I haven't stopped travelling altogether

I promise, but this blog did stop as soon as I was grounded at home.

I really miss being in that Media trailer, writing about what I had done during the day at GM, with everyone around me marvelling at my ability to be English (which I've been practising for 17 years now, I think it's pretty convincing) and asking me to say things. They also stalked me on Facebook, but I didn't mind, because they were in the room with me, so they weren't strangers and everything was fantastic in that way.

I wonder where Harold is. On the last day of camp, Alana gave me this Duracell bunny, and asked me to take it home with me. Begrudgingly, I had to decline because it was impossible to take in my luggage around Canada trippin' with me, and so I took him back to the media trailer with a little note telling my friends to keep him safe and call him Harold. He was a frightfully delightful chap.

(Trying to sound extra English... LOL)

Anywhoo, I have done a little bit of travelling recently.

This week, I went down to London for the day on Friday, and just yesterday we travelled down and west a bit to see my sister, Elizabeth, because she's at university, so we went to visit. We went with my Nana and it was really lovely because I got to sit in the car and listen to music and hurtle down the roads at 100mph and watch the clouds and the trees go by. Also, Mum fell asleep in the back of the car next to me and I had a good five minute laughing session as I kept looking around at her with her jaw slowly willing itself to touch her shoulder.

So yes, I was in London on Friday with school, and I ended up being on a coach for 10 hours in total. What. An. Immense. Drain.

I've only just really recovered today from the utter fatigue, and even then I haven't really cleaned my room. Well, that's a combination of tiredness, procrastination and the inability of myself to drag my tiny little keyboard fascinated fingers away from the ever-present internet facility of my laptop. Still, I can claim that I'm tired.

We went to see Birdsong, which had been adapted from Sebastian Faulks' novel and put into a play. It was really bizzare, but I do need to think about it properly and perhaps less critically as I do actually have to write a review for it for my Literature class when I go back to school.

Other than that, my travelling is fairly ordinary; to and from school everyday, to Cadets and Guides which is within walking distance of approx. 3 minutes from home, to Piano which is a short, 15 minute drive away, and to Choir on a Friday which is in the centre of Durham; a ten-minute walk into town and a bit to get there.

Once I have finished school, I'm packing up and hopefully going on a mighty adventure for three weeks. I shall let you all know if my application has been successful, because I have 6 days to go until I might find out! I'm unbelievably excited for this opportunity, and will keep a huge, written diary for myself and yourselves if I go.

Until then, you can have this quote which has been floating about in my head since I went to Stratford on the 14th July.

"To die would be an awfully big adventure" - Peter Pan.

Stay adventurous,

Haze

Unpacking

You know when you unpack a huge bag, and it just goes everywhere? Then you wonder how the mountain of useless stuff you had in the bag actually managed to squeeze into it in the first place?

I am still in that state.

I'm onto my second full day of being at home, and to be quite honest with you, it's freaking me out how free I am. I don't have to do *anything* if I don't want to. I could just sleep all day, which would really be lovely, but I have decided to be productive. By watching films, reading, and writing.

Oh, and editing through 1:28:30 of video clips from Canada. Yes, that's right, almost and HOUR AND A HALF. I mean, what am I going to do with that?!?! A series! That's what! Don't get your hopes up now though, it may take the whole of the summer to get the production value just into the amateur category.

I currently have a looming pile of clean and not quite folded any-more laundry/clothes sitting on my desk chair. It's high enough to beat the height of the stereo on my desk. Just imagine that. I can't show you; it's too embarrassing, and it gives you something to do whilst reading this. Success! An Active reader! I can see my Hufflepuff tie sticking out at the bottom of the pile though, reminding me of how AWESOME the Ontario Science Museum display of Harry Potter artefacts was. I LOVE YOU ALAN RICKMAN. Just getting that out there, incase you didn't know already. Why is he 64? WHY?!?!

*cough* Moving on...

The top on the top (hehehe) is a lime green GM2010 top that Denise and the group bought me for my birthday at the camp. It's AMAZING, and I can't wait to wear it. Although, I'll probably just wear it to bed.

I have music, sitting there, screaming at me to be listened to.

I have clothes, sitting there, screaming at me to be worn, blogged about, talked about, to feel good wearing.

Overall, I'm really excited about being home, because it feels right, I feel settled.

In another way, I feel slightly crazy because I have lots of freedom and opportunities ahead for me.

Sorry for this not being a very good post, when I've done videos and photos, I shall hopefully write on here about our fantastic week touring in Ontario :D

Stay adventurous,

Haze

It's all good in the hood

However, there are tears a-brewing in our eyes here in the Media trailer.

