Waggon Meeting in Gdynia

Waggon meeting June 8th to 11th 2014 in Gdynia, Poland

We did it - a T&M-wagon meeting in Gdynia from May, 8^th to 11^th, 2014! As the Scouting-Train project isn’t just only about a train trip to the Lake Baikal, some of us decided to already met once before the travel even started at the Polish coast - and had a great time! Our conductress Julia Novitskaya recaps our first meeting as a travelling group.

I can surely say that for T&M-wagon the “Scouting train” trip has already started. We spent four wonderful days together in Gdynia, Poland, and during this time we were really immersed into the topic of Tradition and Modernity. Or better to say the topic caught us everywhere.

-“Would you like some cottage cheese?” -“Yes, please! Oh, but why do you put it to the plate? We usually spread it on the bread.”

-“You still have Internet-cafés! We don’t have them anymore as everybody owns smart phone.”

In our informal discussions we got to know that German scouts usually leave their groups after the age of 23. So, the motto “Youth for youth” really works in this country. Adults don’t interfere into young people’s work and events organized by them. I really can’t imagine the same situation in Russia, where all generations from babies to grandmas and granddads gather together in camps.

Thanks to Marta’s stories we got to know how involved Polish scouts were to guerilla struggle during Second World War. No wonder that the monument to them is in the center of the city of Gdynya.

And for German scouts it was unusual that Russian scouts have Scout Parades and participate in Parades as well.

Yes, we realized that we had a lot of differences in our histories, in our modernity and in our scout life as well. Still we could enjoy making many different things together. We participated in the city game prepared by Polish scouts; we visited Gdynya local history museum; we met local President and told him about “Scouting Train” project and our wagon. We sewed train felt pins and designed the scout neckerchiefs. We washed windows in Scout house and listened to the stories of people who remembered well the time when the Berlin wall divided the capital of Germany into two part (we could listen to these stories thanks to some very involved passengers!). We had a great time with great people!

I’m more than sure, that the trip to Baikal in T&M wagon will be an unforgettable experience!

T & M

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