Wednesday, June 17

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

It’s about 7:30am, and I have just returned from a very satisfying walk. It was the usual, up to the main road and back, but just as enjoyable as always. Got up around 6:30am (a little later than I had planned), but was able to get on the walk by about 6:50am. I called Dad and Mom, both of whom were glad to hear from me. I enjoy these morning walks with a little phone chatting thrown in.

Because it’s been raining so much (I’m assuming), it is super foggy and misty and absolutely beautiful. The corn fields are still small (only about 6 inches or so), and the alfalfa fields are even smaller (of course). I saw several deer tracks and some that I suspect to be elk (or, as I said on the phone, “elk-en”). After further ruminations, I have decided that my initial assessment of “elk” is incorrect, and that it is more likely to be “moose,” though a very small moose judging by the relatively small depth of the prints in the soft sand. They were big, about 4 inches long and 2.5 inches wide, with diamond-shaped main pads splayed out pretty far and two little circles in the back. I’ll have to look it up next time I get internet. Hopefully I’ll remember … And on the way back I ate one of those Quaker (I think?) granola bars with chocolate chips. My stomach is giving me fits right now – super unhappy that I ate that, I’m assuming. Super gassy maybe. Probably will be a while before I try eating one of those again!

I’m hoping it will be a much more pleasant day today than yesterday. Here’s hoping for even a small spot of sunshine for an hour or so (preferably between sessions so that we can enjoy it!). Did I use up all the good weather karma in the first couple of days that I was here?! I hope not!

I hope the peeps are out of the shower – I need to wash my face!

Alrighty then. It’s about 9:10pm, and I’m sitting on the porch of the Upper Lodge (above my usual spot just because I hope the bugs won’t be as bad up here). Today was certainly action-packed, and I hope I can remember everything without exhausting myself.

I made it to breakfast at around 7:50am, and had the table set up and ready for Basswood’s morning feasting. I then went to the cabin to see if they needed any help. They were still getting ready, with Cal still sucking his thumb with his blanket while sitting on his bed. So I sat and talked to those who were already dressed and ready. Eventually we made it over to the dining hall for breakfast. There was oatmeal with brown sugar, amazingly delicious and fresh fruit, and awkward sausage patties that tasted much better than they looked but were a lot more vicious than initially judged. My stomach has been dodgy off and on all day, and I totally blame the sausage. They looked like potato latkes or some such. I should have known. Haha.

After breakfast we went back to the cabin for a fabulous round of getting ready for the day and all the activities. Melissa broke rules and looked up the Twins vs. Pirates score on her cell phone so that Chris could gloat and strut, yelling out the window at Hot-Andrew because the Twins won 8 – 2. Hot-Andrew was super nice about it all and was willing to trade friendly and loud banter about the scores. At around 9:15am, they left for their morning activities, and I got to the Lodge a little early.

Wow – I just killed a HUGE mosquito on my right ankle, and a good amount of blood came gushing out of it! How appalling! It itches like hell, and the bite place hasn’t even swelled up! I may actually have to move inside, despite the beautiful temperature. Yep – I have to move – another bug on my left foot.

Anyway … The sessions today were generally much more involved, with a lot more (dare I say useful?) information, and better presented. The AM sessions were mainly concerned with packing and unpacking routines, LOTS of paperwork (there are so many forms that we have to fill out for each individual camper – but I completely understand why, don’t really want to go into the details of each form, but they’re all extremely necessary, vital, etc.), and of course more paperwork talking. We didn’t get the promised break because we went over about 30 minutes with Charlotte and the forms, but Jon let us start about 15 minutes late so that we actually could have a break. The poor Brits (Emily and Josh) found out that they now have to do “American spelling” and are quite outraged. Emily mentioned getting a dictionary so that she can be sure to spell things correctly.

It was so beautiful – the sun came out for just a few minutes, and while some went to the dining hall for a snack, the rest of us just sat around and hung out. I pushed Josh in the hammock swing which they moved to be in front of Basswood, and then a group of us for some reason just all clustered around the hammock swing to talk. Interestingly enough, we talked about racism (related to watching Crash Monday night) in the U.S. and in the U.K., with a little South Africa thrown in.

When we returned for some more session talk, we went through camper applications, cabin folders/manuals, etc. which thankfully didn’t take long. Lots of repetition with the forms session until we got made it clear that we had already gone through all of the paperwork/forms.

For lunch, Basswood went for a “floating picnic” where the campers and the staff go out on a boat to float in the middle of the lake while eating lunch. Though we were supposed to leave right at 12:30pm, Basswood didn’t get there until almost 12:35pm, and then Sam didn’t get there until around 12:45pm just as we were had started the engine after waiting for him forever. We were going to leave him, but he appeared at just the right moment in order to join his cabin. We got turkey and cheese sandwiches on white bread, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies. It was horrible – not as bad as the toasty dogs or the chicken alfredo, but considering that the rest of the camp got to have “Frito pie,” we definitely got the short end of the stick. Sam and I were quite upset that we were missing Frito pie for awful turkey sandwiches. But whatevs. I found out that Melissa is in Pi Beta Phi sorority (giant Greek letters on her St. Paddy’s Day-green sweat shirt), Sam is a rising sophomore at university in Madison, WI, and I was able to re-confirm that Melissa is a control freak that doesn’t let her campers do much of anything that they ask, probably simply because they want to do it. Eh. Whatevs. I’ll let Sam deal with her. Hah!

