There is something wonderful about arriving in a country where you have never been in your entire life, to be greeted in the universal language of Guiding, which spans 145 countries; and hopefully even more in the next triennium!
I spent the flight variously snoozing and reading the papers for the conference, of which there is a trees'-worth in my dropbox. Do have a look (not in my dropbox - they are all on the WAGGGS website here. I recommend an 11-hour flight to read them though). Then you can see what we are going to be talking about over the next few days.
To those of you for whom Guiding means 'your unit', please pay special attention, as a unit is part of a unique and huge worldwide movement. I was surprised to be reminded earlier in one of the papers, that WAGGGS membership covers less than 1% of the young female population worldwide. But don't think of this negatively - just think of the possibilities for growth! All the more reason to outreach, to take a few more girls into your unit, to open a new unit; to do all those things to 'Grow Guiding' to attract more Leaders and more girls. Think flexibly, think realistically - make more opportunities for more members. Plant acorns and let them grow into great big trees.
Who's seen that film 'The Terminal'? We are in a slightly similar situation, in that we are going to be living in an airport; we have not become stateless persons, as far as we know, (see the film if that didn't make sense), but we literally walked off the plane, along a corridor or twelve, via passport control (noting an abundant lack of a passport stamp), through the airport, and into the hotel lobby. Caffeined-up, we adjourned to the gym for a quick work-out (well, just a shower really), then bundled into a train and hit the city!
In 31 degree heat, we wandered around, variously soaking up the atmosphere and photographing the Brownie Boot in obscure places, as one does; we walked through Kowloon - not Rangoon as I wrongly termed it at one point - that's in Myanmar (formerly Burma); and onto a boat to Hong Kong Island.
We headed to somewhere our trusty International Commissioner has eaten before; a bustling dim-sum restaurant where small women with large trolleys of food accost you, depositing intriguing things on your plate. Initially, it was a bit like a frenzied trip to Sainsbury's, but with the food coming to you rather than you going to the food, but we quickly adapted and started to cherish the arrival of the next trolley, ambitiously trying to work out what the dish was, before we realised that there was a label on the front of each trolley.
Each time we said yes to a dish, the driver of the trolley would stamp a perfect circular stamp onto a card thoughtfully placed on our table. It felt like some sort of surreal game of bingo. I was intent on getting a line and shouting 'bingo'; sadly we failed. Maybe next time.
We trained back to the hotel for some much-needed downtime, which was spent variously snoozing, unpacking and swimming, reassuringly not all at the same time.
Four soon became five as Deputy Chief Guide Angela arrived from her Chinese adventure on the mainland. We headed out for dinner, enjoying delicious traditional fare and a teapot or three of Chinese tea.
Finally, five became six as Catherine appeared after her Chinese adventure on the mainland, therefore the UK delegation is now complete! We've received our resplendent pink goodie bags, ID tags, t-shirts, invites to the formal events and more. Now we've all headed off to bed for a good night's sleep before the conference kicks off tomorrow.
There are all sorts of interesting things on the timetable - 'deeper understanding' sessions; all the conference business, including electing World Board members and voting on key motions; there are networking groups; the Hong Kong Guides are running craft sessions in between times; there are friends to be made and connections to be formed; badges to swapped; conversations to be had; and a whole lot more.
I will sign out there, but do keep following and stay with us! Goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment