I returned to camp on Thursday with an ankle that looked and felt slightly better although it was still a bit huge. I had the kindergarten drama group that had signed up for drama 3rd period, and it was a bit daunting because they were after all only 4-5 years old! I did this one game where we all pretended we were seeds and then in stages we grew into an apple tree, and then this one where we're sitting in an imaginary box and we have to decorate it!
Thursdays are the Overnights, and this week's was a James Bond themed one, and some of us had to dress up as villains etc, although the costumes were really random as the kids (and in some cases, us too) didn't really know who they were. I was the one from Casino Royale... all I did was use my plain white T-shirt I bought to sleep in and drew a bow tie on it in black marker, and did my hair in My Fair Lady parting-style. At the end of the evening each of the villains had to be hunted down at their posts (mine was the playground lol) and "killed", although we weren't told beforehand that being killed involved being sprayed with mustard!! The first group decided to top up my ear with it (once I was already dead on the ground lol), the second group got a little right in my eye, for the third group counsellor Adam M put it down my back and the fourth group decided to focus on my hair once I was already on the ground! It was absoloutley disgusting but it was good fun! Some people were angry they didn't get told about the mustard, because they were wearing things that they planned to wear to camp the next day, but Mat managed to get some of the stuff washed in the washing machines they use for the pool towels.
Us mustard victims showered thoroughly (my hair ran yellow for a long time lol) and then returned to our groups, by which time they were already on the smore stage of the camp fire. One of our campers was crying for home so I had to take him aside and talk to him, then we had the night swim at which I was on a circle and got absoloutley bitten to pieces (around the two pools there are a number of circles on the ground; counsellors take it in turns to stand on a circle and watch over the pool, in addition to the lifeguards).
The boys were in the gym for this week's overnight and the girls were in the tents. The boys seemed to settle quite well but apparently the girls had trouble.
On Friday I don't think anyone was really energised enough for another full camp day, but when it got going it was fine. The swims are a good thing in that when you get hot and sticky during the day you have the chance to cool off. The Friday Show had the boys from the drama selective perform their improvised skit about bad superheroes.
I, and I'm sure everyone else, was absoloutley knackered when it came to the bus ride home. Camp days really do take it out of you, especially the overnights when you're working flat out from 8am one day to 5:30pm the next day, with no breaks apart from six hours sleep. I had to babysit on the Friday evening, which was alright although a bit more difficult than the past couple of times, and then Amy walked over at about 9:30pm and we just hung out and talked for a couple of hours.
On Saturday morning I was woken up by a phone call from Sarah saying they had a spare ticket to a Tigers game that evening which was really cool. I then minutes later had a call from Amy asking about going to a mall with Justin (a returner who only flew in on Thursday and is here for two weeks) and Aaron. So I got ready quickly and we left for the mall at about 11:15am. The malls here are so much better than in the UK in that they are alot quieter and everyone is just walking around leisurley at their own pace, there's no hectic dashes or whatever. I bought a t-shirt and some new flip flops (the cheap Old Navy ones from two weeks ago proving quite painful).
We got back about 3:30 and I immediatley had to go over to Sarah's to meet her and Leanne for the baseball game. Emily, who works mainly at the pool, picked us up and took us over to Alicia's, an American counsellor, who then drove the five of us to the game. Detroit is actually quite scary in athmosphere; it is known more for its crime than for anything else and you can really sense that. We ate at a bar near the stadium and then made our way in. The Tigers were winning for the majority of the game until the 8th inning when suddenly the Rockies (from Colorado) took a lead, but then right in the 9th and final inning the Tigers pulled it back and won.
We got back about 11:30, and Leanne and I were going to see about going to Jeff's house party when we got back but it was too late to get a lift off anyone and cabs were $40 because he lives quite a way out. So we went down to the basement and hung out for a little while, which was good because I haven't had the chance to have a proper chat with Leanne in quite a while. I left there at about 1:30am and came home.
Today I haven't done a lot really except clear up a bit and phone home. This week's going to be short because it's Independence Day on Friday so there's no camp, and the Overnight has been moved to Wednesday. Can't believe we're in to Week 4 already!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Day 21
WELL. I'm writing this at midday on a Wednesday because I'm not at camp today due to a stupid infected insect bite. More on that later!
Well after blogging on Sunday I did a load of laundry, rung the family and did a bit of channel hopping, then Amy and I took the big trek from 14 Mile and Drake (where we are) up to 14 and Orchard, the same hike we did with Leanne and Sarah last week. I needed a toiletry refresher so the Walgreens up there came in very handy. For $7 I bought this MASSIVE bottle of Listerine that probably in GBP costs not that much more than a regular bottle at home, and I will take a picture of it because it needs to be seen to be believed! We also had a Staples and Borders binge and then walked back home again, both quite tired by the time we got back!
At about 6ish the Cohens from round the corner came round (they're housing Sarah) for a barbeque-type meal. Got a chance to have a catch-up with Sarah and we had a really good talk about pretty much everything to do with camp and being out here which was very feel-good and resolved the odd thing or two. After the mealage we strolled round to hers and she went on a long cycle through all my Facebook pictures, and as we went through them she came more and more to the conclusion that Dean "is a bit hot actually, isn't he?" haha.
Monday was the beginning of the second "Session" at camp, and this session is four weeks long. Mine and Steve's Tigers group is more or less the same as last week only a couple have gone and a few more have been added. The Green Dot bus has got double the amount of kids on it, but with about 25 on our bus now we're still a way off the 40-50 that some have.
My ankle was beginning to get a bit sore on Monday where I'd been bitten by something out of the ordinary at camp on the overnight, so I didn't play again in the traditional Monday night football game. Aaron didn't play this week either; instead the four of us (the other two being Leanne and Amy) ended up talking in Mark's car for the majority of the evening! We didn't get out of the car immediatley when we got there because hardly anyone else had arrived, and then as time went by we just kept deeming it too cold to get out so by the time we did finally get out there was only half an hour or so until we actually left. The obligatory subsequent couple of hours at Champps saw me, Amy and Sarah trying to finish off this Mile High ice cream thing that really is enormous. We didn't quite make it, in fact there was only a little bit left, but we made good progress!
Yesterday [Tuesday] was probably the most tiring day at camp so far, but there was nothing really out of the ordinary about it. We had our first Instructional Swim which only lasted a few minutes but it was a start. I'm in Red water for that, which is like "Advanced Beginner", like level 2 of 4. Jenni and I also had our first Drama selective, which was what was supposed to run last week but it was never made an option to the kids. It wasn't an easy one to run at all, it was very difficult, and Jenni and I both agreed that next time we will pre-plan exactly what they'll do at the Friday Show instead of giving them rowdy creative license.
Last night was a staff meeting and staff social at the same bowling alley where we first met our host families on the evening we arrived. The meeting and meal (pizza and salad... the pizza is becoming a diet regular of just about everyone, whether they like it or not!) was followed by bowling, where Leanne, Amy, Aaron and I had a lane and I lost spectacularly... Leanne won with 110 and I had 50! I think that at about the eigth turn I had literally had as many gutter balls as I had balls that actually managed to make it to the pins. Aaron and me decided that we'd done the gentlemanly thing of letting the girls win...
It was about 9:45 when we left so the four of us and Sarah came back to mine, where Richard's cousins (19 and 23, who are staying for two days) were playing Guitar Hero in the basement. I said I was going to take some painkillers for my ankle, which had begun to hurt a bit, and everyone looked at it and was like "WOAH!". Everyone was making suggestions and Aimee insisted on calling a doctor who lives in the subdivision, and he told her to send me round. Me, Richard [host dad] and Sarah then bundled into a car and headed over to his house; he took one look and went "Woah, that's bad...". He told me it was a bad idea for me to walk on it (and suddenly the big multi-mile walk to 14 and Orchard on Sunday was regretted!) and that I needed to try to keep it elevated and prescribed me some drugs for it. It is a bite that has quite badly become a bacterial infection. He said he's seen cases where its carried on swelling right up to the knee!!! Apparently mine isnt quite that severe though! We then went to the 24 hour pharmacy and got a few pills, and I called Jason, a senior staff member from camp, who told me to call Lorraine. Which was petrifying... so Richard said he'd call her for me! Lorraine apparently was understanding. I am really glad that everyone, especially Aimee and Sarah, were insistent on it getting seen, because I was just going to let it run its course. Mum gets bitten all the time and it occasionally swells so I just assumed this was like that, but nope! Trust me to get a bacterial infection lol.
Just the standing around in the pharmacy had made it really quite sore, so I was limping quite a bit when we got home. Leanne, Aaron and Amy were still there with Richard's cousins and Aimee playing Guitar Hero! When everyone left I went straight to bed and woke up at 8 this morning to take a dosage. I have to take it three times a day, so that's 8 hour intervals.
Today it doesn't feel that bad although I've barely walked much. Hopping up the stairs for breakfast was a mission and a half, but other than that I've just been on my bed with the foot slightly elevated, as instructed, sending apologetic texts to Leanne, Aaron and Amy for inviting them over here and then going with Sarah to see a doctor after five minutes! Getting a bit bored, I really do hate having to take a day off, especially after only three weeks. I don't get it though because he said I need to elevate it so blood can flow to it... but surely elevating it is going to restrict the blood flow to it? I dunno, he's the professional!
Anyway, while I was lying here watching Music And Lyrics on my iPod this morning I was thinking that even with the ankle drama I am actually having a wicked time out here at the moment, and it really does feel like when I flew out here I pressed some sort of life reset button and I've completely started again from scratch. I can't imagine how weird it will be flying home and I'll be back in Hertfordshire, Sarah will be back in Norfolk, Leanne in Romford, Amy in Portsmouth, Aaron on the Isle of Wight, and so on... This all feels normal now, this feels like this is my everyday life, and even though I am looking forward to seeing family and friends again it is probably going to be just as weird going back to England as it was leaving it.
Well after blogging on Sunday I did a load of laundry, rung the family and did a bit of channel hopping, then Amy and I took the big trek from 14 Mile and Drake (where we are) up to 14 and Orchard, the same hike we did with Leanne and Sarah last week. I needed a toiletry refresher so the Walgreens up there came in very handy. For $7 I bought this MASSIVE bottle of Listerine that probably in GBP costs not that much more than a regular bottle at home, and I will take a picture of it because it needs to be seen to be believed! We also had a Staples and Borders binge and then walked back home again, both quite tired by the time we got back!
At about 6ish the Cohens from round the corner came round (they're housing Sarah) for a barbeque-type meal. Got a chance to have a catch-up with Sarah and we had a really good talk about pretty much everything to do with camp and being out here which was very feel-good and resolved the odd thing or two. After the mealage we strolled round to hers and she went on a long cycle through all my Facebook pictures, and as we went through them she came more and more to the conclusion that Dean "is a bit hot actually, isn't he?" haha.
Monday was the beginning of the second "Session" at camp, and this session is four weeks long. Mine and Steve's Tigers group is more or less the same as last week only a couple have gone and a few more have been added. The Green Dot bus has got double the amount of kids on it, but with about 25 on our bus now we're still a way off the 40-50 that some have.