We got back just in time for me to be almost late for the after lunch session, which was the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention session that lasted for about 4 hours. It was really informative and I absolutely loved it. The topics covered were great, and I really appreciated the fact that people had taken and do take the time to practice those methods. Instead of taking notes all the time as Chet wrote on the board, she told us stories as examples (love when the “teacher” tells personal stories for illustration!), and we were able to, during the last 45 minutes or so, practice techniques to get out of different holds without injuring the person “acting out.” We also learned fancy-shmancy terminology that I will more than likely not remember, unfortunately. For example, instead of “punch” we say “closed fist,” and instead of “slap” we say “open fist,” neither of which make sense if you think about the possibilities of replacing the word “fist” with “hand,” which would make a lot more sense.

At 5:30pm we took a break and went to have dinner with our cabins. I set up the table, but they were pretty late getting there seeing as they had the high ropes course at 4:30pm and so needed time to get back and ready. Mallory, the woman taking over from Hot-Andrew for the meds during the afternoon (he had his time off), and I sat and talked for a little while waiting on Basswood to show up. They finally made it and we had our interesting dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, bread, salad, and some awful whipped concoction with chocolate swirls and cake bits in it. Eesh. I had a lot of salad, some cucumber slices, some bread, and some potatoes. Considering all I didn’t eat, I did pretty well. But considering all the physical activity I didn’t do today, it was a pretty poor nutritional day.

After dinner we had to go back to do more training at 6:15pm, specifically Personal Care. I’m so glad we had that session because I learned so much and I will certainly be more confident in my dealings with personal care actions and concerns. Thank goodness we told our other session leaders that we had not had the training session in PC, because otherwise we would have been … how to put this delicately … no, I must go for the awful Paul-esque pun … we would have been up sh*t-creek without a paddle. I definitely learned a lot, in other words. We finished a few minutes after 7pm, and so we decided to go ahead and do debrief with Kara right then instead of having to come back at 9pm. What a great idea! We got it over with and were able to go out and see our campers for a bit. I at first had some difficulty finding them, but located them just in time to be pulled away to complete the boat docking portion of training. It was great being out on the water with Emily, Annie, and Rachel with Charlotte supervising. So beautiful out there, and we just had a great time! Charlotte also taught us how to tie up our boats so they wouldn’t float off when we go to the island’s dock.

When we got back, I made it to Basswood in time for the completion of the donning of the pajamas and for the entirety of story time. Melissa had all three boys sit on the sofa with her, and read first a story from a Mickey Mouse and Goofy collection about Goofy being a great hero at the fire department, and second a story about a nosy meddling little girl named Lizzy who messed up her friend’s birthday party. “Dizzy Lizzy’s Day” or something was the inane title, and it was kind of a downer story.

Throughout the day all Chris could talk about was his trip to see the Twins play tomorrow. Every camper signs up for one (or two, in Chris’s case because he got to go to the farm and he gets to go to the Twins game) day trip per week. They are leaving at 10:30am and are returning somewhere around 4:30pm. David has expressed his jealousy jokingly but I think seriously, also, but Cal doesn’t really seem to care, though I’m sure he’ll ask several times tomorrow where Chris is. It should be an interesting day. The guys are excited, though, that I’ll be there to eat breakfast with them.

So then I started writing this – and an hour later, I am nearing the end. Maybe I’ll play online a little longer and see what I can find, but not for long – I’m kidna pooped for some reason.

It’s crazy awful, but whenever I use vocabulary up here that I would normally use in Atlanta, such as “What’s poppin’?” or “Aight” or “F’shiggity/F’shizzle” or “Darn-tootin’,” no one knows what I’m talking about! Hopefully they’ll get used my strange vocabulary ways, but until then, I’ll just keep explaining myself. (Tubbies, y’all know what I’m talkin’ about!!!!)

The weather today was perfect – mostly over cast with moments of sun – just gorgeous! And the temperature is to die for! The only complaint is the huge mosquito bite on the outside of my left knee. Poop. Now I’m itchy all over. Harumph.

The water here is horrible. It reminds me of the heavily iodine-ed water from Gramma Bobbie’s house out in Etowah, and my towel borrowed form camp reminds me of the moldering towel smell of the towels lurking at the damp bottom of the towel drawer in Gramma Becky’s bathroom. But everything works and for that I am truly thankful.

The loons out here are fabulous to listen to. They have these long, mid-pitched calls that remind me of the second part of a dove’s call elongated. They are super loud, and I just love it. There are several fabulous little loon families out on the lake, one to two adult loons being followed by one to three little fuzzy dark-brown/black balls of feathery fur. Absolutely love them!

