Summer Staff Day Out

 

On Wednesday 3^rd August theOur Chalet Summer volunteers and staff were treated to a wonderful day out together. Given very little hints before the actual day we were told we needed swimwear, hiking boots and neckers…and so that is what we arrived to breakfast dressed in! The rest of the staff who had cooked an amazing feast of a breakfast for us (including French toast, bacon, scrambled eggs and croissants!!) seemed more worried than amused by our humour!

Without giving anything away, we all packed into all of theOur Chaletcars and just as we started down the Oey hill the sprinkles of rain started to hit the windshield. Unfortunately, the weather only got worse from there! In the car we took bets on whether we would take the next left or right, ending up in the pouring rain and hail in the Kandersteg Valley, not so excited for a day of presumed hiking and swimming, for neither of which the weather was suited. The group voted and decided to drive on through the car-train to the town ofBrig, in the canton of Valais, optimistically heading to one of the sunnier cantons ofSwitzerland! It was a shame that it wasn’t a nicer day to visit the stunninglakeOeschinensee…oh well, maybe there will be time for another staff day out before the season is over.

The car train gave the drivers Jen, Sally and Susanne some rest as we sped through the tunnel from Kandersteg to Goppenstein. Driving in tandem from there to Brig was rather interesting as Jen had to circle around the roundabouts once or twice in the van to wait for everyone to catch up and see which turn she took! Unfortunately, the weather was not much improved in Brig, however, everyone had a nice relaxing time raiding the sales and eating delicious icecream!

We arrived together back atOur Chaletstill without confirmation of the evening plans, although all of the vollies had their guesses! We had an incredible dinner as we made our own mini pizza raclette bakes! It was fantastic sharing the communal raclette bake and frying the veggies, putting it altogether on the pizza base and then melting the cheese on top. We all enjoyed sitting and spending a meal together, as we are such a big team there are not often times throughout the Summer when we all can meet together.

After the dinner we set off to walk to Boden to go and see the travelling circus! The performance was great, including juggling, hoops, flips, balancing gymnasts, climbing, tight-rope walking, knife-balancing, breathtaking trapeze artists and a lot of funny clown to audience jokes. We all sat together and laughed to the point of tears as well as gripping each other’s hands in the moments of danger! It was a lovely night spent together and absolutely everybody was impressed by the performance.

A huge thankyou from all of the Summer volunteers to Jen, Katie, Susanne and Sally as well as Christine and Jenny for looking after the Chalet while we were out.

By Cale Johnstone