Archive for 2012
MIC 2012, Day 21
August 10th, 2012
Finally a nice relaxed start, we all got up in our own time as Mike wasn’t coming to collect us until 1pm. Then we all headed to a local swimming pool and sports centre. This was a lot of fun, and it was really nice to be able to cool off in the pool. All of the scouts had fun showing off their diving talents and then investigated the two water slides. Some even decided to have a few races which was fun to watch.
Just before dinner (pizza) arrived the Americans offered to show us and the Hungarians how to play baseball. We had a few Americans playing as well which was good, as it helped keep the game moving. But I have to say that the star of the show as Conor as he hit the only home run and then dived to catch a ball and get the final out of the game, very impressive all together.
When we were told that the pizza had arrived we moved with speed back to the picnic tables as everyone was hungry at this point. After a good feed alot of the scouts and venturers decided to get back in the pool and the others played table tennis for a while and then just sat down to have a chat with the American venturers.
In the evening Mike and his wife Gail offered to take us to a Drive-In Movie. There was a double feature of Batman and Ted on, however we only stayed to see Batman. It was really really cool, although a little awkward because we couldn’t sit in the van and watch. Most of us just found a nice spot on the grass somewhere and sat down with some popcorn to watch the film. It was a lovely warm evening and a very good film, even the second time round.
We didn’t get back to the cabin until about midnight and so it was straight to bed for everyone, after another very enjoyable day.
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MIC 2012, Day 20
August 10th, 2012
An even earlier start today meant that everyone was more or less asleep in the minibus, and quite possibly in the shower too. After showers had been had a few of us headed back down to White Plains for a bit more shopping and exploring.
We returned to the house at about 11am, where all of us were collected and brought t one of the Scouts houses for a Bar-b-que. This was delicious and the weather was gorgeous, we sat and chatted and ate until 3pm until it was time to go and meet the Mayor of White Plains. Although before we left we did surprise Oisín with Birthday cake and presents. His cake was very cool, it had Batman on top of it.
Meeting the Mayor was pretty cool, we had a tour of City Hall, got some photos with the Mayor. He gave us all a pin from the City of White Plains. He then brought us all the fountains in the middle of the city and produced he magic city key which meant that he could put on a pretty cool fountain show with music. Some of the socuts really got into the spirt and stared dancing to Michael Jacksons Thriller right then and there.
We then headed back to the same house as earlier, where all of the scouts (American and Irish) got in the hot tub for a long while. They certainly seemed to have alot of fun.
At 7pm we headed back to the cabin and just played cards and chilled out for the evening.
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MIC 2012, Day 19
August 10th, 2012
Today we had a very early start as Mike came to collect us at 7.30am. We were all ready to go though and were all in the minibus very quickly. Mike dropped us into White Plains to the house where the Hungarians were staying. This meant that we could all have a shower and then have a wander around the shops and sites of White Plains. This was a nice way to spend the morning and we even found some internet access to check emails and facebook accounts.. At 1pm we met up with the Americans and Hungarians and we all headed to a military museum that is just outside White Plains.
This was really very interesting. There were two buildings, the first was all about West Point Academy and the second was about the history of the American Military and two rooms devoted to weapons and vehicles. Kevin and Oisín and I found both buildings very interesting, but not everyone shared our interest and we all met up outside the museum after an hour. Obviously as soon as we were all standing outside the heavens opened and we all got absolutely soaked. And as soon as we were all back in the minibus the rain stopped.
We were all dropped back to the Hungarians house with a short visit to the Llamas on the way, which everyone was very happy about, although wet Llamas are not as good as dry Llamas.
We spent the evnening with the Hungarians and most of the Americans which was alot of fun and I think we all learnt a bit about the other countries. Mrs. Buzzard made dinner of Sloppy Joes and Mac and Cheese for everyne which was very tasty, and the fruit salad that we had afterwards was delicious.
Mike returned to collect us at abou 10 pm and we returned to the cabin for a well deserved rest.
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MIC 2012, Day 18
August 10th, 2012
Not too early a start today, we all got up at about 9.30am, had some breakfast and got ready to meet Mike. He arrived at about 10.30am and we were all ready to go. He brought us into the White Plains train station where we would catch a train into Grand Central in New York City. We also met the rest of the New Yorkers and the Hungarian contingent at the train station. The journey did not take very long, only about 45 minutes and then we got to see the main sites of Grand Central station, with many references to Madagascar of course!
During the day we visited many sites of the city including Mc Donalds, the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Nintendo Store, and the Rockerfeller Centre. The Empire State Building was truly amazing, as we waited in line there were presentation boards outlining how recent changes across the whole building have made it significantly more energy efficient, and in fact a beacon of energy efficiency. I found this very interesting and most of the guys read the boards as well. The wait wasn’t that long, only about an hour and we were in the elevator to the 80th floor. This floor had presentations on the history of the building and how it is important for many reasons, not just its height. Then another short elevator ride to the 86th floor, this floor had an outdoor observation area where spent quite a while, at half an hour or 45 minutes. We took lots of photos and looked down on all of the sites New York City.
