 of us students, and 4 of the Madison staff who were on tribes with us, as well as some staff and students from another Wisconsin DTS that joined us for the week, climbed aboard our school bus and headed out on our adventure. Before we left, though, we gathered in our "tribes" (we had 4 tribes) and received our passports, which contained our identity for the week. I was from India, and my name was Marshmallow Roast (very creative! It was definitely the funniest name, along with a guy named Brad Gardner, whose name was Broccoli Gardner). I was born on May 17, 2014. Yes, I was 4 and a half months old :P
We drove for about four hours. It was dark by the time we neared our destination. And then the bus stopped. In the middle of the road, surrounded by dark woods. Someone came onto the bus.
She was wearing full camo and had a camo handkerchief around her face. She ordered us all to show our passports. And she yelled at certain people to get off the bus. And we left them there, alone at the side of the road (the "government official" stayed on the bus with us). We stopped another 5 minutes down the road and another two tribes had to exit the bus. I was lucky and got to ride the bus for the longest... my tribe got kicked off on the third and last stop. There we stood, in the dark, on the side of the road. Surrounded by forest. And all we had was each other (thankfully a few people had their flashlights on them) and an envelop with a map showing where our luggage was.
We walked, jogged, walked, jogged, and finally got to the pile of luggage. There, in the dark still, we had to find our backpacks (we were given a very specific and limited packing list and each person had to fit it into a backpack) and sleeping bags. Eventually, we ended up at "customs".
A government official made us standing in a line and one by one, she looked at our passports and asked us our information. A couple of the guys got their birthday wrong, and so they were taken aside to be interrogated. After awhile, we all entered a large room where the customs lines were. I entered the shortest line, and when I arrived at the front, the "officer" told me that I was in the wrong line. She didn't tell me which line was the right one for me, but I chose the next shortest line. Which luckily turned out to be the right one!
While I was standing in line, I was able to observe the corrupt government at work with the other students and the staff who were on the tribes. The corrupt government did not smile or treat anyone well. They interrogated many people, just took their stuff for no reason, and made them do ridiculous things. For example, the staff member on my tribe, Maya, had the last name of "Muchacha" on her passport, so they made her "dance the muchacha". And laughed at her. They made one tribe go down on their hands and knees and meow like cats to a melody, wagging their "tails". They made one line dance the chicken dance, and my line had to do jumping jacks. While the stuff that they made people do were fun and ridiculous, the fact is that in real life, many people are not treated as equal humans.
Eventually I got to the front of the line. The official working there dumped all my stuff out, confiscated my brush and toothpaste (the only toiletries that we had been permitted to pack) and then threw my stuff on the floor and told me to hurry up and put it back in my bag.
While she was going through my stuff, one of the staff who I hang out with a lot, Kenzie, came over. I knew she planned on giving me a hard time, because... well, I'm me.... Anyway. So she picked up my passport and immediately lost it. She had to leave the room because she was laughing so hard. She even cried :P And everyone kept commenting on my age.... four and a half months. Apparently I'm some sort of prodigy, considering I can talk and walk!
So eventually my whole tribe got through customs and we were lead through the dark and mud into the depths of the woods. Our "campsite" was quite literally a small patch in between trees. Covered in brush that we had to cut down. We were provided with two tarps, a pack of matches, a pot, bowls, and forks, a knife, duct tape, and bug spray. Oh, and some rice and beans for our supper/breakfast/lunch. And about four squares of toilet paper.
That first night was interesting. We were actually quite warm, because we were all squished up next to each other. Twelve people on a tarp, None of us got much sleep. Especially after a large frog jumped on someone's face and then crawled into their sleeping bag with them... lol
In the morning, we cooked up our rice and beans and at some breakfast. Then, at the sound of the airhorn, we had to gather at the "government circle", where they made us do jumping jacks, push-ups (you should be impressed... I actually managed to do 10 push-ups!), and a dance off. After, the government piled into their jeep and made us line up single file behind it. "Keep up with us!" they said, and then drove off. We had to run to keep up. And meanwhile, they kept yelling at us to tell them how wonderful they are, and how much we love the government.
