Summer is knocking!

It's sunny outside (or it was, a couple of days ago) and we can feel a little breeze, typical for the Alps.

KISC is preparing for Summer. The Campsite is getting ready, Summer mail out is almost done and all the activities are being finalised and tested.

After "closing" Winter, this is a big moment for the Centre because everyone is focused in making sure that everything is ready for our guests once Summer starts.

We already moved the InCamp Store to the place where the Ski Room was in Winter. It was hard work but lots of fun at the same time, of course!!

Catarina (PT) is currently taking in course on how to take photos with proper lighting...this photo was taken before that.

The Werkhof is also being organised for Summer, so the InCamp area is ready to go as well, just like all the tents, cooking sets and lots of other things that all the Scouts use during the busiest season in Kandersteg.

Doesn't look like much, but this little corner holds everything InCamp needs in Summer.

Because of this, our Programme Store is quite empty... and some Pinkies can't just believe how much it changed...

"Wow...only a few hours ago I could not stretch out my arms like this in here!"

By now, the Dutch Chainsawing Party is staying with us and there is lots of chainsawing going on at the Campsite and in our HP woods.

The new LTS for this Summer are already here too (with the exception of Laura (IE) who will be Catering Assistant) and we actually feel that whole the team is growing just as the number of guests will.

Summer is knocking on the Centre's door...we are getting ready for it!

Bring on the Campfires...

This is stock footage - not nearly as many people are staying with us at the moment!

... the Flag Breaks...

We will have so many guests in Summer, there won't be enough chairs. This new activity teaches Scouts how to sit down without this essential piece of furniture.

... the Barbeques...

Many years of Staff experience turned Jens (IE) into our Bratwurst Frying Assistant!

... and the sunny days!! :)

And what would Summer be without sun? Exactly, Autumn!

We are (almost) ready for you, Summer!!

Catarina Inverno (PT)
International Friendship Assistant

My favourite places at KISC!

I would like to give you my personal suggestion list for places to go at KISC. 

 

If you want to relax

When the sun is shining you should grab a blanket and find a spot on the grass in front of the Chalet. Between 12 and 2 o'clock we’re having our lunch break and if it’s warm enough, there is no better place to be than outside on a blanket with your friends. Some people read or talk, others sleep but the most important parts are the grass and the sun. I am very happy that Spring is finally here with a lot of sun for us.  

If you want beauty

It’s getting warmer every day and the snow is now melting fast. The many hikes around Kandersteg are opening and on a day off I have the opportunity to go hiking. The people in the Front Office are always good to talk to for suggestions, and they know which hikes are hard, easy, long, popular and good for you. However, all of them I believe are very beautiful. You get to see the Swiss nature from its best side!

If you want to sweat

At the campsite we have a sauna, and there is no better place to be after a hard day of work. It’s all dark and cosy in the small room. Sometimes people almost fall asleep while having a sauna and sometimes we all sing and play games. It’s always a very nice place to be with your friends and you’ll for sure feel amazing afterwards. 

If you want to do the funniest work

To help us at the campsite we have two vehicles. One of them is the old, red tractor Chloe, and she is the best tractor I’ve ever been driving. About two weeks ago we had a big storm which took down over 300 trees at the campsite, so in the last weeks there has been a lot of work for Chloe. I really enjoy driving her and those days in grounds driving Chloe are the best.

If you are very tired during work time

...Then the best place to be is in front of the big mangle down in the laundry. Put some good music on and step into your own small world for an afternoon. 

If you want a nice evening

Campfires at Uncle Sam's or in Frack House are one of my favourite evening activities. You just light the fire and people will automatically gather together around it, singing, telling stories or just looking into the fire. Everybody loves campfires!

If you want the time of your life

Well, you will need to be a staff to go there, but for me the staffroom must be one of my favourite places in the world. The staffroom is the place where I live, where I can find my best friends and where everything can happen!  

Sophy Langkilde (DK)Spring 2012 

Evening in Kandersteg

It’s dark outside, and you’re walking by yourself. The light has disappeared from the forest and the eyes have to be trusted to detect which of the shadows are roots and stones, and which ones that are created by your imagination.

Suddenly, water appears in front of you. Turn back? Balance on the tufts of grass? Jump?

Jump.

Get wet legs when water splashes up behind you.

You follow the river, but have to jump over some trees that have fallen down across your path. Babbling water runs past, quick quick, we’re finally free after a winter in the mountains!

Dogs show up from the shadows. Barking, sprinting towards you. A voice is heard from far away. The dogs don’t care. Turn back, no interest in becoming a night snack.

Sit down at a bridge, look at Bire who shows itself from its best side, darkness against dark blue sky.

Find new paths, walk further into the forest. Figure out which of the paths in the crossing that brings you back to the village. See the brightness increase. The path appears, and you realize where you are.

