New York and DeeDee's Dream World

Good afternoon! There is so much more to say than I could say in the time that is left before dinner, but I will try to cram some of it in. This weekend was long break. Normal breaks are from closing day lunch time to the following day's 8pm. Long break was from closing day lunch time to 3 days later's 8pm. So 10 of us - Shaina, Emma, Zoe, Pip, Nat, Kadimo, Josh, Janine, Carly and myself - packed our bags, got on a chicken bus (from Chinatown, Boston to Chinatown, New York for $15. Bargain) and headed to New York with Marcus and Louise who stayed with Marcus' folks. We stayed in Manhattan Citadel Salvation Army Corps for free, which was an amazing gift from God. We split into groups alot of the time but even still it was tough to keep everyone pleased with what we did. Regardless, we went up the Empire State building, saw the Chrysler(sp) building, ground zero, the statue of liberty (from afar), wall street, macy's, bloomingdales, madisson avenue, united nations building... and many more. My favorite was Times Square and Broadway. It was AMAZING!! Unfortunately I didn't get to see a broadway show (Brad, play and musical freak, was actually sadder for me than I was for myself...) but I enjoyed it all immensely. Highlights were sleeping 10 people in the flat, which was roomy enough for at least double that amount of people on the floor, eating at Hard Rock Cafe on Times Sq with Emma and Shaina, and trying to fight wind and rain in wall street. This break was much needed especially after a 9 day session instead of the normal 6 days, and the last 2 days were pretty intense. We had 3 caper searches - 2 in the water the day before last, when the campers had been miscounted and we thought one must be under the water. The call "All counsellors in the water" brings shivers to my spine, and on the last day we had a camper search that lasted around 3 hours, 45 minutes of which I spent walking around the woods with the rest of the program staff searching for this kid, after the call was made "All campers and staff to the shell to sing camp songs" Turns out we called the police and they found the camper about a mile down the road. He'd left camp. Needless to say he was sent home that night. Scary biscuits. Right after we were called back from the search, one of the staff fained and was unresponsive so taken to the hospital. This was just before dinner, and right after dinner another member of staff was sent to the hospital because she was hyperventilating and shaking for a rather long time and couldn't calm down. So yeah. Break was needed. Tonight's evening program I am involved in is called DeeDee's dream world. DeeDee loves chocolate... it all involves chocolate. Amazing. This program has been pushed back each week because of various things such as rain and camper issues. Brad (YBU leader) is actually ill today so I'm helping out more than I would normally, but we're going ahead with it. I'm assigned to YBU devotions in the mornings this week too so Shaggy and I lead songs to give Brad a rest before telling the story. Anyway, tonight will involve things like putting whipped cream on counsellors faces and campers having to stick as many marshmallows as possible on their faces, candy bar tag races, canteen breaks... how much fun will this be? And I'm not a counsellor so I won't get too messy. I'm 3/4 of the way through Harry Potter. I'm trying to finish it fast because Brad wants to discuss the inner workings of each situation in the book with me but can't yet. He's doing pretty well at not saying anything though. I have my hair in braids - Rachel needs practice and has decided my head of hair is a good one to use. Glad to be of assistance! Plans for after camp are slowly developping, thinking Tennessee to see Janelle and then over to California, wouhou! This coming break is one I have nothing planned for, I may just stay on camp and chill, cause the following one, most of the staff are heading up to a camp in Maine for the day for relaxation and ball games. I'm really looking forward to that. I was also offered (pretty much) a part time job working in a montessouri nursery in Morningside a few days ago. So that's a fantastic answer to prayer. For now I'm looking at working there mornings and at Little Foxes afternoons to give me a wage I could live off. This would start in October. So excited!

Camp songs.

Here are a few of our camp songs. For kicks. I love them so much!! Funky Chicken Left, left, left right left... Let me see your Funky Chicken! (What's that you say?) I said let me see your Funky Chicken! (What's that you say?) I said let me see your Funky Chicken! (What's that you say?) I said oo; ah, ah, ah, oo; ah, ah, ah, oo; ah, ah, ah, oo; One more time! oo; ah, ah, ah, oo; ah, ah, ah, oo; ah, ah, ah, oo Back in line! Left, left, left right left Let me see your Crazy Surfer! Let me see your Totem pole! Let me see you sit down and be quiet! Bazooka Bubble Gum My mom gave me a penny. She said Go buy a henny. But I didn't buy no henny, Instead I bought some bubble gum BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM (X2) My mom gave me a nickel. She said go buy a pickle. But I didn't buy no pickle, Instead I bought some bubble gum BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM (X2) My mom gave me a quarter. She said go buy some water. But I didn't buy no water, Instead I bought some bubble gum BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM (X2) My mom gave me a dollar. She said go buy a collar. But I didn't buy no collar, Instead I bought some bubble gum BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM (X2) My mom gave me a five. She said go stay alive. But I didn't stay alive, Instead I choked on bubble gum BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM (X2) The Moose The moose The moose Swimming in the water The moose The moose Eating his supper Where did he go? He go to sleep. 2nd verse! louder than the first The moose the moose Swimming in the water The moose the moose Eating his supper Where did he go? He go to sleep. 3rd Verse sadder that the verse. Do in a wimpy voice. The moose The moose Floating in the water The moose The moose Not eating any supper Where did he go?! He decompose(Sound ok for this last verse.) Little Red Waggon You can’t ride in my little red wagon Cause the Front seats broken And the axle’s dragging CHUG!CHUG!...CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST A WHOLE LOT LOUDER AND A WHOLE LOT WORSE! Boom Chicka Boom I said a boom chicka boom (echo) I said a boom chicka boom (echo) I said a boom chicka Rocka chicka Rocka chicka boom (echo) Uh huh (echo) Oh yeah (echo) One more time (echo) ___________ style (echo) Different styles: Loud, Whisper, Southern, British, Astronaut, Housekeeping.

