Troop 15 World Jamboree Blog

Dave's closing blog entry

Dave Thompson — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Somewhere over New Brunswick. Our itinerary fortuitously saved the best for last. The rain couldn't spoil the goodwill that was evident everywhere at the Jamboree. Every one of our Scouts can recount numerous stories of meeting young men and women from every continent, and at least one of them did so in the other Scout's language. Several of our guys are already plotting how they might attend another event like this, or to travel abroad with a school group. As Hatcher remarked in the early evening drizzle on Friday, "it was the best day of the trip." I initially mistook him for saying it was the best day of his life, but he clarified THAT was the day he first tasted chocolate and peanut butter together. While the trip sometimes resembled a festival of moleskin and sleep deprivation, it laid down indelible individual and corporate memories. The parent in me hopes that our Scouts will go on to study European history with an appreciation for how great ideas and incomprehensible sacrifice painfully won democratic freedoms against enormous odds in societies that were often cruel and unjust. At the same time, the part of me that is a Scout leader will never forget the times I was present, in a chapel within the walls of Windsor Castle, at the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, while running the trails of Brownsea Island, or strolling the narrow, crooked streets of the Latin Quarter, to hear our Scouts express wise and unexpected insights. The Scouts of Troop 15 can undoubtedly be goofy, and often downright gross, but on this trip, their radar was switched fully on when it really mattered. -Dave

Brent's closing blog entry

Brent Wheelbarger — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

At the beginning of our trip, en route to Paris, Dave Thompson loaned me the book, The Longest Day, Cornelius Ryan's famous account of the D-Day invasion of WWII. In the buildup to D-Day, the author described in detail the great amassing of soldiers from all over the world in Great Britain, preparing for the invasion. The book described it as "the youth of the free world gathering to save the world." I was fascinated with the depiction of the camps and accounts of camaraderie among the thousands of people, mixing from numerous countries, in preparation for that terrible battle. That same depiction overwhelmed me when our scouts first made their way to the entrance of the World Scout Jamboree. 40,000 scouts from 250 countries were amassed in one place, and we were right in the middle of it. But in contrast to the great gathering in the buildup to D-Day, we were entering a much different occasion, the largest display of good will among nations I have ever personally seen. It was as though Disney's "It's a Small World" ride exploded all over a field in Sweden. When we arrived, we were instructed to proceed to a central tower where we would take a tour of the jamboree. We never got there. Instead we were met by so many scouts from so many places; anxious to shake our hands, introduce themselves, take pictures, trade patches and such. We spent over an hour in the entryway...a jubilant atmosphere the likes of which I can't effectively describe. The rest of the first Jambo day was a whirlwind of international relations as our scouts made friends from places they can scarcely locate on a map. By the end of the day, we found ourselves on a sailing ship as the guests of a Polish Sea Scout Troop we had met earlier in the day. They invited us to share a small meal onboard their ship before they sailed off into the Baltic. I won't attempt to share all the stories and encounters we had at the Jamboree. Suffice it to say, I truly believe we were all changed in some way. We saw the very best of scouting. More importantly, we saw what the world can be on its best day. Brent

Sean's entry

Sean Johnson — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

By and according to Shaun J. This is day 11 and the day that the Jamboree started. We left Copenhagen and the trip there was long and several people slept on the bus on the way to the Jamboree. On the way there we crossed a 6-10 mile long bridge that we are crossing on day 13 again. In Ahus we met a man named Frederick who drove us to the Jamboree and back on both days. When we got there one of the first sights was a giant contraption made of logs and blue string and almost immediately we met some other scouts, we took a couple of pictures with them and made our way through the camp walking along wooden flagpoles with an assortment of flags from around the world. Then a few minutes later it started to rain and in Sweden when it starts to rain it rains for several hours. Several people traded their patches for others around the world, but another thing we learned was that trading neckerchiefs was also popular and a lot of people went after the Irish contingency neckerchief and Hong Kong contingency neckerchief. Then towards 5 o'clock we met back up at gateway or giant blue contraption and met some Polish Sea Scouts that invited us to their boat. They gave us a tour around their boat and we had some traditional Polish food. As we were leaving they told us they were about to ring their bell and they would depart shortly and that we could watch them. They had to contact the harbor master and get permission from him but they couldn't reach him by phone so they had to stay for a little bit longer. So we left after that and some of us had Swedish pizza. When we finished eating everyone went back to camp and fell asleep to the sound of an annoying moose or animal. The next morning everyone said that it was the best night sleep the have had in weeks.

