Time for a Party

   Since the beginning of October I have worked every weekend. That doesn't mean I have not had any days off. My week usually looks like this: Work Monday and Tuesday, have days off Wednesday and Thursday, work Friday, and work reception Saturday and Sunday either from 7:30am to 4:30pm or from 1pm to 10pm. I usually enjoy doing reception, but sometimes it can be incredibly boring, especially the late shift. Other times it can be crazy and chaotic. Most of the other volunteers think I'm crazy for doing reception and none of them want to do it. Because of that, Morris and I are the only receptionist meaning they need us every weekend.
   Usually I don't mind, I still get two days off a week and doing reception provides variety from just working outside, which can be pretty boring (and cold!) this time of year when we don't have many sessions. The problem is, Emily's job in Sheffield has her work Monday to Friday with weekends off, meaning it has been almost impossible for us to get together. Finally I asked Sam if I could have a weekend off. She agreed and was able to find some of the conference centre staff to cover for me.
   Emily and I planned everything out and she took the train down on Saturday December 1st. I met her at Kings Cross Station. Naturally, before we could embark on our day of adventure, we had to go find Platform 9 and 3/4.

   Emily and I skype occasionally and we have been planning our Christmas trip, but once we were together in person we barely stopped talking and became so preoccupied with catching up that it took us and embarrassingly long time to find our way out of the train station. We decided to check out the Natural History Museum. We only stayed a couple hours, browsing through the zoological collection and the human biology exhibit. It was very crowded and there was a huge line to get into the dinosaur exhibit. The building itself was amazing and just walking around looking about at the ceiling was great. I will definitely have to go back.

 
       After eating some lunch we headed over to the Hyde Park to show Emily the Winter Wonderland. Being the first of December, the place was packed. We walked around, looking through the stalls. We were both particularly enamoured with one that was selling pocket watches for 10 pounds each. I was sorely tempted but in the end decided not to buy one. I got the address for the seller so I might go looking for them again another time.
  It was getting very cold and we were tired from walking so we decided to head home about 3pm, especially since we knew it would be dark in an hour and a half. By that time Hyde Park was even more crowded than before the line to get into the tube station was enormous. It was very squished tube ride back to Walthamstow, and after the bus ride a chilly walk to Gilwell.
   On the way back I got a text from Francisco informing me that my new roommate had arrived, meaning there was no bed for Emily to sleep in. What bad timing. I knew there was a new volunteer arriving shortly but I had hoped it would be after Emily's visit. So when we got home we went to my room in the White House and I introduced Emily and myself to Pei Ling, a quiet girl from Taiwan.
  I took Emily over to meet everyone in the Den. I think it was a little overwhelming, meeting so many new people, I know the feeling, so many names! It was funny because some of the guys were very eager to meet her and kept saying how they were going to compete for her attention. Allan learned a Nickelback song on the guitar for because that's what Canadians listen to, right?
  We went climbing in the Lid for a little bit, just so Emily could try it out, but the inside the Lid is colder than outside this time of year so we did not stay long. After a bit of dinner Emily and I started making pancakes. I'm kind of known for that here. If I want someone do to something for me I promised to make them pancakes.
  While we were working on that, people started getting put in the freezer. To explain this I will have to go back a few days. We did a deep clean of the Den one evening and decided we did not really need to be keeping stuff in the big freezer because we had enough room in the ones below the refrigerators. So we unplugged and defrosted it. Then, on the Thursday night Blum was feeling bored, which is can be a dangerous thing. He managed to organize an group to capture Chiara from her room and stuff her into the empty freezer. For some reason I agreed to record it.

   So the night Emily came the guys went back to putting people in the freezer. Including Emily. I'm afraid I didn't put up as much of a fight as Chiara and Francisco was able to stuff me in quite easily. Then we tried to see how many people would fit in the freezer. 

  The party progressed from there, the pancakes we devoured, Allan played his song for Emily, and as always, the Den got very very messy. There was also the attempt to teach Emily and I Latin dances. 

And other inter-cultural silliness.

   In the end Emily ended up sharing my single bed for the night. The next day we went back to London and did some shopping before she went to the bus station and I went home. I am hoping to get another weekend off in January so that Emily can come again. Although really, it doesn't matter anymore if I'm off or not. It only takes a day and/or one party for a new person to be accepted by the volunteers of Gilwell Parks so there will always be someone around to hang out with her.

Skating Staff Social

    On Monday November 26th we had our monthly staff social. Basically Gilwell Park allows us to book some fun outing to do each month and we can spend up to 20 pounds per person. For November we decided to go ice skating. Some of the volunteers were very keen because they had never ice skated before, being from Ecuador and Chile.
    We picked the outdoor ice rink that is in Hyde Park right now for their "Winter Wonderland" Christmas Fair. Kerry kindly took most of us in the bus to Chingford station and we met everyone else there. The Winter Wonderland was huge, a mix of traditional European Christmas markets and all of the fair ground rides and midway games I associate with the Oak Bay Tea Party. There were so many stalls with food, everything smelled so good and I wanted to eat it all but I managed to resist.

