Training weekend #7- The countdown has begun!

Now less than seven months away from the ultimate Japanese experience, the Highflyers once again met up for a shorter break than usual in the Winter month of January. Unlike the usual structure of the weekends, this one was slightly more relaxed. After a catch up and sharing excited pieces of news of what we had all been getting up to in the past few months, we ate an interesting lunch which involved doughnuts and sushi on the same plate! 

The afternoon followed in suit with a food hygiene quiz with prizes and us making cards to help us explain to others about England and the Scouting movement. After a chilled afternoon the heat picked up as it was time to cook a Japanese Curry for tea. Turns out when you have an Archie in your patrol you will be sitting down to a feast every night! Archie is a talented cook who surprised us all when he led us in this activity- I'm sure this will certainly become handy in Japan! 

After a delicious dinner and quality time washing up together we headed out to start the campfire and perform the sketches and songs we had come up with during the day and just enjoyed each others company before heading to bed. 

The next morning after breakfast we sat down to a thoughtful Scout's own. We discussed the difference between two videos and their effect of social media on our lives. This led on to what kind of things should be posted on social media when we are out there and how much our lives revolve around social media and networks.

 After a quick lunch and a tidy up of the camp, it was time for a meeting explaining all of the interesting details that the leaders had discovered at their weekend in November. 

In Tokyo, we found out that we are:

• climbing the Sky Tree tower
• Spending an evening at a Japanese virtual theme park
• Spending our last night in Japan at a huge party with the rest of the UK contingent

In Tokyo, we will either be staying in a Youth Hostel or the Prince Hotel in the centre of the city. (Most of the unit want the Hotel though because it has free Wifi!)

We also found out that we are heading to the prefecture of Hakusan for Home Hospitality, an area known for it's natural hot springs and picturesque landscape. 

We also learnt a little more information about the Jamboree itself. While we are there we have 8 gas rings to cook on as well as 4 dining shelters. There are 3 main sections of the Jamboree Site: Northern, Eastern and Western Hubs which all have four sub camps in. 

However this information still doesn't make it seem real- we have know about this trip for over a year and yet it still hasn't sunk in!

After a relaxed weekend we are all looking forward to seeing each other again soon. 

Kyra

Training weekend #5- London bound!

Excited and eager,the Highflyers reunited for a training weekend with a twist!  Instead of meeting at a campsite, drop off point was Newark Train station! From there,we embarked on a journey to Gilwell park using two trains and a tube- probably not the best idea to try and get all 40 of us on a tube from Kings Cross Station to Liverpool Street station at 9 O'clock at night with baggage! We finally arrived weary eyed, to be assigned a room and a quick snack before bed in our luxury bunk beds with en suites!
Bright and early the next day, we set off for a great day out in London, visiting Christmas markets and meeting with the whole unit and certain times and places throughout the day. First stop of the day: Buckingham Palace for changing of the guard! However instead of watching the parade we may have gotten a little bored and switched to taking selfies for our unit twitter account! (@LincsScoutWSJ15)

Our first meeting point was at the Japanese Embassy which, coincidentally turned out to be just down the road from Buckingham Palace! As the best patrol we arrived a few minutes early and dished out housekeeping duties to the late patrols!

Our next adventure took us to Winter Wonderland, the huge Christmas Market in Hyde Park. However we kept getting split up because of the large crowds so settled on a meeting point before splitting up into groups to wander around. The girls and I decided to have a look at all the small stalls buying presents and gifts for family and friends. After we had met up again with the rest of the unit we revealed that we had something very special. When we were standing deciding which way to go next, a very nice gentleman gave us tickets for the rides- we thanked him religiously and counted them up- overall we had been given £20 worth of tickets!

However the boys in our patrol had decided that they had had enough and decided to go to Hamleys, whereas we stayed for a little longer. Our meeting point was decided: Oxford Circus at 2:15 to make it to Greenwich in time for a unit photo.

After using the tickets gratefully received, we arrived at the meeting point expecting to meet the rest of the patrol AND STEVEN (he had gone to find Kev in Covent Garden).However Dan told us Archie and Andrew the two youngest members of the unit had gone to find a toilet and that Steven was nowhere to be seen. After about half an hour Andrew and Archie found us and a further 15 minutes passed before we caught sight of Steven coming with Kev behind. Off to Greenwich we went!

However that didn't go very smoothly at all! Firstly, we stayed on the train too long so it took us an extra 20 minutes just to get off at the right station. By this time we had missed the photo by an hour and it was starting to get dark and spirits had started to drop. After passing one of the other patrols,we were about to start the long walk up the steep hill to the Observatory when Maddie, our patrol leader, asked us to review the situation. We still had to go to the Imperial War museum for the Holocaust exhibition and be back at Gilwell for Christmas dinner promptly at 7. After much deliberation, we ditched the photo. 

You'd think that that would be the end of our problems. Wrong.

Arriving at the museum we took the lift to level four where the exhibition was, to be met with a security guard that said we had to pre-book. Steven looked like he was about to kill someone and sent Maddie down to sweet talk to manager. Finally we were allowed in. 

We all met up and the mood had completely changed, no one spoke and there were no smiles anywhere. This was meant to be preparation for Hiroshima. 

With aching feet, we hurried back arriving just in time for Christmas dinner and the secret santa! The dinner was amazing and it was fun trying to workout who got who! Turns out Catherine had got me and I had been sat next to her all along. I received a lovely glass filled with all the necessary ingredients for hot chocolate! 

We cleared the room up and the tension between the patrols rose as we started playing for prizes in Family fortunes! It was a tough battle but the overall winners: STEVEN'S PATROL! ( We didn't cheat.....promise!)
After a busy day everyone breathed a size of relief when we were told breakfast wasn't until 9 the next morning. After a delicious breakfast, we began our journey back to Newark train station but not without another test of teamwork and planning. The leaders decided it would be funny if they got off the train several stops early! This left us to find them at the correct meeting point without missing our train.
Finally we gathered together for our last few hours as a unit on the train back to Lincolnshire.