Parrott's entry

Quentin Parrott — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

After waking up at 4:00am We took a 1 and a half hour flight to Copenhagen. We then met our guide for the day and our charter bus driver. The sights to see included the mansion for the queen and prince consort I believe hes called, the old harbor who's name translated into New Harbor, parliament, and an opera house donated by the Bill Gates of Denmark. After that we went to our hotel and the adults were kind enough to do our laundry. At 6:30 we went to dinner which was a dinner buffet with many choices. After dinner Jacob celebrated his birthday at the hard rock cafe with dessert. While the rest of us went to a closed Lego store that had life size Lego people in it. Now we are in our hotel going to sleep and getting up at 7:30

Copenhagen airport

Brent Wheelbarger — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

We got our first big glimpse of the international reach of scouting when we arrived at the Copenhagen airport. We happened to be there at the same time as waves of scouts from every corner of the world were arriving for the start of the Jamboree. The folks in Copenhagen must have felt like they were being invaded by a short army as hundreds of scouts made their way through the airport and along the hour drive across the sound to Sweden. We shook a lot of hands, but not much time to talk as we were busy going through customs, gathering luggage and such. At one point, Dave passed a scout in the terminal and said "America." In reply, the scout said, "Egypt." Just that short exchange paints a good picture of what we're likely to experience at the jamboree tomorrow.

Jaxon's entry

Jaxon Self — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Today we woke up to a glorious morning with sore backs. I was the first to wake up ,or at least get out of my tent everyone was awake from the loud obnoxious pea cocks that would not stop squawking starting around 5:00. Hatcher and I were first to put our tent away and started helping others.(including the girls in the campsite next to us) We finished packing everything around 9:30 and left Brown Sea island on the ferry at 10:00 and departed Brown Sea with a faint frown on all our faces once we docked on the shore of Poole we rushed to get to our wonderful COACH driver Brendin and slept until we arrived back in London and checked in to our hotel and our wonderful COACH driver Brendin took us to a fancy restaurant where we at some pasta with tomato sauce olives ( I hate olives) and this weird cheese. After dinner we met a guy in front of the restaurant who led us on our tour of Jack the Ripper where we learned many facts and conspiracies of the white chapel assassin the most famous and most mysterious cereal killer in the world after our tour which was very gross but interesting ending around 10:00 we went to our hotel and most of us ended up going to bed around 12:00 due to packing up our stuff and getting ready for our early wake up call for our trip to Denmark...

Jacob's post

Jacob Gilbert — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

AS usual we got up Very early, boarded a bus...wait, I mean a coach ( sorry Brendon). We headed the English countryside on our way to Stonehenge. When we saw it The thing that surprised me the most was the sheer size of it! It was HUGE. It was made from Blue Stone only found over 100km away. It was a really amazing cool thing to see. Next we drove to the town of Poole to board a ferry that would take us to Brownsea Island. When we arrived we ran into a troop of scouts from Britain. They told a story about how scouting originated in America and they talked with us about how scouting worked in Britain, which is quite different there then it is here. After we said goodbye to our British friends, we made our way to our campsite. When we had finished setting up camp, we went swimming in the English Channel which was a about 65 degrees. Afterwards, we met another Boy Scout troop from Brittain, and towards the evening we played a game with them that was quite popular with the scouts called letterbox, where we had to find hidden letters and place them in a letterbox for points. Afterwards, most of us were quite tired, so we went to bed and prepare to go to back to London the next day.

100's of T15 World Jamboree Pictures!

