They're getting younger

At the beginning of the summer I was in a bunk in Unit F (girls age 13/14) which was good, pretty intense and sometimes they just ignore you, I felt like I was under a constant pressure to act cool. I was living down the hill close to the white house, the dining hall, the mail and pretty near arts and crafts. Then after the first sessioners left (the campers who come for the first 4 weeks) a lot of things got moved about (I referred to the change in a previous post I think) and now I am in Unit C (girls age 10/11); I have also moved up the hill a bit (I'm not at the top but it isn't as convenient for everything). It's weird being with a younger unit however as camp goes I have been doing it for a week and I don't really remember anything else. I think my favourite game with the younger campers is feed the counselor as they get sent so many sweet things and they have discovered my sweet tooth and find it fascinating. I no longer have the energy to write so although this was going to be longer I will end it here with the promise of something more interesting later.

Chips and M&M's on the White House porch

Before you get too excited I was referring to the camp White House which is different from the Presidents residence unfortunately. This evening due to the fact there was no shuttles we decided to go for a walk out of camp to a nearby petrol station (about half an hour away). It was a beautiful relaxing wander, we walked down the hill, past Chocolate Park (sadly not actually a park made of chocolate, a liquor store which doesn't serve chocolate, disappointingly, also is useless as I am not 21), over the railway tracks, past the deceiving BP sign (not actually a petrol station there just the sign), past some beautiful scenery until we finally reached the strange petrol station with it's own fast food counter. An M&M, Peace Tea and Reese's cups purchase later and we were on our way back.
Back at camp exhausted, hot and sweaty (not attractive but I'm showering soon so ahh well) we decided to cop a squat on the white house porch and to my delight a fellow trooper decided she didn't want the rest of her chips.
Since coming to America I have noticed their tendency towards strange combinations sometimes I agree with it sometimes I don't, I now understand PB&J (peanut butter and jelly [well jam to us British] sandwiches), Pretzel M&M are actually really nice, sweet potato chips (well fries I don't understand why they need to put brown sugar on them though), haven't quite decided how I feel about M&M's on pizza (mainly because I haven't tried it maybe later in my travels...). I had a couple of chips and I wasn't really feeling it, then I spied my M&M's and just thought why the hell not, and you know what, it was beautiful.
So there I was on the White house porch drinking Razzleberry Peace Tea (not real tea fake ice tea basically fruit drink) eating M&M's and chips and I could not help but think this is the life.

The Chocolate Problem

I had heard things... I didn't quite believe they were true, maybe I just didn't want to accept the truth, maybe I knew that it might put me off... at the end of the day you have to just admit the problem, American chocolate is horrible. Hersheys tastes like I just threw up in my mouth, their Dairy Milk is blasphemous, it's not even bad chocolate that has the essential chocolateness of chocolate, it's like someone had heard about chocolate and tried to imitate it without having heard anything about it and with limited supplies.
I admit America created the wonder that is Reese's pieces they do have some amazing pieces of 'candy' but England can do chocolate. I got some in the post and it was beautiful, it was like I had been wandering in a desert without water and I had reached the oasis. However now the water has run dry, I am left with nothing pining for the wetter days, wishing for rain. Staring a Hershys hoping it will suddenly transformed debating whether it is worth it to taste a bad imitation...

