Monday July 13th: Excursion Day

Delegation of the Day: USA
National Night: Greenland and Thailand

This morning, an electric sun pierced through the low lying clouds and fog crawling over the mountain tops, leaving a trail of light that warmed the cool, crisp air. Dark splotches with traces of water spattered the courtyard – remaining remnants of yesterday’s downpours. The birds practiced their songs – an orchestra in tuning, warming up for a sonata, waiting for a conductor – the magpie’s harsh, abrasive cries raising above the rest. The hum of vehicles along the highway and the stark order of the now quiet military base housing the Village are reminders that humans interact with this incredibly peaceful environment. Piles of shoes wait, crowded around open doors, waiting to provide comfort for the children as they venture out into the morning air.

The Delegation of the Day, USA, woke the girls with classic rock (“American Pie”) and the boys with rap (“Soldier Boy”). By 8:05 children started spilling into the courtyard; perching their bodies - enveloped in sleep - on the concrete steps, heads drooping, eyes slowly focusing on the reality of morning. It is the beginning of a new day of Village.

In the voice of two of the children, here’s what we did:

After Flag Time, we went to breakfast and had bread and cereal. After that, children ran to find what cleaning group they had been moved to. To most of the children’s surprise, they were to continue in the same groups. A few children were put together to form a new group. Then we had to get on the bus [to the waterfront park in Voss] to play volleyball, futbol, or to swim. We had lunch [at the Park Hotel] - a big sandwich. It was good. Siri (a member of the staff) showed us this really wobbly bridge. It was really awesome. We could choose to play futbol, volleyball, or to swim. The weather was really cold, but many of us still swam. It was so cold, but it was a lot of fun. We walked back to the park where we had cinnamon buns and bananas for a snack.

After showers, delegation time, and dinner, Thailand and Greenland had their National Night. Thailand made noodles for dinner. It was incredibly spicy. For activities, Greenland performed a traditional dance, then they let us taste dried whale and fish. Thailand performed a few dances then shared a video. It was a lot of fun. For lullabies, we chose so sing, “Iris”, “Save Tonight”, “We Are the World”, “Wonder Wall”, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, and “Bonfiara.”

Sunday July 12th: Family Weekend and Back to Camp!

Delegation of the Day: Thailand

Today was the last day of Family Weekend.
Some kids said that the host family took them for hiking and picnice in the mountains. Some went fishing, kayaking, playing miniture golf, playing games, swimming, going on the cruise to see beautiful Fjords of Norway.
They all the wonderful time with the host families this weekend.
At 1800pm the host family took the kids back to camp and we had activity called Dating Game which we had to make dates with friends and write down names in the paper drawing the picture of the clock. Then we had to find friends whom we made a date at each hour and talk about something like what our dream was, what we did this weekend, who our best friend is, etc.
Today Thai Delegation was the Delegation of the Day, so we helped to clean up and lead the flag time and chose the songs for Lullaby.
Everybody were very happy and had a great weekend.

Friday July 10th: Family Weekend

Delegation of the Day: Thailand
National Evening: Egypt
0800 Wake Up

0815 Flag Time

0830 Breakfast

0900 Lost and Found

0930 Shower and Packing

1100 Cleaning

1200 Free Time

1230 Lunch

Sieta and JC`s Shop

1430 Egypt National Night

1530 Snack

1630 Activities...Trust and Fun Games

1800 Host Family Weekend Starts..!

Have a Great Weekend!

We're in the local newspaper!

To see the article go here.

Thursday July 9th: Change

Delegation of the Day: Sweden
National Night: Argetina

Wednesday July 8th: Fantasy Island Day

Delegation of the Day: Spain
National Night: Brazil

Today is Mariana ’s birthday, leader of Brazil. It’s also the brazilian National Night. Two big events for one delegation.

At 7:30 Miri and Maru the two Argentinean girls, helped by the delegation of the day prepared a surprise for Mariana and her delegation: we moved and ordered the tables of the dinning room into a C except one table, where the Brazilian delegation had the honour to sit in the middle of the tribune, like a president facing his counsellors.

8:15 Flag time: no rain but who knows?