I cannot thank everyone enough for making me feel so welcome, included, and almost a celebrity over this camp.
This experience has been seriously FANTASTIC, and has made me realise that I could not actually be a celebrity at all. The fists of fury would definitely come out to play if people asked for photos and signatures everyday IRL.

Today we did a load of stuff in and around Niagra Falls.
It was awesome and I never want to forget it.

We leave camp tomorrow at half past 10 in the morning. For Quebec.

A new stage of my life has only just begun, and I would like to thank you all, collectively, for following my journey as it has been so far, and if you're discovering this after I have done this, I hope that you enjoy reading my experiences as they happened.

It really has been buckets.


Stay adventurous,
Haze

Stratford Ahoy!

I apologise in advance if this post seems a little bit jumbled up, the heat is most definitely getting to my brain.



I've been asked, and I also think I personally should celebrate the fantastic work that the journalist and photography team have been doing by posting a link to the GM Buzz they have been writing whilst here! For those of you who are Face(fail)book-literate, here's a link to the official group... right here. In the left hand corner of the page is a little section that says "30-something LINKS that have been posted" just underneath the 'Photos' section of the page. From there, there are and will be links to all of the editions of the GMBuzz newsletter that have been written. For those of you who don't know how to work Facebook or even someone who is Facebook-literate, then I am sorry, but I have no official links to the GMBuzz somehow. I hope for your sakes that it works and you can keep updated with the rest of the camp.



I'm just starting to cool off now, and bits and bobs from yesterday, memory wise, are popping back into my head.

Ooh, apparently we're due a storm. That would be refreshing...please!



We were up SO early yesterday, as in 10 past 6 early. Nichola and I went to get breakfast and found that we had enough time to sit and eat our waffles and sausages before heading over to the bus depot. It was foggy and STILL SUPER EARLY when we got to the buses, and the queueing was kind of crazy. We set off eventually, and we sat at the back with Belinda and Sarah, who are awesome and we talked about Harry Potter and ALL sorts. Belinda's parents are from England, and we had a chat about Birmingham and how she needs a heck of a lot of shoes for a wedding in her family over the summer. Offsetting the awesome people was the stack of lunch boxes on the back seat next to me. Made of polystyrene. My. Worst. Nightmare.

They were squeaking and rattling and ARG! You have no idea how traumatic that was for me. Being as I was sat on the back row, I then had to pass these bad-boy-boxes off the bus for lunch time when we arrived in Stratford. It took a lot, lets just say that.



Canadian Stratford is rather starkly different to Stratford-upon-Avon in England. My English ways and means may have tainted me, but there was a quaintness apparent in England that seemed less in Shakespeare, Canada. Either way, it was a really lovely visit.

We went to the costume/set/theatre warehouse before roaming the streets of Stratford, and it was totally awesome.



The streets were calm, shops were open and everything was warm. We went to Tim Hortons and a chocolate emporium and we had some ice cream. Chocolate and Peanut Butter...nomnomnonmom!!!!

We all trapsed through the heat to the Avon Theatre and saw Peter Pan.It was a theatrical masterpiece, staging wise. I was in absolute AWE of how the wires worked so fluidly and were operated with such skill. The set was fantasmagorical and amazing. The actors were super enthusiastic, but I was a little bit unconvinced by the Scottish accent of the narrator. I guess it must be really hard to have a strong Canadian accent and put on any other accent, but actors must do that, it is their job! We spoke to the actors that played Mr & Mrs Darling afterwards and they were lovely!



When we got back to camp, which was late for an out trip (even though we were the first back) we went straight to the Island for food. We had CUTLERY. PLATES. HOT FOOD (which we have had, don't get me wrong, but these were REAL) Metal cutlery, china plates and FRIED CHICKEN things. Glorious! All of this to celebrate our leadership as Rangers. We also received these awesome Ranger bags with Dove products in. They had either realised that we are the smelliest people on the camp, and NEEDED lovely smelling things, or that we needed something just to boost up our feelings since it's been so sweaty and full of hard work helping people.

After our meal, we designed a celebrity resort and went back up to camp for a night literally full of giggles, it was great!



Today has been too warm. It is International Day, so we've spent a big chunk of time doing International Awareness sessions *and* organising our presentation for tonight! Eeep!



It's time for me to go back to the camp and fret about making cups of tea. That, and get some food.





HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!



Stay adventurous,

Haze

p.s. Please visit back tomorrow, probably late, I will try to put up pictures, they just aren't cooperating right now.