My ankle was beginning to get a bit sore on Monday where I'd been bitten by something out of the ordinary at camp on the overnight, so I didn't play again in the traditional Monday night football game. Aaron didn't play this week either; instead the four of us (the other two being Leanne and Amy) ended up talking in Mark's car for the majority of the evening! We didn't get out of the car immediatley when we got there because hardly anyone else had arrived, and then as time went by we just kept deeming it too cold to get out so by the time we did finally get out there was only half an hour or so until we actually left. The obligatory subsequent couple of hours at Champps saw me, Amy and Sarah trying to finish off this Mile High ice cream thing that really is enormous. We didn't quite make it, in fact there was only a little bit left, but we made good progress!
Yesterday [Tuesday] was probably the most tiring day at camp so far, but there was nothing really out of the ordinary about it. We had our first Instructional Swim which only lasted a few minutes but it was a start. I'm in Red water for that, which is like "Advanced Beginner", like level 2 of 4. Jenni and I also had our first Drama selective, which was what was supposed to run last week but it was never made an option to the kids. It wasn't an easy one to run at all, it was very difficult, and Jenni and I both agreed that next time we will pre-plan exactly what they'll do at the Friday Show instead of giving them rowdy creative license.
Last night was a staff meeting and staff social at the same bowling alley where we first met our host families on the evening we arrived. The meeting and meal (pizza and salad... the pizza is becoming a diet regular of just about everyone, whether they like it or not!) was followed by bowling, where Leanne, Amy, Aaron and I had a lane and I lost spectacularly... Leanne won with 110 and I had 50! I think that at about the eigth turn I had literally had as many gutter balls as I had balls that actually managed to make it to the pins. Aaron and me decided that we'd done the gentlemanly thing of letting the girls win...
It was about 9:45 when we left so the four of us and Sarah came back to mine, where Richard's cousins (19 and 23, who are staying for two days) were playing Guitar Hero in the basement. I said I was going to take some painkillers for my ankle, which had begun to hurt a bit, and everyone looked at it and was like "WOAH!". Everyone was making suggestions and Aimee insisted on calling a doctor who lives in the subdivision, and he told her to send me round. Me, Richard [host dad] and Sarah then bundled into a car and headed over to his house; he took one look and went "Woah, that's bad...". He told me it was a bad idea for me to walk on it (and suddenly the big multi-mile walk to 14 and Orchard on Sunday was regretted!) and that I needed to try to keep it elevated and prescribed me some drugs for it. It is a bite that has quite badly become a bacterial infection. He said he's seen cases where its carried on swelling right up to the knee!!! Apparently mine isnt quite that severe though! We then went to the 24 hour pharmacy and got a few pills, and I called Jason, a senior staff member from camp, who told me to call Lorraine. Which was petrifying... so Richard said he'd call her for me! Lorraine apparently was understanding. I am really glad that everyone, especially Aimee and Sarah, were insistent on it getting seen, because I was just going to let it run its course. Mum gets bitten all the time and it occasionally swells so I just assumed this was like that, but nope! Trust me to get a bacterial infection lol.
Just the standing around in the pharmacy had made it really quite sore, so I was limping quite a bit when we got home. Leanne, Aaron and Amy were still there with Richard's cousins and Aimee playing Guitar Hero! When everyone left I went straight to bed and woke up at 8 this morning to take a dosage. I have to take it three times a day, so that's 8 hour intervals.
Today it doesn't feel that bad although I've barely walked much. Hopping up the stairs for breakfast was a mission and a half, but other than that I've just been on my bed with the foot slightly elevated, as instructed, sending apologetic texts to Leanne, Aaron and Amy for inviting them over here and then going with Sarah to see a doctor after five minutes! Getting a bit bored, I really do hate having to take a day off, especially after only three weeks. I don't get it though because he said I need to elevate it so blood can flow to it... but surely elevating it is going to restrict the blood flow to it? I dunno, he's the professional!
Anyway, while I was lying here watching Music And Lyrics on my iPod this morning I was thinking that even with the ankle drama I am actually having a wicked time out here at the moment, and it really does feel like when I flew out here I pressed some sort of life reset button and I've completely started again from scratch. I can't imagine how weird it will be flying home and I'll be back in Hertfordshire, Sarah will be back in Norfolk, Leanne in Romford, Amy in Portsmouth, Aaron on the Isle of Wight, and so on... This all feels normal now, this feels like this is my everyday life, and even though I am looking forward to seeing family and friends again it is probably going to be just as weird going back to England as it was leaving it.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Day 18
Haven't posted in a good few days, so time for an update!
On Wednesday I was starting to feel a little frustrated because we had a group of kids in the First Grade and I was used to Spotlight's army of young teenagers. They are a completely different ball game, for starters they're at the age where they're still mispronouncing words and missing numbers when they count! But luckily there was a bit of a turnaround on Wednesday which I think helped - In the Arena there is a big notice board with a little slip of paper pinned up for each activity, and you basically schedule an activity for your group by putting your group name on the slip in the necessary time, day etc. When swimming was cancelled on Wednesday, for the afternoon swim session they asked everyone just to sign up for an extra activity, and on the sign-up sheet under some activities they'd put certain specialists' names down in the empty boxes, meaning that those specialists would be leading those sessions. Activities such as music, magic, gym, photography and - woop! - drama. The morning swim session had Jenni's name on and the afternoon one had mine.
A fourth or fifth grade (I forget) group of girls signed up for the drama period that had my name on it, so during that period on Wednesday I left my normal group and went off to lead a drama session. It went really well and was just the pick-me-up that was needed. The group were really lively and up for it and they bounced right off everything I gave them to do. So then for the last period of the day when I went back to my normal group I was slightly happier and thus I think I was better with the kids.
Wednesday evenings are babysitting nights, and the kids were incredibly well behaved and I was back downstairs after putting them to bed by 8:15!
Thursday and Friday were like one long day. On Thursday swimming was cancelled once again and I was given another drama session to take; this one was second grade boys. They were alot more like I was expecting the Wednesday group to be like really, I mean they did well, but obviously there's only so much you can do with a group of 9 year old boys who more often than not won't have that much of an interest in drama! But I managed to get them going on acting out one of the Willoway songs, The Willoway Goat, which is a repeat-after-me song that is pretty much the Willoway theme tune! They did well with that, probably due to the fact that the goat dies at the end of the song and they seemed to love a bit of death!
The Overnight went well. The kids had to go to bed at 10pm and all counsellors had to stay with their campers until 10:30. After that it was a rotating system with three or four counsellors on watch at a time until 1am. This week the boys were in the tents (one tent to a group) and the girls in the gym. I wasn't given a watch slot this week but me and a few others were put down to clean up the FDA area once all the counsellors had gone to bed at 1:00. Didn't take long really and we were sorted by 1:10. Slept not too badly, only one kid needed the loo in the middle of the night!
Friday was another normal camp day, so it felt quite long but it did go fairly quickly. On Fridays they have this Friday Show thing where groups or bus groups or whatever can just show everyone else something that they've done during the week. The Cool Kids group, who I worked with on Wednesday, showed their skit that they did during their session with me, and the Spartans, who I worked with on Thursday, did their performance of Willoway Goat!!
Yesterday [Saturday] was quite busy. We had a meeting in the morning to discuss the four-week session which starts tomorrow. I'm still in the Tigers group, same as this week, only with some kids added and some removed. We're up from 9 to 12 in our group this session, and Andy's been moved elsewhere so it's just me and Steve. Because there's more than 300 kids now the pool sessions have been split. Of the four periods in the day, half the camp will swim 1st and 3rd period, and the other half will swim 2nd and 4th period. Our Tigers are down for 1st and 3rd, but on Tuesday and Thursday 3rd period I've been put down on the Drama activity sheet to be available to lead a session. I don't think any groups signed up for the Tuesday one but I'm going to have Reception age kids on Thursday. What drama I'm going to do with Reception age kids I have no idea, so I'm going to have a look on the net for some ideas and speak to Jenni, the other drama specialist, tomorrow.
The meeting finished at about 1pm but we were given the option of staying a bit longer to help out around camp and earn some cash in hand. Mark, our driver, fancied staying, and we didn't mind it for the sake of an extra paid hour or so. At first I was helping to spread wood chips on the ground outside with Luke and Chris. Luke [who you'll remember as the Brummie Villa fan from a previous blog entry!] suggested a post-camp trip down to Florida and then a flight home from there, as me and him both have to be back home at similar times. I think after-camp plans are starting to get put into motion now; several people were already sorted before they even flew out but others are starting to make their plans now. It's good that there are a few options on the table with certain people.
We were provided lunch and then we stayed an extra half hour, and me, Amy and Chris made these dream-catcher things for an Arts And Crafts project which will be done this week, and Holly soon joined us. We left camp at about 2:45 and were paid $20. Not bad considering he sold it to us as a $7/hour deal! Back home that would be peanuts but out here that more or less sorts you out for a night out.
Amy and I hung out for the rest of the afternoon, and came up with a plan for a possible activity for the Selective period to pitch to the senior staff this week. We went back to Amy and Leanne's host family's place on a nearby street at about 6ish [Leanne had gone with Sarah to this party at an up-state university] and she cooked for the whole family! We then left just before 8ish to go to Adam K's birthday thing. There were a fair few of us, like 15, and we met at Champps, then went over to a cinema to watch new Mike Myers film The Love Guru. It was a late showing at gone 10 so we killed the extra hour and a bit by going to a Hooters, which was right across the road, for a bit. It was cool to mingle with a few people, it was a laugh. The film wasn't that great really but it did have some hilarious one-liners in it. Following that we went back to Champps and left at about 1am.
Tonight the Cohens, the family who are housing Sarah, are coming over for dinner [with Sarah], but other than that it's a quiet Sunday before the real hard work begins tomorrow!
On Wednesday I was starting to feel a little frustrated because we had a group of kids in the First Grade and I was used to Spotlight's army of young teenagers. They are a completely different ball game, for starters they're at the age where they're still mispronouncing words and missing numbers when they count! But luckily there was a bit of a turnaround on Wednesday which I think helped - In the Arena there is a big notice board with a little slip of paper pinned up for each activity, and you basically schedule an activity for your group by putting your group name on the slip in the necessary time, day etc. When swimming was cancelled on Wednesday, for the afternoon swim session they asked everyone just to sign up for an extra activity, and on the sign-up sheet under some activities they'd put certain specialists' names down in the empty boxes, meaning that those specialists would be leading those sessions. Activities such as music, magic, gym, photography and - woop! - drama. The morning swim session had Jenni's name on and the afternoon one had mine.
A fourth or fifth grade (I forget) group of girls signed up for the drama period that had my name on it, so during that period on Wednesday I left my normal group and went off to lead a drama session. It went really well and was just the pick-me-up that was needed. The group were really lively and up for it and they bounced right off everything I gave them to do. So then for the last period of the day when I went back to my normal group I was slightly happier and thus I think I was better with the kids.
Wednesday evenings are babysitting nights, and the kids were incredibly well behaved and I was back downstairs after putting them to bed by 8:15!
Thursday and Friday were like one long day. On Thursday swimming was cancelled once again and I was given another drama session to take; this one was second grade boys. They were alot more like I was expecting the Wednesday group to be like really, I mean they did well, but obviously there's only so much you can do with a group of 9 year old boys who more often than not won't have that much of an interest in drama! But I managed to get them going on acting out one of the Willoway songs, The Willoway Goat, which is a repeat-after-me song that is pretty much the Willoway theme tune! They did well with that, probably due to the fact that the goat dies at the end of the song and they seemed to love a bit of death!
