Week Two-Three

3 July Fireworks

tonight we can hear fireworks going off everywhere (hope it stops soon so my kids can go to sleep) because tomorrow’s a public holiday here in US & a big one too!! it’s Independence Day, 4th July but i don’t get any off day. camp still proceeds as usual.. bleah. i still have my 2 lovely gals to take care (one’s 6 and the other’s 8 – sarah & nicole respectively). they’re scheduled to be here until tue but from what i just learnt is that there’s probably a high chance that they’re going to stay until the end of the week since their parents had given them an option to stay on if they’re having lots of fun.. *shakes head & crosses fingers in hope* hahha..

well, firstly i’ve to say that i thank God for giving me the opportunity to work with the younger ones again this week (in resident camp). but i think the stress will still be there coz i haven’t done my homework for the weekend, & that is to find out more games for the younger kids.. will trial & error for the first few days.. need to plan in advance coz i may have the same kids coming every other week & i sure don’t wana bore them.. (certainly not.. hahha.. =p )

k, bed time.. night nightz..

4 July Independence Day

lots of day-camp kids were MIA (missing in action) today because it’s a public holiday. most of the parents don’t have to work so i think we have only half the number of children we’re supposed to get. i was supposed to have 4 kids as well but hmm, 2 pulled out last minute.. so i’m a happy counselor! hahhaha.. man, i feel bad being so happy about it.. but.. it’s even worst to know that my kids are going to swim after they take a nice, warm shower.. am now waiting outside the bath house typing on my laptop while waiting for them to shower, which they’re going to get ‘dirty’ like in 15 minutes’ time. pretty gross if you ask me, the way the scheduled the timing for showers (there’s a specific timeslot for showering for every camper group & mine just got the yucky one. sigh. they say 6-7 year old kids don’t know the difference *rolls eyes*)

called evelyn this morning (singapore’s night) to check on the go-ahead for the deaf conference in Maryland. it’s still not confirmed yet. she needed to ask if i could commit my time in serving MHI (ministry of the hearing impaired) so that she could ‘convince’ church to fully sponsor my trip (airfare, accommodation, food) for the trip. i told her i see myself helping out & serving probably for the next 2-3 years or so (hopefully *keeps fingers crossed*) & yeah, that kinda served as the ‘ticket’ for everything. now i’ve to wait for the meeting they’re going to have tomorrow night & call back to check it out..

5 July Camper-less night

well, received a sms first thing in the morning from evelyn about a ‘no-go’ so yep, that’ll be off my mind for now.. my campers & i (together with my 2 evening co-counselors & julie) had a sleep-out last night on the basketball court (i now know I can survive in the cold with 2 sleeping bags! (& boy was i warm & comfy =p *smiles*) the girls were pretty excited about the whole thing but i had such a hard time dragging my kids’ sleeping bags there from my shelter. they didn’t (or rather, couldn’t) help much not because the bags were heavy but they were just bulky. thankfully i only had 2 campers.. else.. *crash* hahah..

now sitting outside one of the bathrooms charging my laptop & blogging while waiting for my kiddies to shower. again, i’m on the fact that poor them, going to swim after this.. good thing they’re going home after today’s swim (i scheduled a whole hour for them to pack, smart aint i? =p). took a short break just now. less than an hour though we’re supposed to have an hour break everyday. Julie came late (about 10min) & i knew she’ll have things on after helping me take care of my kids so i left early & returned. so technically i only had 40mins? i guess it was better than nothing.. here, we ‘work’ almost 24-7. pretty tiring..


had a good time last night because my campers left @5pm yesterday so it was kind of ‘nights-off’ =) felt very good. hee.. did worship practice with the guitar (i think i played the guitar like thrice yesterday *smiles*) & had ice-cream in a cup ‘sneakily’ in the back of the kitchen.. heh. *guilty look* rosendo (the assistant cook) invited me & sung hye.. =p

6 July Good Day

wakie-wakie.. it’s early & i’m in shaub ‘chilling out’.. no campers this morning so i neednt wait outside the bathroom for kids nor have a hard time waking them up.. hahah. i’m a happy gal!! =) another 4 more minutes to flag rising so i’m ending here..

