Chip the Beaver's Blog

Chip misses the Typhoon

2008-07-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Chip lands in Hong Kong after long delays in the air.

His airplane had to circle the airport until they were given clearance to land. There was a typhoon that was supposed to hit Hong Kong yesterday, but it moved over and hit Taiwan instead.

Lucky! Chip may have not been able to land if it did hit Hong Kong.

Chip stayed in with Boris in Hong Kong for the night. Boris was in scouts and school with Kevin when they were younger in Vancouver.

Here's a view of HK from Boris' house in Tsuen Wan. A little foggy in the morning. Boris says that's Hong Kong air for you!

Here's Chip getting to know Boris' cat Coco.

In Vancouver airport Chip met some of his Cousins who work for the RCMP just chilling out, what a coincidence!

Depending on whether Chip get's internet, there may or may not be an update before August 4th!

Chip just keeps on going and going and going...

2008-07-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

Chip is wasting no time being idle this summer!
His itinerary for the next two weeks is packed and will include Hong Kong, Rural China, and Japan.

In a few hours Chip will be off on a plane to Hong Kong to meet up with Scouters from Hong Kong's Chai Wan District at the BP International Hotel. From there, they will travel to Shenzhen, China and then fly to Guizhou Province. There they will meet up with the Scouts Canada's Pacific Coast Council's Rover Crew and begin work in a small village nearby where villagers are unable to easily get drinking water due to a harsh winter that destroyed their water pipes.

Chip and many other caring scouters will be helping to restore their drinking water supply lines so that villagers don't have to hike up a mountain in order to retrieve drinking water.

It's doubtful that there will be internet access from that area, so stay tuned for updates when Chip and the PCC Rover Crew get back to Hong Kong.

Oh one more thing! Chip wants to thank everyone in British Columbia, Canada who helped support the Rovers in raising enough funds to get to China to provide aid.

When Chip told the story of the Chinese villagers to his friends 'the woggle buddies', they decided that they had to come along to help as well!

WSC - Highlights!

2008-07-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

Chip was WAY TOO BUSY preparing for his next trip and didn't have enough time to report back on each day of the World Scout Conference separately. Frankly, little beavers can only remember and do so much.

No more updates? Not a chance! Here are some of Chip's most memorable moments!

Meeting Si Won, a Korean girl who Scouts Canada had helped after a tragic childhood accident 15 years ago.

John Neysmith being elected to the World Scout Committee! Way to go John!

Some of Jeju's trademark souvenirs.

The heat was really getting to Kevin...

Another Cow!

On top of one of Jeju Island's awesome craters. What a hike, but it was worth it!

Jade from Australia and Paul from Canada with some of the many and colourful Singapore Jamboree Bid Performers.

One of the workshops on Membership Development!

Taking a break with Kevin and some of Chip's Korean friends!

Fireworks at the closing ceremonies, WOW!

Rick Cronk from the USA becomes the Chairperson of the World Scout Committee!

Iain being happy

Glowing charcoal from one of Chip's lunches

Kevin meditating underneath a waterfall

The Jeju Stone Figures

Iain learning how to make a box using traditional Korean paper at the Airport

That's all for now folks. Next up for Chip is China and Japan!

WSC - Day One

2008-07-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Monday July 14

Today was the first official start day of the Conference held at International Conference Centre (ICC) on Jeju Island. Here's a photo from inside looking out onto the water. It was a little foggy in the morning.

National Scout Organizations (NSOs) from around the world have sent delegates and observers to take part in shaping the direction of the Scouting movement for the next three years and beyond. There were over 1200 participants. Look how big the room is!

Canada has sent Glenn Armstrong, John Neysmith, Iain Tait, and Kevin Li are delegates. Chip and Centenary Bear are some of the many observers from Canada.

Highlights of the day included:
The welcoming of seven new National Scout Organizations into the family of World Scouting )

Cambodia
Kazakhstan
Montenegro
Russia
Serbia
Syria
Ukraine

Introduction of the candidates from around the world running for a position on the World Scout Committee. The World Scout Committee is the highest decision making body within WOSM and members are selected every three years at conferences just like this one.

Here’s a photo of John Neysmith from Canada who is vying for a position on the World Scout Committee.

Good luck John!

Chip arrives in Jeju!

2008-07-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 13

Youth at the Inter Program Event were ferried to Jeju Island. Everyone was very tired on the ferry. Check out the ferry and how much junk Kevin had with him!

Chip got the feeling that he was on a cargo ship with all the rust on the boat. It wasn’t anything like the ferries in British Columbia, Canada.

When Chip got to Jeju he knew that he was in paradise. Jeju Island was known as the Jewel of the Asia Pacific and it was truly a beautiful place. Palm trees, hot weather, and being surrounded by sand and ocean. What more could a beaver ask for, sunscreen perhaps?

Here’s the view from Chip’s room at the Seogwipo KAL Hotel. A little cloudy, that morning, but you get the idea!