I love walking around, going through the dining hall, just seeing some of the campers that I know and saying hi. There are so many staff and campers that I doubt they remember me, but I love talking to them, especially the men from Kingfisher. Scott is always ready for a conversation; Charlie is just as sweet as he can be; Skeeter laughs almost always and almost always has a smile or a laugh to give; and Chris is just a great person, saying yes and no and laughing at something someone’s completely across the room has said. They are truly incredible, amazing people, and no words can express my frustration at the world’s/cultures’ shunning of people who are mentally and physically disabled. It just makes me so frustrated. Argh. But to end on a happy note, I just love the people and the place here. The staff for the most part truly are here for the campers first and their own interests way on down the list, and I absolutely love that. I really hope I can come back for winter camp and then for the summer camp (again). Maybe I can get a job up here for a couple of years? Who knows. I just know that I love it here, and even though it’s just my first week, I can definitely see myself here for a couple of summers if not more.

Wow – I cannot believe that I didn’t talk about the NVCI training, specifically the two-person restraint! Basically, it involves an individual acting out in an extremely dangerous, physical way, multiple staff, and the situation having escalated so much that this is the last resort. THE LAST RESORT. One staff member will yell “TEAM,” another staff member and that individual will swoop in and put the individual into a two-person restraint. This restraint is only used for adults (a different type of restraint is used for individuals smaller than you). It’s pretty intense.

Ta-ta for now!

~ Mei

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

Monday, June 15, 2009

Apologies for all the back-blogging that I'm going to have to do. This one is especially ill-fleshed-out, so please excuse it. I shall edit, correct, etc. it when I have time. Just FYI, the names for the most part in this blog have been changed to protect the identities of those at camp (campers, staff, etc.). Hope y'all enjoy - many apologies for the long posts!

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It’s super late (10:30pm), and we just got back from watching “Crash” as a training session. Such an intense movie, but good, I guess. I don’t think it should have won all the awards that it did (can’t remember them, should call Linda or Michael), but it was good nonetheless.

Okay. First day of training. Boring as hell, but it did have its moments.

Didn’t seem like I would get off to a good start, because I woke up at 3:30am, 4:30am, and 6:30am. But interestingly, I didn’t wake up when my watch alarm went off at 6:45am. Which was bad: didn’t get my morning walk, didn’t get my morning leisurely internet time, and didn’t get some legit am chill time. But whatever. Emily was up and luckily I woke up about 7:30am and had time to dress, wash my face, grab my stuff, and rush over to the dining hall to set up breakfast for Basswood. I timed it perfectly, because I had just set up the table when I saw them approaching down the walkway – it was great! (Or, as the Brits say, “brilliant!”) We had baked eggs (the stove top/griddle was broken), sausages, and cheese popovers. It was great! The campers loved it! The cheese popovers were certainly the highlight!

After breakfast we went back to the cabin to chill for a while until we hung out. Unfortunately, we missed the “morning stretches” at 9:15am, but went to bike ride at around 9:30am. Melissa doesn’t know how to ride a bicycle (hasn't ridden in about 5 years to her guesstimate). David worked on breaking and had a great time, Chris worked on just riding fast and riding up the slight hill up to the bike barn, and Cal really enjoyed being on his bike. It was pretty funny though, wherever I stood, they would suddenly come up from all around and stop and talk to me, so in order to keep the riding I had to keep moving, walking slowly around, encouraging them, asking them for ideas on what shapes to ride in with and where to go on their bikes in that little clearing. It was great fun! The guys really enjoyed it!

At 10:00am I made my way over to the Upper Lodge to start training. Eventually we were all gathered (12 of us in total), but the lecturer person didn’t show up until well after 10am. It was quite frustrating. Very awkward silences, etc. I met Orlando and Carissa first. According to hot Andrew-the-medicine-man, Orlando's cousin is some famous baseball player Christopher Webber or some such. I didn't really believe the story, and Andrew didn’t believe him either, but Orlando kept insisting. I dunno about the baseball, but here's what I could about Chris Webber the basketball player. He is actually 34 years old and probably has a couple of kids if I could guess. He still lives at home with his parents, but whatevs. His choice. He graduated from Something Valley or Valley Something College in Mississippi (where he still lives). He took the greyhound up and said it was hell. I had a little giggle about that and he agreed that he looked quite comical in a greyhound bus (he’s 6 feet). Quite interesting. Most of the new staff is from here in Minnesota (which greatly amuses me).

Here I think are the names of my fellow new staff members: Carissa, Orlando, Tom, Adam, Ryan, Annie, Veronica, Josh, Emily, Rachel, and Elizabeth. They’re all quite nice, and it’ll be great having such a large group with which to go through training and initiation.

