25.1.2016
Teambuilding
2nd Norwegian daytrip
Lessons of the day
Put trees in your shelter. What is this wax you are talking about? Bad skiing – good sculptures.
Main part
After meeting the other students in front of Spicheren we went to our usual place at Jegersberg, we split into 4 groups and had to master 4 different tasks. My group had to go into the forest first to build a shelter. The Norwegian teachers gave us a big tarp and 2 ropes and we had 2 knives aand a shovel in our team. The 2 Norwegian girls in my team had some experience in shelter-building and knotting, which was a big advantage. We found a really good place at the end of a hill that was a bit wind protected, then we tautened the rope between two trees and threw the tarp over it. After fixing the tarp to the ground on both sides and building a snow wall on the one side of the open shelter we dragged a conifer branch that was around 2m long and 1,5m wide into the shelter. The perfect mattress (almost as comfortable as an IKEA bed, and way cheaper and easier to assemble). It was a really good task, because we weren’t given any instructions but a time limit, so we had to figure out what to do.
Next task was a ski relay race, so we got our skis, waxed them and couldn’t move forward at all. Did we use gliding wax instead of grip wax? Of course not, but the snow was so wet, that only Klister (horrible stuff!) would’ve helped. So the race became more like a walking, slipping, skating challenge, either with only one ski, without poles or attached to a team partner. Pretty tough for the unexperienced students, but everyone made it to the finish line. The teachers reacted on time to adapt the task to the given circumstances.
The third task was all about trust. One blindfolded student had to be led by the others’ voices to an object that was lying somewhere in an area in the woods. With deep snow, gaps and sticks on the ground and randomly placed trees it was a really fun game for all the participants. Luckily no trees have been hurt during that game, students neither.
The wet snow that made us swear when we had to ski, helped as a lot at the fourth task. We should build a creative snow sculpture, that’s the only time you wish for wet and sticky snow. Our team separated in boys and girls and of course the male sex won the gender competition with a more than beautiful interpretation of the illuminati.
After completing all the tasks it was again lunch time with campfires. This time I didn’t forget my lunch, but I decided not to use the fire, because I tried the Norwegian sausages a few days before. A thing, you definitely shouldn’t do when visiting Norway.