I'm sorry for the late update- I have been so busy with school! I hope everyone had a good new year! Tomorrow is actually the next camp #6, and from here on, we have a camp once a month leading up to the Jamboree JUST SEVEN MONTHS AWAY!
Kyra x

Twitter Takeover!

The Twitter Takeover has begun! Earlier this week, Charlie, Tom and I were given permission to take over our units Twitter page, this called for a celebratory tweet!

Please follow our unit Twitter account @LincsScoutWSJ15 and follow the High Flyers on our journey to Japan!
Thank you!

Training Camp #3

Once again, last weekend, The High Flyers came together as a unit. It was a very exciting reunion as we hadn't see each other for two months. On our arrival we were given ten UK contingent badges to sell as well as one for our uniforms, a tube of smarties and a coloured post-it note. We were given instructions to eat the smarties but save the tube. After everyone had arrived, the secret about the post-it notes came out. Kev got bored signing everyone in and decided to mess us around. After a few jokes, the suspense was broken when the unit were finally told which patrols we were in. I am in the Red Devils with Maddie (the patrol leader) and Henry (The assistant patrol leader). Our adult leader is Steven. Patrol time came next which included a very violent game of Irish snap!The next morning our patrol were in charge of breakfast resulting in 5am lay in. On the menu that morning was salty fish soup, bacon and eggs and then a traditional Japanese salad. Breakfast was early in the morning because in Japan, some mornings we have to be on coaches by 6 and there is a possibility that the coach park may be more than half an hour away from our camp. By nine, we had played 3 different activities: rugby, water balloon fights and a morning workout. All of the activities were led by members of IST. They were really fun! A sex education talk followed as well as first aid and running activities for other patrols that were previously planned. 

Lunch time came along and everyone enjoyed it. After lunch we had a presentation from two guys who attended the last WSJ in Sweden. They told us everything we needed to know and also gave us a little question and answer session. After we had free time so we hung about, enjoying each others company playing hockey, cricket and generally having a great time. 

It was then time for the quiz. We set up the local community centre, right next to the campsite and then split up into groups. My team and I were called the 5 Guides and it. This was because, Maisie, Catherine, Ellie, Gemma and Alice were all Guides and I was the only Scout. After a great time, our team came joint fourth. We enjoyed the experience and were all shocked when the results of the Great Balloon Release were announced. Catherine's balloon traveled the furthest therefore earning her £50 off her total. An early night was calling after the early start however one more thing had to be done. Recently the year 11's in the unit.  had just finished all their exams so decided to burn all their revision. A campfire and lots of cake was set up and was the ending to another great day. 

The next morning, I had a lovely lay in as breakfast wasn't until 9. After packing my stuff, I walked into the hut and saw some of my fellow friends challenging each other with an obstacle course made from string, hung around the room. Eventually it turned into a blindfold challenge!!
After a full English breakfast, there were two activities set: challenges with a visitor from the RAF and a look in our version of Japan in a box. This is a box that every unit in the UK will receive with many items relating to Japan. Scotland, the leader of the Tokyo part of our journey, led this activity, telling us why it was in the box and he also showed us his skills: making an origami peace crane!

We had another sweet lunch, a lot like the one we had on our first weekend. Our camp ended with cleaning and packing away as well as a last group discussion. During this we were set a few challenges. The first is to swap our one red paperclip. The second was to fill our empty smarties tubes with money and at each camp we have to bring how much we have made.

Finally goodbyes had to be made. Once again I had a great camp and can't wait to see everyone again!

If you would like to buy one of the UK contingent badges, please don't hesitate to contact me: kyrabal99@gmail.com
If you are enjoying my blog, please checkout these three blogs, they are written by three other members of our unit: The High Flyers.

Catherine's Blog!
Maisie's Blog!
Selina's Blog!

A big thank you....

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who reads this blog, it means a lot to me. In was astonished when I looked at the statistics the other night and saw that my blog has been viewed in countries like Germany, Canada, Mexico and even Thailand!  I think it is a huge honour. If there are any participants reading this who are also going to take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity please contact me by email ( kyrabal99@gmail.com ) so I can get to know you and we can talk about news from our units and maybe even organizing a way to meet each other in person at the jamboree next year?? Once again thank you for reading and I hope you follow my journey to the jamboree. Kyra x

400 days to go....

Today the countdown begins of 400 days until the opening ceremony of the World Scout Jamboree. Today is also special because there are only 4 days until our next training camp. Since the last camp, we all kept in touch by a group chat on social media. Topics often discussed were fundraising ideas and events as well as swaps. However the chat wasn't just about scouting, exams were also discussed as well as proms and our daily lives. I feel this has brought us closer as a unit. If I ever have a bad day and feel down I can always count on these people to be there for me and cheer me up again. For that I just want to say thank you to all of them and I look forward to sharing friendships and memories that will last forever.

My collection of swapping items has began! It is the season of the football world cup as well as many England flags and souvenirs. So far I have 7 English flag blow up hand things. Also I am taking handmade bracelets to swap as they are small and easy to pack as well as showing thought and commitment and time. An image will be displayed below of the kind of bracelets I am making.

The Great Balloon Release

There was a short delay about when the balloons were released however the balloons set sale from an iconic Lincolnshire venue, Burghley house on the 4th May. Here is a picture of all of the balloons. Good luck to everyone who bought one and thank you for your help, my friends and I really appreciate it and can't wait to share our experiences during our journey to Japan.
My blog will be updated shortly, with another report of Training Camp #2!