Camp Survive & Save 2014 is well underway and the lifesavers have shared with us the great time they are having! The lifesavers have been split into teams and the Red Team share day one with us.

Day 1: Sunday

Sweet and Sour – shared by the Red Team

We were all delighted at the wondrous opportunity that the Survive & Save camp offered us. When the day came we ensured we were packed – wetsuits and all – then we headed off on our epic journey to Wales.

The German members of our team from Nuremberg drove for almost 22 hours, starting at 6pm on Saturday and arriving at 3pm on Sunday. The Norwegian members of our team had to endure an extremely uncomfortable plane journey (according to them). They were the latest to arrive, reaching the centre at 10pm. The Scottish members of our team travelled by train which took 9 hours including a switch over at Bristol. The one and only English member of our team barely even had to travel, she was only in the car for 2 ½ hours which doesn’t really count. Upon arrival those who came before dinner were invited to play a game of rounders in which some people got pretty competitive!

We all consumed sweet and sour chicken/quorn and it was fab and reflected on our journeys as it too was sweet and sour. Thankfully, we are now experiencing the sweet part consisting of making new friends, learning new skills and acquiring knowledge of various other unique cultures.

Day 2: Monday

First day at the beach – shared by the Gold Team

We started the day early in the morning! At 7.30 am we went to the dining hall and had an amazing cooked breakfast, collected our things and went to the bus. We got off the bus at the beach whilst the bus driver told us “if you leave anything on the bus it will be on eBay within the hour”.

Numbering off on the way to the beach we started with a warm up “Banana” dance, followed by our own rendition of “Gold”. After, we went to do our first dry session with our instructor Aaron which was very informative. We then put our beautiful gold swimming hats on and battled the waves until we couldn’t stand, except for 6ft 7 Jonas of which it was only up to his knees.

Escaping the perils of the water, we went up for our lunch which we had made earlier that day. Sat in the sun with a great group of friends, including Seppi the fish, it’s the best way to spend a lunch break.

After another dry session where we teamed up with the yellow group and battled each other at flag races, we went into the sea for the final time that day. Saving drowning asthmatics is harder than it looks!!

Returning to the centre for dinner, presentations and a quiz was the perfect end to a perfect first day.

Day 3: Tuesday

International relations – shared by the Silver Team

Hey everyone!

Today is day 3 of our camp, and started as usual with breakfast at 8am. After that we had a day of activities and at each station we did different things including orienteering, team building, bronze core theory, blind folded obstacle course, marble/ping pong ball run, first aid and life-support. The point of all these activities was to work on our team building and make new friends from different countries. After dinner we went to the leisure pool and had 2 hours free time to go on the flumes, rapids and go in the wave machine. At the end of the 2 hours we all did the “Banana song” which goes like;

“All bananas united x2

Peel banana, peel peel banana x2

Chop banana, chop chop banana x2

Mush banana, mush mush banana x2

Shake banana, shake shake banana x2

Drink banana, drink drink banana x2

Yum banana, yum yum banana x2

Sleep banana, sleep sleep banana x2

ALL BANANAS UNITE”

For our German friends

Hallo an alle!

Der dritte Tag unseres Camps hat wie immer mit dem Fruehstueck angefangen. Den Tag ueber sind wir in den verschiedenen Gruppen von Station zu Station gegangen und haben dort entweder Spiele zur Verbesserung des Teamworks und des Zusammenhalts oder theoretische Dinge ueber Erste Hilfe, HLW und andere Dinge bezueglich der Wasserrettung gemacht und gelernt. Nach dem Abendessen sind wir dann ins Schwimmbad gegangen, wo wir 2h freie Zeit hatten… Der Running-Gag war hier definitiv der Song im Wellenbad, bei dem alle mitgemacht haben (All bananas united, siehe oben).

For our Norwegian friends

Hei alle sammen!

I dag er andre dag på campen, som vi som vanlig startet med frokost klokken 08.00. Etter dette hadde vi en dag med aktviteter. De ulike aktivietene var en blanding mellom team building, orientering, bronse bøye spørsmål, hinderløype med bind forran øynene, klinkekule/pingpong løype, førstehjelp og livredning. Poenget med alle aktivitetene var styrke samarbeidet i gruppen og få venner fra ulike land. Etter middag dro vi på et badeland og hadde 2 timer fri lek der vi kunne skli og være i bølge bassenget. Etter de to timene hadde vi allsang og dansing til “The Banana song”.

Day 4: Wednesday

Sharing language, culture and friendships – shared by the Green Team

Today was a brilliant day.
Heute war ein schoener Tag
I dag var en fantastisk dag.

