Hallo Doug!
Op 13 Mar 95 om 20:56 uur, schreef Doug Middleton aan Ad Van Groeningen het 
volgende:
 DM> Wow,  The Netherlands!  That is really interesting.  I served in Germany
 DM> with the army but have never been to the Netherlands.
Well, Germany and the Netherlands aren't that different. So you should have a 
good idea of the ways of living here in Western Europe. :)
First, I would like to introduce myself.
I'm 21 years old and live in the vicinity of Utrecht (the fourth biggest city 
of our country) in a town called IJsselstein. I am a student in Information 
Science, and still have about 3 years to go before I am finished with it.
I have been an enthousiastic scouter for about 15 years. I am not a leader 
myself, but from my own group 5 out of 8 are. I just don't have the time to 
take the responsibilities involved with leading a scout-group. Too bad.
 DM>   Whats scouting like over there?
Well. To me Dutch scouting seems a lot less traditional than scouting in the 
USA, where most people talk about in this echo.
Off course there are groups that follow the more traditional way, but the 
majority chooses to be less disciplined. They still try to teach the scouts 
the virtues they should know, and allready should have known, but in a very 
social way. Through games, sports, art, etc.
The boys in our group, for instance, have to wear their uniforms only at 
official scouting ceremonies. When they are officially recognized as members 
of the group, or when we're going on camp.
We normally come together in through-the-weeks (?) evenings. But other groups 
come together on saturdays.
It see that I am using the word group in three different ways. I'll explain 
to you what I mean with each of them.
Our town has got two scout groups, because from origin there's a Catholic and 
a Protestant group. Nowadays that doesn't differ anymore, but there have 
always been two groups, and their will always stay two groups I guess. :)
Our group is divided into girlscouts and boyscouts, and the boyscouts are 
divided into 3 age groups. The cubs (5-11 years), the 'verkenners' (11-15 
years) and the 'rowans' (16-19 years). Most boys leave scouting at the age of 
19 because they are going to study or work. Some choose to become a leader, 
and that's how the continuity of the group is maintained. My own group of 
'rowans' was very close. We had always had a great time, so we choose to stay 
together even after the 'rowans'. Like I said before 5 out of the 8 became a 
leader.
I still go on camps with them. Last year we went to Hungary, and the year 
before that year we went to Luxembourg. We always try to make an active 
vacation out of it. Hang Gliding, Speleology (exploring underground caves), 
mountain climbing, etc.
 DM>   Do you have any boys interested in writing back and forth
 DM> with other boys through the echo?  I have a couple of boys interested in
 DM> being electronic pen pals and it would be really neat if they wrote to
 DM> someone overseas.
Which age are they? I don't think the boys here have access to the echo-mail. 
But I am willing to act as a post office for them. :)
I'll ask around in the group, and let you know.
 DM> Hope to talk to ya real soon!
soon enough? :)
Doei,
Ad van Groeningen
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