We did lots of sessions, lectures, form-filling-out, health checks, a quick tour, workshops, etc. I really like Cindy, one of the seasonal (summer) program leaders here. This is her fourth and final year at Camp Friendship, which is sad. She’s going into law, though, so watch out! She’s got a great sense of humor and will say anything to make sure the talking points stick in our heads. Haha. We were all supposed to have lunch together today, but I forgot and when I went to visit Basswood I sat down and had lunch with them. Tomato soup (poured from a water pitcher, quite interesting, fairly disgusting looking, but Cal and David slurped it right up! Cal even finished off what Chris didn’t eat, which was a considerable amount because Chris doesn’t much care for tomato soup), grilled cheese sandwiches (which were surprisingly great, and were of course eaten with mayonnaise by Melissa), and the most amazing fruit I’ve ever had not at home – so fresh and surprising! I ate a ton of the fruit! Next time I may get nothing but fruit!

After lunch we went for more sessions and had a session with Matt (my village leader) and Jon Salmon (the guy who hired me and who is year-round staff). It was on ADD/ADHD, expectations, rewards, consequences, etc. There were certainly moments that held our attentions, but for most of the time my mind wandered dangerously. I kept having to remind myself, "Focus! Focus, Mei! They're saying important stuff! FOCUS!!!!"

Basswood went for a camp out on the island today, which I super sad that I’m missing right now, super bummed. BUT I got to help Kingfisher (Rachel is actually assigned to Kingfisher) which has adult male campers who use wheelchairs. I met Charlie, another Chris, Josh, and August (they call him Skeeter). They're doing a campout in the 100 acres (which is over behind Whipporwill not too far away), and so they grilled cheeseburgers, had chips, heated up corn on the fire, and had fabulous s’mores. They are all super amazing people and I had the best time talking to, feeding, and joking around with Charlie and Josh! It was so much fun! I didn’t eat a cheeseburger, but I did have a s’more and a couple of graham crackers and a couple pieces of the chocolate. It reminded me again why I don’t like milk chocolate – too slipper, thickly, unappetizingly sweet. Boo.

We then went at around 7:30pm to Camp Friendship Idol in the gym and had an amazing time! The campers loved standing up and singing in front of everyone, and the last song that was sung involved everyone standing up and dancing and singing to “YMCA” – it was absolutely brilliant!

After the Idol show Emily and I came back to the cabin to take out our contacts (must remember to get more contacts when I go home! I have an appointment at the eye doctor on the Monday that I’m supposed to go back to Atlanta – poopy). We met Elizabeth and “popped over to the dining hall” for a snack, hoping for chocolate cake. Sadly there was none, so we contented ourselves with bagels. Emily and I split a sesame seed bagel. We made it back over to the Lower Lodge in order to watch “Crash.” I’ll discuss my issues with that movie later. Grrr there are just some things about that movie that make me so mad.

Throughout the day the entire group (girls, because we are primarily girls in the group) has been ribbing Josh about being British and his lack of an American funny bone (doesn’t think “Superbad,” etc. are funny). Or a British funny bone at that (doesn’t like one of Emily’s favorite comedians). We decided that Average Americans and Boring Brits should be our designations. Haha.

Poopy – two new mosquito bites: one on the back of my left leg by my butt cheek – super itchy; and the second bite is on the top of my right thigh, up at the top – it was itchy earlier, but not quite as itchy as the other one. Man, I’m so succulent to these vicious mosquitoes.

So tired. Hopefully I can wake up in time to do a morning walk and then go help my campers! I need to buy odor neutralizer stuff for the icky smoke smell on my pants and other clothes. Eesh. Also need to bum a ride to get some toothpaste, detergent, and some other “Bear Necessities” (which I started singing this morning in the cabin, much to the amusement of the campers and Melissa).

Oh, super frustrating: the health form, that I took so much trouble filling out and even took it to Oak Ridge Pediatrics (I have GOT to get an actual adult doctor!) to get the immunization records written out, has gone missing, and so I had to fill it out anew, leaving blank, of course, the immunization record things. Poop on them. AND – even worse – they made us bring all of our topical creams for itching, pills like ibuprofen, and the like to the health clinic so that they could lock it up. So frustrating! I just want to get up in the morning, pop in my allergy pill, and be off – but nooooooo – I have to go all the way to the HC to get it. (It’s really not that far or difficult or inconvenient, I just enjoy the whining.)

Farewell for now. I’m sure I’ll add more later!

~ Mei

Making Friends, Making Memories

Corny, eh? What-evah!

I've made friends, biotch!

Yes, I realize that this is a big "Duh, Mei, you big doubting dork" moment, but there were a couple of hours there where I did, indeed, doubt. Open heart and open mind Ofelia vs. doubting Daisy: 1 - 0. I sincerely hope that Ofelia wins by a landslide!

