The Corper Diaries (Pt. II) - Na who go tire?

Whew!! Those drills no be here o!! It was fun but rigorous.. The rope climbs, the crawling under the wire, swinging like a monkey.. It was fun!! But I am jumping ahead of myself. Allow me to take it sequentially..
After I heard the shrill blasts of the whistle, I ran out of my 'dorm' to join my platoon on the march to the Man-O-War Village.. We were paired with Platoon 4 (I am in Platoon 2, did I mention that?) and we were all dressed in white; our Otondo uniform as we marched along to the morale-heightening (and laughter- inducing) songs of the Man-O-War people.. One of their songs goes like this:

Dem go born mumu, Dem go born mumu
If Soja marry Corper, dem go born mumu
Dem go born monkey, dem go born monkey
If Corper marry Corper, dem go born
monkey

Well, I don't intend to marry a soldier so those lyrics won't work for me. One favourite of mine was like a Call and Response chant. They would call out, "Na who go tire?" We would reply, "Na you go tire!" or "Man-O-War go tire".. We went on like this, jogging, marching with the occasional giggle at the lyrics and chants till we got to the Man-O-War village..
They showed us the various training courses and explained the ways they intended to drill us.. Then they divided us into little groups and assigned us to instructors to take us through each training course.. The first one involved us lifting weights and counting.. Sadly, Cynthia didn't look my way even once when I was pulling the cement weights..
After pulling weights (where my arms felt like Sisyphus' after rolling his boulder up the hill.. Greek mythology), we ran to the next course which involved lifting oneself up and down from a metal bar.. Then some sit-ups and so on.. By the time we were done, joints were aching, our whites were very stained and dirty and I, for one, was ready to collapse..
They bid us march back to the main camp as we were through for the morning session.. After lunch we would proceed back to the village for further drilling..

I need to take a little nap here.. The amala and ewedu we had for lunch plus the aches and pains all over my body warrants it.. Dem no send me work to participate in everything but, every experience always leads to a story.. And I want the pages of my life to be an interesting read.. Abeg I go continue de tori when I wake.. For now? I have to crash!!

By Oluwasina Niran
https://www.facebook.com/niranneil?fref=ts