Girls II is here!

"Girls beat on tables, not on each other..." -head cabin leader Calgary

"The chemicals used to make those shorts that colour are probably toxic..."
-one of my campers, on why one shouldn't eat my hot pink shorts

It's Girls II time already, and my eight new campers (aged 13-16) have already proven to be girls after my heart - by opting out of the polar dip for two days in a row. This mean one extra hour of sleep in the morning!! Aaaaahhhhh.... :) I'm loving my new cabin, now only because the girls are even better behaved than last week (which i didn't think possible), but also because it's located on top of the hill, my bunk's in the corner by two windows, and there's an absolutely lovely breeze at night. Double aaaaahhhh.... Saguenay cabin's awesome.

The theme this week is Clue, and Programs is really going all-out on it. Over the last two nights, we got to know Colonel Mustard (Marc-Andre), Professor Plum (Mike the australian), Mister Green (Matt, hilarious in the giant mustache), Mrs White (Kate), Miss Peacock (Laura) and Miss Scarlett (Brittany), as well as unearthed Mr Body. As a cabin, we ran around Iawah's grounds last night, avoiding monsters as we went and used our detective powers to figure out that the murder was committed in the conservatory! Tonight, we try to discover the murder weapon!

All this to say that so far, very good. Today is day 36 of camp for me, and i'm still loving it! I'll be home this weekend, and will try to put up a few photos, since the crowds have been requesting them!

Happily yours,
Flick

I *heart* Sabbath, part 2!

"Let me hear your one time..."
(this post-meal, pre-dining room vacating will only make sense if you've ever been at girl camp. If I hear it one more time........)

Yes, it's evening on Saturday, my wonderful Sabbath day! It's nice to relax, unwind, take it easy, not be on a schedule really! It's also different to be here instead of Ottawa during my time off, but I figured I'd get more rest that way... and also wouldn't be tempted to sneak in a game or two at No Borders (go Vixen!!).

I've received my schedule for next week, Girls II - and was quite happy to see that it was exactly the same as Girls I. For inquiring minds, it goes a bit like this:

Sunday is check-in day, campers have a swim, we go over emergency procedures, have dinner, play a game, snacks, bed.

Monday to Friday is rougly the same:
Polar dip at 7am, breakfast at 8:20, primetime at 9:10, staff meeting at 10:15 (girls do cabin cleanup during that time and get ready for their morning activities); activity 1 at 10:45 (i did cabin leader training), activity 2 at 11:45 (i thought waterski), lunch at 1pm, tuck at 1:45, activity 3 at 2:15 (free time for me!), activity 4 at 3:15 (free time for me!), free time at 4:15 (possibility of free time for me!), dinner at 5:30, a bit of free time, then evening game at 7:15, evening swim at 8:15, snacks at 9, evening devotions when back to cabin and lights out at 10:30pm. Add in the odd campfire, night game and thunderstorm... and you've got a week's worth of camp (Saturday is move-out day, and campers get picked up right after breakfast).

As you can see, there's not much down time when you're in cabin. I also slept rather lightly all week, so am quite tired now... am planning on skipping the staff movie/campfire tonight and head to bed around 9 instead. More campers are coming in tomorrow, i'm back in cabin, so energy levels have to be high!

A few highlights of the week:

• Having eight girls that went to bed when i said it was time to go to bed;
• Coming in second in the "clean cabin" contest - the girls did an amazing job every day;
• Playing tetherball with two of my campers (and getting beaten!);
• The silly evening games and their weird challenges - they really had us going on teamwork;
• A bagpipe serenade from one of the CREW kids to start off the evening game taking place in Scotland;
• Going with a zombie theme for our cabin video bit;
• The extra waterski runs i got in (and more 360s!) because all the girls wanted me to go with them;
• The "awkward questions" session at cabin leader training. Every cabin leader got asked a question that could viably be asked by a camper; we were then graded on our reply. Some questions were harder to answer than others, and some were just plain, well, awkward. I'm just happy someone else got "Er, what is a boner?" (I got "Susy called me fat! Am I fat?")
• Hanging out with my campers, chatting with them, getting to know them and getting insight on God from them. Everyone should talk about God with a 12-year-old. It's enlightening!

And two not-so-fun moments...

• Not getting a single uninterrupted night's sleep due to one of my campers speaking/yelling/screaming/crying in her sleep;
• Looking back, this is actually funny - one of the waterski staff, Pontoon (6 feet tall, slim athletic build, blond, total California surfer dude), is a bit of a hit with the girls campers. Okay, a big hit. At one point, i thought that if i heard "Pontoon this" or "Pontoon that" from my campers one more time, i was going to scream.