8:30 Breakfast: “Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you Mariana

Happy birthday to you!!! “

“Kittos rubasta

Se nar makasta…”

9:00 Cleaning Time. The kids love it!!! You really can have fun with cleaning in this camp!

10:00 One day Game: “Fantasy Island”

We were asked to create the country we would like to live in. We had to present a drawing of the map and the resources of the land and also a flag, a national anthem and a dance. We had to discuss of the priorities of the land like healthcare, environment, military force, criminality etc.

The presentation took place inside during activity 2 in the afternoon.

We had a lot of fun and interesting countries called Candy Land, Chocolate Land, Fruits Land, Sport-ugal, Yeara Land, Party Land where there’s no day, only night and where the moon is a disco ball !!!

For snack we had delicious “pao de queijo” (Brazilian cheese bread) and “guarana” (Brazilian Soda).

We also had “brigadeiros” with the cake like in the Brazilian parties and “sonho de valsa” (valse dreams). We thank the Brazilian delegation for all his chocolated wonders!!!

After dinner the Brazilian delegation showed us photos of Brazil while Raphael played Brazilian music with the guitar. We all were pleasantly surprised to hear such a beautiful performance from an 11 years old child. The music really permitted us to travel in an other world.

Then all the Brazilian delegation together song the Brazilian tale of Saci Perere. Saci Perere is one Child, small, he uses one red hat, he smokes a pipe. He doesn’t use clothes and he has just one leg. To get the Saci Perere you need throw one peer and after you pick him, put in a bottle with one stopper on it so that he doesn’t escape.

Tuesday July 7th: Circus Day

Delegation of the Day: Norway
National night: Spain

The Norwegian delegation, being the delegation of the day, woke everybody up to the tones of Norwegian classics such as ”Forelska i læreren”, ”Det går likar no”, og ”Se torsken”. Then we had flagtime as usual before we went to breakfast. For the first time in camp, we had oatmeal for breakfast, which was very popular.
Tuesday was Spain’s National Day, and the delegation had cleverly chosen the same date as the San Fermin festival, when the famous bull race in Pamplona begins. The first activity of the day was therefore a simulation of this race, where the Spanish delegation wore bull masks and ran after all the others. If you got caught, you became a bull yourself.
Then we played Intergalactic Samurai, which is a concentration game where you send a sound and movement to someone else. If you make the wrong sound, you have to sit in the middle and you’re out of the game.
Then we played an animal game, since the theme of the day was Circus. Everybody walked around to music, exchanging pieces of paper with the name of an animal on it. When the music stopped, you had to make the sounds and movements as that animal, and find the other person with the same animal. Last couple to pair up was out.
The next activity was to write a poem about dreams. We brainstormed, altogether, what dreams mean to us, and then everyone wrote a poem using five connotations. It turned out that we have several aspiring poets among our group, and from now on one child will volunteer to read his or her poem before each meal.
For lunch the Spanish delegation had brought and made everyone tortillas, Serrano ham, gazpacho and nougat, all of which was excellent. The Spanish delegation showed us how to combine the different dishes and everyone seemed to really enjoy the food.
After lunch, the next activity was to create a circus performance, in accordance with the theme. We were divided into groups, and each group were given a different performance category. We had mimes, acrobats, clowns, magicians and trained animals. After spending some time practicing our routines, we had a circus show with everybody, and what a show! The range and quality of performance was remarkable, and everyone played a part in this once-in-a-camp-time show. The acrobatic troupe was particularly impressive, and after dinner they won the Villagers’ Choice Award (the most glorious award there is), the prize being a Kinder Maxi chocolate for each of the troupe members.
After dinner it was time for the Spanish National Night, and we all headed to the JC shop where the Spanish delegation: Claudia, Carmen, Jordi, Nico and Remi performed several Spanish dances and taught us how to do them. Their costumes were amazing, and we were exceedingly impressed by both their talent and their thorough preparation for this night.
After the dancing, we simulated another Spanish tradition, giving away paper flowers. All the boys got a paper rose, and formed a circle around the girls. Then we played music, and when it stopped, the boys gave their flower to the nearest girl.
It was a busy day, full of impressions and creative statements, and we hope we will get more opportunities to be creative in the days to come!

