What we'll miss... and what we won't!

We will miss so many things from project, here is a
1. Each other!
2. SChow supermarket (and their interesting exchange rate....)
3. The Aruban welcome
4. Zoë and Sophie will miss their giant bed
5. Singing, especially in the car
6. Our Aruban sisters, mothers and grandmothers
7. Ice pops of unknown flavour (Miriam will not miss these!)
8. Playing spot or bite
9. Photo fail of the day
10. Our miniature, U.V, antique telephone
11. Chocolate spread sandwiches at any hour!
12. Pastechi
13. Jimmy, the accomodation handyman
14. Referring to songs, energisers and games as 'SEGs'
15. Sun, sand and sea
16. Random nakedness being completely acceptable #sorrynotsorry



Things we won't miss too much...
1. 'Wobble technology' washing machine
2. Temperamental burglar alarms!!
3. Toilet paper bins...
4. Having just one full size mug and 6 team members
5. Breaking 4 glasses in our accomodation
6. Constant battling to keep sand out of our accomodation, and out of our beds?!
7. DEET in the mouth and eyes!
8. Doors that do not want to close or open
9. Lights that dim when you use the shower
10. Living without a kettle
11. Our poor hire car, that clearly has been driven through the outrageous terrain of the National Park too many times!
12. Carb loaded meals...
13. Suicidal dogs in the roads
14. Working until midnight every night for 3 weeks!
15. The beds in bedroom 1!
16. Having to physically open a closed road when we want to leave our accommodation!

24 hours in the life of the GOLD Team

Friday Evening

Last night was our last night of after school training with 11-17 year old girls in the North of the Island. The sky did not disappoint, with a sunset that turned from yellow and orange through to deep pink and purple. It was great to see so many girls after a long day of school for a session lasting almost 5 hours.

We played 'silent law ladders', (a new firm favourite!) a VERY energetic round of 'Ride my pony', and had an excellent debate with the girls before a dinner break. We were touched by the kind words of the girls and leaders, and it was heart warming to see that our visit has meant as much to Aruba as it has to us.

Saturday Morning

The team were reduced to 4 for training this morning, with Anne and Sophie at home. The session was a great success, with a focus on how current leaders plan their meetings. It featured a jigsaw activity where teams had to break up and learn about the Guiding 5 Essentials, before regrouping and each teaching each other about what they had learned.

We were delighted to hear that the Scout Leader who had been so inspired by our training sessions, now feels ready to take over an upcoming 3 month absence. The pledge auction we ran saw the trading of some brilliant resources, including:

Venues

Knot tiring session

Craft sessions

Recruitment support

Supporting new leaders

Saturday Afternoon Rainbow and Brownie session!

We headed to Noord district for our 5pm combined session with the Beyisima and Kabouter, with lots of ideas for 90 minutes of games and songs. It was so wonderful to meet the girls, we shared our songs and began to learn some of theirs! The girls made beautiful brightly coloured sticker fish on straws, which we took outside to play 'Ride My Dolphin' and 'Fishes in the Sea'.

The evening finished with ice pops and some lovely group photos. It was so special to see the team in action with younger girls, and was something that we all thoroughly enjoyed. There have been so many special moments over the last few weeks, and we headed home feeling shocked that our time here has passed so quickly!

What's next?
Goodbyes and flights are coming soon...

Ridiculous moments
Confusion caused by scenes of a crumbling nun being hoisted/ manhandled by two priests into the back of a pick up truck...
Anne being terrified and screaming at the handy man from our accommodation when he crept up on her and Sophie while they were doing the team washing in the cupboard.

Another day, another training space!

Tonight we were based in the North of the island, at Felipe B Tromp School. The blue and white school building has a huge open square that we used for energisers and games. We trained 36 Padvindsters under the swirly pink and orange skies, and headed into a gated sports hall when it became too dark.

It was wonderful to see some of the Padvindsters from our initial training weekend, and it is hard to believe that we are now less than a week away from the end of project! We ran a Desert Island activity, asked what the girls liked, learned and would improve about the APG and created invitations for friends. Hopefully, we will see some new faces at tomorrow's bring a friend session!
Some of the feedback about the APG really touched our hearts, and we can't wait to share it all with the board and current leaders.

'I learned to be disciplined, to be lovely, to have love for what you do and a lot of things that you didn't know you can do.'

'I learned the joy of being in a group and how to get through anything.'

'Way too many things, but mostly how to accept people for who they truly are.'

'First aid, new fun songs, lots of games, how to make a fire, the scouting law.'

We started the session with the ever popular Splat, and sang 'Down by banks of the hanky panky'. Thunderation has been a great song to teach the girls; the GOLDies enjoy it almost as much as the girls! It was such a joy to learn some of the songs the girls like to sing, and we left with 'Oh, Oh Lay Lay' completely stuck in our heads!



Ridiculous moments:
The sweltering heat during training, and it still being 29 degrees at 10pm!
Eating like dogs out of plastic containers, because we forgot forks....whoops!
Playing school or prison in the gated sports hall


What's coming next?
- We will have our second day of Padvindsters training tomorrow, followed by weekend training on both days, and a visit to a special Beyisima and Kabouters session that has been organised just for us.