  After we had wandered around the park and seen everything, we lined up to get into the skating rink.  Everyone had been joking that it would be really funny if I was the first to fall on the ice. Well, I had barely skated two metres before I did just that, falling backwards before most of the others were even on the ice. They laughed hysterically as I picked myself up and then promptly fell down again ten seconds after. I blamed the skates, the balance of them was weird. The others did not let me forget it quickly.
  I managed to stay upright after that, skating around and trying to teach Gustavo and Francisco. Most of the Koreans were much better skaters than me, especially Soo Young, but then, her major was physical education. Blum was also much better than me, I was impressed. Eric, who is from Ghana, stepped onto the ice and immediately stepped off and refused to get back on. Nicholas just kind of cowered in a corner of the rink. Francisco improved very quickly and keeps saying we should go skating again. Gustavo and Allan persistently shuffled around the rink the entire time.
     They did not allow people to take cameras on the ice because they wanted everyone to buy the ridiculously priced professional photos that were available. A couple people had their iPhones and we managed to snap some shots quickly before dispersing and pretending nothing had happened.

   It started to rain heavily and by the end of the session we were all soaked and very hungry.

   We had some money left over for dinner, but only 8 pounds each so we wandered Piccadilly Circus looking for some where warm and cheap to eat. Getting eighteen people with very different tastes to agree on a restaurant is very difficult. Finally a promoter on the street gave us a flyer for a restaurant up a side street that had a deal on a two course meal for 8 pounds. Everyone agreed because we were wet and tired and we managed to find the door to the restaurant. The hostess/server led us down a steep flight of stairs into a tiny room that would have been small for coffee shop. Apparently the restaurant could seat twenty people, so we took up the entire space, not that there was anyone else there. I'm not sure that was a reflection on the restaurant itself or the fact that it was almost 10pm.
    The food was not of great quality but it was good for the price we paid. The chef and the one server were the only employees and we kept them busy with our large group. It was good have a meal all together outside of Gilwell Park.

The funniest part was Eric ordering some spicy curry dish, taking a bite and saying, "No, not spicy." He asked the server for more spice and we all told her to make it as spicy as possible. She did so and brought the dish back. Eric tried it an shook his head, "Hmm...no, it's not that spicy." The server was really surprised but we told her not to worry, Eric likes incredibly spicy food.

  It was almost midnight by the time we paid and took the tube, train and taxi back to Gilwell and it was a bit of a struggle to get up for work the next morning.

Loose Ends

     I calculate that I am still three or four blog posts behind but I am having a hard time remembering what has gone on this month. One thing I do know is that I feel as if I have spent a lot of money. I certainly have gone into London enough times judging by the fact that I had to top up my Oyster Card twice in December.
   One way for me to remember is to go back through photos.

There were these photos from about three weeks ago when we had a bit of a mouse problem:

   We girls spent a day and a half shrieking every time we saw a mouse, alive or dead in the trap. A good number of us cowered on the couch while Nicholas gallantly disposed of each mouse and reset the trap. We got an exterminator to lay down poison and though the traps are still set we have not caught any in weeks. So either they are gone they got a lot smarter.

    What else? I voted at the end of October! That was a first. I knew there was a by-election for the Victoria MP due to Denise Savoie's retirement so I went on Elections Canada's website and found the right application form to fill out. I mailed it off to Ottawa and within a couple weeks I was sent a special ballot voting kit. There were very specific instructions about which order to put the ballot in the envelopes and which envelopes to sign. It took me until the end of October to decide who to vote for.

I was not going to let 7000 kilometres prevent me from voting for the first time!