Time off at camp

Camp is a wonderful place filled with exciting new things and genuinely lovely people, when you're at camp you don't remember ever not being, it feels nice, it feels like home... but just like home sometimes you just need to get the hell away from it. Leaving camp feels amazing, days off are like air conditioning on a hot day, in fact sometimes it literally is air conditioning on a hot day. Nights off are teasing, like a cool breeze, the slight feeling of being released before you're trapped again.
Camp time off works like so a day off gives you from 5:30pm one day to 5:30pm the next, 24 hours to wind down, a night off gives you from 5:30pm to 7:45am, 14 hours to wind down. You get a day off and a night off every week my night is Sunday night my day is Thursday to Friday not too shabby.
For Americans on their day off they can go home have real food sleep in their own bed and just chill. For Internationals it's slightly different if you make friends with the right people (Americans on your time off which I have yet to do) they will take you home and their mothers will treat you like you are their own child (or so I've heard). If you do not do this you can sleep in the bunk have your children wake you up when they get up feel like you haven't really got away, or you can sleep on a sofa in the counselors lounge if you get a good sofa you can have a blissful nights sleep possibly only woken up in the morning by other counselors waking up. If you sleep on one of the smaller sofa's it's still good to be away from the kids just not as comfortable, it's a question of how far you're willing to go for peace (to be fair I'd go pretty far the reclining chair is the only one I had trouble sleeping on).
Evenings on time off can be spent a majority of ways but it usually involves spending. You can go for a meal (so far I've done Applebees, a Chinese buffet, Chinese Panda, The Ott House, all good), go for a scenic trip to Wallmart maybe pick up something from Sheetz (a petrol station that is also a food place, it's weird) or if you're feeling like you really need a treat a trip to the cinema so far I have done that twice to see Spiderman and Batman, both amazing, while watching it you don't even remember what camp is.
On days off you have a limit to where you can go there is the Wallmart again if you're feeling wild, outlet shopping at two different places (yet more money just slipping away), a quaint historic town or cute little time with a tea shop and a nice Irish pub (we had lunch there, their bacon, cheese and chicken sandwich was amazing). If your on the right time off someone can drop you off in Washington if you get up at 5:30 however I have recently discovered I am on the wrong time off for that luxury which is a shame. I will just have to do Washington after camp I suppose.

Camp Everyday

I could go into the specific days and things we have done over the past few weeks but that would take too long and I can't really remember half of it, it seems like a lifetime away.
We start camp at around 8:00, flag and breakfast is at 8:30. It's strange before I came to camp I didn't realise that Americans actually do pledge allegiance to the flag every morning; at least they do at camp. It's a strange tradition to watch it doesn't really feel touching and patriotic more just something they do as part of their daily routine like brushing their teeth no one actually focus's on what they are doing. Also as this is a Jewish camp they raise the Israeli flag (although they don't pledge allegiance to it).
Breakfast is a strange time I have seen breakfast burrito's, stale bagels, cheap tasting waffles, pancakes (also tasting cheap) and scrambled eggs with things that they should not be with.
After breakfast it's time for the kids to do their chores (basically we use the kids to get the bunk clean, free labour). They also get ready for their first couple of activities.
In the morning there are 2 activity periods which for me are usually spent in Arts and Crafts where I teach kids to create a whole range of artsy things; wire rings, dream catchers, postcards, beads etc etc. I could go on but it isn't a very interesting list there is a limit to what children can do with arts and crafts. Sometimes (like this morning for instance) I am GC (general counselor) which basically means I travel about with the kids to their activity whatever it is, this morning we did mermaid training (swim instruction) and field one (SPUD and hula hooping which I suck at). I am basically there to help keep my kids in order and to participate and lead by example.
Then to lunch a wild buffet of things sometimes good sometimes not so good.
After lunch we get mail and then we have bunk time to chill and get ready for the evening.
In the afternoon there are three activity periods the same set up as the morning. I also get one free everyday (unless it's my day or night off but I will explain how that works) in which I can shower, use my phone, have a quick nap or go on the computers reply to messages and write a blog post. Most of the time I want to nap but feel like I should go on the computer and do things (like now I am at that moment where I am regretting not napping, is this even interesting anyone? I mean this is just my life now).
After the last activity we have snack time (this is the first year they are doing it so it's very exciting), usually they try and make it healthy with fruit or veg or they give us chex mix (salty shreddies and pretzels), we've also had ice pops and on international day we had disappointing scones and jam.
Then shower time, everyone gets about 2/3 minutes to shower there is a shower order to make it fair (counselors get to skip the line) as the last showers are usually cold I've heard.
After showers it's dinner time also can be hit and miss the difference is we have pudding after dinner which can also be hit and miss (dairy free brownies aren't that good). Then there is an evening activity which can be a show tonight we have campfire and the staff basketball game (no I am not a part of it even if I did know the rules I doubt I would be very good).
Lights out is at 9:45 they get 10 minutes of social flashlight time (they are allowed on other peoples beds) and 10 minutes of personal flashlight time (they have to be quiet on their own bed and they usually try and rebel against this one) then it's time for them to attempt to sleep. As there are three counselors we each have two nights where we are OD (on duty we supervise the kids after lights out) a week and one night where we have a staff meeting and the CIT's (counselors in training) come in and do it.
That's a normal day for me at camp it's long, there is more to explain but I need to go meet my kids it's time for 5th activity.