The Overnight went well. The kids had to go to bed at 10pm and all counsellors had to stay with their campers until 10:30. After that it was a rotating system with three or four counsellors on watch at a time until 1am. This week the boys were in the tents (one tent to a group) and the girls in the gym. I wasn't given a watch slot this week but me and a few others were put down to clean up the FDA area once all the counsellors had gone to bed at 1:00. Didn't take long really and we were sorted by 1:10. Slept not too badly, only one kid needed the loo in the middle of the night!
Friday was another normal camp day, so it felt quite long but it did go fairly quickly. On Fridays they have this Friday Show thing where groups or bus groups or whatever can just show everyone else something that they've done during the week. The Cool Kids group, who I worked with on Wednesday, showed their skit that they did during their session with me, and the Spartans, who I worked with on Thursday, did their performance of Willoway Goat!!
Yesterday [Saturday] was quite busy. We had a meeting in the morning to discuss the four-week session which starts tomorrow. I'm still in the Tigers group, same as this week, only with some kids added and some removed. We're up from 9 to 12 in our group this session, and Andy's been moved elsewhere so it's just me and Steve. Because there's more than 300 kids now the pool sessions have been split. Of the four periods in the day, half the camp will swim 1st and 3rd period, and the other half will swim 2nd and 4th period. Our Tigers are down for 1st and 3rd, but on Tuesday and Thursday 3rd period I've been put down on the Drama activity sheet to be available to lead a session. I don't think any groups signed up for the Tuesday one but I'm going to have Reception age kids on Thursday. What drama I'm going to do with Reception age kids I have no idea, so I'm going to have a look on the net for some ideas and speak to Jenni, the other drama specialist, tomorrow.
The meeting finished at about 1pm but we were given the option of staying a bit longer to help out around camp and earn some cash in hand. Mark, our driver, fancied staying, and we didn't mind it for the sake of an extra paid hour or so. At first I was helping to spread wood chips on the ground outside with Luke and Chris. Luke [who you'll remember as the Brummie Villa fan from a previous blog entry!] suggested a post-camp trip down to Florida and then a flight home from there, as me and him both have to be back home at similar times. I think after-camp plans are starting to get put into motion now; several people were already sorted before they even flew out but others are starting to make their plans now. It's good that there are a few options on the table with certain people.
We were provided lunch and then we stayed an extra half hour, and me, Amy and Chris made these dream-catcher things for an Arts And Crafts project which will be done this week, and Holly soon joined us. We left camp at about 2:45 and were paid $20. Not bad considering he sold it to us as a $7/hour deal! Back home that would be peanuts but out here that more or less sorts you out for a night out.
Amy and I hung out for the rest of the afternoon, and came up with a plan for a possible activity for the Selective period to pitch to the senior staff this week. We went back to Amy and Leanne's host family's place on a nearby street at about 6ish [Leanne had gone with Sarah to this party at an up-state university] and she cooked for the whole family! We then left just before 8ish to go to Adam K's birthday thing. There were a fair few of us, like 15, and we met at Champps, then went over to a cinema to watch new Mike Myers film The Love Guru. It was a late showing at gone 10 so we killed the extra hour and a bit by going to a Hooters, which was right across the road, for a bit. It was cool to mingle with a few people, it was a laugh. The film wasn't that great really but it did have some hilarious one-liners in it. Following that we went back to Champps and left at about 1am.
Tonight the Cohens, the family who are housing Sarah, are coming over for dinner [with Sarah], but other than that it's a quiet Sunday before the real hard work begins tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Day 13
So camp has officially begun! Got up at 6:30 yesterday [Monday] and was picked up just after 7:30 by this guy Mark, an English returning counsellor who lives round the corner and is really cool. He'll be taking us (us being me, Sarah, Leanne, Amy and Aaron) to the bus meeting point every morning, and bringing us home at the end of the day. Once we arrived at the bus meeting place, which is another of these shopping precinct things, we boarded our busses and got ready to go. The busses are all named by coloured dots - ours is Green Dot and the other consellors are Max (the guy who took James, Dean and I to Orientation all last week); another Max; Adam K(aka Kirt), an amazingly tall English first-time counsellor who's really funny; Luke, the Villa fan; Rob, an English counsellor who I haven't had the chance to chat to yet but he seems like a nice guy; Stephen, a third-time counsellor who is also my co-counsellor at camp this week; and Alison, a US counsellor.
The bus journey is really long. We only have a handful of kids on our route for this first week but it still takes a while to get to all the different subdivisions and then to get round the little streets. In America they've started introducing roundabouts now (although many call them Traffic Circles) and it is absoloutley hilarious how they deal with them. They have no idea what they're doing at all; the roundabout is split into lanes that are marked to death, and there are millions of signposts dotted around the place, but the drivers have no idea what they're doing and just fly into this frenzied panic and it's so funny. Our bus driver Sue just uses her privelages of driving a big yellow vehicle and just ploughs round on any lane she chooses!
Once we arrived at camp we were introduced to our campers. My co-counsellors are Stephen from the Green Dot bus; and Andy, an English counsellor who is tall and unashamedly a complete and utter geek. He comes out with these really random, out-of-nowhere little remarks and observations which are more often than not very amusing! He seems a decent guy. Our group consists of 9 boys from the Second Grade, all of whom are quite well acquainted already. We have some real characters!
The day is split into four activity periods (two of which are swimming) and a few other bits including Camper's Choice/Selectives. In the first Activity Period we just played a few games to ease them into the day, then came the swim, where they had to try out for different Tags - Yellow, Red, Blue or White - depending on their level of ability. The colour of their tag also dictates which areas of the two pools they're allowed in. Many counsellors were in the pool with them encouraging them as they did their widths/lengths etc.
After lunch was Camper's Choice for the younger kids and Selectives for the older kids. The younger kids just can go around the camp and play on any activity that's open to them. Selectives are for the older ones, and they're given a list to choose from and stick to that activity for the entire week. I was put on the Drama selective with Mat D (one of the first people I met on the flight over here) and Jenni (an American counsellor). I was quite relieved about that because I literally had no idea what I was doing with the drama until I looked at that list. I was hired as a general counsellor who could dabble in drama during the Selective period but last week it seemed like we just filled in these lesson plans on absoloutley anything and they picked out a few from their pile. But anyway, much as I was relieved to be stuck on the Drama selective, that proved irrelevant. Apparently Drama was accidentally missed off the list of options given to the campers earlier in the day when they had to choose, so this week will in fact be a drama free one!
The third activity period for our group (the Tigers by the way) was Arts And Crafts in which the Arts And Crafts specialists gave them bird houses made of plain white card, and they had to decorate them. The fourth and final period was the Free Swim, in which the counsellors just had to get in and play with the kids, except for if they were needed to stand watch on any one of the nine designated spots around the sides of the pools.
The first camp day was altogether quite tiring but I didn't feel that tired until I got home and Aimee said "You look exhausted!"... Right then was when I felt tired! But anyway it's a tradition on Monday evenings apparently for the staff to go to this nearby football field (this being football as in soccer) for a game, so Mark drove us over there at about 7:30. It was FREEZING! I didn't play in the actual football - many people just hung out at the side of the pitch - but it really is taken quite seriously; there were people with shin pads and boots, and on the other hand people just doing it for a laugh! It went on for a couple of hours or so, and then we all went over to Champps for a bit. The soft drinks were all free refills, so I naturally had about six Cokes (she just kept taking the glass!) and Amy and I also shared this really nice dessert which is like a big cookie, with ice cream and cream and all these sauces on top. The barmaid bless her wasn't really with it, she needed about half hours notice to do anything (i.e. get change, get a bill...) because she kept forgetting what it was she was doing!
Today was the second day at camp, and the bus journey was a bit shorter as Sue was getting used to the route but it still is a really long trip. The first activity period today was soccer, but the two Swim periods were cancelled because it was really cold! Instead we did Kickball (like baseball only you kick a ball instead of bat it) second and miniature golf fourth, with cricket third. It was really cool doing cricket with them because they'd barely heard of it before. It was good seeing them get all excited about a new sport and a new game and wanting to try everything out... like the most exciting thing in the world was playing in a position with a title as grand as "Wicket Keeper"!
When the day was over Aaron and I stayed with Leanne and Amy, and we stayed at theirs for a bit before all coming over to my host family's place. They were all really amazed with the house, and the basement and everything. I am actually really lucky and fortunate with where I'm staying. Brooke can be a beast of a handful sometimes, and sometimes I do wander what it would be like to have another counsellor staying here like many others do, but that aside I honestly can't complain at all. Amy and I began a mission to make tea but we were stopped in our tracks when we realised that the control lock was on on the hob/stove so we had no means of boiling any hot water! The babysitter, round to look after Brooke for the second night running, similarly had no idea. Amy went soon after that so she could phone her other half and join her host mum for dinner, but Leanne and Aaron stayed and we ordered in a pizza. Sarah came over to join us soon after that and we watched this teen film on TV from like 1999 that I didn't really get into - it had Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina The Teenage Witch fame in it and the girl who played Amber in Brothers And Sister had a supporting role! Aimee and Brad got home and Aimee insisted Sarah and I collect a load of snacks and things to take down to the basement, which firmly established Aimee as one of the coolest "host mums" in the area! Sarah left just before 9 and Leanne and Aaron left when the film finished just after 10. I have to admit, I was a bit unsure about how to approach Aaron before now... I didn't have anything against him at all, I just got the impression he didn't like me! But after today I can safely say he's a really cool guy with a sharp sense of humour. He reminds me of someone at home but I can't place who.
Anyway, the group were so taken with my host house that we've decided to have a film night one night - Leanne has chosen The Notebook, which neither of us have seen but apparently no-one, boy or girl, can watch it without crying!
The camp itself is a completely different ball game now that the kids have started. It is hard work but not in a bad way. There are no breaks; you have to attend to a group, your bus group or your camp group, from when the first kid gets on the bus at 8:30am to when the last kid gets off at about 4:45pm. It is tough, it is exhausting and it is unpredictable, but I really think it's going to be life-changing.
The bus journey is really long. We only have a handful of kids on our route for this first week but it still takes a while to get to all the different subdivisions and then to get round the little streets. In America they've started introducing roundabouts now (although many call them Traffic Circles) and it is absoloutley hilarious how they deal with them. They have no idea what they're doing at all; the roundabout is split into lanes that are marked to death, and there are millions of signposts dotted around the place, but the drivers have no idea what they're doing and just fly into this frenzied panic and it's so funny. Our bus driver Sue just uses her privelages of driving a big yellow vehicle and just ploughs round on any lane she chooses!
Once we arrived at camp we were introduced to our campers. My co-counsellors are Stephen from the Green Dot bus; and Andy, an English counsellor who is tall and unashamedly a complete and utter geek. He comes out with these really random, out-of-nowhere little remarks and observations which are more often than not very amusing! He seems a decent guy. Our group consists of 9 boys from the Second Grade, all of whom are quite well acquainted already. We have some real characters!
The day is split into four activity periods (two of which are swimming) and a few other bits including Camper's Choice/Selectives. In the first Activity Period we just played a few games to ease them into the day, then came the swim, where they had to try out for different Tags - Yellow, Red, Blue or White - depending on their level of ability. The colour of their tag also dictates which areas of the two pools they're allowed in. Many counsellors were in the pool with them encouraging them as they did their widths/lengths etc.