And now this tidbit, that i'm sure will make my workout buddies proud: during cabin leader training, we had a mini-competition between the leaders, earning points each day. On the last day, there was a tie for first place between me and Socksy. To break the tie, we were challenged to a plank-off! We had just eaten popsicles, so for me it was a rather nauseous plank - and i have no idea how long we lasted, but i won! Yay!

To finish off, two high moments on the spiritual front: the first was a great chat about God with one of my campers who dropped the "i'm not a believer" bomb on Friday; and perhaps the best was at the River (staff worship) on Monday night. I will not go into details now (if you want to know, ask me in person), but it was one of those moments where i really felt God speaking to me... and it really put me at peace.

Okay, I'll stop rambling now!

Tiredly yours,

Flick

I *heart* Sabbath!

It's Saturday... the girls have all been picked up... Camp is soooo quiet and chill... and i'm going to sleep for most of the day. There is so much to say about the last week, it was so packed and full of laughter (and a few tears)... I'll try to post a full update soon, but I'm in cabin again starting tomorrow afternoon, and time off is few and far apart!

Still loving it. That's the important part :)

Yawningly yours,
Flick

Life at Girl Camp!

"Hey, Carnegie, show us how you get down!"
"We stomp, our feet, and grooooove to the beat
we turn, around, and shake it to the ground"
-post meal entertaiment in the dining hall

Ah, life at Girls' Camp!
What can I say, after all the drama and tension of last week, it's such a welcome change to have 120 sweet, quiet, well-behaving girls around the Iawah grounds. This week is also my first experience as cabin leader, and so far - it's quite good. I moved into Carnegie cabin on Sunday, soon to be followed by 8 girls (12 and 13 years old). Most of them already knew each other from school, and the others were integrated to the group right away. It's quite fun to be around them, I must say!

So, life in cabin is a bit different than life in Upper Iawah when Iwas on activities. Schedule's a bit more brutal (7am polar dip... sigh), and there's obviously a lot more responsabilities, but it's also strangely more rewarding. I have to point out that i'm very much trying to be a good role model, and not to incline them towards a life of tattoo-getting ;) During the day, I still have one period of waterski teaching, right before lunch. And sorry guys, but girls are so much more fun to teach.

Being in cabin means foregoing staff Bible study and attending Prime Time with the campers instead. The general idea's the same - except the songs are sillier, there are gestures to go along, and the themes/talk is a bit lighter. But no bashing here, it's still perfectly good - i'm enjoying this week's parallel between running a race and being a christian/running the race for God. And besides, where else would I learn a song saying that Jesus is rad and cool?!

One thing that the girls have to do daily while I'm at a staff meeting is cabin cleanup. So far, they have been amazing and we've had perfect marks! To help, they came up with the 10 commandments of cabin cleaning, which are now up on the wall of our cabin. I'm re-posting it here for your enjoyment.

1. Thou shall not have dry clothes on thy clothesline.
2. Thy floor shall be swept.
3. Thy bed shall be made neatly.
4. Thy shoes shall be neatly lined outside thy door.
5. Thy porch light shall be turned off.
6. Thy clothes shall be stored in thy suitcase with care.
7. All garbage shall be put in thy garbage can.
8. Thy shall not make thyself an idol from dirty socks.
9. Thy shelves shall be orderly.
10. Thy shall clean mosquitoes smears after swatting.

This week's theme is a repeat of last week, The Amazing Race. It's so much more fun to be doing the activities than running them! On Sunday night, we ran around camp grounds as a cabin, clearing 7 activites along the way, and came in first out of 14 cabins!! Leg two of the Race (last night) saw every cabin assigned to either the blue team or green team (we were green), and green won... meaning that so far, we're team number one. It's so cool, the planning committee is going all out on the theme, meaning we have clue boxes, detour/roadblocks signs, and even a mat to step on at the pit stop. And everything looks exactly like it does on the show, so cool! And it's not just me - the campers are loving it too.

So yeah... this is the past two days in a nutshell. It's very weird how time goes by - a day goes by in the blink of an eye, yet at night, when i look back upon it, it seems that it could have been a week, a month in terms of learning and of how much is packed into it. It's definitely safe to say that there's never a dull moment.

Cheerily yours,
Flick

Who are we? Carnegie!

Yup, a new week, and i'm in cabin! Everything very good so far! Stay tuned...

The ultimate day!

As in ultimate frisbee, of course!

