Each of the Alpha Groups has been asked to prepare a 'Day in the Life' that we hope to publish here on the blog to help friends and family at home get more of an idea of what the average Raleigh day looks like here in Sabah. Those will be trickling in over the radios and in person via the Loop, and we hope to get them online over the next few days. For now, Alpha 3 in Imbak Canyon get a gold star for sending theirs in early - and here it is:
07.00: Andy wakes everyone up, if they haven't already stirred. All listen to jungle sounds...
07.15: Everyone makes porridge in their individual mess tin, tailored to personal preference but usually with loads of sugar. The more adventurous add raisins and hot chocolate powder.
08.00: The Day Leader and Deputy Day Leader radio in to Field Base with the daily update.
08.30: The Day Leader then ushers the whole group across the river to the Alpha 3 work site, with everyone sporting ultra-fashionable trekking sandals. Once safely across the river, they switch to hiking boots for the muddy and steep ascent to their work site.
Rest of morning: Half of the group collect sand and gravel from the riverside in baskets and cart it all up the hill. It is very sweaty work. Meanwhile, the other half of the group begin mixing cement, which they pour into the foundations for the bridge, where the steel suspension cables will be attached.
12.15: Alpha 3 break for lunch, which is prepared by that day's housekeeping team (2-3 participants who stay behind to cook, clean the camp site etc) and usually involves crackers, peanut butter, chocolate spread and home-made pâté fashioned from Raleigh Rations. Project Manager Sancia offers a lunchtime pilates class, which everyone joins in. Sancia's Salon then opens for eyebrow plucking etc, and some of the group nip off for a quick sunbathe.
14.00: The group return to work. Some manage a leeching and screams of 'Argh, get it off' echo around Imbak.
16.00: After two more hours of sweaty work, all relish a swim in the river. Some make use of the waterfall for a power shower. Others choose to hang out at the beach area close to the camp site.
17.00: On return to camp, jerry cans and buckets are filled with water and slowly carried uphill by groaning participants. The housekeeping team begins preparing dinner as the sound of rumbling stomachs echoes around the Canyon. It's time for some reading and letter writing to keep everyone's mind off food...
19.00: Dinner is announced and the ground shakes as all rush to form a disorderly queue. There is much pushing and shoving to re-queue for seconds and then again for pudding.
20.00: Once everyone's appetite is satisfied (or there is no more food left, whichever happens soonest) the evening is filled with chatting and games - the most popular being mafia and fancy dress nights (including a recent hip-hop/gangsta party, during which the outcome of a girls vs. boys dance-off is still hotly debated within the group).
21.00: The night gets darker, the cicadas get louder and everyone heads off to their hammocks for a hot and clammy night's sleep. A few stay up chatting until the wee small hours (which for weary Raleigh participants means about ten o'clock!)
31 comments:
Mozza!!
Can't believe the original Headington Gangsta didnt wipe the floor clean in the girls v boys dance off. Surely you took a few out with those badger hands??!!
Off up to gran's tomorrow so will write another letter and hope it gets to you in time. Big love, Meemees
Hi Will (Evans - Alpha 1),
Fulham beat Everton on Sunday 1 nil which was an important match for Fulham. Wales and England won the rugby on Saturday. Sadly I'm not the best at conveying the sports news. Hope Neil did that in his letter. Heard from Iwona that Michael is back April 11th. Very cold here at the moment. Brooke and Anne loved the South Island of New Zealand. Jack came round for supper last night and he is fine. He starts his PGA pro training in May. Laura is busy applying to law firms for jobs. She got accepted at the 3 law schools she's applied to and now has to choose. Neil is meeting her on Friday (Good Friday)to discuss over lunch. I'm meeting Hugh that morning to discuss job possibilities. Worried working for him will be too depressing. Have those trekking bars been helpful? We'll eat chocolate to you this weekend being Easter. We all send you lots of love, Mom xxxox
Lulu Alpha 3 - Goose! Still missing you loads! Got the letter you sent for just me yesterday - made me laugh a lot! Will be writing to you over the next few days. Had my first shift at the standard yesterday - very boring..Billy, Matt and Graham all send their love. Was st paddy's day yesterday - was a rubbish night out - went to the grassmarket - mistake...Nights out here not as fun without your craziness! Love you sis! xxx
JiaLoon (Alpha5),
Collected original STPM result slip from you school today. Got them xeroxed and will get them (SPM, MUET & STPM) certified tomorrow at your school (3-sets). Just scanned and shall email (in case you need them). Also sent an enquiry to NUS for AUS application (awaiting reply in 5days). Remember to go online to juggle your preferences based on your STPM result.
