27-01-2016

Today I was really excited, because our outdoor education group going to have first overnight trip in Jegersberg. So, after all day lectures I get back to my dorm, done packing my rucksack, put on proper clothing and left to meeting place. This time I was bringing with me in my big backpack- “storm kitchen”, extra warm clothing- jackets, sleeves, extra socks, waterproofed mitts and  normal gloves, of course warm tea and some meal which prepared in advance night before, knife, rope, lighter and torch, sleeping mat and bag; all things necessary for overnight camping. We all met at the same place in Jegersberg  ”Green field” where 2 Monday trips with Norwegians was held, and by viereleader’s Len decision stayed there for camping. Day was really “messed up”, It was all day dark and later rainy (time to time even hard rain), but I was prepared for this, because weather forecast predicted the same conditions, so just good clothing, with extra waterproof layer and you feel warm, dry and happy. There is even expression for this kind of situation- “there is no bad weather, only bad clothing”. After we all gathered, Len told us to find a perfect spot and erect tent or shelter with tarp, It was upon ourselves. I was helping build/prepare big tent for group gathering, because I have never done this before and I wanted to know how it’s need to be done. But at this case I missed when my tent group were preparing our sleeping tent, so It was like a social loafing, when in the group some members work harder than other ones. Later when all group done build, preparing they tents, every country had task to perform, execute some national group dynamic games. I really enjoyed with most of all games, especially with English “Bulldog” and Czech “Messenger”, where we had to move, run a lot and use some strength and endurance. I was so in to these games, that I couldn’t felt hard and cold rain. After every game, our group with Len together were discussing and assessing it, how it’s good for group dynamics constructing, what can be improved. My game was like a race or relay. I separated all group in to 3 teams, and I was prepared to give them 3 tasks, but because It was starting to get really dark, I was able to give 2. At first task they need to form human horse of 2 people and 1 sitting person on it, than race at certain distance, when they done racing lap than do the same with other 3 team members and repeat action when all of them done this once. Second task was to run around the stick 6 times by looking to the ground, run certain distance and when back at start point other team member do the same. I knew that only tasks will be a little bit boring, so I was improvising at the time, put some story line on this about Lithuania and its history, so after 2 tasks I think many of us were happy about my games. After international games we had to do second task- with our cooking teams in 20-25 minutes with “storm kitchen” prepare and serve dish as good as possible of few days ago given main ingredients. Our team (Me, Jonas and Jill), got to prepare something with rice and meat (chicken). So we cooked rice, with curry sauce of chicken, vegetables like broccoli, paprika, carrots, onions, peas and some kind of spices, chili sauce. It was really delicious and I forgot to mention that we was competing against other groups. We all were tasting each groups dishes, discuss how much it’s nutritious, is it warm, spicy, discuss about flavor and evaluating. Our group scored 8 from 10, because like I said flavor was really good, but a lot of things like chicken (cooked), vegetables ( sliced) we were prepared at home so basically we need only to warm up them and all sauces you don’t need to carry in a long trips, because it just take more space in your backpack. We didn’t win this competition but still got some really good and tasty dinner J. Later in the evening the weather get much worse, because now it was windy and raining, so we all gathered at main tent, where we set up fire and were talking with each other. Because of bad weather and fatigue (some ), we all went to sleep. After overnight sleep we all wake up early in the morning, gathered tents and stuff and went home, because after few hours we had some lectures.

To sum up this overnight  trip in Jegersberg I can say that I enjoyed with it. Firstly the place “ Green field” was perfect, not too far from civilization ( 1 or few kilometers from University) for the first time, I could test my outdoor equipment, clothing- all gear if its proper, for example my sleeping bag kept me warm all night, I didn’t get wet and cold outside. Secondly, I saw what I can do different and better for next time, I mean about tent, because It wasn’t in the good spot- near the skiing track in blank field, so It was strange to hear when people passing you. Also without any wind protection, that’s bad too. Next time definitely I will set up tent in the woods, somewhere where I can be protected from wind or at least little bit protected, and put some branches, leaves, moss under my sleeping mat, because then its more comfortable to lay down. Finally, we all come together as a group, we increased our groups cohesion and got chance to know each other more.