After lunch was Camper's Choice for the younger kids and Selectives for the older kids. The younger kids just can go around the camp and play on any activity that's open to them. Selectives are for the older ones, and they're given a list to choose from and stick to that activity for the entire week. I was put on the Drama selective with Mat D (one of the first people I met on the flight over here) and Jenni (an American counsellor). I was quite relieved about that because I literally had no idea what I was doing with the drama until I looked at that list. I was hired as a general counsellor who could dabble in drama during the Selective period but last week it seemed like we just filled in these lesson plans on absoloutley anything and they picked out a few from their pile. But anyway, much as I was relieved to be stuck on the Drama selective, that proved irrelevant. Apparently Drama was accidentally missed off the list of options given to the campers earlier in the day when they had to choose, so this week will in fact be a drama free one!
The third activity period for our group (the Tigers by the way) was Arts And Crafts in which the Arts And Crafts specialists gave them bird houses made of plain white card, and they had to decorate them. The fourth and final period was the Free Swim, in which the counsellors just had to get in and play with the kids, except for if they were needed to stand watch on any one of the nine designated spots around the sides of the pools.
The first camp day was altogether quite tiring but I didn't feel that tired until I got home and Aimee said "You look exhausted!"... Right then was when I felt tired! But anyway it's a tradition on Monday evenings apparently for the staff to go to this nearby football field (this being football as in soccer) for a game, so Mark drove us over there at about 7:30. It was FREEZING! I didn't play in the actual football - many people just hung out at the side of the pitch - but it really is taken quite seriously; there were people with shin pads and boots, and on the other hand people just doing it for a laugh! It went on for a couple of hours or so, and then we all went over to Champps for a bit. The soft drinks were all free refills, so I naturally had about six Cokes (she just kept taking the glass!) and Amy and I also shared this really nice dessert which is like a big cookie, with ice cream and cream and all these sauces on top. The barmaid bless her wasn't really with it, she needed about half hours notice to do anything (i.e. get change, get a bill...) because she kept forgetting what it was she was doing!
Today was the second day at camp, and the bus journey was a bit shorter as Sue was getting used to the route but it still is a really long trip. The first activity period today was soccer, but the two Swim periods were cancelled because it was really cold! Instead we did Kickball (like baseball only you kick a ball instead of bat it) second and miniature golf fourth, with cricket third. It was really cool doing cricket with them because they'd barely heard of it before. It was good seeing them get all excited about a new sport and a new game and wanting to try everything out... like the most exciting thing in the world was playing in a position with a title as grand as "Wicket Keeper"!
When the day was over Aaron and I stayed with Leanne and Amy, and we stayed at theirs for a bit before all coming over to my host family's place. They were all really amazed with the house, and the basement and everything. I am actually really lucky and fortunate with where I'm staying. Brooke can be a beast of a handful sometimes, and sometimes I do wander what it would be like to have another counsellor staying here like many others do, but that aside I honestly can't complain at all. Amy and I began a mission to make tea but we were stopped in our tracks when we realised that the control lock was on on the hob/stove so we had no means of boiling any hot water! The babysitter, round to look after Brooke for the second night running, similarly had no idea. Amy went soon after that so she could phone her other half and join her host mum for dinner, but Leanne and Aaron stayed and we ordered in a pizza. Sarah came over to join us soon after that and we watched this teen film on TV from like 1999 that I didn't really get into - it had Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina The Teenage Witch fame in it and the girl who played Amber in Brothers And Sister had a supporting role! Aimee and Brad got home and Aimee insisted Sarah and I collect a load of snacks and things to take down to the basement, which firmly established Aimee as one of the coolest "host mums" in the area! Sarah left just before 9 and Leanne and Aaron left when the film finished just after 10. I have to admit, I was a bit unsure about how to approach Aaron before now... I didn't have anything against him at all, I just got the impression he didn't like me! But after today I can safely say he's a really cool guy with a sharp sense of humour. He reminds me of someone at home but I can't place who.
Anyway, the group were so taken with my host house that we've decided to have a film night one night - Leanne has chosen The Notebook, which neither of us have seen but apparently no-one, boy or girl, can watch it without crying!
The camp itself is a completely different ball game now that the kids have started. It is hard work but not in a bad way. There are no breaks; you have to attend to a group, your bus group or your camp group, from when the first kid gets on the bus at 8:30am to when the last kid gets off at about 4:45pm. It is tough, it is exhausting and it is unpredictable, but I really think it's going to be life-changing.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Day 11
So after last weekend's opening Orientation session and Open House, this I suppose has been the first official weekend of the summer.
Yesterday was quite cool, though a slow burner. I got up at about noon, after having barely slept at the Overnight on Thursday. It was Brooke's birthday, and her party began at 2pm. She had a load of friends over and they made these gumball machines out of flower pots and little bowl things which looked cool!
Leanne called during the party and said that a load of co-counsellors were off to some nearby lake, but we were struggling to get transportation. I don't think the cars have been that well distributed to be honest, as I think most of the International Staff who've been given cars are in subdivisions a couple of miles away. Anyway, after the party wrapped up I wandered over to Leanne and Amy's, and with host families tied up we figured we wouldn't be able to make the lake thing so we just lazed about in their back yard (sorry, back garden...) for just over an hour. Sarah, staying next door to them, wandered over just after 6pm and we went on the mother of all walks! Firstly, about fifteen minutes up the road, we came across a BP garage, which Sarah described as her "temple" due to the fact it provides her with her fix of Peanut Butter M&Ms! It's strange to imagine, but out here the BP garage 15 minutes up the road is, that I know of, the closest shop to us. The neighbourhoods are all huge and well spaced apart, and shops and shopping districts are just dotted occasionally in between them. Anyway, whilst there I got a bottle of Mountain Dew, which is a really weird drink... it's like Sprite mixed with fizzy water, with added citrus and caffeine. Really nice, but apparently it's banned in the EU! Also dabbled in the American Skittles scene! They have these tropical ones in a blue packet and Smoothie ones in an orange packet, although to be honest neither are that great.
Anyway minutes past the BP garage was this little, quite ghostly, little shopping vacinity. Tucked in the corner though was a Yoz, where I'd been with Richard and Brad on Monday night after the latter's baseball game. We sat there for a while and had some frozen yoghurt, which does beat the feeble stuff you get as a dessert at Nando's! We carried on walking after that, and after another quarter of an hour we arrived at this fairly big shopping precinct. We went in this huge Matalan-esque shop called Old Navy, where I bought flip flops for $5. I didn't bring any with me because open-toed shoes aren't allowed at camp but theyre quite handy just for about the house and gardens etc.
Sarah and I both were feeling a bit of a stomach thing which seemed to go away quite quickly, and we also found a hugggge Borders in the vicinity, where Amy quickly threw herself head-first into the poetry etc - we have decided to make a return in the near future! Whenever I'm in Borders in the UK I always buy Entertainment Weekly (film, tv, music... all in one! Amazing!) as they import it from the US. Just because I was actually IN the US didn't mean the tradition was going to be forgotten, so I made the obligatory purchase of an Entertainment Weekly!
We had something to eat at Max and Erma's, which is a nice American restaurant (a bit like Fatty Arbuckle's at home) where I had my first reaaaally fatty burger since arriving! The service was really good, and certainly beat alot of the service you get back home. We began the long trek home after that, but actually the half hour walk seemed to go by quite quickly. Arrived back home at about 10:30.
Today was a bit of a slow day. Got up at about 11 and the host family had gone to the zoo. I did a load of laundry with TV on in the background and I also made my first tea since arriving, only it's a bit of a mission over here as you need to actually boil the water in a pan on the hob. Just after 4:00 we left for Brooke's piano recital and from there we went to Aimee's brother's house for a Father's Day dinner, which was the same crowd as last Sunday, with Richard's dad also in attendance!
We got home just after 8:00, and now here I sit blogging with the Tony Awards on TV! It's really good cos it's obviously an awards ceremony, but it also has a loaaaad of performances of numbers from Broadway shows which is cool. I really want to see the Broadway revival of South Pacific before going home now! A number's just been performed from the Soundheim show "Gypsy", starring Patty LuPone... I don't know much about her, but she is the subject of an in-joke with Dean so it's making me smile! Right now it's a number from a forthcoming Broadway show of Disney's The Little Mermaid. The leading lady is singing Part Of That World (I think that's what it's called... you know the song) but her voice is a bit all over the place with head voice and chest voice so it's not too great.
First official day of camp tomorrow, and the getting up at 6:30 every weekday will begin!
Yesterday was quite cool, though a slow burner. I got up at about noon, after having barely slept at the Overnight on Thursday. It was Brooke's birthday, and her party began at 2pm. She had a load of friends over and they made these gumball machines out of flower pots and little bowl things which looked cool!
Leanne called during the party and said that a load of co-counsellors were off to some nearby lake, but we were struggling to get transportation. I don't think the cars have been that well distributed to be honest, as I think most of the International Staff who've been given cars are in subdivisions a couple of miles away. Anyway, after the party wrapped up I wandered over to Leanne and Amy's, and with host families tied up we figured we wouldn't be able to make the lake thing so we just lazed about in their back yard (sorry, back garden...) for just over an hour. Sarah, staying next door to them, wandered over just after 6pm and we went on the mother of all walks! Firstly, about fifteen minutes up the road, we came across a BP garage, which Sarah described as her "temple" due to the fact it provides her with her fix of Peanut Butter M&Ms! It's strange to imagine, but out here the BP garage 15 minutes up the road is, that I know of, the closest shop to us. The neighbourhoods are all huge and well spaced apart, and shops and shopping districts are just dotted occasionally in between them. Anyway, whilst there I got a bottle of Mountain Dew, which is a really weird drink... it's like Sprite mixed with fizzy water, with added citrus and caffeine. Really nice, but apparently it's banned in the EU! Also dabbled in the American Skittles scene! They have these tropical ones in a blue packet and Smoothie ones in an orange packet, although to be honest neither are that great.
Anyway minutes past the BP garage was this little, quite ghostly, little shopping vacinity. Tucked in the corner though was a Yoz, where I'd been with Richard and Brad on Monday night after the latter's baseball game. We sat there for a while and had some frozen yoghurt, which does beat the feeble stuff you get as a dessert at Nando's! We carried on walking after that, and after another quarter of an hour we arrived at this fairly big shopping precinct. We went in this huge Matalan-esque shop called Old Navy, where I bought flip flops for $5. I didn't bring any with me because open-toed shoes aren't allowed at camp but theyre quite handy just for about the house and gardens etc.
Sarah and I both were feeling a bit of a stomach thing which seemed to go away quite quickly, and we also found a hugggge Borders in the vicinity, where Amy quickly threw herself head-first into the poetry etc - we have decided to make a return in the near future! Whenever I'm in Borders in the UK I always buy Entertainment Weekly (film, tv, music... all in one! Amazing!) as they import it from the US. Just because I was actually IN the US didn't mean the tradition was going to be forgotten, so I made the obligatory purchase of an Entertainment Weekly!
We had something to eat at Max and Erma's, which is a nice American restaurant (a bit like Fatty Arbuckle's at home) where I had my first reaaaally fatty burger since arriving! The service was really good, and certainly beat alot of the service you get back home. We began the long trek home after that, but actually the half hour walk seemed to go by quite quickly. Arrived back home at about 10:30.
Today was a bit of a slow day. Got up at about 11 and the host family had gone to the zoo. I did a load of laundry with TV on in the background and I also made my first tea since arriving, only it's a bit of a mission over here as you need to actually boil the water in a pan on the hob. Just after 4:00 we left for Brooke's piano recital and from there we went to Aimee's brother's house for a Father's Day dinner, which was the same crowd as last Sunday, with Richard's dad also in attendance!
