After working four seasons at Worth Ranch Scout Camp ('84, '85, '86, and '87) I applied to work at Kandersteg International Scout Center (KISC) in Switzerland. This was my first time to visit a non-English speaking country. I had applied to the program in '87 but instead of being accepted to KISC I was accepted to a camp in Cyprus. So, I skipped Cyprus and tried again the following summer. My dad had been to Kandersteg when he was a scout, and there were several Post 52 / Worth Ranch Staff who had been there as well. In the year since I had graduated from Bell High School, I had been to Texas A&M for a semester and then a semester at Tarrant Count Junior College. While at TCJC I also worked at Steak and Ale to save some money, which helped pay for the trip. The "last supper" (really lunch) was at Bay Street, next to Bennigans and Steak and Ale - then I was dropped at the airport for my adventure.
Scout Center
Gallihorn
I flew from DFW to Geneva, then took the train from there to the village of Kandersteg. I was one of the first summer staff to arrive. The staff are Jan B (Australia), Angela B (Italy), Rose C (Australia), Steve B (England), Dave F (Ireland), Damian G (Ireland), Peter G (Australia), Heidi G (Finland), Victoria G (Sweden), Rob J (South Africa), Schlappi L (Germany), Hanna L (Finland), Jolanda L (Netherlands), Fran H (England), Kaz M (Japan), Karsten M (Germany), Suzy P (England), Petter R (Finland), Ragga J (Iceland), Outi S (Finland), Kato S (Netherlands), Mike T (Scotland), Anne W (Scotland), Ron E (New Zealand), Rose B (England), Arsi V (Finland), Susi G (England) and Marc L (Switzerland). It is obviously a diverse group of people - the Center's tagline is "Permanent Mini Jamboree" - with the idea of attracting loads of people from all over the world both as staff and visitors. A smaller part of the staff is long-term (generally a year or more), with the larger group working a season. I was part of the summer season staff, which is the largest group as the summer has the most number of guests.
Lake Oeschininsee
The Center is at the south end of the Kandersteg Valley. The camp itself includes a Chalet that sleeps a couple hundred people, plus two separate camp sites - one directly across the river and the other on the other side of the railway tracks. The Chalet is where the engineers used to live when they built the Lotschberg Tunnel, the campground is built on the tailings from then tunnel, and the Tower is another building used to build the tunnel (finished in 1913).
Hiking behind Oeschininsee
The first couple of weeks of the summer is staff training and orientation where we do a lot of cleaning of the chalet, do some hiking, and get to know our various positions. I was on the activities staff, so participated in both in-camp activities (campfire, BBQ, pioneering, taking around day-visitors, etc) as well as hiking trips to the 8 Swiss Mountain Club huts in the area. The rest of the summer was spent taking care of all the scouts that came to the camp, as well as spending a lot of time with the staff eating, drinking, hiking, and having an enormous amount of fun!
Kandersteg Village
The village of Kandersteg has only 1200 people living there, though the population skyrockets in the summer. Aside from the idyllic village of gorgeous chalets with flower boxes, the area is also famous for Lake Oeschinsee, about an hour walk from the village (depending on your fitness level!).
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