Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

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 Who were involved
 What happened in the end
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I could not wait to leave my home as I was looking forward to the fun activities at the
motivation camp that I participated in together with my school buddy. It was my first experience
being away from home as I was being like a bird in an iron cage before that. Nevertheless, I
caught a golden opportunity to escape from this zone that turned me off. Honestly speaking, I
was tired of my parents’ nagging and my siblings’ annoying antics, which made me feel bored
and repugnant. Therefore, when the bus arrived, I quickly gathered all my bags and headed out
of the door almost immediately. Due to my feeling of anticipation, I almost forgot to bid farewell
to my family members. Before I boarded the bus, I turned and looked at them, waving goodbye
to them nonchalantly.

After reaching the camp, the facilitators welcomed us effusively. Soon after, they gave us
a brief about the rules that should be followed by us during our stay there. Later, we were
divided into five groups, each group comprises of ten members. To be surprised, I was elected to
be the leader of one of the groups. After dinner, all of us decided to turn in for the day.
Unfortunately, I was tossing and turning and did not get a wink of sleep throughout the night as
there were too much of mosquitoes. They were having a feast there by sucking each of our
blood. To add insult to injury, the old ceiling fans creaked as they worked doggedly yet
ineffectually to keep humidity at bay. In addition, it was such a scorching hot night that day,
causing me to feel extremely uncomfortable and perspiring. After experiencing these, I started to
miss the comfort of home and itched to teleport home in a blink.

The alarm clock went off at the ungodly hour of six. Despite feeling a little bit
disorientated, all of us quickly rushed to the toilets without further ado. With just 10 toilets
available, we all had to line up outside and waited our turn patiently. As the early bird catches
the worm, those who woke up earlier got to use the toilet first. All of a sudden, I was
overwhelmed with the same emotion again, I missed my family as well as the attached bathroom
that I shared with my elder sister. Before I could catch a breath, realisation dawned on me that it
was my team’s turn to prepare breakfast for the rest of the participants of the camp. I thanked my
lucky stars as I only needed to spread butter on bread slices while some of my team members had
to fry eggs while a few others slice cucumbers and tomatoes. Compared to this, breakfast at
home with family was much nicer since my parents would definitely prepare it for me.
 As days passed, we learnt a lot of extra-curricular knowledge such as social etiquette and
table manners through the motivational talks that were given by the professional speakers. Even
though the talks were eye-openers, the facilities of the camp left a lot to be desired. The hard
plastic chairs which were provided by the organisers were very uncomfortable and shabby-
looking. After sitting for a long time on the plastic chair, my lower body was paralysed.
Although the hall was fully air-conditioned, not all the air-conditioners were working well.
Comparing the hall to an oven was quite befitting especially when the sun was at its zenith yet
we endured it.

My biggest source of anguish was to have to mop the dormitories and clean the toilets as
they were physically and mentally exhausting work. It was a lot of hard work to do the hygienic
tasks. After doing all the chores, I felt ashamed as I realised how I had been taking my parents
for granted from the day I was born to the present. I thought it was their duty to do all these
chores and I never thanked them, not even once.

Only I myself knew how desperately I yearned for the last day to arrive. Overall, I
really enjoyed the camp but being away from home for seven days was super-duper unpleasant.
In true words, I missed cajoling my dad treats me to fast food. I missed lying on the comfortable
couch, binge-watching Netflix films with my siblings. To my surprise, I even missed my mother
shrill voice, telling me to wake up and have breakfast. The saying ‘Absence makes the heart
grow fonder’ was true after all. I realised how much I valued their love as well as
companionship. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t wait to embrace my parents and boss my younger
siblings around again.