Good for the back, spirit and memory bank

Working to help keep the Kotkajärve campsites clean, buildings in good shape and natural environment healthy and happy yields many good personal gains as well, including the acquisition of technical, social and language skills. Over 70 parents, leaders and cottage owners gathered at Kotkajärve for a work weekend May 26 and 27. In addition to battling sääsed (mosquitos) and black flies, which belong to a family of bugs known as kihulased in Estonia, it was possible to kids to learn quite a lot from their elders.

Father-son tandems were hard at work putting new metal roofing and siding on outhouses, female cub leaders led expeditions to try to tame the wilds of Uudismaa on the shores of Kotkajärve and a myriad of tool names could be learned in Estonian where a new kanuugaraaž was being built in Lembitu küla (village). What a great opportunity to learn cool concepts such as valmis/ehitatud tala (manufactured joist), suruõhu naelapüss / -püstol (compressor-powered nail gun), ketas/saag (circular saw) and aku/trell (cordless drill).