Our adventures continue...

A big wow for Warsaw! A couple of hours exploring in the sunshine was a welcome break from the exertion of the last couple of days. The Science and Culture centre was absolutely gorgeous and the views from the 30th floor were amazing but hazy. A short shopping trip later and it was back on the train headed for Lipowe Pole where we had a great reception from the locals. Next day we prepared for a party held for the 30th anniversary of Tadek and Anna - the chief fireman and his wife - and the first anniversary of their daughter and her husband. After that we painted some exterior walls of an extension to the fire station/children's centre and visited the Shrine of Our Lady in a nearby town. Then the celebrations began. Dancing, drinking and eating and eating and eating... A whole room full of grown adults doing the Birdy Dance was quite a sight to be seen.

The next day we attended Mass in the village church. Afterwards, we had lunch at the station before setting off to see the White Eagle military museum. Back to the station for our Scottish presentation which went down well with the locals, especially the dancing!

Then we had yet more food followed by a trip to the Dana sewing factory. A final meal and some very fond goodbyes later, we found ourselves on the train to Krakow in the morning.

Charis and Ron

We're in Poland.....:0)

Despite expectations of seasickness the crossing was surprisingly calm, however the weather in Amsterdam was (to put it politely) absolutely awful. Which meant that a quick canal tour was all that we could face. We left Amsterdam and got the train to Berlin. The next day we had quick walking tour of Berlin's chequered history from World War 2 to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Another 6 hour train journey and we found ourselves in Warsaw with an evening stroll of the old town. Very picturesque. The next day we started the canoe trek and I think I'm not the only one in thinking that 6 hours of reeds is not the most exciting scenery! But it was peaceful all the same and I think everyone felt that they have achieved something by paddling 24km besides sore arms! Looking forward to the community phase next...
Charlotte Mackay

Training Weekend 2 - Part 2!!

As Dan, Charis and I were the first to pull up outside West Morriston hall on the morning of the second part of our training weekend we began to worry if we were in fact at the right place. But no sooner than the thought had crossed our minds more people began to arrive and soon we were all present and keen to get started.
The day began with most of the leaders having a private meeting to discuss the timetable for the day, whilst Jono went ahead and began to sort out our clothing just as the rest of the leaders scheduled that task for later in the day. But no worries as we soon had the clothing sorted and were ready to begin our training.
We then all congregated in the main room in the hall where Ruth went over the itinerary (or itinerarary as she liked to say) for the day. We decided to start with some first aid training, kindly provided by Alan Mcghee, during which we practised CPR, the recovery position and how to deal with various other scenarios, hopefully none of which will become necessary on the trip.
After the first aid we headed down to a local pond to practise some canoeing and have some lunch. Some basic canoeing skills and safety procedures were taught by Jim Macpherson before we all got a shot of paddling in a figure of eight around the pond. The canoeing seemed to go well (no one ended up in the pond anyway) so we all headed back up to the hall to move on to our next item on the list.
We had all brought along our entire rucksacks with all, or most, of our luggage for the trip which we proceeded to unpack and then repack. This activity started with Nancy giving us a quick demonstration, and some tips on how to pack lightly and efficiently. After watching her pull most of her clothing for the whole two weeks out of an incredibly small bag we all set to work unpacking and then repacking our rucksacks in the most space-saving way possible.
It was then time to go over the itinerary for the trip where, for the first time, we heard exactly what we would be doing in Poland. After hearing details about the various things we will be undertaking on the trip we were all very excited and got to work setting up the hall for the parents meeting which was set to finish the day.
Once all the parents had arrived and were seated we went through the itinerary for the trip one more time for the parents with each of us telling them a little bit about what we will be doing in Poland. There was then a brief introduction of all the leaders and venturers, each of us telling the parents who we were and how we had got involved with the trip. A question and answer session marked the end of a very informative and enjoyable day and left us all feeling a new level of excitement for the forthcoming trip.

By Adam Bouglas