We got home just after 8:00, and now here I sit blogging with the Tony Awards on TV! It's really good cos it's obviously an awards ceremony, but it also has a loaaaad of performances of numbers from Broadway shows which is cool. I really want to see the Broadway revival of South Pacific before going home now! A number's just been performed from the Soundheim show "Gypsy", starring Patty LuPone... I don't know much about her, but she is the subject of an in-joke with Dean so it's making me smile! Right now it's a number from a forthcoming Broadway show of Disney's The Little Mermaid. The leading lady is singing Part Of That World (I think that's what it's called... you know the song) but her voice is a bit all over the place with head voice and chest voice so it's not too great.
First official day of camp tomorrow, and the getting up at 6:30 every weekday will begin!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Day 9
It's been more than a week now, but it definitley feels like longer. Thinking back to the elementary school carnival last Friday feels like ages ago but it's actually just a week.
Anyway, the last few days have been cool. Wednesday was like a mock camp day, so we met at this shopping place where the Willoway buses were waiting, and we split between two coaches and headed off for camp, being told about the bus journeys and singing a few of the camp songs on the way. During the day we had two swimming sessions, just like on the real camp days. The first was for Instructional Swim, and it was illustrated by us actually doing it. There are two pools; one main one that gets as deep as 10ft, and one small one that only goes to about 4ft. During the Instructional Swim we had firstly a bit in the small pool where we played basic games and got shown a basic way of teaching front crawl and floating, and then we switched over to the main pool where things like push and glides and laps were covered.
We also did a load of other camp-like activities like Kickball and Ga Ga Ga (a ball game that takes place inside a cage-type-thing, very much like dodgeball), and got shown round the animal bit and the nature trail etc. On the return bus journey Darren (Leanne's older brother; it's something like his seventh summer at Willoway) started this Euro 2008 sweepstake. I drew Sweden, so let's not hold our breath there...
International staff are all contracted to babysit for their host families on Wednesday nights. Brooke and Bradley were fine on the whole until it was time for a shower, that was when they started to get a bit difficult. But they got in anyway, not too difficult. The real challenge came when it was time for them to go to bed. They had to be in bed by 8:30 latest but I thought I'd shoot for 8:15 cos that was when they've been going to bed normally. I asked them to brush their teeth just after 8:00, and after a sudden rush of shouting, screaming, laughing, running around, and being hyper, they eventually settled in to bed just before 8:30. Mission!
Yesterday [Thursday] was a late starter so I phoned home at about 1:00; about 6:00 over there. Max, who's been driving me, James and Dean all week, was a bit late coming to get us so we didn't arrive at camp until about 2:10, when we were supposed to be there for 2. We hadn't missed any of Lorraine's talk though so we were alright! Alot of yesterday was being spoken to by the senior staff, but we did make little "buddy" things by having paper cutouts of a body shape and then sticking an actual photograph of our heads on top of it. Mine was, as with any arts and crafts project I do, a disaster! In a break between the talk-a-thon I saw that Luke - who's from Birmingham - was wearing an Aston Villa shirt. My impression of him as a decent guy was confirmed!
We got told about 7 different types of camper and were put into 7 groups in which to come up with ways to deal with that type of camper and come up with a small skit to show the others. My group was a mixture of people I already knew quite well and others I didn't so much. The skits were obviously all just a mess and a laugh, and I read out our "ways to deal with that type of camper" points, which was actually quite daunting but alright.
After that we were given a sheet of questions called Boundary Breakers which had no relevance to camp itself but were intended as a means to get to know eachother better. We were in the same groups as in the previous exercise, about 10 of us, and we had a really good group because it was a mixture of people I'd already become friends with and people I didn't really know that well, and those in between. The questions on the sheet included stuff like "What is the ugliest thing you know?", "What is the greatest crime one man can do toward another?", "What do you want to be doing 10 years from now?", "If the atomic bomb was going to fall in ten minutes, what would you do for those ten minutes?", "What do you think people like in you the most/least?".... and so on. Then at the end we had questions like "Which person did you learn the most about?", "Which person did you think was the most honest?", "Which person do you think you could get along with the best over a long period of time?" and so on. A few people in the group actually answered me for a "most honest" and "learn the most about" which I found surprising, but then I think the fact that there were people I already knew quite well in the group made me a bit more honest, whereas without them I may have been more guarded or reserved. But it was a very insightful and very interesting task, also quite funny at times.
After that we ate a barbeque dinner and had a couple more activities, including this big Overnight Activity thing which was us being split into teams and having to go around the camp doing various games and stuff for points. Then we had this campfire session with more camp songs and this American tradition snack thing called Smores, which is when you roast a marshmellow over the fire, then make a sandwhich using these wafer things and put some Hershey's in there too. Not that nice! By this time it was about 9/10pm so we were just left to our own devices for the night with the option of going in the pool quickly. I was in and out fairly pronto as it was freezing! Me, Leanne, Holly, Rob and Fionna [all British... in fact Fiona comes from Kirkudbright, a small Scottish town that as chance would have it we actually went to on holiday a few years ago!] played Rummy, then a few of us played table tennis on the random ping pong tables.
Everyone slept in the gym, which apparently is built to "resist winds of cyclonic proportions", and obviously we were talking for quite a few hours. I was with this American guy Jacob, Leanne, Amy, Fiona, and Aaron. Aaron is English and is one of the most confident people at camp in terms of getting to know people and mucking about and so on. He seems cool. We all drifted off at what I can assume was like 3-4am, although Aaron and Leanne were still chatting for quite a while after that and I woke up every now and again and could still hear them! There was this huge storm overnight though, and the sound of the rain on the roof was really loud.
At about 8am Greg [an English senior member of staff who I think is in his late 20s] came in and sounded the siren to wake us up. The door he came in from was right by me so it was reeeaally loud! We went in to the main building and had breakfast, and then Lorraine wrapped up Orientation with some final notes and instructions. We came away at about noon, and me, James, Dean and Max stopped off at this shop called 7-Eleven, which seems similar to Spar or Costcutter, and had a Slurpee, which I think is like a Squishee in The Simpsons... it's a bit like a Slush Puppy only it's less slushy and a hellllll of a lot more sugary. It's not the tastiest drink ever but if you're after a cheap sugar high then there you go.
I came home and went straight in the shower, then went upstairs and Aimee's mum [for ease of reference I'll refer to her as Nora, for those who watch Brothers and Sisters], whose house we went to on Sunday and gave me the cheesecake, was round. She is the Nora figure of the family but she actually could be Gloria Hunniford's lookalike. We do occasionally compare my own grandma to Gloria Hunniford but this lady seriously, scarily resembles her! I've unpacked all my stuff from last night and that about brings us up to speed. It's 4pm now and I'm reaaaally tired!! The kids start camp on Monday so that should be interesting, and tomorrow is Brooke's 9th birthday party. I'll let you know how it goes...
Anyway, the last few days have been cool. Wednesday was like a mock camp day, so we met at this shopping place where the Willoway buses were waiting, and we split between two coaches and headed off for camp, being told about the bus journeys and singing a few of the camp songs on the way. During the day we had two swimming sessions, just like on the real camp days. The first was for Instructional Swim, and it was illustrated by us actually doing it. There are two pools; one main one that gets as deep as 10ft, and one small one that only goes to about 4ft. During the Instructional Swim we had firstly a bit in the small pool where we played basic games and got shown a basic way of teaching front crawl and floating, and then we switched over to the main pool where things like push and glides and laps were covered.
We also did a load of other camp-like activities like Kickball and Ga Ga Ga (a ball game that takes place inside a cage-type-thing, very much like dodgeball), and got shown round the animal bit and the nature trail etc. On the return bus journey Darren (Leanne's older brother; it's something like his seventh summer at Willoway) started this Euro 2008 sweepstake. I drew Sweden, so let's not hold our breath there...
International staff are all contracted to babysit for their host families on Wednesday nights. Brooke and Bradley were fine on the whole until it was time for a shower, that was when they started to get a bit difficult. But they got in anyway, not too difficult. The real challenge came when it was time for them to go to bed. They had to be in bed by 8:30 latest but I thought I'd shoot for 8:15 cos that was when they've been going to bed normally. I asked them to brush their teeth just after 8:00, and after a sudden rush of shouting, screaming, laughing, running around, and being hyper, they eventually settled in to bed just before 8:30. Mission!
Yesterday [Thursday] was a late starter so I phoned home at about 1:00; about 6:00 over there. Max, who's been driving me, James and Dean all week, was a bit late coming to get us so we didn't arrive at camp until about 2:10, when we were supposed to be there for 2. We hadn't missed any of Lorraine's talk though so we were alright! Alot of yesterday was being spoken to by the senior staff, but we did make little "buddy" things by having paper cutouts of a body shape and then sticking an actual photograph of our heads on top of it. Mine was, as with any arts and crafts project I do, a disaster! In a break between the talk-a-thon I saw that Luke - who's from Birmingham - was wearing an Aston Villa shirt. My impression of him as a decent guy was confirmed!
We got told about 7 different types of camper and were put into 7 groups in which to come up with ways to deal with that type of camper and come up with a small skit to show the others. My group was a mixture of people I already knew quite well and others I didn't so much. The skits were obviously all just a mess and a laugh, and I read out our "ways to deal with that type of camper" points, which was actually quite daunting but alright.
After that we were given a sheet of questions called Boundary Breakers which had no relevance to camp itself but were intended as a means to get to know eachother better. We were in the same groups as in the previous exercise, about 10 of us, and we had a really good group because it was a mixture of people I'd already become friends with and people I didn't really know that well, and those in between. The questions on the sheet included stuff like "What is the ugliest thing you know?", "What is the greatest crime one man can do toward another?", "What do you want to be doing 10 years from now?", "If the atomic bomb was going to fall in ten minutes, what would you do for those ten minutes?", "What do you think people like in you the most/least?".... and so on. Then at the end we had questions like "Which person did you learn the most about?", "Which person did you think was the most honest?", "Which person do you think you could get along with the best over a long period of time?" and so on. A few people in the group actually answered me for a "most honest" and "learn the most about" which I found surprising, but then I think the fact that there were people I already knew quite well in the group made me a bit more honest, whereas without them I may have been more guarded or reserved. But it was a very insightful and very interesting task, also quite funny at times.
After that we ate a barbeque dinner and had a couple more activities, including this big Overnight Activity thing which was us being split into teams and having to go around the camp doing various games and stuff for points. Then we had this campfire session with more camp songs and this American tradition snack thing called Smores, which is when you roast a marshmellow over the fire, then make a sandwhich using these wafer things and put some Hershey's in there too. Not that nice! By this time it was about 9/10pm so we were just left to our own devices for the night with the option of going in the pool quickly. I was in and out fairly pronto as it was freezing! Me, Leanne, Holly, Rob and Fionna [all British... in fact Fiona comes from Kirkudbright, a small Scottish town that as chance would have it we actually went to on holiday a few years ago!] played Rummy, then a few of us played table tennis on the random ping pong tables.
Everyone slept in the gym, which apparently is built to "resist winds of cyclonic proportions", and obviously we were talking for quite a few hours. I was with this American guy Jacob, Leanne, Amy, Fiona, and Aaron. Aaron is English and is one of the most confident people at camp in terms of getting to know people and mucking about and so on. He seems cool. We all drifted off at what I can assume was like 3-4am, although Aaron and Leanne were still chatting for quite a while after that and I woke up every now and again and could still hear them! There was this huge storm overnight though, and the sound of the rain on the roof was really loud.
