Summary of mon 17.10. & tue 18.10.

Monday

On Monday we had a day trip to Tampere. First we separated into two groups. One group went shopping and the other to walk a tour in Tampere. After that we went to eat to Rax -buffet. We walked from Rax to Tampere theatre where we had a guided tour as we had in Helsinki too. People seemed to like the tour even though everyone was a little bit tired. After the visit in the theatre we switched the groups so everyone got to see Tampere and go shopping. As leaders we thought that the day was just in right place in the program. It divided the camp nicely. The first two days we were accustoming to the system and after the day trip we could start really focusing on working.

Tuesday

First workshop of the day was cooking intercultural food at local restaurant premises. Participants were separated in three groups and groups made pea soup, korvapuusti (Finnish cinnamon bun) and baklava. In the afternoon the workshop was about making comedy on stage. People made short sketches in groups. Evening workshop was called ”first steps in classical & jazz ballet”. There participants could make a dance performance in groups. Most of the performances were wonderful if you think in how short time were they made.

On Tuesday there was also a little dissatisfaction episode with some of the participants. We leaders had tightened the rule about the permission to go out to have some fresh air. Before the participants had a permission to do that whenever they wanted, but now it’s possible only in one long break of the day and after that only with a leader. We tried to explain the situation that we have a responsibility of all the participants so if they are out on their own and something happens, it’s leaders fault. After a moment of discussion we all got in balance with the situation. This little episode was once again a good lesson for us as leaders. We have been very nice leaders and we have given a lot of more free time to the participants that they have usually had in this kind of projects and now we recognize that it might be more easy or reasonable to be a little more ”bossing” leader. Still we think that it is important to show participants that we trust them, that we want to treat them as responsible people. Once again, the middle road would be the best - we are still discovering it! But discovering yourself and your ways of acting never ends. :)