cucumber extravaganza

where's the off switch?!

we're being overrun with cucumbers. this is what we've harvested in the last two days.

break break your break break your heart

it pouuuuuuuured tonight. and we were in the best possible location for a big storm. first we were in the dining hall, which is lined with walls of windows and has a tin roof. then they decided we couldn't wait it out any longer and sent the kids to their cabins, so desiree and kelsey and i went and played basketball in the dark under the pavillion, which is all open and also has a metal roof.

we played the most fun game tonight called sing down. you pick a word.. like 'light' or 'stars' or 'love' and then each team has to think of every song they can with that word in it. you can't repeat other teams songs and you can't repeat from round to round. they did one round of songs that had dances associated with them. they got through 60 songs before a team got out. and then one category was disney songs. so much fun.

more time

this is the last week of first session! it's flown by. my break yesterday also flew by. spent some quality time with jeffy. glad to be back.

i am so tired. time for bed! hope everyone had a nice weekend.

and my heart on the dance floor

we returned from enchanted rock! the differences between going with the boys and the girls was pretty amusing. the girls had an impromptu american idol contest at dinner, we ate overcooked pasta with our hands and were running 2 hours late the whole time. the boys had a contest to see who could find the biggest stick, came up with challenges for each other, and there were tears while we were caving.

these pictures are from the restaurant challenge we had tonight. the second year kids cooked, hosted, served and cleaned up. it was really good actually. i chose italian so we had garlic bread, salad, pasta and smoothies.
since the boys were gone for most of the day, the girls had a girly day for their free time activity. they all did their hair and nails and got fancied up. it's funny to see how different they/we all look when we're dressed up.
desiree is the office manager. i broke out the fish dress. and hayley is in charge of the pool.
so glad to be back in the air conditioning, sleeping on a real mattress and not being the only girl around. the boys were nice to me, but it just isn't the same. tomorrow is my day off!

stop telephoning

lesson of the day: in order to have clear communication, you need the person to speak clearly, loudly and succinctly. the person listening needs to pay attention and give appropriate feedback.

we went on a field trip to the killeen daily herald today for journalism club. the kids were actually really cool about it. they didn't have many questions prepared when we chatted about it in the van on the way over, but when we were actually sitting in front of the tour guide, they came up with all kinds of intelligent, relevant questions. it was neat.

camping again tomorrow night, this time with the boys. it's me, 4 male counselors and 18 boys. i have my own little one person tent. should be interesting. cross your fingers.

pointing me on my way

it occurred to me today while reading over my blog of camp so far that i haven't really talked about the kids at all. the program is five years long, and i'm teaching the first year kids, who will be in 7th grade next year. i looooove them. some are shy, there are about 5 who want to answer every question every time, they race for the cocoa puffs in the morning, they'll do anything for stickers, they're learning how to be chiefs and indians. they're receptive to lessons, listen well, and quiet down quickly.

the thing i'm most proud of personally is that i was able to step out of my shyness from the beginning with the counselors and let them get to know who i am with my friends.. so then when the kids got here, they just joined our club of closeness. so now, it kind of feels like they're all little members of my family. they know my crazy dance and sense of humor. they come get hugs in the morning and throughout the day. i can give them the 'i'm disappointed' face and it's enough to make [the majority of] them stop. it's kind of amazing.

so it's been a lot of fun. several times a day, i find myself thinking that i'm in the right place. my past experience with kids has really helped. when i was a counselor at a leadership camp in college, i didn't really have the strategies to be able to successfully lead a group of kids. i was just doing what i remembered my parents doing.. which works well if you're naturally going to follow the rules. not so much otherwise.

but now, after that experience and after teaching, i do feel like i know what i'm doing. i know where the balance is between being fun and strict, how to set clear expectations and follow through with rewards and punishments, and how to talk to them on their level without treating them like babies or peers. so that's where we are at the beginning of week 3. half way! so far, so good.

p.s. the big news is that someone accidentally left the hose for the pool on, and a large amount of our well water was depleted. so for the past four days we've been on a mandatory water restriction which means 2 minute showers, no laundry, we're using styrofoam plates so we don't have to do dishes [sad face] and no pool time. it's kind of brutal.

forever yours

megan: thanks for offering to help clear the table, elijah. here's a sticker

elijah: thanks!

kane: ben is stupid

::megan takes sticker from kane::

kane: chuy is only acting well behaved because he wants stickers. he's not really that good.

megan: since you have no stickers left, now when you say something discouraging or mean, a little piece of your soul just flies away.

i thought it was funny at the time, but what i didn't know was that the entire class of boys was going to make it into a big deal for the rest of time. they've been copying me, they did a reenactment during dinner, they've been calling me over the walkie to ask about their souls. kind of funny, kind of annoying. but they get the point.