Yesterday was ultimate day here at Camp Iawah! Our normal activity schedule got tweaked to accomodate a full morning of frisbee fun. The campers got split up into four groups, with two groups doing team-oriented activities (obstacle course, team identity/motto/flag painting), one group doing target practice with frisbees, and the last? Jon Rayner was here to teach them about ultimate, teach them basic skills and lead them into mini-scrimmages.

All in all, it went down quite well, and was fun!

In the evening, we held a mini-tournament between the four groups/teams of the morning. The atmosphere was reminiscent of summer league finals - lots of people enjoying ultimate, and rockin' music on the sidelines! Some kids were definitely showing potential - during one game, one kid laid out for a point! And he'd never played before today! I was super impressed :P Another highlight was the last game of the night, featuring the oldest, tallest cabin (who had been dominating so far) against shorter, much younger opponents. When one kid from the young group came to talk to me about how it was unfair, I explained that being short could be a definite advantage, and to not let his team be intimidated. He definitely took the advice to heart - and what followed was a great game with short zippy passes from the young group, and loopy overthrows from the older group. The game ended in a tie due to time constraints, but the young group celebrated like they'd just won worlds. A great sight.

Ultimately yours,
Flick

Boys II is here!

Boys II is now in session! It's quite similar to last week, but also quite different, as we have Day Camp running parallel to it - meaning a LOT of kids running around Iawah! The general consensus on this week's campers it that they are a bit of a rougher bunch, but nothing we can't handle with some love... and a lot of patience! Many of us staff are being tested this week, me included. If I may include a prayer request: I need some patience! Waterski so far has been quite testing. The weather hasn't been cooperating, and the campers aren't as eager as last week. Thanks :)

Speaking of waterski, I've learned a few things over my short time there. Without further ado, I now present the DOs and DON'Ts of waterski:

• DO listen to and obey the instructors.
• DO choose an appropriately sized lifejacket.
• DO wear a wetsuit when it's chilly.
• DO make your "i'm okay" signal when you fall.
• DO try new things.
• DO laugh at your wipeouts.
• DON'T stand on the carpeted dock unless you're the next person going in.
• DON'T swim in front of the boat when it's going by the dock.
• DON'T drown the camp walkie-talkies.

and perharps most importantly...

• DON'T fart in your wetsuit.

:P

My schedule this week is pretty sweet. I have waterski all morning, then free time right after lunch (which i'm using to do some personal Bible study), then back to waterski and finally archery to wrap up activities before dinner. Then I get to help out/play in the nightly event. This week's theme is The Amazing Race, which is actually pretty cool. The nightly events are planned as a leg of the Race, and there's a pit stop at the end - we even have a mat and someone dressed as Phil Keoghan to "host"!

I'm now starting to settle into the camp routine - but preparing for next week by trying to get as much rest as possible this week, since I'll be in cabin from Sunday! It'll definitly be a whole new adventure! Eeek!

Muffin-devouringly yours,

Flick

There is still oatmeal in my hair...

... even though i tried to wash it out with a firehose, swam in the lake, and took a shower. Camp's insane, especially when it involves a team challenge with spaghetti throwing, oatmeal pelting, water gun hosing, hula hooping... and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It is Sabbath once again, dear readers, and since i have all day Saturday off, I headed into Ottawa on Friday night, meaning I get two whole sleeps in a bed about three times the size as the one I've had for the past 18 days.

But the best part is that I get to go back on Sunday and do it all over again.

A few highlights of the past two days:

• Attempting (and succeeding on the first attempt) a 360 at kneeboarding. For the uninitiated, this is when execute a full rotation above water - meaning you pass the handle around your back while being pulled. Fun!
• Taking CREW out kneeboarding on Thursday night (CREW are a group of 14-16 year olds who come for 3 weeks to work around the camp and to learn more about God). The conditions were by far the best we'd had all week, the lake was like glass and there was zero wind. Add a beautiful sunset and it truly was a great night. Getting my most solid wipeout to date was only a small wrinkle! Gory details: we crossed another boat's wake, meaning sudden large waves. I hit the first one fine, got crazy air on the second one, but on the way down the nose of my board hit into the third wave, making me faceplant instantly. I think i got mild whiplash from it. And huge cheers and a good laugh from the boat crew and the people riding with me, once they saw I was okay.
• Getting my very first guitar lesson from Mike the Australian.
•  Trying not to laugh as period two campers held a "who has the most armpit hair" contest on the dock.
• A great late-night conversation with Jamie about God, plans, purposes and the roads that led us to Iawah. I don't express it often enough, but I am truly grateful to be here.
• The look on Peter's face as I introduced him to my roommates who were all dying to meet him! Ha ha! 

Breakfast is calling...

Hugrily yours,

Flick

It's sunny!

