Whew! Sorry I didn't blog last week. I didn't have the weekend off, so I didn't have time to write. So we just finished our first two week session, and I am exhausted. We spent 12 days with the same group of boys, and I'm so bummed that they had to leave. We really got a chance to get to know their personalities. More so than last session because of how much longer they stayed with us. One thing I learned from that extended session is that kids can become more frustrated with each other the longer they are together. And we as counselors get a chance to see their little quirks and faults more clearly when we have more time to spend with them. One more thing about this group, I think this is my favorite. Even though it was only the second session and we're gonna have five more groups, I think this one will remain my favorite. We shall see. Anyway, sorry to have to cut the blog short again. Hopefully I will get a chance to put up a bonus blog for you mid-week. Until next time!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Session #1
"The first bus is here!" yelled one of my coworkers as I scarfed down one last peanut butter & jelly sandwich, just in case there were some kids in the batch with a peanut allergy. There were butterflies in my stomach as we waited for the first smiling faces to come jumping out of the bus. We made a human tunnel for all the kids as they came out and walked toward the firecircle. We all sang camp songs as we waited for the other two buses full of kids to arrive, and when the whole circle was filled out there was so much energy. All the kids were so excited to be there, especially after we sang the Welcome Song.....
"We welcome you to Camp Max Straus,
We're might glad you're here.
We'll send the air reverberating
With a mighty cheer. (RA-RA!)
We'll sing you in, we'll sing you out,
And then we'll give a mighty shout,
HAIL! HAIL! The gang's all here,
And you're welcome to Camp Max Straus!!"
It was so great to finally see the ten 9-year-olds my co-counselor and I would be responsible for over the next week. After dinner it was time to go to the first nighttime program, then it was off to bed. It took so long for us to get the kids to go to sleep. They were just so excited. Totally understandable. We had one homesick kid that night. Not too bad.
The kids liked to wake themselves up pretty early the whole week, which was actually pretty helpful, because we had to have them all down at breakfast before 8am every day.
The first day was our day to do high ropes. It was so funny watching the kids try to do this thing. I'd say most of them didn't even get past the first obstacle of climbing up the the thing. Only a few kids from our group got all the way through it. And one kid actually went through it without stopping. Fearless! It was crazy. He got through a course in 2 or 3 minutes that was taking other kids like 15 minutes to do. Literally, I think the next fastest kid took like 10 minutes.
Let's see. I don't want to give you all the details of the entire week; That would take forever. I'll just give you the highlights...
The kids really liked riding the horses. I got a chance to ride with them the first time we went out. (We went two times this week.) I was really expecting at least a few of them to be afraid of the horses, or at least unsure about it, but they were all pretty excited. The horses were all pretty chill. I heard that the rental company we used last year brought some pretty sketchy horses, and they were really rowdy and stuff. So these horses were pretty good. And the kids all figured out how to steer them and stuff pretty quickly. The only hiccups there was one of the horses tried to chew on one of the kids' pants, and the fact that the trails we use had tons of flies that bite! And they kept biting the kids.
The pool was great too. We got to go there every day. The first day was the swimming test. Proficient swimmers got green bracelets, and they could swim in the deep end, not such proficient swimmers get a yellow bracelet and they could go in the deep end after some lessons, and the beginners got a red bracelet and they could not go in the deep end for the week. There weren't any kids in our cabin that got a green wristband, but it was pretty funny to watch them all during the lessons. The kids all figured out how to tread water pretty good, except for one. I took some extra time with him, juts trying to get him into the water and get comfortable with it. The four lifeguards are all pretty cool people. The head lifeguard is our cabin mom. So she watches the kids when my co-counselor and I are on our night off, watches them during lunch when my co-counselor and I take lunch off and eat in a different room. That sort of thing. But no special privileges at the pool. Bummer. Haha.
I let the kids play with seven decks of cards during the week. They mostly played this weird version of War where they get to pick which card they can play on any giver round. For the better part of the week, there were cards strewn all about the floor of the cabin, and all through the week I was thinking to myself, "I hope I get all my cards back at the end of the week." I tried not to care too much, but I just knew someone was going to steal cards or accidentally throw them away or pack them away and take them home. After all the kids were gone and it was time to clean up the room, I collected all the cards I could find, and took them home. I sorted them by deck and counted the cards, and all 52 cards were present in all 7 decks. I felt so dumb for having so little faith in our kids, and for caring so much about the cards. It was like God was telling me, even though your cards really don't matter that much, I will still give them back to you. That's how much I care, even about the little things.
It's so much fun hanging out with this age group. They have so much energy and they're so funny. But I gotta tell ya, it's a little bit like herding cats trying to move them around and make sure they're where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there. I'm having to learn the art of being effective in controlling them while still being gentle and patient. Please pray for me. I'm gonna need so much grace and love for these kids this summer. Not that I don't already think they're adorable and care about them so much, I just want to bring my A-game this for these kids. And this job is plenty rewarding for my spirits to stay high.
For instance, I got the chance to ride back with the kids on the bus and drop them off with their parents, and on the way there, one of our two problem children was sitting next to me on the bus, and he started to cry. I asked him why he was crying, and he said it was because he was sad to be leaving.
"We welcome you to Camp Max Straus,
We're might glad you're here.
We'll send the air reverberating
With a mighty cheer. (RA-RA!)
We'll sing you in, we'll sing you out,
And then we'll give a mighty shout,
HAIL! HAIL! The gang's all here,
And you're welcome to Camp Max Straus!!"
It was so great to finally see the ten 9-year-olds my co-counselor and I would be responsible for over the next week. After dinner it was time to go to the first nighttime program, then it was off to bed. It took so long for us to get the kids to go to sleep. They were just so excited. Totally understandable. We had one homesick kid that night. Not too bad.
The kids liked to wake themselves up pretty early the whole week, which was actually pretty helpful, because we had to have them all down at breakfast before 8am every day.
The first day was our day to do high ropes. It was so funny watching the kids try to do this thing. I'd say most of them didn't even get past the first obstacle of climbing up the the thing. Only a few kids from our group got all the way through it. And one kid actually went through it without stopping. Fearless! It was crazy. He got through a course in 2 or 3 minutes that was taking other kids like 15 minutes to do. Literally, I think the next fastest kid took like 10 minutes.
Let's see. I don't want to give you all the details of the entire week; That would take forever. I'll just give you the highlights...
The kids really liked riding the horses. I got a chance to ride with them the first time we went out. (We went two times this week.) I was really expecting at least a few of them to be afraid of the horses, or at least unsure about it, but they were all pretty excited. The horses were all pretty chill. I heard that the rental company we used last year brought some pretty sketchy horses, and they were really rowdy and stuff. So these horses were pretty good. And the kids all figured out how to steer them and stuff pretty quickly. The only hiccups there was one of the horses tried to chew on one of the kids' pants, and the fact that the trails we use had tons of flies that bite! And they kept biting the kids.
The pool was great too. We got to go there every day. The first day was the swimming test. Proficient swimmers got green bracelets, and they could swim in the deep end, not such proficient swimmers get a yellow bracelet and they could go in the deep end after some lessons, and the beginners got a red bracelet and they could not go in the deep end for the week. There weren't any kids in our cabin that got a green wristband, but it was pretty funny to watch them all during the lessons. The kids all figured out how to tread water pretty good, except for one. I took some extra time with him, juts trying to get him into the water and get comfortable with it. The four lifeguards are all pretty cool people. The head lifeguard is our cabin mom. So she watches the kids when my co-counselor and I are on our night off, watches them during lunch when my co-counselor and I take lunch off and eat in a different room. That sort of thing. But no special privileges at the pool. Bummer. Haha.
