Week One: Sticky Science / Nature Nuts

Hey Blog Fans!

Wow this week has gone so much faster than last week! I've got loads to tell you!

"WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME..."

Last weekend the camp closed and we were all off until Sunday morning, so we decided to go on a jolly! We tried to get rooms in New York but there were none available (and the telephone staff at each hostel were all really nasty!) so Fiona and Georgia tried Boston, Massachusetts, and got us beds in a guesthouse just outside of Boston. So 15 of us all packed into the heffer camp cars and drove to New London (how original!) to get the train up on Friday night. Once we got to the hostel it was seriously like entering the Twilight Zone - creepy antique furniture, portraits on the walls, creepy 1920's music, a stag's head above the fireplace, host wearing a flat cap...

Boston was fantastic. It's such an open and welcoming city - not at all daunting and dodgy like New York. We got a subway to the Theatre District in the morning (after a Dunkin Donuts breakfast!) and strolled through the park, had a banter with a passing fireman and policeman... but the best bit had to be the Cheers Bar! We visited the 'inspiration for the legendary TV series', and I have to say it was very small inside! I did go into squeal mode though when I saw the sign with the hand pointing down the steps - it was very exciting! The rest of the day was spent exploring the city, markets and harbour, taking photos aplenty, and then we met up at the Hard Rock Café for tea. One of the girls from Connecticut - Schnitz - works at a Hard Rock so she got us 50% off! She also got up on the table to do the YMCA. It was a lot of fun.

911? WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!

Saturday night, however, was not a lot of fun. We were still up chatting in our tents at 2am when we heard male voices, grunge music, a dog barking and a car revving coming from somewhere in the woods. We got really freaked out, especially when we couldn't get hold of the office or any of our supervisors. To cut a long story short we ended up calling the police. Who came 20 minutes after we'd stopped hearing anything. We spent the night in the health centre we were so shook up, and I only ended up getting about 5 hours sleep.

WEEK ONE BEGINS AND THE FIRST GIRLS ARRIVE

This week has been great. I worked with Monkey, Helena from Sweden (who has now acquired the nickname 'Dude', c/o Christina, because no one can pronounce her silly Swedish name right!) and 'Luna' (aka Sarah from Connecticut), which I was very pleased with cos I got along with all of them. We had 8 girls in our unit, all aged between 9 and 11. And they were all angels. We were so lucky.

Anyway, they'd each signed up to do either the 'Sticky Science' or the 'Nature Nuts' programme, but because they were such small groups we combined them. For Nature we did an alphabet nature hunt (where you have to find something for every letter of the alphabet) and exploring pond life by the lake. For Science me and Luna put together some great lessons! We made goo out of water, glue, detergent and food colouring, and made clay volcanoes - when you put vinegar and baking soda in them they froth up and erupt! We had lots of fun. The girls also did other activities that we got to join in with, like sports, arts and crafts, archery, campcraft, swimming and drama. Also, on Wednesday night we had a cook-out, where we made macaroni and cheese over a fire!

So as a result of this week I know how to make 3 different kinds of friendship bracelets, I've made goo, a volcano, and I cannot get camp songs out of my head. I think having Monkey in our group was a godsend though, because she's been coming here for 10 years either as a camper or a counsellor, so she knew exactly how everything went! I was really sad when my girls left on Friday. Every counsellor I spoke to from another group all had nasty brats and said they wanted my group cos they were all so good! I'm dreading getting horrible kids next week!

NIANTIC

Today we had a day off, and me, Fiona and Georgia all knew we really wanted to go to the beach. So Brooke (our camp director) took us, Christina Ballerina, Becky and the new German counsellor, Kate, to a place called Niantic on the southern coast. It was a lovely hot day and we had a great time just lounging and indulging in the sun! Becky and Fiona got patchy burns on their legs from the sun it was funny.

THOUGHTS SO FAR...

So what do I think of my time here so far? Well, I've really enjoyed this week and it's been a lot less stressful than I thought it would be. It's great to get out of camp sometimes and chill out, like last night Woosh took us to WalMart (always a seriously thrilling event!) and I stocked up on sprite, diet coke and munchies for my tent (even though we're not supposed to have stuff in there in case racoons see it as an invitation). I also bought myself a Finding Nemo watch (cos I hate not knowing the time around camp) and the watchface pops out so you can use it as a keyring it's great! I was very chuffed with it. I also bought a red TY dog teddy at a shop in Niantic today so I don't feel lonely in my tent!

The main thing that I've noticed about America so far is the food. Everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - is packed with sugar. I bought a lemon-lime slush today and it was a deep radioactive green colour and it tasted like pure sugar. Nothing like lemon-lime! It's all really crap and I can't stand to think what rubbish I'm consuming. The second thing is the bugs. I got a spider bite on my knee the other day and it came up in a big, hard, red lump. Quite worrying. I've also been bitten so many times by mosquitoes I think my blood must be toxic by now. I'm not even close to kidding - I've got about 20 bites on each limb, never mind the ones on my front or my back.

Anyway, I guess that's enough ranting for now! I'm moving into the mice-infested cabins tomorrow and doing the 'Night Owls' programme with Luna and Dude. It's the same age group (9-11) but they get to stay up later than the rest of the camp and do night hikes and stargazing and stuff. So if they're all up for it, it should be good fun. If I get chance during the week I'll post again, if not I'll do another weekly update next weekend. However, it does get lonely here sometimes so if you fancy writing to me the address THIS WEEK is:

Christina Page
White Pines
Laurel (CT)
175B Clubhouse Road
Lebanon
CT 06249
USA

Ciao for now, Chips (that's my camp name, by the way!)