Green team are in the lead.
Das gruene team ist in Fuehrung .
Grønt lag leder konkurransen.

Today we went to the beach and went on the boards.
Heute sind wir zum Strand gefahren und gingen dort surfen .
I dag dro vi på stranden og surfet på redningsbrett.

We learnt competition skills and about the English sea life hazards.
Wir haben Leinenwerfen geuebt und etwas ueber gefaehrlichen Tiere im englischen Meer gelernt.
Vi øvde på “linethrow” og om farene vi kan møte i det Engelske sjølivet.

We did an initiative test and learnt how to use radios.
Wir mussten in einem Test zeigen, wie man Personen rettet und funken gelernt.
Vi gjorde en test hvor vi reddet folk i vannet, og vi lærte å bruke radioer og fonetisk alphabet.

Mark (our team leader) helped us revise the syllabus.
Mark (unser Teamleiter) hat uns beim Quiz gegen zwei andere Teams auf kreative Art geholfen.
Mark (vår teamleder) hjalp oss på en kreative måte når vi hadde spørsmål og svar mot to andre lag.

Everybody got sunburn.
Jeder bekam einen Sonnenbrand
Alle ble solbrente.

We sung the banana song in English, German and Norwegian.
Wir haben den Bananensong in Englisch, Deutsch und Norwegisch gesungen.
Vi sang banansangen på Engelsk, Tysk og Norsk.

We had Roast Pork for dinner and fruit Crumble.
Wir aßen Schweinebratern und Apfelmus
Til middag hadde vi grise stek og eple,blåbær og annanas mos.

After dinner we did an international evening, where we learnt about the different cultures and we got to know new people. We also learnt some words in different languages.
Nach dem Abendessen veranstalteten wir einen internationalen Abend, bei dem wir etwas ueber die verschiedenen Kulturen gelernt haben und neue Bekanntschaften gemacht haben. Wir haben ausserdem einige Woerter in verschiedenen Sprachen gelernt.
Etter middag hadde vi en internasjonal kveld, hvor vi lærte om de forskjellige kulturene og vi ble kjent med nye personer. Vi lærte også noen setninger på alle tre språkene.

Day 5: Thursday

#CampSandS – shared by the Blue Team

Hello, we are the Royals (some like to say royal blue but we prefer Royals.  ) So today was the BIG day, the day we had been dreading all week…..it was ASSESSMENT DAY!!! It was finally time to put all our hard work, study hours and revision to good use. Pass or fail would determine the fate of the rest of our lives. As the other groups look on us with envy on the fun times we are having, we couldn’t and we wouldn’t let ourselves down. Due to our fabulous life skills, social skills and cultural diversity (#BFFL), all taught to us by our fantabulous instructor Liz (and also our honorary member Helen #WELOVEYOUHELEN), we clearly passed the EXTREMELY HARD EXAM with flying colours #ROYALBLUE). As the royals were in town, we obviously received a visit from the local mayor, who even performed the “Banana Dance” for us!!! Unfortunately he missed our rendition of the banana song in the water which was thankfully caught on camera by the papz. Our photos from our Baywatch calendar will be up ready for 2015 exchange.

Speaking of models, Elouise joined us at the beach ready for some beach flag action. Our HERO Pam WON the beach flags (what else would you have expected? #BABE) We decided to let some other teams have a chance at winning the Malibu swim run relay (it’s hard to be the best all the time) so we took a gentle swim in the warm exotic Welsh Ocean #crawlingporth. We multitasked by sandcastle building, beach flagging and looking hot to trot #check. (Please see the photo on the RLSS UK FB page of Martine and Tine.) Ric even managed to turn up on time to the Malibu board race – that was a first #Racingric #late.

Before returning to our CAKE at the palace (BIG SHOUT OUT TO DA KITCHEN STAFF – #weloveyou – ps more chocolate cake please and NO egg tart) we had to clear the beach of all of our equipment. The lovely Elouise had a welcoming present of sandy, damp lifesaving equipment (#whoevenislee?)

ONLY JOKING, Lee your departure has left a hole in the team, and we are not sure if we can go on tomorrow. Surviving and saving is just no longer possible #untillnextyear #partyincardiff?

Whilst every blog has to come to end, there is one person who has really not been mentioned (HI LIZ) Her royal majesty, Queen Elizabeth and her friend Sir Alun (Alunnnnnnnnnn) have inspired us, encouraged and have been truly lovely.

