Concordia Rangers in Switzerland

Sunday 18th December 2012

Hello everyone!
 
Eventually arrived safely at Our Chalet last night, after a 5am start and 4 hour delay at Gatwick due to our aeroplane being in Lyon and the crew in Geneva! However, we made up a bit of time with some fast train changes and mad platform dashes with our suitcases and arrived (after a double decker train, another train and a bus with a trailer!) in Adelboden just before 7pm last night.
We were met at the bus stop and loaded our cases into the Our Chalet minibus, and then trekked up the mountain (very steep!) to Our Chalet. The snow had only fallen in the last couple of days (thank goodness!) but is already at least knee deep in places. We received an extremely warm welcome from the Our Chalet staff and a lovely dinner had been saved for us. We unpacked and fell into our beds after a very long day!
 
This morning we had a delicious continental breakfast and then pulled on our thermals and snow gear for a morning of tobogganing on the big hill at the back of Our Chalet. We used a variety of toboggans including an inflatable sledge (rather like a surf board or lilo), which achieved great speeds on the slope! Everyone had lots of fun and we look forward to showing you the photos and video footage!
 
After lunch we walked back down the hill into Adelboden, and up another hill (we will all be either very fit or exhausted by the end of the holiday!) to the new sports centre with its large indoor ice rink. Our boots were all ready for us on arrival and we were soon on the ice - or lying on the ice in a few cases! By the end of our session, everyone had had a go and gained in confidence, many were soon whizzing round the rink.
Next stop was the ski shop to try on our boots ready for the ski day tomorrow. Again, the staff were very organised and had received the information we had emailed. The Our Chalet staff brought the minibus to pick up our ski gear so we did not have to carry it up the mountain back to Our Chalet!
After another delicious meal (spaghetti bolognese followed by bread and butter pudding and custard), we then had an Our Chalet presentation and tour to learn more about the history of this World Centre and the people that were instrumental in the founding of Our Chalet. This was followed by a craft session, where we learnt traditional Swiss paper cutting craft, made woggles, undertook pyrography (wood burning) and made intricate paper snowflakes. Everyone is now on their way to bed (many via the wonderful new showers that we are the first group to use!) in preparation for our ski day tomorrow.
 
Apologies for any typing errors, trying to use Swiss keyboard and letters not quite in same place and cannot find the hyphen anywhere!
 
All girls and Leaders having a great time, lots of smiles and lots of snow!
 
Will update you soon with more adventures...
 
Concordia Rangers.

Monday 19th December

Hello everyone!
 
Today (Monday) we trekked down the hill again and up into Adelboden to meet our ski instructors. The Our Chalet staff transported our ski equipment for us so we did not have to lug that up and down the hills - phew!
We were then taken by ski bus up the mountain to Geils ski resort - the skills of the bus drivers are incredible - narrow bends and snow, and they take it all in their stride.
We spent the morning and a short session after lunch learning how to ski. Everyone managed very well and some displayed very good skills for beginners. Those that had skied before had a different instructor and did more adventurous skiing! Everyone remains in one piece, with several bumps, strains and bruises to prove our hard work and determination.
Rachel is dishing out the Ibuprofen and ordering hot showers and now everyone feels much better! We explored Adelboden a little and returned up the hill to Our Chalet for some free time and then dinner. Having had a good meal we are now looking forward to the campfire tonight.
 
