We were given the opportunity to practice our vei -leading skills with a group of high school seniors or RUSS how Norwegians call them.  We had 3 different groups of students ranging from 20-50 students.  I was a part of the 22 international staff who led different activities for the students to rotate through the day.

We started on Tuesday evening getting all of our stations ready for the students that arrived at 6pm.  It was pouring rain on Tuesday so it was quite difficult for some of the groups to set up there stations.  I was on stretchers with Katja so our job was to show the students how to make a rope stretcher in case someone would get injured on a team and need to be carried out of the mountains. Needless to say Katja and I got really good at making rope stretchers so hopefully that will be on the practical exam.

The next day Katja and I were moved to the Mine Field activity which included a trust exercise where one person would lead a blindfolded person through a “Mine Field” obstacle course.  That was fun watching the kids trust each other.  Katja and I added our on little spice to the game by having the blindfolded students high five another blind folded student, which was even more fun to watch.

The last day Katja, Wytse, and I taught students how to make shelters out of a tarp, rope, and anything they could find in the forest.  It was good practice to repeat making shelters and teaching the students good things to look for when making a shelter. I feel pretty comfortable if I was only given a tarp and rope in the woods to build a shelter.

We camped at night in gapahuk that was about 2km away from where the students slept so it was nice having our separation from them at the end of the day.  We made campfires every night which is my favorite!  Overall it was a good trip to practice our skills and practice leading the different groups.