The week of LOC'S

Good evening from South Africa! We've all been super busy the past week so there is SO much to cover. I suggest making yourself comfy because this is going to be a long blog...

This week has been all about LOC reassessments. For those who don't know, LOC stands for 'level of competency' and when an instructor begins their training they have to pass all of the LOCs before being able to instruct groups (and get the job!). There's a LOC for every activity we run here and also a bunch of othere LOC'S. Emily has been redesigning the whole LOC layout and requirements so it was very different to what we did when we arrived here at OB those many months ago...

So on Monday we started with the expedition LOC. This involved us going around in small groups to different stations where we'd be assessed on everything to do with an expedition. This included camp craft, pitching tents, map work, correct packing of rucksacks and much more! We were also assessed on mental health and were given different scenarios to act out and resolve. After lunch it was the land fitness LOC. In under an hour we had to complete the 5km loop hike up round the hill while carrying a 14kg rucksack, then do 20 push ups, 30 sit ups and carry someone on our back for 30 metres. The sun also decided to come out properly for the first time in days when we started the hike. Fair to say there was lots of tired people lying on the ground by the flagpole afterwards. The day still wasn't done yet as we still needed to do the search and rescue LOC. This involved us splitting into two groups and having to act out a real life scenario. So we had to get all the gear we'd need and head out in search of our casualty. Our groups casualty had a fractured leg so we patched it up as best we could and made am improvised stretcher (we were not allowed to use the actual stretchers kept on base) with sticks, rope and the sleeping bag from the search and rescue pack. After a busy day me and Talitha decided to go for a quick swim and quick it was... the water was COLD.

Tuesday morning we did forms, course paperwork and report writing LOC'S. This may be one of the less exciting things we do here at OB but knowing how to do these properly is important (and also makes management's jobs much more easier). I loved Tuesday afternoon. We did all the water activity LOC'S - kayaking, canoeing, rafting and raft building. Like yesterday we spilt into groups and went round stations. There was a raft building one where we had to run the activity as we would to a group, I'm glad I remembered all my knots! We also had to do the same for the rafting and then the final station was just some questions about the weather and other safety measures. We then hit the water! We started by taking out the canoes and showing the correct paddle strokes and then done some rescues with people in them and then empty ones. We then got to go out in the raft paddling for a bit before capsizing it. After turning it back the correct way (remember it's about 14ft long!) we had to get back on with no help from others. As you can imagine some people took delight in pushing people back in multiple times! We also had to get onto the whaler with no help twice as part of a LOC. After we got the raft back to shore we swapped it for a kayak and paddled out and showed that we could do braces and rolls. For the rolls we had to do 5 including a bomb roll (where you start with the paddle behind your back) so I chose to do a 180° and then three 360° rolls. I'm thought the water wasn't too cold (definitely warmer than the previous day) but many others disagreed. That night if you walked into the kitchen you would see a bunch of people huddled round mugs of hot chocolate or coffee.

Wednesday morning we covered all the philosophy LOC'S. This included the history of Outward Bound international and South Africa, the core values, mission statement, the five pillars of OB and our approach. It might seem boring to some but I think it's definitely some of the most important things to know as an instructor. We also covered some 'systems and procedures' LOC'S - living on base, DP duties and vehicles and trailers. After lunch we did the water fitness and rescue LOC'S. For the fitness one we had to do a 2km run within 15 minutes, 30 push ups (my enemy all week), 30 sit ups, swim 200 metres within 8 minutes without a life jacket (I got just under 4 mins 30 secs), swim under the whaler to the other side and then tread for 15 minutes, with elbows out the water for 5 minutes. To make the treading more bearable we had a water polo ball so we were throwing that around too. For the water rescue LOC the main focus was saving an unconscious and conscious victim from the water. We had to wear a sailing jacket and trousers while we did this to mimic a situation of if we were wearing normal clothes such as a jumper and trousers, when we suddenly had to rescue someone. It definitely made swimming harder! After work we all headed into town so that everyone (excluding us Europeans) could vote (properly and also not) in the election.

It was the abseiling, rock climbing and high ropes LOC'S on Thursday. I was paired with Zanza and we started at the jacobs ladder where I did the gear and safety briefing before climbing up as Zanza belayed me. I also had to pretend to be absolutely petrified of heights and being lowered back down so that Zanza had to climb up using the cows tail and talk me through it all/offer reassurance. For abseiling and rock climbing we had to demonstrate the correct set up (with one of us blindfolded) and all of the safety procedures. For the abseiling we also had to demonstrate the emergency release and z-drag. We also spent the last part of the day doing the group dynamics LOC'S. This involved us all running the briefings for spiders web (where some instructors happily took on the role of being the naughty participants), limpopo swing, tetrus tyres and berlin wall. We even found time between it all to cover the community service and solo LOC'S. Another really busy day.

Friday was as busy as all the other days. We had a staff meeting in the morning and then a talk about the financial side of OBSA from Deon  (the main guy in charge here). The instructors spent the rest of the day going through their pods laying everything out (so Nthabi could check everything) and fixing things that were broken. Me, Scott and Talitha got a watch tent out and cleaned it as we'll be using it next week, packed the trailer for the rubbish run and then separated two buckets. This was much harder than it sounds - we tried every trick in the book including using washing-up liquid. In the end they came apart when we used the volley ball court poles. After an extremely busy week we had a braai that night which was good. We even baked a cake and some brownies!

On Saturday us three helped out at Deons daughters 8th birthday party. We ran some games, did the limpopo swing and did some swimming with them. As a thanks we got lunch (another braai), cake (which was delicious) and a party bag (reliving my childhood). We also went for a swim afterwards. I definitely caught up on some much needed rest last night for sure! Yesterday after doing my washing, we took a walk into Sedgefield and had lunch there.

Our LOC filled week was also filled with spiders - Scott rescued a huge one from Shirley's room and when we were cleaning out the wood shed (we also somehow fitted in maintenance this week as well!) we saw a black widow and genuinely the BIGGEST spider I've seen. I don't know what type of spider it was exactly but it's something like a huntsman or baboon spider. I recommend not searching those up on Google if you don't like spiders!

The photos I have for this week is us doing the water rescues and me and Zanza doing the rock climbing set up.

I hope you've enjoyed this update. I apologise for the length of it but I didn't want to leave anything out! I'm looking forward to another crazy busy week here in SA and I'm excited to share it with you all next Sunday.

Rachel :)