EVENT REPORTS:

Adventure to the Capitals, June 26 - July 7, 2005

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Submitted by Charlotte Kenyon and Wendy Kluge, Guiders

Adventure to the Capitals really began in May 2003 when Elaine Hayden completed her term as Provincial Commissioner. It was her dream to help provide opportunities for girls to travel and to celebrate the special International friendship between the U.S. and Canada. It is Elaine’s hope that, given this opportunity, the girls would act as ambassadors in Canada and the U.S. and as they become leaders in Guiding and their communities, that they will help to provide similar experiences for other girls.

On June 26th Wendy and I met with ten awesome girls who reflected so much of what Guiding is all about. They were a little shy at first, but not for long. They were friendly, caring, knowledgeable and eager to share their skills and strengths with each other. They bonded as a group very quickly.

We were all ready for an adventure!

As with any trip, flexibility was the key. When it was 40+, some plans had to be altered, but we adjusted to the conditions. We found cool places to visit in the heat for the day and tried to limit our walking to the morning and evening.

We visited Old Montreal, the Fairmont Bagel Factory, walked along the St. Lawrence, and ate in a French café. We stayed in hostels, which was an experience for all of us, especially the jail in Ottawa. We took a tour of the Basilica in Montreal, watched the buskers juggle fire at the Byward Market, and took a boat trip up the Rideau Canal. We celebrated on Canada Day and Independence Day, visited two National Galleries, the new War Museum in Ottawa, the Museum of the Holocaust and most of the great monuments in Washington. We walked over Parliament Hill, took a tour of the Centre Block and went up in the Peace Tower. We went to the top of the Washington Monument and the bell tower of the old Post Office building in Washington. And so much, much more !

We met Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in Montreal, Ottawa and Washington. Not only did we meet up with the groups with whom we had corresponded by e-mail, but our uniform and red jackets were easily recognized and drew other members of Guiding and Scouting to speak to us. We met girls and Guiders from Montreal, Ottawa, Maryland, Washington, Chelsea, Quebec, Arkansas and Texas and are corresponding with some of them. We even ran into another group from B.C. at the Montreal youth hostel whom the girls recognized from SOAR! We loved the connections that Guiding provides!

We had other interesting experiences with our uniform, like arriving in the Montreal airport and being asked for directions in French. Yikes! We quickly realized how rusty our French was.

The girls enjoyed the recognition and were indeed wonderful ambassadors of Girl Guides and of Canada. We could not have asked for a better group of girls. They were bright, positive and eager to have new experiences, meet new people and to make friends. We had an especially hard time saying good-bye to our friends from Maryland on our last night in Washington.

It was unbelievable to be on Parliament Hill for Canada Day! The girls could not believe they were actually there. It was a thrill for all of us. The Independence Day celebration was also very exciting. We enjoyed dancing to the Beach Boys with two young girls we met at the hostel who were traveling with their Mom from Australia (I think the older one wanted to go home and join Guides!). We had a distant view of the fireworks as we were at the other end of the Mall near the Capital and the stages. We had a little excitement among the girls when the orchestra played the ‘1812 Overture’ during the fireworks; the canons firing at the end came as a bit of a surprise. We had talked to the girls before we left about the high security measures that we would see in Ottawa and Washington and that the security is there for our safety, as well as the safety of the Nations' Capitals. However, the police and military presence was so much more in Washington than even I had anticipated, we realized then that this was a bit frightening to some of the girls.

Though sometimes it is a challenge being the first to explore new opportunities, we had a wonderful, amazing trip. We saw and experienced all that we possibly could in the time that we had. We all wished for just one more day, which I always feel is the sign of a great trip. The heat slowed us down a bit, but that could not be helped. A few things that we planned took more time than we realized, but those will serve as suggestions for future trips.

We all thank Elaine for her vision and B.C. Council for helping to make it a reality.

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Click here to read the newest report - by Vanessa Hawk and Emmy Chahal
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Submitted by Alexandra Lukac

Hi. My name is Alexandra Lukac. I was very lucky to be selected as an alternate for Adventures to the Capitals, and get to go. There were nine other girls, and two leaders. On Sunday I got up at six thirty and flew to Vancouver. I met up with the girls and we talked and got to know each other. We went out for supper and later got our international jackets and shirts.

