Girl Scout Training Where? In Heidelberg!! - Part 1

Remind me of this when I get home:

I promise never again to complain about
crossing the Potomac River for training
Or even going to Leesburg,
Prince Georges County or Stafford.

Why, you ask, is Mary Ann making this promise when she may not be home for 2 to 6 years? Because crossing the Potomac or driving out to Camp Potomac Woods is nothing compared to a 6 to 7 hour drive to Heidelberg, Germany for training. Oh, looking for another place? Try Italy, the United Kingdom, or other cities in Germany. Opportunities for camping training are even fewer and for that you can even go to Spain. Be trained by the USA Girl Scouts Overseas - North Atlantic (USAGSO-NA) and see Western Europe! Fortunately, Basic Leadership and program level training is available online.

In Part I, I write on what I've learned about USAGSO-NA relating it to GSCNC. Each overseas area may have a different structure - I can just describe what I am experiencing. In Part 2, I will relate our weekend training in Heidelberg.

First, the structure. Each Overseas Committee (OC), operates as a combo service unit/association. Sometimes it's referred to as a neighborhood. So, here in The Hague, when all the GS troops at ASH get together, it's called a neighborhood event.

The OC has a leadership team like a SU. The OC Chair (OCC) is similar to an SUM with a little bit of Association chair thrown in. The OC Management Team (OCMT) includes a secretary, treasurer, cookie manager, and registrar. This year, those on the OCMT are not also leading a troop because of the amount of work involved. The neighborhood functions like an Association in that there is a meeting in the Fall where the budget and other matters are approved by all registered GS 14 years and older.

Cookies - The OCC places the order in mid-October for January delivery. Order in full pallets. Pick them up at your nearest base which for The Hague this year is going to be Rotterdam. The supplier is Little Brownie Bakers so we'll get to taste the new Lemon Chalet Cremes and Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip cookies same as GSCNC. Not surprising, the customer base is Americans looking for a taste of home. The 2008 theme is "STEP It Up" (Success Through Energetic Participation).

Registration - For your daughter, not only do you pay your GSUSA registration ($10) but also Fair Share ($60) which looks to be equivalent to GSCNC-SHARE. Adults are just the registration fee. Same issues of finding parent volunteers to lead a troop. There are just as many activities to compete for time here as in the States, especially sports. The leaders are 95% moms and some of them are the working spouse which means evening meetings instead of after school. While all troops have turnover, turnover is an annual occurrence in the overseas program. Any year the OC could lose all its leaders and have to rebuild from scratch. There goes institutional memory and experience. New parents may not come with an experience of GS. In small neighborhoods like The Hague, there may not be Cadette or senior troops due to the smaller pool of candidates and so much pulling at the teens' time. The Hague neighborhood has had Daisy through Junior levels. This is the first year that they have a 6th grade Cadette troop because of a large number of girls wanting to continue and parents who have stepped up to advise and to serve as a troop committee. Girls 6th grade and older who have no troop available or who don't have the time to be in a a troop register as "Troop 2000" and not as Juliettes.

Magazine Drive and Calendars - yes, we have them too.

Safetywise - can't do without it.

USAGSO-NA, with GS personnel, is headquartered in Germany. The Field Director equivalent is called the Director of Membership and Marketing (DMM). Yes, there are membership goals and OCs are expected to come up with a plan to maintain and increase membership.

Training - Basic Leadership Training (BLT) takes place after the OCC Orientation. For those of you with long memories, BLT compares to 001 and the OCC Orientation has a lot of Nuts & Bolts in it. Currently, GSCNC has combined all into 101. Program level training can be taken in a class or by studying online program guides followed by a test. The mentoring of new troop leaders by experienced leaders can be hard depending on the neighborhood.

Girl Scout Store - Yes, there is a great, well organized GS store near Heidelberg, Germany. I had a chance to visit it. Orders can be placed easily online. Payment is by credit card - US dollars. At the store, you can also use cash (US dollars) and carry. GS gift items and scrap booking supplies are available.

Patches and pins - It's fun to earn patches overseas as much as at home. Because JA and ER are now overseas GS, they can wear a GS Overseas Pin. The GSCNC segment of the Council insignia will be replaced with one for USAGSO-NA. Visit another OC and get a patch. JA came home with a Heidelberg Patch. There are patches for exploring different European cities.

I can't think of any other categories to compare and contrast. I'll add later as I learn more.