Hectic

"What is the World?" by Brittany Roberts

A thousand pieces to the puzzle

Try to put it together

Love is bright, vibrant

Start, stop, beating like a heart

Full of feelings I don't understand

'I love you' is the strongest part

Flowing merrily on its way

Which way does the flow of time go?

Time is relevant, never to stay

And the trickle of water slows.

Sun shines through the branches

As wind blows softly through the trees

Leave me undisturbed

In this sense of quiet peace.

The chatter of girls drifts through

Giggles and screams and shock

Society at work as the volume grew

So difficult not to mock

As I listen a little closer

I hear the cicada's scream

A tiny siren whistling

Sounds to a perfect summer scene

As the waves crash upon the shore

Dissolving into the sand

A million tiny grains, a mosaic

Of watery pieces of land

The sky is blue, the clouds are white

As they drift steadily across

Along with the quick, cool summer breeze

As stray leaves fly and toss

A small, white butterfly skitters along

A symbol of tranquility

To see what will become of it, what the fututre holds

Now that would be a sight to see

The call of a bird whispers true

An un decipherable sound

I watch as it flaps its wings

Up and down, up and down

The sun is bright, its warmth is strong

The power of life and love

There are those who complain, it's too hot, it's too warm

But I look upon it with awe

Hard and brittle under my feet

The twiggs and sticks crack where I step

I am reminded that nature surrounds me

Like all of the people I've met

A thousand pieces to the puzzle

Try to put it together

Because the picture you'll find

Of life and the world

Will amaze you down deep in your heart.

(It's been hard for me to get to a computer yesterday, I'll hopefully post this afternoon again with what I did yesterday :D)

Stay adventurous,
Haze

Finally a Dancing Queen

Young and sweet only SEVENTEEN! *cue hand actions and dancing*

I woke up to find baloons and a banner attached to our tent and the other tents on our campsite this morning; Helen and Lisa had got up really early to do them. They are amazing :D

Denise had brought this massive, velvet hat, with CANDLES on the top for me to wear (supposedly all day, we all know that wasn't going to happen) and I wore it to breakfast just to please Denise and the rabble that couldn't be calmed without me stuffing it on my head. They had also collected various bits of Canada merch from people around the camp, and that was a lovely surprise! I have a gloriously large CAN-ADA hoodie now (the zip goes between :P) and it's RED!

Today, at camp, it was Eco day. We were all absolutely shattered, but we travelled down to the Island for the day anyway. I kept seeing Lisa and Rebecca throughout the day, and they gave me the most amazing birthday hugs :D

We sat as a group and listened to the woman giving a speech about how she was the "Queen of Green" and it was quite cool. After that, we sat and had a quick break and Allie and I adventured off to our first session called "Environmental Economics". I know what you're thinking... thrilling, right? It actually turned out to be fantastic, there were 3 staff members from a Canadian branch of Lush and they were so bubbly (heheh PUN) and gave two girls facials and let us smell a bunch of their lovely product(that sounds kind of dirty to me, but I can assure you, it isn't supposed to). We then toddled off to the "Reduce your ecological footprint" talk which was also pretty ace, and Alison somehow managed to find us...again.

When we were waiting for our BBQ lunch, Kyra who was stood in front of us had this little beauty resting on her bag

How lovely is that? It really brightened my day :D

We sat and baked for a while in the sun at lunch time, and Allie managed to get the cheese from her sausage in her hair, it was rather embarassing but funny to witness!

We then went back over to the stage for another talk. Unfortunately, I am unable to reveal to you here what it was about, as our group were all so shattered from our early rise and late night of giggles last night that we all just totally konked out and napped for an hour. From what I have heard, and gather, it was about a man and a woman who ran around Canada (a little bit like Eddie Izzard the English Comedian) and told little annecdotes about their times on their rather large and epic adventure.

I had another shower today, and Helen helped me to wash my hair. Denise also bought us ice-lollies and mine dripped on my leg. I now have an orange stain mid-way down my shin. Hopefully it'll come off soon, but for now, it's remaining sticky. I also found my instect-repellant wrist bands today, having not worn them the past few days, and having only been bitten twice, I decided that I might as well wear them and see if they reduce the number of annoying little fellas and gals that so love to fly around my head.

Stay adventurous and happy (for my birthday at least :D)

Haze

My shorts are wet!

