Past
Staff Diaries
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past staff diaries below & get an insight into life
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BUNAC
Camp Diary
Vicky
from Reading, UK was placed at a summer camp on the East
Coast of the USA.
Monday
1st August
At last
I've got more than 5 minutes at the computer so i will try
my best to update you on the last 6 days! So last Tuesday
evening was the usual last night camp fire and then the
shack party.
Lots
more chocolate cake. Wednesday was a usual morning with
swim lessons etc and then the kids went home in the afternoon.
We cleaned
up camp and then had a staff ice cream party. meanwhile
outside it was extremely heavy rain, and we were all packing
up to leave for the 3 days off! I got soaked going to my
cabin but managed to get everything and we left camp at
about 8.30.
Thursday
was a fab day, all 4 of us plus ruckus's mum and dad went
in their 5 seater car to Boston for the day. so the 4 of
us were squished in the back but it wasn't too bad as its
a typical big American off roader car so big enough!!
We
went to quincy market and Fenuil hall. we did lots of shopping.
we also went to the Boston museum of science and while there
saw a film on coral reefs in teh imax cinema. it was cool.
Then
we went to Harvard university, and i got a hoody there!!
And we eventually got home! Friday we went to this hot dog
place that does huge hot doges. then to EMS which is a camping/outdoor
sports shop. i got some new trainers in the sail and a few
other bits. camel bought lots of kyakyign stuff and ikea
got some more running clothes.
Yesterday
was incoming day. as usual nothing interesting. i was car
parking and then swim testing. We watched the second half
of our film (Happy Campers) with the program staff in the
evening.
Today
i had fun. i went to the beach with the Surf camp kids so
I had a go too! I kept falling off though! I don't think
I'm a surfer dude! And i spent this afternoon doing swim
lessons etc.
Anyway
i now need to drag my sleeping bag to sunset as I'm staying
there tonight because its flash's night off so i have to
be here replacement for the night! Saturday 6th August Somewhere
in Massachussettes. We had a fab day, now i want to go somewhere
with bigger rapids thought.
I ordered
a picture from the ones they took of us. I didn't fall out...only
when we jumped out to have a swim...and the water was freezing!
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Camp
America Diaries
Camp
America is the largest, most famous
summer work experience programme in the World! Summer camps
are part of the American culture and way of life and there
are over 12,000 throughout the USA. Camp
America recruits people from the UK and elsewhere to
work on these camps.
Challenge
yourself, make new friends, develop your skills and explore
a new continent! There are a huge variety of job choices
available: you can work directly with children, teaching
them sports, dancing or arts, or you can work in supportive
roles including catering and administration. Whatever you
decide, there are thousands of jobs on offer all over the
US!
Rebecca
Watson
Colchester, United Kingdom
Camp: Golden Slipper, Pennsylvania
Olympics
days 2 & 3 02:34 PM , 9-26-2007
Oh dear
I've been slightly neglectful of this blog. I suppose now
that I'm not at camp I don't have "camp brain" and I'm not
always thinking about everything that has happend and wanting
to write it down. Well I have to admit that I don't remeber
much about the in between days of Olympics. It's all a big
crazy blur. But thier is one thing that I do remember from
being captain and will tell you about. My team won the apache.
Now the apache is a big deal, it's worth alot of points-
and when your in 3rd place you want to be getting them points.
But
tbh I knew that the kids were keyed up about this and didn't
need me sticking my oar in saying "We need the points, do
not lose" So I smiled sweetly and said, "Nobody cares if
we come in 4th or 1st -cough yes we do- lets just have fun
and enjoy it, there's no pressure" Now the apache is like
a huge obstacle course around camp, thier are 75 events
in in, that are completled around the whole camp.
Every
single child in the Olympics team is doing at least one
of the events. They can be everything from drinking "Chugging"
a whole can of coke for instance "soda". It's a bit like
a huge tag team production. Alot of work goes into this
so obviously the children really enjoy it. Dave and I agreed
we would run half of the race each, I would do the first
half, and he would "tag" me at the pool and run to the final
event the rope burn.
Now
like I said the rope burn is the final event, and the first
team to have assembled a fire and have the rope drop will
win. We started off on a really bad foot, the canooeing
dropped us back because I had a 14 year old boy and a 7
year old girl (I didn't organise this btw!) rowing together,
and the boy was putting so much effort in, and the girl
looked lost so to speak. Of course when they finished doing
thier lap in the canoe, we were coming in at 4th.
