CISV Village Netherlands 2011

Dear Villager,

Due to some issues with our time machine, this pre-camp has been delayed a bit. Luckily we have
been able to fix it and with this notice, we would like you to inform you on the journey for this
summer: the Village 2011 in Ysselsteyn, The Netherlands! The village will start on Friday July 15th
and end Thursday August 11th.

In this pre-camp we will inform you about the following points:

- Theme and campsite

- Traveling to the Netherlands
- The Netherlands
- Delegations
- General activities
- What (not) to bring
- Forms
- Specifics
Theme and campsite
This year CISV will be 60 years old. In 1951 Doris Allen founded the organization we love so much
today. In honor of this we have built a time machine, which will take us all back to the first decade
of CISV! The theme of this year might be clear by now: we’re going back to the 1950s!! More
details on the theme will become available on a later date, but at least you have a feeling on what
you can expect this summer .

The camp will be held in Ysselsteyn. This is a small rural town in Limburg, which lies in the south-
east of the Netherlands. Usually the camp site lies close to the capital, or close to the place where
the specific CISV chapter is established. Since the Netherlands is such a small country, we form
one big national chapter! (in comparison: The Netherlands would fit roughly three times in the US
State of California!!)
As said, the campsite is located outside the town of Ysselsteyn. At the edge of a small nature
preserve, called the ‘Heidse Peel’, a nice site is located where everyone can sleep and live for four
weeks. The accommodation is called ‘De Peelhaas’ and we’ll have enough space inside and
outside on the playing fields and in the forest.
Traveling to the Netherlands
In the first pre-camp it was mentioned that the main airport for this village is Schiphol Airport
(AMS) and the main railway station is Venlo Station. If you arrive via airplane, your destination
usually is Schiphol. We will make sure you will be met there by staff.
If you fly in from another European country, it might sometimes be cheaper to arrive at either
Rotterdam Airport (RTM) or Eindhoven Airport(EIN). If you save a considerate amount of money
on tickets by flying via these airports, contact us! We will look at the options for transport.
Otherwise, please try to arrive at Schiphol Airport.

For travelers that travel via train, you will be expected at Venlo Station. Just let us know and we
will be there!

We expect you to arrive at the airport/train station on the 15th of July, before 12.00 (noon). Please
mail us your detailed travel schedule so we can take care of transport! If you are unable to arrive
before this time, or if you arrive very early in the morning, please let us know! We might be able to
advice you or help you find a host family.

If you have any questions about traveling to the Netherlands, just send an email to
village.netherlands2011@gmail.com!

Important: Visa information and passports

Several countries might need a visa to enter the Netherlands for less than 90 days. For European
countries (Schengen countries), you can freely enter the Netherlands using your passport. If you
come from outside Europe, you might need a Visa. The only country that should need a specific
visa is China. Please contact us and we will help you get more information about that!

Please check with your own CISV chapter on the specific steps needed to acquire a sufficient visa!
Other countries like the USA, Canada, South Korea and Israel have treaties with Europe that allow
entry to the country for 90 days. Although we are fairly sure you won’t have any trouble entering
the country, please do check with your own chapter to see if everything is OK in that area.

Also, please be sure you have a valid passport with you that is valid for at least 3 months upon
entering the country. If you have an European ID, this is usually accepted here, but if you want to
be sure: bring your passport!

Upon arrival
Upon arrival the kids will go to a host family to have their first family weekend! The leaders and
JCs will go to camp with the staff to start planning everything.
The Netherlands
It is always nice to know something about the country you are going to visit! Do you know where
the Netherlands is located on the globe in your classroom? Try to find it, it is a very small country!
Some facts:

- The Netherlands has the highest population density of any European country (493
inhabitants per square km)
- The Netherlands, in Dutch ‘Nederland’ means ‘Low Country’. Almost half of the country
lies beneath the sea! All the water is kept out using dikes and sluices.
- The highest point in the country lies 321 meters above sea level
- We have two capitals: Amsterdam, which is the official capital and The Hague (in Dutch,
‘Den Haag’), which is where the Dutch government is seated.
- The language spoken is Dutch, although there are a lot of dialects spoken. If you put three
persons together; one from Friesland (northern part of the country), one from West-
Brabant (Southwest part of the country) and one from Limburg (Southern part of the
country), and ask them to have a conversation in their ‘native tongue’, they will probably
not understand each other!
- You can drive from the most northern tip of the country (not counting the islands) to the
most southern tip of the country in almost four hours, while driving at the legal speed
limit.