Monday July 6th: Excursion Day!

Delegation of the Day: Italy

At 8 o’clock the Italian delegation put some music (of course Italian music) to happily wake up the whole village! Today’s Activity: Excursion to Gudvangen og Myrkdalen! Just after breakfast two buses were waiting for us to take us in a great location not so far away from our village. Everybody was dressed with the new fabulous Trolls & Tales T-Shirt!! At first we stopped to a hotel from whom terrace we could dominate the whole Stalheim valley, and then after taking some great pictures we prosecute our march stopping for a second time to visit some caves in Gudvangen, where we could listen “the voices of the mountain” in a very suggestive atmosphere. After that, passing through a valley surrounded by waterfalls, we finally got to the beginning of the Sognefjord. Once again, Norway, amazed us with its weird and spectacular nature. Here, after taking some pictures, we had lunch in a restaurant. The lunch was great, and we could transmit the CISV atmosphere to all the others tourists/customers present there with our happiness and singing the “Kiitos”. In the afternoon our trip back to Voss begun, but before getting to Voss, we stopped in a ski area (unfortunately without snow) were we could play some games and have our afternoon snack! It was very special, the people there prepared for us some “focaccia bread” and waffles with berry’s jam J. After this we could finally return to Voss, but the staff, reserved for us an other surprise: just a few kilometers before Voss, we stopped to see one of the most beautiful waterfall of all Norway, called. So, at 17.30 we finally arrived to our beloved Bomoen: leaders meeting for the leaders & shower time for kids & JCs!!!! After dinner, activity nr 3! Everybody in the JC shop area! Divided by delegations first and by group after, we could discuss about our egg’s experience begun yesterday and it was very interesting how we could reflect and make considerations about the importance of the family trying by ourselves simulating a family. After that flag time & lullabies and then everybody in the bed, waiting for the following camp day…

Sunday July 5th: Family Day

Delegation of the Day: Greenland

The day today is Mohammed’s birthday – the leader of Egyptian delegation, and it’s Greenlandic delegation’s time to have “delegation of the day”, and since its Sunday everyone get chance to sleep one more hour than usual.

Today’s theme is “Family”, and at the activity 1 children is introduced to an “egg game”, in this game children is randomly divided into couples and some singles, and all the couples and singles get an egg. The children should image that their egg is their “child”, and they are going to take care of their “child” until the following evening. All the kids decorate the eggs and give them names, and they are very creative.

In the afternoon there was activity 2. The activity 2 was divided into 2 parts. In the first part of activity 2 all the pair and singles sit together and draw a “perfect family day”. The children can choose to draw how is perfect day family is or draw their egg and their partners if they have. You can see in children that they are very enjoying it, and they are talking about their family. In the last parts of the activity 2 Norwegian delegates showing us what the children in Norway do in their national day. They make 8 groups of 7-8 persons and all the group were competing in different games.

After dinner the Norwegian delegates continue with their national night begins with parade from dinning hall to “JC shop” (another building in the area). At the “JC shop” the Norwegian delegates show us a play, and teach us some Norwegian phrases.

The day ends with flag time followed by lullaby.

Saturday July 4th: Water Festival Day

Delegation of the Day: Germany

On Saturday, the 4th of July we had our water festival.

The morning started with a wake up of the German delegation. They improvised some melodies on instruments. When the kids went out to put their shoes on, they found a bunch of shoes tied together. The girls shoes were on the boys side and viaverse. It turned out that the prank was done by one of the boys rooms.

After breakfast everyone was very busy in the cleaning groups.

In Activity 1 we played 4 different water games by dividing the kids in smaller groups. On the “Drip..drip…drop” we were allowed to drop a drop, a drop and a cup of water on the other heads.

On another station we had to fish spoons out of water bowls only with our mouth.

We also had to carry water from one bowl to another by using a towel. IM was very good at it and her team won twice. Another station was a name game: we passed water bombs to each other by saying the names.

Afterwards every station ended up in a big waterfight. Those who weren’t wet yet were found and brought to the water pipe. We had a lot of fun!