Good morning readers! I am sooooo happy to say that we *finally* woke up to some sun here at Iawah! It's been cloudy and cold the last few days, with rain on and off, which made some activities a bit difficult. I was lucky to be wearing a wetsuit at waterski, but campers were visibly cold after runs. On Tuesday, it was warmer in the water than out. Ick.

The past few days have been rather uneventful. I'm settling into the waterski routine, and as the week goes by campers don't require as much instruction/help, meaning more "dry time" (on dock) for me. It's still fun though as i get to chat with campers about their day, what they like, what they've been up to. It's a really relaxed and chilled atmosphere.

On a related note, i've been finding the job really rewarding. For example, on Tuesday during fifth period (free time, this is when the kids who don't come to waterski as one of their set daily activities have a chance to come by - not the best time, as water gets choppier as the day goes by), a kid came by who had only tried kneeboarding once, at a cottage, but hadn't been able to get up. I took him out 1-on-1 (we usually do two campers/one instructor) as he was visibly nervous, and prepped in the water much longer than usual, reassuring him that it was going to work and that he was going to have a great time. We finally hit it, i popped on, then rode over to assist him, stabilizing his board while encouraging him non-stop as he took a loooong time getting up. But once up - that kid was having the time of his life! His ear-to-ear grin said it all, and back at dock he immediately wanted to go out again. It's times like those that make the work easy, and really fun :)

The flip side, of course, is during a wipeout when a kid's stray kneeboard wacks you in the back of the head - making you very thankful for the lifejacket you're wearing and your own floaty kneeboard you're holding on to! (no worries, it's only a bruise!)

Some other fun moments of the past few days:

• having a toenail painting party with my roomies. I now have green-with-purple-polkadots toenails;
• watching the campers on the Blob (giant inflated air chamber - one kid sits on the end, another jumps on the other end from a height, making camper one fly off into the water);
• during a waterfront emergency simulation, i had to be hauled out of the water into the old waterski boat, which is quite a challenge as it doesn't have the dock-thingy out back. A few minutes before, Bowser and I had been discussing how amazing the cafeteria's muffins were, but when Bowser had to haul me in (i guess i was heavier than expected, ha ha!), he exclaimed "dude! exactly how many muffins have you had?!" and we had a good laugh about it once in the boat.

Ahhh.. okay, off to breakfast. I'm starving!

Flick

Waterski day one... done!

Hello, dear readers!

Today was day 1 of Boys I schedule, meaning i have the same schedule all week. And here it is:

7:45 am - breakfast; 9:10 am - Bible study; 10:45 am - waterski ; 11:45 am - waterski; 1:00 pm - lunch; 2:15 pm - waterski; 3:15 pm - time off! ; 4:15 pm - waterski; 5:30 pm - dinner; 7:00 pm - night event. 

Meaning that now... i'm fully pooped, and will sleep very, very, very well tonight!

My first day of waterski teaching went quite well! This morning, it was quite cold and rainy, so i spent a few minutes getting into a wetsuit... have to admit that I was quite nervous, as i'd never taken a turn teaching or helped someone get on their kneeboard yet. But once in the water, it all came together and i was able to relax and get the job done. The boys were all really into it, and everyone had a great time! 

So i'm done work-wise for tonight. There is a worship/talent show planned for tonight, but i might skip it in favour of... sleep. 

On a completely unrelated note - today i tried something new. I shaved someone's hair into a mohawk. Successfully! Oh, the stuff you do at camp...

Chillingly yours,

Flick

Sabbath!

After a hard day cleaning on Saturday, i woke up to my Sabbath day this morning. In other words, my day off! It was nice not to have anything to do other than attend chapel on the beach, and bonus, James came to visit! So without further ado, i now present my...

Top 5 best things about today!

• 5: being able to sleep in late... got up at 9 instead of the usual 6:45!
  
• 4: hitting up the Life Is Good store in Westport and buying a rockin' frisbee;
  
• 3: tossing a disc around with James for a while;
  
• 2: reading Psalm 75 and doing devotions on the beach docks this morning with my awesome roommate Stephanie;
  
• 1: eating triple chocolate brownie ice cream on a dock in Westport with James, catching up on ultimate gossip and life back home, and reading one very funny letter! Thanks dude!
  

Completely unrelated, but still worth mentioning, the bruise i gave myself at archery last week by having the string catch my elbow on release not once, but twice, is colouring nicely. It's currently blueish yellow, and is, I kid you not, about 3 inches long by1.5 inches wide - right below my phoenix tear tattoo on my inner left arm. Crazy!

