explorerscout84

Washington DC

A quick update from me. I enjoyed the Jamboree very much and have made many new international friends – when I return to the UK I will write up each day from my notes. On Friday we left the site and headed to our university accommodation in Maryland. On route we stopped and I exhaled a joy of cry as I spotted Goldfish in America so automatically had to grab myself a bag! We ate real food and I do not think I’ve ever seen so many UK Scouts voluntarily eat salad (it was definitely a change from rice and chicken!).

We then played cards until a bunch of people from another unit (83) stole our Florida flamingo (more to be explained on a different post) so we ran around trying to recapture it. We then headed to be after a well deserved yet weirdly warm shower.

We woke up the next day and ate breakfast (there was bacon!) before walking to the train station. We caught the train into Washington DC where we first headed towards the White House. From there we could explore at our own accord so headed towards Lincon memorial.

We also looked at the Vietnam memorial and walked along the pool of reflection before stopping at the World War memorial. To photograph the Washington monument my group became Spidermen. From here we headed towards the Natural history museum.

Here I found the bear prints which when I was around 3 I had my photo taken their – hence I retook the photo. We looked at the displays: ran away from the elephant from night at the museum, recreated an antelope attacking a lion being attacked by a cheetah and more. I learnt that pigs are related to hippo’s before we ate lunch.

After lunch we headed to the air and space museum where we got personalised dog tags and saw some of Neil Armstrong’s kit which he took to the moon. We also space walked and touched a piece of the moon. We then headed back to meet our unit before heading back to our university accommodation. After a quick stop at target (where I brought 3 packs of goldfish and a mango – a story for another time) we then got dinner.

That evening we headed to the UK party where we had our photos taken in all of the host countries photo booths. We got a free ground sheet and also took part in a few other activities. We went to target again to buy some popcorn and tissues but only had $5 so when it came to 4 cents over (we forgot about taxes) the lady just allowed us to pay (and forgot about the missing 4 cents).

We headed back to the accomodation where I showered before heading to watch a movie (it didn’t happen) and then ended up writing up the past few days by hand with my unit (who were watching fast and furious). I then headed to bed.

The next day I woke up and headed to breakfast (for sausages which weren’t patties!). We then went back to our accommodation where we had a mini pub quiz (a group of flamingos is called a flamboyant) and then headed to catch our yellow school bus. We arrived at the baseball where I set off the metal detector as I forgot to take my bottle off of my shorts so it buzzed. Some of us had to lie about our age in order to get a free hat but luckily I did not need to and break Another Scout law! Once we got in and had our supporter hats, we grabbed food and headed to a seat (which was along the row of my designated seats). We watched baseball and as a contingent got a shout-out for being international supporters of Anthony Santender.

Our unit had to leave early (as did many others) to catch our bus. I have now found out that I am going for dinner at Denny’s tonight.

The Big Apple

We drove over Brooklyn bridge in the dark heading towards our university accommodation. As we drove over we could see the New York skyline lit up with lights and it was beautiful. Once we arrived at our accommodation we stood off of our air-conditioned coach into the humid (32 degree) heat. We quickly got told some information before heading up to floor 15 to sleep.

I took a few photos of the skyline before sorting out my bags and heading to bed. I awoke a 6:20 (local time) with less than 4 hours ‘sleep’. I kept waking up during the night either too hot or due to noise. Once we woke we managed to lock ourselves out of our room as we went to admire the view in the day light. Luckily, someone came to our rescue with a master’s key!

Once we had sorted ourselves we headed towards a delicious breakfast of a dry bagel (with the option of Philadelphia cheese), orange juice, water and an apple. We ate quickly before heading to Brooklyn bridge to have a group photo. As we left the bridge, a group of Americans gave us a warm welcome before we continued on route to the 9/11 memorials.

(I would just like to interrupt with a temperature update. The temperature was around 36 degree’s centigrade but felt like 45.)

We saw Ground Zero which was beautiful and hard-hitting. From there we headed towards Central Park board Subway. We worked out how to use the Subway and managed to arrive at Central Park. We walked passed the Trump hotels and spotted lots of UK units. Our leaders brought us ice lollys to eat before we headed around Central Park and spotted the Essex unit which we cannot with on our previous Gilwell/London training camp.