8 July Twins Once More

somehow, i’m always associated with twins!! hahha..i had a pair of twins in my first week & again, i see another set. there are just so many this camp (just found out that my camp director has a twin!! argh, so sacry.. it seems they’re all over.. hahha.. =p) these girls (kara & lauren) were absolutely very pretty.. as agreed by me & sung hye =p maybe i should adopt them as little sisters (they’re about 12 i think – have no idea.. hahha) but heys, no worries. i got their home address & yep, i took a picture of them as well as one with one of them (i lent lauren my sweater because hers got wet in the rain & she was freezing cold in her swim suit). shall post them up soon.. in fact, I liked the ‘long-legs’ giraffe soft toy they bought @ the store, i got one for myself too! Hahha.. so lauren & me has a set of twin giraffes! hahah.. i’ll probably be going to get another soft toy.. this pink hand puppet, for use during camp to ‘talk’ to kids.. there’s a special price for staff but the stock hasn’t come in yet..

9/10 July Water Fire

heh, it’s the name of an annual ‘festival’ they have here in Rhode Island. basically it consists of ‘balls of fires’ on the surface of the river in providence (the capital of Rhode Island). it’s supposed to be a big event but I guess most of us were not paying that much attention. one of the international staff (myung hoon) fell ill on saturday & we had to send him to the hospital because he had a temperature (some virus i think.. he’s still in the health lodge now & everything’s been done to help ease his job) we kinda stayed up until pretty late, waiting for the van (don sent him to hospital together with betim – his closest friend here @ camp) to pick us up from waterfire to return to don’s house.. in the midst of rushing to & fro, we also forgotten to bring the musical instruments from camp (mainly the guitars & flute) along because we were going to play at julie’s church for worship on sunday. =)

we finally hit the bed about 12 midnight (for me at least because i was the most tired person there – i had woken up @ 6am on Saturday morning to help out in the kitchen) but we were up & awake by 7am Sunday morning.. had to prepare for breakfast, wash up & get ready for julie’s pastor to come over to pick us up.. it was nice having coco pops for breakfast! i only get to eat cereals during the weekends now.. boo. will try to get some at Walmart this weekend.. camp went over-budget last year for food so they aren’t giving the campers cereals (cereals available at meadowwoods, the place where they hold conferences instead of camp)

anyway, pastor arrived early on sunday to take us to church. sung hye & me sat in pastor’s car (together with his wife of course) while nathan, kailyn (2 american staff who stayed the weekend) & hannah took julie’s. went to church to practice for worship.. it was amazing how God could work in those people who are willing! *smiles* shall not bore you with the sermon here.. hahah.. but frankly, it was pretty boring.. it’s those traditional service (typical Baptist =p or like the sanctuary service in our church – for those who attend Wesley) with an order of service.. =) we only played 2 songs but for a really last min practice (few people were already coming in) & a couple of technical difficulties (sound for the brand-new electric drum set which Nathan used; projector screen spoilt on one side; powerpoint slide not in disk), all went pretty well.. =)

went out to a wonderful lunch (pastor treated us all) @ this place called Cracker Barrel. absolutely delicious.. yum yum!! ok, then again, it might be because it’s a change from camp food.. =p i miss chinese food. heh. or japanese.. or korean.. basically, rice-based meals.. there was a game on every table (don’t really know how to describe.. shall attempt another time) & the atmosphere was just great! pastor gave us name cards (i had only 1 of my namecards in my wallet so he had the honour of getting it. =p shall ask mum to send some over so i can hand out, especially after camp). after the fantastic meal, pastor drove us back, all the way to the village so we could drop our bags & be on time for sunday staff meeting @ 2pm..

12 July Don’t shave..

...your legs. hahha.. my friend, whom i’m evening co-counselor (Sally) with said this to me when we were playing ‘color challenge’.. we were supposed to be doing ‘wheel barrel walk’ (walk on our hands while someone held our legs) with an egg in one of the gloves one hand was wearing.. well, it was a camp tradition & the idea was to keep the egg intact, else your hands will have an egg ‘mask’ (read: irky & gluey) but yours truly had such ‘smooth legs’ that my friend had such a ‘hard time’ holding my knees or ankles, whichever that mattered more.. heh

13 July Up & Awake

it’s 8 (min) to 7. meaning i’ve got about 5min more to spend sitting on the bench here & it’s off to staff prayer.. it’s a good & bad thing. we get to start off the day thinking of & thanking God. but well, since there’s people in day-camp, etc (read: need to wake the kids up at 715am) so we scheduled staff prayer @ 7am..

