Girl Scouts of Japan

I love days like today. Days where all the work you have put in comes together and the event you have been planning works out just about as perfectly as you could have hoped.

Days where all the stress seems worthwhile because you feel like you are making an impact on people.

Today I gave the first of the 3 speeches I am scheduled to give in February.

Now, just about everyone knows that I overdo it when it comes to planning events. While it means I put a lot of extra stress on myself I am generally able to plan for any possible problems and my events usually go pretty well. Giving speeches in a foreign language is not easy. Usually you end up talking about things you don't know the vocabulary for and it is more difficult to memorize or ad lib.

I used to over prepare for giving speeches in English (anyone remember the College Connections insanity?), and I do about the same for speeches in Japanese. I have been preparing my powerpoint and writing the speech for about 2 weeks now for this presentation. They basically asked me to give a speech for about an hour about American Girl Scouts and my experiences.

Today I spoke in front of a group of about 50 Japanese Girl Scouts from ages 7 to 18. They were so adorable. They all have the same little blue uniforms and were just really energetic. Most of my days are spent at the office where I don't do much more than translate or layout newsletters or write speeches (which I enjoy, but sometimes it gets old), so being around youth in Japan is a nice change.

I put in a TON of extra work for this presentation. I don't want to be boring and I really want people to take something away from what I present. So I had my Mom send me my sisters old Girl Scout vest (hers was WAY more impressive than mine), an old badge book, my pictures from my Wider Opportunity trips, etc. I even made a scrapbook out of the pictures.

I also made a powerpoint even though I wouldn't have a screen, but so they could see pictures. I printed out color copies (much to the annoyance of my supervisor), and made each of them a SWAP.

SWAP is a Girl Scout tradition. When we go on trips or meet new Girl Scouts we give them a little craft we made that has a pin. I usually did something about Missouri (like little bottles of water from the Missouri River), etc. but this time I made them all an American flag pin with red, white, and blue beads and safety pins. So 11 pins per SWAP and 50 girls.......about 500 pins. I emptied 3 stores of their safety pins. And then the beads. It took hours. Then I wrote little tags, in both English and Japanese so they knew who it was from and when they got it....more hours.



But the looks on their faces when I handed them out made it worth it.

Also, I set up a craft so they could make their own SWAP. It was Thinking Day, which is a day where people think about other countries and their cultures. But I told them that it is also important to think about your own culture so you can teach others. So I made little postcards, complete with stickers for stamps and boxes for the zip code, and asked them to decorate the front with things they thought represented Japan.

I brought all the supplies (which cost me about $50).

All worth it to see them thinking about how they would describe their culture. Some of them were extremely talented.

They asked some great questions too. I got to talk about Japanese men (they go to beauty salons, wear pink and purple, and are really shy around girls), and Japanese food, and my time as a Girl Scout.

I also got to meet some of the leaders, one of whom had phenomenal English, and was invited to some of their future events. It was an interesting exchange for me too. I learned that Japanese Girl Scouts begin their meetings by singing the promise instead of just reciting it, and they have cute little hand gestures before saying "itadakimasu" when eating. (sort of like "here is the church, here is the steeple" but for "praying" before a meal).

At the end of the day the Girl Scouts had to write a short report on their experiences, and the leaders let me read some. It is a great feeling to read that your presentation made people want to learn more about America or even visit America, as well as about other countries. Of course they could just be BSing the assignment, but I would like to think I had some influence.

In the end I even got my money back because they payed me about $50 to speak.

Afterward, the woman in charge called my supervisor at the Kameoka Exchange Center to tell her how much the girls enjoyed the program and how much they appreciated all the work I put in. And that is all I need to know that over-doing it is worth it. The result makes it worth it. I get a lot of value out of knowing that my presentations are enjoyed.