    I have also got my Christmas and New Years plans figured out, and almost everything booked. Gilwell Park closes from December 20 to January 6 so we have those weeks off without using up an of our holidays. Emily and I, after changing our minds many, many times finally decided to go to Brussels, Belgium for Christmas. It may seem like a bit of a random choice but we had two very good reasons. One: Brussels looks beautiful at Christmas, full of markets and lights and it will be great to get  into the Christmas spirit. Two: Emily has a cousin who lives in Brussels with her husband and children and she has offered to let us stay with her over Christmas; it will be really nice to be in a home with a family over Christmas.
  Our plan is as follows: I will travel up to Sheffield to Emily's placement on December 21 (providing the world does not end that day), as she works that day. The next morning we will take the train to Manchester and fly to Brussels. As soon as we land in Brussels we will go to the train station and take a train to Cologne, Germany. After booking our flights to Brussels and back to Manchester, we decided that going to Cologne at Christmas would be amazing, but the markets end on December 24 so we will stay in a hostel there from the 22nd to the 24th. On the 24th we will take the train back to Brussels and stay with Emily's cousin until the 27th. One the 27th we will take the train to Bruges and stay two nights in a hostel there. On the 29th we will take the train back to Brussels, stay one night there, possibly with Emily's cousin, and then fly back to Manchester.
  I know it would have made more sense to fly into Cologne and out of Bruges and cut out some train trips, but the plane tickets were the first thing we booked, and they were a very good price.
   After flying into Manchester we will take the train back to Sheffield and I will stay the night there with Emily.
  Then part two of the Christmas holiday adventures will begin! Emily has to go back to work, but from Sheffield I will take the train to Edinburgh, Scotland on December 31. I will meet Megan, another Lattitude volunteer from Saltspring Island that I met through coming to England. We have a hostel booked for three nights at about 150 pounds each. It's a little expensive but Edinburgh is supposed to be an awesome place to be for New Year's. We have tickets for the street party that takes place right around Edinburgh Castle.
   Finally, on January 3 I will take the National Express bus from Edinburgh to London. It takes almost  nine hours but it is a lot cheaper than taking the train. It will be back to work before long and on January 11 to 13 Gilwell Park hosts a massive Winter Camp which will keep us all very busy.

    I'm getting very excited for Christmas holidays now, it's coming up soon and I still have a few things left to book. I will write all about the adventure when they happen.

A Tough Week

   Reception is fairly quiet right now. Every once in a while there is a crisis of some sort or another which keeps me busy for a few minutes. Then everything will settle down and there is nothing to do. I suppose I could ask Andy for some work to do, but it would probably be mindless work which would bore me out of my mind. Right now I would rather spend my time writing. I still have four more hours in reception, plenty of time to continue telling about what happened this month.
    On November 7th all of us who were doing Level 2 training had a day off so Blum, Benjamin, Pati, Chiara and I took a taxi with Nancy to Chingford Station. It was sad to say goodbye but we made her promise to come visit us often. Allan gloated to Gustavo before we left because Nancy leaving meant the number of Ecuadorians was now even with the number of Brazilians, an important fact apparently.
   After we left Nancy at the station we took the bus to Walthamstow to fix Chiara's phone and look around the shops. Really the only good thing about Walthamstow is the 99p shop, it's amazing, and also terrifying. Blum and I bought a small cake, it tasted pretty good and we didn't die, so that was good. In general though Walthamstow is quite shabby, and doesn't feel like an incredibly safe place to be by oneself.
    The next day was back to Level 2 training, we did Aerial Trek rescues all day which was tiring. Things started to go wrong when I got an email from my Dad at lunch. Poor Ty, our chocolate lab, has been diagnosed with bone cancer. It was awful to realize he will not be there with his tail spinning to greet me when I come home in August.

 I thought the day could not get much worse until we stopped for an afternoon break. We went back in Den to find everyone angry and upset. We were informed that Rodrigo, Nicholas and Seth were being sent home, fired essentially. I will not go into the reason for this, but the bottom line was that we thought that being sent home was an unduly harsh punishment for something which was, in our view, an honest mistake. We were so determined to do something that everyone, including the volunteers who had the day off, showed up for the morning meeting the next day to demand that the leads and manager talk to us about it. They did so, though obviously not willingly. We did our best to keep it civil but emotions ran high on both sides. I could understand where the managers were coming from, even if I did not want to, but I still did not think the boys, knowing them as all of us volunteers know them, deserved to go home for what they did. Nothing came of the talking though and we all left just as, if not more, upset.
  The interesting things that once everyone was feeling none too happy with the leads, and indeed the Scout Association in general, suddenly all the little problems that we had laughed about and put up with seemed to be major problems. Which was why we asked to have another meeting to address those issues which we did the following Tuesday. We re-negotiated how much food money we received and which meals would be eaten in the restaurant because the current situation at the time was leaving us hungry sometimes. Then we started listing all of the problems in the Den: broken curtain rods, broken kitchen floor, a useless extractor fan, a hole in the living room wall, the fact that we only have one dryer that works, our couch without working springs, the twelve mice that we caught in two days.
   I think the leads and managers were eager to say yes to our requests after the last stand off and by the end of the day we had new doormats, frying pans and mouse poison down. Some of the other problems have been fixed but we still only have one working dryer and now we are down to two washing machines between nineteen people.
   Needless to say we were still upset up the boys being fired, we still are somewhat though now we have accepted it. It has ruined some peoples' opinions of some of the bosses. It has led some volunteers to believe there is a bit of a double standard because we know of past volunteers who did things just as bad if not worse and did not get fired. At this point I just feel sad that it all had to happen at all. I feel so badly for the boys, they were all so happy to be here and it seems like such a waste to send such good volunteers home. Allan, Gustavo and I drove Rodrigo to the airport this past Friday which was really sad, I am really going to miss him. The other two boys are still here, I think they are looking for other placements.

