Thinking Day (with a touch of extra thinking)

So it was the Thinking Day event at the church today. From previous posts you may remember that we were to make salt dough characters and waffles in the theme of Norway. On  that note that did happen, but my, was it a struggle to get there!?

We actually met last night in preparation for this evenings event- so everything was pre-made minus the ingredients for the waffles- as those were to be fresh. However one thing that my Senior section weren't relying on happening was for their leader (ie me) being 30 mins late. The reason being, the amount of thinking that needs to be done for my Thesis.

I met today with my thesis tutor after handing in approximately 4,000 words. Baring in mind that this was the word deadline for December, so I'm a little behind. The tutorial was set to be half an hour long yet my poor tutor had to talk to me for an hour, half of the time trying to calm down my panic and the other half trying to explain everything that he was saying in metaphors. The end result of this tutorial was- you have 3 weeks. You better get it done. So yes i am panicking now, and i have consequently erased any plans i have over the next couple of weeks to get it done.However this very kind gift of an extra half an hour tutorial wasn't very good for my guides. I tried texting a couple of people on the way back to say i was going to be late but unfortunately no one seemed to get them so none of my instructions were followed and  i just got to the church in to a different state of panic.

Me panicking

100 girls aged 5-16. My Senior section were brilliant this evening though, each time we had a group, one manned the dough while the other made waffles which allowed me time to explain to them what they were doing and why it was Norwegian. It got a little hectic trying to keep the younger ones away from the waffle iron but no one burnt themselves (well, apart from me) which was great. The risk assessment was obviously very worth it!

I think the girls all enjoyed themselves in the end and i think the event went really well over all- there were about 10 country's for the girls to walk around and a personal achievement for us was that we made our activity less than 20p per head per child. I thought that was impressive anyway. The evening ended with us all renewing our guide promises together, in the good old fashioned 'tea light' scenario, which seems really boring but really determines a community within a town. Over a hundred people in a room that you can associate yourself with and talk to, without even considering the parents of the children. Its a lot of people, and it gives you a bit of hope that not everywhere is so socially isolating.

Norway Prep

I've just finished writing my risk assesment form for the event tomorrow at guides. Basically we are only making salt dough characters (from: The three billy goats gruff) and eating waffles but my risk assesment has made the task sound like mission imposible. Death is an option, but you would have to eat all of the salt dough you are given - oh and only if no one calls an ambulance.
The prep went well this evening though and it looks as if everything is 'salted' for tomorrow (ha ha ha- that is a reference to the salt dough) Should be fun, all i need to find now is a stamp in my room that symbolises Norway enough to put in the childrens passport. I think i only have Christmas theamed ones and a three goats book. I'm also taking my slr tomorrow, one of the senior section is a hotography student so i'm going to utilise her skills.
I have enjoyed the last couple of weeks of senior section- I think the senior section feel a little more familiar with me and on my part more regularity isn't a bad thing, i need to learn to communicate a little better and everything will be fine; i think its also helped that i have had an activity to do the last couple of weeks to keep us occupied. I'm going to have to start thinking about some new and interesting things to do with them.

Senior Section and a very crafty Norway

Next week there is a guiding event going on in our district to mark Thinking Day (For those of you that was ever in the Brownies, its that day where you light a tea light candle and think of different countries)- 100 brownies and rainbows are going to have a 'passport' and  travel around several countries, ran by the leaders/ senior section- each country has to have a craft based around their country, another idea around this event was to try and mix the groups a bit- so a little bit of cross generational teamwork. Our country is Norway, seemingly convenient after having gone to Norway, however the crafts that i found were extremely difficult to do. We spent about an hour trying to construct a paper weaved basket (maybe not the best idea for 5-10 year olds). In the end we came up with making Vaffels and whilst the kids are waiting to make them they can play with some salt dough (making some trolls, and idea from Ellie which i am very grateful for). Lots of preparation. I'm back to guides again on Tuesday to set up and make lots of Norwegian flags!

Setting up studio

As i presumed in my last blog- this week has been busy and draining. Tuesday was at college in the morning, enrollment started at 9.30am- but that's when myself and Anika got the train, to save the expense of the peak ticket. You forget how many people you know and like at college- until you all go so a scary shouty cafe in Pimlico and try to fit around one table... only to be shouted at not to sit at the table until you have ordered. This is the way of the shouty cafe 'TWO EGGS AND CHIPS!' That Tuesday evening i had to rush home for the Guides (This commuting is giving me a headache- we better find somewhere to live soon!)- Word had spread that i wasn't back at Uni yet, this week I covered the guides- last week i was covering the Brownies- it is quite nice to work with the different age ranges though- and i feel slightly more confident now that i know most of the girls from camping over the summer- the Brownies do ware you out though. All they seem to do is run and scream.
Anyway, following through with this week- yesterday i was at Rainbows, and today i had arranged to meet with a couple of people from our studio last year to talk about the new arrangement of the Opt-in Space.

