Camp!

Oh that's right a post of DOOM. Camp wasn't all doom but it's really easy for it to seem so in a blog. The most memorable moments are the dangerous ones. The small moments of personal triumph fall to the side going unnoticed in my memory for individuals but are a big group of things that's hard to put my finger on.

I'm going to be changing a few things and leaving info out. The camp has a strict blogging policy so I won't be mentioning any campers real names or the actual name of the camp. If you think a program like the one I talk about could be helpful for a child you know feel free to comment and we can work out a secure means of getting the information to you. Why so strict of a policy? Many of the kids who come to the camp are part of serious cases in their state's child welfare system. A lot of these kids have been severely abused sexually and physically and giving information on them could lead to their being judged in the present or the future.

So The camp I was was is in New Hampshire. If you've never been there it's quite pretty but I never really got to see much of a city there. The camp was on a lovely lake (that acted as out waterfront where swimming and boating took place) with several islands also being a part of h property. The camp also had several Eco system that could have been a lot o fun to study if the nature people actually knew anything about nature. Seriously it's one of the most picturesque places in the world and seriously having kids around made it so much fun.

While at camp it was my job to live in a cabin of 6 girls and 3-5 other female counselors. I also taught lessons for the majority of the day in an activity called 'Challenge' which was a mixture of team building and non-competitive group games. It's not an easy area to teach and to make matters worse we were combined with Yoga. Most areas have 3 teachers challenge had two and yoga went down to one (due to staffing changes). Now I'm seriously bad at yoga and in general the kids all hated yoga. The girl teaching yoga was never really all about it. I'm sure she would be a great adult yoga teacher who taught adults interested in yoga but kids who were more inclined to punch you in the face than meditate yoga was problematic. In the end yoga kind of got tossed out because it was made of that much fail. Challenge however kept getting better and better with more kids saying they liked it. Generally sports, arts & crafts and swimming where the favorite activities and for good reason.

Camp life is extremely cut off. Hence why blogging from there was next to impossible. There were two computers on camp for use to use.... and 75 stuff members. We got one hour off a day (when it wasn't our day off) making computer time all about e-mails and that's it. Most days I didn't bother with e-mail and just slept. Sleep was hard to come by. You live in the cabin with kids, they wake you up at all hours to go to the bathroom and to keep ourselves safe we can't go anywhere alone with a camper so two counselors have to get up. On top of not sleeping at night you were running around like a nut all day long playing and singing. It's an amazing but exhausting experience. I always wished more people would realize just how important the sleep they weren't getting was. By the end of each session (and especially the end of camp) I saw some many people slacking due to lack of rest. The kids also got extremely tired from all the activity that wasn't just sitting around playing video games.

A few violent instances went down. I had a kid try to punch me in the face with a brick. I got kicked pretty hard in the shin. I was bashed with a toy boat. I had my face grabbed causing a scar that's still hanging out and most likely will be for awhile. Some other things that happened but not to me where a group being held hostage in the arts & crafts building, a kid trying to steal a camp van to go home, a counselor nearly getting strangled by a piece of rope, lots of broken windows from rock throwing and punching. Tables were flipped, doors were ripped off, cabins were trashed and punches were thrown. Thankfully this all didn't happen in one day but over the summer. The camp practiced holds so thankfully I never had to be a part of one of those. I did however get to chase a number of kids around camp though the woods, swamp and along the water front. That's really not fun.

Some of the kids will stick with me forever, not because they were 'bad' but because they were awesome. Kids who didn't have the self esteem to talk to peers, thought they were nothing, were tying to be their best. The kids who found success for the first time were completely amazing. The whole point of these kids coming to camp was to find something they did. These kids are put in special classes and picked last or to afraid to play or not allowed by their parents of teachers. Camp offers them a place where they can be good at things and cheered on no matter what their skill level. There's nothing I love better than seeing one of our more able and active kids cheering on one of the campers with autism who can't even speak but love to throw a ball. Even the kids who break windows and punch counselors have so much compassion for others it's amazing.

Camp friends! I made some great friends while there. It was a bit of a struggle (I'm a bit older than the average which was about 19) but it worked out in the end. I've doe camp before and it's a world of drama and is exactly like a daytime or 'The N' soap. It's so and so is sneaking off to the overnight tents with their sleeping bags, are this and that person dating? Last session break so and so made out! It's drama city and I really don't have patience for that anymore. I'm 23 and pretty much over it. I did come out of camp with one really great friend. She's a total gem and I'm glad we're going to be in contact or a long time. I know the campers get friendships out of this as well. For many of the kids they've never had friends before. Out last session we got a letter from a Mom talking about how her son and his new camp friend were hanging out all the time now and how happy she was to see her son have his first real friend. Camp friend change you even if you only stay Friends for a summer.

Session breaks are amazing. No really the three days between sessions are pure joy. I managed to visit a friend in the area and take a trip out to Cape Cod (with about 1/4 of the staff) for the first break. This was the only night I really drank, mostly because I was one of a few 'of age' to drink. That didn't stop people though. Apparently I give great advice drunk! This advice is followed by assistance in walking. I'm also a million times for likely to talk in my sleep when I go to bed drunk. At least I didn't destroy my ankle like I did the last camp crinkling experience. Thankfully no one made me go to the beach either. I hate sand... and fish. Yes, the lake swimming at camp was an issue but one I faced when necessary. Th second session break I went to New York with my camp friend. We didn't go into the city but went to visit her family whom she hadn't been in contact with for years. They were really great and offered a much needed home environment I was missing (12 hour drive to Ohio isn't worth it on breaks to come home).

The end of camp is always emotional. The last much for kids, we're exhausted and just sad to be leaving the place we called 'home' for so long. It was hard to leave but I had a trip to look forward to. Three days after camp I was taking off for Scotland! (more about that in my next post.) The most shitty part of the summer, driving home. My car's transmition went out ... in Buffalo, NY. So my car was stuck there till after I got back from Scotland.

So that's camp. It's an adventure and so worth it. I honestly thing it's something everyone should consider in their life. You don't have to work at the kind of camp I did but it's something everyone should consider doing no matter what your age.

Random 5 (something I hope to do in every blog)

Favorites of Fall TV

-Chuck

-Criminal Minds

-Top Chef

-The Office

-30 Rock