Weather
The weather is usually moist and cold. In the summer months we might have weeks of heat and
sun over 30 degrees Celsius, but there might also be days of rain and wind with 15 degrees Celsius.
Don’t only pack shorts and shirts, but also bring a sweater or two!

Food
In the Netherlands people usually have three meals a day (excluding snacks), where two of them
consist of bread. Breakfast and lunch will have bread with all kinds of sweet things like cheese,
peanut butter, chocolate sprinkles (‘hagelslag’). The evenings usually have a hot meal with a basis
of potatoes, a serving of vegetables and meat. These may be switched with rice, pasta and fish
now and then.
If you have any allergies, food restrictions (dietary, medical, religious), if you’re a vegetarian/vegan,
etc, please let us know! This should also be included in the specific forms your leader will fill out, but
if you have any serious restrictions, please let us know beforehand via mail!

Medical care
The medical care system in the Netherlands is very good. There is a hospital nearby and the
dentist isn’t far away either. Due to the superb health care system in the Netherlands, most
international health insurances are covered here. If something happens, you won’t have to worry!
Also, if you have specific medicine, please write down the Latin name of the medicine. If you run
out somehow, we can make sure it gets replenished.
Delegations
This year the following delegations are present:

Canada China

Germany Italy

South Korea The Netherlands

Norway Poland

Spain Turkey

United Kingdom United States of America

We also have six JCs present:

France Israel

South Korea The Netherlands (2x)

USA
Activities
As some might have already heard from a an older brother/sister, family or friends, several
activities always come back. Here are some of them:

JC Shop
You will be able to get candy, postcards, stamps, soft drinks and other nice things at the JC shop
during the camp. There will be a daily limit of how much you can spend in the shop. Your leader
knows about this.

Family/Leaders’ weekend
The first family weekend will be from Friday, July 15th to Sunday July 17th. The children will go to
host families, while all leaders and JCs will go to the campsite to prepare everything for the kids.
The second family will be held halfway the Village. During this weekend you will again stay at CISV
families from the Dutch chapter. The leaders, JCs and staff will have some fun and time to relax.

National Night
Each delegation will present themselves and their country during their National Night. Therefore
you need to prepare something like a national dance, songs, a play, a little show, pictures of your
families/pets/country/favorite dish, video, or whatever you want to show to your friends about
your awesome country. You have to bring a national costume.
If you want to serve us your national food, you will be welcome to do so! We will not be cooking
at the campsite ourselves, but we can make arrangements with the keeper if you want to use the
kitchen to cook your meal. If it’s not possible to bring all the ingredients, let us know and we will
try to arrange it.
What (not) to bring
Things you should bring:

- National flag (big and pretty! JCs should bring one too)
- Decorations for the campsite from your country
- Some presentation items from your country (pictures, postcards, maps, souvenirs, info
booklets, etc)
- Scrapbooks, placemats etc (JCs too!), at least 80 copies
- Presents for everyone for your National Night
- National costumes
- Activity ideas
- Music CDs from your country (try to bring copies, not originals)
- Forms*
- Visa*
- Passports
- Travel tickets
- Trading items*
- CISV clothes
- Special items to prepare food for your National Night
- Presents for the two host families
- Medicine, if required
- Backpack for excursions
- Camera, batteries, charger
- Teddy bear
- Laundry bag
- Pillow cover
- Suntan lotion and after sun
- Diary, if keep one
- Pen, paper, envelopes, addresses

(*) You will find more information about these subjects further in the pre camp
What not to bring
Please leave all these things at home!! If you want to use specific items during the journey to the
airport/railway station, it is allowed to bring them, but they will be confiscated upon arrival and be
kept safe by the staff. These items include:

- Game devices (e.g. Nintendo DS, PSP, Gameboy, etc)

- Cell (mobile) phones (only JCs and leaders are allowed to bring them)
- Valuables like jewelry etc
- Sleeping bags (blankets and sheets will be provided)
- Parents, bad mood and bad weather!