We have been given a small extra room for the Opt-in Space this year- as the part time students are being given studio space, we have gained their project room. But what to do with this room is the challenge. The guys that met up had some really great ideas about ways of opening up the whole space without having to loose walls- As the 'guinea pigs' as such, for the space, they are really taking the initiative of what to do with it next (Since the creators left this June). The plan as of yet is still to be discussed with the new intake into the studio next week- but we have discussed breaking down some walls to let in some natural light, to have a centralised sofa/ working area and bring the the black space and blue room into one room. Also we may be given a projector to use in the space permanently, which is fantastic for shows etc and maybe we can use the small room as a bookable space for the people in Opt-in. The guys that came in are also really keen to start building their own furniture for the space as well as movable walls (This sounds amazingly difficult and i wish i had the woodwork capabilities to do it). I did have to mention though,  that not everyone else would be able to help with the furniture making. I say everyone- to be honest it's just me that doesn't have a clue how to do it. I can't wait now until next week to see who is moving to our studio. It is all very exciting. I think our emphasis for next week is to try and keep everyone included in discussion and get them excited about the space, whether they are a painter of video maker- they shouldn't feel like they can't use the space.

Rainbows

I went to Rainbows today after being out of service for about a year- my intention last year was to try and make as many sessions as i can, but found again with the commuting last year and so much going on at college, i could never find the time. It is a real shame though, because i have been with the group since i was 19, and have always had fun with the kids and the leaders. The main problem I find with Rainbows is the time- 4.30 on a wednesday- slap bang in the middle of the day and because th girls are 5-7 years old there is a 1:5 ratio needed for adults. I have however commited to a month, because i'm not at college at the moment and there is a shortage of leaders. Basically i will be a leader there until we can get a mum to join and commit to be there every week. It's a shame that i can't commit, bu realistically, if i have a tutorial/ seminar on a wednesday, it's to important for my course to miss. Hopefully i will be able to pop in every now and again when they need me.

Senior Section

After camping with the guides the other week, i got into talking with one of the guide leaders about how it is apparent that a Senior section is needed in the local area, a couple of the girls on the camp wanted to continue with guiding but, were quite a lot older than the ones that had recently joined the group. It was something that i was interested in taking up last year, but nothing ever came out of it. I think the main problem being that commuting last year left me worn out and time-less. Hopefully this year, living in London, commuting out of London once a month wont be such a problem.
I went to normal guides session tonight to present the idea of there being a senior section, unfortunately there were only three people there that are eligible to move up a group. I bought in my laptop with a DVD explaining what it was about (To be honest I'm not even sure myself what is supposed to go on in the senior section at all) the DVD suggests that it will be packed with trips around the world and awards but there isn't anything to suggest what is supposed to be happening in a monthly meet up. I did have a chat with a lady in the girl guiding head office in London who was quite helpful. What she said was that the Senior Section was about a number of things, but mainly about understanding social responsibility (moving onto being a brownie leader etc) and having peer support through exams and leaving school, basically somewhere to have a bit of fun and chat. A lot of the projects like the duke of Edinburgh award and the queen guide award are to be done on their own- with my support in organising things and talking about how to do it. My initial ideas are to maybe arrange a trip every other month that is concerned with one of the girls personal interests, so as a group the girls get to learn more about each other and then in between these trips just have sessions to talk about what people are doing and to give help with organising time, and the guiding projects/ exams.
Its early days though, and it all comes down to the amount of girls interested in coming on a regular basis- which directly links to the amount of funding for trips etc- there are still guiding fees to pay.

Camping- Orsett Showground

Guides isn't a group i usually help out with so coming into the showground on Friday evening i didn't know who i was looking for, it was a massive gathering as well which didn't help- a centenary event in a big field. There wasn't much going on on the first night other than putting up tents and for me getting to know each other. There was a massive ants nest in our food tent which was a bit of a problem, lots of screaming girls worrying about their sleeping bags having ants in them. I thought it was quite funny, and luckily we managed to usher them off to get food. Well. It was a burger van- so not really food. It was a big cheek actually, the food situation- all of the girls had paid for their food to be inclusive yet when we got to the vans, there was a choice between a burger and chips or chips and a drink. You would think a meal would automatically come with a drink- but apparently not, even though it has been about 90 degrees over the weekend. On the second evening we had a couple of tokens left over so we bought loads of drinks with them so everyone could have a decent meal (not that we were supposed to, and i got alot of aggravation from the burger van people for doing it).
But anyway, trying not to moan too much about the catering, the next day we had a centenary parade- each district were supposed to dress up as a decade, only we didn't find out ours until the morning of the parade- this is where my artistic talent came in and within an hour, together we had made everybody paper number tags so we would look like Olympic runners for our decade (2010-2020). I must say that some of the groups had really tried with their costumes, but ours were the best for the timeline we had to make them. 
The parade was followed with a fayre which had some entrainment and was open to the public- there were some dog shows and dancing in the main arena, and quite alot  of old fayre games- like the wet sponge 'stock' games and hook the duck etc- so i thoroughly enjoyed it. There was also a very large sweet stall where i spent the majority of my money. It was so hot though that it was quite hard to enjoy anything without wanting to lay down or have a drink. Also, stupidly, after making all of the guides put loads of sun cream on, i forgot to put any on myself, so i finished the weekend slightly crisp and very red.....