Chip missed the Singapore reception at the Hyatt because of a room mixup, but they ended up trying out the black pig that Jeju was famous for at KAL Hotel. Here’s Iain trying the grub!

Time for bed, tomorrow’s a long day!

Chip does Suncheon

2008-07-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

July 10 - July 12

Between the Youth Forum and the World Scout Conference was the Inter Program Event. This was the time between the two major events where the Youth got a chance to re-energize and prepare for the Conference in Jeju. Most youth that attended the forum would also attend the conference.

Chip was bused from Wongkwang University in Iksan to the Inter Program Event that was to be held in the southern city of Suncheon. Things were a little busier than expected. Chip was looking forward to a little bit of hibernation time.

Chip got to visit Suncheon Bay, a marshland wildlife reserve. At the marshland there were many tiny crabs, mud skippers, and birds. Unfortunately, Kevin’s camera ran out of batteries right after he took a photo of the boat they got to ride and couldn’t photograph any of it.

Chip also visited an ancient fortified city. Here’s a cow that Chip liked with Cedric on the right from Cameroon.

Chip got a chance to do some shopping for food and supplies as well. He really liked their supply of fibrous foods.

There were also performances and of course lots of dance and celebration! Here are some other photos that Chip liked. Can you see where Chip is hiding in the second photo?

Chip recommends...

2008-07-17T01:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday 10 July

Thursday was the day that we got a very significant part of the Forum; the development of the official recommendations to the World Scout Committee. This is the where youth delegates propose recommendations to be submitted to the WSC and other countries vote whether to accept or reject the proposed recommendations. In total 15 recommendations were tabled and about 75% were accepted after amendments were made. It was a very interesting process and Chip was glad to have been a part of this.

Here’s Chip holding up a voting card!

After the recommendations session, the Forum was drawing to a close, so participants took part in the final session called, Taking Action. This was a chance for everyone to reflect on what they have learned over the course of the forum and decide what they are going to take back and do with all that they have learned. Chip would really like to bring back more information about Scouts of the World and what other countries are doing because he felt that it was a truly great program to educate scouting and non-scouting youth about the world scope of Scouting!

After the taking action session. The Youth Advisors were called on stage to announce the new Chairperson for the 11th World Scout Youth Forum to be held in Brazil. The youth advisors were bound by secrecy and couldn’t reveal the decision until now!

Congratulations to Milena for being selected by consensus as the new and first female Chair for the Youth Advisors.

She is the one on the far right!

To bring the Forum to a close, there was a closing ceremony with buffet dinner in the stadium near where we had our meetings.

Here is a photo of chip with some local cub scouts who came to join in on the festivities!

And now for a bunch of photos from the closing ceremony!

Next Chip is off to the Inter-Program Event in Suncheon Province!

Chip likes clean water

2008-07-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 9 July

After a relaxing evening, Wednesday was back to work. Chip learned about the Millennium Development Goals and the Scouts of the World Award. It was really inspiring to hear about the great projects already happening around the World that support the Scouts of the World Award and also the world scouting movement’s millennium development goals. Chip’s going to take all the information back to Canada and get people pumped about it!

After lunch it was time for the youth to give back to the community. Youth were allowed to sign up for various community projects such as tree planting and senior home visiting. Chip’s home depends on clean water in the rivers so he was very interested in taking a tour of a waste water treatment facility.

Here’s a photo of Chip with Deepesh from India. They are about to tell the youth about how a treatment plant works.

Here’s Chip at the entrance stage.

Here’s Chip with Hae Ran from Korea, they both didn’t like the smells very much.

They also went to the river where the treated water was released. We tested the pH of the water. It was better than the bottled whatever that we had! Here’s Chip enjoying the clean water and scenery.

In the evening we had a cultural evening. This was the chance for countries to showcase their culture, traditions with costumes and performances.

Here’s a bunch of photos from the event! Too many to describe!

As usual, more to come from Chip soon!

Election Results!

2008-07-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

After what seemed like an eternity, the voting tellers returned to reveal the final vote count. Kevin and five others Youth Advisors by his peers!

Here are the Youth Advisor election results!

Karin Ahlbäck - Finland
Jaemin Choi – Korea
Milena Pecarski – Serbia
Nadia Soledad Morrone - Argentina
Fernanda Santos Soares - Brazil
Kevin Li – Canada

Kevin thanks Chip and others from around the world for their support! Here’s a photo of all the new Youth Advisors, Jaemin got cutout of the photo!

After the elections, everyone went out to have a good time and celebrate the conclusion of the selection process and to congratulate all candidates for their efforts! Now comes the hard work!

Canada Votes

2008-07-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

Tuesday July 8th - Afternoon

Next was the election to Youth Advisors. Kevin was one of 15 candidates standing for one of six vacancies. Candidates were allowed to give a 3-minute speech to the all the other youth delegates at the program. Chip was by Kevin’s side while he gave his 3-minute presentation and definitely gave it the extra special oomph!

