Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Here is yet more back-blogging! Enjoy! ~ Mei

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Got up about 6:15am this morning and went for a walk up to the main road and back. It was so refreshing! I got to talk to mother on the phone for about 20 minutes (yes, I’m a slow walker), and it was just really nice. On the way back crossed paths with Jessica and one of her friends. Been sitting out in the damp morning cold (it rained last night) for about 45 minutes, and it’s now time I should be heading back to the cabin to get ready for the day. I have not seen Basswood yet, and am assuming that they will be eating breakfast out on the island where they had their campout last night. I hope they had fun! I can’t wait to hear their stories!

More to come later …

9:30pm and just made it back to the cabin after the day’s debrief at 9pm. Such a great, busy day!

Basswood finally got in from their camping trip to the island and staggered in to breakfast at 8am. Luckily I saw them coming and was able to set up the table for them. Apparently they had some difficulty starting the boat this morning. It was quite amusing, actually, how frustrated Melissa and Sam were (Melissa because the boat wouldn’t start and Sam because he wanted a shower and breakfast). For breakfast we had French toast, bacon, and something else. The bacon was okay, and the French toast was decent. They all told me about their visit to the canteen yesterday as well as their trip to the island. They all got wet and loved camping out in the rain. Chris had bought a rat/possum/mouse stuffed animal at the canteen, and he had kept it all night and all day in the “kangaroo pouch” of his sweatshirt, even sleeping with it! It was so cute! Super soft! Only about 6 inches tall, and he loves it!

After breakfast it was shower time for everyone (except Melissa who took a shower on her time off today from 12:30pm – 6:30pm), with the guys and Melissa and myself going to the shower house so that we could shower all three at the same time in separate showers, and Sam staying behind in the cabin to use the shower there.

It was interesting doing shower time with the guys, because David is extremely self conscious, but Chris and Cal were completely unconcerned. Chris chatted the entire time he got ready for the shower, as he showered, and after he showered. Cal was extremely slow and unfocused, the last one into the shower and the last one out of the shower, with Melissa having to sternly tell him to leave the shower after he had been in there for forever and she found him washing the walls of the shower.

After that, we went back to the cabin where we hung out for a little while, but then I was off to training at 9am. Training was excruciatingly boring today, and though I’m sure I learned a lot, I’d be hard-pressed to spit out even 50% of the information shot at me. The health care person leading the session was horrible (apparently a new camp Health and Medicine Administrator (HMA)), and told us repeatedly that we could learn important things (such as personal care, etc.) from the counselors. Every time we repeated this particular tidbit to any of the other training staff, they were appalled and assured us that we would be taught properly. We did health training session for almost three hours – and we were all falling asleep. She freaked us out about epi-pens, other needle things, general health concerns, etc. About halfway through the session it started raining, so after the session we sprinted for our rain gear and then made it for lunch. From here on out it rained/poured for the entire rest of the day – it’s still dripping!

Lunch with the campers was great with super crappy food. The main dish was a “toasty dog” (a hot dog wrapped in a slice of singles cheddar cheese and then wrapped in a buttered piece of white bread – not sure how they kept them all rolled up), baked beans, and fruit pieces and whipped stuff for dessert. I ate part of a “toasty dog” (this pic of a Chinese toasty dog is much more appealing than the actuality) and a half of a chocolate chip bagel. It was quite unsatisfying, but it was so unappetizing that I didn’t really feel hungry until about an hour before dinner. Melissa left right at lunch (12:30pm) and so it was just Sam, myself, and occasionally Matt (the village leader). Sam left to take down the ropes course, and Matt stepped in to take over for counselor duties for the rest of the lunch time and back to the cabin.

After lunch we went back to the cabin where the guys did crafts, and relaxed while Matt lounged on the sofa complaining about how small the cabin was. Everything was damp, wet, and mildewy, so we set up all the fans that we could find and draped all the rain gear over Cal’s bike that was stashed in the already cramped living room. It was kinda ridiculous. Sam eventually returned, Matt and he bantered, and then Matt left. Sam disappeared into the counselors’ room while I stayed up front with the guys. Matt walked by and apparently we weren’t doing things properly – Sam needed to be with the campers at all times since I’m not allowed to be with the campers on my own. So Matt talked to Sam outside, and Sam joined us in the living room. Luckily I had to leave within a couple of minutes in order to return to training.

