Session 1: The End of the Beginning

phew.

session 1, my first week with the kids has finally ended. what an adventure. and i'm sooooooo tired. its really like orientation camp only that the games and the things we do are so much more fun, the kids are younger and we get to do the silliest things anyone can possibly think of...

i had a fabulous cabin with 7 boys this week. bryson, john, ax, ian, connor, taylor and aj. they were a mischievious bunch, irritated me at times but ultimately more often than not were perhaps the best campers a first time counsellor(that's me) can wish for. furthermore my co-counsellor andy left me for a college orientation program in washington dc since friday morn so i had to handle the monkeys on my own the final two days. but think i did quite a good job, cos i got to stay back in my same cabin(ute cabin) for session 2. alot of other counsellors got shuffled around either cos they couldn't handle those kids in their cabins or they wanted to handle kids of another age group. i got three stayovers(john ax and ian) who're following me over to session two and they're really happy that i'm still their counsellor next week.

let me try to recall some highlights...

sunday we had rowdie campfire...it was only my second, tonight's rowdie will be my third, and each time its really awesome. maybe i'll teach everyone the cannibal king song tonight...

we had campout on tuesday. camped at mountain view where we could look across and see the rocky mountain range(although we can also see it from here) and had a great time together with blackfoot cabin and we talked cock till really late at night. the funny thing about these campouts is that the jokes during the campout are soooo funny but once you go back to camp and you retell it, its not funny anymore...hmm...americans always have funny stories and they always start off with "so there was this one time when i was..." and the story starts. haha.

wednesday one of my campers(connor) got upset when i scolded him for trying to get into a fight. he just looked at me and screamed "why not?", and then subsequently proceeded to run out of the cabin and into the woods haha. was quite funny but i didn't bother to chase him and was thnking maybe if the wolves eat him i'd be happier... haha but still in the end he walked back cos he had no place to run to and was hiding by the cabin when i found him. all i did was ask him to go back inside before the rest of the kids think he's 'soft' and then he rushed inside and forgot everything liaoz. the funny thing with my age group of campers is that their attention span is very short so they forget grudges and unfortunately the good things you've done for them really easily. also i realise that as the days go by i become more and more sarcastic and uncaring towards them, showing my care in more macho fashion than the nanny i was in the early week. i thnk they kinda liked the gradual change because they were telling other counsellors that i was 'cool' and 'awesome' as the days wore on. yet inside i have to admit that i was turning slightly cynical and each little moment without these little ruffians was infinite peace...

thursday was the dance(or prom as some might like to call it). the kids are sooooo girl crazy and they get so sad when they can't get a date. its even worse for the 8-9year olds haha. i mean at 8-9years old some kids were fighting over girls liaoz. i dun remember myself doing that. haha. anyway my cabin has a thing for our sister cabin, navajo, they are like always trying to impress them or get their attention...always asking me chris can we do this can we do that during meals like sabo navajo to come and hug us or give us a bear hug and all that haha. then when i lead them to do it they will all be super enthusiastic. haha

my arts and crafts, sports ang games, swimming(these are teh things i teach) lessons also got me to bond with alot of other kids as well. in fact sometimes i like the kids better when i dun have to stay in the same cabin with them. the younger ones are awed by the fact that i play sports so well and make really cool arts and crats stuff(yes surprise, i have a creative spark). some of the kids also made little things for me which is really sweet. even swimming the little boys and girls like to jump all over me and use me as a giant float haha...quite fun

had my chopsticks and mandarin appreciation class. 11 people signed up for it. was quite xianz cos i realised another counsellor was organizing a soccer tourney and i wanted to help her with that. so kept thinking i could've been having fun instead of teaching chopsticks and my language pet peeve. still it turned out that they thoroughly enjoyed it(must be the concept of learning a new language). as i taught, more and more counsellors gathered behind to listen as well haha. anyway i taught them all the really basic things so i knew how to write all those words(phew). it turned out to be quite fun afterall.

friday was closing vespers. i performed 'guang huai fang shi' again even though i dunno some of the words but i made up some of it. i thnk alot of them loved it. also took awhile to tell everyone one how wonderful they've been and how much fun i've had. it was a heartwarming experience.

on our way back, we sneak into girl village in the rain to find the navajo cabin and serenaded them with sweet songs! geez. can't believe my boys were this romantic. so we were outside their cabin(since we weren't allowed to go in) and singing silly songs haha. lidat also fun...geez but they were happy and contented afterthat that i allowed them to do so lah...

at night i opened a wrestling ring in our cabin and let the kids wrestle all over the floor. i told them since they like to fight so much then i'll allow them to fight but with rules like they must shake hands before and after the fight and blah. the kids totally lapped it all up and enjoyed it so much. surprisingly there were no injuries! afterthat i whipped out some potato chips and oreos which i had bought on my thursday nights off and we all threw our sleeping bags on the floor and had a slumber party. since food weren't supposedly allowed in the cabins, the kids were totally exhiliarated.

yesterday morning most of the kids returned home. their parents came to fetch them. it was kinda sad to see them go while at the same time happy to be relieved of the monsters...

so essentially. that was my week that went by...
so anyway its my stayover weekend and i had to look after all the stayover kids. the few of us counsellors had a really good bonding session last night and we talked till like 2am in the ladge. way fun.