So I have been at camp now for a month, and I'm sorry to anyone who has checked this page and been mega bored because I haven't updated at all since I've been gone. It is great so far, there have been a few times where I have felt like going home, but I guess you get that anywhere! I am currently living in a bunk with two other counsellors- Mallory and Nicole, who are lovely!- and 10 girls who are all 7 or 8 years old. It is so crazy how different they all are! Some in particular remind me of myself when I was younger, and I can't help but love them all :) Well, mostly!
I was worried about not fitting in with all the rich kids, and yes-they are mega rich! Some of them have 4 houses and private jets and all sorts of things. They come to camp with bags of calvin klein underwear in baby sizes and they hold their toys in prada bags. But apart from a couple, they don't realise they are rich at all. They act and play like 'normal' kids, and have the same troubles and interests. Except instead of saying "last week at my neighbours place..." at the beginning of the story, they say "last week at my other house in vermont..." or "last year in Paris..." Haha. It's sad though because they don't appreciate it at all. So I am starting to feel like they will never understand the joy in being in a new country, and of owning something that you have saved up for years to buy, because those kinds of things are what they have every day. In some ways they are wealthy, but in others they are definitely not as lucky as those who aren't so rich. But enough about that.
I had been hired to be a part of the sailing staff, but on my first day here I was transferred to gymnastics coaching because they had too many in boating. This is one of the best things that could have happened. The people in gym are so amazing to work with, they are funny, caring, chilled out and always smiling. They don't form little cliques like some other staff, and we always have fun jumping around with the music blaring. I am getting better at coaching, and the girls are starting to be really comfortable around me even though I am still 'new' to the camp. It's great.
We get days and nights off sometimes which are rare but fantastic. Its great to just hang out and not worry about putting sunscreen on everyone or walking kids to the bathroom or trying to act really enthusiastically about something really lame! Haha. On my nights off sometimes we go to see a movie or we go to walmart(which, btw, is a massive trip in itself!) There are also about 25 people who go to a campsite about 600m away from camp and have a bonfire and drink a bit. Its a really nice atmosphere-not seedy or gross- and everyone just hangs out there until they start falling asleep :)
I went to Portland on one of my days off, I have been there twice now. We went to see a baseball game on one of the days we first got here and one of my friends got hit with the ball, it was crazy. What os even more crazy is the food they serve there. They have this 'fried dough' which is exactly what it sounds like, a mountain of greasy hot dough the size of a frisbee with icing sugar all over it. And it costs $2. The food here is so cheap! No wonder I am getting so fat! I have warned most people but just fyi I will have to be rolled off the plane when I get home! haha.
One another day off I went with one of my co counsellors, Nicole, to her grandparent's house about an hour south. It was actually the most adporable place I have ever seen. It was painted a deep green, and was very tall and narrow, all made from wood. It was at the end of this little track that wound along beside a stream and was surrounded by enormous pine trees. It was double storey, and filled with collectable and antique style things thay I just wanted to steal and take home. They even had one of those stoves where you light a fire in the bottom to cook the food! Almost every wall had a bookshelf on it that was filled with old classics, and everything about it was so homely and comfortable. I would have stayed there all month!
It is strange how well you get to know all the girls at camp. After a month I can name and identify almost everyone, especially the ones in my age group or in gymnastics. They say the funniest things, and are so adorably sweet that I nearly die. One of them drew a portrait of me last week and it is so hilarious, I look like frodo! I will take a picture and upload it or something so you can see it! One of them also gave me a flower yesterday that she picked for me, and another girl in my gym class told me that she had thought I as English the whole time because I am "too pretty to be Australian." I took it as a compliment. Haha.
We have so many dress up days and activities every week. We had this things last night called "air band" ehioch is basically a giant lip sync competition. My girls got given the theme "Harry Potter" which I thought was pretty much the coolest ever. We dressed them all up as witches and wizards (I will HAVE to put up photos-cutest things in the world) and they danced to Potter puppet pals and then played a game of quidditch where they basically just ran around the stage on brooms for 30 seconds. It was the sweetest thing ever. And we got third place out of 15 so they were stoked. I don't know how that happened but we were proud as! The night before we had 80's night where we dressed in fluro clothes and danced around to 80's music. I thought it was more for the counsellors considering these kids weren't even born until 2002. Haha!
One of my favourite things is cookout, which we do for dinner once a week. The whole bunk goes down to a campfire spot and we cook our dinner over the fire and then eat smores! They are AMAZING! It's like, you toast a marshmallow and then sandwich it between two sweet biscuits with a few pieces of chocolate. It's actually like heaven. Haha. SO much sugar though. I don't know why we don't do them in Australia. We need to start!
Ok I have to go because I pretty much just wrote my thesis on Camp. But I won't be able to update for a while. I will try my best to keep you informed! :)
