This day revolved around the big move from the Family homes to the campsite, adjusting ourselves to our new living situations and environment, preparing our new homes (tents) for the heavy rain that was predicted, and exploring our new facilities and well-being. The new living environment meant a circular field for our tents, surrounded by pine trees and blueberries.
From now on, we will prepare breakfast and lunch ourselves in our eating hall, which we have come to call The Ark. Dinner will actually be prepared FOR us, by the Metsäkartano staff, in the big dining hall: something unprecedented in Y-Top Gatherings.
Whilst we were blessed with sunny weather whilst setting up the tents, that night the rain returned, which meant an interesting reveal of which tents were actually Finnish-weather proof, and which weren't. It seems like, as long as the rain lasts, The Ark turns into a shelter for different people to sleep in (kind of fitting, isn't it?) during the night.
However, since we learned from our mistakes of last year that a rocky transition between environments can mean a rocky ending of the camp, extra attention was paid by everyone to stay calm and supportive during the move: it seemed that even a night of thunder storms and leaky tents could not shatter the positivity and enthusiasm of most of us!
In a nutshell, it was a perfect way to carry with us and express, throughout all we did to manage this move smoothly, all the things we have learned from the Seeds in the first days: from Learning from Nature to Creativity in finding solutions to unexpected complications. It was great.
Correspondents of the day: Emilie (Sweden) and Maei (Iceland) [a.k.a. our Magical Medical Team]
Emilie: Firstly, I would describe this day as adventurous. A lot went different than we, from a medical perspective especially, would have wished: people leaving their tents open in the rain, we were digging out trenches in the dark to prevent the rain from creating a lake in the middle of the tents.
Maei: I think me and Emilie were very much prepared mentally for this day; we spoke about it a lot. We wanted to be at the ready to give support where needed, because we knew it would be a drastic shift. From my perspective, the number one priority was to try and make the shift as smooth as possible. The break in the weather, from drought to refreshening and rejuvenating rain, was great for that.