Here’s a photo of Iain dropping in Canada’s ballot. He’s the blue blurry one. Next, here's a photo of Chip taking everything in.

Nina presents Brazil

2008-07-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

Tuesday July 8th - Morning

With the help of Nina the Parrot, Marila and Rapheal from Brazil came on stage to present the next Youth Forum in 2011. It looks like it’s going to be more awesome than Korea (if that’s even possible).

Here's a photo of Raphael and Marila, then of course we have Nina and her sisters with Chip!

Chip meets the world!

2008-07-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Things just get more and more awesome!

Tuesday started off with Chip learning more about the challenges that Scouting is faced with at the world level in the new century. Issues such as Governance Reivew, Educational Methods, Membership Development, and Scouting's Profile were discussed! Chips liked the discussion on diversity as he'd like to see more of his platypus friends in Scouting. Here's a few photos from the discussions.

Here's a few photos of chip with our youth delegation and many other youth delegates from around the world on Monday.

The Project Fair was really cool! Chip to got see many countries showcase themselves and their scouting organizations.

** Photos to be uploaded later today!

Chip makes many friends!

2008-07-08T00:08:00.000-07:00

Apologies from Chip! Between making friends and taking part in the exciting events like the opening ceremony, he hasn't had a lot of time to blog back to Canada and post photos.

What an exciting 36 hours it has been!

Monday morning kicked off with a welcome from the Chairman of the World Scout Youth Forum. This was followed by a report from the current Youth Advisors on what they have achieved for the past three years.

There was also a lot of information on what exactly WOSM is, what they do, and why they exist. He made friends with the delegates from Finland. Karin on the right is a candidate for the Youth Advisor position like Kevin. She's really cool too!

Next Chip went outside to participate in the group photo of the world. All the youth attendees gathered together to form an image of the world and all its continents.

Chip also made a special friend. Nina the Parrot from Brazil. She was very excited to tell Chip all about the next World Youth Forum in Brazil in 2011.

The evening wrapped up with the Opening Ceremony. Chip felt like he was in the Olympics. Every performance was amazing and the after party dance left Chip with a great high of Scouting Spirit (and soaked from head to tail!).

The evening ended with some Korean Cub Scouts cutting a cake to commemorate the centennary of World Scouting!

That's all from Chip, he's got to run and catch the Project Fair where all the scout organizations showcase scouting in their country!

Chip gets down to work

2008-07-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Today, Chip got to see a little bit of the Korean countryside. After a large Korean breakfast, he started making plans to go out and see a Korean Temple, which was about a 20 minute taxi ride from Wonkwang university. Here, he was joined of course by Iain and Kevin, but also by Rovers from Moldova, Turkey and Serbia. Everyone had a great time, even though it was a very, very hot day out in the sun. It's a good thing Chip had his Beaver hat on, or he might have burned his ears.

However, it wasn't all fun and games for little Chip. He was put to work right after lunch at the Inter-America Region meeting. There was information on other youth networks from North and South America, as well as a lot of sharing of ideas and views on how Scouting can become much stronger in this part of the world.

Breaking only for a nice dinner, Chip continued long into the night, for a total of eight hours with the Inter-America Regional meeting. There's a lot that has happened even in just the last year around the Americas so there's a lot of information to soak in. In just one room, there were delegates from the very north of North America, to the very southern tip of Argentina: literally spanning the globe from the North to South Poles. What a great concept.

From all the discussions of the day, compounded with a significant lack of sleep last night, Chip is pretty tired so he may have to go to bed a little early tonight. It's only midnight here in Iksan. Still, the Canadian Flag flies proudly from Chip's little flag pole as he represents all Beaverkind at the World Scout Youth Forum.

The Beaver has landed!

2008-07-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Chip the Beaver had an exciting adventure today! It was his first time traveling away from his lodge in Canada. He was looking forward to meeting all the other beavers from around the world.

The customs officer smirked when he noticed a bite out of his passport, but Chip apologized, he got a little hungry in the line up.

Chip set out on a 2:20pm direct flight from Vancouver to Incheon, Korea.
He flew on a Boeing 777 and was pleased with space in the seats.

On the flight, Chip had his first taste of non-fibrous food with the Korean dish Bibimbap. It was so spicy!
Chip ate every single bit and took a nap. Chip still wanted seconds though...

He was greeted at the airport by a lovely young lady wearing a yellow traditional Korea Dress.

The Korean Scout Association met Chip at the door and escorted him on this journey to Wongkwang University in Iksan, Korea.

After a 4-hour bus ride, Chip arrived and was impressed at what he saw. All banners and decorations were certainly an amazing sight for a little beaver to see.

After registration Chip settled down in his dorm room with his new roommates: Yolanda (in pink) and Fredrick (in orange) and went bed. Breakfast at 7:30am tomorrow. Hope there's more bibimbap!

Goodnight Chip!
Goodnight Kevin and Iain!