At about 8am Greg [an English senior member of staff who I think is in his late 20s] came in and sounded the siren to wake us up. The door he came in from was right by me so it was reeeaally loud! We went in to the main building and had breakfast, and then Lorraine wrapped up Orientation with some final notes and instructions. We came away at about noon, and me, James, Dean and Max stopped off at this shop called 7-Eleven, which seems similar to Spar or Costcutter, and had a Slurpee, which I think is like a Squishee in The Simpsons... it's a bit like a Slush Puppy only it's less slushy and a hellllll of a lot more sugary. It's not the tastiest drink ever but if you're after a cheap sugar high then there you go.
I came home and went straight in the shower, then went upstairs and Aimee's mum [for ease of reference I'll refer to her as Nora, for those who watch Brothers and Sisters], whose house we went to on Sunday and gave me the cheesecake, was round. She is the Nora figure of the family but she actually could be Gloria Hunniford's lookalike. We do occasionally compare my own grandma to Gloria Hunniford but this lady seriously, scarily resembles her! I've unpacked all my stuff from last night and that about brings us up to speed. It's 4pm now and I'm reaaaally tired!! The kids start camp on Monday so that should be interesting, and tomorrow is Brooke's 9th birthday party. I'll let you know how it goes...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Day 6
What difference a day makes! Yesterday I was pining for home but today was so much fun.
So yesterday we had a day off. It was quite boring, and I felt the effects of being the only counsellor staying with my host family. As I've mentioned before, alot of families are housing two counsellors whereas I'm the only one being hosted by mine. It was such a dull day, I didn't really do alot, and after a couple of hours of being here alone with my thoughts I got more and more to thinking of home and how I was being really crap at adjusting and stuff. Spoke to Wiz on MSN which was coolio, especially when Dad and then Doobs joined him on Webcam! They said I should hang on for Mum to come home but I had to go because Aimee [host mum] was going out with Brooke and asked me to watch Brad. So I did, not really in the mood because I was having a miserable day. Leanne came round just after 4:00, which lifted my spirits a little bit because the main thrust of my bad mood was how I was doubting whether or not I'd fit in. The fact that someone came round was therefore a huge plus. Anyway we just chatted while Brad played on the Wii and then went outside. Leanne had to go after about half an hour because her and Amy, who are being housed by the same host family, were going to see a dance recital. I stayed out with Brad and he taught me all these various games, bless him. He wanted to show me how good he was at football, basketball, his scooter, his bike, frisbee...
We ate at about 6; it was leftover Spaghetti that Aimee made for when we went to her mum's house the night before, which was really nice, and she made some meatballs to go with it. Then I went with Richard [host dad] and Brad to see Brad play baseball. I'd never seen a baseball game before, so seeing a first and second grade match was quite a good experience, especially seeing as how tiny they are! I didn't realise how similar it was to rounders! I got back and found that a few people, co-counsellors, had been in touch over Facebook and I felt a hell of a lot better about the summer than I did earlier in the day.
Then today was so much fun, so much more fun than I had expected! It was another Orientation session at camp, although it didn't start until 2pm so we got a bit of a lie-in. The first bit was what I was dreading the most, which was swimming. It was fine though. We had to do the same tryout that the kids would have to do, which was a length of front crawl, a length of breast stroke, a length of side stroke [no, I didn't know what it was either], and a length of Elementary Backstroke, which is this freaky stroke which isn't too similar to what you'd get if you tried to do breast stroke on your back. It was absoloutley knackering though, but luckily everyone else found it knackering too!
The next bit were these team-building games, where we got split into two groups and in our smaller group played a load of little exercises. Some of them were really good fun, like wink murder (I was the murderer... yes maaaate), and I think the fun factor of them helped everyone come out of their shells a little bit. They also got me talking to some people who I hadn't got round to talking to much yet, which was good.
We had this break session and I also got talking to some more people who'd come over from the UK but who I hadn't had much of a chance to speak to, and that made me feel really good knowing that I'd made some progress in getting to know some of these people who seemed to be grouping off quite early. Making jokes and stuff kind of broke the ice a little bit, so now I'd feel comfortable having an actual proper conversation with them.
We got split into tiny groups and went around camp doing these little challenges that some of the campers had to do. Our group was only like 8 people big so that was good, I found myself being much more Shaun than I've been so far. Got talking to a few more people, a couple of whom were other English guys and they seem like the kind of guys who are really cool but you'd be surprised if they had a bad bone in their body. It was quite fun getting stuck into these little challenges, like getting hands and knees dirty and stuff!
Got back at like 7:00 and went straight in the shower, before having dinner upstairs. They'd already eaten various leftovers so I had some of the leftover meatballs and Cous-Cous with raw carrot from previous nights. I also made a dent in the lump of cheesecake Aimee's mum had given me on Sunday!! Then at like 7:45 I got a call from Dean, a returning counsellor who was one of the first people I met last Thursday, saying a load of them were going down to Champps, this sports bar down the road. I hitched a ride with them and there were more than 20 people there. Some of the people I broke the ice with earlier I then had a chance to hang out with a bit more. Oddly, the two people who I'd spoken to most of all before coming to camp are the two people I've actually had the least chance to speak to since we arrived. Strange beans.
Once we got to Champps I realised I hadn't planned as far ahead as getting home again afterwards, so I guiltily called Aimee and Richard not long after we got there to take them up on their offer of giving me a lift home. I called early on because I didn't want to ring out of the blue, you know, I gave them some notice. So Aimee came to get me at about 9:30 and said it was actually really responsible of me to call them and ask for a lift early on.... there's me worrying they'd be not to happy at having to come out to get me but she's impressed that I took the initiative to ask in the first place!!
So we got back and fairly quickly I said goodnight and said I was off to bed. No sooner am I downstairs that the doorbell goes [waking an angry Brooke!] and it's Sarah, Leanne and Amy, with Princess the dog, asking if I wanted to go for a walk with them! That was really nice, a twilight dog walk around our subdivision. We found this nearby park and sat on the swings for a while. Princess the dog is completely lacking in many senses... she suspiciously sniffed her own footprint, got tangled up in her own lead, and didn't seem the least bit bothered that four complete strangers were taking her out for a walk!
Leanne said at one point "Did you guys think a week ago that in seven days you'd be sitting in a park in the dark with three new people on the swings?!" Nope!! But it was a cool day. I felt a bit more adjusted and a bit more myself, and like I'd started to make some good friends.
Tomorrow is going to be a looooong day, apparently we're going to be campers tomorrow and the returning counsellors are going to be our counsellors! So it being 11:15pm now I'm going to go to bed. I just wanted to blog before bed because if tomorrow's a complete disaster, I didn't want to lose the positivity of right now!
So yesterday we had a day off. It was quite boring, and I felt the effects of being the only counsellor staying with my host family. As I've mentioned before, alot of families are housing two counsellors whereas I'm the only one being hosted by mine. It was such a dull day, I didn't really do alot, and after a couple of hours of being here alone with my thoughts I got more and more to thinking of home and how I was being really crap at adjusting and stuff. Spoke to Wiz on MSN which was coolio, especially when Dad and then Doobs joined him on Webcam! They said I should hang on for Mum to come home but I had to go because Aimee [host mum] was going out with Brooke and asked me to watch Brad. So I did, not really in the mood because I was having a miserable day. Leanne came round just after 4:00, which lifted my spirits a little bit because the main thrust of my bad mood was how I was doubting whether or not I'd fit in. The fact that someone came round was therefore a huge plus. Anyway we just chatted while Brad played on the Wii and then went outside. Leanne had to go after about half an hour because her and Amy, who are being housed by the same host family, were going to see a dance recital. I stayed out with Brad and he taught me all these various games, bless him. He wanted to show me how good he was at football, basketball, his scooter, his bike, frisbee...
We ate at about 6; it was leftover Spaghetti that Aimee made for when we went to her mum's house the night before, which was really nice, and she made some meatballs to go with it. Then I went with Richard [host dad] and Brad to see Brad play baseball. I'd never seen a baseball game before, so seeing a first and second grade match was quite a good experience, especially seeing as how tiny they are! I didn't realise how similar it was to rounders! I got back and found that a few people, co-counsellors, had been in touch over Facebook and I felt a hell of a lot better about the summer than I did earlier in the day.
Then today was so much fun, so much more fun than I had expected! It was another Orientation session at camp, although it didn't start until 2pm so we got a bit of a lie-in. The first bit was what I was dreading the most, which was swimming. It was fine though. We had to do the same tryout that the kids would have to do, which was a length of front crawl, a length of breast stroke, a length of side stroke [no, I didn't know what it was either], and a length of Elementary Backstroke, which is this freaky stroke which isn't too similar to what you'd get if you tried to do breast stroke on your back. It was absoloutley knackering though, but luckily everyone else found it knackering too!
The next bit were these team-building games, where we got split into two groups and in our smaller group played a load of little exercises. Some of them were really good fun, like wink murder (I was the murderer... yes maaaate), and I think the fun factor of them helped everyone come out of their shells a little bit. They also got me talking to some people who I hadn't got round to talking to much yet, which was good.
We had this break session and I also got talking to some more people who'd come over from the UK but who I hadn't had much of a chance to speak to, and that made me feel really good knowing that I'd made some progress in getting to know some of these people who seemed to be grouping off quite early. Making jokes and stuff kind of broke the ice a little bit, so now I'd feel comfortable having an actual proper conversation with them.
We got split into tiny groups and went around camp doing these little challenges that some of the campers had to do. Our group was only like 8 people big so that was good, I found myself being much more Shaun than I've been so far. Got talking to a few more people, a couple of whom were other English guys and they seem like the kind of guys who are really cool but you'd be surprised if they had a bad bone in their body. It was quite fun getting stuck into these little challenges, like getting hands and knees dirty and stuff!
Got back at like 7:00 and went straight in the shower, before having dinner upstairs. They'd already eaten various leftovers so I had some of the leftover meatballs and Cous-Cous with raw carrot from previous nights. I also made a dent in the lump of cheesecake Aimee's mum had given me on Sunday!! Then at like 7:45 I got a call from Dean, a returning counsellor who was one of the first people I met last Thursday, saying a load of them were going down to Champps, this sports bar down the road. I hitched a ride with them and there were more than 20 people there. Some of the people I broke the ice with earlier I then had a chance to hang out with a bit more. Oddly, the two people who I'd spoken to most of all before coming to camp are the two people I've actually had the least chance to speak to since we arrived. Strange beans.
Once we got to Champps I realised I hadn't planned as far ahead as getting home again afterwards, so I guiltily called Aimee and Richard not long after we got there to take them up on their offer of giving me a lift home. I called early on because I didn't want to ring out of the blue, you know, I gave them some notice. So Aimee came to get me at about 9:30 and said it was actually really responsible of me to call them and ask for a lift early on.... there's me worrying they'd be not to happy at having to come out to get me but she's impressed that I took the initiative to ask in the first place!!
So we got back and fairly quickly I said goodnight and said I was off to bed. No sooner am I downstairs that the doorbell goes [waking an angry Brooke!] and it's Sarah, Leanne and Amy, with Princess the dog, asking if I wanted to go for a walk with them! That was really nice, a twilight dog walk around our subdivision. We found this nearby park and sat on the swings for a while. Princess the dog is completely lacking in many senses... she suspiciously sniffed her own footprint, got tangled up in her own lead, and didn't seem the least bit bothered that four complete strangers were taking her out for a walk!
