The International Exchange started in Bristol with lunch at Zero Degrees.The restaurant is just around the corner from the bus station so it was a convenient place to meet and gave us a bit of flexibility if someone turned up late. I'd pre-ordered the pizza, so it was ready when we arrived. We sat down to eat and I called everyone up one at a time to hand in their passports and EHIC cards for safe keeping. Good job we did decide to meet in advance, because Rhi and Will's mum had driven off with their passports! One quick phone call later and the passports were reunited with their owners! I also used the opportunity to hand out the video cameras for the young people to keep their own video diary (more of that later). The bus journey was long but uneventful, and our strategy of sending one leader first and one leader last ensured that everyone made it safely to the airport. Aside from having some Marmite confiscated at security, we made it through to departures unscathed. The plane was delayed for an hour so we had a bit of time to kill at departures...
We touched down in Munich at 10:30pm, and were relieved to find Christina and our drivers waiting. We piled into the back of four people carriers and began the journey to Pleinfeld. We eventually arrived at the ResQ cup campsite at 2am to find that DLRG Kaufbeuren had already pitched our tent for us (thanks guys) and even set up beds for us - luxury! Everyone was very excited so it took a while to get to sleep...
We got up at 7:30am the next morning to find a beautiful sunny morning waiting for us. After a quick breakfast I went to the captains briefing - luckily I had my own personal translation from Christina. Our first event, the rescue-ball throw started at 9am. Sarah and Cat both showed a natural aptitude for the event with some very impressive throws.
Team Pimms O'Clock came from behind in the run-swim-run event to secure a comfortable win over The Water-Rats. The Wombles tried hard in the Rescue Tube Rescue but eventually finished last in their heat against older & more experienced competition. At the lunch-time prize-giving we won a prize for the team which travelled the furthest (over 600 miles) to compete at the ResQ cup!
The first event after lunch was the inflatable boat race. Four team members scramble to launch an inflatable boat, jump aboard and paddle it around the buoy and back. Keen to get in on the action, Bex, Hannah and Blondie co-opted Elliot and entered a team in a spare lane just for fun. I'm told that we posted the fastest time of the competition, but since we weren't an official team we weren't eligible for a prize... We had a couple of hours before the combined rescue, so Robby Harsch arranged a high-speed power boat ride for the UK participants. The skill of the drivers was evident as we blasted around the lake!
Once the competition was finished for the day we got to know Kaufbeuren by playing some team building games and tackling the Aqua Jogging together. Dinner was at 6 followed by the prize-giving where the team from Kaufbeuren cleared up - getting a podium position in nearly every event! We finished the evening with a party - ResQ cup style: there was music, dancing, limbo and relaxing with our new friends.
The following morning we packed down the tents then went to the beach flags arena for the last event of the competition. Congratulations to Blondie and Alfie who beat off 34 competitors to make it through to the last 12 of the beach flags competition!
With the competition over we all piled into the people carriers for the 2 hour drive South to Kaufbeuren. We split up to meet our host families and find out where we'd be staying for the next few days. I know that a lot of UK participants were very nervous about staying with host families, but we needn;t have worried - everyone was made to feel really welcome. After dinner with our hosts we all met up to go bowling together, and finished the evening watching fireworks over the town.
The next morning provided a welcome break for the youth leaders - we headed into town for breakfast whilst the young people headed off to school with their hosts. I think everyone was surprised by how different school life is in Germany. The young people remarked that the early starts, morning prayers, shorter days and lessons in silence were very different to the UK schools! It wasn't all relaxation for the youth leaders, we went shopping for picnic and BBQ food for later. After lunch we all met up at the open-air swimming pool for some lifesaving training. The DLRG showed us some speed lifesaving events and we showed them how to do a competition rope-throw and a water-based incident.
After the training session we headed into Kaufbeuren to go to the Tänzelfest - a kind of week-long town fair. Although they'd held the carnival procession earlier in the week, there was still plenty to see at the fair ground. All the Germans wore their traditional clothes, we ate a superb dinner and then hit the fair-ground rides...
The following morning our German friends had to go to school, so we headed down to the town hall to meet the deputy mayor and learn about the history of Kaufbeuren. We learnt how a fraudulent clerk tried to burn the town hall down to cover his tracks, had a tour of the registry office and heard all about German wedding traditions (including the custom of kidnapping the bride at the reception and demanding a ransom of beer)! After the town hall we had a guided tour of the town, including the city walls and the nunnery (which is not usually open to tourists, but our tour guide used to go to the convent school so we got special permission).
Our German hosts joined us for a picnic lunch in the park, then we loaded into the people carriers to visit Neuschwanstein castle. We walked through the grounds, and up to an amazing bridge suspended 200m above the gorge - beautiful views! On the way down we stopped to paddle in the river.
We spent our final night celebrating with our new found friends at a huge BBQ at the DLRG HQ. Everyone was invited - including the host families. We made a few presentations, played some games and enjoyed a delicious bring-and-share supper. I can't think of a better way to finish the exchange.
Bleary-eyed we got up at 5am the next morning to say our final goodbyes to our hosts and head off to the airport for the long journey home...
Thank you Christina, Christophe and everyone at DLRG Kaufbeuren! We look forward to welcoming you to the UK next year!
Blondie
http://www.lifesavers.org.uk/cms/script/news_upload/policies_2edb.RLSS%20UK%20Safeguarding%20&%20Protecting%20Children%20and%20Vulnerable%20Adults%20Policy.pdf
8 Oct 2011 - Blog Entry 48
