Hats, and Flashlights, and Bears - Oh My!

From Vancouver Island to the Alberta Highland,

Cross the Prairie, the Lakes, to Ontario's towers,

From the sound of Mount Royal's chimes, out to the Maritimes,
Something to sing about, this land of ours!

Do many of your leaders have a stash of Jubilee Songbooks kicking around? Mine always seemed to. Last November, before it closed, I headed up to the Mississauga Guide store to have a look around for things for GM, and finally picked one up. The bit of song up at the top is the chorus of Something to Sing About, and it's one of my favourites in the book. Wonder if I could get the Brownies in the unit I'm a junior leader with to learn all five verses next year? ^.^ I think they prefer Herman the Worm and the Moose Juice song...which I'm sure has a better title than that. What are some of your favourite campfire songs? Let me know in the comments :D

Since all this past week I've been thinking about the Scottish Wars of Independence for my history essay rather than GM, I thought I'd share some of the other things I found at the Guide store. Apparently I was doing more preparing for camp 6 months ago than I am now xD

Swaps was the main thing I was looking for. I like swapping for crests and badges best - leave me a comment telling me what you like to swap. Are you a fan of pins? Hat crafts? Post cards? Shirts?

They were selling bags of old Ontario challenge crests.

 I love these bags for swaps, with two sections. I've got a couple more to swap at GM :D





It's all full and ready to go xD











I'll have to find room in my backpack for a couple of these guys too.









Aside from swaps, I found some other camp necessities.

I've got a camp hat covered in crafts, but turns out that isn't so practical when you're canoeing. I picked up a pink camp hat (made in Canada!).

Of course, if it's anything like last time I'm going to get to GM and be given a new hat to match my subcamp, but that's ok xD

I've been a Girl Guide for nearly a decade and only now do I have a whistle.







And finally, although from L.L. Bean, and not the Guide store...

What do you guys think about headlamps? I'm pretty sure they are the most convenient form of flashlight out there (although not in the winter, you can't push the button in mittens!), but my friends have poked fun at me for having one xD Love em? Hate em? Think they just look stupid? Tell me in the comments!

So I think that's pretty much caught up to how prepared I am for GM. We just learned that another Ranger in our unit is registered for GM (we all registered at different times) so we'll end up with a proper sized Ranger unit at camp after all ^.^ I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by! With all the 30+ weather we've been getting, it's starting to feel a lot like July (: And I only have 11 days left with braces!

Days to GM: 46

Rally Day

Who are these? Swinging along the road, with a pack on the back, a song in the heart to ease the load?

It's a hundred years or more since they crowded through the door, and they're coming along as gay and as strong as ever they did before!

Where can you find a Town Friar, blue pompoms, Beaver Tails, matching hats, and 11 000 Girl Guides and leaders in one spot? At Rally Day in Ontario Place!

Girl Guides Canada has all sorts of activities going on to celebrate 100 years of Guiding in Canada, with Guiding Mosaic being just one. Yesturday, a couple of us from our Ranger unit made our way to Toronto for another one of these celebrations, Rally Day. If you missed the memo, or don't live in Canada, Rally Day was an event held across the country, where 45 000 girls and leaders met to sing songs, participate in different activities, and, with the use of blue pompoms, celebrate a century of GGC.

At the Ontario Place Rally Day event, the day kicked off in the Molson Ampitheatre, with some singing, speeches, and a visit from both the Lieutenant Governor and Town Friar.

(The Town Friar)

For the rest of the day, everyone rotated around to different stations. There were tons of activities to pick from - a camp skills race, belly dancing, a GGC movie in the Cinesphere, bracelets made out of plastic bags, improv, origami, noodle games, and friendship bracelets, just to name a few. We were nearly trampled by Sparks in the H2O Regeneration Station, a maze of tubes, slides, and platforms that we found out has a height maximum for a reason.