As in they are seriously soggy. I'm sitting on a white, plastic patio chair in the Media trailer, and I'm terrified that when I stand up, there will be an embarassing puddle on the chair. Oh well, I guess I'll have to live with that. They're my spotty comb shorts, wait, have I explained these? I think I have.
I thought you lot might like to know that I finally had a wash. It was glorious. I then decided to go Kayaking with Charlotte because I had a free slot in my schedule. After we had done this we went and got changed into our costumes and board shorts. It started RAINING. I KNOW, REALLY LAME. We were so chilly, my knees were knocking together, but we went kayaking, it was groovy.
Having erased my lovely clean feeling by jumping in the grimy, slimy lake, and replaced it with a rather pongy and icky all over feeling, my neck is kind of sore, like from the water. It's all dry, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to bike up to camp and get some cream for it. These are the details that you really want to know, I know how your minds all work. I also really need to let my hair dry properly, it's gone all straggly and lame. Oh what I'd give to blow dry it somehow. No wait, I'd have to put my hat on it anyway. Darn.

Pretty photo alert:
As it is only 2:35 pm here, I haven't really done much, and probably won't be doing much for the rest of the afternoon. I might go and investigate the shop and buy some stuff, sweets, and visit the international tent to get my last few signatures to get my Taiga badge!

This is so buckets. Someone recognised my Charlieissocoollike 'I Look Better In Purple' t-shirt. I also saw someone on Saturday morning wearing an Alex Day "Pokemon What Happened to You?" shirt... I pointed and was like WOW YOU'RE SO COOL. I had no idea what to say, but she smiled and I felt goofy.

I'm going to go and sleep in my bunny-hug tonight.
Also, my hat is soaking. I'm not impressed.




Stay adventurous, beautiful and content,

Haze

BREAKING NEWS : THE ENGLISH WASH!

Well, I haven't yet, but some of us have. I baby-wiped my feet down, they were totally rank. I'm planning to have a solar shower this afternoon, but I have a feeling it'll be either scorching or mediocre from the heat of the day. Either way, today has been EXHAUSTING, just from the heat. It was super warm when we got up at 7:30 (late, I know!) and it was like a sweaty palm slap around the face, reminding us that it's going to be a flipping warm day on the Island.

The solar showers are really creepy, they just sit there, getting tepid in the sun, but hey! If they mean I can get a wash at some point, I'm not decrying them!

Lisa and Helen washed their hair yesterday morning, apparently it was a right sight to see, and I have no idea where I was when they did this (probably in the tent, I digress) but they inform me that the pictures are hilarious.

Instead, here are the ones I have of Charlotte. She is just amazing.

Zip-lining and gangster walk... I think that increases her awesome, don't you?

WE FOUND A FROG!

I took this

before, and just think it's super cute and a lovely picture. I don't know the girls in it, but if you're one of them, let me know XD

I'm really loving the whole vibe of this camp, everyone's together and no-one cares about trivial things. We all just want to have a fantastic time, and I don't think anyone wants it to end. I love how people come up to us and say "Oh, you're English, first time in Canada?" it's just great! I am really looking forward to just exploring some of the cities and streets of Canada, and being with our AWESOME group of people :D

Having seen that Nichola, Katie and Katharine (as well as Lisa and Helen) did their swim tests the day before yesterday, Charlotte and I and some others are pondering whether to do ours today so that we can cool down a little bit more than if we were just dipping toes and paddling in the water. We were asked whether we wanted to go canoeing/kayaking this morning and we asked if we needed a swim test and we were told we wouldn't get wet. We also said "we can swim, we have certificates at home" but then we were asked to just jump in the lake fully clothed and tread water to gain our little 'swim test' orange bead. It didn't happen guys.

Here's Helen and Monkey :D

Aaaaand Charlotte and Monkey!

I've started thinking in a Canadian accent, having been totally surrounded by them over these past few days. It's pretty neat.

I'm going to miss these little juice cups we have at every meal time :P

That's it for today now, really.

Thank you so much for reading this, I feel really priviledged to be the online reporter! You guys are awesome :D

AWESOME!

I'm sitting in a trailer. Writing the official blog for the camp. All suitable and profound blog titles have subsquently evacuated my crazy little noodle. I am so unbelievably excited. Still!





So, having been here for over 50 hours, I feel like I've been here for way longer... and such is the feeling with lots of camps. However, this one is blowing my mind; every hour brings something new!



We all trapsed to Darlington train station at 7:30 am to get the 8:00am train to Manchester Airport (Manchester...AIIII!) and managed to get there without a hitch! Here's us looking tired but seriously buzzing! Our uniforms are seriously snazzy, don't you think?

Our flight was delayed for an hour in the airport, but we managed to entertain ourselves with cards and my 'loosing' of my special prescription sunglasses... by buying some clip on bad boys...

