53 Setting Up The Tents

"Uhm... What is so special over here?" Some of them asked in confusion. "Well, nothing very specific. Would anyone want to guess what's special in this place?" The teacher asked, as she looked around the crowd, hoping someone would want to answer. For a moment there was silence, until on hand shot up in the air.

"Yes, Cyril?" The teacher looked at him with admiration.

"There are a few things that I've noticed. First of them all, which seems the most obvious one, is that, the level of the ground here is comparatively even then the nearby place. The amount of grass and trees is quite less than the surrounding. Which probably means that this place has been used for camping before. Secondly, this place seems quite near to other locations that we'd like to explore later on." Cyril explained what he observed as a matter-of-factly.

The teacher looked at him in surprise. The only reason that this place was suitable for camping was that it had been used before and she had been ordered to take everyone here. While, about the rest of the things Cyril mentioned, she was totally unaware of these minor details. Se just pretended to know everything and carried on, "Excellent, Cyril! You are totally correct. I'm proud of you."

Cyril lightly smiled, feeling confident in himself. The rest of the students just stared at him as if they have seen an alien.

How could he tell all this just by examining it for a few minutes?

I wonder how it feels like to have a brain that works like this.

Wow, he's such a genius!

They all thought silently. "Alright everyone! Let's get started by first setting up the tents before we go for exploring a little bit. The rest of the activities will be carried out tomorrow, when all of our batteries would be recharged." Saying this everyone started unpacking the tents they were being handed out. They were big enough for one person only, meaning that they would be by themselves.

"Take your tents from here, every body." She called out as a few people who just came starting giving out tents and then disappearing back from where they came from. "They are the staff members from the tourism department, which is located at the place from where we left our buses." The teacher informed them. "I hope you all know how to set up your tents, right?" She asked.

A mix of yes and no response came from the crowd. "Ah, well, those of you who know how to please teach those who don't. I'll be heading towards the tourism department for some matters and will be back after an hour or so. Be good and don't wander around just yet! No fighting and use of gadgets." She said and quickly left the spot.

"Ah, great! She just left us like that." Emily muttered. Aiden laughed, "We don't need her anyway. Let's set up our tents next to each others. Come on, do you know how to?" "Uhm... Kind of. I went through the steps from the internet before coming, but I did not understand a thing." Emily answered shyly, rubbing her head and looking at the neatly folded tents in front of them.

"It's okay, no need to fret. Me and Aiden know how to, we'll teach you again!" Cyril said patting his chest. Emily smiled as they got to work.

"Okay, first, let's find a place that is flat and without any sharp objects." Aiden started. "This place, where we are standing now is good enough, so let's move to the next step."

Cyril stared to unpack the materials saying, "Let's separate all these materials first then we'll start putting up the tent slowly and gradually." Emily carefully looked at the two of them and copied each and every detail not missing out anything. She started to remember what she had seen yesterday on her phone, but, practically doing it was completely different!

"Okay, then, now that everything is unpacked. Let's unfold our tents. Let's face the opening towards east, so that when the sun rises, the light will shine through." Aiden suggested, rubbing his chin and examining their progress. Cyril gave a thumbs up and they adjusted their tents, so that they were facing east.

"Okay, so our tents also has a ground cloth. We'll stake that down first right?" Emily asked. "Hahaha! Exactly. But it's going to be trickier than you think. You have to make sure that the stakes are firmly hammered into the ground. Not too deep and not too lose either." Cyril explained her how to staked down the corners of the tent. Emily closely observed and did the same with a bit of Aiden's help.

"So that being done. Now we have to connect the tent poles. These come in sections, and see, if you look closely, they are color coded, so that you don't connect the wrong part with another." Aiden showed her the poles and they connected it with each other.

"Now, we have to assemble the frame of the tent. It'll just be like a puzzle." Aiden said and went ahead to assemble the frame of the tent. Cyril also helped him because it would not only be difficult without any help but also time consuming as well.

So after a long and tedious work with the tents, they constructed the frame and then attached the waterproof rain fly of the tent with the frame. And finally the three of them had finished setting up their tents.