Camp Week 3- Day 4

I find as the week goes on I become more and more exhausted. As the summer goes on, I feel the need for more naps during my free sessions. When I worked back in Columbia during high school and even last year I read a lot. I would manage to read anywhere from 10 - 20 books a summer. I decided this week that instead of taking short little naps throughout the day, I was going to start reading. Needless to say, Wednesday was my first day of this goal. I read for about an hour and twenty minutes. I'm almost halfway done with my first book, The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner. It has been excellent so far. I have 3 other books lined up after that one.

Any suggestions on other books to read?

I began the day with a biking session. It was a lot of fun, although we had the youngest boys. Some of them were not confident in their bike riding abilities and one didn't know how to ride a bike without training wheels at all. Keep in mind these are 7 year olds. We did a couple of the easy and medium trails. The ones who knew how to ride seemed to enjoy it a lot. The other children used their perseverance to push through. After the biking session came the routine of lunch and shoes off time. This week and last week have become so routine. I can't wait for next week to come along and change it all up! Difference in schedule adds spice to my week! I had a kayak session later this afternoon. There was a canoe session going on simultaneously. Therefore, there was me and another lifeguard. We have to have one lifeguard on the dock and one out with the kids. I volunteered to go out with the kids. I was in charge of keeping tabs on about 20 people in canoes and kayaks. Quite difficult to say the least! I had girls crying because of bugs and screaming at the top of their lungs. It was impossible to calm them down. After taking them back in, I took the kayakers out again. All the girls kept talking about how the other cabin was such babies, and complained too much. The group of whiners and complainers were an older cabin too! Way to set an example! I love working at camp and hanging out with the kids, however the only time I don't enjoy it is when the kids aren't appreciative or complain and whine.

After that session it was time for dinner and the evening program! Tonight's program was Wacky Olympics. We thought we were going to be able to have it outside, but it was moved to the gym because of rain once again. I was helping out with the jello toss. The kids each got a spoon full of jello in their hands and had to throw it into a bucket about 20 feet away. Whichever group had the most jello in the bucket at the end of the 5 minute round, won that round. I gave up on scooping the jello out with a spoon and resorted to my hand. Needless to say, my hand is dyed green from the jello! While the younger cabins were participating in Wacky Olympics, the fire alarm went off. The music and microphone were on, so it was difficult to hear the fire alarm noise. I was screaming at the top of my lungs to the girl in charge of Wacky Olympics. With sheer horror she told everyone to evacuate the building. This same week last year, the gym really did catch on fire, so the returning staff knew this was nothing to mess around about. No smoke was ever found, however a kid was. We think this kid pulled the fire alarm, even though he denies it. We quickly reassembled in the gym and kept Wacky Olympics going! Soon thereafter the older group came in for their session of Wacky Olympics. Their session ran smoothly all the way through. At the end of Wacky O the last event is a dance off. I had already begun helping clean up the jello mess that had seemed to take over the whole entire stage. I went to the bathroom to get some water to mop the stage and when I emerged, I saw a boy crying. I sat down beside him to figure out what was wrong. Turns out his girlfriend (and date to the dance) had broken up with him. They had been together for two days. He was bawling his eyes out. This was at least a 14 year old boy. I asked him what I could do to help, and he told me I could go find the girl. I searched the gym high and low for this little girl, and finally found her in the bathroom crying too. I sat them down together to hopefully work out their issues. Oh the drama of camp, and the young romances! I enjoy watching these, and helping mend these when I can!

I also had the opportunity to talk to a child with Autism tonight. I have been wanting to talk to him all week long. It was so rewarding to have a 5 minute conversation with him. I've never spoken or met an autistic child before, and I was intrigued by the behavior he exemplified. Talking to him and working at this camp has shown me how much I enjoy kids, medicine and listening to someones problem or problems and helping them work it out. It is definitely reassuring me that majoring in Psychology is the right path my life should be headed in. It was a great day, full of so much fun like every other day! This is by far the best summer of my life, and I never want it to end!