Week 1
OH MY GOODNESS.....week 1 of my first camp has just finished and i am sitting here on my MUCH DESERVED break and actually waiting to see if i can get into town somehow.
I am craving instant coffee, apparently instant coffee went out in the USA ages ago or so i'm told. But i truly love it and i can never get enough so i'm hoping i can get into town to buy some!
I'm hecka tired but have nothing to do and the heat outside is killing me, so there ain't no way i'm gonna walk over to teen camp to lay down.
Where to begin with my first week at camp - where, where, where....
This week has just been so full on, tiring and so stressful.
We had 22 kids at camp this last week, 4 counsellors and 3 program staff and my goodness it was so hard!!! We're all so emotionally, physically and spriritually drained. I have spent most of today in and out of tears because this past week has just been tooooo much!
Even though i feel unable to do another teen camp and extremely unqualified, i know that God has prepared me the whole way for this, every lesson i learnt at home during the past year is paying off here and i know how to deal with certain situations.
There are waaaaaaaaay too many teens for us to handle and there have been a lot of dramas happening at teen camp this week that we are all feeling the pressures of being at camp. We all just need to get away. Amy and I are hopefully heading into town tonight for dinner and a movie with sarah and claire! I hope it's relaxing.
So first day was Monday. Teens arrived. No stress, no dramas.
Tuesday we spent the majority of the day swimming/canoeing/kyaking, that was also ok except that we had a fire drill during the middle of it all - opportune time i swear?! We had to drag the teens outta the water, get all the boats docked before we could head over. If ya ask me, they all shoulda just stayed in the water with a counsellor and anyone not swimming should've just come over to the meeting point. But alas, we all went over. Ahhhh the joys of counselling during a fire drill. That night we ate genuine yankee smores. That was interesting but can i just say, chocolate over here is edible but pretty gross!
Wednesday we had the teens jump on the zipline (flying fox) and in the afternoon the girls had to make up their counsellors (yea that's me, gah!) to compete for best made up counsellor. This happened while the boys went off to do archery. I would like to have seen it pan out a little better because it didn't end the way i thought it should've. Instead it ended by having the boys come back to also declare best dressed counsellor. It was just loopy!
Thursday was our hike. I'm really gonna learn to dread thursdays. Whilst i didn't complete the whole hike this time, i still hate hiking and i think i will for the rest of my life! I did half the hike with the slower campers who couldn't do the whole thing so it was less painful but still....it was ick! We do stop for a swim at the bottom of the Yuba River and it IS refreshing but still....ick! I just keep in mind that 'this too shall pass'.
Sometime during the week, a bear got into our trash across the road. We even saw his paw marks - they were big! He took his TRASH (not rubbish) down into the creek at the bottom of teen camp! Crazy animal?!
Friday is where it all went haywire and i think we all lost control of camp - all the dramas happened - well i felt they did anyway. Friday is what left all of us feeling emotionally drained. We had a pizza/pool party (where i was granted a small break) and then our teens h eaded to the field to run the carnival with the younger discovery kids. They did a great job but it was hot and people were getting burnt all over the shop!
So now is Saturday and i haven't had a c hance to come online all week. It feels good to be in touch with y'all again but it definitely makes me teary coz i know i have to endure another coupla months here away from all that is familiar and comfortable. Away from all the things in my life that give me sunshine and laughter....awwww...
I should go and let others use this - as always. But please pray for us here, particularly at teen camp as we've all had quite a rough week and we all have a steep learning curve ahead of us.
I'm off, i've just discovered that in this ridiculous heat - IT'S RAINING!
CiaoAlisha xoxo
I am craving instant coffee, apparently instant coffee went out in the USA ages ago or so i'm told. But i truly love it and i can never get enough so i'm hoping i can get into town to buy some!
I'm hecka tired but have nothing to do and the heat outside is killing me, so there ain't no way i'm gonna walk over to teen camp to lay down.
Where to begin with my first week at camp - where, where, where....
This week has just been so full on, tiring and so stressful.
We had 22 kids at camp this last week, 4 counsellors and 3 program staff and my goodness it was so hard!!! We're all so emotionally, physically and spriritually drained. I have spent most of today in and out of tears because this past week has just been tooooo much!
Even though i feel unable to do another teen camp and extremely unqualified, i know that God has prepared me the whole way for this, every lesson i learnt at home during the past year is paying off here and i know how to deal with certain situations.
There are waaaaaaaaay too many teens for us to handle and there have been a lot of dramas happening at teen camp this week that we are all feeling the pressures of being at camp. We all just need to get away. Amy and I are hopefully heading into town tonight for dinner and a movie with sarah and claire! I hope it's relaxing.
So first day was Monday. Teens arrived. No stress, no dramas.
Tuesday we spent the majority of the day swimming/canoeing/kyaking, that was also ok except that we had a fire drill during the middle of it all - opportune time i swear?! We had to drag the teens outta the water, get all the boats docked before we could head over. If ya ask me, they all shoulda just stayed in the water with a counsellor and anyone not swimming should've just come over to the meeting point. But alas, we all went over. Ahhhh the joys of counselling during a fire drill. That night we ate genuine yankee smores. That was interesting but can i just say, chocolate over here is edible but pretty gross!
Wednesday we had the teens jump on the zipline (flying fox) and in the afternoon the girls had to make up their counsellors (yea that's me, gah!) to compete for best made up counsellor. This happened while the boys went off to do archery. I would like to have seen it pan out a little better because it didn't end the way i thought it should've. Instead it ended by having the boys come back to also declare best dressed counsellor. It was just loopy!
Thursday was our hike. I'm really gonna learn to dread thursdays. Whilst i didn't complete the whole hike this time, i still hate hiking and i think i will for the rest of my life! I did half the hike with the slower campers who couldn't do the whole thing so it was less painful but still....it was ick! We do stop for a swim at the bottom of the Yuba River and it IS refreshing but still....ick! I just keep in mind that 'this too shall pass'.
Sometime during the week, a bear got into our trash across the road. We even saw his paw marks - they were big! He took his TRASH (not rubbish) down into the creek at the bottom of teen camp! Crazy animal?!
Friday is where it all went haywire and i think we all lost control of camp - all the dramas happened - well i felt they did anyway. Friday is what left all of us feeling emotionally drained. We had a pizza/pool party (where i was granted a small break) and then our teens h eaded to the field to run the carnival with the younger discovery kids. They did a great job but it was hot and people were getting burnt all over the shop!
So now is Saturday and i haven't had a c hance to come online all week. It feels good to be in touch with y'all again but it definitely makes me teary coz i know i have to endure another coupla months here away from all that is familiar and comfortable. Away from all the things in my life that give me sunshine and laughter....awwww...
I should go and let others use this - as always. But please pray for us here, particularly at teen camp as we've all had quite a rough week and we all have a steep learning curve ahead of us.
I'm off, i've just discovered that in this ridiculous heat - IT'S RAINING!
CiaoAlisha xoxo
posted by Unknown at
Sunday, June 22, 2008
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