A day in the life...

Today's blog takes you step by step through... I was going to say "an average day" but on GOLD, there is no such thing!  But here's today anyway...

8.18am - wake up in the hostel, it's not quite time to get up yet so most of us are still dozing. I'm trying to work out whether it's raining outside for the first time this trip...

8.39am - alarm clocks have gone off and people are starting to move, after a couple of compulsory snoozes obviously! Oh and good news - it's not raining!! 

9.11am - we're all up, dressed and sorting bags/breakfast, whilst dancing to cheesy tunes! C'est la vie!

9.43am - an intense game of Finland versus Sweden broke out on the ice hockey table - Finland came out on top with a 3-0 victory. 

10.01am - breakfast has arrived!! Tuck in :-D

10.46am - we're off to see some sea scouts this evening, and we thought as we'd be by the sea, it would be worth a visit. Because of this, we did all our planning and resource buying yesterday (organised!). After much debate, and a look on Google maps, we decided we could leave around 3 and still have fun at the beach. We are in the Baltics after all. 

11am - Leaving later means we have plenty of time to do the boring chores like... sorting out washing! Whoop!

11.27am - the team have split into a wandering through the market team, a shopping for dinner team and a getting extra sleep team - we'll leave you to guess who's in which team!!

1.26pm - the sleeping team have finally woken up (I admit, I was team leader!) to find a couple of people cooking and everyone else doing journal-y stuff. It's good to have these relaxing times in amongst the planning, running sessions and doing stuff!

2pm - lunch time. Today we have a spread of ham, salami, cheese (variety), lettuce, rolls, bread, mayo, crisps, yoghurt, fruit and cakey biscuit things, with iced tea and squash to drink. 

3.02pm - we've just left the hostel, and heading to the train station... Some people are in swimming costumes ready for a quick dip, some of us are more sensible!

3.22pm - on the train. The best thing about Latvian trains is that we can sit in a little booth together, all six of us! The bad news is there's no room for our feet!!

3.47pm - we're in Lielupe! After a brief glance at the map, we head towards the sea down a leafy road - very pretty!

3.58pm - stop for bon bon.

4.08pm - BEACH!!!! 

5.08pm - one hour on the beach, including swimming in the Baltic Sea, paddling, posing for photos, drawing in the sand, and then wrapping up warm again!! Almost sea scout time...

6.21pm - we've found the school we're meant to be running the meeting in, but not the cubs. We're currently wandering around the school attempting to find them but instead we've found some random Latvian boys fighting with sticks in the woodwork classroom! Potential cub scouts! 

6.50pm - the cubs have prepared a track through the woods - we're following the tracks... Easier to do when they've pointed them in the right direction in the first place!! 

7.10pm - we've found the chocolate at the end of the trail and we're started on our international activities - one from Mexico (hello our cabana!) and one from Japan (hello scout jamboree!)!

7.30pm - we're heading back to the train station now, following Philips, a cub scout who was asked to show us the way!

8.53pm - we're back in the hostel, some of us in PJs, waiting for food to be ready! Toni (our unofficial group cook) has made chilli tonight :D Tonight the plan is to sort out photos, back them up, and have a discussion about tomorrow... we're meeting a couple of the board members to talk about programme ideas for the Guides and Scouts tomorrow evening! Exciting. 

That's all for now - we'll update again soon!