I let the kids play with seven decks of cards during the week. They mostly played this weird version of War where they get to pick which card they can play on any giver round. For the better part of the week, there were cards strewn all about the floor of the cabin, and all through the week I was thinking to myself, "I hope I get all my cards back at the end of the week." I tried not to care too much, but I just knew someone was going to steal cards or accidentally throw them away or pack them away and take them home. After all the kids were gone and it was time to clean up the room, I collected all the cards I could find, and took them home. I sorted them by deck and counted the cards, and all 52 cards were present in all 7 decks. I felt so dumb for having so little faith in our kids, and for caring so much about the cards. It was like God was telling me, even though your cards really don't matter that much, I will still give them back to you. That's how much I care, even about the little things.
It's so much fun hanging out with this age group. They have so much energy and they're so funny. But I gotta tell ya, it's a little bit like herding cats trying to move them around and make sure they're where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there. I'm having to learn the art of being effective in controlling them while still being gentle and patient. Please pray for me. I'm gonna need so much grace and love for these kids this summer. Not that I don't already think they're adorable and care about them so much, I just want to bring my A-game this for these kids. And this job is plenty rewarding for my spirits to stay high.
For instance, I got the chance to ride back with the kids on the bus and drop them off with their parents, and on the way there, one of our two problem children was sitting next to me on the bus, and he started to cry. I asked him why he was crying, and he said it was because he was sad to be leaving.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Hey party people!
So I've been at Camp Max Straus for a week now, and it feels like it's been such a long time since my last blog, so much has happened...
Everyone at the camp is so cool. There is a great group of people I get to call my coworkers this summer. There are staff members from all over the United States, and several countries around the world are also represented, including Great Britain, Australia, and Ethiopia! All have been such nice people from the minute I pulled into the driveway, and I'm so excited to be working with them.
We spent the week going over policy and procedure, doing team building and learning activities, getting certified for CPR & first aid, and just hanging out. The food is SO good! (I'm fairly certain that the kitchen staff won't be able to serve such quality food once the kids get here; It's just too good. And there will be about 120 young mouths to feed in addition to the 30 staff who have been here for the past week.)
Speaking of the kids, we get our first batch of them at 1pm tomorrow!! We found out yesterday what age group we'll be working with and who our co-counselors will be. I found out I'll be working with the campers of the Arapaho cabin (all of the cabins are named after Native American tribes.), which is 8/9-year-olds. I'm so stoked. That's just the age group I wanted. And my co-counselor is an awesome guy who is a Camp Max Straus veteran, so it looks like we're ready to go.
The kids will get a chance to go to all of the following workshops: Drama, Arts & Crafts, Archery, High Ropes, Swimming, Sports, Dance/Music, Horseback Riding, Cooking, Ranch (that's hanging out with farm animals), and Nature Education. By the way, we all got a chance to
sample all of these workshops. Be jealous :-P
There will be 7 sessions this summer. That's five one-week sessions, and two two-week sessions for the kids who were extra good last year. There is also a hiking program called Witherby, in which kids ages 13 to 17 can spend the week hiking in the Sierras with experienced staff. It's pretty cool, and the people running it are pretty cool. Just thought I'd mention it.
Anything else?..... Can't think of anything else right now. I'm actually still getting ready for tomorrow, so I should get back to that, but I will def' write about all of my adventures this summer. Sorry no pictures this time too. You actually won't be getting ANY pictures of the kids, as per camp policy, and you may or may not get pictures of my new friends. Policy stuff again.
Anyway, pray for me. I'm sure I'll be needing it this week. Thanks for reading! Until next time...
Jolly Young Saint,
Nick
So I've been at Camp Max Straus for a week now, and it feels like it's been such a long time since my last blog, so much has happened...
