It has been a long week
I am exhausted. We had all high schoolers this week, which meant watching for gender dynamics. With good reason! Two hours after the campers had gotten here, a guy and a girl had already declared themselves a couple!

I counseled by myself for the first time and I KNOW that there was a lot of stuff that I missed. I wish I had more free time, but I'm running around so much. We went to a water park, which was great fun. My girls this week were pretty amazing. We all laughed and had a TON of fun. They talked with British accents and sang songs from musicals and danced! lol. But it was also a lot of always having to know where they are and constant questions about the schedule and checking to make sure that what they are wearing is camp appropriate. My brain is in need of rest as much as my body is.

I think I might be missing a dance party right now, though, so I'm gonna take off. = )
Posted at 21:46 #

Friday June 29
Another post which got lost somewhere in cyberspace:

Music I have been astounded by how much I love music and miss it when I don't get to listen to it.

This week I spent working in the kitchen, which produced a lot of laughter and chaos and even tears. But now, the job has become a bit easier and I am tempted to ask for another week here, even if I don't think it will happen. But I am also kind of looking forward to being with little girls. I have already heard some horror stories of kids who are homesick or physically sick and wet their beds or throw up, etc. All that fun stuff that means you don't get to sleep through the night. Understandably, I am scared. = )

I may only have time/opportunity to update on my weekends from now on, but I will try not to forget about it. = ). As is, I'm on my way to something. Talk to you later!

~M
Posted at 10:55 #

June 21
I posted this on June 21st, but I don't think it showed up...

"Lately Things have been going okay here. I'm feeling very overwhelmed with little time to myself during this orientation week. And not feeling like I really knew what I was coming into here. Well, I guess I thought I knew and I was wrong which is worse than just not knowing. lol."
Posted at 10:53 #

Porcupines
Hello. I need to apologize for not updating more recently. I was doing so well there for a while, but my internet access became very limited once the campers arrived. I have had three tents of girls so far.

The first week had 7 girls between the ages of 12 and 14. They were awesome. Really easy to lead and pretty self sufficient. The second week I had 9 girls who were 8-10 years old and they were tougher. That week involved crying and arguments and the campers getting annoyed with each other which resulted in talking behind each others backs. It was pretty intense for me even though I had an assistant to help me out. It was a pretty funny week though since a lot of them were coming to camp for the first time ever. This week I have 8 campers age 7-9 and they are just soo cute. And SMALL! One of them barely comes up to my waist! It is a mini week of camp, only from Wednesday to Friday so that they can get a feel for camp and maybe come for a full week next year.

But I should get to the reason that the title of this post is porcupines. The night before last (Tuesday night) I had planned to sleep in a tent with one of the other girl counselors, Heidi. She had already gone to bed by the time I walked up there, but as I neared her tent I heard rustling. I wondered why she was still awake an hour and a half after walking up there to bed, but shrugged and pulled the tent flap open only to see two huge porcupines INSIDE THE TENT at the foot of her sleeping bag! They were chewing on her guitar case! Sometimes she likes to play and sing her campers to sleep but apparently, it is appetizing for porcupines. She was in such a deep sleep that I had to yell in order to get her to wake up. I was just worried that she would move wrong and get a leg full of quills! But thankfully, the porcupine closest to her feet felt her moving and went the other way. We stomped on the wooden floor of the tent until they left and I was shaking SO BAD and laughing at the absurdity of the entire situation. I just remember saying, "OH my God!" over and over again. Not using the Lord's name in vain...it was a prayer. This experience is in the top 5 most surreal moments of my life. = )
Posted at 10:51 #