Lynn — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Check out some of the 100's of pictures our 2011 World Jamboree travelers have sent back on our Troop15 website at...

www.troop15yea.com/11-07-world-jamboree-1

www.troop15yea.com/11-07-world-jamboree-2

www.troop15yea.com/11-07-world-jamboree-3

www.troop15yea.com/11-07-world-jamboree-4

Eli's post

Eli Jergesen — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

This morning we got up later than usual to go to a "coach" (bus) tour. We had a special tour guide that was really enthusiastic. We were dropped off at the Tower of London around lunchtime. We were then free to choose what we wanted to eat. After we had all finished eating, we entered the Castle, which was constructed by the French to ensure their foothold on Great Britain, though it has failed to do so. Inside the tower there are many museums, ranging from the famous Crown Jewels to the half-under- reconstruction armor and weapon museum. There is also the famous "Beefeaters" (I know, great name, no idea where it came from), which are the non-commission officers, which act as tour-guides. Close to the middle of the area is a lovely green field which you can walk on, yea! However, you cannot play with any type of ball there, aw man! Also near the center of the Tower of London is a cage full of ravens. A legend goes the ravens leave the area, the tower will crumble, the Empire will fall, and the monarchy will be abolished. So... Yeah, that would be a good reason to have a cage full of ravens, i mean, we wouldn't want that to happen! :) Once we finished touring the Tower of London, the group split and one of the groups went to the British Museum and the other went to a shopping center. The group that went to the British Museum had only to be there for 5 minutes before the museum closed. At least we got to see the Rosetta stone first! We then proceeded to a shop which closed 2 minutes after we went in. Finally we went to the shopping center and sat outside the Apple Store so Eric could get wifi on his tablet to send pictures. We then went to dinner and ate Steak and Ale Pie, which is really good! On our return to the hotel, we ran into a problem with our hotel cards as they did not work, but we talked to the front desk and they were working in no time, so no worries! Congratulations! You made it to the end of my blog!

Will's entry

Will Eskew — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Early this morning, we took the Chunnel from Paris to London. We checked into our hotel at around 11 a.m., then we had lunch. Most of us ate fish and chips. Just after 1:30 we went to the Imperial War Museum and stayed until 4:45. They had an exhibit on the holocaust, an exhibit about World War I and World War II, and had real vehicles and rockets. We went straight from the museum to the London Eye. The ride took about 30 minutes. After that, we ate fish and chips for dinner. We rode the tube back to Earl's Cross and went into our rooms.

Josh's entry

Josh Hill — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Today we visited Disneyland Paris. We rode rides from Space Mountain to Indiana Jones Adventure. We stayed till 10:00 o'clock at night to watch the fireworks and parade. Overall it was a very eventful day. Tonight we will stay up late to pack our bags for London, but that's the next bloggers day.

Elija's post

Elija Noley — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Today we went to the Normandy American cemetery and went to Omaha beach ( on the coast line) it was both happy and moving to see the thousands of graves of our american troop who died to Shape our society today. We also went to a fab restrant after we took a look at the English channel and most of the scout slept the whole time on the three hour trip there and back and so did the adults for that matter also. It was what Elijah Noley calls a good day over and out

Normandy

Brent Wheelbrger — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

I'm not sure how much the boys really know about WWII and the events that transpired, but I'm certain they were in awe at the sheer number of white crosses at the American Cemetery just above Omaha beach. After we had walked through the memorial, Will Eskew conducted a chapel service with the help of Dave and several other scouts. Afterwards we walked through and out of the cemetery in a straight line, in full uniform. Bystanders stopped and watched as we proceeded by, talking amongst themselves as to what the occasion might be. I can't help but contrast this with our boisterous "yea's" while on bikes the day before in the streets of Paris...very different expressions of who we are as scouts. Cheerful and reverent both come to mind. In these and other small ways, we have made our mark on this wonderful country of France...and I know it has made it's mark on us. Look for a scout posting first thing tomorrow morning. Brent

SEE MORE PICTURES HERE....