The road brings you back to the Centre. Home. Warmth is spreading once you’ve opened the door. The boots are placed beside their friends, and the bed says “welcome, sleep well”.

Another evening in Kandersteg has come to its end.

Jeanette Larsson (SE)
Reception Assistant

Spanish Invasion

This photo was retrieved after grabbing the camera off the hands of a photographer deeply buried under leaves.

This week is not a normal week, this is the week of the Spanish Work Party (SWP). That means that now we have lots of Spanish people around the Centre. They have come to help out in Grounds with various oddjobs. This time they had lots of work to do, much more than other weeks they had been around due to several fallen trees on the campsite. Together with their help and the one of the Dutch Work Party next week, the campsite will hopefully be nearing a state to welcome thousands of Scouts this Summer.

Normally, the SWP don't do big works, but smaller jobs and are really helpful in this way. Raking leaves, stacking wood, moving different things is much harder work than they could have imagined. While they are here, a lot of smaller tasks get done that would take longer if it was only for the Shorties and Sam (UK), Grounds Assistant to do them.

In this photo: the Winners of the Match in pink.

But for the SWP their time here is not all about work, it's also a lot about playing and socializing with the Staff team. Like every year we played the traditional football match Pinkies vs. SWP - the real «clásico», not unlike the one of Real Madrid against Barcelona. Still, the result is not really important, the important thing is the laughs we have during the match.

Shout it all out!

There's even some time for a little party with them, the Spanish Work Party Party. Great food, almost as good as Vanya’s (BG), but good enough to know something about Spanish gastronomy, chorizo and morcilla! Good music and traditional songs from the different regions of Spain, that we tried to dance to. Did you know that flamenco is not danced all over Spain?

If you want to know more about their experience at KISC, you should visit their own blog (in Spanish) which is regularly kept up-to-date during both Work Parties in Spring and Autumn: www.swpkisc.blogspot.com.

Álvaro Sanmartí (ES)

Multimedia & Design Assistant

The Pinkies are reaching higher!

Climbing - a rather unusual thing for the Homo Elinensis

Before I came to KISC I didn't do much climbing, in fact - I live in a very modern society where we have elevators, escalators, etc. But I must admit, it is rather fun being cut from all this and getting forced to use other muscles you I didn't even know existed.

I still haven't done any proper climbing (you know, with ropes on a cliff or anything like that), but right now climbing is a part of my everyday life. The wonderful reason for this is: Stair waxing! This cuts of the Staff accommodation from the rest of the world in an very exciting way as we are no longer allowed to use the stairs. So how do we get to the second floor each day? We use the fire escapes of course! As unnatural as it may sound, it can turn into a very fun event. Especially when you have some rubbish bags or a bag of laundry that still needs to be taken care of. I must admit, using the word "timber" while you see your luggage bouncing on the roof is rather amusing....

Onwards horse, to infinity and beyond!

But not only do we now climb the fire escape ladder like pros, exploring ways and places to climb can easily make a day in Thun, at work or on a hike more fun for that matter! "Climbing" on a slack line for example is not to be underestimated - it's definitely more tricky than it seems.

"Don't stomp onto the camera now, Irene!"

One thing that is very true about being a Pinkie at KISC, life never turns dull if you have the motivation and willpower to see the good parts in every day. For me this past week has taught me much about that, but I have also grown much better in remembering things. Because even if I smile while climbing the stairs, I would much rather spend my whole lunch break on a blanket in the sun. With that as motivation, I seem to remember much more now!

Natalia is walking on the snow, pretending it's Winter in the middle of April!

"I am the king of the world...wait a sec...this isn't the Titanic, is it?"

As we now fast approach the end of the waxing period you may not be as lucky to see us climbing on the outside of the building, but do no despair - rumour has it that this event is annual! If you have been lucky enough to have seen us doing our fire escape manoeuvre but thought it looked a little weird, you have now got the explanation for it.

Elin Hansson (SE)

Spring 2012

Swap Days - Woohoo!

"Swap Day" - what does that mean?


In fact, things at KISC can have a meaning that is completely different from the rest of the world. For example: "Cat". At KISC, this means either "Olave" or "Ginger", but mainly it means "the animal that runs the Centre and wants to take over the world". As I said, completely different from outside of KISC.


A "Swap Day" might be an exception for this rule. At KISC it means that someone, from a specific department, swaps for a day to another department. It makes sense, right? It's not something that "the rest of the world" would not understand, I believe.


Because of that, I thought this could be something that our amazing blog followers would like to know a bit more about. If you work in our House department, you probably would like to have a Swap in Catering, Grounds or Programme, for example. If you work as PR & Marketing Assistant, I believe you would like to have a Swap in Programme, House, Catering, Grounds or Maintenance. And so on... I work in Programme, and I decided to have a Swap Day in my 2nd favourite place at KISC: Catering! Oh Yeah! (Just to clarify, my favourite place at KISC is Programme.)


