Retreate - day #2!

The second day of the retreat... Ah, yes. All the fun.
I know this blog hasn't updated in a while - and it took me quite some time to get recordings prepared for everyone. However, worry not ; The second day of our retreat did take place in success.
Below are some of the things I wrote on notecards!

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Today was a fun filled day. It started out as a very cold morning - and ended with a warm fireplace.
After having a very bad breakfast, we headed off to the swimming pool. It was colder than I thought! Snow was falling pretty much all day - something I really didn't expect. I also woke up with a sore throat, which really did not make things a lot better.
At the pool, we learned to use lifejackets
(note: please see the photos found at
this page
for pictures of the described events)

Quite a fun experience.
For me, perhaps the most rewarding (and looked-forward-to) time was when it came to meeting Eric. This occured after our pool/lifejacket adventure. Eric
introduced himself
and moved on to talking about
Trecking poles
These neat cane-like sticks are very good with helping us hike (and will be a requirement for the trip itself!). Eric
The technique used for the trecking poles

We then proceeded for a very large hike, which took a few hours to complete. It was quite difficult - but again, the hike directly allowed us to use the poles and find out just how stable and powerful they are. The way we hike is with a partner (again,

this page has pictures )
and this is where communication comes in and plays an important role - you have to communicate with partner in how you wish to be guided.

For me, that was a bit of a challenge, since I don't really care how I'm guided - either sighted guide or freestyle walking next to a person works!

Erick left after the hike and lunch. He gave an awesome speech on leadership (recording not yet processed!) and we said goodbye to him afterward.
His speech lead into the last activities of the night: Packing. We talked of what to pack, and why each item is important. In fact, a skit was done by the staff members! The skit was, of course, improvised, with the goal of explaining what one must bring to the trip and what happens in certain situations (safety measures). Global Explorers does try to ensure safety at all levels. :)

The last activitiy of the night was flag making. We made our Grand flag. This process was very interesting, as everyone added a color to the flag (woven from various types of cloth). We each split into teams, and each member picked a color of cloth. This was braded together with the other colors picked by the other team members. Each team presented their brade - and braded it in with the main flag.
So, you can safely say, our flag is very unique! Michelle was given to be in charge of the flag...
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I didn't write much more - remember, this was late at night! And it took up a lot of flashcards (9 to be exact), each having around 320 letters. and they had to be manually pinched out with a pen! What a process!

But yes, please do check out the pictures and the posted recordings. I really hope that they can help you get a window into how I (and all of us in the team) experienced the retreat. I have no doubts that our actual trip will be blogged about in the same way. Accept it will take a longer time in documenting everything done in the 2 weeks - if my voice recorder doesn't break, that is.

with all due respect -
Tomi