Yesterday after those Doubting Daisy hours and after a horrible dinner, I did some of the NY Times crossword puzzles in a little puzzle calendar that I got for Xmas this past year. (Miss you and your fabulous brain, Joely-Moely-Guacamole!) I only do the Monday and Tuesday ones because those are the easiest, but whatever - it makes me feel smart and I like it! Haha. I was doing some puzzles lying out on the big wagon bed in the sun when Sunny (new friend number 1) came up with a book and a bean bag chair and asked if she could join me. I agreed readily, eager to get the friend-making process underway. It was great fun! She was reading Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning which I just finished over the Xmas break, and we just talked about various and sundry small light things. It was great. It started to look stormy and so we decided to move inside, but en route we were invited to go out canoeing/kayaking/paddling around on the lake with Amy and Sam and a whole posse of others. It was really great! Katie and Sam were in a kayak, Amy and Lisa were in a canoe (Lisa had never paddled before and so there was a lot of lilydipping going on - definition of lilydipping: A lily dipper is one who looks from the outside like they are paddling like everyone else; however, from inside of the team, they are known for just going through the motions of real work - but in this case it was because of a lack of familiarity with canoeing), and Barbara, Sunny, and I were in a canoe (Barbara up front, Sunny in the middle confusing things, and me in the back trying to keep up with the switching of Barbara and Sunny and struggling to hear Barbara's requests of directions). It was so much fun! It was absolutely gorgeous, with a breeze (that later became a wind as we straggled back to shore), a beautiful sunset through the big scary tornado-esque clouds, and the fabulous company. I had such a great time I laughed the whole time! Barbara, Sunny, Katie, Sam, and I got back to shore, but Amy and Lisa were still paddling around way out in the middle of the lake. We thought they just wanted to hang out way out there for a little longer. Little did we know that they were actually stuck because of the wind!

When they finally made it in, Amy was so frustrated she was "really fucked off!" which she prefers to "really pissed off" because it has just that extra much of oomph to it. As they were struggling in, Charlotte arrived with two new additions, Emily and Josh who had just flown in from England. They had flown to New York, spent the night in "a hostel," and then flown here. Two solid days of traveling with very little sleep and they were both wiped out. But they went out in a canoe with Charlotte anyway and had a great time. Sunny and I went up to grab a snack from the dining hall (bagel and jam), and then just hung out doing crosswords on the wagon and then chatting in my cabin when the clouds became too menacing. The lighting was absolutely incredible though! The sky was the gorgeous deep pink color, while the lighting on the trees behind us was the eerie copper red, deep tang (Kate Campbell reference, please check out her music!) orange color. It was amazing!!!!

Emily eventually made her way back to the cabin and we all sat around and talked, learning stuff about our different cultures, customs, and schooling. It was so much fun! I really had a great time! Emily said that her favorite parts of England are the Lake District because of the mountains, lakes, and just all out beauty, and Yorkshire where her aunt lives because of its "quintessential English village look." At the end of the chat night, Emily and I were both falling asleep while Sunny was just as peppy as ever (she had been here a lot longer than either Emily or myself). It was "damned amusing!" (Vicar of Dibley reference)

Amy, Sam, and Katie stopped by on their way out for a smoke and it was quite hilarious. I greeted Amy with the standard greeting, "Yo what's poppin'?" Her response was to look at me like I was crazy and laugh at me like I knew exactly that what I had said was ridiculous. She is correct on both counts. Thanks, Justin Cervantes Morehouse and Wheezy! Let me ask you something, dear reader. What would you think an individual would be purchasing if they were to say: "I'm going out to buy myself some togs"? Tee hee hee. Here's a teaser! Personally I thought they meant just big wading boots or some such. We also had a great little discussion on nomenclature. For example in New Zealand, diapers for children are called "nappies," while the same for adults are called "mollies." In the U.S. we call diapers for children, well, diapers, or we go for the good ol' brand name "Pampers" or some such. For adults, we always default to the brand name "Depends." Lovely conversation though - very amusing!

This morning I got up about 8am CST for a little morning exercise. Note to self: must get up earlier (well, I will have to get up earlier) because the sun is ridiculously warm already at 8am. RIDICULOUS! But it was a nice mile and a half or so walk/jog (about 90% walk, 10% painful jog - I'm bound to get better though, right? Right?!). So now I'm sitting outside in my favorite spot beneath the Friendship Lodge looking out at the lake and enjoying the cool breeze. It's fabulous!

Here are things I miss from home:

• Humming birds - instead they have tons of dragon flies
  
• Bird calls - of course there are different birds and other such up here, but it surprises me how much it startles me to hear completely different bird calls and see different kinds of birds!)
• Reddy - my dog - I will certainly go mad up here wifout a puffy/fur fix at some point!
• Walking in the woods wif Reddy
• Vicar of Dibley viewings with mother (no, I don't quite miss the "watery cow" dinner sounds ... yet ...)
  

Not so bad, considering that earlier I had missed almost everything. Haha! One thing I will say, though, is that I get MUCH better internet reception here than I ever did from the stolen wireless at home! I wonder why ... Haha.

Oh! I talked to Michael (love you!) yesterday who promised fabulous omelets upon return to Emory. I in turn promised yummy french toast, though I suspect that I will also be making sweet potato pancakes ... yum ... Tubbies (my my, Z, are we getting frisky), we are going to make FABULOUS din-dins when we get back!!!!!! I'm getting a rumbly stomach already - this is not a good sign - breakfast is still a good hour away! (10:30am CST.) Haha!

