Advertisement
Published: December 17th 2009
December 14, 2009
Today was an exhausting day of training. We covered so much material in such a short period of time.
08:00 Thought of the Day: the director read an inspirational poem from Lord Baden Powell; we talked about our schedule; and drew names for secret santa.
08:20 We learned how to give a proper tour of the Chalet. From interesting facts to which rooms to show guests.
09:00 We had a group meeting with all the new short term staff members and the three head people to discuss cultural differences, rules, and procedures. This meeting was mostly to point out all the misunderstanding and then set the rules at Kandersteg so we would all have a clear understanding.
10:30 Then we had our introduction to the reception and programs areas. From the keys in the in the closet, to which items need deposits and several items in between.
12:00 Lunch break. We had a hearty meal and then most of the staff got together to take a walk. We had been cooped up all day in training, so it was a much needed break to stretch our legs in the brisk Swiss snow!
We took a stroll through some of the Centre’s property, to the village in a non-traditional route. The walk was cheery and it ended in snow angels and a snow ball fight!
13:45 Flag. We roll played how to properly put on a flag ceremony. This included raising KISC’s flag and the a group activity. For that all the long and short term staff got into a tight circle, hands on the second person in front of you, and sat on one another’s lap. Then walked. It did not go over too well.
14:00 Fire alarm. We were introduced to every smoke detector, fire alarm, hand alarm, fire escape, fire hose, extinguisher, and plan there is set into place. Not only did we learn about all the measures that have been put into place to stop a fire or alert the guests to it, but we also climbed out of all the informal fire escapes. This included crawling out of windows to rickety red ladders, then walking across the roof to another red ladder and down to the ground. It was so much fun! It was great to go climbing up and down buildings in unconventional ways. Highlight
of my day so far!
16:00 Shop session. I am now able to work a cash register in Switzerland. Kinda. The buttons in the camp shop are a bit confusing, and there is a lot of room for error when it comes to ringing up items. This is when I found out there is no such thing in Swiss money that would be our equivalent to our penny; the smallest piece they have is a five rappen coin.
17:00 Outside Contacts. Answering the phone in the Centre can be tricky. You never know who will be calling, what they need, or even what language they will be speaking; so it is always a challenge.
18:00 Dinner. There was only a small amount of time to scarf down our rice and cake before we went onto our next adventure.
18:45 Caving!! First everyone had to dress in warm clothing that was alright to get muddy. Next we met in the laundry room on the ground floor to talk about the task at hand and then broke into two groups. I was a part of the first group that went in. It was a twenty minute hike to
get to the mountain, which was not too bad on the way there. We then climbed some what up the mountain where we reached an opening at the end of our steep hike. The first part we had to slide down the hole on our bottoms which led to an opening, the largest one we would come across. At this point we waited for the entire group to get into the cave as we regrouped and evaluated the situation. The next portion was one of the most challenging things I have ever done. We squeezed into an long stretch which was only two feet tall in most cases and roughly seven feet across. I had to army crawl on my belly to go through the area. To make everything much harder, there was freezing muddy water that covered our entire front sides and were seeping all around our bodies. Before I left the large cave room and entered the narrow passage, a fellow pinkie backed out of the expedition. That scared me and made me rethink my decision, but I knew I wanted to do it, so I forced myself to go through it. While I was lying on my stomach crawling through the tight area I started to freak out and had to calm myself down. That was when I realized that most of the trip was mental. I continued pushing on, keeping up with the group. The water lasted for a good while and then we came upon some slightly larger spaces. Eventually we came to a spot where we had to repel down with a rope to continue on. Through the silt and loose/rocky footing we continued. We went as far as we could, down to the point where water blocked the path. Then we turned around to travel out the same way we went in, which seemed a lot shorter the second time around. We finally made it out of the cave and back into the snow. Soggy, wet clothing and freezing temperatures with a hint of snow are not a good combination. The hike back to the Centre was horrible. We were all shivering as we slipped down the streets. Not only we were cold, but our bodies were freezing over as we trekked back. Literally. The chords of my hat were frozen solid, my jacket crunched as I moved, and I had to use a hair dryer to loosen up the zippers of my boots and jacket. It was chaos as we all went into the laundry room, stripped of everything except our underwear and ran upstairs to fight for showers. In the end my knees got very beat up in the process, but all the battle wounds were worth it! My legs were speckled in beautiful bruises. Plus it was one of the hardest things I have ever done and for that I am proud of my accomplishment.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0325s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Stuart
non-member comment
Glad you're having fun. How are your boots holding up? I'm afraid they may be too short. Oh by the way...it's rappel - "to descend by rope" not repel - "to make somebody feel intense aversion, disgust or revulsion". You don't need a rope to do that!