International Blogs 2009
Anglia Region Trip South Korea 2009 By Abi
I was fortunate enough to be asked to go as a Leader for the Region trip to South Korea this year, accompanying 8 Guides to the 12th International Girl Scout Camp to be held in Incheon, South Korea.
We landed on the Friday and were met by a representative of Girl Scouts Korea and our tour guide - they were a welcome sight after the long flight. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning sightseeing round Seoul, trying to see the main points. We took the Guides to the DMZ which was very thought provoking for me, we saw some traditional dancing and the different styles of house building through the ages. Monday saw us head back to Incheon to a local school where we were met by our home stay families. My family were very nice and the daughter had given up her room for me to use. I went to a couple of Buddhist temples with them and tried lots of different local food.
Wednesday saw me packing again and meeting up with the rest of the group before being taken to where the camp was being held. It was definitely a new experience for me as it was such a large camp - 11,000 girl scouts and leaders from all over the world.
The Guides had activities to do during the day; one day was spent at the Global Fair and Festival being held in Incheon. I was able to go on the International Leaders trip one day when we were taken round some of the main sightseeing areas and a nice lunch out. There were the tents for the international displays, there were also tents with the different religions which were also doing activities for the Guides and Scouts to do.
The opening and closing ceremonies saw performances from Korea's top bands including 2PM which went down well with our translator for the camp. She joined us for the closing ceremony and got to sit in the front row!
All to soon it was time to head back to the airport for the flight home. I had an amazing time and a wonderful experience - I hope the others did as well. I have got some memories that will last.
Essex North East Malaysian Aid Project, July 2009Everything worked well and the girls coped with very hard work at very high temperatures and very high humidity. The two different projects turned out to be good choices, offering very different experiences, building a path and sensory garden in an old people's home and then undertaking conservation work in the denuded rainforest areas in the uplands of the Cameron Highlands. The help and support we received from the Salvation Army at Ipoh was excellent, Mrs Tong (the superintendent) involving Guiding locally, and some of us went to the Perak State Palace to meet one of the Guiding executives who happened to be a Princess, coming away with a signed copies of her coffee-table sized Malaysian cookery book for each one of us, which did wonders for our airline baggage allowance!
The project in the Cameron Highlands was a success - we planted many trees, rebuilt the nursery area, potted up a large number of seedlings, and replanted orchids in the ‘mossy forest' - all fantastically worthwhile, and the girls can keep an eye on what they did through the website of the organisation we worked for, R.E.A.C.H..
Trip to Adelboden, Switzerland August 2009
by Gorleston Distrcit Guides & Brownies
On Saturday 15 August we arrived at Adelboden. On Sunday we visited Our Chalet, World Guide Centre, where we were given a guided tour, attended a talk and watched a video of the history of Our Chalet. One of our Guides renewed her Promise as Young Leader under the International Flag at Our Chalet.
On Monday 17th a cable car took us for a trip up The Schilthorn which was over 9000ft high, it was a beautiful clear day so the view was amazing. Afterwards the girls enjoyed a visit to the revolving restaurant before our descent. After lunch we visited the Trummelback Waterfall.
We took part in the Mountain Fun Games, an ice disco, dry tobogganing and took a trip across Lake Interlaken during the rest of the week and even squeezed in a trip to the Schuh Chocolate Shop.
Japan Cultural Exchange 2009
By Tanya
It was a magical tour of Osaka, Nara, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Mirajima, Kyoto and they were all so very different. I will never forget my first sight of Mount Fuji or the surprisingly vibrant and yet peaceful Hiroshima with its very beautiful memorials and the heart stopping sight of the preserved remains the A-bomb dome, as I first saw them from the boat. They were even more moving when you got to walk around them. Our theme was ‘Sustainable Development' and so everything had a theme around water, and peace. The water theme led us to visit Lake Biwa, a water museum, travel in quite a few boats, Visit an aquarium, to name just a few activities.
It was a privilege to experience and get a taste of the real life Japan, being invited into a Japanese home and experiencing everyday life first hand, in home stay is a rare opportunity.
Throughout the trip we visited many beautiful temples in Mirajima, Nara and Tokyo, took part in tea ceremonies, wore ceremonial kimonos, made traditional sweets, cakes and Japanese pizza (Okonomiyaki) and the trip wouldn't have been complete without having experienced an evening of Karaoke at the Big Echo and a little taster of Saki at a traditional Japanese restaurant.
I was so excited in advance about this trip and rightly so, what an adventure we had. I cannot enthuse enough about what a wonderful experience this exchange was and would encourage anyone similarly minded to apply for the next one. You will never experience it if you don't apply.
Anglia Region Trip to Mexico 2009
by Claire
I left for my amazing journey at 8.30am on Saturday 1st August to go to Heathrow, the flight to Mexico City took eleven and a half hours it was very tiring, but I was so excited.
We woke up the next day (Sunday) to find ourselves revitalised and ready to start seeing Mexico City with our 
tour guide Roberto. We were shown round the old palace, which we saw very many amazing paintings of ancient Mexico. Thursday came and were taken to Taxco. Taxco is the biggest silver manufacturing place in Mexico where we bought lots gifts for our loved ones back home. We looked all over the town and bought sombreros.