Training starts tomorrow. Yikes! I will certainly keep you posted!

Love to you all!

~ Mei

Arrival!

Disclaimer: CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING IS ANOTHER RIDICULOUSLY LONG ENTRY. PLEASE DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED - FEEL FREE TO SKIM.

New-Camp Blues?

I'm here! In fabulous Annandale, MN. It is absolutely gorgeous up here - beautiful weather, sunshine, upper seventies in the degrees department, breeze, beautiful lake, and green grass. Heaven much? Charlotte, one of three program managers, picked me up at the airport right on time. My bag even got there And yet I feel slightly obligated to express what I can only term my "new camp blues." I had these "blues" as a camper, and now as a counselor I'm displaying the same main symptom: paralyzing shyness. I don't know anyone, and I'm not that great around all-female groups. The camp staff is decidedly female-dominated, and I'm not entirely comfortable. I am certainly looking forward to working with the campers this coming week and for the rest of the summer! Sure, I can go and put myself out on a limb, but it takes me a while to warm up to people. Yes, I am most likely just making excuses for being unfriendly and extremely nervous, but hopefully I can snap out of this stage of hesitation in order to go out and actually make new counselor friends. I know I said I would come here with an open heart and an open mind, but I'm finding it a bit difficult to come out of the industrial-strength shell in which I've hunkered down.

The flight from Knoxville to Chicago was relatively uneventful. They crammed us into a tiny airplane, but luckily I had the window seat. It was fabulous. The clouds and mist, fog, and sunrise were absolutely breath-taking. Almost worth getting up at 5am ... almost ... Unfortunately for the woman seated beside me, she was in quite a foul mood, huffing, chugging her vente Starbucks, sipping tomato juice (eesh - just heat it up and eat it like tomato soup), and glaring at the seat in front of her. I'm not sure what got her goat, but she needed to just take a chill pill. I spent the flight doing more thank you notes from birthday presents/cards. Great flight - not too much turbulence!

Amusingly enough, the entire trip up here seemed to be bent upon testing my patience and my ability to just let things slide. It was so refreshing, though, to be able to just say "Hey, it's okay. Take your time!" to see the look on the person's face: astonishment, pity, confusion, etc. There was nothing I could do about the plane being late, and I was in no hurry to get anywhere to see anyone. It was quite relaxing - much like my drive home from Atlanta after finals (or was it during Spring Break?) when I saw all the rainbows. But I digress - here are some of the moments when I just laughed softly to myself and sat back:

• When we first got to Tyson-McGhee airport, we saw an extremely long line for check-in, but it turned out to be Delta. Thank goodness. So we stepped over to the American Airlines counter. And what do you know! There was a whole gang of Asians (Japanese in this case) who didn't understand the concept of waiting turns (they all rushed the counter), what to do, or where to go. It was quite amusing, actually.
• Luggage weighed in at a solid 49.5 pounds. Whew.
• Security line was ridiculously long, but thankfully I didn't wait any longer to get into line. After about five minutes in line, there was a line backed up past the end of the fancy-shmancy Great Smoky Mountain stream fountain thingy.
  
• Security had to re-scan my bag because of something in it, but luckily they didn't ask me to unpack anything.
• After it was re-scanned, a bag belonging to the man behind me was scanned, re-scanned, scans consulted, re-consulted, scanned once again, and discussed further. Of course my backpack had to be right in front of his, completely inaccessible. And so though my bag was no longer in question, I still had to wait. I just took a deep breath and waited, sighing inside and rolling my eyes everytime a "new superior" sidled over to take a look.
• When coming into the O'Hare airport, we had pulled up to our terminal, but were blocked from pulling up to the actual gate by a line of air craft who were waiting to get the all's-clear sign to taxi out onto the runway. We were within 50 yards of the gate - so close, and yet so far ... The weather was gloomy, rainy, and gross, so I'm guessing the back-up was due to the weather. (I'm a genius, I know. Everyone start clapping.)
• It took forever for people to get off of the plane. I'm not sure why they don't have us exit the same way that they have us board: according to zones. The huffy Starbucks-toting woman grumbled and grouched and griped, but no one would let her in despite her jerky motions (I smiled a little inside).
• Once we were all boarded on the plane headed from O'Hare to Minneapolis, there was a fabulously long wait to for the plane to leave. It took forever! Not sure why. Maybe luggage loading issues?
• On this flight I was on the aisle, but luckily it was a much larger plane, and the center seat was open with a sulky girl listening to screaming metal bands in the window seat. She wasn't very friendly and was down-right surly most of the time. I guess I just have good luck with plane buddies? Haha.
  

