Day 3 & 4: Jamboree time !

Hi Everybody 

It's been incredibly busy since Monday night, finishing off Ho Ho, catching the Shinkansen and setting up our campsite in Yamaguchi.

To save going into lots of detail, again, here are some pictures showing a bit about what we've been up too.

 

Amber and I ended Ho Ho with a visit to a popular sushi bar. Because of the time of our train we had 'brunch' (an interesting word to explain to our family). We took the recommendations of our family and tried some fish eggs and some eel sushi. 

I can't get over how friendly and welcoming our host family were, they even waved us off at the train station ! 

We spent about 4 hours in total on the trains to Yamaguchi, most of it on the Shinkansen. The journey seemed to go really quickly to me as we found a couple of other UK units and got chatting with a Merseyside patrol. 

By the time we arrived at the Jamboree site, it was dark however this (picture above) is what our site looks like. The whole site is split into 4 subcamps which are divided into Villages. We are in the Northen Hub in Akagi Village, basically the first site in the top right had corner of the 3 km site. 

We spent most of yesterday constructing out gateway and since then we've added sheets on each side which people are signing as they come past.

We then headed to the opening ceremony. I honestly don't think I've seen so many people in one place; 40'000 people on one massive pitch all chanting and shouting, waving flags and supporting their country was the most impressive site I think I've ever seen. 

We finished off the night with a final wash down in the communal shower, which has ended up just being a massive water fight. It's become common to spend any free time in the cold showers because it's so hot and sticky , it was over 33c yesterday and so so humid.

Today we're doing the global development village programme and potential hosting a party at our site. 

So, in the words of Adam Parkes 'We dance non stop, we party till we drop' 

Thanks for reading !

Lauren 

Day 1 & 2 : Arriving in Japan

Hello everyone !

I'm going to keep it brief as I'm writing this on my phone, however I don't know how I can put into a short post how AMAZING everything has been so far. It's not just me who can't quite believe we've made it; after a 7 hour flight to Doha in Qatar followed by a 9 hour flight to Osaka and a 4 hour coach  journey we arrived in Gifu for Ho Ho.

As they say pictures speak a thousand words, so, as I will probably do for the rest of the trip, here are some photos of what we've been up to.

We started off our journey at Heathrow airport, meeting 2 other units off to the Jamboree. 

*generic plane photo* 

Once we landed in Osaka , it was pretty obvious that the Jamboree units had arrived, blue bags EVERYWHERE.

We drove from the airport to Gifu, where we were picked up by our host families and taken to their homes. By the time we had arrived we were hot, sweaty and very tired, but we still had the energy to show our family ( the parents and oldest son) our 'about me' books. 

These are the 3 children in my family, the boy, who is a Cub Scout, is called Ousaku, the oldest girl is 4 year old Itchika and Akari is 1. They are all incredibly cute to say the least.

The man on ththe left is to father of our host family, Taiji and the woman carrying the baby on th right is Hitomi.

After a traditional breakfast of rice, miso soup and various Japanese condiments, including Natto (fermented beans), we went to the town hall and met the mayor.

The hospitality of both the family and the Mayors office was overwhelming.

We visited a traditional Japanese castle withy the local Cubs, meaning we joined up with a couple of other pairs from Unit 8. 

The castle was used by sammori warriors over 500 years ago. This one is called Inuyama Castle.

We took part in a tea ceremony in the afternoon, and I came to the conclusion that green tea isn't really my cup of tea.

The children in our family are adorable even if all we can say to each other is arigatoo ....

As we were walking back to the car we came across a bridal procession, the woman is wearing a traditional Japanese wedding outfit.

Apparently the temperature reached 34c today and the humidity was quite a shock to the system. Amber, I and the rest of the unit are catching the Bullet  train tomorrow lunch time and heading down to the Jamboree site, which is looking pretty damp :(

So, that's day 1 and 2 over, please feel free to leave any comments and check out the unit 8 Facebook page for more photos.

Thanks for reading,

Lauren x

PS this is dinner being made as I type.

6 Days to go: Amazing Project Revelation

Hi Everyone !

Chances are, this will be my last blog post before we actually arrive on the Jamboree site, CRAZY.

In my last post, I mentioned a secret project my Unit had been working on at our last training weekend, and today I can reveal it. Yesterday, we officially released our music video. 

Yes, a music video, planned, choreographed, performed, filmed and edited by Unit 8. A lot of hard work went in to it, so please share it, like it etc We want it to go viral (maybe). 

So here it is, enjoy !

Also, for people asking, the different colours correspond to the patrols, my patrol is green. 

PS Follow me on twitter @Lauren_Allngton for instant updates when we're in Japan

PPS I will be trying to update everyday as of 26th July, so please check it out, leave comments and spread the word about one of the biggest events this year :)

19 Days to go: Last training weekend EVER

Hi Everyone

My last Jamboree training weekend (ever!!), was pretty much completely dedicated to a secret project the Unit has been planning for quite a while.

I don't want to give too much away, as the rest of Unit 8 wanted to keep it a surprise, however, here are a couple of photo's which might give a hint as to what we were up to.

Any guesses ???

We also practiced teaching and supervising the cultural activities we we will be doing on jamboree. A group of very energetic 7 year old Beavers visited our site to make sugar chopsticks, play blind foot ball and do sumo wrestling, Let's just say the sugar made the 'football' very interesting.

We may have mocked the little ones for being so childish, but the hot weather all weekend meant we spent a good hour having a full on water fight. It was all v all but some got a little wetter than 

others...

Wet and wild

That's about it for now, the countdown has really begun, only 19 days till we set of on the biggest adventure of our lives. 

Thanks for reading 

Lauren x