Days seem like weeks but weeks seem like minutes

I've been at camp a month today. My friend Katie left this morning. Living with her kids 22 hours per day was too much. It's so sad but God's got it. I'm so happy that my CU jumper did some good. It says "I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds my future". She told me the other night that she just kept thinking of that and it's reassured her. She's getting a bus to the unknown. Camp won't be the same without her. She always has crazy stories, like when she went to a conference once and a woman was actually giving birth to the spirit. Hilarious!! This week is gospel arts. Most people hate it, but I'm loving it. I'm not in my nature lodge all day. Instead, I get to assist a singing class, assist a drama class and teach nature art, but we get to do really cool things. The only thing I've learned with the nature art is that the kids finish things a lot faster than you think they would. But the diversity and stuff I'm absolutely loving. Yesterday, Sunday was a really long day, but it was good. On Sundays I stand dock duty at the waterfront all afternoon while the counsellors get to go in the water with the kids. I love being at the waterfront. I'd love to be a lifeguard. You get a good tan though. There's plenty more to say I'm sure, but I have to go to assist drama. Brad (who teaches it) has made me Satan in the play. Nice!!!

Camp Wonderland, an update!

"Good afternoon camp wonderland, the happy summer place, would all staff and campers please go to the shell to sing camp songs!" This sort of announcement over the loud speakers are a regular occurence where I live this summer, though not this particular one thankfully since it's the lost camper drill. I hope to not hear it at all this summer. It is day 3 of session 2, a whole set of campers have already come and gone, I am well settled into my job and other duties on camp and most of the time am loving it. I have made some wonderful friends and been to some beautiful places, been blessed by many things people (especially campers) have done and said and have hopefully touched many lives already. My favorite day is Sunday because we get late breakfast at 9am, I get to go to staff church in the morning and then I am on dock duty at the waterfront all afternoon. This means I am not teaching nature. I have to say, it was not my favorite thing to study and it is not my favorite thing to teach. What is even less nice is that I have to teach ecology this week to two groups of kids. I'm finding that really tough because a couple are really interested, other don't really care either way but one of the kids is 10 and can hardly even read. Gah! So I've finally found a good activity (I hope) for them all tomorrow, but I've had them for 2 hours already andI really haven't taught them much. Right now in the nature lodge I am caring for 2 turtles, Trixie and Vindixie, a rat called Pedro, two chicks soon to become chickens called Frank and Frances and a frog (who was a tadpole when I arrived) called Fred. Most of the time I enjoy looking after the animals, more so than I expected in fact. The turtles more so than the others. I wish I could tell of all the things going on here and of all the people I've met, but here's just a few bites. Jen is the camp director. She is married to Drew, and has two girls, Riley, 6 and Sydney, nearly 3. They're all awesome. I have pictures, I'll put them up. My closest friends at camp are Zoe, who's my roommate, she's a lifeguard from Oz, Emma is from Essex, she's the ropes director. Shaina is from right here in Sharon, MA, and is the most hospitable person I've met. She's only 20 but has maturity beyond her years. I like to make fun of her saying things like "I'm drying my pants right now" She means trousers. Lindsey is also only 20 and acts older than she is. She's a nurse. She's lovely. Brad is from the USA, he is the younger boys unit leader. Very dramatic but not in the way Arpita is. He's cool! Marcus is the rec(reation) director. He just got married to Louise. He makes me laugh so much! They actually got married at the Luau we had in orientation. He's from the USA, she's from South Africa so they had 2 weddings. One in April over there, and then the Luau here. So much fun! Ben is one of the Jaguars counsellors, he's from Belfast, and is a friend of my friend Alan's from Carrubbers. Weird coincidence!!!! There are many others. You will hear about them. There are a few pictures on facebook, and more to come. I will also put videos somewhere (probably youtube) when I get to a better computer than the ones we have here. That may be a while. Oh and final piece of news for those who read this and don't yet know, Nathan and Beki got engaged on the 3d July. Woot! Congrats guys!