Leanne said at one point "Did you guys think a week ago that in seven days you'd be sitting in a park in the dark with three new people on the swings?!" Nope!! But it was a cool day. I felt a bit more adjusted and a bit more myself, and like I'd started to make some good friends.
Tomorrow is going to be a looooong day, apparently we're going to be campers tomorrow and the returning counsellors are going to be our counsellors! So it being 11:15pm now I'm going to go to bed. I just wanted to blog before bed because if tomorrow's a complete disaster, I didn't want to lose the positivity of right now!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Day 4
When everyone said it'll take a while to adjust, they weren't lying! It is a bit of a culture shock at the moment. At first it's like "Wowww look how different this is!" but then suddenly it becomes "Ohhhh look how different this is...". You marvel at the differences, then relate them to back home, then realise that you actually rather miss how it is back home. As expected then, it is going to take a bit of time to settle in. I find myself looking forward to going home. That said though, I'm not totally giving up on everything; far from it - we're only four days in and I came here for the experience and to grow stronger as a person. Obviously the beginning of that process is appreciating how weak you are to begin with!!
I'm also still getting tired and waking up in line with British time even though my sleep patern is normal - I'm falling asleep between 11 and 12 and waking up 8-9am, but I still feel tired earlier because in comparison to my body clock at home, not much has changed... when I go to sleep it's like 4am at home, which is only a couple of hours or so after I'd go to bed anyway. So everything's a little strange.
People are beginning to form bonds etc with others, and I'm realising that socially I'm a very slow-burner. I think I learnt that at Young Arcadians where during High School Musical I was a hell of a lot more sociable than in Wind In The Willows. Some people are already very much out of their shells whereas others like me aren't. That's not to say I'm a total recluse, I'm just only my full self to an extent, like I'm not quite comfortable enough with my surroundings yet. I'm chatty with loads of people though. Those that were on the first flight seem to be grouping together a little easier, I still don't feel like I've found my niche. It's just shyness though and I'm working my way around gradually. I'm never without anyone to talk to or whatever, and a highlight for me today for example was when we got on the bus to go to camp after meeting at this school, and I sat down on the bus and realised I was on my own and Amy called from the other end "Shaun come sit with us!". I know that's a tiny little thing, but little things like that are reassuring that you're not a total loner! I'm used to being dependent on close friends and stuff so being out here and starting from scratch is very strange and very overwhelming.
So yesterday was the first day of Orientation. We had to play these strange games at first and then in groups we were shown round the camp. It's very well equiped and alot bigger than I thought it was, cos on Google Earth it looks tiny! After lunch we did this quiz thing during which I started to get tired, and when I get tired I start to lose my mental/emotional strength so that wasn't too fun. Then we were told about today, which is Orientation. I was put in the Playground with a few others I already knew which was cool.
Last night the host parents Aimee and Richard went out but theyd already booked a babysitter, who was like 15/16 and she had very little control of the kids, who are much more of a handful than they first appeared! Aimee told her I'd be tired so I took advantage of that and pretty much kept myself to myself although when the kids had gone to bed I did have a quick chat with her.
Today was Open House, which was when the camp was open for families to come and try out various activities and hopefully sign up to camp. Ten minutes before it opened I was shifted over to fencing, with this American guy Zachary. I knew absoloutley nothing about fencing so he had to take t1he lead for the first hour or so and then after that it was okay. Sweltering heat but not too bad! When that was done we pretty much just chatted for a bit then came away.
As soon as I got back I had to get ready to go out again, to Aimee's parents' for dinner. Present were Aimee's mum and dad, brother and sister-in-law, niece, nephew, and sister-in-law's mother. The grandma was very nice and even gave me the rest of the cheesecake to bring back!! The family seem quite close and chatty, a nice athmosphere, and although it did make me pine for my own family it was a very enjoyable evening.
It's coming up to 8:30pm now. We have tomorrow off and then we have more orientation sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and then overnight Thursday-Friday. There's rumour of people going to hang out by a nearby lake tomorrow but I don't know if anything will come of that, and also if I'll be able to go depending on spaces in people's cars etc. But we'll see.
Will keep you posted! :)
I'm also still getting tired and waking up in line with British time even though my sleep patern is normal - I'm falling asleep between 11 and 12 and waking up 8-9am, but I still feel tired earlier because in comparison to my body clock at home, not much has changed... when I go to sleep it's like 4am at home, which is only a couple of hours or so after I'd go to bed anyway. So everything's a little strange.
People are beginning to form bonds etc with others, and I'm realising that socially I'm a very slow-burner. I think I learnt that at Young Arcadians where during High School Musical I was a hell of a lot more sociable than in Wind In The Willows. Some people are already very much out of their shells whereas others like me aren't. That's not to say I'm a total recluse, I'm just only my full self to an extent, like I'm not quite comfortable enough with my surroundings yet. I'm chatty with loads of people though. Those that were on the first flight seem to be grouping together a little easier, I still don't feel like I've found my niche. It's just shyness though and I'm working my way around gradually. I'm never without anyone to talk to or whatever, and a highlight for me today for example was when we got on the bus to go to camp after meeting at this school, and I sat down on the bus and realised I was on my own and Amy called from the other end "Shaun come sit with us!". I know that's a tiny little thing, but little things like that are reassuring that you're not a total loner! I'm used to being dependent on close friends and stuff so being out here and starting from scratch is very strange and very overwhelming.
So yesterday was the first day of Orientation. We had to play these strange games at first and then in groups we were shown round the camp. It's very well equiped and alot bigger than I thought it was, cos on Google Earth it looks tiny! After lunch we did this quiz thing during which I started to get tired, and when I get tired I start to lose my mental/emotional strength so that wasn't too fun. Then we were told about today, which is Orientation. I was put in the Playground with a few others I already knew which was cool.
Last night the host parents Aimee and Richard went out but theyd already booked a babysitter, who was like 15/16 and she had very little control of the kids, who are much more of a handful than they first appeared! Aimee told her I'd be tired so I took advantage of that and pretty much kept myself to myself although when the kids had gone to bed I did have a quick chat with her.
Today was Open House, which was when the camp was open for families to come and try out various activities and hopefully sign up to camp. Ten minutes before it opened I was shifted over to fencing, with this American guy Zachary. I knew absoloutley nothing about fencing so he had to take t1he lead for the first hour or so and then after that it was okay. Sweltering heat but not too bad! When that was done we pretty much just chatted for a bit then came away.
As soon as I got back I had to get ready to go out again, to Aimee's parents' for dinner. Present were Aimee's mum and dad, brother and sister-in-law, niece, nephew, and sister-in-law's mother. The grandma was very nice and even gave me the rest of the cheesecake to bring back!! The family seem quite close and chatty, a nice athmosphere, and although it did make me pine for my own family it was a very enjoyable evening.
It's coming up to 8:30pm now. We have tomorrow off and then we have more orientation sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and then overnight Thursday-Friday. There's rumour of people going to hang out by a nearby lake tomorrow but I don't know if anything will come of that, and also if I'll be able to go depending on spaces in people's cars etc. But we'll see.
Will keep you posted! :)
Friday, June 6, 2008
Day 2
I’m just coming to the end of my first full day in the USA, it’s just after 9:00 here but the time at the bottom of my screen tells me that back home it’s just gone 2am.
The journey began yesterday morning at 7:00am, when my mum, dad and I left home for Heathrow. The traffic being as bad as it is during rush hour meant we didn’t arrive at the airport until about 9:30. That saying about ripping off a band aid quickly? That kind of applied to the goodbyes at the airport. Had we engaged in lengthy hour-long farewell speeches I probably would still be in floods right now! As soon as I passed through security at the airport, it was like "Okay, this is it. All I’ve got is myself."
I did manage to spot quite a few blue Camp America T-shirts dotted round the Departure Lounge, but the two groups I actually approached were going to different places. I realised I left my PSP at home so I made use of the tax-free zone and bought a Nintendo DS! I haven’t used it yet though, but I’ve got a Mario Kart gaming sitting beside me in its cellophane wrapping and I’m getting more and more tempted to give it a go…
At Heathrow they tell you when they expect to announce the gate, and about ten minutes before then I saw a group of four people around my age standing in a group – none of them had blue Camp America T-shirts on so I nearly overlooked them, but one guy’s T-shirt actually had "Willoway" on it, so I made a beeline and introduced myself to Mat, Sarah, Dean and James. All four are previous campers – for Sarah, Dean and James it’s their second year here, and a third for Mat. I was expecting a group of similarly-nervous first-timers, but it wasn’t intimidating standing with an already established clique because I could tell from their personalities that they were the exact kinds of people I’d get along with. When we got to the Departure Gate a little while later, we were approached by another first-timer, Andy, and then Mat’s list (he’d been given a list) showed that we were still expecting a few more. Only 9 of us on our flight in the end – the rest were all on the earlier one. The other four people were first-timers Leanne, who’s older brother has been here for a few years, Michael, Clare and Oliver.
The seating arrangements were all over the place, we were just put wherever there was a space. Mat was three seats down from me in the middle section so he asked the couple between us if they’d mind swapping, and he moved next to me. It was good to hear from him how he found his first two times at camp. He said the first time went really quickly because it feels new for so long, then by the time it feels routine it’s time to go. He disappeared after about three hours because he’d found a better seat with more legroom that wasn’t occupied. I saw two films, neither of which will go down as all-time favourites but they passed the time sufficiently. The first was called Mad Money and starred Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and a surprisingly good Katie Holmes as three bank workers who used their three different jobs to team up and steal money. The second was called The Bucket List and was about two cancer patients (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who had months to live and vowed to do several fantastic things before they died.
The last couple of hours dragged but we arrived in Washington just before 3:00pm US time, about 8pm UK time. It was strange thinking that it was midday when we boarded, and now we were getting off the plane, thousands of miles away, Dean was on stage and it was dark back home. The connection was a mission. We had to queue in this ridiculously long queue of non-US citizens to go through Immigration, but I was with Leanne and Oliver and got chatting to them and they’re both really cool. Leanne is chatty, bubbly and funny, and Oliver is very much the "lad", very down to earth and very chillaxed. That’s the first time I’ve ever applied the word "chillax" to an everyday sentence. We passed through Immigration, and the man who saw me – a very scary and intimidating man, even though his name was Constantine – asked if I had any foods on me. I didn’t know whether or not to bring up the array of mints and sweets in my hand luggage, and thinking I’d rather not be deported I got out the green box of Poppets from my bag and he gave me the weirdest look, much to the amusement of a waiting Leanne!
We went to collect our bags, which then had to be re-checked, and unfortunately Michael, who I hadn’t spoken to that much, couldn’t find his. Basically the baggage was just left in a section of this big hall, you went to find it, then you got into this huuuuge disorganised queue that was so easy to jump. Leanne, Oliver and I (and further down, Mat) were already quite a way into the queue when Michael’s situation was starting to look more and more grim, and then when we got through the huge re-check section and through the departure lounge for our domestic flight we worried that the others wouldn’t make it in time. The baggage re-check system was a disaster though, because at the end of the huge great queue they just took it off you and through it in a big trolley to be re-loaded. What the hell was the point in us taking it a few metres by queuing for 45 minutes just so they could take it off us without even looking at any labels or anything and chuck it on another conveyor belt?! But anyway it was quite an amusing queue because I’d fetched a trolley for Leanne as she had two cases, and she stuck her huge case on it and then chucked mine on top of it, insisting that she can wheel her little one if I push the trolley. Everyone else asked me why I’d bought two huge great cases, which was quite funny.