I had
the 14 year old boy yelling (He was very competitive) telling
me that was a joke etc...And the little girl in tears. So
I had to really calm this boy and the little girl down.
I just kept saying "We don't care if we come in last, just
enjoy it..it's not about winning" I managed to calm them
down. Finally got to the pool where I tagged Dave and made
my way to the pavillion where the rope burning would commence.
I heard
mixed feedback from the counsellors who arrived at different
times from our team, saying sometimes we were in 2nd sometimes
4th. So I really didn't know where we were at that point.
It was boiling hot, and all I could think of was that I
needed some more gatorade. Alexis my friend must have read
my mind because she handed me one, without me even asking!.
Now that's team work!
Finally
it emerged we were in 4th place and that the other teams
were coming in to do thier rope burn. Our team came in 4th
to to the rope burn, but boy did our fire go up! We completley
left the other teams behind, our sticks and leaves were
so dry that our fire was higher than the rope. All the teams
were watching, it was so tense. Suddenly it had come apprent
that we could now actually win this apache! I remeber that
my knees started to buckle, it was so tense, and I felt
sick.
I had
two of my team mates holing me up by the elbows. And suddenly
thier went our rope! Everybody went mental in our team.
Jumping up and down and screaming and some of us (ok me!)
even crying! My happiness changed quickly when I heard one
of my best mates Hannah my fellow captain, has collapsed
and was being given oxygen. It was horrible, we seemed to
be waiting to find out news for ages and then we heard she
was severly dehydrated and incrdibly hot. She was exhausted
bless her. I think that is going beyond the call of duty.
I was
so proud of her, it shows you how much she wanted her team
to suceed.
Alexandra
Harkness
Harpenden, United Kingdom
Camp: Pierce Camp Birchmont, New Hampshire
Summer
at Camp Birchmont
Of
course it is hard to typify what you can expect from your
summer at camp as everyones experience is different and
unique to them. Here is a flavour of mine..
Working
on tennis meant that I was outside in the New Hampshire
sunshine for nine periods of tennis a day. As a tennis and
watersports focused camp, the standard was pretty high.
It also meant that we had a large staff, which I think was
one of the reasons why it was so much more fun than teaching
something by yourself.
As
a group we bonded very quickly. Before each period the head
coach would instruct us on which exercises we were to do
with the children. Normally we would all take a court each,
and run forehands on court one, backhands on court two etc.
The children were divided into groups according to ability
and would practice each drill for around 10 minutes before
moving onto the next court. A popular request was to end
the period with a game of "jail" or "round the world"! Invitational
tournament days were hosted at Birchmont where the stronger
players would get the chance to play some real competitive
tennis.
However,
this experience was not exclusive to the "best" children,
during colour war in the last part of camp everyone got
the chance to compete on a level where they felt comfortable.
Whenever I didn't have to teach a tennis period (hardly
ever!) I went to activities with my bunk group.
I was placed with 9-10 year old girls who were all very
energetic and amusing (whoever said that Americans don't
understand humour is wrong!). This was also the group I
helped look after in the mornings and evenings. The girls
all slept in one big room whilst myself and my two co-counsellors
made an adjoining counsellor room our home for 8 weeks.
After breakfast we would spin the job wheel to determine
which camper did which job before the first activity period
(sweeping the floor, cleaning bathroom sinks etc). All meals
were shared with my group also. Ahh, meals!
The
food was fantastic but I got lucky because Birchmont is
a top camp so the kids get what they pay for I guess. On
an invitational trip to another camp, the lunch wasn't so
pleasing! There were lots of special events organised for
the children such as outdoor movies, trips to water parks,
fireworks, water carnival, DJ socials, banquet, of course
colour war and many more!
As
staff we all felt very well looked after, we got one day
off a week, two evenings and two rest hour periods to re-charge
our batteries. There was always several staff buses running
trips to places like Boston and Portsmouth and the nearby
chinese restaurant, "westlake" aptly named because of its
positioning west of the lake lol.
We
also had two staff parties, one was a boat cruise with fireworks
and the other at a nearby hotel with a buffet and DJ. After
camp I was very lucky to stay at my american friends houses,
firstly in Long Island and then on the upper east side in
Manhatten (NY). It was great to just live and go out with
them and not bother about touristy sights etc which are
so often lacking in instrinic value (for me anyway).
Words
cannot describe how much I miss camp and everybody I met
there, it truly was one of the best times of my life and
I cannot wait to return next year if they'll have me! DON'T
THINK ABOUT DOING CAMP JUST GO FOR IT
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Now!