I did WAY too much running over the past couple days....
We had class in the morning, with our amazing speaker Troy Sherman. He taught us so much! I'll talk about that at another time. After class, we went back to our sites for lunch (my tribe didn't eat anything) and then we played some games. After the games, the government went back to being corrupt and gave us our food rations. And some more toilet paper, which was lovely!
I got my rice and beans, and as I was walking past Kenzie's station at the rice (I had gotten mine before she joined her partner), she laughed and talked to me.
"You're supposed to be corrupt!" I reminded her. My mistake.
She decided to be corrupt. She took my food and gave it all to someone else, and then gave me about a mouthful of rice for my rations for the next 24 hours.
Good thing I had a tribe of 11 others who got plenty! And besides, I don't blame her. I would have had SO much fun being the corrupt government!
We went back to our sites for dinner, and this was when things went OFF schedule. The government came to our site to harass us. We were talking to them when our leader, Maya, had an asthma attack. She couldn't breathe. It was such a God-thing that Gabe and Kayli were there (they were the government) because we wouldn't have known what to do. Gabe stayed with Maya while Kayli ran for the jeep. Maya didn't want to leave us, insisting she was ok once she used her inhaler. But we all knew she wasn't okay. And she ended up in the hospital, so.... Don't worry, she's alright now. She rested and is still pretty weak, but she is in good spirits!
About this time, it started to rain. And so our guys put up our second tarp over our heads into a nice shelter. JUST as they finished, the government came back. And told us that the forecast was for rain and strong winds, so it wasn't safe to stay outside all night. And we had pack up EVERYTHING and go back to the classroom base. Which we did. We and all our stuff were soaked and cold by the time we got there. Most everyone else had already arrived... accept for half of one tribe.
Those five were lost in the woods for an hour and a half. In the dark and rain. They were pretty traumatized!
The corrupt government nicely gave us chilli and found us indoor places to sleep. My tribe ended up in a garage, cold with a cement floor, but hey, we had a roof over our heads! I was actually colder that second night than the first, because a) we were not all snuggled together, and b) my sleeping bag was a bit damp.
On Friday morning, Kevin, our DTS director, told us that we would finish up the day (class and an Amazing Race game) and then head for home once our bus driver arrived... he had to come from Madison and couldn't leave there until about 5.
After all our activities were over and we were just hanging out waiting to go home, one of the guys picked up a guitar. And we ended up with a spontaneous worship session that lasted for about an hour and a half. It was so nice! We normally worship every morning, and I've missed it!
The bus driver finally arrived at about 10, and we headed for home. We got back to the base at 2 in the morning. And about half the girls immediately showered. I did NOT... I like sleep. So I got up at 8:45 (I was the first one up) and showered.
So that was my Survivor experience! It was fun and I learned a lot, and it was pretty intense at times (like customs and spending the night out in open. With half a million mosquitoes. Seriously, I've never seen that many in my life). I do wish I had been able to experience real Survivor though. On Thursday night, we were supposed to play a game of Capture the Flag, during which one girl from each tribe would be kidnapped and trafficked. On Friday night, our sites were going to be raided at 2 or 3 in the morning, complete with fireworks, and we would have been forced to walk through a "mine field" and enter a "refugee camp". And then build a bridge in the morning. It would really have been an amazing learning experience!
Was Survivor a complete fail because we didn't actually get to do most of the Survivor things? No. We still learned what it is like to be treated like dirt. We learned what it is like to sleep outside in the cold and dirt, with animals and bugs. We learned what it is like to have limited food. And we learned to work together as a team.
This was my Survivor passport. Must be carried at all times.
This is Kenzie and Rachel. We like to cuddle :)
Some of my DTS family! We like to hang out in the hallway.
Today it was cold and rainy out, so we had a movie party. We all were watching on an ipad :P
One of our pastimes here at the base. Indian leg wrestling. And no, I have not tried it. I prefer our OTHER pastime, a game called Mennonite Madness.
And finally.... cheese!! I have finally tried some true Wisconsin cheese! I bought my cheese curds at Walmart, but whatever. Its cheese. Its yummy. :)
Blessings,
Katie
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