   At the end of it all I realize that this is just one of those hard life lessons that serves to remind me that things are not always fair and that sometimes perception has more of an impact than the truth. The only good thing to come out of this hard week was that we came together as a team to support the boys and we stood up for what we thought was right. We felt like more of a family than ever.

Robbie Williams

     Yes another post! I said I was trying to catch up. I think I will relate the story of going to the Robbie Williams concert, which now that I look back on it was the last good night before things went wrong.
    Nicholas and Gustavo had got it into their heads that they wanted to go to Oxford Street in London on November 6th because it was the official Christmas light-up and the pop singer Robbie Williams was playing a show there.

 The boys were so determined to go that they got Kerry to let us off early, and then drive us in the camp mini bus to Chingford Station. We even convinced all the Koreans to come, which is rare. I was also speciall because it was Nancy's last night.
     As I mentioned before, at the beginning of November Nacy told us she was leaving. The program she came with allows volunteers to switch their placement after a few months if they wish. She wanted to try something different so she was given a placement in a care home south of London, about the same distance from the city as Chingford. Originally she had wanted to start in January but they wanted her to start at the beginning of November.

     Practically the whole time she was here, Nancy had been studying for her English proficiency exam so that she could come do a Masters Degree in England. She took the exam the weekend before she left so on November 6 we were eager for her to come with us to Oxford Street. Kerry drove us to the station and then after three stops we got on the tube. We're such a big group that we can be quite annoying on the public transit, sometimes we run up and down the escalators yelling and singing.

     When we arrived at Oxford Street we started walking and wondered why everyone seemed to be walking the opposite direction. The Koreans disappeared almost immediately and we did not see them until we got home. We also lost Nicholas off and on but that is pretty normal.

    We continued walking down the street. The lights were already on and eventually we realized that we had missed the concert. Then we all bothered Gustavo, telling him it was his fault.

Goodbye Nancy!

    We laughed about our mistake and continued walking, taking tons of pictures and spending a good while in the department store Primark. Eventually we decided to start walking back, we stopped at MacDonalds and at the biggest Starbucks I had ever seen; it had two floors.
   Despite the fact that we really did not do much that night it was fun just to be silly and loud and carefree in the middle of London with great friends. When we got home a handful of us stayed up very late talking about our first impressions of eachother and of Gilwell Park. It was funny to think back to when I had just met everyone. They all seem like completely different people now that I have lived and worked with them for almost three months.

Ropes and Metal

      I'm trying to write this post while at the reception desk on a Saturday morning. Despite the fact that there is nothing going on at the Acticity Centre, in the White House and Conference Centre it's incredibly busy. At least I'm experienced enough now that I can answer most questions and tell the right people the right information. So far I have not messed anything up too badly.
   The big news from the first week of November was that Eric, Blum, Soo Young, Chiara, Benjamin and I  began training to become Level 2 ropes instructors. As a Level 2 we're certified to run Zip Wire, 3G Swing, Aerial Trek and Fan Descender. All of these involved wearing instructor harness with 'cow tails': two ropes attached to the harness with clips on the end that allow the instructor to safely stand on the platform or hang off the poles. To get up the poles we clip cab-locks to our harness which run along a wire all the way up the pole. Then we climb up the pole on the staples. It can be slightly unnerving because even though I know I'm safe it feels like I'm climbing a 15 foot pole with nothing to stop me falling.
   I find the set up for the 3G Swing especially difficult because it involves carying a very heavy pulley with a lot of rope up the highest pole. There is no platform at the top of the pole, unlike on Zip Wire and Fan Descender, which means once I get to the top of the pole, I need to clip in my cow tails and other safety clip and hang off the pole. I then have to reach around the pole and with both hands take the very heavy pulley and lift it almost above my head onto an eyebolt. It's easier if the person is stronger and taller but we girls found if quite difficult. The one good thing is that the view from the top of the pole is pretty amazing, not that I really had time to look.
   I think Zip Wire is the most fun of all Level 2 activities to run, but setting up is still a little difficult for me. Really I just need more practice.
   Fan Descender is one of the high ropes activities. The participant climbs up to a platform where the Level to instructor is. They are clipped onto and then hold a metal bar. The metal bar is attached to a wire which runs up and along a beam. At the end of the wire is a fan. When the participant steps off the platform the fan slows their descent, making the land gracefully on the ground. Well, sometimes they land gracefully, sometimes the fall over.
   Aerial Trek is inside. It really is not that far off the ground compared to other activities. Particpants get clipped in two different ways, then climb up the wall to a platform,clip themselves into the next set of clips and then unclip from the first. They then walk along the rope to the next platform and do the same thing. There are 3 sections to Aerial Trek and then they climb down. Nice and easy right? Except almost without fail this activity terrifies people more than the other ones because the participants are respnsible for clipping themselves in and out. So as the Level 2 instructor we have to be prepared to rescue them at all times. This means wearing our cow tails during the session and if someone gets too scared to continue (or God forbid passes out) we have to climb up with a rescue bag and attached ourselves to the wire and the rescue rope to them. Then, using our body weight, or the body weight of another instructor on the ground, we need to winch them up enough to unclip them from the wire and then lower them safely to the ground.
   Phil and Emma made us practice this so many times, because it can be very dangerous if done wrong, and it needs to be done quickly so as not to cause further injury to the casualty. I must say that being rescued is incredibly uncomfortable and when rescuing someone much bigger than me I had to practically jump to winch them up. According to the leads, Aerial Trek rescues happen fairly frequently.
   Originally Emma said I was not going to be a Level 2, though I had asked if I could be. The reason being is that Level 2 activities usually get booked on weekends and since I work reception most weekends, it means I would never have a weekend off. Then Emma decided that they could train me anyway and they just would not use me much. I'm fine with that, even just doing the training was a great experience and it's one more qualification to put on my resume. :)
 
