Suffolk News-Herald

Every day, hundreds of young girls around Suffolk experience the fun and learning of girl scouts. On Saturday afternoon, they helped others, and themselves, learn about the influence that the organization has on millions around the globe. Over 200 little ladies headed to King’s Fork High School for their annual Thinking Day, in which dozens of exhibits and presentations about worldwide scouting were set up. New Zealand, Turkey, India, Australia and other areas were represented.

&uot;I learned about the food they eat and the uniforms they wore,&uot; Taylor Connors, 8, said of her Mexico exhibit. &uot;We gave out chips and salsa, and our friends gave out quesadillas. I had fun learning about other countries and eating their foods.&uot;

Global culinary cuisines were a popular topic around the school. Alexis Sharpe, 13, and her friends gave out lumpia, a widespread meat-and-lettuce Philippine snack.

&uot;It was something different,&uot; Sharpe said. &uot;We learned about the types of sports they play in the Philippines, like karate. They only go to school until fourth grade, then they have to go to work.&uot;

Coke cans in Japan look quite different from those around America, said Laura Cossu, 12.

&uot;It’s tall and thin,&uot; she said. &uot;It says, ‘Coke’ in English, and the rest is written in Japanese, so I didn’t know what that said. We taught how to count to 10 in Japanese, and I got to see clothing from Africa and India and some other places.&uot;

As the event wound down, troop leader Jean Hodges helped her girls pack up their England teaching tool.

&uot;The girls keep me young,&uot; said Hodges, who will celebrate her 50th year of scout leading in September. &uot;We always need to learn about other countries to survive ourselves. This represents the girl scouts being a worldwide organization.&uot;