Slice Of Life #188 - The Arrow Of Light - Sunday, April 7th, 2019

    I walked up to the stage and stood behind a table. My parents stood behind me, and my friend, Leo, and his parents were next to me.

    Today, I was going to receive the Arrow of Light, the highest rank possible in Cub Scouting. The Arrow of Light is one of the two badges that you can carry on to Boy Scouting.

    Today, I was going to become a Boy Scout, and I would no longer be a Cub Scout anymore. Our Cubmaster, Mr. Clay, went up to the podium to say a few words about us.

    Next, Ms. Sara, the Vice-Cubmaster, picked up a white bag from the ground.

    "Me and Ms. Sara," Mr. Clay began. "have gotten you a few things that we think you're going to find useful. First, we got you all a compass. A compass is truly essential in Boy Scouting, as you'll be going hiking and camping more now, and your parents won't always be there to help you find your way."

    Ms. Sara walked out in front of the stage, passing us all a compass.

    "As you may notice, not all the compasses are the same because it isn't easy to just walk out of a shop and get 15 of the same compasses."

    I got a compass that was black with a cover. The compass was also equipped with a small magnifying glass, which I knew was probably used for starting fires with dry leaves. Once, when we were hiking, I managed to use a magnifying glass to get some dry leaves to smoke, but I put it out once it started smoking ('cause why not? - No, it's just the fact that I didn't want to start a fire).

    "Next, we got you a spork," Mr. Clay continued. "When going camping, keeping things light is very essential. Because of that, we got you a spork, so you have a spoon, a fork, and a knife all in one.

    "And finally, we got you one more thing. Eye protection is very important, so we got you sunglasses!"

    Everyone gasped. When I got my pair of sunglasses, I realized that they were polarized - which means less glare from the sun!

    After we got everything, we continued on with the ceremony. We all got a gold pin with the Arrow of Light on it. After that, we had to put on a few stripes of face paint (blue, red, and yellow) to symbolize a few things - the Scout Law, Motto, Oath, and the Arrow of Light.

    And finally, the time came. I crossed the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts - there was actually a small bridge that you had to walk across (I was the first to cross)!

    A few Boy Scouts quickly surrounded me and put a small strip of dark green fabric on my shirt, making me an official Boy Scout.

    When everyone had gotten their Arrow of Light, we all stood behind the table again. Our Den Leader, Agung, gave us a few presents. There was a personal note for all of us, and also a camera - with a secret compartment in the back with a film of all our memories.

    But most importantly, I had gotten my Arrow of Light.

Slice Of Life #155 - The Pinewood Derby Competition - Tuesday, February 19th, 2019 - Happened on February 16th, 2019

    I heard the sound of cheers come through my ears as I watched the cars pass the finish line. I was part of the Cub Scouts, and was participating in the Pinewood Derby competition. For all the past years, I had won a medal in the competition (except for last year because the system broke), and I was hoping to win one today.
    I had carefully thought about my car, and how I wanted it to be aerodynamic. I took this competition seriously, and I had thought out all the science behind it carefully. My wooden car ran on 3 wheels only (to reduce friction), and was really similar to my car last year, except for a few modifications. I had reduced the weight in the middle a little so I could put more weight at the back - so you get more potential energy and your center of gravity is higher.
    Looking on the screen for the next race, I could see that my Lego car, the Turbo Engine, was racing. I watched the track with my eyes transfixed, watching my car speed past the finish line, finishing in 1st place. After a few more races, we moved on the the Wood cars.
    My car, a Flying Piece of Wood (weird name, huh?), was again one of the 1st up. I watched again as my car sped down the finishing in 1st place. Looking up at the screen, I saw my name displayed in a big white box in the middle of the screen. New Track Record, it said, Zhi Hong Chan.
    "Yes!" I exclaimed, happy that I had beat the track record.
    After a while, I wondered if I still had the track record, as we had to rerun a few races (mine was one of them), as the timer kept getting faster and faster.
    After all the races were completed, we had to go out of the room to let the judges decide who had won what medal. We went down to play, but I came back up early because I didn't want to miss the prize giving ceremony.
    When it came to the fastest Webelos 5/Arrow of Light car, my heart started to beat faster and faster. I was in Grade 5, which made me one of the Webelos 5/Arrow of Light.
    I waited until our cubmaster said the name of the car that won.
    "The car is..." Our cubmaster said. "A Flying Piece of Wood!"
    I shouted with joy. I had won it!
    I smiled as I walked up to the stage to receive my medal.

