I am and will always be a teacher at heart. I can't help myself. I see it creep into many facets of my life. The elaborate egg hunts for Easter, the gamification of Christmas, and of course at work. Work is low hanging fruit as I am technically in education even if I am in a corporate setting. But there is something that hits different about watching adults indulge in playful learning and relationship building. I have run some GooseChase activities and gleefully watched the mayhem unfurl, so it was not a big surprise when my boss asked me to help arrange something for a team member's birthday. I spent a few hours crafting the *chef's kiss* perfect experience. I went to Breakout.edu and found a digital party experience. For those unfamiliar with breakout, it is similar to the concept of a breakout room where you solve puzzles to unlock locks. (If you are super curious, you can play the particular experience I found here.) As all the team members wanted to participate, it grew from it's original simplicity, but still it was going to be great. I would send SC the breakout link with a message about sending proof that she actually finished. Once she solved all of the puzzles and sent the screenshot proof, this would prompt another team member to send her a cypher puzzle. The solution to this puzzle would direct her to ask yet another team member for a clue. Said team member would send her a digital puzzle. The puzzle was a photo of special shampoo our boss had brought back from the states for SC. When she asked our boss about the shampoo, she would get a bag with the shampoo and a birthday card. At the bottom of the card in TINY print it said, "Nellie holds the key to your birthday present." When she asked me for the key I would hand it over. She would have to remember that I used a lock box dictionary for the bonus kids Easter and when she opened that, she would get a message to check her email where there would be a gift card waiting. See? Perfect and fun. The next day, her birthday, we were all to meet at our office in Jessheim, so we could plan with another team. This would be the perfect setting to execute the birthday surprise, we would all be together and get to see her enjoyment of our planned festivities. SR calls us into a meeting to finalize our plans and happens to ask SC, "Are you excited about your birthday tomorrow??" "I hate overdone birthday and making a huge deal out of birthdays." ALL. THE. FEELINGS. What the hell did I just spend my morning doing? Wait until I talk to SR, this was her idea. Meanwhile, SR has decided in this moment that she will not contact me after this little revelation because she is certain she does not want to hear my thoughts about her idea now. Maybe...just maybe...this isn't overdone?? SC did clarify that she has girlfriends that do the birthday month and birthday registry type of overdo a birthday, and she isn't opposed to celebrating, just NOT like that. Phew. Next day her birthday arrives, so I wait until the perfect time to set up the first domino in our elaborate set up. In my estimation, SC will take the 7:30 train and have plenty of time to finish the puzzles by the time she arrives at the office and be ready to ask SR for the shampoo. This way, we aren't disrupting the other team with our shenanigans. Around 7:30, I send her the link to the breakout in our team chat and then privately wish her happy birthday to which she responds, "Just getting in the car now. See you at 9." ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? When she arrived at the office, I started my birthday harassment in earnest. I couldn't let the day end before she made it through the puzzles, or it would mean I had to just email the gift card, and quite frankly, fuck that. She was going to kick these dominoes down one by one as planned. I put too much effort into this for an email solution. So, every break we had, I was tapping her computer or asking her progress. Restroom break, not for you SC. No time for after lunch chatting, you have tasks. Oh you're enjoying your surprise birthday cake, SOLVE THE PUZZLES WHILE YOU EAT SC! At one point SR says to us, "yeah, Ima need you two with me for this." Oops, but still...priorities, woman! I was determined SC would finish even if she was reduced to me standing over her as she concentrated and pushed through the last. Luckily , it never came to that. She made it to the point of asking SR for the shampoo at 3:15. She thought that WAS the gift. Dammit, SC, read your birthday card!! "Oh, cute, you used our Learning Friends." (Me...slow blinking) The tiny print, SC, the tiny print. When I handed over the key and pulled my dictionary out of my backpack, one of the members of the other team asked, "So...you just carry around a dictionary with you??" Heaven help us what a mess this had turned into. It was NOTHING like I planned, but we had plenty of laughs and SC says it really was fun. I promised to do better for the next one. Just wait until next year. Just. You. Wait.
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So many ideas buzzing and flittering through my mind but none of them are really biting on the line except that I have a goal to touch base on this blog at least once a month which is a huge decrease from my once per week habit when I moved over here. I make excuses, new goals, and rinse/repeat, but I have been able to squeeze out one update every month. If I am being honest with myself, there just isn't so much that I want to share as I used to. First of all, my life is inextricably intertwined with more stakeholders so to speak. It is harder to tell only my story which therefore means my audience and story line has changed some. My focus has shifted as well. It's almost like I met and fell in love with a Norwegian and decided to build a life here instead of exploring the world alone. (He is a pretty good adventure buddy, though, if I do say so myself.)
So, what is swirling around up there? I have a friend that is getting married. They are both amazing people that deserve the love they have found together. They went for small and intimate, so I will have to settle for stories and photos, but still, I just want to squeal with happiness. Maybe I can work on her to have a big after celebration for all of us missing out. Besides, she needs to help me out. Another of my friends keeps hinting (read pushing) to me that NBF and I should get married because she wants to attend a big party. Gurl...come on. When we first started dating it wasn't a priority for me. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to marry again since it was such a raging success the first time around. But something about how NBF said that someday he would marry me had thinking more and more about the idea of marriage. I even started thinking about the perfect proposal and whether I would change my name like some love struck, moon eyed girl. Anyway, I would love to marry him, but we have to wait for the right time to come along. I have a work trip to Ireland coming up, and I am excited to get to take that short trip. My coworker and I agreed that the next time we plan a work trip that we need to schedule a day of exploring. I did not understand the assignment, but she did. Her next work trip is to Nashville, and she will go visit friends in the week after. Hearing her plans made me a little jealous, so I asked my boss if it was possible for the company to pay for a conference in Greece for me if I paid my own flight and hotel...so that I could bring a "personal assistant." I looked at the timeline, and there is plenty of exploration time left after conference hours. Two birds, one stone type of situation. She giggled and haphazardly mentioned it to her partner, so now it is likely we will be traveling to Greece together for a conference with our personal assistants. My writing continues to be used and published in the company and distributed to educators and schools in all of our countries. It is still so very bizarre to see my words on an inspirational/educational poster meant to guide teachers. We are also getting ready to publish a booklet about child development that I had a large hand in writing. Seeing it set in design is AAAAAmazing. The current booklet I am working on is going to be even better, and I just can't say enough about the experience. Looking back to where we came from is nothing less than breathtaking and stunning. Even if our booklets and published materials can still be improved, it is like comparing seeds to fruit. NBF's car hit the skids, we're house hunting, life continues to push us on adventures, Aside from all that, it is becoming THAT time of year. I have even heard the anthem for this time of year, Her kommer vinteren. It's the time to begin packing away the patio furniture and folding away the pavilion roof and walls around. Last night the wind was so bad, I thought we might lose our pavilion roof saving us the packing. Luckily, we did not, so we will be taking care of that this weekend. We also need to make a trip to the cabin to pack away some things for the winter. We have had so much rain this summer, who knows if we will get any snow, but I can tell you I will be buying a snow blower this year. I am absolutely not scooping the "maybe 10 centimeters" the previous owner told us about. So that is September folks, another month in the fucking books for us, and as I watch the leaves fall in earnest, I sigh because I know things are as they should be and life is good. |
Nellie HillJust a woman leaping outside her comfort zone and telling the tale. Archives
April 2024
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