Break Days & Week 1
Yesterday and today have been heaven-sent days!
I am currently on my 2 day break which we get every week and believe me, after this week, i am in dire need of this break!
However, i realise that i haven't had much time to blog here this week and am pretty sure that next week is going to be worse as i will have 7 girls to keep my eye on.
I'm also hoping that this week, as we start camp, that it won't be as hectic as this past week has been. I will only be able to tell you that next weekend when they've all gone home! Pray it's not as hectic - PLEASE!
So what have i done since the hike? I don't know that i HAVE done an awful lot. We hiked on tuesday and the rest of this week we have just been doing sectionals (cleaning up the campsite and getting it all prepared for the campers). We also had our child protection talk and our nurse talk. I dunno but i may have to have a TB shot - i'm really hoping not! We also have to hand in all our meds so the nurse can regulate it, this i am NOT looking forward to but all the teens have to do it and we can't be anything extra special.
Every night we finish the day with a devotional time and most of the time that's in the form of a campfire. It's pretty cool. It gets pretty deep and alot of staff here have shared their testimonies with us. It's really good to hear their stories and hear where they've come from and where they are on their journey. That's also something that's strongly emphasised and encouraged here, to be real in your faith and in sharing your story.
I am just so broken every time i hear someone's story though - some of the things people go through (and this is staff, not campers!) are simply horrific. They're such great people, people with so much potential that have just had stuff ripped from them, basic rights taken away and yet most of them have just this hugest faith - it's really challenging!
Wednesday we watched a movie but i'm not gonna tell you what it is, other than it is a gnarly movie, i just simply loved it! It was also good feeling like i was back in civilisation, ha! eating popcorn and veging out in front of a big screen.
Then on Friday night we were taken into Grass Valley for dinner, which was good too! One shop i went into, they found out i was Australian and wanted me to say their names - they were so wowed that i was an aussie.....tehehe.....kind of strange....
Thursday night i had the the opportunity to call Dina and say hi to her. I wish i could call every one of you but calls are so expensive and my time is limited, not to mention the time difference! It's just awkward and I'm so sorry about that! But also, it's difficult to hear your voices because it really makes it hard to hold back the tears because there are definitely some days where i just wish i could go home!
Yesterday, Saturday, was our first break day and it was a chance to catch up on washing, which was so important for me as i hadn't done washing since i arrived, so i was quickly running out of socks and underwear especially!
As i've said already, the people here are really wonderful, very encouraging and warm and welcoming and as i've said, their stories leave me speechless. It's also very bizarre how some things work here. As most of us don't know each other, we're constantly trying to get to know one another better everyday but it's awkward coz your circle of friends just changes everyday.
I am now fairly close with a couple of the girls, maryellen and amy. I am pretty close with amy because we both work at teen camp. We also help eachother spiritually, so i am blessed to know her so well! Maryellen is wonderful and i love her to death but we are at different camps so i don't get to see her all that often. There's also other girls who i have such a deep respect for and know they will become lifetime friends, Molly is great as is Nicole - she is so cheery and laughs alot, they're both great value, love 'em!!
At this place there are all these different things. There is teen camp which i'm at, discovery camp which is the primary school kids, there are 49ers who are too young to be counsellors and so they help out where they can.
One of the 49ers, Blake, calls me Aussie. He doesn't use my name EVER but when he wants my attention, he just calls me aussie! It's catching too! Mandolin, another counsellor, she now refers to me as aussie! It's awkward!
In the middle of camp, during july, we get a 5 day break, so i 'm not sure where i'll end up for that. There is also a 10 day music camp happening sometime and we all get to help out with that, so that'll be fun.
Teen camp will also run a 'fatherless' camp which is a camp for boys, however, us girl counsellors won't be apart of that, which is just as well as it falls over music camp and i am uber pumped about that!
There's still so much i haven't mentioned but this has been quite long enough and amy would like to use the computer, so please write me an email when you can!
Miss you guys
Alisha xoxo
PS: I am trying to upload photos but everytime i'm here i always forget to bring my uploading cord - sorry! Will do it when i can!