By the time we were on our connecting flight I was getting quite tired. It was 6:30, so about 11:30 at home, and I wasn’t in the mood for another flight. It was a really tiny little plane, with each row consisting of four seats with a central aisle, small enough to constitute only having two stewardesses. The flight was only an hour and we were all knackered by the time we landed in Detroit.
The people from the earlier flight were waiting for us in Detroit as their connecting flight had been severely delayed, so even though they were meant to be three hours ahead of us they were only one. Met a few more people but most of them stuck to the small groups they’d already met, even so though I recognised a couple of faces from Facebook! We all collected our bags and made our way out to this yellow schoolbus, which is the Willoway bus, and learnt that we would be going to a bowling alley to meet our host families. We got there after about half an hour. On the bus I was next to Leanne so talked to her a bit more, plus Oliver was just across the aisle and we learnt that it was actually the day before his 20th birthday! Sarah was nearby too and also this girl Amy who I’ve talked to a bit on Facebook. You know how you sometimes meet people who could easily be clones of people you already know? Amy could easily be Kate Cooper from school.
We arrived at the bowling alley and met our families, plus camp directors Arnie and Lorraine were there too. My "host dad" Richard was there with 7 year-old Bradley. We sat with food for a little while, and I also met first-time counsellor Aaron. We went back to the house through the suburbs, and oh my God the house is HUGE. We were met at the door by "host mum" Aimee, and soon 9 year-old Brooke came downstairs too. The place seriously is massive. Every room is big and spacious. My bedroom is downstairs in the basement, but when I say "the basement" I don’t mean a rotting wooden cold airy cellar; it’s just like every other floor only it’s below ground level. My room is lovely, the double bed is so soft and there’s lots of room. After a mini-tour and a chat with Aimee, who is very, very nice and also quite funny, I unpacked a little and went to bed. By this time it was about 10:00pm, which is early for me but on my body clock it was 3am, which is normal for me!
I got up today at about 9am, but before you’re impressed with how early it is by my standards I’d like to remind you that in England it was 2pm! The house was empty. I had a shower and got dressed, by which time Aimee had arrived back from a run with her friend Sarah, who is very nice. Aimee then insisted I got to know the TV while she had a shower, and then we set out. She took me for a nice lunch at a nearby place, then we went to this bizarre warehouse that is like a supermarket only everything is available in huge bulk. You don’t buy one pint of milk, you buy sixty at once. We then went to this regular supermarket, then to a butchers and bakery and then back home.
When Aimee went out to an appointment with Brooke it was just Bradley and I at home, and we firstly played catch in the garden (absolutely sweltering heat!) and he showed me his scooter, then wanted me to play with him on the Wii. Obviously he beat me quite a bit.
Dinnertime was interesting. The family is Jewish, and their kitchen is kosher, so there are separate plates, silverware etc for meat and dairy products, and they are never mixed. On Fridays they also do quite a traditional prayer etc, so that was interesting. We then went to the elementary school carnival – like the summer school fairs at home – at which were a few more counsellors, some of whom I hadn’t met so that was good. I’m actually in a minority in that I’m the only counsellor being housed by a host family – everyone else except Sarah who was at the carnival was living with another counsellor.
I’m quite tired now and we have our first Orientation session tomorrow, so I’d best get some sleep. Brooke has been having a power-tantrum for a good hour now, so I may be asleep before her! I miss everyone a lot back home but I’m desperately trying not to think of that because I’m not going to back for a bit of a while. The experience hasn’t even begun yet!
The journey began yesterday morning at 7:00am, when my mum, dad and I left home for Heathrow. The traffic being as bad as it is during rush hour meant we didn’t arrive at the airport until about 9:30. That saying about ripping off a band aid quickly? That kind of applied to the goodbyes at the airport. Had we engaged in lengthy hour-long farewell speeches I probably would still be in floods right now! As soon as I passed through security at the airport, it was like "Okay, this is it. All I’ve got is myself."
I did manage to spot quite a few blue Camp America T-shirts dotted round the Departure Lounge, but the two groups I actually approached were going to different places. I realised I left my PSP at home so I made use of the tax-free zone and bought a Nintendo DS! I haven’t used it yet though, but I’ve got a Mario Kart gaming sitting beside me in its cellophane wrapping and I’m getting more and more tempted to give it a go…
At Heathrow they tell you when they expect to announce the gate, and about ten minutes before then I saw a group of four people around my age standing in a group – none of them had blue Camp America T-shirts on so I nearly overlooked them, but one guy’s T-shirt actually had "Willoway" on it, so I made a beeline and introduced myself to Mat, Sarah, Dean and James. All four are previous campers – for Sarah, Dean and James it’s their second year here, and a third for Mat. I was expecting a group of similarly-nervous first-timers, but it wasn’t intimidating standing with an already established clique because I could tell from their personalities that they were the exact kinds of people I’d get along with. When we got to the Departure Gate a little while later, we were approached by another first-timer, Andy, and then Mat’s list (he’d been given a list) showed that we were still expecting a few more. Only 9 of us on our flight in the end – the rest were all on the earlier one. The other four people were first-timers Leanne, who’s older brother has been here for a few years, Michael, Clare and Oliver.
The seating arrangements were all over the place, we were just put wherever there was a space. Mat was three seats down from me in the middle section so he asked the couple between us if they’d mind swapping, and he moved next to me. It was good to hear from him how he found his first two times at camp. He said the first time went really quickly because it feels new for so long, then by the time it feels routine it’s time to go. He disappeared after about three hours because he’d found a better seat with more legroom that wasn’t occupied. I saw two films, neither of which will go down as all-time favourites but they passed the time sufficiently. The first was called Mad Money and starred Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and a surprisingly good Katie Holmes as three bank workers who used their three different jobs to team up and steal money. The second was called The Bucket List and was about two cancer patients (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who had months to live and vowed to do several fantastic things before they died.
The last couple of hours dragged but we arrived in Washington just before 3:00pm US time, about 8pm UK time. It was strange thinking that it was midday when we boarded, and now we were getting off the plane, thousands of miles away, Dean was on stage and it was dark back home. The connection was a mission. We had to queue in this ridiculously long queue of non-US citizens to go through Immigration, but I was with Leanne and Oliver and got chatting to them and they’re both really cool. Leanne is chatty, bubbly and funny, and Oliver is very much the "lad", very down to earth and very chillaxed. That’s the first time I’ve ever applied the word "chillax" to an everyday sentence. We passed through Immigration, and the man who saw me – a very scary and intimidating man, even though his name was Constantine – asked if I had any foods on me. I didn’t know whether or not to bring up the array of mints and sweets in my hand luggage, and thinking I’d rather not be deported I got out the green box of Poppets from my bag and he gave me the weirdest look, much to the amusement of a waiting Leanne!
We went to collect our bags, which then had to be re-checked, and unfortunately Michael, who I hadn’t spoken to that much, couldn’t find his. Basically the baggage was just left in a section of this big hall, you went to find it, then you got into this huuuuge disorganised queue that was so easy to jump. Leanne, Oliver and I (and further down, Mat) were already quite a way into the queue when Michael’s situation was starting to look more and more grim, and then when we got through the huge re-check section and through the departure lounge for our domestic flight we worried that the others wouldn’t make it in time. The baggage re-check system was a disaster though, because at the end of the huge great queue they just took it off you and through it in a big trolley to be re-loaded. What the hell was the point in us taking it a few metres by queuing for 45 minutes just so they could take it off us without even looking at any labels or anything and chuck it on another conveyor belt?! But anyway it was quite an amusing queue because I’d fetched a trolley for Leanne as she had two cases, and she stuck her huge case on it and then chucked mine on top of it, insisting that she can wheel her little one if I push the trolley. Everyone else asked me why I’d bought two huge great cases, which was quite funny.
By the time we were on our connecting flight I was getting quite tired. It was 6:30, so about 11:30 at home, and I wasn’t in the mood for another flight. It was a really tiny little plane, with each row consisting of four seats with a central aisle, small enough to constitute only having two stewardesses. The flight was only an hour and we were all knackered by the time we landed in Detroit.
The people from the earlier flight were waiting for us in Detroit as their connecting flight had been severely delayed, so even though they were meant to be three hours ahead of us they were only one. Met a few more people but most of them stuck to the small groups they’d already met, even so though I recognised a couple of faces from Facebook! We all collected our bags and made our way out to this yellow schoolbus, which is the Willoway bus, and learnt that we would be going to a bowling alley to meet our host families. We got there after about half an hour. On the bus I was next to Leanne so talked to her a bit more, plus Oliver was just across the aisle and we learnt that it was actually the day before his 20th birthday! Sarah was nearby too and also this girl Amy who I’ve talked to a bit on Facebook. You know how you sometimes meet people who could easily be clones of people you already know? Amy could easily be Kate Cooper from school.
We arrived at the bowling alley and met our families, plus camp directors Arnie and Lorraine were there too. My "host dad" Richard was there with 7 year-old Bradley. We sat with food for a little while, and I also met first-time counsellor Aaron. We went back to the house through the suburbs, and oh my God the house is HUGE. We were met at the door by "host mum" Aimee, and soon 9 year-old Brooke came downstairs too. The place seriously is massive. Every room is big and spacious. My bedroom is downstairs in the basement, but when I say "the basement" I don’t mean a rotting wooden cold airy cellar; it’s just like every other floor only it’s below ground level. My room is lovely, the double bed is so soft and there’s lots of room. After a mini-tour and a chat with Aimee, who is very, very nice and also quite funny, I unpacked a little and went to bed. By this time it was about 10:00pm, which is early for me but on my body clock it was 3am, which is normal for me!
I got up today at about 9am, but before you’re impressed with how early it is by my standards I’d like to remind you that in England it was 2pm! The house was empty. I had a shower and got dressed, by which time Aimee had arrived back from a run with her friend Sarah, who is very nice. Aimee then insisted I got to know the TV while she had a shower, and then we set out. She took me for a nice lunch at a nearby place, then we went to this bizarre warehouse that is like a supermarket only everything is available in huge bulk. You don’t buy one pint of milk, you buy sixty at once. We then went to this regular supermarket, then to a butchers and bakery and then back home.
When Aimee went out to an appointment with Brooke it was just Bradley and I at home, and we firstly played catch in the garden (absolutely sweltering heat!) and he showed me his scooter, then wanted me to play with him on the Wii. Obviously he beat me quite a bit.
Dinnertime was interesting. The family is Jewish, and their kitchen is kosher, so there are separate plates, silverware etc for meat and dairy products, and they are never mixed. On Fridays they also do quite a traditional prayer etc, so that was interesting. We then went to the elementary school carnival – like the summer school fairs at home – at which were a few more counsellors, some of whom I hadn’t met so that was good. I’m actually in a minority in that I’m the only counsellor being housed by a host family – everyone else except Sarah who was at the carnival was living with another counsellor.
I’m quite tired now and we have our first Orientation session tomorrow, so I’d best get some sleep. Brooke has been having a power-tantrum for a good hour now, so I may be asleep before her! I miss everyone a lot back home but I’m desperately trying not to think of that because I’m not going to back for a bit of a while. The experience hasn’t even begun yet!
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