Cheers from home...
To James C - Alpha 6
Hi boy! Received your second letter (much squealing and excitement followed by mother!) and it was good to speak to you briefly last week as well.
Thought I would reply on this blog so that you get it quicker than by post. Am under strict instructions to not say anything embarrassing!
All is well at this end. G & G had their 60th anniversary bash last weekend and all went fine, just a couple of classic Granny one-liners, but nothing truly horrendous! They are both in good form as it the resident OAP, Barney. Still chewing himself, more deaf, and wobbly on the back pins though. Bit of a lease of life when we go on the morning constitutionals as I have the added joy now of Meg joining us! Bit of a nightmare for me having to keep an ear out for any approaching cars, trying to spot alien cat attacks, and most of all fretting if she disappears off and wondering if she will find her way home ok. So far she has! Weather here has been pretty awful recently too – very windy and wet.
No news about the French thing, still looking. Plan to go down again end of this month or April, then again in June – will sort something eventually, no rush.
The university has been in touch to confirm you are still going in September….?! Replied that you are, but changed your course to Cookery and Home Maintenance now that mother is fully back on the pro tennis circuit. If only! Actually had a bit of a mishap on court a week or two ago. We were playing R & L and both Mum and I went for the same ball. Had a bit of a collision and I took her out quite neatly – you would have been impressed! She is still a bit sore – I know that because she tells me every day! Only minor really.
Not much to report on the golf front. Have been watching the squad play more than play myself. Next week we have the match against the county and then we have the first two rounds of the ‘PAV it’ trophy (D&T previously). Drawn what should be two relatively straightforward home games, so should get to 3rd round ok.
Been busy with work, which makes the time go past fast, but prefer if I wasn’t quite so. Never mind.
What else is there? Mum has a list of things round the house she wants done, so am getting geared up to start blitzing those over the Easter long weekend. Most things I can do myself but expect I will get bored towards the end of the list and get some help.
Other than that I cannot think of anything else to say except continue to have an ‘awesome’ time. It sounds really good there and pleased you are making some good friends too. Keep in touch, we all like to hear what you’re up to and that your fine – no bubonic plague or hoof rot etc. Your letters are, by the way, are the centre of attention when we have visitors – I didn’t know you could write that neatly!
Continue to have fun. Pa!
Hi Rosie Alpha 3
all I want to say is if there is peanut butter I know you are ok
love Mum
tamara alpha 3, just checked the latest,had a little chuckle about some of the details of you and your comrades days in imbak canyon!we had another of your letters this week and the picture of your brothers has arrived! dario says, you are so funny!!!take care, love you, mumxxxxxxxxxx
To Anna, Alpha 3;
I've just read "A day in the life of Alpha 3" and am trying to visualize you trudging up hills lugging gravel, or mixing cement. I hope you're bearing up. I have sent you booklets and printouts on Singapore and on Malaysia. They sound fantastic, I'd love to see them. So you have some heavy brown envelopes stuffed with travelling details on their way to you now. I hope you're having a great time. I'm writing this on your Dad's computer. Ian and I have just been over for a Chinese meal. He enjoyed your letter, as did I. Anna, we are all thinking of you. Love you lots,
Mum.