Missing Home: Fall Festival & Red Mass

We're missing home this week because of two events that have been part of our lives for 11 years.

First is the St. Philip's Fall Festival. St. Philip's is our parish in Falls Church, VA. The last Saturday of September they hold their biggest fundraising event of the year. It takes a whole year to plan and a committee of very dedicated folk. Some people use their vacation time to take off the entire week leading up to it.

Over the summer items are donated and sorted for all the sales rooms: clothing (men, women and children), toys, books, furniture and electronic media as well as the ever popular White Elephant room. Jams and preserves are processed. Fudge is made. Crafts are put together over the year and sold. The Silent Auction basket maven gleams prized items during the sorting party to put together themed baskets. You never know what she will come up with. Many of the items that we parted with while cleaning out our house went to the Fall Festival including 20 boxes of girls' clothing, infant to size 10. Probably alone enough to stock the children's clothing room. (The boxes were stored in the attic and forgotten. Always intended to go through them. Did keep a few pretty and cute items for any possible future granddaughters.)

For 2006, Terry maintained the volunteer database as well as helping to construct and take down the tents/tables/chairs or shelving in the different rooms. Mary Ann helped out in the toy room and floated around. Baba (Mary Ann's mom and the girls grandmother) made stuffed cabbage for the Polish dinner. Baba also always had needlework projects to contribute whether they be knitted hats or a felt and sequined Christmas stocking. We made many batches of fudge. JA helped out where she was needed to set up and organize. ER and her best friend painted a welcome sign. Fall Festival 2007 was the weekend that we announced to our parish friends that we were going to be moving to The Hague. Some of our best memories of the parish come from working with our fellow parishioners on this labor of love.

In 2007, the festival falls on Terry's birthday. He'll especially miss working with the men.

The second event falls on Sunday, September 30, the annual Red Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral before the first Monday in October when the new Supreme Court session begins. The John Carroll Society sponsors it. Mary Ann was the Society's Executive Director for 11 years and worked on 11 Red Masses. Each had its own character, challenges, joys and sorrows. The one that will be remembered best will be 2005 when President Bush and Mrs. Bush attended. Mary Ann didn't make it to the Mass but Terry and the girls did. They had a great view of the dignitaries in the front.

Mary Ann misses the people she worked with this last week She practically living in Vienna at the house of the volunteer who received the brunch reservations, drinking Starbucks coffee and using their best powers of prognostication to guesstimate the guarantee number to give to the hotel. Over the years, the brunch chair and Mary Ann learned to read each other's minds to know what had to be done, what the problem was and how to solve it. The Red Mass and the brunch that follows is an event of love and fellowship forged under fire.

So dear friends, we are thinking of you, praying for you, wishing we were with you. Remember the stories and email them to us. Or keep them and share them over coffee when we see you in December.

The Expat Pilgrimage to Ikea

This past Saturday, Terry and I finally made the pilgrimage to Ikea (pronounced "short i - kay-a") in Delft that all expats eventually make (note: expat from expatria, out of one's own country.)

We took the bus then the tram then another bus. Ikea is so popular that buses arrive every 15 minutes from Delft Centraal station. And the buses are full with people coming and with purchases going. To get to Ikea, the bus has to first navigate through the narrow streets of this old Dutch town, some streets barely wide enough to accomodate the vehicle. Often the driver stopped abruptly as a bike crossed his path. On Saturday there usually is a street market and this Saturday carnival rides were added which made the streets even more crowded. Finally, we arrived at journey's end. The blue Ikea building with flags flying sits slightly higher then the surrounding area so we walked up to the mount.

I have not been to Ikea in Potomac Mills in years so do not know how Delft compares. We entered the building, picked up our pamphlet to write down what we wanted and how to find it and entered the showroom. Actually multiple showrooms, formal and informal, beautifully decorated. Ikea is expat friendly - all the signs and tags are bilingual, Dutch and English. You have your choice of using a catalog in Dutch or in English. Measurements are metric. Interestingly, the diagonals of computer screens and TVs are done in inches. The children's babysitting area was busy.

Our purpose in shopping was to find computer desks for the girls, desk lamps, a craft table, bookcase, storage drawers, and a few other odds and ends. We discussed our selections over Swedish meatballs and salmon, nutritional provisions needed to manuever through the merchandise sections.

