Hello everybody
Last weekend, I met up with Unit 8 for the 3rd time, for a weekend camp at Braidwood, near Chesham. Unlike the last camp we had, it was hot and sunny the whole time and I can safely say it was one of the best meetings we've had so far. The whole weekend was pretty relaxed and the weather helped us all get used to the climate in Japan , although it will be much much hotter and more humid out there. This is what we got up to...
When we are out in Japan, we will be in patrols of 9, with a Patrol Leader and Assistant Patrol Leader, their job is to keep everyone together when we are moving around. Since the last camp, the leaders decided these patrols and we were placed in them for the setting up of our dining shelters and for most of the weekends' activities. Once in our patrols we had to come up with a patrol name and decorate Tee-shirts for us to wear ready for the afternoons' rounders and ultimate frisbee matches. My patrol was aptly names the 'Ginger Ninjas' due to 2 of us being of a more orange shade of hair colour.
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| Decorating our patrol shirts |
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| I drew 8 of these Ninjas ! |
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| Ginger Ninjas |
In our patrols, we had to come up with a plan for an evening session for a group of beavers, cubs or scouts aimed at introducing the idea of the Jamboree and inspiring the culture of Japan. Our patrol's plan included crab football with a blow up globe, oragami waterballoons and move-the-malteaser-with-chopsticks.
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| Japan in a box |
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| Trying on happy jackets |
After 'Japan in a box' and lunch (which sadly, I didn't get a picture of) we embarked on a highly competitive game of rounders against the opposing patrols followed by a riveting game of ultimate frisbee. The Ginger Ninjas reigned victorious , winning both matches despite many balls-in-stomachs and tumbles to the ground.
In patrols, we then went on to build fires so as to backwoods cook our dinners. I must say, our fire was pretty impressive and allowed us to have cheese stuffed mushrooms, courtesy of my fellow ginger Matt, and peppers and fried burgers.
Despite the general knowledge that backwoods cooking involves wrapping food in tinfoil and placing it directly into the embers of the fire, we mixed things up a bit; George and myself used the metal door mat from outside the girls toilets as a very effective grill. We must have started a trend because I saw far fewer metal door mats around the site from then on...
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| The Ginger Ninja's fire |
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| Making dinner |
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| Spot the door mat |
We finished the evening with a huge campfire and singing, all in all , it was a fantastic first day.
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| The more pallets the better |
The next morning began with a lovely thought of the day from Chris, quoting Beyonce at 7am which really got me going. This was swiftly followed by a breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, sausages and beans.
Because we were allowed to camp on the site for free, as with the Quarries camp, we had to some site maintenance. This time it was less clearing rocks and more clearing leaves, which I must say was a lot more pleasant and slightly less draining.
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| Sweeping the leaves |
We were then lucky enough to meet a man named Gavin and his adorable daughter May, who lived in Japan for a period of time whilst he was an English teacher. First of all he told us a bit about the key places to visit in Tokyo, the food and drink, and simple cultural etiquette. As well as telling us some really interesting facts about Japanese culture, he dispelled any of our worries about doing home hospitality.
Having one of our leaders as a professional chef means our lunches are often of a fairly high standard, so on Sunday we had delicious burgers and sausages in rolls, cheese pasties, fruit and chocolate bars.
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| Lunch time |
Seeing that Stuart had a volleyball, a Wendover explorer unit had a volleyball net and me being the competitive person I am, in the afternoon, I organised a unit v unit volley ball tournament, which, sadly we lost, but was still great fun. Bearing in mind the scorching temperatures and our very limited practice, the score wasn't too awful.
So to round things off, here is a picture of Charlie the dog wearing a ninja mask.
The weekend was again, so much fun and now we have Patrols, friendships are even stronger. Our next meeting is in July, so my next update will probably be then unless something amazingly exciting happens before then !
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| Unit 8 |
Thanks for reading
Lauren :)
PS. OUR BADGES HAVE ARRIVED ! These are exclusive to Unit 8 so you can't find them anywhere else , if you'd like one, they are £2 + PP, so let me know. This is one of the ways I am fundraising so I'd love any support.
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| BUY BADGES PLEASE |
PPS. TICKETS FOR THE QUIZ ARE ON SALE ! Tickets for the Chiltern North quiz are available now, they are £11.50 and include a fish and chips dinner. The quiz is on 13th September at Great Missenden Memorial Hall, there will be a raffle and bar. Contact me if you would like some:)