On another note, today is also the beginning of Boys I camp. The campers checked in this afternoon, and are currently playing a wide game outside, screaming and seemingly having a good time. According to schedule, i'll be at waterski all week, yay!

Off I now go - have some reading to do tonight, and want to get to it before it's too late!

Lazily yours,
Flick

Rain, rain, go away...

36 hours later, and it's still raining on and off. Just got back from Coffee House, a talent show put together by staff and campers to celebrate the final night of family camp. Lower Iawah (the all-purpose room of the main lodge) got a fancy makeover with tablecloths, candles and full service!The show was really good, the artists amazing (including a fantastic rendition of "it's not easy being green") and thus was a great way to unwind after a long hard day - and big kudos to the kitchen staff for the rhubarb pie and strawberry milkshakes!

Now, to pick up where i left off yesterday! Archery did go ahead after all, as it was only drizzling and not fully pouring. I only got a few archers though - including a family who really got into it. The kids and father fully encouraged their mother/wife to give it a try, then after clumsily handling the bow and taking a minute to load the arrow - she shot three bulleyes with her first three arrows, including one right through the x in the very middle of the target! Crazy talent! Needless to say she got a standing ovation from all present.

A few other highlights from yesterday...

• Skipping my free time to play soccer and ping-pong with the only kid who didn't want to go on the voyageur canoe excursion in the evening;
• Skipping more free time to break out paper and crayons during the kids' snack time. The kids loved the added arts time and drew many masterpieces! One drawing in particular made me stop and really think. The artist was a young girl of around 12 years old. She had drawn a cross at sunset, with Jesus' nails in it. The caption written in cursive across the sky read: "He's the only man I'll ever need". It was a very humbling moment, knowing that this girl, at so young an age, had grasped a truth that so many, including myself, are struggling to get to.
• On a lighter note, licking vanilla icing off the giant industrial kitchen mixer beater (the thing is the size of my head) was pretty darn amazing!

And a few notable moments from today:

• Dragged myself out of bed at 6:45 am as I had a kitchen dishes shift this morning. The silver lining was getting to eat the extra cheesecake chocolate that the kitchen made!
• Archery went on... and everyone got very wet. By everyone... I mean me, and the million mosquitoes buzzing about. Thankfully, I got to close shop early as only two people came by during the first 15 minutes, before it started pouring.
• Runner-up for best moment of the day: checking my e-mail, reading a really sweet one from lovely Peter, and finding out that James is coming to visit on Sunday!!! It totally gave me the burst of energy I needed to get through double cleaning shift tomorrow.
• Best moment of the day: the indoor campfire in the gym, and running and dancing and acting and doing silly songs with the kids. Absolutely fantastic.

So this is it, dying moments of my first real full camp week. The families will be leaving shortly after breakfast tomorrow. It's weird how much we got to know people in three short days, and I'll be a bit sad to see them go - but i still have 8 whole weeks to go in this magical place called Iawah!

Off to bed!

Flick

PS. Thanks to the wonderful, lovely, talented, creative Jaclyn for letting me use her laptop! You rock, and room 1 won't be the same when you move out this weekend!

It's raining, it's pouring...

"Hey! Keep that arrow pointing at the ground or at the target!"
(most uttered phrase by yours truly on my first archery shift)

Sadly it's raining today at Camp Iawah. Campers are currently indoor at various worship sessions, and i'm catching a quick rest in between cleaning duty (wash houses! bathrooms! showers! more bathrooms! yay!) and our daily staff meeting.

Yesterday was my first "real" camper interaction, as i did a 2-hour shift at archery. It was quite fun, the kids and adults were all into it and picking it up really fast! They kept me quite busy!! Since it was open time for campers to run around all activities camp has to offer, there were some down times as well. It gave me and co-archery coach Scott a chance to play tic-tac-toe... by shooting arrows. I somehow miraculously won the first game, but lost the next two. More practice definitely required!!

Two highlights of the day yesterday:

• Dressing up as a princess (pink prom dress, long red wig, tiara) and chasing kids around the grounds with a pool noodle. As one very honest kid put it: "Are you a pwincess?" (yes, i said) "You look scawy!" she added. It was very hard not to laugh!
• Heading into Westport with most of the camp staff to watch the Canada Day fireworks. It was great to sit on a beach, getting to know co-workers, then being treated to a 20-minutes fireworks extravaganza. It was especially cool because the fireworks were being shot from very close to our viewing point, making the entire experience very 3-D and surreal as we were effectively surrounded by exploding colours.

Must now run off to plan afternoon rain-day activities, as most outdoor stuff will not take place. Hope it's sunny where you are!

Raindrop-dodgingly yours,
Flick