The next morning we got up at five thirty and I realized we would probably not get very much sleep on this trip-and I was right! We ate a nice breakfast-I had waffles. Then we left for the airport, where we waited two hours for our flight.

When we got to Montreal, it was 48 degrees Celsius with the humidity, and we had pants on! We took a bus to our hostel and carried our bags up. We learned what Youth Hostel was in French. Auberge de Jeunesse, our bus driver told us (but I probably spelled it wrong). We unloaded and changed into shorts and walked around, looking for a good place to eat. It was already getting dark by then, but it was still hot. After about an hour walking around nighttime Montreal city, we ate at a pizza place (Dominos, actually). After we ate, we couldn’t find the receipt, and we thought it was in the garbage, so Wendy stuck her head in the garbage to dig out the pizza boxes! The receipt wasn’t even in the garbage; it was stuck on Yuki’s pizza box!

The next morning we got up at six thirty and we only had five hours sleep! We went to tour Montreal city with a guy named Joey, who showed us around and took us to the bagel factory. We got bagels and they were really good! We went into some gift shops to buy little souvenirs. It was unbelievably hot and so we went and got ice cream in an air conditioned McDonalds. We also visited the Notre Dame Basilica. It had awesome paintings and sculptures. Later, we met up with some Senior Branch girls, and bumped into Girl Scouts from the U.S. too!  We talked for a while, and then went to go on a tour of Old Montreal. The guy who did it was really funny, and we learned tons of interesting facts.

On Wednesday we took a train to Ottawa. We ate supper and took a tour of our new home-the JAIL! It was really scary and we found out that we would be staying in the most haunted building in North America!!! We went for a walk at night, and watched an amazing street show, where two guys were doing tricks with fire!

The next morning we walked to Parliament Hill. It was really pretty, with three huge buildings surrounding a grassy square. We watched the changing of the guards, and they looked really funny with their huge black hats. We took an elevator to the top of the Peace Tower to get some nice pictures, and then took a boat tour down the Rideau Canal.

Friday morning, we had a quick breakfast and took a tour of Rideau Hall, and even saw Adrianne Clarkson. After that, we went to Parliament Hill to watch the celebrations. The concerts were going on and we saw the Canadian Idol-Kalan Porter, Sam Roberts and some others. We watched the fireworks and they looked amazing with the Parliament buildings in the front.

On Saturday we took a bus to Upper Canada Village, and everyone fell asleep on the way. The whole park is from 1860’s, and we got to try on old fashioned clothing, milk a cow, took a boat ride pulled by a horse, see what life might be like a village from the 1860’s and we took a school lesson where Emmy, Lizzie and I got in trouble for being late!!! Upper Canada Village was one of my favourite places. At night, back at our jail, we took a ‘ghosts and gallows’ tour, where we learned more ghost stories of our hostel and all over Ottawa! I got so scared, and I was so jumpy, but I actually fell asleep right away!

We ate our last breakfast in Jail and went on our plane to our last destination, Washington, D.C. We unloaded in our hostel and then ate a delicious meal in Chinatown. The noodle maker had this totally unbelievable trick that he could do to transform a blob of dough into noodles!

The next day, we listened to a George Washington speech and ate beaver tails for lunch. We watched a July 4th parade, which was really fun. Later, we went to the Capitol Building to see the fireworks and concerts. Wendy was really excited because she loves the Beach Boys and we got to hear them live! We watched the fireworks and walked to our hostel, exhausted.

On Tuesday, we went up the Washington Monument. It is 555 feet tall, and is one of the tallest freestanding buildings in the world. The elevator going up takes 72 seconds! We also went to the National Archives and saw the original Declaration of Independence!

The next day, the 6th, we went on a sightseeing tour bus to some of the famous memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, there were around fifty life-size soldier statues, and at night they were lit up, and they looked almost real. It was amazing.

The 7th was the last official day of the camp. We set out very early to the airport to fly first to Montreal and then to Vancouver, B.C. Everyone said a sad good-bye and it was over. During the camp we all became close friends.