We walked towards Times Square but first ate lunch at Applebee’s. I ordered a Cheeseburger before the person next to me asked the difference between a hamburger and a cheeseburger. Our waitor gave us jugs of Pepsi and water and was very helpful for the vegetarian on the table. However later on the vegan burger looked surprisingly meaty. We soaked up the cool air-conditioning before heading to Times Square. Here we had a quick photo opportunity and my patrol ‘collectively’ decided to go into Sephora (where we tested all the first fragrances to hide our sweaty smell) we also went to Levi’s and American Polo. I got given a fan as an advertisement for a Broadway show.

We then headed towards the Empire State but stopped off at a tourist shop. As we left the shop we realised that we were running late so had to quickly go to the nearest deli to buy a packed dinner. I had a roast turkey roll, popcorn, a cookie and a cold drink. One of my leaders ordered a cheese sandwich so he was thoroughly disappointed as he received a grilled cheese sandwich instead.

Finally we headed back to the Subway where my card decided that it had ran out of credit so the kind man in the ticket machine let us through a different gate. We made the Subway and then managed to get to the ferry port on time – and luckily we were not the last patrol back.

We caught our ferry and met the Essex unit again. Our ferry ride was refreshing with a cool breeze. Once we got off at New Jersey we hunted for our holdalls (which we had previously loaded into a van) before then heading onto another air-conditioned coach (with WiFi). We then travelled to the University of James Madison. On the way we had a quick stop at a services which contained 3 vending machines, some toilets and a water fountain – it was very busy with around 4 units having stopped there.

On the coach we ate our dinner as well as some mango. We also had some Relationship talks from the leaders and every time we drove past a McDonald’s we’d cheer. Eventually we reached our accommodation. I showered quickly in the cold water and then fell asleep.

One thing I am currently missing from the UK is knives and forks in restaurants.

Flying

All times are BST

20:10 (Sat) The plane took off

22:00 Food arrived – Spicy Chicken, Mousse, Bread roll, Fruit (which I traded for crackers and cheese) and Water

22:20 A cup of tea arrives (which late on spills a little on my lap – I’m all good)

22:30 Tray taken away and I’m off to sleep

1:45 (Sun) Sunset so plane lights turn on

1:55 More food (roast chicken caeser salad sandwich and chocolate bar – we can all guess that I went for the chocolate)

2:00 Another cup of tea to give me a caffeine boost

2:30 Eating a bread and butter roll from dinner as sandwich was not nice

2:40 Uniform on and Pen with me

2:45 20 minutes until landing (Final announcement) as well as seatbelt sign

3:09 We have landed (22:09 local time)

3:32 Waiting to get off plane with a 32 degree Celsius temperature outside

4:20 All through security (my fingerprints would scan and be kept o record till they sorted it out)and have found my bag

4:40 Waiting for coach to arrive

4:45 On coach – it’s so hot and humid outside but so cool on the coach with air con

4:50 I’m now on my way to my accommodation see you tomorrow (at 23:50 local time)

Check in

17:35 So I have arrived at the airport and am currently waiting to check in and then go through security. Currently I’m quite happy and excited for our journey.

18:00 Got checked in and my bag weighed around 20kg.

18:25 Went through security and got pulled over. They were interested in my left pocket and right foot. They also took a sample. But I’m clear through.

18:30 We are going to have a meal but first have to decide where!

18:45 Free time before meeting at gate

19:05 Catch train to gate

19:22 Checked in with gate

19:38 Sat in seat all boarded

See you in New York

Setting up your novus account

1. Follow the email link

2. Create a password

3. You can add your social media contacts straight away or you can set them up later

4. Read the terms and conditions to learn of how they can track you

5. Read the privacy policy on how your data will be sent to other parties privately

6. Figure out the app has been done by Canada

7. Log on using the 2019 WSJ app

8. Add more information

9. Explore

10. Count down the days until you will revive your wristband (less than 5 days)

Cathedral – the final event before WSJ

So last Friday my county had our last meetup at my districts Cathedral. We all wore (apart from a few who ‘forgot’) our Jamboree uniform and hence mostly all rocked our UK shorts.

At first we got a tour of the Cathedral learning about the Edward Jenner statue and how his discoveries helped to prevent small pox. We also learnt of the structure of the cathedral and how the east window is the size of a tennis pitch. Our county was able to climb the cathedral tower where we were able to go into the bell rooms. Once we climbed to the top we admired the view as well as had a photo opportunity. There were also a few presentation’s to be given out.

As we climbed back down the tower I realised how tired I had become – this was not a good sign given that I would be on the Jamboree site in now less than a week. Our guide then took us towards the choir seats where we received a blessing to wish us well on the journey.

We then had a quick Q&A session but had to travel through the cloister’s (where part of Harry Potter was filmed). We had a few questions and later on was given an itinerary from our unit leaders (whom some had travelled from the other county my unit is made up from). This was proceeded by a short speech from our county commissioners who reminded us of who we were representing (UK Scouts and our own county).

There was then a few more photo opportunities and thank yous as we then parted our ways to all see one another the following Saturday.

Unexpected use for a necker

Never in my Scouting life did I ever think that I’d use a necker to cover a very exposed rip in my shorts. Typically, I would’ve thought my necker would’ve been used as a sling or a bandana yet, it was used completely differently. So how did this come about you may ask (and no it was not intentional).

It was an early Sunday morning and I was helping at a festival to move people’s kit back to their cars: on the Friday evening I had moved the kit from people’s cars to their pitch so today it was the reverse. Proceeding one of the hauls to a car my group were walking back I decided it would be a brilliant idea to sit in my friends wheelbarrow and they could drag me back (1st mistake!). Secondly, I was wearing fairly tight shorts (2nd mistake!) and decided to sit cross legged (3rd mistake!). After less than a minute of being pulled around sat on the wheelbarrow I got out where I noticed my shorts had ripped. Quickly improvising I held the bucket in front of my legs as I waddled back to the base where we were stationed.

Here I realised that I had no spare clothes and only a hi-vis jacket. At first we attempted to create a hi-vis skirt (I’m certain I would’ve pulled it off) until we realised it would not work. It was not until someone mentioned trying my necker that I realised I was not following protocol of ‘Improvise, Adapt and Overcome’. I then was able to tie my necker around my leg and through my belt loop.

The very important lesson I’ve learnt after this experience is that you should never underestimate your Scouting necker. A necker is the key to the Scouts’ motto to ‘Be Prepared’.

Strategy Day 1

So this evening I arrived at Strategy to help out for this weekend. My job for this weekend is to help behind the scenes – doing jobs such as creating the packed lunches, helping on bases etc.

I arrived and put up my tent up, before going to sign in – this year I’m very impressed because I get to wear a helpers lanyard as well as my wrist band. Once I had signed in I then went to help pack the lunches, which will be used over the weekend, into paper bags.

Shortly after, we had a meeting where we were told the 3 (large) patrols we would be in for the weekend and what tasks we would be completing. I found out that my patrol will eat breakfast at 7 followed by helping on the washing up station, which was followed by free time to go and visit the venue, to play with a frisbee, tennis ball, American football and football and to play cards with my fellow Jamboree participants.

To be continued …

One month to go …

Wow! I never quite realised how close the Jamboree is until now. I have now officially finished all of my exams and have prom in the upcoming week.

We have one month to pack, to go on last minute precamps, to wear in hiking shoes and to mentally prepare ourselves for this amazing adventure.

I have my final precamp coming up next weekend and I am super excited. To prepare my readers (and myself) for the Jamboree in America, I will be posting more frequently over the upcoming weeks. But for now, this weekend I will be helping out at Strategy. Look out for the daily blog posts over this weekend.

Rumble in the jungle 2

Luckily, I was one of the only ones who did not wake up to the sound of the Beavers at 4:30am. I only then woke up at 6:30 am from the alarm I set myself.

Before breakfast, the Beavers painted jigsaw puzzles until they then ate bacon, scrambled eggs and baked beans. After breakfast, they then started washing up followed by a scavenger hunt on the campsite. They then made animals masks using paper plates and pens.

After this, they played a quick game of NESW but with a jungle twist. When called out ‘Make the sound of …’ they would sound like the animal and when called out ‘Act like a …’ they would act like the animal mentioned.

Finally, it was time for lunch – a banquet of sandwiches, crisps, fruit and veg. For pudding, they had slime (green jelly), bugs (raisins) and sticks (matchmakers). After lunch, they rolled up their roll mats and stuffed their sleeping bags as well as collecting all of their kit together.

finally, it was time for them to go home. Once all the Beavers left, we helped to dismantle camp by taking down the marquee as well as packing away our own personal tents. The weekend was brilliant and was a nice break from my revision.