Classic Mei moment: I forgot that Chicago was in CST, and so hadn't changed my watch. I rushed to the terminal and was getting peeved that they hadn't started seating people, when i realized that I had an additional hour. Phooey! I could have gotten food! And I totally should have. I was starving, digesting my insides, and getting nauseous by the time I got to the carousel to pick up my luggage. And then another hour and a half until we got to camp, followed by a small tour, getting settled, and finally food. Crappy food at that. It's really quite unfortunate. But hey, it's food. Hopefully if it stays this bad I'll lose some weight. Hah! The delicious fare of the day was: sloppy joes, awkward north-style slaw (no flavor), chips, brownie, under-cooked pasta salad with olives. The only redeeming qualities were the wheat bun and the fresh fruit (yay for bananas!). I most definitely miss home with Red, the kitchen/cooking, and the friends and family! Love y'all!

Here's an interesting (true, as far as I can tell) story, called "The Man-with-Nothing." Allow me to introduce you to the Man-with-Nothing. He plops down in the seat right next to me (there were plenty of of other empty seats at the terminal) and begins this fabulous story of how he became the Man-with-Nothing. Calling up whoever, he tells such a fascinating story. "I have nothing. Literally nothing except for what was in my pockets last night." He had gotten apparently 5 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, but it sounds like it was sleep deprivation of choice. Hard nights of partying? Me thinks yes. He and his "buddies" (well, ex-buddies after this incident) had not quite enjoyed an "anti-climatic night." They had gone out to a bar last night and were sitting around wondering what to do next when another buddy called to say that he was having a party over at his house. They all went. Apparently the first group of buddies passed out somewhere and then left the Man-with-Nothing with, well, practically nothing. Interestingly enough, they even had all but one of his credit cards. So this morning he took a "$75 cab" to the airport where he bought a ticket and was making his way ... to wherever ... where they were supposed to "launch some boats" (because they "had to"). Man-with-nothing looked to be in his late twenties, early thirties. Pretty amusing stuff. After the phone convo, he sulkily played games on his iPhone, occasionally picking his phone up as if trying to call his buddies - no answers, apparently.

Chiggers: Northern-style. Instead of being those tiny red dots that drop from Spanish moss (or in the case of our front porch swarm everywhere) in order to feast upon your flesh leaving tiny red bumps that last forever and itch like hell as in the Southern-style chigger, these Northern-chiggers seem to be of a different breed. They live, for all intents and purposes, in the water, specifically the thousands of lakes up here, and burrow beneath the skin to feast, casing horrendous itching and burning sensations for a week or more. Fabulous. They sounds absolutely horrendous, don't they? Good thing camp is situated on a lake ...

For Nalas: Wildlife Spottings. So far, here are the varied species of "Wildlife!" that I have spotted here at camp so far:

• beautiful little blue dragon flies
• one squirrel
• one chipmunk
• various and sundry small brown birds
• one crow, and a great blue heron (that is out on the dock as I type this)

Alright, brave, committed, and slightly insane readers (only insane if you read every word of this tome), that is all for now. More to come as I type furiously trying to avoid making eye contact and friends. Just kidding ... I hope ...

Love!

~ Mei

Preparation or Procrastination?

Preparations … or Procrastinations ... 

Today’s to-do list: run around shoving everything into a (A as in ONE) suitcase, hoping and praying that I haven't forgotten anything crucial like clothes or shoes or some such.  Fabulous. 

In order to pack, however, I must go through, sort, and unfortunately throw out a ton of stuff.  But, in order to cull through the decades of accumulations of “stuff,” I must already have everything packed and out of the way.  I don’t see this going or ending well. 

In terms of packing and flying, why in the world are airlines charging for the first checked luggage/bag?!  I’d be perfectly fine paying for an additional bag or two (the presence(s) of which at this point is/are imminent), but to have to pay for the first one, too, is quite frankly annoying.  Also, for any overweight luggage, no matter how little overweight it is, there is an additional $50 charge!  To most if not all of you this is not new information, but I just wanted to put a little plug in for some communal irritation.  At this point I suppose I could put in a half-hearted stab at a sexism argument (stereotypically women are more likely to travel with, and are more likely to pay for, the additional, luggage, etc.), but I fear that it would just tick me off too much.  Oh well.  I can save it for later when I'm sitting seething in O'hair chicago airport during the interminable layover tomorrow. 

Intriguing: on the baggage allowance page, there are fabulous nuggets of interest such as how to properly check antlers (and the skulls - they must be "as free of residue as possible"), javelins (which are involved in a horrifying number of spearings and other extremely painful incidences that involve the pointy little tip being thrust into an unsuspecting or unmindful individual), and, of course, firearms (limit is a surprisingly large amount of weaponry).

On a decidedly less amusing note, I am also furiously writing thank you notes – yay for colored paper and markers!  I just hope that the opportunities for creativity that run rampant throughout the thank you note process do not suck me down into a black hole of wasting (more) time.  Sure, the cards will look adorable, but there will have been no packing or sorting.  Intriguing distraction, though …

It's so hard to believe that it's already time to go.  It seems like just a couple weeks ago that I came home from Emory, and even a couple of days since I got the call saying that Camp Friendship was the place for me.  Time flies extraordinarily fast just when you do not want it to!  I love being at home, cooking, walking to dog, and just being at home.  As many of you know, I come home mainly to see and be with Red, my dog.  Such a little furbrain!