This camp was an amazing experience for me. It could never have been done without all the people who didn’t get to go to the camp but made it possible for us to go. Thanks also to Charlotte and Wendy for being super leaders and fun to hang out with, and to all the girls for being so friendly so we got along really well.

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ADVENTURE TO THE CAPITALS

Written by Vanessa Hawk and Emmy Chahal

Learning to say “Auberge de Jeunesse” (“youth hostel” in French) from our bus driver, making funny home videos, sleepless, stuffy, unbearably hot nights in jail, eating ice cream during a thunderstorm, searching for receipts in garbage cans…

These are a few of the many things we will always remember on our trip, Adventure to the Capitals. We were lucky enough to be part of 10 girls to participate in such an awesome journey.  Also, we met our “other mothers” otherwise known as Charlotte and Wendy, our two wonderful leaders.  You could say our adventure began June 26 and ended July 7 as those were the dates of our actual trip, but the excitement began to build a long time before that.  Like when we read about the opportunity on the internet.  We learned that applying for an international trip is not that difficult and is totally worth it.  We filled out various forms and acquired three references.  One being inside of guiding, additionally we wrote a letter to the selections council.  The $3000 cost in total per girl, was kindly brought down with financial assistance from Province.  So in the end, girls only had to pay $900, but this experience’s value cannot be expressed through numbers.

Before departing for our trip, Wendy suggested setting up a shared e-mail account so we could post messages for everyone else to read.  Writing about ourselves and our daily activities was a FABULOUS way to get to know each other before our trip.  Before leaving for Montreal we must admit- conversation was a little awkward, but that disappeared before long.  And very soon, we were all best friends.  When you live with people 24/7 you grow really close.  At the airport when we arrived back in Vancouver we were all crying and upset to see everyone go home.  It’s amazing how awkward strangers turn into life long best friends in less than two weeks… one of the many wonders of a Girl Guide International trip.

In Montreal, we had a lovely tour with Joey, one of Wendy’s friends who is a local resident.  Plus, many of us had never stayed in hostels before and were pleasantly surprised that our accommodation wasn’t primitive camping.  We visited the Notre Dame Basilica, Old Montreal, and took part in a lamplighter’s tour.  Later we took a train to Ottawa and arrived at our Jail Hostel. That night we took a Ghost Tour of the jail and learned about the jail’s history and of its former inhabitants. We spent an entire day up at Upper Canada Village, where we traversed across the 1860’s village and learned what life was like. We saw school houses, churches and even milked a cow! On Canada Day we celebrated by visiting Rideau Hall where we met the Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson and her husband! After our tour we went up to Parliament Hill. Everyone enjoyed the Parliament buildings; we loved the architecture and the décor.  And finally to end Canada Day, we watched the fireworks and a concert where many talented artists performed, such as Canadian Idol, Kalan Porter.  Also we met several Ottawa Guides from the area.

Too soon, we were off to Washington DC.  We saw several museums part of Smithsonian including the Holocaust and The National Gallery.  Then we celebrated July 4 with ½ - 1 million other people.  Also, we watched the July 4 Parade which had some very interesting floats. Finally, we took a sightseeing night tour with a fantastic tour guide.  We visited many different memorials and were known as the “red blood cells,” a flattering nickname due to our beautiful international jackets. Finally, we met a great group of Girl Scouts and their leader.

Although all of us enjoyed every second of such a wonderful adventure, it passed too quickly.  You’ll be surprised at how much you can learn in 12 days.  We not only learned about the United States and its similarities and differences to Canada, our Canadian government, different cultures, how to make friends and so much more. But we learned about ourselves. Because of this amazing trip all of us have more confidence, whether it’s confidence in traveling or in making friends.  And none of the skills we learned, knowledge we acquired, friends we made, or places we saw, would have been possible without many people.

Our leaders were the best ever, and we will be forever grateful for all they did for us (like laundry at 2:00 am) and the invaluable things they taught us. Also, thanks SO much to Darlene and the International Committee for organizing such an amazing event, the B.C. Council for approving it, and especially Elaine Hayden for thinking up such a marvellous idea. So thank you to these women for making all of this possible for us. Not only did you give us plane tickets, accommodation, a wonderful travel group, and an itinerary, you gave us memories of an experience that we will NEVER forget.