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Taste testing
Our task was to taste a selection of the Finnish snacks available in the camp cafe. We had to talk about the appearance, consistency, flavour, smell and size of the food. This was a really interesting task for us to experience... While doing this task, we discovered that we like many of the chosen items which we would otherwise never have tried.

Munkki
The munkki was a golden brown colour covered in sugar with a soft middle. It smelt sweet, sugary and fresh. These are common in England also known as dougnut, and overall, we gave it a 5\5.

Pulla
The pulla bun was too small! It was so tasty with a cinnamon tang, which we liked very much. However, somebody found a whole cinnamon clove, which was not so nice. Overall, we gave this a 5\5.

Kismet bar
The kismet bar was really tasty and quite similar to chocolate bars that we have in England. However, we thought that it looked a little bit boring and was too small (we like chocolate!). It should also have been England's famous 'Cadburys' chocolate, it is so tasty. Overall, we gave it a 4.5\5.

Pätkis bar
This smelt very minty and nice and had a soft, smooth middle, making it enjoyable to eat. Although, we thought that the appearance was also slightly boring and needed more decoration, but it did taste nice! Overall, we gave this a 3.9\5.

Lakritsi
We know that this is very popular in Finland however, this was our least favourite. We could compare the flavour to mouth wash.The appearance was not ideal, it looked a bit like tarmac or a slug! It was very chewy and sticky which made it hard to swallow. We think it should be banned, so we gave it a -10\5 but if you like it then you can have ours!

Jäätelö
In the United Kingdom, we call this ice-cream. We love it! The appearance was beautiful. It tasted so creamy and smooth and had a good contrast between the cone and the ice cream. also, it was very cold. We enjoyed eating this very much, especially trying to split it up between 8 people! We awarded this a 5\5 and it was our favourite.

Text and photo: Gemma Armstrong, Andrea Brooks, Helen Keen, Sophie Dann, Kim Clarke, Rebecca Ashton, Emmalee Kilyk

In the morning some could have seen one kind of music video shooting at the Reila Plaza. The group of English trackers sang the camp song "Ketun lailla" and the Reila reporting team recorded it. The song was sung in Finnish, of course.

Text and photo: MK, PoTu

On the site of Reila '09, there is a museum containing a small selection of traditonal Finnish Scouting treasures, from a local Scouting museum which is located in Turku. The museum on camp offers a brief history of the scouts of Finland; which began in 1909 on Aland island and spread around the country via the coast to large towns.

We visited the museum and were amazed to find an array of interesting artefacts including complex rope knots, historic photographs, traditional badges, medals and scarves, patrol diaries and belts. The most impressive item was a Matinjousi crossbow which is used as a prize for competitions.

What can you buy?
In the Scouting museum there are many souveniers and traditional objects which you can purchase. If you want something to remember the international experience by, then there are sunhats, T-shirts and sitters which all have the 'Reila 09' logo on. However, if you want something more authentic then there are many badges, postcards and photographs from previous Scout camps which you can also buy.

Did you know?
Scouting in Finland was officially forbidden by the Russian government during World War One.
In 1917, the Finnish scouts were called Suomen Partiitto Association.

Text and photo: Gemma Armstrong, Andrea Brooks, Helen Keen, Sophie Dann, Kim Clarke, Rebecca Ashton, Emmalee Kilyk

On the afternoon the trackers headed to the South America program. There they learnt to dance samba and brazilian Jujutsu, played soccer and made colorful carneval masks.

In the Amazing Race competition tracker teams competed against each other in trying to find hidden South American flags. Afterwards they had to organize them in alphabetical order. English Gemma Armstrong had just found one flag and was bringing it to home.

In the labyrinth teams tried to find their way out by answering right to the questions about South America and its nature. A wrong answer would have led them farther away from the finish.

Text and photo: MK, PoTu

The international guests from Grossdeinback, Germany built up a shelter in Pandora subcamp. The German group of 14 people had left towards Reila already on Monday.

Text: MK, PoTu