The showrooms were on the ground floor. To collect our items, we took the escalator. We shopped in the Home Furnishings section then moved onto the self serve furniture. We strayed off of our list by picking up a wok pan. Self serve furniture was well organized; we found everything in a matter of minutes. Check out was efficient. We decided not to go through the food shopping area or we may never have gotten home. Will have to make a return trip at some future times to bring Swedish meatballs home. The desserts looked pretty good too.

Knowing that not everyone has cars and those with cars have small ones, Ikea offers a transport service. For 35 euros your purchase can be delivered to your home. We pushed our cart over to the counter and signed up for 12 boxes to be delivered to our home. This was about 4:30 pm. We were told the delivery would come before 11 pm. That was great since I've heard some deliveries occur as people arrive home.

We headed home on the bus, through the narrow streets of Delft - with promises to return again to sightsee instead of to shop, especially to see the home of Vermeer - back on the tram, another bus and home again. The boxes arrived at 10 pm. Terry has put together the computer desks and a few small items. He is developing Ikea wrist. The girls have a more organized space to work in. Zoey cat has a better view of the printer - she finds the paper being sucked into the printer and spit out again fascinating.

Oh yes, anyone who is considering a move overseas: check ahead to make sure that the ink cartridges you need are available in the country you are moving too or that you have a buddy with an APO address before shipping your printer/scanner. We found out that we cannot buy the cartridges off the shelf to our printer/scanner. We are carefully considering our options and the possibility of purchasing a new one.

Happy 16th Birthday!

Today is Julia-Anne's 16th birthday. She's our first born. It's been a hard year for her with the move, her Baba's death (Baba came to live with us 2 weeks before JA was born), missing her friends, having to change dreams and wishes. She's coming through it all with grace and patience - and a whole lot of words.

We picked up the cake at the Patisserie down the street from us. It was a delicious sponge cake with filling and fondant icing. We sang "Happy Birthday" and "Sto Lat" (a Polish song sung for birthdays and anniversaries wishing the recipient 100 more.) She opened gifts from our downstairs neighbors, a card from Grandpa & Grandpa Smith, and a lovely scarf from Mom and Dad.

Birthdays are big in the Netherlands so she was wished "Happy Birthday" many times around the school including the band playing the song for her as a surprise and an announcement being made by the bus monitor on the after school run. She should have taken cake to share with her friends but that's hard to do on a bus.

So we wish her another wonderful year growing in God's grace and growing closer to Him. Hard to believe that soon she will be heading off to college. The years go by so fast especially for high school. So Happy Birthday, dear daughter! May you have many more.

Mary Ann's First Solo Bike Ride

I did it! Today I biked up to Wassenaar to a high school parents coffee. It was the first time that I ventured that far by myself. The route was a combination of bike path sharing the road with cars and designated bike path. I even biked up and down an overpass that went over a busy road. Terry had taken me over this route to show me how it went and at that time I walked the bike up and down. The trip was about 8 km one way (5 miles). Took me a half hour. Next time, I'll remember to bring a water bottle along. Next week - I bike all the way to ASH!

In two months I came from falling off a bike, panicking that I was going to glide into one of the canals along the bike path in the park, stopping at the side of the road to let a car pass me by instead of sharing the road with a car, to making the trip to Wassenaar without any concerns or panic. 23 years have passed since I learned to ride a bike - yes, I learned to ride at 30 - and I only biked a little that summer, nothing like I am doing here in Holland. It did help having a more comfortable bike seat installed. I was concerned that my left arthritic knee would give me problems. In fact, the knee has gotten better with the exercise and biking is easier on it then walking.

So, got my bike chain, my rain gear and my bike all ready to go either shopping or visiting. Don't think I'll tackle heading to downtown Den Haag yet, though. I'm a suburb girl at heart.

Another School Year Is In Session

Elisabeth (ER) and Julia-Anne (JA) are waiting outside out apartment on 15 August, the first day of school, for the bus to pick them up. It was raining. Appropriate way for the weather to comment on how the girls felt about giving up the freedom of their summer especially going to bed early and not staying up late to IM their friends. Terry is in the background.

Actually, our school year began on 6 August at ER's appointment with the Middle School (grades 5-8) counselor to go over her schedule. It was the first time that she saw her new school. They are attending the American School of The Hague (ASH) which happens to be the same school that Terry graduated from after attending for 5 years. Back when Terry attended, the school was in three locations in the Scheveningen area of The Hague. 17 years ago it was moved out to a suburban municipality, Wassenaar.

