Weeks Three, Four and Five: Theatre Action and Fun Factor

Hello All!

I realise I've not posted in nearly a century, but in all honesty I just really haven't had the time! And I don't mean that in the sense that I don't care and have got many other more important things to do, but just that I only get two hours off a day, which are usually spent showering, doing laundry, writing home, and all that fun stuff. So I apologise. However, I now have over three weeks to write about which will probably take me all day. And I don't have my journal here to prompt me. So here goes.

Well, for starters, we never went out clubbing in Providence cos we couldn't get a ride (this is what comes with being in a country with no public transport and nothing within walking distance), so in the end we just hung out, had a barbeque and played drinking games. Which is always fun.

In the week that followed we (me, Dude and Tania) got a group of 12-15yr olds doing a 2 week Theatre programme, and I was totally in my element. Even though a couple of them looked really unimpressed at the beginning it turned out to be really fun. We planned to do a production of "The Wizard of Oz" at the end of the fortnight.

We combatted all sorts of problems along the way, such as one camper who was high-risk suicidal and ended up going home after the first week. I was really mad about that decision as I thought camp was doing her a world of good, but I guess you just can't argue with higher powers. We also had two other girls go home (that was 20% of our group in total), one for desperate homesickness and the other cos she was on some medication that needed to be adjusted. We also got a new staff member, Lauren from Yorkshire, who I really don't get on with. On one of the first nights she was with us she woke us up at 3am asking to jump in bed with one of us cos she was scared of some tapping noise she could hear outside. Weirdo. One night after this there was a party for the CIT's in the staff lounge with pizza and Pirates of the Caribbean, so me, Tania and Dude waited til she fell asleep then left her with the campers and went down to the staff lounge til 2am! Hee hee. I was glad at the end of Week Three when she got moved to White Pines. Phew.

On the other hand, the campers were really fun to hang out with. In the first week we won the Golden Dustpan Award for being the best at doing our chores, which won us an ice cream party in the Health Centre with the Nurse's boombox. The next day (the Saturday) we kept the boombox and "went clubbing" around the fire circle! It was great.

At the weekend in the middle of all this madness, I was invited to Leo's (Lyndsay's) house for the Friday night since I had it off, and it was great, cos she lives in Bolton! We had chinese food, beer and played Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit (she's a fanatic). The rest of the evening was pretty much spent fighting my allergies to her cat!

In Week Four we put all our energy into putting on this production of "The Wizard of Oz". I taught some dances (my scarecrow dance was my favourite!), the girls slogged away at the script, we obtained some bedsheets and painted a backdrop, we spent all our time in arts and crafts making props, and by the Thursday we were ready. We did two run-throughs during the day, and I was tearing my hair out cos they were forgetting lines, not speaking loud enough, standing with their backs to the audience...

Anyway, we performed to the rest of camp in the evening with lights and music effects and it was a HUGE success! I was so proud of my girls! Everyone was so impressed at how professionally we pulled it off, especially the camp director (who was quite snooty when it came to giving us a budget because, we suspect, she thought it would be a waste of time). So we were just on a massive high for the rest of the night during closing campfire, despite being totally shattered! Most of the girls were balling out in tears cos they didn't want to leave - these were the same girls who thought camp was gonna be way boring and didn't want to be here!

On Thursday night, us counsellors had some fun of our own! You see, two counsellors (Schnitz and Spork) had been sporting Sesame Street character backpacks for the past week, and Tania and I agreed that they were calling out to be kidnapped. So we devised a plan, which included passing a note to CB (who lived with them in White Pines) asking her to be our person on the inside, which she agreed to. Then, after the campers had gone to bed, we sneaked down to White Pines, camped outside at the fire circle, and waited for CB to deposit the backpacks outside the cabin. When she did, we grabbed them and slipped a ransom note under the door for 7 Dunkin Donuts for their safe return!

The next morning, as we were walking past White Pines to breakfast with our campers, Sarah (schnitz) shouted "YOU HEFFERS! YOU STOLE MY BACKPACK!" to us! I couldn't believe she was immediately onto us - it must have been my adoration for Dunkin Donuts which gave it away. Anyway, we denied the whole thing. She made an announcement at the flagpole saying she wanted information about the 'pick up and drop off', but we didn't send her anything because we hadn't yet figured that out! At lunch she said "to the heffers who took my backpack, I'll be waiting outside the staff lounge with the ransom at 1:30pm, so you better be there!" So we sent her a note saying drop off would be on our terms only! Eventually we managed to get a locker and put them in there. We sent her a note saying to leave the donuts on top of locker 141, then once we'd got them, we'd give them the combination to the locker. It all worked out so funny in the end, but I'm still keeping an eye on my Clifford (my stuffed red dog) incase they decide to get revenge.

That weekend I stayed at Luna's (cos Lauren was going with everyone else to Sarah's and I really didn't want to spend my weekend with her). She lives in Coventry, just by Bolton. It was great - we had chinese take out (again!), sat and watched American TV, went to the mall, had a gorgeous steak and baked potoato dinner, went to the movies (saw Bewitched cos Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was sold out). I think it kinda stressed her out, me being there - I think she just wanted to chill all weekend and didn't have the heart to tell me, but I had fun all the same. I just won't infringe on her me-time again!

In Week Five I got moved to White Pines, and me and Dude got separated for the first time, which was sad. I also was working with a group of thirty-two 6-11yr olds, which was very hard at times. Nothing much really happened this week, the kids did a mixture of boating, nature, sports and arts and crafts. We had get-out-of-camp-tuesday and went to Ruby Tuesdays for dessert on my time off. I spent my time off on Thursday on a funyaking (like kayaking, but evidently more fun) trip around the lake with Dude, Stitch (our business manager) and Duckie (our resident nurse), then a lovely sunbathe and my first dip in the lake except for LBDs and the Swim Test.

I also spent all of Friday morning in the clinic at Willimantic waiting to have my physical done. I was so frightened of the finger-pricking business to get some blood of you, but it turned out to be hardly painful at all! I also got a McDonalds breakfast out of it so I was happy! (Real food!). I got my package from Nanny this week too, which I was extremely happy with - I can now start the day properly with a proper cup of English tea! Excellent.

This weekend I had Saturday night off. My Friday night was spent in Trails End looking after crazy campers, one of which tried to commit suicide on the Saturday morning, which we had to deal with having never spent time with this camper before. Needless to say, she ended up going home. Last night (Saturday) I spent in a steakhouse called Hops, with CB, Leo and Leo's friend from home, Pippin, eyeing up the waiters (being around girls 24/7 can somewhat screw you up). Then we headed back, met up with some more of Leo's friends pushing a car up the highway (!) and watched Lemony Snicket on DVD at Leo's house in Bolton (I watched it on the plane but missed the end cos the silly plane had to land). And of course, yet again fighting allergies to Leo's cat.

In other news (what? there's more??) my dearest brother Matthew is on a plane headed this way as we speak, to see Uncle Mark, Auntie Susan, Kathryn, Jenni and Joe in Denver, Colorado. The funny thing is, he'll still be here when I finish camp in three weeks and come over to Denver to meet him! How cool is that? I have been thinking about other travel plans but haven't finalised anything yet. I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Anyway, sorry for the uber-long post. I hope you didn't get too bored! I'll try and post a bit more frequently from now on! Must dash, I'll be going back to camp soon and meeting the rabble whom I'm expected to look after until Friday!

Ta ta for now!