Below we have included some individual messages...
Lyndsay - Mum, I am in one piece and I learnt how to waltz on my skis!
Lydia - I learnt to waltz on skis today, Mummy and Daddy! Missing Barty but having a great time.
Abigail - Miss you Alfie, Mum please give him a hug from me. I am having a great time.
Hannah - My body built for ice skating, not skiing! Miss you all.
Sophie - So glad I learnt to ice skate and I cannot wait for my birthday in the snow.
Iona - Dear Mum, I have broken your sunglasses, sorry, but I am having a great time munching on Toblerone. Skiing was awesome. Love you loads.
Imogen - Skiing and the snow is amazing. The chocolate is goooooood!
Louise - Am enjoying myself, it is quite cold but have mastered ice skating at last.
Charlotte - Louise is still alive! I fell on my face while skiing but it was awesome.
Meranda - Dear Mum, thanks loads and loads - I have had so much fun skiing. Switzerland is amazing. I face-planted in the snow! Love you loads,
missing everyone.
Victoria - Switzerland is beautiful. My phone is not working. Hope Rex is still alive and Lionel´s head is better. Enjoyed ice skating. Lots of love.
Sarah - Skiing has greatly improved - no crashing into instructors and can do parallel turns now! The snow is amazing and for once I am not cold! Lots of love.
Gill - All the planning was worth it, we are having a great time! I loved the skiing but had an argument with the travelator - pretty elbow to show for it! Lovely accommodation in the main Chalet and beautiful views of the snowy mountains all around us.
Rachel - Having a wonderful time - have lots of great video footage and photos! Looking forward to the campfire tonight. Is great to see the girls (and Leaders!) having such an adventure.
Ruth - Feed the fish and the dog, Raymond! And DO NOT let the dog on the bed! P.S. Love you.

Tuesday 20th December

Hello everyone!
 
Last night we had an amazing campfire with the staff here at Our Chalet. It took place in a German Scout troop tent (like a teepee), with the fire in the middle and an opening in the roof for the sparks and smoke to escape. We sang some old favourites and learnt some new songs too.
 
Today is Sophie`s birthday and we had decorated our floor with balloons, banners and streamers. After a present opening session and some breakfast, we set off to hike from Our Chalet to the woodcarvers on the outskirts of Adelboden. The snow was very deep in places and was still coming down fast, which made navigating interesting at times as it was difficult to see the paths amongst all the white stuff! However, we successfully reached the woodcarvers by mid morning, after passing an amazing gorge with fantastic icicles and stunning scenery. We all thought that we had entered Narnia!
 
Half of us went into the woodcarvers and purchased woggles, badges and other souvenirs, and the other half went to the little cafe next door (basically the conservatory of the house next door!) and had cake and hot chocolate. Some of us used a historic Swiss toilet (hole in plank of wood) inside a little shed, and then the two groups swapped over. We took one of our trip badges to add to the amazing collection that the woodcarver has on his ceiling. After eating our lunch, we hiked back to Our Chalet via Adelboden, where we had another visit to the CoOp for more chocolate and other goodies! On the way back we also stopped again at the playpark we discovered yesterday and many of us (including Leaders) had a go on the amazing slide, from which you into a pile of snow at great speed!
 
We had another yummy dinner this evening (sweet and sour chicken, rice, salad and then profiteroles to follow) and then Sophie had a birthday surprise! All the staff came into the dining room banging pots and pans from the kitchen, wearing funny hats and singing Happy Birthday - first in English, then in 6 other languages, representing each of the staff here. Sophie wore a birthday hat and we had lots of cake, complete with candles. It was all captured on video!
 
Today we have learnt to be more sparing with the toilet paper, as we accidently blocked the new toilets with our excess use of paper! (Apparently some of us like to be very hygienic - i.e. use a lot of paper - but the drainage system cannot cope!) Luckily the plumber sorted out the problem whilst we were out.
 
Tonight we are taking part in the WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) Wide Game that the staff here run, which should be good fun.
 
We are getting used to the steep ascent from Adelboden village to Our Chalet - it takes about 20 minutes from bottom to top and is uphill (very uphill!) all the way.
Tomorrow we are off to Enstligenalp mountain - a hike along the valley and a snow BBQ before ascending via cable car to the top, hopefully to do some snow tubing, although this will be dependent on the weather conditions. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the run will be open, but have standby plans of tobogganing and snow-shoeing.
 
We will send more personal messages tomorrow, but Iona wants to say:
"Happy birthday Mum, I hope you have had a lovely day. Lots of love."
 
Look out for our next update!
Concordia Rangers.