For lunch we had sandwiches and fish soup. After siesta and the JC shop started Activity 2. We participated in 3 water competition games. We had to carry water in plastic cups with small holes in it from one side to another. Another game was to pull a rope. We also carried the water on top of our heads from one side to another. Either the winner or the loser were happy at the end of the games because everyone got wet again. It was such a hot day!

For snack we had pancakes with very delicious selfmade marmelade and also juice.

After shower time we went clean and dry to eat a special dinner: Lasagne.

Activity 3 was about creating a passport. We signed in with our names, home countries and destination we will go or want to go. To get a picture for our own passport we switched the passports and another person had to find the owner of the passport and draw one part of the head. We began with the eyes, then we switched again while dancing to music. At the end we presented our passport and showed the home countries and destinations of the map.

After flag time we went to the Lullabies room and sang our CISV song, Donna, Country Roads, Leaving on a Jetplane and then it was time to say Good night…the stars were not actually shining bright but it was bedtime. Tomorrow will be another day…

Friday July 3rd: Green Ecologology Day

Delegation of the day: France

Today our theme was environment and ecology. We started the day by working in groups. We were supposed to talk about today’s environmental issues in the world. We had very many ideas like oil catastrophes; polluted water, global warming, and we shared all
the ideas that came into our minds. After discussing all the issues, we needed to draw a bird who can survive in a world without any clear water and no trees at all. All the drawings were great and very interesting with all the filters and pipes that help the bird to breathe polluted air and drink salty water. We had a very interesting and teaching experience while talking about the global ecological issues.

After lunch we were divided in three groups. This activity was about diversity and languages. Each group collected something like flowers or leafs and then all of us needed to say it in our own language. We learned different languages for example the flower is in Swedish blomma and in Arabic it’s wardah. We had a big white sheet and a hand at both sides. Then they had to guess whose hand comes from another side to their own side by touching and talking together to make a decision.

In the evening we had a challenge. Group needed to get the water from the aliens who don’t speak any language we know. If the group gets the water they will survive, other groups will then die. We were discussing in a group what to do and how to communicate. Aliens’s language was very different and based on body language. All the groups figured out the way to get the water and then the next task was to discuss if we want to share the resolution of how to get the water with the other groups. All the groups survived from the end. And we all get to live.

Now we all are aware of world’s ecological issues and we know some ways to help the environment.

Thursday July 2nd: Sports Day

Delegation of the Day: Finland
National night: USA

Pancakes for breakfast!

Today is Thursday 2nd of July. We started the day with a very nice breakfast that our U.S. delegation offered us! We got pancakes and maple syrup and apple jam! It's USA's national day today. Our first activity was planned by US Delegation. We heard a tale of Johnny Appleseed. He was a good hearted man who loved forest and animals. He never wanted to harm anyone and thought it's important to plant seeds of apple trees all over the county. He had great adventures all over the USA.

We also found puzzle pieces with a country name on them spread all over the court yard. We had to find a person from that country and then co-operate and put the puzzle together. And what else could it be then a huge apple tree with CISV logo.

After the tale and putting the puzzle together we discussed in a small group about the meaning of the tale and how is it related to CISV ideology. There were many great answers like how we want to be friends with everyone and love and protect wilderness and animals and respect others point of view. Also we talked about how CISV members gather together in a village to meet other people from other countries and share the cultures.

Our second activity was about team work. We played football with our ankles tied. It was harder than we thought, but great fun! Sun was shining the whole day and temperature must have been something between 25-30 Celsius. Also we played mouse and cat, but cat had eyes closed and mouse needed to make some sound that cat would know in witch direction to head at.

The dinner was traditional Norwegian food from west coast. We got sheep meat and sausages with potato balls. Also there was turnip casserole. The dinner was great and we enjoyed tasting new flavours.

After the dinner U.S delegation continued the national night with a dance performance. We all participated in two different kind of dances. We were very excited about that and we wanted to dance many times. Then we got bags with scrab books and some traditional American sweets. Also now everyone are wearing nice bracelets and playing with an American football.

All together the day was very successful and fun!