Apologies for not posting during my last day off, but session two had been rather manic compared to the first. Although busier, it was perhaps a little less challenging, behaviour was better and I certainly enjoyed it more than the first. But, session two is now over - and there is just one left before camp is over. Wow time has flown.
Hopefully you'll all be pleased to know that things are still going really well on camp. None more so than on the waterfront, where I feel I have capitalised on my great start and things are still going up and up. This session, my lessons just seemed to be even better. Regardless of what the kids think (though I'd hope it is positive) I am having a really fun time teaching - which is always a good sign. Most of my time is spent on the waterfront, with the lessons being the main focus of the day. I am super proud of myself this session with my lessons, as I really feel they are high quality. Let's hope I can keep improving in the final session.
In my last post I talked about my non-swimmer class, and how small things are big achievements. Perhaps my biggest achievement of the session is with that class. There was one swimmer who would barely get in the water for most lessons. Instead, she tended to just sit with her feet in the water for twenty minutes and do little more than scream. Somehow though, during one of my lessons, she didn't just take a small step, she took a huge jump (except not in the shallow end, that would be dangerous...). My co-teacher and I managed to coax her deep enough so the water level was at the top of her shoulders. At this point we expected her to be screaming as she is usually really afraid of the water. Not this time though. She could barely contain her excitement and pride at this achievement. Then again, neither could I.
It is not just campers learning to swim though, as some counsellors use camp as an opportunity to learn themselves. There has been one counsellor in particular who I have been teaching - both through joining in with the campers lessons, and through a few one-to-ones with myself. He is also one of the counsellors in my tent, and coincidentally I also did his Camp Leaders interview. Before camp, he was a very weak swimmer. Each session he has been progressing well - and on the final day of this session passed the exit test for Level 2 (beginner swimmer). Needless to say I am just as proud (if not more) of him as I am with the kids.
This session, I also managed to achieve something I didn't manage to last session - fishing. It went down very well with the kids, who were all super excited to catch fish. By the end of the night, they must have caught at least 30, which is rather impressive. I even managed to catch two myself - not bad seems as I had only done it once before, which was two years ago on camp. The only slight hitch of the night was when I was asked what breed of fish they were, to which I replied "Magicarp" and preyed the kids didn't know what Magicarp really was...
On that topic, session two introduced an all new unit night - Pokemon night. Needless to say, I was super excited for this! Pokemon was a big part of my childhood, so I am glad it is making a resurgence with Pokemon Go, nearly 20 years since Pokemon Blue, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Yellow were first released for Game Boy. Although, my Pokemon knowledge was slightly put to shame by one of the campers, who had a semi-encyclopaedic knowledge of the original 151 Pokemon - and whom also scored full marks in the Pokemon quiz. I mean, an eight year old knowing Ash's sidekicks (Brock and Misty), the full evolution set of Eevee (Jolteon, Vapeoreon and Flareon) and which Pokemon is the heaviest (Snorlax)... Impressive. Hopefully this will make a return in session three.
As I'm British, I feel obliged to talk about the weather again - as I have done in most of my posts (including dedicating one to the theme). This session has been far hotter and dry most days - with the exception of the two large storms coinciding with my days off. The most recent one was the largest I have ever seen, and it has been raining on and off ever since. The storm was enough to wash a significant amount of sand from the beach, rendering it potentially unsafe to open. But, we like a challenge on camp, hence over the past few days the lifeguards have spent the mornings before lessons shovelling sand out the water and back onto the beach. It was pretty backbreaking, but it meant we were total heroes for making sure swimming ran as normal.
July 31st 2016 marked an important first for me. I have been a qualified lifeguard for nearly five years, but that day, I had to enter the water in an emergency for the very first time. It was a pretty simple rescue (if you could call it that) to break up a fight in the water - pulling the two apart and then safely out the water. Thankfully I reacted quickly, and it was in shallow water, as it could have been far worse. Five years without ever needing to enter the water is semi-impressive. I like to think it was down to being very proactive - but a fair amount of luck must be involved.
The final night of camp is pretty special. We set all the tables out on the 'blacktop' (aka the paved area outside the dining hall) and have a banquet with the whole camp together. We are served roast chicken followed by ice cream - both of which taste pretty incredible. The evening also gave me a chance to put two of my hidden talents to the test - waitering and carving a chicken - both making me very qualified to work in Nandos... The evening is also a great chance to reflect on the session and say goodbye to campers.
There was one slight hitch with the night. I've talked about why the state park my camp is in has the name it does. Well, tonight it lived up to its name. We were joined by not one, but two, different visitors tonight on Bear Mountain. Our camp director always freaks when this happens - but we are always prepared. Basically, when we have a visitor we are told to get inside and make as much noise as possible. We achieve this through the medium of 'repeat after me songs', where someone (usually a counsellor) will lead, and the rest repeat back. Despite impending doom, it was actually quite fun as it got a little bit competitive between the counsellors of who can shout the loudest. I was informed afterwards that the bear was at one point only metres away from my kids tent. That was a bit of an 'oh damn' moment because, if I had known that, I probably would have tried to get a photo if I'm honest...
With session two now over, I am now heading to Philadelphia for some Cheesesteak, well earned rest and a chance to see the sights. There is five of us heading there on the bus (all hail Megabus's discount tickets!) for two nights. Of course, you can expect me to write all about it in my next post - assuming I'm not to busy trying to catch them all on Pokemon Go...Labels: #Camp, #CampLeaders, #camplife