Friday was finally here, this was the day, that my whole group was the most excited for, it was the service project. This was where about a hundred local children from two different charities came. We decided that we would teach the children from 3 to 15 years of age parachute games. The children were not the only happy ones that day. Everyone I saw had a smile on their face.
We went on an excursion to the small pyramids at Xochicalco. The ancient site has got several pyramid
s which you can walk up. As it was our last night at the Cabana we had a traditional Mexican festival. This was a very memorable and don't think I will ever forget it.
I think this has been the best experience that I have ever embarked on and I don't want to forget one moment of it. Thank you Anglia and Essex West for this great chance of a life time and thank you to all the people who have helped me along the way. I am so grateful to the trip that I got, but mostly the best thing that I am grateful for is the amazing friends I have made. This trip has inspired me to aim to visit the other World centres in India and Switzerland as I already went to Pax lodge for the Anglia selection.
South Korea 2009
by Toni
What an experience! The two weeks I spent time sight-seeing, experiencing the Korean culture first hand with a Korean family and then finally attending a camp with 10,000 participants, with many people from all over the world also attending was spectacular. I learned so much from this trip, both about myself and other cultures to which I was blind about; I experienced so much, from simply going on a plane for the first time to learning to make Korean paper dolls, all of which were thrilling.
The best bit of the whole trip was staying with the family; they were so generous and welcoming. If I could
I would love to return to Korea, as I feel there are still loads more to explore, in particular I would love to help harvest the rice, as close to the city, there were hundreds of fields covered in poly-tunnels, and from our tour guide the process sounds intriguing. I will never forget this trip, the hard work put into it and the exposure to the Korean culture I had. This trip has made my summer fantastic!
Marsna Jamborette
by Alice
Our camp group from Anglia were all really nice and always had the best for us in mind; they were always 
up for giving anything a go. The leaders were great fun and showed the other countries how Guiding is meant to be. On Sunday, we arrived at the ferry and got to know each other a bit better playing cards on the top deck and socialised over food. We had to get up at 6 am the following morning to be in time for our train from Hook Van Holland - Rotterdam. In Meersen, when we arrived at the campsite we put up out tents and set to making our furniture.
On Tuesday we went to the opening ceremony where they raised the flags and each group had to sing
a song or do a dance of some sort. Wednesday morning we had a chance to get to know the surrounding area with a discovery trail, one of the things we had to find was a synagogue which was really interesting as there had been no Jewish people in Meersen since the Holocaust they had kept it open for special ceremonies and in remembrance. On Thursday a group of us went to ‘Go Ape' which was like a very high, high ropes course, it was really fun but scary at the same time. On Friday we went on a Jambo's Hike, where we were put into different teams and fulfilled challenges on the way round. On Saturday evening we were sent on a hike, where we were dropped in the middle of nowhere and given a list of things we had to do, it was great fun getting to know the people in my group and trying to communicate with the locals, my group was the third group back at 10:50pm.
Tuesday was the day we were all looking forward to most, Amsterdam! When we arrived after the 3 hour train
journey we had a very healthy breakfast of waffles, and headed off to the ‘Nemo' which was the science museum. The first thing we noticed when we went in was a sign that said it was strictly forbidden not to touch anything it was great fun! On Wednesday was the Breughelian Feast, where each country brought a food from their home country and served it to everybody. In the evening we had a talent contest and we came 3rd doing our own version of ‘Stomp' which was great fun.
The whole Jamborette experience was wonderful and because it was a small camp it was nice to be able to talk to everybody, the worst bit of camp was the wasps! I got stung twice within the first week, but it didn't stop us having fun. It was such a great experience and I'm looking forward to going again in 4 years time as a leader!
Girlguiding Anglia Peru Trip With Kiya Survivors
by Amy
Summer 2009 I was given the opportunity to participate in a Senior Section Trip with Girlguiding Anglia to Peru, so obviously I jumped at the chance. Having been selected, along with 6 other girls, the next hurdle was to raise £2,500. Fundraising began in earnest with everyone showing their support, with special mention to St. Andrews URC and Peterborough Lions. Not to mention the support given from guiding.
For me the trip was unbelievable, in many different ways, each adding another element to the trip. The trip also opened up a variety of different ideas for my future, wanting to make working with children and Spanish key features.
My main goal was to help the school out with as much as I could, which is why I took so much stuff to donate such as footballs, pens and paper, items that we take for granted. Our project was to create a football pitch out of a piece of land. We had to rake the ground, make the goal posts and two benches strong enough to hold roughly 20 people each. The task seemed daunting at the beginning, but we all pulled together and completed it to a tremendous standard. I was so ple
ased with the amount of effort everyone put in and to see the finished product was a bonus! Not only did we work while we were in the Arco Iris Centre but we also got to work with the children which was an amazing experience.
While we were in Peru we also managed to do a lot of exploring of the environment, exposing us to another aspect of Peru. We got the chance to camp, climb and watch the sunrise at Machu Pichu - it was stunning. We also got to visit lots of Inca ruins, still in fantastic condition.I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your support and help with this trip. It has been a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget! Thank-you.
"A life time ambition achieved by the age of 16 courtesy of Girlguiding. Kiya Survivors is an amazing charity that needs to be rewarded for all its hardwork and is now held in a very high place in my heart and thoughts. We went to Peru to learn about the culture and help build a football pitch. What we came back with was a wonderful experience and an even bigger heart."
-Amy S