The flight was pretty sweet, I didn't manage to nap as much as I kind of needed to, but the inflight films were pretty sweet (The Blind Side and Up In The Air- oh Clooney....nonmnomnonmonmnmmm) and there was a stream of Queen songs in the arm-rest so I was in a little bubble of my own. The plane food was actually scrummy, even the weird little yellow lemon pudding, despite my resistance to lemon 'flavoured' things! When we got to Toronto, it was about 2 am our time, and without sleep, we were all walking Zombies. I got quite excited because my passport was stamped :D We got on a little hopper type bus with big windows and AIR CONDITIONING and zoomed off to the Guelph Lake Area. As it was so cold in the bus/van THING, we all put on our Monty hoodies. When we arrived, we hit the wall of heat. That's right guys, 33 Degree heat...in hoodies and polo shirts! We looked rather English to say the least. Alongside our uniforms, our neckers also looked majorly mint, and still do! (People keep coming up to us and being like 'you're wearing a different necker...Are you English??!?!? "Sure I am!")

By the time we got to the camp it was like 4 am in the morning for us, but 10/11 in Canada, it was super freaky-out for my body clock. The people in the Ranger Village had put up some two man tents for us, and our little blue over the shoulder bags were filled with useful little things like a bad-donkey torch (or flashlight) and some squares bars and bottles to fill up with allsorts! Basically, we totally crashed out when we got into the tents, and without mats, we slept on the cobbles (rocks and ALL) and just let that be for a fair few hours.

When we woke up at like 6 am, I checked my phone and got dressed into my that'll do shorts (they never seem to get dirty or smelly, they are my saviours!) and my polo shirt from Poacher. It was rather serviceable!

Oh yeah, it rained. TORRENTIALLY. For like 3 hours, but then it stopped and it was cool in the air, and the rest of the day was totally awesome. Our schedules were not in our possession yesterday morning, so we all ventured down to the Island to be assigned some sort of activity... things didn't exactly go swimmingly (I didn't go swimming either...LOL) and we ended up on an awesome school bus to the Zip Line :D It was mint to say the least, and really exhillirating! I got some of the ropes tangled, but I didn't completely ruin anything! Honest! When we got off the awesome, big yellow school bus... I can't actually remember what we did. I think we ate and managed to get back up to our village. Grace is on the Transport section of the Core Crew, so she has a golf buggy. It can't travel faster than a butterfly. She whizzes past us when we're walking to the Island, and it's pretty sweet.

Back to what happened yesterday! I popped down to the Media station trailer for a meeting at 7, and everyone introduced themselves and swapped a few bits and bobs. I'm the only English one in the whole media team, but they're seriously awesome! I finally got to meet Rachel and she's really lovely! A big bunch of us ended up going to the 'Special Evening' event last night, and Kate almost vommed everywhere when the girl next to her did after eating like 7 packets of relish. Major EW! She has a strong stomach. They made me say 'Harry Potter' though, and it was quite funny, because really, my accent is not quintessentially British, but they all love to make me just say words. It's hilarious!

To today! We woke up pretty early, even though when I got back to our little Ranger village last night it was late, and everyone in our group was asleep (I just fell asleep in my day clothes...lazy but noone cares, right?) and finally got our Ranger hats! THEY'RE SO MINT! I love them :D They're like turquoise! I'm really sorry about the lack of supporting pictures, they're on this computer, but take an age to upload. I could wait, just to treat you guys, but I'm really hungry, so I think I'm going to escape to get some BBQ lunch from Alison and sit in the sun and gossip! I think it's our Theme Day today when we get back to the Village, so 70's gear ahoy! For me, this means Vintage 'Lindisfarne' top and my 'comb' shorts. When I bought them, Mum washed them and found they had a comb attached in the pocket. How useful!

Swapping is getting pretty crazy, lots of people keep approaching us and giving us pin badges and crests and cloth badges, and I keep giving out my little Monty badges that Dad and Liz helped me make, with Helen's awesome design, but the bag is seriously depleated!

Off to get some food, I hope to report back soon!

Stay adventurous,

Haze

Memories that will last forever

There's something about large, international camps that requires a representative amount of planning and preparation to the scale and size of the camp, yes?

For me, I spent the last full week before GMC2010 gallavanting around Paris with our school choir and orchestra. I know, really prepared here.

