It has been a while since I wrote something, so I am currently sitting in my favourite cafe- Tinderbox in Glasgow and having a mocha.
Tasty and MASSIVE!
My last entry ended when I was about to attend SignCircle as a volunteer.
Beforehand I was trying to work out what I would need for camping as it has been a while since I slept in a tent (the last time I slept in one was for Glastonbury!). with the help of Wolfie Snr and Wolfie Jnr (my godson) I managed to get the main things I needed.
When I set out to catch the train to Preston, I checked everything and I think my rucksack was a wee bit too big as there was plenty of room for extra useless items! I received a lot of strange looks as it was pretty much bigger than me!
I sent those pictures to Mum to show I was holding on tight to my luggage after the recent stolen suitcase!
When I got off the train, I was greeted by several Deaf Oz kids and their teachers from Bairnsdale, who I had met a few days before when they visited the university as part of their mini European tour and I said I would meet them to head to the campsite together.
It was a bloody hot day and a 30kg (I think! Easily could have been 10!) rucksack was irritating after a while. After a bus ride and a trek, we finally arrived and was greeted by Gayie :)
This was my first time at SignCircle so I was a wee bit unsure of what to expect, I bummed about waiting for Wolfie Snr to arrive along with his GF Vintagey, so they could set up the tent when I watched as I am bloody terrible with tents! Wolfie Snr claimed that it would take him 10 mins easily.... Half hour later........ Finally!!
I reported to the volunteer manager and was quickly told what would I be required to do as a Communication Co-ordinator, I got a cool t-shirt, it was black with the logo in red to reflect the colour of my team who wore red t shirts.
Upon meeting my team, I was nervous and a bit scatter brained. I talked them through the programme of the weekend and what would be required of them and that I just needed to print off the timetable ready for everyone. Then it struck me..... I hasn't asked them their names! Oops.....
Later on the timetables were divvied up and people was clear what they would be expected to do including 'On Call' during the night just in case of hospital trips or something!. I found the rota a challenge as it is not easy to make one for 12 people (thanks Wolfie Snr and Vintagey for checking that the rota was goof enough!) Imagine my dismay when one person failed to turn up which meant a quick shuffle of the rota, this was not the only time I had to change the rota during the weekend, I think I changed it about 10 times! Friday was a rather relaxing night and I went to sleep halfway mumbling a bedtime story for Wolfie Jnr.
Saturday rolled on and I was up early tweaking the rota again after I noticed that one workshop changed their time, and some of the communicators needed extra support when doing the voice over for a certain Scottish sailor who used the Scottish version of BSL which provided to be so hard for them to understand as most had never seen that style before and I had a mutiny on my hands for the next day workshop so after a discussion with the boss, we then scrapped the voiceover. The sailor wasn't the only person hard to understand, a doctor well known for his theory on Deafhood was too much as well as most of the communcators wasn't not familiar with his work and struggled to understand what he was on about.
Thankfully, most of the rota worked out well and several adjustments was needed as some RSLIs was required to go to the hospital with people who needed treatments. (They all are fine! No serious accidents unlike that Star Treky bloke who broke his arm or was it a leg 2 years ago). NB. It was 3 years ago and a broken leg!
I panicked a bit when most of the communicators had to leave Sunday afternoon so I quickly worked out that I only needed 4 and only 4 stayed which was a relief! Most of them was great to work with and some I found difficult due to their level of confidence so I tried to encourage them that it is okay to learn form mistakes and not to feel defeated by it!
As I said before that it was my first time at SignCircle as well to volunteer in a senior role as well, I found out a lot of things and it seem I handle things differently than the previous coordinators, i hung out in the info tent mainly as it was easier for me to have people to meet me there then report to me etc and the info staff said they really liked this style as the previous people would meet in their tent, A TENT?!?! I would feel the pressure to be tidy! The info tent was a lot more accessible as it was near the food, mobile chargers and rota changes if needed as well it was next to the first aid tent.
People would often ask me if it was okay to charge their phones and I was in a mischievous mood so I would tell them that the fee was a life story and if it was interesting they could charge their phones. Most knew I was joking and for some it was fun to see their faces when the penny dropped for them.
I was really worn out by the end of the weekend and left a lot of conversations half way to attend to whatever that was needed to be done. Sorry people!
The weather held up well with minor rain during the weekend, luckily our tent was great unlike some other people's who had some flooding!
The food provided was really tasty and there was plenty of choices. One of the food tents was fun by the Punk Chef and his team.
I would recommend this camping festival for anyone as the campers seem to have a lot of fun as well the volunteers. I would like to attend again as a volunteer in a different role in 2015!
I was delighted to meet some people from Twitter, a lovely couple with 2 even more lovely kids! I am still in awe at their youngest's ability to eat chilli rice crackers without breaking a sweat!
Twitter is an awesome forum for the meeting of the minds as well to discuss, network, gain information and so on in just 140 characters!
I also got to see people who I haven't seen for years and was delighted to meet their kids, i squealed at the twins I met! so cute :D
My next posting will be about my trip to my spiritual home along with photographs!
Fact: it took me 2 weeks to recover from SignCircle!
