Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Internet Has Been Down...Bleh.

     So, it has finally been a week. The internet has been down for a few days, all of my "flat-mates"--as the Kiwi's have told me it is supposed to be said, rather than roommates) and I almost went crazy without it. I've missed three days of trying to connect a little more with this camp by watching the show Lost on ABC.com (unfortunately, I do not find it very interesting, so I commonly replace my time devoted to Lost with Samantha Who, which I find much more interesting). I have also been unable to update my blog, receiving emails through my phone telling me that its been a few days and I should probably get on top of it. 
   
 So, what have I done in the past few days? Let's see, I finally read "Everything is Illuminated" and loved it. I highly suggest it to anyone who is looking for an amazing read. I have begun to pick up bits and pieces from all of the crazy dialects around this place. I've started to speak a bit like the Kiwi's with the words that I choose; I have begun to go up at the end of my sentences like the hawaiian kids; When I give directions or tell people how to do things, I end my sentences with "Yea?" which seems to be a mix of Canadian and Hawaiian. I am not officially trained on the Odyssey or the Alpine Tower, but
I usually go help and have been told that I am basically trained, i just need to learn a few of the rescue techniques. I lead a few hikes. I taught my first class on my own today. It was archery--I have no idea how archery works, so I kind of just told the kids to hold it in whichever hand feels more comfortable, and do whatever, as long as they keep the arrow points away from everyone (I also made up a few games). A staff member here is going to be certified in lifeguard training soon, so hopefully I will be able to re-certify. I get to work family camps this weekend. I learned that Jack Johnsons, Inbetween Dreams, album cover is a picture of him under one of Camp Erdman's trees. He actually used to go to camp here and apparently he comes to visit sometimes. Fingers crossed. 

Oh yea! And two days ago, I picked and ate a banana straight off of the tree!

On a sadder note:

My boss, Barry, told us all that he turned in his letter of resignation today and he will be leaving in two weeks. Everyone seems pretty upset about it, even though some suspected he was going to leave too. He is absolutely amazing, and brings a lot of fun here. I obviously don't know him all that well, but he always brings a positive, humanistic feel to a conversation, which you don't always get with people who work in camps. 
Unfortunately another person has decided to resign as well. She told me as I was walking out of my cabin. She seemed really upset and let me know that she was going to leave, and I figured she meant she put in her letter of resignation, too, but then she said that she would be leaving tonight. She was the first person I met that worked at this camp (she picked me up from the airport) and I really liked her. She just seemed like she was here for the right reasons. She really wanted to do something for this camp, but unfortunately there must be some politics behind the scenes of this place that I have not yet had to face.
So, two people have resigned in one day, one is leaving tonight, the other is leaving in three weeks. All of the people I am living with will be moving out in a week and are going to Maui from tomorrow until Wednesday, and I'm left here. I wish I had come three months earlier so that I could have worked with all of them during my time here. We are getting one more volunteer, making two of us. There are international students as well, but they have separate housing and some of them will be leaving soon as well. Its making me start to worry that there is a legitimate reason that all of these people are leaving, and I just hope that I don't have to encounter that reason. We have a guy that will be taking Barry's position that just arrived here like a week before I did (Ian), and I like him a lot, so I'm hoping that will make my time better, but still...

This is crazy, I'm kind of freaking out. 

I'm thinking about going sky diving on Wednesday with one of my flat-mates. Maybe that will help me realize something.

2 comments:

miranda said...

OMG I love Samantha Who!! And that is a little scary that everybody is resigning. I hope everything is ok. Also Skydiving sounds awesome... but I don't think I've heard you talk about touring bugs yet....

thisishutch said...

this s why we are meant to be.
whenever i can't figure something out i just go skydiving.
everything makes a shit ton more sense afterwards.

my roommate plays the ukulele like a pro, so you can hula to his music.