  PS - I apologize for the lack of pictures, we did not really have time or free hands while we were training. Perhaps I will get a chance another time.

End of October

      This past month has felt completely crazy. Somehow with everything else that has been going on, posting on this blog got pushed to the back of my mind.
    The first unfortunate event occurred when the wi-fi stopped working in my room. Up until a month ago, I had a really fast connection but it suddenly became very weak. One of the other girls reported it but Gilwell Park has a bad track record of fixing the internet in a timely manner. It is almost embarrassing how much I was bothered by the whole situation. It is not like I spend all my time on my laptop but when you're far away from home, having a reliable connection does a lot to prevent homesickness. There is internet in the Den but for some reason all of us who have MacBooks could only get very weak connections. So with some advice from Eric, who has been here for many months, one after the other we bought wi-fi boosting USB dongles from Amazon for 10 pounds. Mine arrived two weeks ago, so I now have a very strong connection in the Den. The connection in my room is still less than reliable, which makes it difficult to use Skype. I have taken to Skyping in the Den's laundry room while sitting on a machine.
   This is the reason I have not written a blog post for quite a while. Besides bemoaning my lack of internet what have I been doing? Well, on the Monday and Tuesday after my last post we had two days of team building. Technically they were work days but on Monday we were split into four teams, given rucksacks, blindfolded and led onto a bus. From there we were loaded off the bus at Chingford Station (even blindfolded we know our way there) and put on a train to London, still blindfolded. When we finally removed the blindfolds all the lead instructors had left the train and we were surrounded by strangers who were obviously looking at us weirdly. We opened up the rucksack and proceeded to race around London, trying to solve the clues which led us to different landmarks. Here are a few pictures of our team, Francisco, Nicholas, Patrick and Johnny.

Outside of Baden-Powell House with "a famous person"

I think this is my favourite picture of the day.

   Tuesday was more training about customer service, team building games and setting up house rules in an attempt to keep the Den clean. Tuesday evening we were split into different teams and had to cook a three couse meal from an assigned country. Patricia, Rox, Sujin and I cooked Spanish food, which was really the easiest since both Rox and Patricia are Latin American and knew quite a few Spanish dishes. This was probably why we won, it may also have been due to Sujin's superior food presentation skills.

  The weeks all begin to blur together here and time seems to slipping by quickly. We threw a pretty awesome Hallowe'en party on October 30th. Everyone cobbled together costumes from whatever they had available without spending any money and I was quite impressed by the creativity.

The Boys.

The Girls

The Mario Brothers.

The Pirate and the Superhero making spiced brandy.

Yes, I went as a Canadian, thanks to Deborah for sending me the stickers!
   
   After everyone had a costume and Johnny had got home from London we all trooped out of the Den and across Gilwell Park to go trick-or-treating. We knocked on lead instructors' door and yelled, "Trick or Day Off!" Dave and Phil laughed and gave us drinking straws, tomato sauce, a can of sliced peaches and a pinata. We then knocked on the door of Kerry, the Deputy Centre Manager. He was very confused and said he didn't have anything to give us. We partied until late that night and I confess it was difficult to get up for work the next morning.

   I have much more to write about, but I think I will leave it for another post.

 

Things I've Learned

      In the month and a half that I've been here I've learned many new things. Some of it is useful and pertains to my job at Gilwell Park. Some of it is information about different cultures and countries that I've learned from other volunteers, or general life skills that are good to know. Then there are some things that are completely and utterly useless.

    I have mentioned before all the training I've been doing here: archery, rifle shooting, running the shop, working in reception, setting up ropes, belaying, lowering off on zip wire, harnessing in on 3G swing, driving, working the booking system in reception and taking (very large!) payments. I can clean a toilet block quickly and effectively, put up and dismantle a fiesta tent badly (seriously, it took 20 of us an hour and a half to set one up the other day), direct customers to different places onsite, and I know what most of the keys on my key ring open.

     I've learned how to book train tickets and flights online, I can find my way around London and beyond on the underground, train and bus. I'm good at communicating with people with limited English skills and I'm the one the other volunteers go to when they don't know a word (but then, who else do they have to ask?). I know a couple words in Spanish and Korean (although none of them are particularly useful or appropriate). One of the most important things I've learned is how to live with twenty people. It's definitely a challenge when there are so many personalties, and so many cultures. I've figured out how to live happily in this sort of environment, even if it means washing more dishes than the ones I use. I've also learned to develop a thicker skin and stick up for myself a little more (the Brazilian guys especially think the sole Canadian girl is an easy target for teasing.) I've also re-learned how to share a bedroom with someone for longer than a few days. I now have two roommates, Nancy and Su Jin, although Nancy is leaving in a couple weeks and we are all very sad about it.

    Yet some of the most interesting things I've learned has come from talking to the other volunteers from around the world, realizing how diverse our backgrounds are and what different places we come from. It has especially made me realize how privileged my life in Canada is and I could make a whole list of things that I no longer take for granted. For example, when Johnny mentioned that his older sister was in the Korean military, it sparked a conversation about mandatory military service and I found I was quite alone in coming from a country where there was no such thing, and had not been for many years.
    Another wake up moment occurred when I was making breakfast in the kitchen a few weeks back. Patrick was making tea and suddenly he asked me, "Have you ever suffered from malaria?" I was taken aback and to me it seemed like a ridiculous question, of course I had never had malaria.
    "No, never." I shook my head.
    "Never?" He seemed genuinely surprised.
    "Have you?" I asked.
    "Many times." He was making tea because he was actually feeling sick at the time because of a malaria recurrence. We had a conversation about it and I explained that we don't have malaria in Canada and I'd never been anywhere where I could have been exposed to it. There are so many diseases and problems and daily occurrences in other places that we in Canada barely ever give a thought.

   With people from South America, to Africa, to North America, conversations about certain topics can be very interesting. Discussions about capitalism vs. socialism can get heated (as they usually do) but watching people from such different backgrounds disagree, and the reason why they disagree is fascinating for me. There are quite a few volunteers who are poli sci majors or the equivalent and I love hearing about their systems of government and trying to explain them how the British Queen is Canada's Queen but we are our own independant country. Allan and I often talk about different education systems and I've learned that the public universities (which are free in Brazil and many other Latin American countries) usually provide a better education than the private institutions.

   The last thing that I've noticed is how many people here classify themselves as religious. As someone who was raised in quite a non-religious way in a country with no official religion, it took me by surprise at first how many of my fellow volunteers were Catholic, or at least when to some church on a fairly regular basis. At home, I could maybe name 3 or 4 people my age who attend church every Sunday, perhaps a few more. In any event, people I know who practice religion are a minority at home. Here, I am in the minority of non-worshippers. It makes me feel a little awkward at times but it helps that I know at least something about Christianity and have respect for those who are religious.
   I think really what I'm trying to say is that these past months and all these people have really opened my eyes to the way other people live, made me want to travel and made me incredibly thankful to have been born and raised in Canada.
 

This is real work?

      I've been in England over a month now. It's such a cliche, but it feels like I've been here a long time and no time at all. Living and working at Gilwell has just so quickly become normal that it almost feels like I've always been here. I think I've finally wrapped my mind around the idea that I'm going to be here for almost a year with this crazy group of people.

     This past week saw me doing real work instead of just training. Ok, yeah, cleaning toilets is real work but it's not the reason I payed Lattitude $3000 to come here. On Wednesday Blum and I instructed two archery sessions with a school group of nine nine year olds. I was slightly nervous at first, but of all of the things I've been trained in so far, I feel most confident about archery. I enjoyed running the session more than I thought I would. Volunteers here moan about sessions because they get so repetitive, but I loved teaching each kid how to shoot properly and see their excitement and pride when a few of them hit bull's eyes. There's something really special about teaching somebody to do something well and then seeing them succeed. Archery is very easy when there are two instructors, one for each kid who is shooting, so we can walk them through each step and get them shooting really well. It's going to be harder when I'm running sessions alone. Luckily I'm qualified to do that ;)

       My second day of real work was on Sunday (sure, schedule the Canadian to work on Canadian Thanksgiving). I worked at the reception from 2-10pm. The good thing about that shift was that I could sleep in as late as I want and have a leisurely breakfast in the Den while everyone else cleaned the disaster that was the vacated Aussies' room and take down a tent. Although I've had one afternoon of training on reception, the first shift was a little nerve wracking. Thankfully Morris, one of the old volunteers, was with me until 7 and one of our bosses Dave was around until 5. Really there was not much to do at that time of night. I gave and received keys a few times, answered a couple phone calls and tried to familiarize myself with the computer system. It got really boring and I spent the evening talking on Facebook, waiting for 10 o'clock to come. One of the advantages to working the late shift in reception is that the kitchen will give you leftover food from any of the events that have been catered for that day in the White House. So I had grilled salmon for my Thanksgiving dinner, but I greatly missed the traditional family dinner, turkey and pumpkin pie.

