Wood Badge - Part 2
Originally published on 01/28/2018
Welcome back! If you missed Part 1 in this mini-series, feel free to read that post now.
The first night (considered Day 0) up at the campsite was distressing on my back! There were several tree roots poking up wherever I tried laying down. I managed to find a position in which my body was curving itself around the roots as best as possible and slept. The first morning I got up and made my way to a trailer full of showers. It was early so there were very few people, and enough hot water to be allowed a thorough rinse after lathering up. I was grateful to know I could shower every day, even though camping generally means not showering as often.
Breakfast was held down near the kitchen and eaten outside on rows of metal picnic benches. I had met a new friend online, through my director, who is Deaf. I am slow, but I know American Sign Language. We were able to converse some throughout the six days. She is able to read lips fairly well, and also relies on a speech-to-text tablet for larger groups. I was grateful for a familiar face in the sea of Scouters. One thing that I truly enjoyed about breakfast every morning, was the youth from Cedar Badge. They sang scouting songs right up until morning prayers over the food! That's when I learned what Scout Spirit truly is!
I knew before I came to Wood Badge that I would need a way to keep my insulin cool. I wasn't sure if there would be a refrigerator (there actually was at mine) so I began my search well in advance. I prefer looking on Amazon for these types of things because I can read reviews of actual users. I came across this item, the Frio Insulin Cooling Wallet. I found out that all you have to do is keep it wet in the open air so that as it evaporates out, the inside stays cool. Now, by no means is it super cold like a refrigerator, but it stayed cool every day as long as I kept pouring water over it each morning. The purple color just made it nicer since that's my favorite color. :) Some of the wallets are small, good for one vial, while others, like the one I bought, are larger as to hold two vials or insulin pens. Instructions on how to use the item were included and easy to understand.
After breakfast each morning, we had to go to the flag pole in our area, nicknamed "Gilwell". Find out more information on the background of the term here. We found out what group of people we would be spending the week with and began playing games on Day 1, games such as Cub Scouts would play. We learned about teamwork, leadership, made new friends, laughed, and had an overall good time. By lunchtime, our group of people worked so well together you'd have thought we were friends for several years. The people with the feathery headbands were Staff members, and later I will tell you how I managed to immortalize those feathers!
Lunchtime was our Blue and Gold Banquet. This is typically a night in February to celebrate the beginning of Cub Scouts, a birthday if you will. For the theme, they chose "One in a Minion" and had cut and decorated pool noodles into looking like Minions. Super cute!
After lunch, we crossed the bridge as if we were Cub Scouts crossing over to Boy Scouts. From that moment on, we acted as Patrols instead of Dens. My group learned that we are now of the Bobwhite Patrol. Bobwhites are small birds, quails in essence. At your typical Wood Badge, the Bobwhite Patrol is known as "the other white meat" or "snack food" for the other Patrols. However, nobody in this Troop seemed to know that, and we made Bobwhites cool. I took some of those headbands I mentioned earlier, and made a little Bobwhite to add to the Totem that indicated we were responsible for cleaning the area, including the port-a-potties. This simple little "bird" quickly moved onto being a fun ornament for our hats. The Bobwhite, or quail, has what is called a Top Knot on its head. I didn't know that's what it was called, and had always called it a "Dingy Flitchit" - I mentioned that to my Patrol, and we ran with it. All five of us put a Dingy Flitchit on our hats, and other Patrols then began decorating their hats with representative items. We also had several Staff members put a Dingy Flitchit on their own hats! Bobwhites led the way on how a Patrol should work, every member equally important and working together toward a common goal. Our Senior Patrol Leader is on the right with a headband on top of his hat.
I won't reveal any hidden agendas from Day 1, so that if you haven't attended and do in the future, you will take it as it comes. However, I will say this: Work as a Patrol, and love the Troop. You're all in this together!
Day 2 is for another post.
Welcome back! If you missed Part 1 in this mini-series, feel free to read that post now.
The first night (considered Day 0) up at the campsite was distressing on my back! There were several tree roots poking up wherever I tried laying down. I managed to find a position in which my body was curving itself around the roots as best as possible and slept. The first morning I got up and made my way to a trailer full of showers. It was early so there were very few people, and enough hot water to be allowed a thorough rinse after lathering up. I was grateful to know I could shower every day, even though camping generally means not showering as often.
Breakfast was held down near the kitchen and eaten outside on rows of metal picnic benches. I had met a new friend online, through my director, who is Deaf. I am slow, but I know American Sign Language. We were able to converse some throughout the six days. She is able to read lips fairly well, and also relies on a speech-to-text tablet for larger groups. I was grateful for a familiar face in the sea of Scouters. One thing that I truly enjoyed about breakfast every morning, was the youth from Cedar Badge. They sang scouting songs right up until morning prayers over the food! That's when I learned what Scout Spirit truly is!
I knew before I came to Wood Badge that I would need a way to keep my insulin cool. I wasn't sure if there would be a refrigerator (there actually was at mine) so I began my search well in advance. I prefer looking on Amazon for these types of things because I can read reviews of actual users. I came across this item, the Frio Insulin Cooling Wallet. I found out that all you have to do is keep it wet in the open air so that as it evaporates out, the inside stays cool. Now, by no means is it super cold like a refrigerator, but it stayed cool every day as long as I kept pouring water over it each morning. The purple color just made it nicer since that's my favorite color. :) Some of the wallets are small, good for one vial, while others, like the one I bought, are larger as to hold two vials or insulin pens. Instructions on how to use the item were included and easy to understand.
After breakfast each morning, we had to go to the flag pole in our area, nicknamed "Gilwell". Find out more information on the background of the term here. We found out what group of people we would be spending the week with and began playing games on Day 1, games such as Cub Scouts would play. We learned about teamwork, leadership, made new friends, laughed, and had an overall good time. By lunchtime, our group of people worked so well together you'd have thought we were friends for several years. The people with the feathery headbands were Staff members, and later I will tell you how I managed to immortalize those feathers!
Lunchtime was our Blue and Gold Banquet. This is typically a night in February to celebrate the beginning of Cub Scouts, a birthday if you will. For the theme, they chose "One in a Minion" and had cut and decorated pool noodles into looking like Minions. Super cute!
After lunch, we crossed the bridge as if we were Cub Scouts crossing over to Boy Scouts. From that moment on, we acted as Patrols instead of Dens. My group learned that we are now of the Bobwhite Patrol. Bobwhites are small birds, quails in essence. At your typical Wood Badge, the Bobwhite Patrol is known as "the other white meat" or "snack food" for the other Patrols. However, nobody in this Troop seemed to know that, and we made Bobwhites cool. I took some of those headbands I mentioned earlier, and made a little Bobwhite to add to the Totem that indicated we were responsible for cleaning the area, including the port-a-potties. This simple little "bird" quickly moved onto being a fun ornament for our hats. The Bobwhite, or quail, has what is called a Top Knot on its head. I didn't know that's what it was called, and had always called it a "Dingy Flitchit" - I mentioned that to my Patrol, and we ran with it. All five of us put a Dingy Flitchit on our hats, and other Patrols then began decorating their hats with representative items. We also had several Staff members put a Dingy Flitchit on their own hats! Bobwhites led the way on how a Patrol should work, every member equally important and working together toward a common goal. Our Senior Patrol Leader is on the right with a headband on top of his hat.
I won't reveal any hidden agendas from Day 1, so that if you haven't attended and do in the future, you will take it as it comes. However, I will say this: Work as a Patrol, and love the Troop. You're all in this together!
Day 2 is for another post.
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