The PTA and Counseling staff offers a fantastic transition program for staff, students and parents. Each girl was assigned a student ambassador who emailed them at the end of last school year. We had a parent ambassador also. The week before school starts, the high school has a 3 part new family orientation. First, parents and students meet with the faculty and student ambassadors to be introduced to the school building, the school culture and to start planning the new school year schedule. Second, the students continue their bonding activities and learn about living in Holland. Third, they meet with their counselors to finalize their schedule.

The opening assembly focused on feelings about transition. The counselor took a survey by standing of how many students were in different years, how many languages were spoken, how many times they moved, how many international schools they went to. Then he asked the crucial question: "How many of you didn't want to come here?" Three students raised their hands. JA was one of them. He said that these were the honest kids. He then asked the student ambassadors how many of them didn't want to come last year (their first year) and just about every single one of them raised their hands. They next responded affirmatively when he asked if they were now glad to be here. To illustrate the point of the big change and what it means in life and how kids (and parents) have to reinvent themselves and their stories, he showed that beautiful scene from the movie "Cars" about how Radiator Springs changed when the highway bypassed Route 66. The assembly set the tone: the school understands the big change and is there to help the students go through it.

Parents and students were separated into their own activities - students to bond by grade levels (9&10, 11&12), parents to learn more about the school and what support systems are in place for them. Since only 40% of the students are American, the philosophy of the American school system was explained and compared in general terms to other country's systems. For instance, relationship between student and teacher is different, rote memorization is not prevalent, students are encouraged to take initiatives. Especially for trailing spouses who had to fill their days now that the working spouse was on the job and the children in school, the PTA had numerous activities to offer to fill our agendas (schedules). These included:

• Monday Morning Networking - every Monday trailing spouses meet for coffee, socializing and learning about living in the Netherlands. Topics include driving, shopping & cooking, sinterklaas, travel in Europe, and field trips.


• Adult Education Classes - language, crafts, art lectures, cooking, sewing, scrap booking and field trips. Mary Ann signed up for "Dutch as a Second Language" and a field trip to the Amsterdam Diamond Factory. Both Terry and Mary Ann are going to go on the field trip in December to "Gouda by Candlelight."


• Welcome coffees by school level (elementary, middle or high), new parents, and by grade. The Dutch are big coffee drinkers so coffees are the thing to do. (We hear that there is one Starbucks in Schiphol airport on the side for planes to Europe. Starbucks is looking for a partner to be established here. They're big in Germany.)


• PTA Volunteer Opportunities - Lots of chances to volunteer in the office and for the different activities. Sports parents help out the teams and host competing team members who come into town to play games. Mary Ann volunteered as a "Friend of the Arts" which will support the drama production and to help out with the costumes.


• Computer support - so many families come without computers which are in their household shipment or they have to wait for internet set up. The cafeteria is a wireless hot spot so we can bring our laptop for internet access. Computers are available in the library and in the Admissions Office to check email or to print something off. We had internet access because Terry set that up when he moved here in April. But we haven't had printers because first they didn't arrive and now we're looking for ink cartridges - JA has printed off several reports at school.


• Library - yes, the entire family has access to a fantastic English language library. Both girls have taken advantage of the high school side (each school has its own library; the middle and high school share a large room each school to its own side.) The librarians are fantastic about suggesting books to read.

The girls did take some placement tests, ER math and JA in English, Math and French. JA had all three tests in one day. Her first bus took too long and she missed her transfer so she got to school late and out of breath. She did French first and then English and Math. After English and Math, she met with the subject teacher and discussed her options. Because the honors classes are IB related and those students have been doing critical analysis already, she decided to take English 11 which would be similar to what she would have had at BI. She didn't finish the Math test because she was so late. The teacher put her in precalculus and encouraged her to review Algebra II since it has been two years since she had it.

ER went for her one afternoon of orientation the same day that she had her math test. Instead of coming come, we had lunch out and an ice cream. During the afternoon, the new middle schoolers and their student ambassadors played some games and then went to Langstraat which is the main shopping district in Wassenaar and she had another ice cream cone. We had joked about that happening.

On Friday JA met with her counselor for her schedule. Mr. Loy is really great. We went through the classes that she was bringing in from Bishop Ireton and he was able to make everything fit into some kind of category. Only iffy requirements left are a semester of PE and a semester of computers.