    I have had three days off this past week, which is great, except it means that I don't get another day off until next Monday or Tuesday. This Tuesday I drove on the left side of the road, something I had really not expected to be doing this year. I didn't think I would even be allowed to drive in the UK because I still only have my 'N'. Apparently it is legal for me to drive here, for up to a year. Then I need to apply for an international driver's license, for which I would need a full Canadian license. British driving rules make no sense. I had a very nice Hungarian driving instructor who took me out and said I did very well. It felt so strange at first, but even turning and intersections got easier with practice. The things I'm not very confident are round-abouts (frankly I'm not that confident on round-abouts at home either, seeing as I rarely came across them) and remembering where my blindspots are. My driving instructor was very relaxed and chatted about how he is planning to move to Canada, and how crazy drivers can be in Britain. Now I can say I've driven on the opposite side of the road, something to cross off the bucket list.

    On Wednesday it was back to ropes training because we have our Level 1 assessment early next week. We got a chance to try out the outdoor climbing wall, which is much more challenging than the indoor wall.

   After that we learned what a Level One needs to do when running a zip wire session, and we got to try it out. The zip wire goes along the bottom edge of the grass sledging field and as you zip along you get a wonderful view of King George's Reservoir and outer east London.

Me lowering Benjamin off the wire.

Both Johnny and I had a great time.

     Something else I should mention, if only to stop some people worrying about me. The Den is nowhere near as dirty as it used to be. It's impossible to keep the floors clean since most of us wear our shoes inside, and we'll never get everyone to wash their dishes all the time, but things are improving. We have managed to agree that Wednesdays after work are General Cleaning Days. We don't have a schedule of who cleans what when, everyone is just expected to clean something in the house on Wednesday. We are slowly attacking the dirt, greasy stains and months old stickiness while maintaining a level of cleanliness on the stove, floors and common room. 

   The other night everyone was really wound up for some reason (maybe it was the fact that we only worked a half day) and the boys attempted to evict the wasps from the nest in the outer wall of the kitchen. They accomplished nothing while running in and out of the house screaming. Although they did create this excellent Captain America costume in an attempt to shield themselves from wasp stings.

Life at Gilwell

     It's now been over three weeks since I arrived at Gilwell Park and life has begun to settle into a pattern of semi-normality. In a lot of ways coming here has been a big leap into adulthood and I'm definitely still adjusting. Yet already this place feels like and home the people feel like family. I'll try to offer a picture of what my days look like.

    If I'm working (or in training as I am right now) then I wake up at about quarter to 8. Getting ready in the morning is a lot quicker when I have a uniform, there is no time needed to pick out clothes. There's also no need to bother with makeup. At 8, Nancy and I walk from the White House to the Den to find something for breakfast. The only tables are in the tent that is attached to the Den, our bosses call it our dining room, we call it the party tent. So we eat either sitting on the bigger freezer in the kitchen or in front of the TV in the living room.
   At 8:30 we meet in the staff room and then one of the lead instructors takes us 14 new volunteers for training. The three leads are Emma, Phil and Ian. They all seem pretty nice so far, other volunteers beg to differ. Ian is said to be the most easy going, but according to Francisco, "when Emma mad, you run. Fast."
     Over the last week we have done a lot of different things in training. I now know the basics about the revenue and expenses of the centre, how to work in both the gift shop and the coke bar, how to check customers in and out of all four lodges, how to work the log splitter in the woodpile and lead a session of low ropes. I had one afternoon of reception training where I learned how to make bookings for the centre (and how much some of accommodations  cost!). I had a four day archery instructor course where I was taught by a national champion and assessed by a woman who coaches the GB Junior Olympic Archery Squad.
     I've now had two days of ropes training: I can set up the climbing equipment of most of the high ropes and climbing wall activities and I can belay people and teach kids to belay. These days were both really fun and I actually remembered to take my camera out on one of them!

Patrick and Su Jin hanging out on Jacob's Ladder

 Benjamin and Patrick tackle the Wobbly Pole. I failed quite miserably on it.

