Programme discussion and team building...

Since the last update, we've been busy! Yesterday we met with some of the programme team to discuss how they can continue to develop their programme. We told them in more detail how ours runs (from rainbow, brownie, guide and senior section), including the world famous chocolate go for it! We also discussed how they could take bits of our programme and create their own, taking into consideration the varying age groups and different roles within the organisations (for instance, there is currently no young leader programme within Latvia).
After that discussion (which conveniently happened over dinner), we also discussed some of the challenges the association is facing as they continue to develop, and how to work around these.  
We were also told more details about Ranger/Rover camp, which is super exciting!!

Today was spent planning, creating resources, packing and more discussion! We also visited 66th scouts and guides and ran some team building activities as well as some scouting/guiding activities (and sometimes mixed!). It was a fab evening for us, and hopefully for the participants too!! Fun fact of the day: no Latvian words start with the letter w - cue some very confused scouts/guides when the words WAGGGS and WOSM appeared in one of our games

Over the next few days, we are heading out to Ranger/Rover camp. We're really excited about it, and we've been told our tent has a heated element :-D we're currently collapsed on some bean bags in a chill out room in the hostel throwing out some extra ideas for things we can do on camp. Off to bed soon ready for our early start!

Riddles, hikes and counting in Latvian...

Yesterday saw us out hiking with the brownies and guides. We met at central station, jumped on a train, and travelled to Smãrde. Along the way, we were given some riddles to figure out. We've listed them at the bottom - if you can get all five, we'll send you a postcard! When we got off the train, we played a couple of get-to-know-you games, and then set off on our adventure.

After about 10 minutes, the brownies were already asking how far we'd walked, and how long was left! It's good to know it's not just British brownies and guides who are like that!! The walk gave us a great chance to find out more from the leaders about Latvian Scouts and Guides, their international experiences, and what they wanted to do in the future. It was also a brilliant chance for the brownies to attempt to teach us Latvian - we're not so good at the minute! Maybe we'll get to 20 by the end of the trip!

After a while, we ended up at a random 'castle', where the brownies, guides, leaders and GOLDies took part in traditional castle games, including archery, dominoes, hoopla, and skittles. After that, we cooked hot dogs on a bbq, as well as bananas and chocolates, before heading to a different train station at Milzkalne.

We had a fabulous day, and we learnt lots and the brownies certainly enjoyed the novelty of us being there!! Before we disappear for the night, don't forget the riddles...

Riddles:
1) two heads, six legs
2) you can see a pile but you can't see the thrower
3) landlord sings without a book
4) beautiful flower in the lake, in the day it blooms white in the morning and evening red
5) red man in a sauna, green beard outside

Comment your answers!!
GOLD Love,
Team Latvia!

The Great Egg Drop...

Today was our first day with Brownies and Guides, and, as it's a joint organisation, Cubs and Scouts! We travelled to Ogre, a city about 45 minutes from Riga, to meet up with Liga and her unit. We were met at the station by a lovely scout called Mareks, who showed us the way to the Scout and Guide Museum where they hold their meetings. After a short introduction from Liga, we got on with our activities... 

Starting with some name games in the two ages groups...

Then joining together for getting into alphabetical order, in limited space!

Then into smaller teams. Each team was given an egg...

To decorate and name, and cherish forever...

Then we had small activities, including moving a ball from one tree to another, down paper tubes...

And standing on a very small bit of paper singing a song...

To earn resources to create something to protect their egg...

As the egg was dropped from the window...

They all survived!

At the end of the meeting, we did an evaluation - pretty successful! And then went into Ogre with Liga, Davis (one of the Rovers), Anate (one of the older guides who is hoping to make her Ranger promise this weekend), and two of the younger scouts. We had some fabulous Latvian food (chicken and pork, and mushroom sauce, or cheese...), and then headed back to the station, with the two younger Scouts leading the way (and occasionally shouting "come on, only 9 minutes!"). We made it back to Riga, and Lizzie, Toni, Alice and Laura headed out to get ice cream, whilst Net and Sarah collapsed in the hostel!

We're off for a hike tomorrow, with a Guide unit, and potentially some Brownies, as they are hoping to start up a new Brownie unit there -it'll be great to talk tactics with the leaders whilst we're walking!

Early night tonight though!
GOLD love,
Team Latvia