Yesterday I went to the Scouts "jour de passage" (passage day, the day where the scouts move into the next year/level). I'm going to start off by saying that Girl/Boy scouts here is very different than in the States. For one, it's really cool. If you tell someone that you are a scout (pronounced "scoot" here) you get a smile of admiration and a "that's great!". This is probably because the actual layout and activities are different. It's every Saturday for a few hours, it's ages 5-18 and the counselors or "chefs" are all about 20 years old. You plan events, hang out an play games, go on trips, etc. The "Les pis" are the scouts (mixed boys and girls) ages 16-18, and that was the group that I passed into yesterday.
The day started with me being picked up by my friend Alisson (from school and her family is really good friends with my host family) and we walked to the school (scouts is on the grounds of my school). We all met up and I saw quite a few kids that I know already, we got in a big circle and introduced ourselves. This also included one of the chefs walking around the circle with makeup remover looking at the girls eyes because makeup is not allowed in scouts! Then we played a tag like game, and formed groups to do a sort of scavenger hunt type game. Then we had lunch, and after lunch we had the passage ceremony.
I saw people setting up a long line of tarps and dropping pieces of soap on them, then pouring water on top and rubbing a broom over it to make it soapy and slippery. Everyone gathered around the tarp (including parents that were starting to come!) and they put two inner tubes with a long rope attached in the middle. They started with the little kids who simply walked across half the soapy to the inner tubes and got pulled down to the end met with lots of applause. For the kids who were a bit older (9/10) did the same thing but were met with some gentle water guns at the beginning. Then it was time for the passage into Pi. Everyone started taking off their sweat shirts and rain coats, shoes and socks (it was on and off rain all day, with a very fall like temperature). Then the chefs tied our hands behind our backs, and we all got into a line behind the tarp. They opened up a bag full of sprinkles, cream, grenadine syrup,and chocolate powder. We had to kneel at the front of the tarp two at a time and walk on our knees (while being sprinkled and poured on) to the inner tube where water was dumped on us before we were pulled by the rope down the soapy runway! We all fell at the end and then were not only wet and food covered, but also muddy! We were greeted with "Bienvenue aux Pis!!!" and lots of hugs. Shortly after it started to rain again, and I ran home dirty, soaking wet, barefoot, and smiling like crazy. I think I'm going to like scouts :)
The day started with me being picked up by my friend Alisson (from school and her family is really good friends with my host family) and we walked to the school (scouts is on the grounds of my school). We all met up and I saw quite a few kids that I know already, we got in a big circle and introduced ourselves. This also included one of the chefs walking around the circle with makeup remover looking at the girls eyes because makeup is not allowed in scouts! Then we played a tag like game, and formed groups to do a sort of scavenger hunt type game. Then we had lunch, and after lunch we had the passage ceremony.
I saw people setting up a long line of tarps and dropping pieces of soap on them, then pouring water on top and rubbing a broom over it to make it soapy and slippery. Everyone gathered around the tarp (including parents that were starting to come!) and they put two inner tubes with a long rope attached in the middle. They started with the little kids who simply walked across half the soapy to the inner tubes and got pulled down to the end met with lots of applause. For the kids who were a bit older (9/10) did the same thing but were met with some gentle water guns at the beginning. Then it was time for the passage into Pi. Everyone started taking off their sweat shirts and rain coats, shoes and socks (it was on and off rain all day, with a very fall like temperature). Then the chefs tied our hands behind our backs, and we all got into a line behind the tarp. They opened up a bag full of sprinkles, cream, grenadine syrup,and chocolate powder. We had to kneel at the front of the tarp two at a time and walk on our knees (while being sprinkled and poured on) to the inner tube where water was dumped on us before we were pulled by the rope down the soapy runway! We all fell at the end and then were not only wet and food covered, but also muddy! We were greeted with "Bienvenue aux Pis!!!" and lots of hugs. Shortly after it started to rain again, and I ran home dirty, soaking wet, barefoot, and smiling like crazy. I think I'm going to like scouts :)