Participant blogs

Read the participants own Experiences of KIJ 09!

Big BSWE

Author: Nicole | Date: 03-08-2009

Big BSWE!

Hey guys!

My name is Nicole and I'm currently inside the media tent at KIJ 09. I'm pretty impressed with the weather as its ROASTING in here and im glad the puddle from the last few days have finally dried up. I'm here from Germany, with the British scouts from Western Europe, also known as Big BSWE (pronounced Bees-wee). My dad's is serving with the forces, so I live in Germany, There are quite a lot of us over there, and I attend a secondary school with around 1000 pupils, which is quite large considering. Most of the scouts from BSWE are from Germany however there's a few from Luxembourg (Matt and Tom) we had to pick them up on route on the Belgian Border. We traveled through five countries to get here!

Our favorite day so far was the first day- our sub camp day trip to London! It was a lot of fun, and we had a good laugh between us. We spent around an hour in Hamley's which is a MASSIVE toy store, we might all be senior Explorer Scouts but it was fun and well worth the visit. We rode around on the tube, which was a new experience for me. After Hamley's we decided to grab a bite to eat in Starbucks and headed off to Harrods, as many of you probably know, is another massive store with a lot of expensive things. However, we didn't get past the door, we got turned away, and directed to another door, as that door didn't except groups of more than four! So we went to the next door along to try our luck, this time we got in, but only as far as the second set of double doors before we were turned away! We were shocked, we're scouts not yobs! So all nine of us ( Alex our leader, Myself, Matt H, Matt B, Matt, Catherine, Toni, Marcus and tom) decided that we would trey our luck one more time, by the time we headed to the next door we reckon they knew we were coming, and we were turned away again! After that, we spent the rest of the day seeing the sights, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, and just about every tube station in London, as I said before the tube was a highlight and definitely worth a pound each!

The Big BSWE crew have also enjoyed the Nightlife that has came with KIJ 09, the Explorer Zone beach party last night was a lot of fun! And the first two nights the disco's were amazing!

Overall so far, I've enjoyed every minute of KIJ, and all the banter that comes with it! I've met loads of new and interesting people, and I have learned a surprising amount in the last few days.

I love the Big BSWE crew, Steve! For organizing everything, even my last minute decision to come to KIJ, Tommy, Chris, Alex, Jerry and Haylee, our leaders!

Toni, Catherine, Georgina, Matt H, Matt B, Matt R, Marcus, Tom B, Tom M, Phillip, George, Rob, Andrew, Cameron, Rhys, Callum (CD,) Kieran, they all needed a mention because BIG BSWE is the best group to be in, and they make it the best ;)

Permanent link | Comments (0)

Victorian Subcamp day

Author: Georgina | Date: 03-08-2009

Monday 3^rd August was our Sub Camp day of Environment in Victorian style.

It started off with the joint breakfast of all the Sub Camp groups. We all gathered in the main walkway and after everything had been set up we could try other typical breakfasts. There was a wide selection of foods like peaches with cream, English breakfasts, different types of fruit and bread with jam or ham. Our BSWE Troop had a selection of German food on offer, and we found that people really liked our ''Schokoladen Brühe'' (chocolate porridge).

After breakfast we had one hour to get changed into our Victorian costumes and set up our stalls. There were loads of different costumes like maids, typical Victorian men, orphans and even Dracula and a queen. There was also a wide selection of stalls. I tried most of them out and found that I quite liked the tricky ball maze and the higher or lower card game. But there were also coconut stalls, bowling lanes, pitching practice lanes and snail racing boards.

After the fair we had our lunch break and then had the option to sign up for the circus skills containing tightrope walking, juggling and other typical activities.

So all in all it was a fun day with lots of things to do.

Permanent link | Comments (0)

Water day! A splashing experience!

Author: Hannah and Jenny | Date: 02-08-2009

When we were all ready to go to our great day at Faversham, we got on the coach for about an hour, but it was worth it. When we got there it looked like an industrial site, but when we got to the lake there were lots and lots of kayak and boats laid out on the grass in the sun.

First of all we got introduced to the boating experts and they talked us through the safety rules and what we should and should not do. Then they told us to go in to two marquees and get changed in to our wet gear, one was for boys and one was for girls. Most of us got changed before we went, but other people had to get changed there.

First we went on the Bill boats (banana boats as we called them.) we had twelve in a boat. We all had to climb across to get to our boat, it was very wobbly as the boats were already on the water. When we sat in our seats the man (Squirt) who was with us on the boat, untied it and we had to row out in to the lake. When we were out in the lake Squirt said we could jump out of the boat into the deep water. Hannah (aged 12) who jumped in the water said “it was really fun and a great experience, but it was absolutely FREEZING! But I would love to do it again!”
Jenny (aged 11) said ”i really did not want to jump in the water, but I got splashed by the ones who did!”

When most of us had jumped in and got in the boat dripping wet we rowed further out in to the lake where another bill boat was. When we went past them Squirt told us to splash them with our oars in the water. So when we went past any other people including the people kayaking we splashed them. It was really fun!!!

After that we had lunch which we made the day before.

Then we went on the kayaks and they were much harder to control in the water. A few people capsized. But most of us were able to control them with some practise.
It was a great experience!!!

Permanent link | Comments (0)

Top of page | Subscribe