JiaLoon {Alpha5}
Just to keep you updated. Certified 3 sets of SPM cert, MUET & STPM result slips by Mrs Gan Swit Peng (MBSSKL). She sent her regard and best wishes. Will proceed with application before closing date.
Cheers and take care from all at home
JiaLoon [Alpha5]
Great relieve to have received your email today after such long absence other than blogs updates. Noted your instructions. Will check on NUS, NTU & Monash. Enjoy your Mamutik Island scuba diving license. I will be home past 10pm after badminton on 24Mar(S&M) & 25Mar(Club). Do read all emails from me for updates. I shall update mum with relevant info for you then.
Take care and cheers...
helloo lollipop !(Lauren)
hows it all going ? ive read what your up to atm sounds like hard work but fun! still havnt found a house which is worrying all your stuffs packed up and ur rooms empty looks reli wierd. how come everyone esle is getting letters and not us ey? micheal and jo send thier love micheal especially is reli missing you lol, ive booked my holiday to turkey for a week at last cant wait ! your tan will be fading by then haha.. mum says happy easter will eat your chocy eggs for ya, hope to hear from you on your change over. love you lots and missing you loadddss from your favourite sister danielle xX
Hi Andrew Morton Alpha1. Hows everything over there,cool i hope and i hope the weather is better over there then it is over here cos its proper cold British weather lol. We hope to see more photos of you soon and your new Alpha group. Only 4Weeks left hip hip huray, no more sending letters after next wednesday tut but at least ther's not long to go. Everyone says hi from the family n were all missing you loads and your Nans got a Cold which she got the day before her birthday which wasn't good for her, Bless. Carnt wait to see you at the Airport the day you get back mr Love you Loads Love Simon x x x x x x x
hey Chrissie! Sabah life sounds/looks fantastic. (if not a little damp!?)
debs & i both miss you. she says hi. hopefulyl u will be able to see her before she goes to NZ.
will pop over & see your folks & Guiness this week. I have my logo now for the business. jamie has done an amazing job!
watched ray mears survival on TV last week - thought of u... THe Rabbit Tamer! ??!! hehe
Take care, sweet cheeks! L x
sueHi Lucy Hitchen
sorry to her you had been so ill and I hopeyou're feeling better and recovered for the journey and scuba
It was so good to hear from you
take care and loads of love form me and dad
love you
Mum
From:liz Greenwood
Hello Jess (Alpha)
Happy Easter to you and all your fellow adventurers!Love the letters,keep up the good work.Hoping you will build a bridge,and dig a large wildlife pond in the garden when you get home using your newly acquired skills!
much love
mum x
Hello Jess (Greenwood Alpha 2)
Sophie is off to Ireland today,Thomas is home and promises to write! Hope your legs have recovered from the ant attack!Sky is now happily installed with all the other expectant mums!
Stay happy,everyone sends their love and hugs
mum x
To Anna of Alpha 3,
I've just got a Hotmail account and a Google bloggers account so that I can write to you! I was fed up of having to ask Ian or Dad to do it for me. We're all fine, and I hope you are too. I can't imagine you cheerfully lugging water or gravel up a hillside. It doesn't sound like you, somehow. In a week or so any air mail letters may be too late to reach you, so I'll have to use the blog or your email when you get to Singapore. I will feel a trifle inhibited writing to you on a public blog; I will need to be tactful and sound relatively normal. Should be a challenge. It is Easter next weekend, and dad is going down to the Island tomorrow. I want to go down with Ian, but he is working on various days so we may have to do a day visit. Ian's given up his job at the Co-op, and now he's looking for something else. The only thing going appears to be shoving trolleys at Morrisons, so no change there, but a change of scene will be good for him. I've stopped work now for the Easter break, but my holiday and Ian's don't match, and so we can't get away for a few days. Maybe I can do a short walk with Hanneke. There is a farm in Lincolnshire that does bed and breakfast in a Mongolian Yurt that they have pitched in the garden. I really fancy waking up in a Yurt. I'm in Woking at the moment, and went past the jewellers, and thought of you, busily flogging rings and such. I also nipped into the theatre, and saw the assistants in their purple shirts and black waistcoats. It was a bit poignant. I haven't given your theatre kit back yet.
Shadow has been behaving with worrying maturity since you went away, and I thought there was a chance that you'd return to a, you know, normal cat. But I was woken this morning by Shadz apparently trying to drill a hole in the bed by revolving in circles. She seems to have been trying to kill the duvet. So no normal cat yet.
I am starting to ramble, so I'll go before I put something embarrassing. I have been forwarding bits of the blog to Grandma and Grandad, and they have been following your adventures with interest. Incidentally, have you sent cards to your sponsors yet? If you do have the time, opportunity and inclination, do not say that you've been sunbathing on Mamutik, etc; stress the sheer physical labour of dragging sand and mixing concrete. From what the blog says, this shouldn't be difficult!
Love you lots,
Mum.
Lewis, Alpha 6.
Hope the trek has been fantastic. We were really pleased to get your p.c. as we were feeling neglected. Nick's back so your lovely tidy room isn't any more. Still, you can use it in shifts - he just needs it from 3am to noon. Mark & Scott have been checking up on your return date - there's a Venlaw camp-out planned. You'll be able to tell them a thing or two about camping out now!
Try to give us a call or text at some point, but we'll be at Ed. airport at 10 on Wed anyway. Don't let down your guard with the airline food! Desperate to see you! Loads of love from all the family.
Happy Easter to all Alphas in East Malaysia...Cheers
Happy Easter to Jasper Fry (Alpha 1). love from all of us xxx
PS All your friends have been asking after you. Charlie is now going to India with Noah.
Hi Malcolm,
Still no photo of you, so we assume your're there, but can't be sure you havn't hopped off to Bangkok for R&R !
Alpha 3 routine sounds an awful lot like Bridge over the River Kwai to me, minus the guards to poke you with bayonets! Hope it's not too much torture.
Grandad sends his love after asking many times where exactly you are - and howold you are - and where exactly you will go to Uni and what exactly you will study there! He's in good shape physically and eats and drinks whatever is put in front of him, though if asked what he wants, he says "nothing".
Uncle Malcolm and Auntie Christina are fine, as are Tamara and Lee and the dogs. Weather for Easter is truly awful and the UK is the usual disorganized disfunctional, though amusing mess. We shall need weeks of dieting to get over the food.
Penny and Jerome are with us, Jerome being an excellent influence on Penny's dafter instincts. She has spent most of her time "SHOPPING", as females do, not because she wants, or needs anything, but for the sake of "SHOPPING". I can't imagine a more dismal, hare-brained masochistic activity - don't think Jerome can either.
We have met Robert in Oxford. He is in very fine form and studying maths and French A level to apply for Maths at Reading university. We will all have dinner with him and his girlfriend this evening in Oxford.
Your mother is still troubled with wind - or rather - the rest of us are. Despite the weather, the food and the traffic, it's been good to see everyone.
TAKE A PHOTO !
Love from all, and remember after all, warm rain is better than cold rain.
Hi Sieb,
Gut Purim toegewenst. We gaan hier op naar Pasen. Morgen de traditionele Mattheus Passion in Leiden. Suus gaat ook mee, samen met Henk. Lunch als gewoonlijk in de Burcht en dan weer door. Claar en Stu hebben vanavond het grote gala van de UVSV. En morgen komen ze naar Oegstgeest. Het worden rustige paasdagen tot tweede paasdag. Dan is Claar jarig en hebben we 's-avonds diner met opa, de buren, tante Hennie en ome Gerrit en Lot. Een mannetje of twaalf. Gezellig! Hoe is het bij jou? De eco lodge al bijna klaar. Heb je je broek en sandalen al? We hopen weer wat van je te horen, maar volgen elke dag de web log. Leuk over alles te lezen. Take care. Dikke kus x mam
Lauren Alpha 4 but not for much longer!
