When I went to Pax Lodge for the Thinking Day weekend a few years ago – 2016? 2017? – I completed their challenge and the receptionist who signed it off said they’d never seen a challenge completed so thoroughly. I might do a blog post about it later in the year. It’s partly about Pax Lodge but it’s mostly about London.
This post is about Our Chalet’s challenge. I’ve probably alluded to it in my Switzerland posts but I haven’t actually written any of them yet so I’m not sure. I’ve wanted to do the Our Chalet Challenge for years but there’s no information about what it involves or even what the badge looks like. I’m still not going to list all the requirements because it covers an entire side of A4 and I’m not going to tell you all my answers.
There are five sections – Our Chalet knowledge, WAGGGS and World Centres knowledge, Service, Physical challenge and Swiss knowledge.
For service you have to do a good turn for someone and you have to do a personal challenge. For my good turn, I lent a hiking pole to a fellow guest trapped on the ice by the waterfall and unable to move, which feels like a very small good turn to count for half of an entire section. My personal challenge was walking up the hill from Adelboden back to the Chalet without either sitting down at the bottom and crying or yelling every bad word I know in every language all the way up the valley.
For the other four sections, there’s a compulsory challenge and then they give you ten or twelve options for each section and you have to do four of them. So that’s twenty-two things in total to do and get crossed off. Incidentally, the Scout equivalent in the next valley, KISC, has its own challenge and the requirements are listed on the website. You only have to do six things for theirs.
For Our Chalet knowledge, the compulsory challenge is to talk a staff member through the history of the Chalet. Which I did and then had to repeat it two or three times so that the rest of the group could recite it. For my “any four”:
- I shared a grace at dinnertime (Bees of Paradise; and I said “no one” and now I wonder whether we say “no man” because that’s what everyone else says.)
- I found out about volunteering at Our Chalet (“all you have to do is listen to me waffle” said the volunteer who signed it off)
- I found out about the special tradition held in Baby Chalet (no, not telling)
- I found out about Helen Storrow’s life. Well, I found out about the bit that’s relevant to the opening of the Chalet
- but I guess I also explored the website in search of useful information before I went and that covered the difference types of accommodation and activities on offer.
Swiss culture was fairly easy. The compulsory challenge was to meet a Swiss person, talk to them and find out three facts about living in Switzerland. Well, I’ve lived in Switzerland so I already had more than three facts and one of the other group also lives there. We covered the Swiss person part by visiting the woodcarver and talking to her. Incidentally, the name badges are linden/lime wood, the woggles are cherry and the tags are pine. The pine comes from outside but the rest comes from a wood supplier in Frutigen. For the “other four”:
- I learned how to greet friends in Swiss German (specifically Adelbodenerdeutsch. I knew Swiss German varies literally from hamlet to hamlet but I’ve never actually seen it for myself.)
- I named ten of the cantons and learned a fact about each (I’ve been able to do this for nearly fifteen years so not so much of a challenge although I’m quite impressed I can still do it off the top of my head this many years later)
- I found out how you would travel by public transport from Our Chalet to the capital city of Switzerland (because it’s how I got there in the first place and it’s how I intended to get back)
- I carried out a traditional Swiss craft (that would be the papercutting from Wednesday)
- I also learned three words in each of the official Swiss languages, including Romansh. Well, I learned three words in Italian and Romansh. I already speak French and while I can’t put any sentences in German together, I know a reasonable number of words.
Yes, that makes five “other four” challenges. That’s just how life works out sometimes.
The WAGGGS & World Centres challenges were the hardest to cross off. The compulsory challenge was to name all five WAGGGS regions, their colours and a fact about each of them. No problem. But the “other four”?
- One of the others taught us the number of WAGGGS members and countries so fine.
- As I handed it in at reception, I explained why I like being a Guide and what I do to be a good world citizen.
- I read about the SDGs upstairs in the WAGGGS room which covered finding out what the SDGs actually are.
- I recited my promise & law and explained what they meant to me.
- I tried learning the Icelandic promise and law but while the promise is manageable, the law is just as long and unwieldy as the UK law.
The final and easiest challenge was the Physical challenge. The compulsory challenge is to complete either the Engstligen hike, the Magic Tree hike or the woodcarver hike. All three of them were part of the programme and so I did all three. “Other four”:
- Challenge number one was to pack my bag and explain what I needed for a day hike. Sun cream is still an essential in winter and I forgot it on Tuesday.
- I made a wish at the Magic Tree.
- I did the Adelboden scavenger hunt. I did 80% of the Our Chalet scavenger hunt but I knew I didn’t need it so I didn’t go off hunting for any answers we couldn’t come up with together round the table.
- I couldn’t do the Baby Chalet sledge run or the igloo building because it wasn’t snowy enough but I was able to explain the different levels of ski runs.
- And the big one was submerging my feet in a river for five seconds. Twice.
A lot of it sounds silly and a lot of it sounds small but you know what? It took all week to do. It took conscious effort and it took time. When we were presented with the badges on the last evening, someone asked if most people completed the challenge and we were told that no, most people don’t. A lot of people don’t look at the challenge until their last day and that just doesn’t leave enough time to cross off twenty-two mini challenges. Our entire group did it, all eight of us, and that’s down to me and my enthusiasm about it and getting it started as early as possible.