And the cheerful camp saga continues. Could I get all the GOLDies to smile at once during breakfast? I could not. Because they were too busy eating their morning bread and apricot jam. (Just FYI, we haven't fallen out with Jade. It's just that I was sitting in the gap).
We've had lots of lovely food on that wall. And bread with every meal. And while it was good bread, it is nice to have something different now that we're off camp. Of the camp food, mash was popular, as was the coleslaw-without-mayo-but-with-coriander and we've had rice, lentils and buckwheat We've also been served some lovely soup with pasta in it, along with the bread to soak it up. Sometimes we have 2 pieces of bread which we manage all at once so we have it later and designate it pudding bread. Slurp!
So Day 8 dawned in a grey sort of way and was the day that was both our last full day at camp and the day when we would visit the scouts we met earlier in the week. We just narrowly missed being selected as dancers for the girl scouts' group performance by a huge margin, and went off with some of the Armenian Guides to learn the National Anthem. In Armenian. This turned out to be quite complicated.
The tune I mastered quickly and made up the words out of a collection of Armenian-sounding syllables. I thought I was getting along quite well except for Tori sniggering in my ear. She claimed that she was trying to learn the song properly but that all she could hear was me spouting "rubbish" and Jade doing the same from her other side. Offensive, Tori. Rubbish? I ask you. She was proved wrong though as you shall hear later.
Sadly due to the muffled laughter from certain GOLDies, the Armenians cottoned on to us and helpfully volunteered to teach us the words. It took us all a while to work out how to accomplish this as we are woefully ignorant of the Armenian alphabet and so a copy of the words didn't really help us. In the end, a very patient Agnes (a girl who'd been translating for us) sounded out each word of each of the three verses (THREE VERSES!!!!) and we all wrote down a phonetic version.
And then it rained.
Actually, it rained properly and the thunder that had been rolling ominously around the mountains all morning called in its debt and the heavens opened. We sighed, donned our waterproofs and headed into an abandoned building.
While we waited for it to stop, we played some games and taught everyone Boom-Chica-Boom which achieved no small degree of acclaim. A bit of a camp song cheered every one up and the prospect of lunch and a trip out in the afternoon gave everyone the courage to edge outside.
After lunch, we changed into our posh get-up and played a game with everyone. Each person had a sheet of paper taped to their backs and we all mingled around and wrote nice comments about each other. It's lovely memory to take away from camp and we were really touched by some of the comments left by our new friends.
I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that one of my comments said I was the best at Armenian singing. See, Tori? I can do it. (We did all put in some practice earlier on in the afternoon). Following this, we had the camp closing ceremony where everyone was awarded a certificate. Around half a dozen folks received a certificate of active participate. I was one of the lucky ones. I've never been presented with a Jungle Dweller Impersonation Award before, but I'd like to thank the hair and make-up team for their sterling work - I wouldn't be standing here today without you -, my parents, Anna and Carrie, my inspirational team leader Jade and all the GOLDies except Rachel whom I still haven't forgiven for videoing it.
Jade passed on our thanks to everyone at the camp for hosting us. We had a truly wonderful time, made some great new friends, shared lots of Guiding antics and were genuinely sorry to be leaving soon. We had a badge for everyone and then we all hopped onto the bus to doodle along to the Scout camp.
Upon arrival, we stood in our height-order ranks and marched into the camp. The scouts began with a band playing and the lighting of a huge bonfire and then they had a series of performances. The read poems, sang songs, performed dances, gymnastics and acrobatics. Some of which had to be seen to believed. I don't think Jade would let us try this - something about a risk assessment.
We performed our dance number and some of the girls from our camp led off a flash-mob that we all jumped up and joined in with. This was all punctuated by the ever-present thunder and not long after we performed it began to rain again so we took shelter in their hall and snacked on breadsticks. While inside, we played Boom-Chica-Boom again and had another round of campfire faves. It seems to help battle the weather.
Everyone was in high spirits on the way home. We had dinner, washed up and just as we returned to our tents, the rain started again.
And heck, did it rain. And rain. It also thundered and lightninged but as the weather was multitasking, the rain continued unabated. We dived into our tents, burrowed into the inners and sat and waited. I was tent-buddies with Rachael and Rachel - not in the least confusing - and we watched in despair as water seeped over the outer groundsheet and was slowly absorbed into our bags. Everyone has their breaking points though and Rachael and I experienced ours at around half eleven when we couldn't take it any more and conducted Opperation Wrap-Everything-in-a-Really-Really-Giant-Tarpaulin. It was successful and kept our stuff dry for the night. We could hear some shouting from Tori, Amy and Jade in the other tent and after sticking our heads out the tent and then hastily deeming that a bad idea, we bawled back that we couldn't hear them. Eventually, after much screaming over the drumming of rain on canvas, we realised they were singing G-O-L-D. (That's to the tune of YMCA to the uninitiated.)
G-O-L-D, it's fun to go on G-O-L-D. It's got everything, goes all over the world, you can hang out with all your team.
Except you can't because half of them are huddled in the other tent. So we went to sleep.
In the morning, camp was... shall we say, damp. Some of the girls' tents were completely soaked through as weather like that is bit unexpected in Armenia. They'd moving into some of the buildings for the night and we spent our last morning on camp literally wringing out sleeping bags, draining tents, taking them down and making sure that everyone would hang them out to dry when they got home. Fingers crossed.
Everyone was in a good mood though and all the girls got on with task admirably without complaining. It was good to know we could get back to Yerevan and dry out and the previous evening had been a bit of an adventure.
We all swapped details on the bus on the way back to Yerevan but excited chatter eventually gave way to a sleepy doze. We were sad to say good-bye to everyone as we've had an amazing time at camp and have been so welcomed by everyone. But we are looking forward to the next step in our GOLD journey and after a couple of nights in Yerevan, we're setting out again.
GOLD love to all,
Kirsty and Team Armenia xxx
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