The last week at Unique Village!

The last days we spent together in our village was a lot of fun. We had great weather, which meant watergames and a walk down to mjøsa so everybody could enjoy a last swim in norwegian water! The leaders also planned their last activities with the kids, and one importante was the one where the kids were divided into their delegations and told to draw a map of the world and put in the countries represented in the village in the right place. After a month together we have all learned a lot about eachothers country and culture but placeing it on a map didn't turn out to be that easy. After every delegation had tried their best, they got a real map to compare their own with. It was a good activity where the kids got an idea of where in the world their new friends live!

On Wednesday, which was our last full day, everybody did a lot of cleaning and packing in the morning so that we could spend the rest of the day together doing a lot of activities. We had all of our favourite energizers in the beginning of activity 2 and continued with girls against boys in "catch the bacon". Then we had "the four elements" before everybody was told to go to their bedroom an bring down their madrass, blanket and pillow. The last night would be spent with everybody sleeping in the gym!

After our last dinner, we all went down to the gym and enjoyed watching a slideshow of the month in our unique village. It brought out both laughter and tears when we saw what our time in Kapp had been like. After that we finished writing in the memorybooks that everybody would bring back home with a nice message from all the others! In the last flagtime, we said goodbye to eachother in every language and sang the CISV-song for the last time.

When we went down to the gym again we sat in a circle around candles spelling CISV with a peace-sign at the end. Everyone got to lit a candle and say what they wanted to say about their experience with this village. It was a really nice ending to the month we have been together and a quiet time to look back on everything we have done and all the people we have gotten to know. Then we had the circle of hugs, where everybody got the chance to say goodbye to each and everyone. This nights lullabies was held with everybody in their beds, and some even went to sleep with the singing still going on. It had been a long but good and emotional day and some had to get up very early the next day!

During the morning hours the staff spent their time driving the kids and the leaders to the station, giving out hugs and saying goodbye. After the last ones where safely put on the bus, we went back and found the school so empty and quiet as it had never been before!

We in the staff hope that you all had a good trip back home and that you are safely back togheter with your families in this moment! We would like to thank all the parents who sent their child to us and gave us the chance to get to know them and have them with us during this great month here in Norway! We hope this is a summer your kids never will forget and that they went back home with a big smile on their face.

And of course not to forget the most important ones; Thank you to all the kids who made this village a fantastic and UNIQUE experience! We are so happy that you could be a part of it!

With all our love,

Lars , Mia, Hilde , & Toggie