Everyone at the camp is so cool. There is a great group of people I get to call my coworkers this summer. There are staff members from all over the United States, and several countries around the world are also represented, including Great Britain, Australia, and Ethiopia! All have been such nice people from the minute I pulled into the driveway, and I'm so excited to be working with them.
We spent the week going over policy and procedure, doing team building and learning activities, getting certified for CPR & first aid, and just hanging out. The food is SO good! (I'm fairly certain that the kitchen staff won't be able to serve such quality food once the kids get here; It's just too good. And there will be about 120 young mouths to feed in addition to the 30 staff who have been here for the past week.)
Speaking of the kids, we get our first batch of them at 1pm tomorrow!! We found out yesterday what age group we'll be working with and who our co-counselors will be. I found out I'll be working with the campers of the Arapaho cabin (all of the cabins are named after Native American tribes.), which is 8/9-year-olds. I'm so stoked. That's just the age group I wanted. And my co-counselor is an awesome guy who is a Camp Max Straus veteran, so it looks like we're ready to go.
The kids will get a chance to go to all of the following workshops: Drama, Arts & Crafts, Archery, High Ropes, Swimming, Sports, Dance/Music, Horseback Riding, Cooking, Ranch (that's hanging out with farm animals), and Nature Education. By the way, we all got a chance to
sample all of these workshops. Be jealous :-P
There will be 7 sessions this summer. That's five one-week sessions, and two two-week sessions for the kids who were extra good last year. There is also a hiking program called Witherby, in which kids ages 13 to 17 can spend the week hiking in the Sierras with experienced staff. It's pretty cool, and the people running it are pretty cool. Just thought I'd mention it.
Anything else?..... Can't think of anything else right now. I'm actually still getting ready for tomorrow, so I should get back to that, but I will def' write about all of my adventures this summer. Sorry no pictures this time too. You actually won't be getting ANY pictures of the kids, as per camp policy, and you may or may not get pictures of my new friends. Policy stuff again.
Anyway, pray for me. I'm sure I'll be needing it this week. Thanks for reading! Until next time...
Jolly Young Saint,
Nick
Saturday, June 11, 2011
In The Beginning...
...There was a camp. A camp called Camp Max Straus. And in the camp there were some people. Some very awesome people. And the people ran the camp.
The people ran the camp for many children. All types of children. Including children who had never been to camp, and children who came from poor families, and children with handicaps, and many others. And the awesome people ran the camp for the children for many years. And the camp was good.
Then, one day, Nicholas applied to be a camp counselor at the camp. He interviewed for a position at the camp. And the awesome people who ran the camp decided that Nicholas should be a camp counselor at the camp.
Then the awesome people at the camp asked Nicholas to come and be a camp counselor at the camp for the summer. And he agreed. And their agreement was good.....
תיקון עולם
Tikkun Olam
Repairing The World
As you may have figured out, the above term in Hebrew is "tikkun olam," and it means repairing the world. As in, we are the hands of God in the world, here for the sake of repairing it.
This summer, I get to take part in that reparation in a very special way, as I will be working as a camp counselor at Camp Max Straus, a summer camp mostly for underprivileged kids, run by Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles. I'll be there from June 11 (tmro) to August 19. So just about the whole summer.
I'm so excited about getting a chance to work with all my coworkers and all the kids who will come through the camp. Even as I'm writing this this, butterflies in my stomach flutter with the anticipation of getting a chance to pour into these kids!
I'm also excited to tell you all about my fun experiences. However, some confidentiality is required for obvious reasons. Notice that I haven't even mentioned what state I will be working in... OKAY!!! I'll be in California! Nosy. But as I learn more about what I can and cannot say in my blog and what pictures I can and cannot post, I will share as much as I can so you can see into what's going on with me this summer.
Anyway, I'm almost finished packing. Then it will be time to go this afternoon! Gaahhh!! SO EZXCITNSMMVKJSMZLXA!!!!
He-hem. More to come. Stay tuned.
Jolly Young Saint,
Nick
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