voted #1 wilderness camp in america

yes. its true. camp chief ouray. and its not hard to see why just from how we're trained. been having staff training the last three days. its unbelieveable. this experience is totally awesome and i think it just might change my whole life forever...

what might u say? lets see...

the american counsellors
okie for starters, the people here are absolutely fantastic. i'm just about the only international staff member of camp chief ouray so i kinda stand out like a sore thumb sometimes. but i've said it so many times they're friendly helpful and enthusiastic to know more about different people and not just foreign people. unfortunately i've been warned that this spirit and behaviour is only restricted to camp chief ouray and the snow mountain ranch. outside of here there're the good, bad, ugly, and really ugly. so i've been told to watch out.

for some reason or another, the people here are here for a reason. and thats to contribute in full utmost, their talent and ability to the camp. as marty(our camp director) puts it, each and everyone one of us staff is here to serve a purpose and that purpose, we ourselves have to find out and no one's gonna tell us. but we're the best from around the country(hmm i wonder if it includes me) and the largest collection of camp-wise talented people.

i must say its kinda intimidating. its kinda pressurizing, and its kinda scary. over the last few days, i've gotta retract my previous blog mention that some of the people here are dumb. i mean sure some still are, but more often than not i would think its a case of not knowing certain facts that's all, yet being ever so enthusiastic to find out. not sure if anyone gets what i mean...anyway amongst are are state-rep dancers, guitar players, philosophy majors, political science majors, usa olympic hopefuls and most of all, people who've camped in the wilderness every summer since young.

its amazing how each staff member has such a different story to tell.

what's more, they're passionate and enthusiastic in what they persue. though sometimes these subjects may be abit specific, you can definitely trust them to make it sound super deep when they get going. so unlike myself who's like a jack of all trades who knows alot but only abit here and abit there, these people are deep. way deep.

hence it sometimes makes me feel like whatever i know, there's always someone who knows it more than i do(thank goodness no one else comes from singapore, erm haha). somehow there's a wee fear in me that people here are gonna see me as a skim-the-surface jack of all trades and find that i'm not passionate enough in anything in particular, thereby leading them to presume that i have no direction in life...hmm.

anyway there's this other bit of these people here that hit me today, that got me suddenly flopping outta my bed during BOB(bodies on bed - its like rest time). these people have the ultimate and i mean the ULTIMATE sense of humour. back when i used to wonder why there were so little people who shared my kinda humour during hall FOCs and stuff, the people here are almost a miror image of the person i think i am.

they're wacky, funny, intelligent and totally dig slapstick humour while at the same time responsible and committed as well. which is pretty hard to find in singapore to be honest(okie so i think i'm a rare breed, sue me...) its like all 85 of us are like that and the people here go absolutely crazy. their quips and spouts and one-liners just get the whole world laughing and they can tell long stories and jokes and make up the dumbest of things that funnily get you interested in entirely boring affairs. take chris miller's medical lecture for example, instead of just reading the boring sheets of regulations, he got different volunteers to perform each regulation to the rest of the people as funnily as they can, nad my goodness these people can really be funny i tellya. and they're all damn bloody enthu to volunteer for these kinda boliao things just to make a fool outta themselves. geez i gotta volunteer one of these days...and yet when you think about it, not only are we entertained, everyone gets the picture. till now i still havent seen anyone fall asleep during lectures yet.

energizers

these are really fun games that have been passed down from years ago and they're super fun. from the icebreakers to the cookhouse games to the freetime burners, the games are super splendid.

the icebreakers have different variations of games we've played at home like pepsi cola and thumb wars...then there're the really boliao BUT purposeful ones like screaming toes, egg chicken dino superman,and so on haha.

in the cafeteria during mealtiems we have several boliao things that surely will be done. singing songs is a definite. then there're certain words that, when said, a song or cheer has to be sung before the speaker of the day can continue, words like announcement and square off. then there're certain things you can't do like putting your elbows on the table or eating with your hat on. if someone spots you, you'd have to do something silly like run around the cookhouse or go touch the flagpole. and these people sportingly go do them. however silly they are... finally there're mini-prizes given out at every meal such as the U-rock(the trophy happens to be a rock) whcih is given out to anyone who might have done something super cool. and the blue clue, given out at every meal to anyone who's done the most clueless act. and anyone can nomiante anyone for these awards and share their tale. its just so funny.

finally the freetime burners or the real energizers which are games played just to perk you up and really super fun too. we play all kinds of silly games like four squares and skit acting and all that. haha. its all way silly but fun and purposeful.

vespers
hmm. the funny thing about this word is that when i first heard it to thought it was a religious christianity word. but no. its not. its just quiet time for the whole camp to sit down and relax and watch other people perform. everyday, a designated family(i'm part of the simpsons family by the way...)has to perform vespers based on a certain theme. they can do soothing songs, read poems, read stories, play instruments, do any soothing acts, or whatsoever as long as its soothing and is relevant to the theme of the day. like today's theme was body. so my family led everyone in stretches, followed by played a soothing song "your body is wonderful", then gave everyone else massages(in a giant circle) and finally hugs all round. such togetherness and fun. i'm just glad to be fitting in.

devotions
these are night family gatherings when we're in a smaller group where we cabin staff will have to lead once the children get here. its a time of sharing and talking about our thoughts and issues. for hte first night, we all played a simple m&m game and got to know each other alot better as a family. tehn last night during devotions, we each wrote a piece of question on a piece of paper and shuffled it and randomly gave each person another piece and they had to answer that question. its a quiet time of sharing certain private things about ourselves and getting to know each other more just before bedtime.

its funny how vespers and devotions get associated with christianity so much and yet we do not talk about god and jesus at all. we say our graces and other things but there is a sense of comfort in me that i am not pressured to conform to a certain religion here(in this instance, christianity). as marty puts it, we are a camp based on christian values but not the christian religion. there is no evangelism in camp and people respect one another's faith. simple as that.

okie i think i've bored alot of you guys liaoz so i'll stop here. i feel like this camp is really gonna change me as a person and the way i behave and think. its scary because i can feel the change. its presence is so strong. what's more, this is just the beginning...