Slice Of Life #124 - I'm Back! - Tuesday, 17/7/2018

    Ok. Well, it's nice to finally be typing my Slice Of Life in front of a computer again. One thing that has changed is my typing. I really need to brush up on my typing after not typing on a computer for a week. Wait. Take that back. My I have not gotten any slower on typing on a phone. Only a computer.
    Anyways, this post is going to be about my holiday. When I wrote my last post, I was sitting under mint green trees on a bench, and I was also sitting on the front steps to a museum in Budapest, Hungary (click here). But, that was my 2nd day on holiday (I think). That did not cover the part when I was in Vienna, Hallstatt, and Salzburg. So now, lets talk about what I did.
    When we arrived at Vienna (after we got off a bus), we took a train to somewhere close to the hotel. Then, we got off the train and walked to our hotel. At first glance, I did not expect the hotel to be good because of what was surrounding it. But when we actually got close to the hotel, it gave us a good first impression, which is very important for making business. Service is another key thing to success, and service was great. And... I found another grammar error! (people really need to proof read their things these days) Grammar error (sorry, I have to do this. Finding grammar errors is life!): Enjoy the fresh Viennese water from the tap. Bring your water bottle here. We delighted to refill it for you. Um... You have to put an 'are' before delighted. Anyways, back to the story.
    In Vienna, I don't think a lot of people have cars, so they take trains (usually) to work. Taking trains and subways was a crucial way for us to be able to move around. Because of that, my dad had pre-bought a 1 week city pass, which let us use public transport in Vienna for free for 1 week. (well, we had to pay for the 1 week pass).
    By the way, if you have allergies to egg and/or dairy and/or you are a vegan, Vienna is the place for you. They have some people there promoting veganism, and if you managed to find them, their basically going to be able to let you know about a lot of great vegan food that you can go try. Other than that, I finally got the chance to eat ice cream on a cone! FYI, the cones for ice creams have egg in them, so that's why I can't eat ice cream on a cone. But this time, they had vegan ice cream (that means with no milk), and the cones also had no eggs! Link here.
    Also, I went to the headquarters of the United Nations (UN)! I bought a shirt there (that was bigger than me even though it was supposed to be smaller than me.) When we got pass all the security checks, we stepped on UN ground (basically, the territory belonged to all the countries that are part of UN, so it was basically also my country (a small part)). We were still in Vienna, but it was no longer considered Vienna's territory. Because of this, the guards (in terms of security) were not Vienna's police. They were from around the world, and the police were only called in if the UN needed help. Their just like embassies (US embassies, US territory, which means that the countries' army is not allowed in without permission.)
    In Hallstatt, I got to take pictures from a UNESCO world heritage view. Beautiful scenery! We took a funicular up the hill (which is like a tram) to see a mine (not the inside of it because we didn't have time) and learn how the miners lived. I also got to walk in a UNESCO world heritage village, where, like always, there were beautiful views.
    And finally, in Salzburg, I got to go inside Mozart's residence, and also Mozart's birth place (but I didn't go inside) I loved to go inside Mozart's residence, because there, I got to learn more about him, and how he lived. His house was pretty big, but unfortunately, part of it was destroyed during WWII. (Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg had a lot to do with WWII. Especially Budapest. Hotels there were used as headquarters for spies in WWII.) Mozart's house displayed many cool and intresting things that Mozart had used/written in his life, including a violin that he used and some of his drafts for symphonies.
    Great, we're finally done. I'm exhausted. See you next week! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slice Of Life #110 - Blue & Gold Dinner - Tuesday, 10/4/2018 - Happened On Saturday, 7/4/2018