Wednesday 21st December

Today we walked to Engstligen Falls and had a snow BBQ in the forest when we got there. The walk was amazing, often through knee deep snow, and the girls said it was like walking through Narnia! Having spent all of last week thinking that there wouldn't be enough snow to snow tube the amount that has fallen since we've been here meant that there was danger of avalanche up on the mountain top! So unfortunately we were unable to snow tube but took taboggans up instead.
We had fun trying out the snow shoes and had our first experience of creating snow cones from fresh snow and fruit syrup by the BBQ. We had to clear metres of snow of the benches to be able to sit down - Meranda made an igloo under one of them! The sausages were huuuuuuge. The visit to the waterfall followed which was beautiful as some of it was frozen into icicles. We then took the gondola up to the top of Engstligenalp where we went into a real igloo and saw how they are made. Inside were roses frozen in ice cubes and real reindeer skins. After getting the cable car back down we took the bus to the bottom of the Our Chalet hill and hiked back one one final time.Tonight we are having Swiss evening and then begin the journey home tomorrow!
Ruth - 'Don't forget to change the sheets! Love you'
Peter, Karen, Gill and Carole - 'Had a stunning day, the depth of the snow and the scenery is incredible.'
Abigail - 'Hi Mum, I've eaten brown bread! I know you all miss me so I'll see you tomorrow.'
Iona - 'Can't wait to see you tomorrow, make sure you remember to pick me up! I hope you had a lovely birthday too, Love Iona.'
Sophie - 'Hey Mummy, I had a great birthday and can't wait to see you'
Imogen - 'Had a great time and looking forward to seeing you all again - though I won't be walking again for a long time!'
Charlotte - 'It feels like I've walked 1,000 miles and I've been on top of the world, aka a mountain. Make sure you don't get snowed up at Hilary's, I'd like to go home!'
Louise - 'Have had a good few days and done lots of walking. Lookng forward to seeing you'
Lydia - 'My sunglasses got snowploughed today!'
Lyndsay - 'Have had a great time, don't think I have walked so much in my life! But it has been amazing, see you tomorrow'
Meranda - 'Can't wait to get back and see you. Switzerland has been amazing, so much snow'
Victoria - 'Going to miss Switzerland, such a beautiful country. But looking forward to going home and telling everyone about it all.
Sarah - 'I've had such an amazing experience and am so proud of all the Rangers for their hard work and impressive walking! See you all tomorrow'
Rachel - 'Already looking for volunterring opportunities here in the future!'
xx

Last Instalment

Hi everyone,
Swiss night was great fun - especially the quiz - we got very competitive! We all learnt a lot about Switzerland and had a yummy chocolate fondue as well. A memorable part of the evening was the play about William Tell - beautifully acted by Lydia, Meranda and Lyndsay - truly Oscar winning performances!
After Swiss night we sang some Christmas songs and carols together then all stood in the dining room with the wonderful views of the twinkling lights of Abelboden and renewed our Guide Promise together - a magical moment. Then off to bed to prepare for a day of travelling.
Thursday - 22nd
After breakfast we finished packing, took our cases to Sarah so that she could weigh them - the variation in weights was interesting - some only taking up half their baggage allowance and some sharing out some of their belongings as well as wearing heavy clothes home in order to fit erverything in! We said our goodbyes to the wonderful staff- and Skippy the cat - and after loading our cases into the taxi set off down the hill to the bus stop. For the first time since our arrival it had stopped snowing and was raining. At least this meant that the roads were clear for our journey, and for the Our Chalet staff who were having a day out in Bern before preparing for their Christmas visitors.
We caught the bus to Frutigen where we boarded the train to Bern. At Bern we climbed aboard the double decker train  to Geneva. On arrival at Geneva we checked in our luggage, and were soon waving goodbye to Switzerland as our plane took off into the night sky.
Back at Gatwick we bought some food and headed towards the train station for the last leg of the journey home. We said a fond farewell to Rachel who was returning to Southampton as she is working over Christmas. Nearly home we thought - one little train ride left. However Southern rail thought they would add some excitement by delaying our train so much that we missed the connection in Lewes. So 25 mins later that planned we finnaly arrived at Hastings station to be reunited with our families.
Everyone that took part in this adventure would like to thank all the people that helped make the trip possible - Leaders, parents, sponsors and friends. We had a fantastic time and had experiences that we will never forget. We have learnt things about others and about ourselves and have memories that will last a lifetime.
Our Chalet, Switzerland, 2011 was a dream that became a reality. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our adventure.

Best wishes Concordia Rangers.         December 2011