Quinton Impson's post

Quinton Impson — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Today felt like it would never end! From biking around paris to walking around the Eiffel tower, our day was non-stop. After breakfast we jump on the metro to DOMINATE the streets of Paris with our palms of power. Then we went to the lourve, where we saw the Mona Lisa "smile" and I got to explore napoleons apartment. After, we hiked over to notre dame where I witnessed a church service. After dinner at a local greek restaurant we made a trek over to the eiffel tower at night! Where I had a whole panoramic view of Paris. By then we marched over like zombie to the metro, where most of almost fell asleep. All in all it fun, even though the weather was a bit cold and rainy, but hey were boy scouts!

Fat tire bikes

Brent Wheelbarger — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

We just completed everyone's favorite part of the trip so far, our Fat Tire bike tour of Paris. Our tour guide, who was a scout from Troop 98 in Portugal, was very cool. Once he discovered our "yea" after Troop 15, he abused it regularly. It was particularly interesting yelling yea as we rode under the arc de carousel in front of the Louvre and all the tourists looked in bewilderment. When our scouts share with their friends what they did this summer, they can tell about riding their bike...through Paris. Pretty cool. More later. Brent

Day one smooth

Gerilynn — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Bon Jour! Today was a wonderfully exciting day so full of activity I can’t begin to describe. It is very late here, & I’ve put out the last of the little “fires” and ironed out the electronic bugs. I need sleep. I wanted to quickly let you all know that the flights and arrival couldn’t have gone smoother. Everyone arrived with all their stuff and in one piece. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and set off. Nicoli, our guide, is AMAZING, and helped us break up into 3 groups to do our “free time” activities. Some visited the Arch de Triumph, some went to the catacombs and the rest went to…….okay, I’m wiped out and can’t remember or begin to spell the name. We met back up and went to dinner, cruised the river Seine and took a bus tour of Paris at dusk with a stop at the Eiffel Tower. The boys are great and were very well behaved today. We have been treated with kindness and welcome everywhere we went and everyone had a blast for our first day. I believe Hatcher blogged to the troop web site tonight and I am sending photos to Lynn next. We’ll get more detailed with these updates as we get acclimated but I just wanted to reassure all parents and family at home that we are here and fully enjoying ourselves. More to come… Gerilyn

July 19th entry: Hatcher

Hatcher Matheny — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

I will tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, my truth. There are good things about Paris, which are pro, and bad things about Paris,which are con. 1st is the weather of Paris. In OKC it's hot and dry and everybody hated it there. However, in Paris it is nice and cool about 65 F which is a huge pro. But it rained all day long, so thet means the we were nice, cool and soaked. 2nd, are the people in France. The weird thing is that no one smiles in France. So it seems that they are hateful people. No,wrong, our guide said to us that you smile a little when you meet someone but not a lot because of some France thing a bobber I didn't hear. But if you say a few French words( like hello in French) they are nice and very kind to anybody. So all and all no one has lost anything(yet), no fights, no hurt feeling and everyone is as happy as they can be. -Hatcher Matheny

MORE PHOTOS HERE...

Atlanta report

Brent Wheelbarger — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Just a quick update. We're preparing to board our plane in Atlanta bound for Paris. Here in Atlanta, we ran into a huge group of scouts from Mexico on their way to the Jamboree. They'll be heading to Moscow first and then to Sweden. So we've already started meeting scouts from other countries and we haven't even left the United States yet. Maybe we'll see them again in Sweden. On a side note: Jaxon says he loves his mom, Elijah says he'll miss his mom and little brother, Quinton Impson says he appreciates the high five from dad, Will says no comment (then he said just kidding) everyone else is on the plane. We'll report again in Paris! Brent

Daily Jambo Updates

Brent Wheelbarger — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

On July 18th, Troop 15 will embark on an incredible journey to the World Scout Jamobree in Rinkaby, Sweden. Along the way, we'll be making stops in Paris, London, Brownsea Island, Denmark and the Jamboree itself in Sweden. Throughout this two week adventure, our scouts and leaders will post blog entries and pictures on this section of the Troop 15 website. Each scout in our group will have an opportunity to blog at some point in the trip.

Make sure to check it daily, or subscribe to the blog and it will come to you.