I am currently on my 2 day break which we get every week and believe me, after this week, i am in dire need of this break!
However, i realise that i haven't had much time to blog here this week and am pretty sure that next week is going to be worse as i will have 7 girls to keep my eye on.
I'm also hoping that this week, as we start camp, that it won't be as hectic as this past week has been. I will only be able to tell you that next weekend when they've all gone home! Pray it's not as hectic - PLEASE!
So what have i done since the hike? I don't know that i HAVE done an awful lot. We hiked on tuesday and the rest of this week we have just been doing sectionals (cleaning up the campsite and getting it all prepared for the campers). We also had our child protection talk and our nurse talk. I dunno but i may have to have a TB shot - i'm really hoping not! We also have to hand in all our meds so the nurse can regulate it, this i am NOT looking forward to but all the teens have to do it and we can't be anything extra special.
Every night we finish the day with a devotional time and most of the time that's in the form of a campfire. It's pretty cool. It gets pretty deep and alot of staff here have shared their testimonies with us. It's really good to hear their stories and hear where they've come from and where they are on their journey. That's also something that's strongly emphasised and encouraged here, to be real in your faith and in sharing your story.
I am just so broken every time i hear someone's story though - some of the things people go through (and this is staff, not campers!) are simply horrific. They're such great people, people with so much potential that have just had stuff ripped from them, basic rights taken away and yet most of them have just this hugest faith - it's really challenging!
Wednesday we watched a movie but i'm not gonna tell you what it is, other than it is a gnarly movie, i just simply loved it! It was also good feeling like i was back in civilisation, ha! eating popcorn and veging out in front of a big screen.
Then on Friday night we were taken into Grass Valley for dinner, which was good too! One shop i went into, they found out i was Australian and wanted me to say their names - they were so wowed that i was an aussie.....tehehe.....kind of strange....
Thursday night i had the the opportunity to call Dina and say hi to her. I wish i could call every one of you but calls are so expensive and my time is limited, not to mention the time difference! It's just awkward and I'm so sorry about that! But also, it's difficult to hear your voices because it really makes it hard to hold back the tears because there are definitely some days where i just wish i could go home!
Yesterday, Saturday, was our first break day and it was a chance to catch up on washing, which was so important for me as i hadn't done washing since i arrived, so i was quickly running out of socks and underwear especially!
As i've said already, the people here are really wonderful, very encouraging and warm and welcoming and as i've said, their stories leave me speechless. It's also very bizarre how some things work here. As most of us don't know each other, we're constantly trying to get to know one another better everyday but it's awkward coz your circle of friends just changes everyday.
I am now fairly close with a couple of the girls, maryellen and amy. I am pretty close with amy because we both work at teen camp. We also help eachother spiritually, so i am blessed to know her so well! Maryellen is wonderful and i love her to death but we are at different camps so i don't get to see her all that often. There's also other girls who i have such a deep respect for and know they will become lifetime friends, Molly is great as is Nicole - she is so cheery and laughs alot, they're both great value, love 'em!!
At this place there are all these different things. There is teen camp which i'm at, discovery camp which is the primary school kids, there are 49ers who are too young to be counsellors and so they help out where they can.
One of the 49ers, Blake, calls me Aussie. He doesn't use my name EVER but when he wants my attention, he just calls me aussie! It's catching too! Mandolin, another counsellor, she now refers to me as aussie! It's awkward!
In the middle of camp, during july, we get a 5 day break, so i 'm not sure where i'll end up for that. There is also a 10 day music camp happening sometime and we all get to help out with that, so that'll be fun.
Teen camp will also run a 'fatherless' camp which is a camp for boys, however, us girl counsellors won't be apart of that, which is just as well as it falls over music camp and i am uber pumped about that!
There's still so much i haven't mentioned but this has been quite long enough and amy would like to use the computer, so please write me an email when you can!
Miss you guys
Alisha xoxo
PS: I am trying to upload photos but everytime i'm here i always forget to bring my uploading cord - sorry! Will do it when i can!
posted by Unknown at
Monday, June 16, 2008
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