So, a group of really cool kids, 48 of us, including teachers, aged from year 8-year12s and 4 amazing staff (including my Father... LOL) set off from Durham train station at 7:12 am to go to Kings Cross in London. We then got on the exciting Eurostar to Paris-Nord from St.Pancr(e)as and that was FUN... with 4 'cellos and a tuba in our large group. Travelling with them was just crazy. I had to carry: a suitcase, a large backpack, a clarinet and a stand, because everyone else had already booked their small student who was both instrument and stand-less to carry their aforementioned paraphernalia , leaving me to carry all of my stuff myself. In 34 degree heat. I was melting. Goodness only knows how I am going to cope in Canada! I did manage to cope though, it didn't make me faint like some of the little ones on stage.

More on that later.

The traffic in Central Paris was unbearable. Seriously, you have to see it to believe it! It took us 4 hours to get from Central Paris to our centre one day. Anyway, we were staying in a strange little centre called Le Bois le Roix (Forest of Kings XD) and when we got there late on Monday evening, our pasta dinner had sort of...congealed. Into huge clumps of pasta and unidentifiable meat product. We ate it reluctantly and trotted off to bed.

THEN WE WOKE UP AND WENT TO DISNEYLAND! Oh no, not just to experience the soul crushing plastic exteriors and thrill-seeking rides, but to PERFORM on the Fantasyland Stage as part of their Disney Music Days thing! This is where our four young performers fainted. All things considered, it was over 30 degrees C and there were sweltering lights on the stage. They did well not to be totally konked out by the whole experience!

Then we went and did stuff like this for the rest of the day:

Wednesday consisted of a concert in a beautiful area of Paris, inside the Château Saint Germain au Laye . Here's me really getting into singing something, probably the Eva Cassidy arrangement of Over The Rainbow, which one of our teacher's, Miss Huppertz, sat and cried through. I found it really hard not to do the same.

Thursday was our final concert, in a bandstand in the Jardins du Luxembourg, which were seriously glorious. We then wandered around the Sacre Coeur for just under an hour. After an exhausting coach journey and a tremendously weird last meal, we all had an amazing time out on the field playing frisbee, catch, punch-catch, football, and the best bits were the leaps of faith. I shall not disclose pictures, because frankly, what happened in Paris, (should) stays in Paris!

We coached and Eurostar-ed it back to England on Friday, and we gained an hour, so I had a sleep in :D I had to go to band early in the morning of Saturday though, to go to a meeting about a Germany concert tour next summer! I AM ALREADY EXCITED FOR THAT!

There are a heck of a lot more pictures, but I don't want to bore you.

I packed up most of the clothes I want to take with me for Canada yesterday, and they alone take up 17kg of my 20kg weight limit for luggage. I am going to have to pack a LOT lighter.

I think I've sorted SWAPS as far as I can now... it's only a matter of 4 days now!

CRAZY!

(Sorry for not sounding quite as coherent in this post, I'm very busy and I keep getting distracted in the middle of sentences)

Stay adventurous,

Haze

12 Days!

So things are getting hectic in my little life in England.

Next week, starting on Monday, I'm going on a massive adventure to Paris with our school choir and orchestra. Just before Mosaic I hear you cry? Yes, indeed. What a buzz!

We'll be singing THIS or rather, I will be singing the Alto solo in this :o I AM REALLY RATHER NERVOUS! We're singing the whole Mass (minus the Credo LOL) and it is so beautiful, I would marry it if I could. Aside from me spending every other moment preparing for this concert tour, I am also gathering bits and bobs for SWAPS and clothes I need to pack.

Like my International Necker!

Isn't it awesome? I can't wait to wear it around Canada after Mosaic and on the plane of course!

OH! Wait, what is that I hear you say again? There's MORE awesome to come in this blog? Well my friends, YOU ASSUMED CORRECTLY!

Look at that beauty! So the Royal Mint has decided to make a Centenary Coin for GirlGuidingUK, and I personally think it's fantastic. So does my Mum... and lo and behold we bought one!

Of course it cost more than 50p, we live in a silly economic climate, duh!

I hope to post sometime next weekend with any last minute preparations, but until then...

Stay adventurous!

Haze

Genuinely so proud!

I have some big news!

The roundabout at the top of Hild and Bede bank in Durham City centre has THIS on show!

Now, how fabulous is that? It makes me beam horrendously every time we drive past it! Waving, shouting, smiling... you name it, I display it because I'm so happy that Durham is recognising and promoting our fantastic organisation that is GirlGuiding!

It was our last full group (minus Grace, sad face) meeting last night before we all set off for Canada, and we discussed a few (LOTS) of things.

