Pennsic 42- what we did in week 1

So the initial plan was to type up blog posts while at Pennsic to post when we made our town runs. This lasted precisely one post, so I will do my best to sum up Pennsic, and maybe tell some Pennsic stories over the next little while. This post is just a summary of what we found to keep ourselves busy and not bored the first week.
We went to Pennsic this year without a lot of commitments. Usually we have scheduled things that we have to do, such as classes to teach or people we have promised to help out. We decided to do some different things this year. I committed to help Baron Erik of Munitions Grade Arms move his rattan stock from the freight yard to the Pennsic site, and Arnbjorn and Dalla said they would do it as well. We went on Monday for that, and moved 2 tons of rattan from a tractor trailer to his trailer, then from his trailer into the racks at Pennsic. This was actually far more fun than it sounds... it was very physical, the bales of rattan were something close to 75-100lbs each... but it was a nice switch from working at a desk all day. We were rewarded with three staves of rattan each for our efforts, which was generous for a few hours work.
I had decided I would not be putting in as many hours at marshal's point this year as I did last year. Sir Stephen was marshal in charge last year, and to help him as much as possible, I spent a good chunk of nearly every day down there (though not as much as he or Aiden did). This year I ended up helping the Battlefield staff more... Sulla and Syr Silverthorn were the two primaries there, and we did fun things like move hay bales and put up posts and ropes marking the battlefield. They are almost always short of hands, so they were vary appreciative. Both are fun to work with as well, which makes a difference.
I did end up working marshal's point a decent bit. Duchess Tessa from Aethelmearc was running point this year, and is good to work with.I put in several half days there inspecting, and marshaled the field battles on the first Monday of War Week.
We also helped set up East Kingdom Royal encampment, which was cool. We went and unloaded the Kingdom trailer, and then set up the entrance pavilion, wind walls, etc. Much fun was had, there was a crew of pretty cool people working, and it went pretty well, with only a couple of hiccups. All in all, a fun experience.
I did some pickup fighting week one as well. I ended up fighting a guy from Sweden named Sven who was a fun fight. I noticed the white belt, and that he was a Duke... what I did not realize at the time was that he was also the King of Drachenwald. Needless to say, he did not suck, and was a fun fight.
Aside from these things, we mainly used the first week to relax. We played some medieval games, and visited friends. Hanging out in the Freehold/Coldwood encampment was our regular nightly thing, and we got to spend some time with Gunvar when she came over to visit us, which was also nice. All in all, first week was very relaxing, and we went into War Week rested and ready.

Arnbjorn and I playing Game of the Goose