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