The Gapper Blog Returns!
The 2024 session of Gap at Glen Brook is in full swing! This fall marks 10 years of the Gap program here and we are so excited to share just what has been happening during week one of our stay.
Although we only arrived at camp a week ago, us gappers have been keeping busy, whether at the Hill House, around camp, or out in the wilderness.
At the Hill House, we all spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Gappers – and sometimes instructors - are in charge of meal planning as well as cooking for one another. While main meals have ranged from frittata, pad thai, and curry, many of us in the cohort also like to bake and so the kitchen has churned out an impressive amount of banana bread and other baked goods. Living at Glen Brook means that we have access to the fields, so our meals have the addition of farm fresh vegetables and fruit that we have picked ourselves.
When we are not cooking together, we have spent time together through various activities. During the day, the group has spent a lot of time playing board games such as Catan and Ticket to Ride, as well as card games such as Quips and Cards Against Humanity. Although the board games have brought out many a gapper’s competitive side, we are all able to come together during nights to talk and roast s'mores down at the campfire pit. We also have spent a lot of time in the family room reading and listening to Davis’ record collection together. We also got to listen to Clay’s guitar playing, which, while great, got tiring after the second or third day of him only being able to remember the opening to “Blackbird” by the Beatles. We are already looking forward to him learning a new song for us all to listen to for this week!
When we are not at the Hill House, we are usually found somewhere on the property whether it is formal or informal learning, or just enjoying what the land has to offer. The first few days of arriving at Camp Glen Brook meant that we had some time set aside to learn about the area that we will call home for the next few months. We have done activities such as a place-based learning lesson to find out more about how the landscape in New Hampshire was created that was partnered with a scavenger hunt to help us find our ways around our tiny area of the state. Farmer Sam also gave us a more extensive tour of the property so that we could see all of the animals that Glen Brook raises. Plenty of time has also been spent down at the lake through activities such as swimming for fun and learning canoe skills that will be useful to us on our next trip.
One of our proudest moments as a group so far though has been scaling Mt. Monadnock and finishing the ensuing hike. Throughout our time climbing the mountain, we could see easily around us, but unfortunately the fog surrounding the mountain continued to thicken, especially at the summit. We couldn’t see anything around us, but we still had reached the top together. On our way up to the top, we met a man named Amish Paul who told us that he climbed the mountain every day. He also told us some stories of other local legends who had climbed the mountain up to 17 times in a day and others who took less than 30 minutes to fully scale and descend the mountain. When we met him once again as he was coming back down the mountain as we finished hiking the top, Amish Paul told us that he would live forever and that we should meet him at the top in 100 years to commemorate our meeting him. Hiking back down the mountain and the 6 (or 7) mile hike back to Camp the next day was challenging, but we were relieved to not have to keep walking. This orientation period was dramatically ended by all of the Gappers and our instructors jumping off of the rope swing into the lake, which while cold, was a satisfying end to our trip.
TLDR:
Meals of the Week:
Savory: Pad Thai, Sweet: Banana Bread
Game of the Week:
Settlers of Catan
Song of the Week:
“Blackbird” by the Beatles
Anecdote of the Week:
Hiking Mt. Monadnock and meeting Amish Paul
Interviews:
How do you feel about living without technology such as phones and laptops?
Magnus: “I’m chillin. I have a lot more time during the breaks to read a bunch of books I haven’t finished. Also talk to people and play a bunch of board games.”
Isadora: “I’ve actually felt that I really enjoy it. It is really refreshing to not be checking my phone every minute, and it's made me feel more present with what is happening around me and with the people I am with. I also have definitely gotten more creative with my free time.”
We hope that you will come back next week to see what we have been up to, and to learn more about our gappers!
-Allison
2024 Gap at Glenbrook Blog Coordinator
Photo Credits: Mt. Monadnock - Tori Heller, Magnus, Board Games, Goats, Davis, Sarsaparilla (Sas) - Marie Baird, Hiking Mt. Monadnock - Maggie Humphrey