8.45 in the morning, I found myself sitting in the MUSA Office, staring blindly at the wall. The thought of why I had woken up so early on a Saturday morning pondering on my mind. Then I heard someone scream, “Registration is now open!”. I dragged myself off the chair to get myself registered. Only to realise that I was the only one there from the Editors Department. I changed into the T-shirt given and slumped back into a chair. Finally, after a long wait (at least I thought it was long), I was reunited with my fellow editors.

 

The games were scheduled to start at 10am, guess what, it didn’t (it’s a typical Malaysian thing not to start on time). Just as I was about to dozed off again, all of a sudden, the room turned into a Pasar Malam (Bahasa Malaysia for night market). All the teams were busy discussing the location of their stations. I barely had any idea where those places were (albeit the ridiculous station names). One of the station was called ‘I’m leaking’, my first thought was, ‘It has to be the toilet’ (that’s where I take a leak). Obviously, that wasn’t where the station was (since Monash has so many toilets). In attempt to avoid looking like a fool, I stopped suggesting possible locations. A human alarm shouted at the top of his lungs, ‘Games begin in 3,2,1’, and we all ran in search of our stations.

 

Station 1: How’s Your Aim, Bois?

As the name suggests, it was time for NERF WAR! The Sports Centre was turned into a war zone, with ping pong tables and chairs scattered around as obstacles. War was declared between the Editors Troopers and Welfare Troopers, guns were distributed and the war begun. Shots were fired, as the bullet cases ‘clinked’ on the ground, troopers fell to their death. Chill, no one actually died, we used rubber bullets. The Welfare Troopers bagged the first 2 rounds, and lost the last round (I guess they ran out of luck). Editors Troopers almost raised their white flag in Round 3, as the alleged ‘Machine Gun’ ran out of battery. The war ended, we signed a Peace Treaty and proceeded to the next station.

Station 2: Rowl Over Me

Roll, Roll, Roll a human,

Gently across the field,

Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily

My Back is about to break.

That’s right, I had to lie on top of my teammates as they rolled me across the field, to transport the marbles that I was holding. I could only imagine how my teammates felt (actually I’m quite light). I’m sorry guys, I hope you didn’t break your back too.

Station 3: I’m Leaking

Blindfolded, we had to hold a container that was pierced with holes and walk a distance to pour the water into a bucket. It was harder than it looked. I found it to be easy, partly because I could see the ground from the bottom of my blindfold (Shhhh, that’s our little secret).

Station 4: The Hook Up

Oh yes, I hooked up with someone (in my dreams). The only thing we hooked up were water bottles in this station. It was so mentally and physically draining, as we had to stand on one foot and attempt to hook a bottle. Focus and stability was key to our success in this station.

Station 5: Stick-That-Hoe

The classic childhood game – tic-tac-toe, with a twist. Literally a twist, as we had to spin 5 rounds before we could throw a bean pack onto the grid. We had to spin quick enough to get our bean pack onto the grid before our opponents. I was so dizzy, my dinner from the night before was at my throat (it felt disgusting). We strategized, stuck them hoes and breezed through the game.

Station 6: The Orgy

Hold your horses, don’t let your imaginations run wild! This was an advanced version of ‘Twister’, that’s all.  We had to balance ourselves with the number of hand(s) and leg(s) allowed in the paper given. Thanks to our smart brains (sorry for being a narcissist), we figured that all we had to do was have 3 pairs of piggy back and from there we just played around with our hand and leg placements. Easy peasy (‘kacang putih’ like the Malaysians say)!

Station 7: Hoola in the Hole-ah

Imagine using a straw to pass a rubber band, this was an enlarged version. Under the scorching hot sun, we tossed hoola hoops along the road to our teammates who were about 7 feet (literally 7 footsteps) away. After several failed attempts, we definitely got the hang of it.

It was around 12.30pm when all the teams completed their stations, we were all dying from starvation. That’s when an angelic figure walked into the Lounge and blessed us with a few words, “Lunch is served in the foyer“. The participants rushed towards the foyer at the speed of light (looks like there are new competitors for Barry Allen aka The Flash). During lunch, the departments flocked together and bonded with each other. Following lunch, we had ice cream, tubs and tubs of ice cream. That day everyone’s diet plans were put on hold, as teenagers always say, ‘Ice cream is lyfe’. We ‘chillaxed’ for a bit before we began with dodgeball.

The round robin dodgeball tournament began, balls flew across courts, players were hit, teams were eliminated, and only the victorious proceeded. I witnessed the impossible, when the last woman standing single-handedly defeated her opponents. I witnessed sheer will and strength in those with disabilities who played better than the others (Respect!). Not forgetting those guys who were so pumped up throughout the game (‘testosterone rush’, I guess). How the other teams played was history, how SASS and Activities team played was what lead them to victory.

As the sun began to set, we bid farewell. Everyone headed home to yet again drown in their loads of assignments. All I can take away from this day, is that we truly bonded with each other. MUSA is a family that is always there for each other, we play to the fullest and we work the hardest. My Saturday with the MUSA members was a blast, I have no regrets waking up early whatsoever.

 

Article By: Divyah

Photos by Khosyi Musyaffa and Mahrukh Ali