A Day in the country

June 7^th is Brooklyn/Queens Day. It is the anniversary of the day many years ago, when Brooklyn joined NYC - it had been a separate city before that. When I was growing up, my father who worked in Brooklyn had the day off and I still went to school. A few years ago, the Department of Ed. made it a day off for all the students in the city. It became, like Election Day, a professional development day for teachers.

The school I work in decided on sending us all on a team building outing sponsored by Outward Bound. We could choose activities based on "high ropes", "low ropes" or "no ropes". I am not athletic, so chose "no ropes".

The bus got lost a few times on the way there, so we got there an hour after than we were expected.

There was a sugary breakfast, then various activities. Then lunch and a closing activity.

The first activity was one where we try to catch someone's finger while avoiding having our own finger get caught - easier said than done. We did a blindfolded test where we had to give instructions to the "robot" sending that person in different directions to perform a specific task. Also easier said than done. We did an egg drop also - in 15 minutes with straws and tape - protect the egg from shattering. The last activity was all of us bunched together and surrounded by tape. We had to work as a group to arrive at a spot over 100 feet away. The others moved so slowly for me to keep the rhythm, I had to dance my way there.

Lunch was ziti with cheese and salad. Great for those of us who don't eat meat!

We had a tie up exercise at the end - all grabbed hold of a rope that was tied into a circle. We all leaned back so that the energy from one held the others up.

The bus took a more direct route back to the city. The driver let some of us off before we got to the school so it was easier to get home.