Bonding time

After our 14 kids decended and unpacked (well most of them unpacked) we decided to do some bonding activities. What better way to get to know your new bunk mates than being blindfolded put into 3 groups and lead in something similar to a conga line across camp to some mystery destination all in the name of a 'trust walk'. I'm not sure I'd trust a counseler I had met less than 24 hours ago. Anyway we lead them to some grass sat them in a circle and got them to say some things about them, then we looked at the stars
, a peaceful moment for the counselors, a time to chat for the kids not really grasping the significance of the moment.

Spiderman and witnessing a Glasgow kiss (headbutt)

Nights off feel like they are sent from the heavens here the chance to get out of camp to be somewhere where you can act however you like, you can take your phone out on a whim (which no longer feels right), also getting to see the real America. I could reminisce back to my first few nights off and maybe I will go back and write about those, but right now I am going to focus on a more recent time, yesterday night. I turned up at the White House (not the one in Washington the camp one I will have a post explaining camp things soon) bag in hand with no clue what I was going to do and I happened to meet two Americans (friends of mine) in the same position. We managed to neb onto a bus to a nearby town and then it was Panda Express time (Chinese but not really) I had orange chicken and chow mein. Those in the outside world do not realise how good real food is (I know this as I didn't), it really is true that you don't appreciate the things you have until they are no longer there. I miss real food, camp food is not real food, it has it's own separate existence. Sometimes it can be good, once in a while it tastes really good, but most of the time it's something that resembles a real meal. The pasta at camp swims in water, all of the time; they do not have strainers in the kitchen, I know this for a fact as I know people on the inside. Anyway the point was eating food outside camp is a luxury and I am certain I spend far too much money on food I eat on my days off.
After food we went to the cinema to see Spiderman and I realised I had forgotten how to act in the real world handing my ticket to the ticket man I almost couldn't handle it. The American cinema seats were so comfortable they reclined slightly naturally as well. Also the experience of watching a film in the cinema is something I have greatly missed I did miss the company of my Best Friend it felt weird being without her in the cinema.
The main incident, which is really my main reason for writing this post, happened on the way out of the screen. We kind of dragged a bit but when we came out the door some people had stopped. I wasn't sure what was going on until I saw this huge guy headbutt another guy right on the forehead and say "You talked through the entire movie I should get you to pay the $45 it cost me" and then headbutt him again. I didn't know what to do I don't think I have ever seen an act of violence so out of the blue like that, I felt so small town in that moment. I did the honorably thing and quickly backed into the screen until it was over (pretending I wanted to see the extra bit at the end). When we came out (one of the two Americans backed away with me the other, more hardcore one just walked straight passed) there were a couple of blood droplets on the floor leading to the bathroom.
After that we had a starbucks and returned to camp a good night all in all and something to blog about. Coming up things are changing around camp as turnover approaches (turnover= when all the first session campers leave we get a day to rest then the second sessioners decend).

The children decend

Imagine the luggage you would take on holiday if you were going for a month, then double it, and just for luck double it again, thats the size of stuff some of the kids brought to camp, literally 4 times the amount I brought it my backpack and I am here for three times as long as them. Thats not including the amount of food they brought you'd of though camp didn't feed them. We got their luggage before we got them it came to our porch via a truck that delivered stuff all round camp (and we kept getting bunk 12's stuff instead of bunk 21's). I don't really remember meeting them all it was a haze of hello's and keeping your parent face on. There was also the classic British question then the question all Americans ask and I never know why "Where in England are you from?" It takes all my will power not to be sarcastic or reply with a a smart ass response, as there are very few Americans that actually know where anywhere in England is. I seriously got asked by my kids if I knew Annie from wales their previous counselor; I think that was too much for me to resist I told them we lived next door to each other. I have learnt that they may not have heard of Sheffield but the majority of Americans have heard of Manchester (because of the football team) they still have no idea of the geography of England though. I was trying to think of a way I could describe American 14 year olds and I just can't as they are all so different there is so much variation within my bunk but I got the luck of the draw the nicest bunk in Unit F and we have one of the funniest girls on camp who is also smart and genuinely nice too she 'keeps it real' so to speak.
One of the things I didn't expect was how crass they are about some things, I don't know what to say to some of the things they come out with and the amount of inappropriate music they listen to, I'm not sure I'll ever get Bees in the Trap out of my head and it is not a song I want up there ('biscuits say sheep and they ain't say nothing you other mother flubbers can't tell me nothing, bees in the trap bee bees in the trap').
Do you have a boyfriend? Do English people really say snogging? Have you snogged a boy? Have you stuck your tongue in a boys mouth? Have you ever had sex? Are you a lesbian? Have you ever snogged a girl? Have you ever touched a boy down there (in more crass terms)? Has a boy ever touched you down there?
That only taps into some of the questions they have asked me not replying just spurs them on more although answering would make it so much worse. They are genuinely lovely girls but sometimes they drive me insane.