Alright - I suppose it is time to get my butt into gear to go and at least stare at all I have to do and pack.  

More to come as I procrastinate further!

 ~ Mei

Let's get started ...

First of all, I'd like to truly apologize for the length of this post.  Please read it in sections if you are intimidated by the number of words clustered on this page - as I re-read it now I am indeed going a bit cross-eyed - do don't feel guilty if you need to go away, watch some Youtube.com (suggested viewing: some MOVITS! music videos or Kat Flint's "Go Faster Stripes" music video) or go visit Aurgasm.com (amazing music - you'll find a link on the side) for a little break!  But please, do come back - and leave comments if you like!  I'd love to hear from y'all!

Alright - here goes ...

Fabulous news: I'm going to be a camp counselor (program staff) at a camp for people with disabilities (physical and developmental) in Minnesota!  This is such an incredible opportunity, and I cannot wait to go up and start working with them!  

Big News!  I'm off to Minnesota this Saturday (June 13th)!  I'm going to be working as a camp counselor up there!  As far as I am aware at the moment, I'll be assigned to Camp Friendship (one of three camps under Friendship Ventures) which is only about an hour and a half north west of St. Paul (up near St. Cloud).  Now to be perfectly honest, unless I have a map, the names of those cities mean absolutely nothing to me, but that's okay because I'm sure you all know exactly where I'm talking about.  Right?  That's what I thought.  

Friendship Ventures and all its organizations, etc. are for people with physical, developmental, and a combination of both disabilities.  It's absolutely incredible because there are different sessions each week that are exactly like what you would find at camps that are not geared specifically towards those with disabilities.  I love how the programming emphasizes their abilities and strengths, not their limitations.  The camps and most of the programming is for all ages (5+ years - they even get several seniors!), and there are also several sessions that involve the family or close friends of the camper to come up and participate!  Though there is a pretty steep participation fee, they offer scholarships - which I think is fantastic.  Also, they encourage those in foster and group homes to come out to the various camps!  Here's the website for everything: http://www.friendshipventures.org  It's an incredible website - please look around!  If you find that you are intrigued, please please please apply to volunteer or come up and work as program staff, a counselor, or in some other professional capacity!

Many people have asked, "Why disabilities?"  It's a pretty simple, if old, reason.  My family as well as several professors have greatly influenced my interest in disability studies (the area in which I will hopefully be specializing when I scramble into grad school and hopefully a career).  

Bill (stepdad) and Nala (aunt) both have worked extensively throughout their careers and lives with those with disabilities: Bill as a special education advocate and Nala as a tutor as well as a teacher.  They both had some important advice: "You will either love it or hate it; there's very little grey area, if any."  I fully admit that I will be seriously tested and tasked, but I know that I am up to the challenge.  I have so much to learn from them (campers, other program staff, etc.), and I just hope that I'll be able to internalize and appropriately apply everything!  

Dr. Scott Lacy, formerly of Emory University but now moving to an incredibly fabulous intellectual and professorial/career opportunity in CT, was also and still is extremely influential.  In his "Cultures of Africa" course in the fall of 2008 (wow - last year - it truly does not seem that long ago!), I worked with a great group of individuals within a session on different perspectives on disability in Africa for a student conference that we held at the end of the term.  It was an amazing experience, and I got to work with, as I mentioned above, a great group of people!  My particular paper was on disabled artists and their portrayals of disability (as a broad subject, their personal experiences, etc.) - I was intrigued by how and why they expressed themselves, and also by the increasingly-visible area of disability studies.  Thank you, Dr. Lacy!  There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of individuals who think extremely highly of Dr. Lacy (I do not feel the least bit guilty for exaggerating if you feel that is what I am doing, an opinion with which I respectfully disagree).  But I digress ...

At Camp Friendship (where I will presumably be stationed for the majority of my stay in Minnesota), I will be staying in a cabin with fellow camp counselors as well as campers.  Though the cabins are not air conditioned, I am told we get the luxury of mosquito nets - which will be certainly welcome if the stories of the size of the mosquitoes are true ("They're like birds!  They'll suck all the blood out of you and leave you as simply a giant, inflamed, red, itching blob.").  Yay.  I just raided the outdoors section of a store for these fabulous new inventions called "OFF! Insect Repellant Wipes."  I hope they work - they certainly cost enough.  Grrr.  If they don't work I'll simply have to resort to regularly dunking myself into a large vat of insect repellant with large percentages of DEET.  Sure, it's lethal, but there are always tradeoffs, right?!  There is no cell phone usage during camp daytime hours (7am - 9:30pm), so I'll be communicating mostly through email, which I will only be able to access after around 10pm.  Please don't be offended if it takes me a while to get back to you - I still love you!  Haha.  

Once again, apologies for the extremely long entry!  

Love!

 ~ Mei