2009.03. - Lots of Scouting

Thinking Day ... is one of the most important annual events for the Girl Scouts. They participate in activities, games and projects with global themes by learning more about a country they choose by vote. This year the troop including Julia and Annie decided to present France.




They set up a table with some of the typical French food.




And put together an informative play which they rehearsed for weeks to then show on stage.
The script went like this:

Alena and Julia played French girls sitting in a Cafe.

They were asked for directions by two American girls - Katie and Anna - visiting Paris who just arrived by plane.

They decided to show the Americans the city. They went by the Eiffel tower and a playground where small children - Annie and Daria - were jumping the rope singing - Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques.

They strolled down the Champs Elysées and saw two bikers - Annie and Daria - racing the Tour de France.

The Americans soon had to take their next plane. They thanked their new French friends and gave them their cowboy hats as gifts.

As they flew away they could spot some of the princesses - Annie and Daria - waving to them from EuroDisney.

The kids did great - but the real fun was the preparation itself.

Thinking Day meant of course not only "giving" but also "receiving" - tasting all the different flavours of the countries represented by the other troops - Korea, Spain, Japan, England, Croatia, etc.) and watching their performance on stage. And taking home the swaps of course.










Award time for the Boy Scouts Pack!
We all went gladly to Daniel's Blue and Gold Ceremony where the boys got their pins, belt loops and other awards as recognition of their activities and the family members get a share of the snacks and sweets served on a volunteer basis.
Now Daniel officially became a Bear!


Somebody organized a huge cake with delicious frosting which ensured an even bigger success for the whole event!


And then there was one more thing -

- the Spring Garage Sale of
the American Women's Club -

- where both Girl and Boy Scouts helped to sort the unsold items for donation to an Orphanage.





Annie's math skills improved dramatically within an hour since she had to sort and place the items by ten - 0 to 9, 10 to 19, etc. up to 70. And Julia just proved to be a fantastic project leader for our selling - she not only ironed and labelled our items (over 100) but also summarized them in a spreadsheet to track success.


The rest of the month there were just "normal" scout meetings spent with ...


... Molecular Gastronomy Experiments ...







... outdoor games, rope skipping ... - Kelly introduced double dutch to us - it still needs to be practiced - most of the time we had difficulties to start the ropes without tangling them right away, not to speak about getting "into" the ropes.




Julia started to practice her skit with Alena for their bridging at the summer camp -Miley Cyrus: Hoedown Throwdown - a lot of hiphop steps to memorize but looks cool already. And Daniel and Annie are picking up the routine as well.