Izvidjači-Skauti

I´m living in Prague for four months now, and I had an opportunity to see some important differences between Serbian and Czech scouts. In my opinion, the biggest difference is the sheer number of members in scout association. There are approximately 45000 Czech scouts comparing to 4000 members in Serbia. The second also important difference is in scout program. For example, here, the program for cub scouts follows the story "Jungle book", while in Serbia, program doesn´t have any symbolic framework. Our program for all sections(cub´s, scouts and rovers)is more related to the orientation in the space and time, with elements of skills and agility, connected to some scout craftwork(nodes, raincoat, shelter and etc.). For the Czech couts(age 11-15), there are four handbooks, each per one year. There is an issue with some mythical creature, and issue without one. In this way, a scout is allowed to choose which version he/she wants to follow. Iwas amazed to learn this. In Serbia, no such handbooks exist.
And I must say, while Czech scout association has a big support from the city and companies, scouts in Serbia are not that fotunate. We have support only if there is some big and important event, for example a Jamboree and we lack any kind of support when organizing smaller events, like scout group events. To be honest, that is a matter of government laws and PR management, but we can still learn a thing or two from our Czech friends.
Anyway, regardless of the differences in program and organization, what remains the same is that we are all members of the same scouting family, we live by the same principles and we seek to accomplish the same goal, a better world!

Road Trip: Beroun, Planá, Mariánské Lázně

Prague full of ghosts

This event take a place around the second week of January. First competition was made in 1983. by tourists groups from Prague, but it was without participation of scouts (they were prohibited).
Since 2005. it start and finish in the Tyrš House near Kampa. It is open for scouts and for civil people as well. In scouts part it has tree categories: cubs and brownies, scouts and rovers. They have to solve many types of codes. For the older competitors are prepared more difficult codes. When they solve them, they will find names of streets where they can find ghosts. They have time limit to solve codes, and find as many ghosts as possible. The other part is for the civil people and for adults, and they don´t have a time limit. Civil part is open for all people and especially for families with children. Their codes are not so difficult as scouts ones.
Ghosts are from old Prague legends, there is a lot of them, and every year we have different ghosts.
After the race there is program for children and competition Miss Huhula (miss bogy-man), when competitors can vote the best ghost.
I was with cub scouts (66. Cub Unit), and it was very nice experience to run through the streets of Prague trying to find all the ghosts. But we have been so successful, we found all ghosts, we finished race on time, and we had fun. :)

Holiday mood... :)

Mikulášský víkend (St. Nicholas Weekend)

An annual national Rover event with a long tradition. The majority of participants are of the age 15-20. There are usually about 800 rovers coming to the whole weekend.
It consist of several parts:
Friday evening 
Polibek Múzy (Muse´s kiss)- An art competition organized durin the whole year in several different categories- painting, photography, poetry, literature, film etc. On the Friday night there are the winners announced as well as the most of the pieces of art are presented there.
Komponovaný večer (Mixed evening)-An cultural evening where several theatre, music, film performances are played, literature read etc.
Saturday 
 Mikulášský seminář (St. Nicholas seminar)-One day educational event. It consists of series of lectures and workshops offering all participants to explore many aspects of life. Lectures depends of the topic of the seminar.
On the Saturday evening there is Dancing evening bringing all the rovers together to one building for dancing, fun and enjoying the rover community.
The final part are Film projection and it takes place on Sunday. The Rovers can see there first, films connected with the topics of the Saturday´s seminar and secondly , the films that had been made by rovers and sent to the Políbek Múzy competition.
And I was there like a part of the International team, we had a stand with leaflets, magazines etc. It was great experience to see so many people in one place, and talk with them. How I heard everyone likes Dancing evening which is super :). But it´s a pity for me because I don´t know to dance. But I will learn, I promise!

The preparation of the Czech contigent for the World Scout Jamboree 2011. in Sweden

Rožmberk nad Vltavou / On-arrival training

 

One of the oldest castles in South Bohemia was built by the Family of Vítek, around the mid-13th century. The medieval disposition of the castle is consisted of the Lower and the Upper Castle. The castle was to become a worthy monument of the Buquoy family´s glory. The present-day sightseeing routh acquaints visitor with the oldest members of the Buquoy family. The last Rožemberks and the White Lady, who is belived to appear in this castle, are mentioned too.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Rosenberg)
And now, On-arrival training, yeah, very nice experience. We had trainig in this castle. Everyday we had a working section, and after that, break, with cookies and tea. The whole session was very productive, we talked about our projets, comunication, EVS, about program Youth in Action, about stereotypes, etc. And the other volunteers, who were from whole Europe ( Spain, France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, UK,...), are very nice young people, open minded, positive, creative,etc. We are all different, from various countries, different cultures, but still we are the same. We all came to Czech Republic, to learn something about czech culture, language, make new friends, to contribute organizations in which we are here in Czech Republic, to travel, etc.
It was a great experience, to meet this people, talk with them, laugh with them, yeah, very very nice. And I hope to see them again.