A Rambling About Day 2

Tuesday October 28, 2008

Experience, so much of this job is experience. The more I do the activities with groups and the more I see other people run them the more I will improve.

So the first activity of the day was the hike/swim at the jetty. It was another double activity so my group along with Pete’s group. Pete was setting up for abseiling so I led both of our groups in getting PFDs and walking the 2k trail to the jetty, where we met up with Pete. I had done the walk several times so that wasn’t a big deal and Pete was there when we got there so that all went well.

Back from the jetty we had morning tea and Christian Discovery (CD). Julie did the mean bit then we broke into our groups to cover some discussion questions . . . We talked about who God is; how we tend to get our own ideas about God and “put him in a box” but really we should look to the bible to learn who God really is. So in our groups we looked at some bible passages and pulled out some characteristics of God. We looked at how half of the words eluded to a loving, caring, forgiving God and the other half focused more on powerful, should be feared, God who likes justice . . . I talked about how it was important to remember God is a balance of these characteristics and not just see him as loving and not just as someone to be feared but a God who seeks justice because he loves us and wants a relationship with us.

Working with year nine kids is a whole totally different experience than working with younger kids. Ohhhhh so different. The conversations and topics are deeper; not just the basic bible stories and God loves you message! I’m definitely going to be challenged working here but it will be good I think. Part of me feels like “who am I to be teaching these youth about God and religion? I’m still learning and growing myself” I guess I’ll just keep in mind that it’s okay if I don’t have all the answers and I can always look it up or ask someone after work and get back to them!

After lunch I ran my first low ropes session. I had seen it done with younger kids but as I said, older kids are so different. My briefing went alright and I’m pretty sure I covered everything. Before getting them on the low ropes elements I had them do a few trust activities. I broke them into groups of three to do a “trust pass/fall” but they weren’t taking it seriously so I did a group trust circle instead; where everyone stands in a circle shoulder to shoulder with one person in the middle who falls and gets passed around. This went better but I still had to stop several times to remind them that we couldn’t do the elements if they could not trust each other and if I could not see that they were taking it seriously and were going to be safe. I actually had to have one kid sit out because we finally got this girl to go in the middle of the trust circle and it was going really well and then he did a fake scream and pretended to drop her . . .

So we finally got through that and moved on to the elements. The first one went okay and involved one person walking across a rope with two spotters. But the next one went really well! I was headed toward a similar element to the first one but Scott had his group there so I went to the ring of fire instead and was so glad that I did. Ring of fire involves the whole group getting from one side to the other through a metal rig which is placed about shoulder/head height off the ground. It was really cool to watch as the group worked together and came together through that activity – really cool! Some of the people that were hesitant in the trust circle were now being lifted off the ground and passed through a mental ring by their classmates.

The debrief went alright as well; discussing how our trust had changed from beginning to end and sort of analyzing what made the second activity smoother . . . I think they got something out of it – I hope! We also discussed attitude and how much of an impact that has. I shared the awesome quote “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it: attitude is everything.” Then I added how our faith / trust in God combined with our attitude can really impact how we go through life . . . It would have been better if they could have somehow arrived at that on there own. That is one thing I really want to work on: asking the right questions and saying the right things to get a group thinking and talking. This I guess will come with experience but I’m sure it also depends on the group. *sigh* so much to learn – but you have to start somewhere.

Next activity, after afternoon tea, was abseiling. I have just spent a weekend getting abseil training but had never seen it run here at Shoalhaven and had never run a session. Julie hiked up with my group, which was good cause I wasn’t 100% positive of the trail, although I’m sure I would have made it fine. We always have someone staffed as “abseil extra” and today it was Alison

So Al and Julz did the briefing as I watched and then helped the students get their harnesses and hardware. We had a 20m, 10m, and 6m cliff set up. I went with Julz to the 6m and watched her belay a few people before she let me take over. First person I made a hugeeee mistake and sat the belay rope on the ground as I attached her onto the abseil line. Really, really bad as the whole point of the belay line is that I am holding on to them in case they fall.

Other than that the belaying was okay. I need to work on coiling the rope as I bring it back up and various other things but I think I have them main idea down. Abseiling is definitely one of the more involved activities I guess – a lot to learn. After this weekend, I think I’m pretty set on how to set up but I need to keep practicing and actually use it or I’ll loose it. I have some spare rope at home so I’m going to practice with that!

I definitely have a lot to learn still but the more experience and the more I see it run the more I will improve.

I feel sometimes like I’m just standing around not being helpful and there is something I should or could be doing. But again I guess more time and experience will help me know what to do and what needs to be done. For now I just keep asking “what can I do?” “Is there something I can do / should be doing . . .” I really like this job and want to do it well. I can’t believe there’s already only about five more months left of me working. I’m afraid that by the time I get fully confident and comfortable it s going to be time to leave. Hummmm . . . Trying to take it all in, retain it, get as much experience as I can, and learn from every opportunity.

Busy week – we all agreed that it already feels like Friday but it is only Tuesday! Tomorrow is going to be crazy as this group is leaving at 1:30 after lunch but the next group is due in at 10:30am. That should be interesting and crazy!