I wanted to take some pictures of us having discussions and chocolate fondue... alas, we had our faces full of marshmallows and the swing of the meeting didn't really lend itself to stopping and taking pictures!

I've got some swaps sorted hopefully... but I'm still pondering what to make/do/if I should print some labels etc.

This week and the subsequent weeks are really looking busy for me, and everyone else, but now that my exams are over, I'll hopefully have some pockets of time to organise/sort more things regarding this fabulous trip! I'll also be corresponding with one of our leaders, Jenny, regarding our Cultural presentation thing-y-mah-whatsit for the 15th July, and man, we have some excellent ideas in the pipeline XD

Most of all, I'm excited to be celebrating my 17th Birthday whilst we're in Canada.

Exactly a month from today infact! ^___^

Hopefully it'll be full of awesome, although maybe not full of the blenderized cake Rachel suggested, however sweet the vlogbrothers' reference is :P

Stay adventurous,

Haze

Sweet New Threads!

Yes! It is that time folks, when we all have our sweet new uniforms for camp, all the same, but PERSONALISED! MANY HUZZAHS!

So we all have these AMAZING hoodies (the same purple colour as Charlie McDonnell's "I Look Better In Purple" t-shirts, which are MADE OF AWESOME) that have our truly terrific Monty the Moose (drawn by our homegrown Helen! :D) on the front and our names and another groovy logo on the back. I'll leave that up to your imaginations, strangers, and if I see you at the camp (which I really hope to!) then you can fill in that gap in your imagination with the real thing. We all chose names/nicknames for our hoodies...and quel suprise... I went with Hazeltron *giggles* HOORAY!

We all also have these darned amazing polo shirts with cutie Monty on too:

I'm so excited! We're now going to get a few more personal group t-shirts I think, because we've got a few for our days travelling after the camp and for times as groups at the camp. Hopefully we'll be able to use the embroidered transfers that Mum and I found from a while back, they're super cool!

Anyway, aside from sounding lamely excited about our personalised threads, I've also been stocking up on essentials for camp.

REPELLENTS.

No, not people repellents (like my retainers)... INSECT REPELLENTS! I've started taking some supplements (Odourless Garlic and Vitamin B1), as advised by Dr. Jen who is coming with us to Canada, to hopefully repel any icky and evil insects that may want to bite me silly and make me a very irritated camper.

Here's what I've got so far!

I don't know why it's rotated, but oh well! It's some of those weird Mosquito Bands that you wear to ward off the buzzers, and some roll on gel to stop 'em getting stuck to my arms.

It's fair to say I'm really excited, because it's just over 5 weeks until we all set off to the airport to fly over the pond and get set up at GMC2010!

In other exciting news, I've been trying to source swaps, and I will update you on how that goes :D

Also, in terms of actually where I've been (i.e. actually out and about) I went to the local quayside open air festival this weekend called Evolution (and actually saw Nichola who we'll be going to GMC2010 with, it was fun) and saw some AMAZING live acts!

That was what the stage looked like just after De La Soul had finished their set. Every band we saw were HUGE (as in they made a big impression/sound) and I had a totally amazing time with my friend and fellow GirlGuide Francesca! Live music is really a passion of mine! Especially Campfire songs! Let me know if you like singing around the campfire! If you don't...is something wrong with you?

No seriously, you need to have like a fun implant or something.

I need to mend my camp blanket because my swaps from Poacher are falling off! Sad times!

Stay adventurous,

Haze

It's all hotting up!

It was 19 Degrees Centigrade today! WOW!

The sun really made me think about how much I am looking forward to the GLORIOUS weather in Canada!

I've just been to a Brownie fund-raiser because they're going to Disneyland Paris in October! They had an auction, and I helped to sell the raffle tickets, and Mum took some fresh rhubarb to sell in bunches! It was great fun, our community is really supportive of Guiding :D

Alongside that, it made me think that you might like to know that the week before Mosaic, I'm going to Disneyland Paris myself with our school Choir and Orchestra for a Concert Tour! Phew! Busy times, but I thought I'd drop you a note letting you know about how I'm getting all prepared :D

So I went shopping tonight for shoes. EXCITING, right? I really do love shoes, but these ones are for camp. Now, I'm *really* not a CROC person, and I did have a pair of cheap ones for Poacher, but they wore out really quickly and I am quite glad of that. However, these ones do remind me of Crocs, albeit they are NOT.

They're like...water shoes? For activities and what-not! They're totally CAMP shoes, like they say everything about the practicality and fun :D Ok... they're not HUGELY attractive, but they're BLUE! I REALLY LIKE BLUE.

I also got another "Micro" towel...

