This post is being written from a cheap motel in Hyannis as I’m currently on my first time off. By the time I get back the only activity left is closing campfire and then the kids leave the next day. On the one hand I’m disappointed that I’m missing the co-ed day and the overnight with my cabin but with eight whole weeks of camp I need to make use of it.
Once again the time since the events in my previous post has flew by. However the last few days have been quite difficult. One of the boys in my cabin is refusing to listen to instructions and follow rules. Yesterday it got to the point where the camp director had to have a conversation with him and another boy who he had been fighting. The director is very good, I felt like I was in trouble too (I’m not).
Unfortunately no boys signed up for drama this week so I’m helping the music interest group instead. The experience has made me very proud of what we’re doing in drama. We have much clearer plan as to what we’re doing and what we hope to achieve.
Something else worth mentioning is the food on camp. Lots of the food have their own songs such as “‘C’ is for cookie” and the choco-taco vs oreo sandwich song. Overall I’m quite surprised with the food as it’s nutritious, delicious and fun. My favourite so far is “squirty chicken” which is pieces of chicken stuffed with an oily garlic sauce which bursts from it when cut. One of the kids managed to get it all down my co’s arm. My co looked angry and the kid scared. I managed to defuse the situation by congratulating the kid and giving him a high five.
I’m not sure if I’ve talked about it before but Gagaball is amazing. I totally want to build a pit for it home. Playing with the older kids is the best because I can really go at it.
The other night I was having a conversation with some of the other guys and we were all talking about how it’s only been two weeks since we all met. Everyone is so open with each other and willing to help out.
One of, if not the, highlights of the most first session was the dance. This session’s theme was “time machine” I initially managed to convince my boys to all wear their bed sheets as togas and play Greek gods. They all wore shirts underneath and took them if within 15 minutes of arriving. At first they were reluctant to talk to anyone else and just played ball games to the side. This is in contrast to some of my friends who had older campers who didn’t want to see them at all. With persistence my boys started talking to some of the girls and boys the end it was hard to track them all down.
It was great having a co-ed evening with the girls. Two of the girls from my drama group ran up to me, pointed out that they could see one of my nipples (as I was shirtless beneath my toga) then ran off. There was also a marriage booth which kids from both sides were quite keen to set their councillors up for. I spoke to one of the younger campers about how he was enjoying the evening and have told me he turned down two proposals. When asked why he told me “I’m only 7, I just want to be a kid for a bit longer”.
There are quite a few foreign campers. A surprising number of French kids. One cabin has two French and one Spanish kid who are best friends. Rather than speaking in English which they all understand and came here to practise they speak in french or Spanish with the trilingual kid translating. One of the younger campers extrapolated “no speaking French in the gaga pit” to “no French kids are allowed in the gaga pit”.
We’ve started a list of awesome things that one of the French kids in our unit says, he is genuinely hilarious. For example on the first night when prompted to put on long pants to avoid bug bites he replied “No! I demand liberty”. The favourite moment of his that I’ve personally witnessed was his rendition of a Black Eyed Peas song for bonus points in the scavenger hunt. He bargained it up from an initial offer of 2 points to 10 points for the entire song an started with “do do do” for the intro but halfway through the first verse he went “I have got a feeling that tonight is going to be a good night 10 points”.
I’m on time off with four fitls and one guy who has gone home. One of the girls borrowed a car from someone else at the camp and we’re spending the time off in the local town jus getting laundry done, walking around and hopefully tomorrow checking out he beach. Tonight we’re meeting other camp staff who just have the evening off for dinner. The next break is on Friday night which is changeover after campers go home which is apparently just a massive party. So until my next post I’m signing off and taking a much craved proper shower.
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