The day ended with the largest campfire I have ever been to.  We sang The Guide Marching Song, as quoted above, and some of my favourites: Barges, On My Honour, and Land of the Silver Birch. After Taps it was time to start heading home. I give major props to whoever co-ordinated busing. Over 500 school buses and coaches filled the parking lots, and mass chaos would have ensued if everyone tried to leave at once. So, group of 12 buses or so by group, Go Well and Safely by Go Well and Safely, the ampitheatre emptied. It was a tiring but very eventful and fun day. Let me know in the comments if you went to Rally Day in your province/territory! How was it?

Now, seeing as this is a GM Blog and not a What-Rachel-did-on-her-Saturday-instead-of-her-history-homework blog, I do have a few GM-related things to say about Rally Day!

First of all, Rally Day definitely put me in the spirit for GM! It was great to see all of the enthusiasm for Guiding, but it was an event where units stuck together. Getting to meet so many new people who love Guiding from around Canada and the world is one of the best things about international camps :D

Secondly, it was very cool to run into people at Rally Day that Mel and I met at Keystone Quest, an international camp we and six other Ontario girls went to in Manitoba last summer. We saw our two leaders, Linda and Sue, and Robin, one of the Rangers in our group. August was the last time we saw them, and we'll be camping with them and a few more from our group at GM!

Finally, I'm hard at work getting all of my swaps and crests sewn onto various camp things D: I decided last year that it would be a good idea to take all of my swaps off my blanket, and sew them onto a poncho. Taking them off wasn't hard, but now I've got a dresser covered in crests with nowhere to go :/ Who knows what I was thinking. Let me know in the comments whether you put your crests on a blanket or poncho. Or maybe you keep them pinned to you camp hat? Or perhaps a vest? I saw a few leaders walking around yesturday with crests on vests ;) and I thought it was a great idea. The only problem is that I'd probably run out of room! Also, let me know if you're someone who sews your badges onto your sash or blanket or whatever it is is you use right away, or if you leave them in a pile on your dresser waiting to be sewn.

Have a great week!

Days until GM: 52

btw, sorry for the lack of pictures! Blogger doesn't seem too keen on me adding any tonight, but there'll be more in the next blogs :D

GM Bound

Tzana, tzana, join the celebration! There'll be people there from every nation,
Dawn will find us dancing in the sunlight, dancing in the village square!

Hello and welcome to my GM2010 blog! It's part of a contest to be GM's "Official Camp Blogger". I hope that you'll enjoy, stick around, leave some comments, and maybe even share this with your GM bound friends (:

My name is Rachel, and I'm a 16 year old Ranger from Ontario. This year has been my 9th year in Guiding, and Guiding Mosaic will be my 3rd international camp. We're less than 2 months away, and I can't wait. If you'd like to know a little bit more about me, check out the "About Me" section in side bar.

The kind of main purpose of these GM blogs is to share how our patrols are getting ready for camp. There's just 2 of us coming from my unit, my friend Mel and I. We'll be in the 70's themed Ranger Village - Guiding Gone Groovy ;D But before we start looking for solar-powered lava lamps and quick-dry bell bottoms, we're finishing up all the p..p..p..paperwork :S Just because all the forms are online doesn't mean it doesn't count as paperwork. At least it's eco-friendly ^.^

Activity selection and theme day selection were pretty cool though. I don't think I was the only one who had trouble picking which 8 I wanted. They really weren't kidding when they said there was something for everybody. I hope everyone who goes to Stratford for the outtrip has a great time. Stratford's an awesome city, and the Festival is great (: Not that I'm bias or anything ;) Let me know some of the activities you picked in the comments! Did you put down a trip to Stratford as one of your trip choices? Was it because of Justin Bieber? -.-

Originally the plan was to update these blogs monthly, but since there's only 2 months to go before camp, I'll be blogging every week :D (providing that's ok with the Powers that Be). Check back every Monday for a new post!

Days until GM: 59