Oren Patrol's Community Day (part 2)!

Hi it's Gwyn here and this is my perspective of our community day. Sword-fighting, painting performances and five-storey pagodas; it was a thrilling day for Oren patrol.

The day began with a speech by the Mayor of Yamaguchi which was followed by a dynamic performance of Taiko drumming.

As per usual we felt like zombies stepping into the sun, burning up as we entered a traditional Japanese park. Here we found a shrine to Buddha and a five-storey pagoda from the 15th Century, ranked third most beautiful in Japan.

Fortunately, the burning alive couldn't ruin our mood. Spurred outwards by ice-cream and incredible views of the park, Oren travelled to Yamaguchi high school, similar by sight to one in the UK. Approaching waves and smiles, a true sense of "Community" did indeed pervade the atmosphere.

Here we partook in kendo (Japanese sword fighting), a tea ceremony, archery, origami and caligraphy. My favourite part of the day wad watching a shodo performance by students. This effectively, involved watching paint dry to music, yet it was definitatively one of the most exciting ten minutes of the trip. Shodo involves the painting on Japanese symbols (caligraphy) by multiple students on one massive canvas, during Japanese music, which was more suited to a nightclub than a high school, plays incredibly loudly with swinging brushes and suprisingly tuneful shouts, this was a performance which was dramatic, exciting and most of all, surreal. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

It was hard to leave such an intriguing and fun-filled place, but I am sure the memories we made will not be forgotten.

We were joined on this day by scouts from the Netherlands and Lebanon, and arriv3d back singing a playlist of Tom Jones, Queen and Bruno Mars (amidst many others). For me, it was my favourite day of the Jamboree. We engaged with the local community, we learned about their culture and sang with those we have never met before from areas we have never been to. This day was when I truly understood the purpose of the World Scout Jamboree and I'm sure that others feel the same. Five stars from Oren Patrol.Read more