The school has neat software that he can register the students in the class as he talks with them. With a high school of about 375 students, there are only one section of most classes so she had to often make decisions on what she would take. Easy to fit in were AP French (yes, she made it which is exciting because she has the same French teacher that Terry had when he attended), Precalculus, English 11, Band/Choir combo, IB Music. Then came the hard part because some of these classes conflicted with ones she wanted to take like theatre and chemistry. Given the choices already made, the only science available was Honors Physics. American History was available. That brought her done to one open block and the counselor looked to see what was available. Neither PE nor computer course fit into that block. However, Stage Production was available with one opening and she took it. That way she felt connected to theatre. She was happy with her schedule

Although this is an American high school, ASH offers a complete IB diploma program. Almost all of the International students are in that program because they will be going to university in their country. JA is doing what many of the students do - take a mixture of classes. Students in the IB program track to make sure they have both requirements for the IB diploma as well as for the ASH diploma. One consequence of the IB is the intense language classes that are offered. Language starts in the middle school. ER is taking 1st year high school Dutch and will complete it by the end of the year. (Since she was living in The Netherlands, she decided she would rather learn Dutch instead of continuing with Spanish.)

ER is taking core courses of Social Studies (American History), Physical Science, Language Arts, Algebra, PE/Health, Band/Choir, Dutch and an Arts rotation. For her Arts rotation, she will have one of these courses each quarter: Drama, Computers, Art, Home Economics. PE and Band alternate so she only has one extra bag (trumpet or PE clothes) a day. The Middle School is divided into Color houses (blue, yellow, red). Each house has students from each grade. There is competition between the houses as well as doing projects together. ER is in Blue House. She's been tapped to do some of the drawing for various posters.

ASH operates under a block schedule. The school day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The 8 classes are divided into two days, 4 blocks each day. The days alternate. The blocks vary from 75 to 90 minutes. Within each day, the blocks alternate so that they aren't having algebra the same time. An advisory, like a home room, is thrown in once a week and Wednesday is early dismissal at 2:45 p.m. The entire schedule repeats every two weeks. Both backpacks are lighter because of only having to deal with 4 classes a day.

The day starts with the bus picking them up in front of the door somewhere between 7:40 and 7:45 a.m. Forget Williams Bus Line and yellow school buses. They get a luxury tour bus that takes them up to school. With seat belts. There are bus monitors who are paid a small stipend each way. Monitors are suppose to make sure seat belts are worn and to keep order. We are as prompt as we can be to get out there because if the bus leaves without them, they would have to hoof it over to the public bus stop, ride the bus to the stop across from the school, and then rapidly walk to school from there. In this almost month's time, there was only one morning that the bus was waiting for them when they walked out the door. Many times we reach the curb and the bus is turning the corner to come down the street.

The girls take lunch and sometimes buy a meal in the cafeteria. They always buy a drink. Last year the school instituted a policy of having only healthy food selections for the students so out went the sodas, the frites (french fries), bagels and cookies. JA likes the selection of foods. ER mostly takes her lunch and scans the menu to see if there's something that she's interested in. This week lasagna is on the menu so they will be sure to have that.

They need to wear ID badges to get into the school. (And all parents have an ID badge to get into the school too.) They can use their badge to open their locker. They press it against a master panel at the beginning of the locker row. The door is unlocked and they have a certain amount of time to make it down to their door before it closes. Fortunately, neither girl has to go far.

Both girls love their teachers. The PE teacher is getting the class ready for their Project trip in May which will be to Switzerland. He's a mountain climber so ER jokes that he's getting them ready to climb mountains. Her stamina has really increased. In her drama class this quarter, the students are developing their own characters and writing their own play. They perform it for their parents at the end of the quarter. JA enjoys being able to take choir and band since they alternate in the same period. Both girls have started private lessons for their band instruments. ER had a rental trumpet until hers showed up in air freight. That was a great reunion! JA had brought hers along on the plane and doesn't like to have it out of her sight.

Many of the students in the Wassenaar neighborhood bike to school. In winter the weather will be cooler, rainier and of course the daylight shorter. At that point some of them will be driven to school and picked up by their parents. And the Dutch kids just keep biking through it all. The hardest part of us not having a car is getting home from the school after night activities. Only one bus an hour comes through and the wait can be long.

JA hasn't found an after school activity to do yet outside of music lessons. ER has joined an after school Role Playing Group club. It keeps her imagination going.

More about school will be said as the year goes on. Even with homework, we're all glad for some structure in our lives.