Su Jin and Gustavo (I think?) on The Gauntlet

Me belaying someone on the Rope Ladder

    Today I started a two day air rile shooting course. Within the next two weeks I will have my Level One ropes leader certification. I've been learning so much, but I feel like I'm learning it well. The instructors give us lots of time to practice what we've learned and I feel confident that I can actually do my job well when the time comes.
    Our training usually ends between 4 and 5pm , depending on how our leads are feeling (or how busy they are with other things.) I usually go back to my room in the White House, check my computer then gather up any laundry I have and go back to the Den. My evenings are spent in the Den, eating, watching TV or more often a movie or two. People hang out in the tent a lot because it's the only place most people can get internet access. The Brazilians, Allan and Rodrigo, spend a lot of time playing guitar and singing in there and sometimes they convince me to join in, and then I sing very badly.
     
          This past weekend provided something new and interesting because I went to visit Emily at her placement in Sheffield. I booked my tickets online during the week (35 pounds return) and got up very early on Saturday morning to catch the train from Chingford to Liverpool Street Station in Lodon. From there I caught the tube to St. Pancras Station where I succeed in picking up my tickets from the automated ticket machine and getting on the right train to Sheffield. Two hours later I was there and Emily met me at the station. We waited for a bus and made our way to Castleton in Derbyshire. The buses in that area are pretty awful. They're not exactly cheap, they're never on time, and because there's about 4 different bus companies, getting any sort of bus pass is pointless. Victoria's transit system is flawless compared to Sheffield's.
       Emily and I chatted non-stop on the double-decker bus to Castleton and probably annoyed our fellow riders. The weather was typically English: over cast and occasionally raining. Just the ride there was beautiful. Castelton is the Peak District; full of lush, green, choppy hills dotted with sheep. It was so English countryside. The thing about being Gilwell and Chingford is that I could almost forgot sometimes that I'm not still in Canada, but up north was exactly what everyone thinks of when they think of England.

  So what did we do in Castleton? Visit the castle of course! Peveril Castle is almost 1000 years old, though not much remains of the oldest parts. It's set way up a steep hill, perfectly defensible, though apparently it rarely saw any military action. It seems it was the residents of the stewards of the forest who collected taxes and fines from the villages and enforced laws concerning the forest. Other than the remains of some walls, the only part left standing is the Keep. We explored it quite throughly (it didn't really take long) and ate our lunch in one of the deep window ledges. The whole time we kept saying to each other, "Guess what? We're eating lunch in castle!" We took tons of pictures and were in awe of it all the whole time. For more pictures, see my album on Facebook.

This is one of my favourite shots. I would love to go back and do some real hiking in the Peak District

      After the much easier walk back down the steep hills, we attempted to go to one of the caves that Castleton is known for. We got to the entrance, and it looked pretty cool, but also quite expensive to go in. We decided not to enter and instead walked around the town, checking out the little shops and laughing at the funny names of the inns and pubs.

       I nearly fell asleep on the bus back to Sheffield. We took another bus to Totely, the suburb of Sheffiled where Emily works at Mickely Hall, a home for adults with disabilities. Emily has her own room with an extra pull out couch, which I slept on, and in that way she's better off than me. But there's just one other overseas volunteer who lives there, all other staff and volunteers come in on shift work. It was great to see Emily but I don't think I could be happy living there. To me it feels like living and eating in a hospital, and she admits it is kind of lonely. Maybe it's because I'm used to living with a roommate and working and eating with dozens of people every day, but I found her placement extremely lonely. That in combination with seeing Emily again made me a little homesick.
      On Sunday Emily, the other volunteer, Karina, and I went back into Sheffield and did some shopping. My train wasn't until 7:18 but everything in Sheffield (and Chingford too for that matter) closes at 5pm. So there wasn't much to do for two hours. Emily and Karina caught the bus home at 6, and I read in the train station until my train came because changing my ticket to an earlier time would have been way too expensive. The train ride back was 3 hours and I was quite tired by that point. By the time I got to London, and then back to Chingford it was 11pm. There is a 24 hour taxi service in Chingford and I had a very talkative Indian cabby drive me back home.  By the end I felt quite proud of myself for navigating public transit so well in a foreign land.
     Despite having been gone less than 48 hours, I was very happy to be back at Gilwell, surrounded by all these people who I like and who like me, doing work that I thoroughly enjoy. I told Emily to come and visit me whenever she wants, and since Karina knows a couple of the girls here at Gilwell they are both going to come down the next time we all have a weekend off.
    This is what life in England has been like so far. I'm greatly enjoying it, though I still miss some things from home, and already I feel like this experience is changing me.

     One more thing. Emily and I have decided that we are going to Greece for Christmas! We're going for at least a week since I get two weeks holiday over Christmas and Emily is going to request time off. We want to get some other Lattitude and/or Gilwell volunteers to come with us. We're thinking of doing one day in Athens to see all the mandatory tourist sites, the on to one of the islands. Except we have no idea which island. I would be very grateful if anyone could suggest a good island to go to stay on, it seems impossible to choose.