    A wave of wind gushed out of the middle & high school canteen as I opened the doors to them. I took my first step into the canteen just to be greeted by friends right away. I went and found my seat in my den's table. I found the 'Webelos 4' table, which was our den's table, and sat down.
    "May I just get your attention for a little while, please?" Our cubmaster asked. It became so silent that you could hear a pin drop. "Thank you for coming here today. We have food at the back here for our dinner, which was cooked by the 'Picha Project'. I think I'll talk about the 'Picha Project' later." He lectured on and on about the food payment for about 1 minute, and I think that I might have fell asleep there.
    "You may now get food now."
    Everyone rushed to the food area, and made a line. My friends were really lucky, because they were all in the beginning of the line. Sadly, I didn't get there quick enough, and by the time I wanted to go there, the line was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, LONG. It might have took an eternity if I wanted to line up now.
    Unfortunately, I had to wait until almost everyone got their food until the line was shorter to get my food. By the time I got my food and went back, my friends were almost done eating. I had gotten some rice and this type of bread, but I can't really tell you what bread it is, because I don't know what bread it is.
    After everyone finished their food and after our cubmaster talked about the 'Picha Project', he called up all the Webelos 5 people. That group was for 5th graders only, and in that grade, you would earn the 'Arrow Of Light', which is the highest ranking badge in cubscouting, and is one of the only 2 badges that are allowed to be carried onto the Boy Scouting uniform. He gave all the Webelos 5s flashlights that were supposed to be really good. He wanted them to remember the flashlight when they moved onto Boy Scouting, and that it would give them light when they were facing challenges.
    There was a ceremony where the Boy Scouts would help the Cub Scouts transfer to Boy Scouting, and that we had to sit in the front because we would be doing that next year.
    The highest ranking person in Cub Scouts (in our school) was the Webelos 5 den leader, so he was the person that said everything.
    "After you cross your bridge after your name is called, you will officially be in Boy Scouts, and no longer a Cub Scout. Congratulations."
    After every Webelos 5 was officially a Boy Scout, we watched a video of their experiences in Cub Scouting, and then we went to eat some more food with my parents friends (we already planned it). HAHA!!!!!
   

P.S I am listening to REALLY ADDICTING SONGS right now.

Slice Of Life #95 - Camping - Sunday, March 18th, 2018

    "Finally! We're here!" I squealed as we got off the car. I was so excited to go to my Cub/Boy Scout campout. The only sad thing was the fact that there was a lot of traffic. Me and my mom set up our tents, then transported our things inside the tent.

    After that, I went to the forest and jungle to find my den. We were filming a movie, which was a requirement in order for us to earn our Webelos badge. My classmate, ZL, who was a girl, came to the camp, but (she didn't really participate - she didn't help in doing anything except keep her annoying brothers away) she didn't get to do anything. HA-HA!

    I was the producer, but my best friend, T, was director, and he was acting a shark scene, so I got to take over as director. I got to have the script the whole time, and whenever they messed up, the word "CUT!" would immediately come out of my mouth.

    After filming, we just got to do some fun stuff. We got to do a scavenger hunt after our pack leader briefed us on what was allowed and not allowed.

    Dinnertime was one of the most funnest times. I got to eat dinner with my friends, but sadly, I couldn't eat most of the food because of my allergies. We played around and talked about things that sadly, I will not tell you.

    We got to make a real fire, and that was the funnest things. We had to find the wood to start the fire, and basically do everything. We made a fire that managed to burn for a really long time, which was alight when we performed our skits.

    The Boy Scouts also thought us different skills such as first aid, pocketknife safety, fire starting, knot tying, and how to deal with flags.

I don't want to bore you to death, so I will end my post here. Those were the funnest parts of my Cub Scout camp. Have you ever went camping? Are you a Boy/Cub Scout? Have you ever made a real fire? Hope to hear from you soon! Thanks for reading my blog! Feel free to leave any comments that you have in the comments section below.  Stay updated for some other good posts and please return to my blog! 

Slice Of Life #94 - So Busy - Saturday, March 17th, 2018

    This post will be one of my shortest (and maybe one of my worst) posts because I am currently rushing and don't have a lot of time. My day was really packed, because first of all, I had a lot of classes, such as my swimming and my "piano practice class" because Monday was my examination. I would have had robotics, but I canceled it because I am going camping later with my Cub Scout troop. I am staying overnight with my dad, but my mom is going home. We borrowed a tent from my parents' friend, and I have a sleeping bag, but my dad is going to have to sleep with some pillows, mattress, and blanket. I think that I am going to end my post now, because I have to get to the campsite within one hour now, and I still need to eat lunch and take a bath. Bye for today!

Are you part of the scouting community? Have you ever went camping? Hope to hear from you soon! Thanks for reading my blog! Feel free to leave any comments that you have in the comments section below.  Stay updated for some other good posts and please return to my blog!