Camp America - 3 Week Update

Oh my goodness! I cannot believe I have nearly been here for 3 weeks. The time has absolutely flown by and I can’t believe that I didn’t know the other Counselors or any of the campers a few weeks ago - it already feels like we’ve been friends for years.

So much has happened in the past 3 weeks so I don’t really know what to do this blog post about. I think it would be nice to highlight a few of my favourite moments or events that have happened that in another 5 weeks time I may have forgotten.

Firstly, I would like to announce that me, the girl who used to scream and cry if there was a spider in a mile radius of me, has now acquired the ability to grab spiders by their legs to remove them from tents. I am also now highly skilled in using a broom to guide beetles and moths away from my petrified campers. If you’d met me a few years ago, you would not think we were the same person.

Mini Camp came and went in a blink of an eye but being able to put all our staff training into practice was like a dress rehearsal for term camp which opened about a week ago! Opening Day’s are the best because we all wear our Staff Uniform and stand by the barge docks singing welcome songs to the new campers and their parents while they cross over to camp on the barge. We collect a family each and give them a tour of camp, take them to their tents and help get them settled in their new home. We’re out in the sunshine (or rain showers) all day and boy are Opening Day’s draining, but meeting the parents, waving them goodbye and seeing the girl’s make new friends and get settled is so warming.

Welcoming a camper on Opening Day!

In just the week of Mini Camp, teaching the girls a dance routine in class and seeing them perform in the end of week show was one of the proudest moments of my life so far. Watching them have fun with the dances we’d created and shine was honestly the best thing about being a teacher and I know the feeling will be tripled when the term camp dance show comes around and I’ve been working with the girls for three weeks, rather than one.

I love spending time outside, and experiencing new bits of nature each day is incredible, the good and the bad. There are bugs everywhere, you are constantly sweaty and dirty… but the light display performed by the fireflies across camp at night is magical, especially if one comes into your tent, dancing above you. I fall asleep looking at the starry sky each night and even saw a shooting star last week! I’ve been swimming in the river a few times, which counts as a shower, right?! And we’ve been creeking, which is walking up a stream in water shoes, so you are kind of paddling with a mix of bouldering, climbing up the rocky river bed, and we scraped rocks together to make different coloured clays to use as warrior face paint!

Now this may seem strange, but I didn’t realise how much interaction with the campers we would have and I am so glad we do because it makes the job so rewarding. In Mini Camp, I had a girl in tears at the start of a dance class, then by the end of class, we had cheered her up and she was voluntarily dancing with her tent mate with giggles and smiles. The campers in my tent are the absolute best and I love to chat to them at night and hear all about their favourite things from their day at camp!

The Counselors stand in a circle in the middle of Junior Camp and serenade the new campers with songs before bed, we are sent motivational letters from our Programme Director, we sing the Hannah Montana and Phineas & Ferb theme tunes at meal times, celebrate each other’s achievements and praise the good qualities seen in the campers every day. This camp is the best place I’ve ever been to and I am literally having the best summer ever.