After that was Times Square which was interesting but also very busy. WE split into smaller group here, but most groups visited the same places, the MandM store, the Hershey’s store and Toys ‘R Us. These were all good to see and certainly an experience for those who have never visited Times Square before. Next we wet on a bit of a walking tour and saw some other sites on our way back to Grand Central station.
By the time we got back to the cabin it was quite late and everyone was very tired, so we all went to bed very quickly after a thoroughy interesting and enjoyable day.
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MIC 2012, Day 17
August 10th, 2012
Our first day after camp, me and the girls had a lazi-ish morning, we took it easy and just got up whenever we felt like it. Although Anthony (our host) said he was so used to getting up at 7am on camp that he had woken up at that time and couldn’t go back to sleep. When I got up I spent some time on the computer and we all watched some more classic american television (Log Tuckers and Alligator Wrestlers).
At about noon we decided we should really start re-packing our bags. I went first as my stuff seemed to be the most scattered around the room. Somehow )and I was the most amazed) I managed to get everything back into my bag. The two girls had no difficulty at all and soon we were all ready to go.
We said our goodbyes to Anthony and Reese and Rob gave us a lift to the Church where we met the rest of the group. At the car park we said Thank you and goodbye to Rob and moved all of our bags into Scott’s Van. Once everyone had arrived we all jumped into cars and vans and were on our way to the airport. It onlt took 15 minutes or so to get to the airport and then it was time to say our last goodbyes and thank you’s.
Once into the airport I went to investigate the check in process which unfortunately was all electronic. This meant that each person had to be checked in individually on a computer screen which was a little time consuming. Then we had to go through a bag drop and passport check. After all of this we were running a little late and hurried on to the security check. Surprisingly this was not as efficient as in Dublin Airport but eventually we were all through, belts and shoes in tact. We more or less ran on to the departure and found that we were just in time for check in. Within about ten minutes we were all finding our seats on the plane and I was settling down for a nap.
Once of the plane which arrived about 10 minutes early we proceeded through JFK very fast and found to our delight that all of our bags had made it too. I rang our New York contact Mike and soon he met us with his minibus and trailer for the bags. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Mikes house where we met all of the Llamas (Belle, Juiliet, Gideon, Sheeba and ). We gave them some food and also met Mikes wife Gail. After a while though it was time to hop back in the Mini bus and head to the cabin where we would all be staying.
By the time we arrived at the cabin it was about 11.30pm. We had a quick look around, it is a very nice cabin with two small rooms, one bug room, a large common room and a kitchen (the toilet block is also very close by). Once we were settled everyone headed to bed.
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MIC 2012, Day 16
July 30th, 2012
The last day of camp has come and I think that most people have found that they really don’t want to leave, we have all made such good friends and it feels strange that we won’t wake up to see them all tomorrow morning.
The morning was spent packing the trailer, taking photos and saying our goodbyes. With alot of team work we were on the road by 11am and n our way back to Garden City, where we started getting things out of the trailers and we all had a troop dinner which was delicious and a great way to end an amazing week. We also presented our host group with their gift and one of our embroidered kneckerchiefs. After dinner we really didn’t want to say goodbye to some of the friends that we had made, but eventually we all had to go our separate ways.
The girls and I went back to the Hodson household for one last night in Michigan. We emptied our back and got lots of washing done. I went for a swim as it is supposed to help mosquito bites, I don’t think it did much for them but the long hot shower afterwards was very nice.
We spent the evening just chilling out playing cards and reliving the evens of the last week. We also made a preliminary start on our packing, because we head out to New York tomorrow.
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MIC 2012, Day 15
July 30th, 2012
The International Festival day/Visitors day has arrived and all too quickly for my liking. But the sunshine and heat has also returned. With some help from the rangers we got all of our materials to the parade field and then set everything up for our display. I have to say that it looked pretty well. After some editing of the mixture we got the potatoe cakes under way. Everyone loved the smoked salmon and brown bread and the potatoe cakes. We taught them how to tie a turk’s head woggle, let them sample some sweets and introduced them to Irish sports and music.
We were right next to the Canadian stall and had a lot of fun during the day, some of the scouts parents also came up for the day and it was really nice to get to meet them all.
Once the visitors had left we had a flag lowering ceremony and a presentation of gifts to Bruce, the camp organisor. He really liked our gift and thought it was beautiful. After a campwide dinner of Chicken and baked potatoe we headed back to the site to get some tidying up done and get a start on the packing. We Irish also went to the fox subcamp to meet the Ventures from New York that we will be staying with next week. Soon it was time to head over to the campfire bowl for the Interfaith service and Closing ceremony. Both were very enjoyable and again would have only been improved if the seats were a little more comfortable and their had been less mosquitos.
When we got back to the site there was just enough time for a quick snack before all of the Scouts and Ventures were sent to bed for the last time. The leaders stayed up a little longer just to get some of the organising and packing done .
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