discoverylover

I had the best week this week - went so much faster than the previous week, most of which I can't tell you about until after camp! First week was not a lot of fun, although of course there were good bits! This week I was on Jr. Scuba, with 10-12 year olds, and they are such a great age. <3 them!

In honour of the 4th of July, a whole bunch of the international staff made mini flags and pinned them to a sheet, and then stole the American flag on Thursday night (no one really here today), and hid it under my bed :D So much fun - and yes, I did return it this morning! We then flew our internatinal one yesterday :D Oh and I got totally decked out in NZ flag tattoos and pins/badges :D FUN!!!!

I've got 'Dolphins' for the next fortnight, which is grades 1-2 (aged 6-7 I think). I'm a bit apprehensive, but I've got at least one person in my team who I think will be great, so we should be ok! Hopefully I get some pool time with them :D

Tonight most of us are going to Arlington to watch the fireworks for 4th July, which is exciting - I really want to nap and shower before then (haven't showered for a day and a half) - hopefully my bed is more comfy this fortnight (the last one was majorly saggy)....

Last Sat I got to go to Antietam with ResQgeek and his beautiful daughters - I had a lot of fun, and felt like a complete geek too :D Photos will emerge at some point :p After I got back I watched Mamma Mia in the staff house with some other staff - we did the singalong version and it was SO fun - got some awesome videos of people dancing :p

Thoroughly jealous of everyone at the Edinburgh UnCon - hope you are all having HEAPS of fun!

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Camp Potomac Woods

Camp training week is over - and I got promoted!!! I'm now a unit leader (or UL) which means I'm in charge of a group of unit counselors (what I was before) and the unit of kids - eek but yay!

The first group of campers arrives on Sunday and I am kind of freaking out, just a little...now she shouldnt be shes fabulous sometimes even amazing but not often we stilll cant take her out in public to eat (quick note from S'mores - a camp friend who's house I'm staying at this weekend)

Last night we went out for ice cream - it was SO much fun! We drove there the long way and it was so nice to listen to music that wasn't camp songs! I got a purple and green flavour with pop rocks..best thing was camp paid! Was good to get out of camp too :D

Training week was pretty good - I'm so lucky to have such an awesome team - there's no way I would've accepted it if I hadn't liked all the people so far. Only bad bit was the first aid training which was done by Red Cross and was a bit of a joke - to test us they asked us the questions and then anyone yelled out the answer, and if we all agreed we ticked it - I'm so glad I have already been trained, so it was just a refresher, I wouldn't want anyone doing first aid on me if thats all the training they'd had - also we spent basically no time practising any of the skills for first aid - cpr I can do, but don't ask me to put anyone's arm in a sling, because I will need help!

Today we spent heaps of time cleaning out our units ready for the campers, we found two HUGE spiders (slightly smaller than the palm of my hand). I'm leading swimtastic this week and junior scuba next week :D

Swimtastic is 8-11 year olds - although I seem to have a 16 year old in my unit - not sure if that's a typo or if she's just completing the grade - because they do it on what grade you've completed rather than your age...guess I'll find out on Sunday!

Got to move yesterday, and I'm now way closer to the pool (given that I have swimming twice a day for both my units thats a good thing :D, but the bad thing is that we have frogs in the pool and they croak LOUDLY!!!!!! Hopefully I'll be tired enough to not notice them after a bit!

Anyway, here's a camp song for y'all (and yes, some people actually say that!!)

Mmmmmhmmmmmm I want to linger
Mmmmmhmmmmmm a little longer
Mmmmmhmmmmmm a little longer here with you

Mmmmmhmmmmmm it's such a perfect night
Mmmmmhmmmmmm it just don't feel quite right
Mmmmmhmmmmmm that this should be our last with you

Mmmmmhmmmmmm and come September
Mmmmmhmmmmmm we'll all remember
Mmmmmhmmmmmm our camping days and friendships true

Mmmmmhmmmmmm and as the years go by
Mmmmmhmmmmmm I'll think of you and sigh
Mmmmmhmmmmmm it is good night and not goodbye

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: Arlington, VA

Thursday morning I had a date at 8.30ish with Megan, who is going to the same camp I am. When I found out she lived in Christchurch, I figured it would be cool if we actually met before going to camp! (And we're now catching the train together as well, which'll be good!). I thought she'd said at the cafe at the art gallery, and had heaps of extra time, so went for a wonder, trying to figure out where the school was, so I wouldn't have to find it the next carrying 90% of my worldly possessions (or so it felt!). I went the wrong way, but figured at least that way I knew which way TO go, and so headed back to the art gallery, releasing a book at the Dyslexia Foundation on the way.

Arrived bang on 8.30, the cafe didn't seem to be open, so I waited outside. About 10 minutes later, I re-read the text - I was at the wrong place! I had obviously misread 'the Arts Centre' as 'the Art Gallery'. Luckily they're just down the road from each other, so I briskly walked down, and arrived not *too* late!

Megan was the only one in the cafe, so wasn't too hard to pick out! I sat down, and we started chatting about camp. Figured lots of stuff out, and it was great to get to meet her before travelling together!

After breakfast, Megan offered to give me a lift back to the hostel, via the school so I would know where to go, and I accepted, so she dropped me off. I was scheduled to have lunch with my cousin at some point that day, so I headed up to the computer room at the hostel, and checked facebook to see what time, and how to get there.

Was running a bit late by then, so ran down to the bus exchange, and asked for directions. The guy at the help desk was really helpful - directed me to the right stop, and I only had to wait a couple of minutes for the next bus :D Unfortunately the driver didn't know the street I was looking for, despite it being a main road, so I sat up front to keep an eye out for it. I was surprised when we crossed it, it was a huge road, and I couldn't believe the driver didn't remember it!

Got off, and it took me a while to find the right house, but eventually I did, and found my cousin :-) Was great to catch up with her - she had made some soup and bread which was delicious. After lunch she had plans to go and check out a venue for her 21st (can't believe how organised she is - her birthday isn't until December!) and she invited me along, so we got picked up and drove into town again. Had a look at a place, and then her and her friend were off to get their eyebrows plaited or something like that (I'm up on fashion - really I am :p) so I headed back to the backpackers to dump some stuff and pick up some more, and then texted Kirsty as we'd planned to meet up some time in the afternoon. While I waited for her, I had a small look around the market in the square.

Eventually she arrived, and we had another look around the market, purchasing friendship bracelets (ok min is around my ankle) for each other, and some other small gifts for the drivers of the road trip. I also released a book, 'Whistle Blowers' outside the cathedral :-)

I really wanted to have a go on the vertical bungy again, so we did that :D So much fun, and I mastered a front flip! For some reason I find back flips much easier... Once my thighs turned to jelly, we decided to go back to Base and hang out in my room, which we did until about 6.30, and then made our way to Cafe Bleu for dinner.

I thought we were going to be super early, but when we got there it seemed as though there were hundreds of people there already!!

Went and sat down at the end of one of the tables, and chatted with LW for a bit until Moem and Rubberchicken arrived, at which point I ran up the table, crawled under another table, and gave them each a huge hug! TRULY AWESOME!!

They came and sat down at the 'cool' end of the table and we got to chat :D Eventually we all ordered, and the food came. I got 'the usual', which is FC's usual order of a burger, which when it arrived was AMAZING! Actually everyone's food looked fantastic...would definitely go back there again!

The rest of the evening was spent chatting and taking photos...and ended perfectly, when Moem got tea. Although, for some reason, the cafe wouldn't sell her tea for three, and insisted she have three pots, so we were sitting, drinking tea for a while! No complaints from me though :D