Saturday 5:00am
I woke up. It was early. I’m generally an early riser, but I’d stayed out a little later than I had originally planned and for some reason 5:00a is very different from 6:00a. Life’s been so busy lately that I hadn’t taken the time to pack for my long weekend until now. I’m not just saying life’s been busy because I’m a procrastinator, which I often am, but because it really has been busy! The school year is winding down, but that doesn’t mean the activity level does. Just last week alone I had the end of the season party for my running group, the last game, end of the season party, and a WNBA basketball game for the 5th grade basketball team, and our big Talent Showcase. Those were just the afterschool activities. That’s a lot and it doesn’t even count the preparation and logistics that were involved. And to top it all off I spent most of my free time last week packing up boxes and taking trips 45min South of Seattle to move my stuff to my dad’s for the summer. Ok, back to my point. 5:00a came early.
Saturday 6:00a
After packing everything I could think I’d need and then some, I hit the road. Two fairly uneventful hours later I arrived at my destination: Stonewater Ranch (SWR) in
Saturday 8:00a
It didn’t take very long for me to wander before I found just the people I needed to find. I got a brief welcome to the camp, directed to the sleeping quarters aka “The Lodge” by Shane, the volunteer coordinator. His wife, Kady, offered to show me to and around the Lodge. After a quick tour and finding a bed to lay my things I went over to “The Chalet”. This is the place where the community eats. After quick breakfast burrito and a whirlwind of names and handshakes I headed down to “The Gym”.
Saturday 8:30a
The primary purpose of my presence at Stonewater Ranch, at least for this weekend, was to a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) class. Throughout the class I got to know a lot of the twenty-three other people there, some I’ll be working with throughout the summer and some I’ll probably never see again.
Saturday 6:00p
After a very long day, we finished. Tomorrow will be another long day, but for the rest of the day we can do what we’d like. I took this time to have dinner, along with everyone else, and chat with whoever was around. A bunch of the guys headed of to go bouldering with headlamps in tow, so the camp got really quiet very quickly. I got myself settled in to my room, familiarized myself with The Lodge, enjoyed the view (pictures to come) and the piece and quiet for a little while. I even got a head start on my Narratives, which are the written paragraphs I have to write about each of my students as their end of the year assessment (we don’t use traditional grading systems).
Saturday 8:30p
The director of the SWR, Greg, came over to the lodge and chatted with me for a bit. We had spoken over the phone a couple times, but this was the first time that we got a chance to get to know each other a little bit. He told me about what SWR is about, how it came to be, and where he sees it going. We talked about my role here for the summer might look like, which was good since I’ve had an idea, but it’s been sort of vague.
Saturday 9:00p
After meeting with Greg, I went over to the office, the only area with wireless internet, and checked in for a little while. When I got back to The Lodge, I sat with a three of girls who’ll be on the summer staff with me. We studied what we’d covered during our WFA class and had a nice time just hanging out.
Saturday 11:00p
It was finally bedtime. After such a busy/productive day it felt so good to sleep! It’s going to be a really interesting summer here at Stonewater Ranch.
No comments:
Post a Comment