Written by Brenna (staff– advisor and project leader)
The second day of staff orientation is always a heavy meeting day. We’re essentially in meetings from 10am to 8:30pm with breaks for meals and stretching, and by the time the day is over my brain feels tired, but my sense of overwhelm has usually shifted to a sense of preparedness and calm. I have some really good friends on staff this year that I haven’t seen in a while (our dish queen at this session was my roommate in Asheville, North Carolina for three years before moving to Denmark) and I keep looking around, realizing that I’m at camp, and trying to become a little more present in the moment.
In the afternoon the advisors had a long meeting in which we shared tips, tricks, and group games, and by the time it was over I was feeling really excited for the campers to arrive so we could start playing Mindmeld, Drop the Sheet, and Romeo and Juliet. (A little behind the scenes goss: we choose advisee meeting spots in order of reverse seniority, so the newest advisors get to pick their meeting spots first. The “Living Room” is typically the coveted advisee spot since it’s the only heated space with couches. The two new advisors passed on it, opting instead for some cool outdoor spaces, but Christian snagged it, so I’ll be meeting with my advisees at the picnic tables.)
In between meetings I spent some time walking around the site with a guidebook looking at plants. My project this year (How to Survive the Apocalypse) has a foraging/plant identification element, and I was surprised by how many edible things I was able to find on a short walk. I knew that wild apples and thimbleberries grew on the site, but I also found two blackberry varietals that I had never seen before, rosehips, plantain, dandelion, and jewelweed. Jewelweed grows here in particular abundance; I always think of it as “the exploding plant” because it grows seed pods that become more and more pressurized as the seeds inside grow bigger, and the seed pods will eventually explode if you brush against them. Through a little internet sleuthing I discovered that in the 50s and 60s kids would play a game where they would try to pick jewelweed seeds and eat them without popping them first. Multiple websites claim that the seeds taste “exactly like walnuts” which…doesn’t really fit with my experience. I’ve tasted worse things, but to me they have a distinct grassy/weedy taste. I can’t really imagine sitting down to a big bowl of them.
The day ended with the staff sharing some carrot cake in honor of one staff member’s recent birthday and playing a few games. I got tagged as the blog liaison this year, so I spent some time re-familiarizing myself with the wordpress platform and creating the first blog post of the session (one post back, written by Christian). Most staffers called it an early night, opting to get as much sleep as possible in order to go into the session with some sleep reserves. I always feel a sense of anticipation on this night, sort of a combination of Christmas Eve excitement and preparing for a gathering storm, which is what arrival day often feels like.
-Brenna