It's SO ABSORBENT. Super, duper weird.

I do also look really rather...surprised?

Oh well! I guess it's just because I'm really excited, right?

We're going BIG bag shopping soon, I'll let y'all know how it's going in the U.K. sometime soon!

Stay adventurous,

Haze

Progress in exciting times!

Hi guys and girls! I've just come in from helping with Guides, we were making friendship bracelets, and it reminded me about all of the amazing new people I'm going to meet at GMC2010, as well as the great gang we're going with!

You might be aware by now that this has gone up on the official GMC2010 website for y'all to vote on!

I thought I'd let you know on a new post that I'm going to try and update this as soon as I get more information about how we're all getting prepared for the camp! So that'll be quite frequently... as it just keeps running through my mind at every spare moment I have, and I can't help but just grin with excitement!

We'll be travelling to the camp on the 8th July and dunndunndunnn! I'll be turning 17 at the camp! :o I KNOW! I'm so excited, and I thought you'd all be interested, you lovely bunch of people.

We're getting the train from Darlington (North-East England) down to Manchester (just a bit further down really) to the airport to then FLYYYYY to Canada and then to the camp! There's 10 Girls going, and 4 leaders, all of whom are great fun and fantastic members of Girl Guiding. We're all so excited for the whole experience, especially because we've been organising it for over a year and a half!

We all met up in Durham last year in June at Redwood Lodge (a little Guiding hut in the centre of Durham) and stayed the night so we could get to know each other. It was the weekend of Durham's "Big Meeting" (which is really called Durham Miner's Gala) and it's where the collieries process their banners and there's a fair in town and THERE ARE HUGE CROWDS. Here's a picture of us ready to go into town to do a trail, and find the hidden bits of Durham!

We also had a murder mystery night! We all got dressed up and acted out the bits from the script! It was absolutely hilarious! Helen even sparked the kettle off!

I'm the one with the big black fascinator hat and the silly fishnet tights (I've had my hair cut since :P)

It was a *very* funny evening. We've sold quizzes and held evenings and ALL SORTS to raise money in this time too! It's all been very exciting, especially now we're getting so close to the real thing!

It was such a great weekend, we all got to know lots about each other!

We also played some great games...

Filling plastic bags with water and trying to fill buckets with them. It doesn't *sound* that fun...but believe me, it was!

Since starting off this blog, I've made my Theme Day Selections on the website, and found out that we're all going to be staying in the 70's Ranger Village! WOW! I mean, this really got me fist-pumping the air, it means I can wear some vintage 70's clothing, and get on down to some Lindisfarne, right?

We've just sorted out colours and nick names for hoodies and shirts for when we're at the camp and travelling around as a group, and it's really hitting home how soon this amazing camp is going to come around!

Thank you so much for following this, I promise I'll try and make it interesting (maybe even... *entertaining*?) for you to read about my experiences!

Stay adventurous,

Haze

Hello new blog and a new stage of my life!

So, this year (in about 9 weeks time :o) I'm going to be flying out to Guiding Mosaic Canada 2010, which is an international Girl Guide camp! I'm so excited, and one particular thing that is getting me really pumped about the whole experience is being offered the chance to blog for the camp!

This was my original entry... I hope you enjoy it!

I've been involved with Girl Guiding since I was five, and so far have loved every minute of it! I have learnt so much, made so many new connections, and hope that these experiences shape me as a person for the rest of my life. There are people from all walks of life that I never thought I'd be such good friends with that I have bonded with over a soggy washing up cloth and a string puppet who have become the people I want to spend my time with; helping others and being part of a team. I am extremely proud to be part of such an amazing organisation, and the experiences that Guiding has brought me will surely stay with me forever. I have always loved documenting things, keeping an entertaining blog for the past year (http://imnotgoingtolietoyou.blogspot.com) and telling stories, and throughout my guiding experiences, I have been encouraged to express myself and discover aspects of my true personality, and I would like to thank Guiding for this. I am sure that without Guiding, I would not be the person I am today, and surely a less interesting person. What inspires me about this organisation is the sense of togetherness, to better each others and other people's lives. There are no aspects of jealousy or selfishness, just coming together to have a great time whilst making a difference in a huge number of ways. I am extremely excited and honoured to be a part of this amazing camp, and hope that everyone I know and will come to know through it will take from it as much as I will, and continue to pursue a life made better by Guiding.

(I'll be posting more things about how we're all getting organised with our Team from Durham, U.K. if you follow this link http://www.hazelgoesoutandabout.blogspot.com)

Stay adventurous,

Haze.