Clothes
Make sure you bring enough clothes for about 2 weeks. During family weekend you will have the
chance to do your laundry. Here is a short list of clothes we suggest you to bring:

- T-shirts
- Underwear
- Socks
- Jeans
- Shorts
- (Warm) sweatshirt
- Sneakers (comfortable running shoes)
- Walking shoes (for excursions and walks)
- Slippers
- Waterproof jacket/raincoat
- Swim suit
- Sleepwear
- Comfortable pants (slacks)
- Fancy outfit for special occasions
- Large and small towels
- Toilet items (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, showering gel, shampoo)
- Sun glasses & cap
- Bring a hard-cup water bottle with your name on it

Also, make sure you label ALL your clothes with your name and country!

Money and valuables

The currency used in the Netherlands is the Euro (€). Currently the Euro is worth 1.45 dollars, 0.89
pounds and 9.5 Yuan. These might change of course! We suggest that you only bring Euros! If that
isn’t possible, you can change your money at the airport or a bank, but remember that changing
money in a foreign country is usually more expensive, so try to do it in your own country in
advance.
We recommend you bring cash. The children will need some pocket money for the excursions, the
shopping day and the JC shop. We think that every child should bring the same amount of money.
This amount is suggested to be not more than €150 euro.
Trading items
Trading items should be small, cheap and nice! Good ideas for trading items would be:

- Small souvenirs from your country

- CISV items (T-Shirts, necklaces, bags etc)
- Sweets, candy or chocolate from your country
- Postcards, pictures and posters from your country
- Small national flags

Electricity
The wall sockets in the Netherlands have a power output of 230V/50Hz. The plugs are Type C
‘Europlugs’. Please make sure you have the correct adapter for your battery charger!

Forms
This is VERY important! Also for JCs! Please take your time to read them carefully!

Send the following forms as soon as possible to our email address,

village.netherlands2011@gmail.com, if you haven’t done so yet:

- PTIF (Participant Travel Information Form, one for each delegation and JC)
- VDIF (Village Delegation Information Form, one for each delegation)
- JCIF (Village JC Information Form, one for each JC)

You can find these forms at http://resources.cisv.org under ‘forms’.

Please mail any dietary restrictions ASAP!

Bring the following forms with you to the camp (you don’t have to mail them):

- HF (Health Form, one for each kid, leader and JC)

- ALIF (Adult Legal/Insurance Form, one for each leader)
- YLIF (Youth Legal/Insurance Form, one for each kid)
- TWAL (Youth Travelling Alone Legal/Insurance Form, one for each JC)
- Swimming and Internet Publishing Permission (one for each kid and JC, should be
included in the legal form, please make sure!)
Insurance
All participants (including kids, leaders and JCs) must have valid health, travel and accident
insurance for the journey to and from the CISV program and throughout the entire stay at the
CISV program. For more information contact your local chapter!

Swimming Permission
In CISV Netherlands we need a special swimming permission for everybody under 18 (JCs too!),
which will be included in the legal form.

Internet Publishing Permission

We want to publish some photos of the Village onto the internet, for which we need an Internet
Publishing Permission from every kid and JC, which will be included in the legal form.

CISV Friends Site

Please find time to register for the Village on the CISV Friends site. You can do this by going to
http://friends.cisv.org. If you do not already have an account, you will be asked to create one.
With this account you can ‘find activity’ and claim your participation. For any questions, please
contact us or your local chapter.

In the 1950s you’d have to use one of these!! Yikes!

Specifics
As was already mentioned; there are several ways of traveling to the Netherlands. If you need any
help or advice, you can always contact the staff at village.netherlands2011@gmail.com.

For those that haven’t done so yet, join our Facebook page! The group page has been set to
public and if you want to join, please do so, so you can meet your friends for the summer! The
Facebook page is called ‘CISV Village in Ysselsteyn Summer 2011 =)’. See you there!!

If parents want to contact the staff, they can do so via the email address stated above. In the next
pre-camp the contact details for the camp site will be mentioned, so you can send letters. Also
please make sure the leader of your child knows where to contact you in case he needs to, during
the four weeks of camp!

Theme
The theme has been set to be ‘the 50s’. We will give you specific tasks for the theme in the
following pre-camp, but please start to research a bit on how your CISV chapter formed and think
about what CISV means for you (for the leaders/JCs) or what CISV will mean for you in the coming
years (of course, the little villagers will want to stay after this incredible Village! ;) ).

See you this summer!!

- Village Staff