Hows it going, got fed up with hairy legs and pigs in your kitchen yet?
Cooking skills must be realy good by now, turn a plate of weird looking shrubs into a michelin star feast for 20! lolx
Easter holidays for us now and packing still going on, thought we had sold it all at boot sales but still loads to pack away.
Should have news of a new house next week as we have to move by next weekend aaahhh.
Good luck with the diving,would love to be there with you, taking photos! youre probably glad that we are not ha ha
thats all for now folks
Love and miss you loads
Mum Dad and all (smelly buzz going for a hair cut while we are on holiday)xxxx
hello vicki alpha 6 sounds like diving was fun fun hope the trecking was to enjoy your last phase we love you lots happy easter mum xxxxxxxxxx
Hi putt ! putt !
Looking forward to hear from you soon.We hope that time flies quickly and we are able to hug you and listen to your leech-ful adventures.
Nonna is here and asks after you and so was Badr here for a week .We expect the hippos soon, maybe just before you return.
Meanwhile enjoy yourself and have baboon-ful of fun.
....mad
Mozzmace,
Hello from sunny (freeing windy) Shropshire. Good news - foons came through her op yesterday and hopefully now on the road to recovery. Am staying in hers over Easter and doing hospital run. Have rigged up a dial up connection to access email etc here so keeping track of your movements!
Peelie's in Banbury with the bays and all send love
Happy Easter my darling girl - (will save egg for when you get back) xxxxxx
What ya Jenny (Alpha 4 now)
Its Good Friday so I have a day off at last. Have just finished another industrial first aid course. Since most answres include "and call an ambulance" I though about your training session each time it was said! You would have passed with flying colours. Ha ha.
We are off to Granny & Grandad's tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing baby Beth for the first time and Andy is flying over for three weeks. Andy coming home was going to be a big surprise to G & G'dad, but we thought it would be too much of a shock so have told them. Not looking forward to Granny's unheated house. Heavy snow is forecast for Sunday, so we could do with some of your warmth, but not the bugs.
If you get any Easter eggs on Sunday I will try and keep at least some of them for your return - but as they may have gone off by then I might have to eat them anyway. If so, I will buy some chocolate bars to welcome you back. Something to look forward to!
Hope you are well and enjoying things. We are looking forward to hearing from you. It's wonderful to get info' and some great pictures of you on this blog. Mum & I check it every morning and evening.
Missing you loads. All our love Dad & Mum xoxoxox
Hey Tamara (alpha 3?)
So great to see the pictures of you, looks awesome! Hope you're having a great time!! Cazz wants a weekend of fun when you get back!I hope you got my card.
Take care, want you back in one piece.
Love Cat xx
JiaLoon [Alpha5],
Guess you're back from Mamutik Island by now. Mum sent a 2nd packet yesterday. You have until 24Mar08 to change your local UNI choice to wiser choice like medicine related or something better. Take care. Loads of love from KarLyn, KarMun, mum & dad
Alex
hope you get this, it was nice to hear from you the other day, we had a very nice easter lunch which i am sure you would have appreciated even at borneo paradise. I have no more advice as it sounds like you are getting on fine, one last phase to go. All i will say is get the period between leaving raleigh and getting to your mates sorted. where will you leave all the gear you dont need? try and give it to someone flying straight back who is trustworthy...
Chelsea won against arsenal, dont know if you got to watch it. but its going to be hard to challenge the title against man u.
Love the photos, hope your getting in all the cheesy gap year pics for the rents! We now have sky HD so all the sport is so sharp now! I miss my PS3 challenger though, but i guess it means i do more work...
get stuck in one more phase, good luck
adios
Miles
Hey Clariss, hope you are surviving without the chocolate hit at Easter. Thinking about you loads, hope it's still a blast, but try to allow someone else to get a word in now and again.
love you lots Txx
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