Catering is lots of fun, and cooking is just a small part of all the things you can do during a day in this Department.
In Spring we start at 7:00 am, preparing breakfast and packed lunches for our guests and Staff. After they have finished eating, we move into cleaning breakfast and cooking lunch. And then we enjoy an amazing break until it's time to start cooking Dinner. After all our guests and Staff are satisfied, it's time to "close" the Kitchen and have a party! Oh yes, we have a party in the kitchen every single day in the end of the day. We call it: "cleaning". Can you imagine how cool is it to finish the day cleaning? I know you can't, and because of that, I thought it would be nice to share some pictures with you :)


Jack (UK) works in Reception and he has to help in catering too as he's on duty!! (Another of these words that no one outside of KISC really understands...) See how amazing this looks?? On of the rules of duty is to help out after lunch and dinner in catering...and still it's fun! We are really cool, aren't we? Hihi!

Jack (UK) looks a bit crazy cleaning the frying pan...he was having a great time!

Vanya (BG) is one of our Catering Long Term Staff and she is always happy and smiling! It's awesome to ask her to do something different these days!! In this picture, you can basically see that she "forced" Natalia (CH) to go party with her in our Recycling Centre. Crazy girls!!

Vanya (BG) and Natalia (CH) carry all the recycling we "produced" in one day and sort it out in our amazing recycling centre.

Because Catering is so cool, Álvaro (ES) - Multimedia & Design Assistant - likes to give a hand to our Catering Party after dinner. You can also see Santos (ES) in the background. I think he was enjoying our Spanish music so much that he couldn't even pay attention to the big party that was going on.

Alvaro (ES) and Santos (ES) formed the dishwashing crew this day...and we didn't even have to force them to smile for this photo!

Then, we also have some people that just come to disturb while we are so focused to our cleaning party. For example, Johan (SE) and Sophy (DK) decided that they wanted some fruits and just came to the kitchen to sneak into our party...

They look a bit scary I would say...or maybe that's just the long knife!

Will (UK) decided to follow them, but he actually looks he's not enjoying the kitchen as much as the others. He was probably forced to help cutting fruits...

Will looking confused...after on, in the UK they cook on the left side of the road!

Arielle (CA), Jack (UK) and I were having a good time!!

Arielle smiling as usual - this time also because she holds the hose to get everyone else in the kitchen wet!

When you have Swap Days you also like to bring something new or different to the Departments you are swapping in. My contribution to Catering was this new way of wearing our aprons. Don't you think it's really cool?

Well, I do and one day, this is gonna be a thing!

After the party, it was time to calm down and make sure we left the Kitchen ready for the next day of adventures!

Calm and clean - perfect!

And Arielle (CA) still thinks it's Christmas (we got a few presents on that day). We didn't want to make her sad so we just left her in the belief that it was true.

In Arielle's world, this whiteboard was a Christmas tree...

Did you imagine something like this before? I know you didn't! But now you know what a Swap Day means at KISC! 


Catarina Inverno (PT)
International Friendship Assistant

Organized confusion at its best

Hi!

The Swedish invasion increases and here I am, the new contribution to the team that is going to transform KISC to an IKEA-paradise with ABBA playing on the speakers. Or just deepclean, we'll see how it ends.

As you may or may not know (depending if you have read the staff descriptions or not) I am a person who loves lists. And it’s not just making them (typing down everything with a neat handwriting and thinking about how I should phrase myself). It’s also the pleasure of crossing an achieved task off a list, the satisfaction of knowing that the work is done and that you may move on to the next part of the list or for that matter create a new one. And of course, with a list in your hand or on your table, people tend to believe that you know what you are doing, even if you have no clue at all. Just add some cool codewords and you will become a God among the insects.

For this reason KISC is a complete heaven for me, we have lists about everything and they are everywhere! In reception you have the check-in list, check-out list and lists about how to do and what to do during your duty. In the kitchen we have the daily cleaning, weekly cleaning, how to structure your day and also a “how to clean the coffee-machine”-list. Laundry is basically the same with everything from paper sheets telling you how to fold the duvet covers and a quick reminder to not forget to feed Olave. Even in the Staff Room there are some hidden ones to be discovered. I bet you that you can’t find a single room in the chalet without a list! And if you find such a room, be sure to tell me so I can make one and put it up!

So, how does one become obsessed by the structure that a list gives you… and how do I manage to survive if suddenly a to-do-list disappears or gets alternated? Well there is a very simple answer to that. You practice! For many, many years (or months if you are in a hurry). One of the best one’s I have made was the list I made before coming here as a Shortie. Mostly because I knew that when that list was finished, I could go to this magical place without any worries and without anything holding me back. Rip it, bite it, tear it apart – this list was made to get destroyed when the time came.   

Almost half of the time of my season is gone by now and before the sunlight disappears for another day I will go and make the most of it - so see you later, alligator!

Elin Hansson (SE)
Spring 2012