Next on the agenda was water training stuff. We met at the pool and went through pool policies. (I HATE Disgusting pool deck, filmy water, icky icky icky makes my stomach go flop!) We then went down to the lake front to do lake stuff. Got some rules and regulations about when and how to enter the beach area (basically a lifeguard has to let you in and out of the area – super inconvenient but I totally understand). We took the Caddy out to the island, were shown the necessary S-curve that must be done in order to avoid the sand bars, but we were not able to dock because of the drizzly cold rain. Made it back to the shore and 7 of the 12 of us were able to learn how to dock one of the smaller boats. It was horribly cold and rainy – it would have been fine if it had been raining, but it was just at the point between a drizzle and rain where you could feel every single little drop that was cold as all-get-out. Eesh. Public pools!!!!!! Icky.

After that we made it over to the dining hall for a lecture on special lectures, the most well-organized, concise, and memorable session thus far, which is pretty sad. Before the session started we all pigged out on fabulous toasted bagels and bread.

We then trekked all the way back to the lower lodge for some talking about behavior training (basically what to do, how to react, general information about, etc. different behavioral issues, addressing those who are nonverbal). It was so freaking boring. Not because Charlotte led it, but because it just was. I kept falling asleep! I was kinda embarrassed and I felt guilty. But oh well.

Finally, we were told to go to the dining hall to do a session on “Helping Others Eat,” used instead of the expression “Feeding Other.” She showed us all the different special utensils, how to use them, the different interventions possible, etc. It was slightly more interesting just because she was using props and not just reading from pages and pages of words.

We were slightly late getting out of the session, but luckily we were already in the dining hall. I hurriedly had the table ready by 5:45pm, by which time I saw Sam, Cal, and David coming towards the dining hall. Apparently Chris’s day trip to the farm had gone over and he was going to be late, and though the day trip people were going to bring the campers to the dining hall, Matt had told Sam to wait. Sam was pretty peeved in his bright pink shirt with pastel stripes (ugly shirt, but he kinda was able to wear it). Dinner was pretty nasty: chicken alfredo, un-toasted white bread with butter, salad (which I didn’t get for the campers), and julienne carrot bits. It was absolutely inedible. I ended up just picking out bits of chicken (which tasted like they had been burned and then dunked in charcoal) and eating the carrots. Sam and I both went hungry, I’m afraid, but the guys loved it! David especially liked it because it gave him gas after dinner so he was both burping and farting throughout the night.

After dinner we made it back to the cabin at which point Melissa showed back up, Sam went on leave with Lisa to Target, and we just hung out until about 7:30pm when we went over to the gym for “So You Think You Can Dance – Camp Friendship Style.” It was so much fun! Cal, David, Chris, and Melissa got up and danced to a Backstreet Boys song while I took pictures. Melissa danced circles around them while they got stage fright, but David and Cal snapped out of it pretty quickly and were able to do come dancing. Chris, on the other hand, completely froze up and didn’t show us his fabulous dance moves until we were at the ice cream social in the dining hall after the event. Melissa and I had Oreo, Chris and David had chocolate, and Cal had chocolate chip cookies (they looked nasty but he loved them) and soy milk. Hot Andrew came by, and it was great!

Following the ice cream social, we (mostly Melissa and I) danced and sang the “Twist and Shout” chorus all the way back to the cabin, embarrassing the guys who occasionally joined in. It was so much fun! Once we got back, they prepped for bed and I left to go do the day’s debrief with Kara. I sat outside the Upper Lodge on a bench just so I wouldn’t have to go inside. Ryan, one of the fellow trainees and apparently the future roommate of Kara at college this next academic year, came up and we talked about our campers. He has Isaiah, that adorable little black boy with his action figures. He has a crush on a little girl and at the ice cream social he kept talking to himself, giving himself a pep talk and coming up with an action plan with which to approach her. So adorable! During the dancing, also, he got up and danced with around four different groups! He’s not that social and would prefer to walk off on his own and sit or lie in the grass rather than join in, so I absolutely loved seeing him run up and dance in the very front of the group! I talked about Scott and Sarah (Asian), specifically their hand holding and how concerned they are with each other. It was so great!

The debrief went pretty well, and we were able to ask a lot of questions about the personal care, etc.

Hot Andrew did a lot of roving around today, and he just gets more and more attractive the more I see him! It’s quite unfortunate. Very attractive.

Melissa and I taught David to say that a female in whom he is interested in is “pretty,” “aesthetically appealing,” or “an attractive young lady” instead of saying that she is “hot” or “sexy.” It was so great! He loves the expressions/phrases!

Camp Friendship-friendly lingo:

• Diapers = briefs, even if the camper refers to them as diapers
• Feeding someone = helping him/her eat

I’m super ready for a shower! Later! I hope they tone down the talking after I get out of the shower so that I can go to sleep!

~ Mei