been pretty stressful this week. my kids are 8 & 9 year olds. they generally listen (read: choose to listen) to you but well, they also have a mind of their own.. which makes you pretty frustrated when they don’t bother about you & want their way.. yesterday was bad because i had a girl who cried (what’s new?) simply because she felt she didn’t want to do crafts & wanted to go outside (don’t ask me for what). she just threw a tantrum & wouldn’t wana cooperated with me..sulking as much as she liked.. i knew i had to come to a compromise somewhere so i allowed her to stand by the glass door as long as she remained in my view.. (i had 6 other kids to handle & traciann – the arts & craft counselor - wasn’t there!!) i almost died!! really..

14 July Big Fish

like real, i caught a small tiny one about 0.5 pounds (maybe smaller =p).. i think that was the size but i guess i’m pretty happy because it’s my 1st shore-fishing experience & in a matter of about a 40min time frame, i caught a fish! (while waiting for my group to do a stream hike – i lent my shoes to a girl who didn’t bring water shoes & i didn’t want my feet to get cuts from the rocks nor did i have any intentions to slip so i just waited at the ‘river bank’..) now, there was sort of a ‘coach’ there who was ‘guiding’ those campers in fishing camp. it was a little strange but i acted ‘naïve’, asking for instructions on how to cast my line, etc.. so it must have surprised the kids as well as the instructor when i got a fish.. but as usual, i’m so used to dad taking out the fish for me, i left it to Mr Coach to do it for me. =p he took a picture of me & it’s posted on the board in the dining hall!! hahah..

we now have 3 counselors down. went to visit Myung hoon this morning before heading to day camp field for my day to meet my kids as parents (parents: happily while yours truly: sadly.. kiddings.. =p) drop their kids off. he still has a terrible, terrible throbbing headache.. poor him, cause it’s been like 5 days already..all of us are getting very worried for him.. no one knows the exact cause of it except it being a viral attack.. not sure if it’s an infection.. he seem ok in every aspect except his head.. gosh!

15 July Pay Day!

heh, the day finally came.. just got my pay. half of it.. in cash! for international staff only.. opps.. seems abit scary to have so much money with me.. but guess i’ll just have to be careful & place it in a safe place.. i did consider opening a bank account but i’m not sure if it’s feasible.. firstly because i’m not really long-termed here.. secondly, i’m not sure if they’ll allow deposits of so little amount.. hahha.. anyway, the nearest bank aint exactly very near either.. so, oh well.. i think i’ll just have to live with it for now.. we’re planning a trip up to Boston next weekend (money going out. bleah.. hahha..).. they’re going to Providence tomorrow afternoon but I don’t think me & sung hye are going.. everyone just got their pay so many of them have intentions to shop.. for me, i’m contented resting in camp. shall see if i can get either pastor or our camp kitchen cook to bring us to the library & Wal-mart. they don’t need my help in the kitchen for now cause they just employed a new guy. a new cook apparently.. hope everything’s great!

i’m in day-camp again next week.. yay! been great so far.. i’ll be getting this lovely, adorable Russian boy – Forrest. Nice name, right? wait till you see his picture.. the cutest, most heart-melting boy. almost whiter than any person i know.. he’s absolutely adorable. wonderful, everyone just loves him.. he cant speak english much.. in fact, i think he cant really understand us most of the time (he was here this week in another group) but got by from all the pointing & facial/bldy expressions we had. picked up a few simple words like ‘yes’ and ‘no’ but heh, I don’t know how to spell them.. it will be challenging but i think i can try out abit of my sign language.. not so much of the individual words but yep, i can be more ‘expressive’.. he’s an orphan back in Russia i think.. on some adoption trial period.. this guardian or parent-to-be brings him (there’s another child with him as well) in for a month during summer & tries to provide a good living condition (family, housing.. whatever is needed for the well-being of the child) & then the child is sent back to Russia. these parents-to-be must then fly there to prove their ‘sincerity’ & appear before a judge who would then ‘decide the fate’ of this child.. so money spent does not imply or equate to getting these children.. somehow, i’m praying that Helen (their guardian here in US) will get to adopt these kids!! we’ve been pretty proud to say the older child now understands a lot of things much better than what we started off at the start of the week.. he could shout ‘step’ in a game of ‘step tag’ as well as many other songs that we teach the kids at camp to sing.. absolutely brilliant!!