So yeah we have another press conference to go to and our fans our getting rowdy (#g2g)

Until next year our amigos,

WE ARE BLUE

WE ARE ROYAL

ROGER OUT! #WEWEREEVENONTHERADIO

PS For exclusive videos please see this –ON BLONDIES CAMERA!!!

Emilie, Finna, Grainne, Helen, Liz, Marcel, Martine, Pam, Ric, Sebastian,Sophie, Tine

#CampSandS

Day 6: Friday

Shared by the Yellow Team

Welcome to the Yellow blog, we have saved the best for last! We didn’t get the opportunity to write earlier so here is what we would like to share with you about what we got up to on Friday.

Today we went on a sightseeing trip to the city of Cardiff. We left the camp at nine o’clock and arrived at Cardiff Castle after one hour on the coach. Cardiff Castle gave us the opportunity to travel back in time so everyone became part of the UK military throughout the ages. We dressed up in some fancy costumes and awesome hats. Then we climbed up the tall North Tower before having our lunch in the castle grounds.

After lunch we had free time to explore Cardiff, but not before we were given a Cardiff quiz and photo challenge to complete. This required us to be as creative and imaginative as possible when we took our photographs.

The girls from Germany and Norway bee-lined straight to Primark and bought as many shoes, shirts and accessories as they could carry. Then passed this all on to the boys, #packhorses. The other group members were shocked by the amount they could buy! While shopping we had another challenge to do, a scavenger hunt. We had to search for different things that reminded us of this great week, like a Welsh flag, a map of Cardiff city centre and an image of the national symbol of Wales: a dragon.

Here is one sentence summarising this amazing week from each of the Yellow Team members, in our native languages, get Google translate at the ready!

“This has been a great experience from which I have gained so much and I will definitely be back next year!” – Isla

“Ich fand es schoen, dass man viele neue Freunde und neue Techniken kennenlernen konnte.” – Maurice

“Uken har vaert utfordrende, spennende og laererik.” – Helene

“Es war eine unglaublich schoene Zeit!” – Anna

“The camp has been a unique and fun experience, everyone has been so friendly and enthusiastic throughout which has made it such a special week.” –Alice

“Es war eine super Zeit, ich hatte sehr viel Spass.” – Patrick

“Ich werde diese woche nie vergessen, ich habe viel gelernt und auch sehr viel Spass gehabt.” – Giny

“Awesome, great team, great camp and great fun!” – Ben

Friday – Shared by the White Team 

What was your favourite part of the week?

Matthias (Germany) enjoyed beach flags the most because it was very energetic and fun.

Raphael (Germany) tried Malibu boarding for the first time this week, and really enjoyed it.

Julian (Germany) enjoyed swimming in the sea the most, as he enjoyed swimming through the waves.

James (Britain): my favourite part of the week was the “Spider Web Challenge” – a rope was tied in a triangle between three trees at waist height and we had to get all their team members inside the triangle without touching the rope. I loved this activity because we learnt to plan and work as a team.

Helene, Anna and Emily (Norway): we liked seeing how we do lifesaving in the UK (especially the speed rope throw because this isn’t common in Norway). We also liked learning new languages, sampling British culture, meeting new friends and the teamwork exercises.

What was the most memorable part of the week for you?

We all agreed that the most memorable part of the week was meeting and socialising with new people. We found out about each other’s languages, cultures and learnt to trust each other as a team. Being in small teams meant we got to know each other quickly. There are so many happy memories from the week that we don’t know which to pick! We’ll take these memories with us for the rest of our lives, as well as the new things that we have learnt.

James’ favourite moment was when Helene from Norway asked him if he would be her friend on the way home from the beach.

How did the camp differ from your expectations? (Norwegian)

The surroundings were so much so better than we expected; we were told to bring shoes to wear in the sea, which made us think that the beach would be covered in rocks and shells, but it was sandy.

We were surprised that there were lifeguards on the beach because in Norway we have a lot of small beaches without lifeguards.

The accommodation was a lot better quality than we expected: we had a room between four people and every room had its own bathroom. The food was excellent and the camp was very laid back and relaxed!

Do you have any other comments about #CampSandS 2014? (British)

We were pleasantly surprised by the weather. It was sunny in Wales! So sunny in fact that many of us will be going home with suntans.

The camp was very well organised and we were never unsure as to what we had to do.

The leaders and people on the camp were all really friendly and helpful if we had any problems and hopefully our friendships will carry on once we return home.

Finally we all had a fantastic time and learnt loads too, as well as having the best leader/instructor, Megan, and Blondie was alright.