Orientation

When I say orientation that implies we got handed a good map and given a proper aim, this didn't really happen I felt like I had been dropped in the desert given a piece of paper coloured yellow and told to do whatever.
The first week there were no kids, we were told we would be super busy and on somedays they were even like 'the schedule today is similar to what it's like when the kids are here' (complete lie, there was nothing in orientation that was anything like when the kids got here there is nothing in life I can think of thats like that). We did learn some useful stuff, however they never properly prepared us; I suppose it's one of those things they can never really prepare you for, it's different from anything I know and anything I have ever done.
I don't really remember much from orientation, I was shoved in a room adjoined to an empty bunk with an American I didn't know. I remember surreal trips to Wallmart (a strange place), wandering round trying to figure out where I was (and where I was supposed to be), having a man blow on my fingertips for half an hour because he just couldn't seem to get my fingerprints to work (not a fun half hour), trying to figure out the rules, getting checked for lice (American camps take the lice threat seriously all the staff and all the kids got checked), getting to know people (and trying to get to know the right people), missing home, finishing books and confusion. And then the kids got here...

The flight and a night in New York

I remember walking passed security and wishing I had turned back one more time thinking I didn't properly get to say goodbye, my family was just behind a simple screen, why had I walked so quickly? Should I have hugged them one last time instead of the slightly jokey farewell? Then past security it was spot the green T-shirts and grit your teeth introduce yourself and try and find others going to the same camp (I was in luck half the people there were coming to my camp). The flight was surreal I was sat next to a boy who didn't speak for the whole plane ride and I watched crap films and had a beer (it was free) the food was classically awful and then we were in New York, JFK airport, it didn't feel real. A confusion of baggage finding the bus and half of us were at the hostel ready to sleep but insistent we spend our one night in New York doing something worthwhile. We browsed round the streets near the hostel, a trip to a slightly creepy corner shop where we all peered at the strange food like it was a museum exhibit 'How Americans Eat' with more sugar, e-numbers and colour than we get back in Britain. Then a classic pizza trip with slices as big as half a pizza back home. We inevitably ended up in McDonald's which is where we decided there was nothing around the hostel that was that interesting so it was time to brave the Subway and go to Times Square, it had to be done. Twelve in the morning and 4 jetlagged girls emerge from the alien subway and are (to go with the cliche) blinded by the lights of times square so bright it felt like it was still daytime (even though our bodies were telling us we really should be asleep). We wandered enraptured by this strange place past a man with a sign that said "I need money to buy weed, at least I'm honest", street venders trying to attract our attention and musicians trying their luck in the big apple. Pictures were taken, we danced, we sang and then we decided the night was over we had only a few hours to sleep then breakfast, a 7 hour bus that lost a tire so they replaced the bus and we arrived at camp tired and sticky with just enough energy to conjure up a dazed smile.

Looking back at the start of camp

Since I started planning my trip to the great US of A I have been thinking about starting a blog, now I am halfway through my time at camp and I'm finally ready to take that step. I think what really cinched it for me is the amount of descriptions of camp I have had to write, I get so many people asking me what it's like, I think after the third description I had run out of things to say. I get so sick of repeating things that to me don't really sound that interesting. Anyway finally it is here American Jewish Camp from an English Agnostic viewpoint (also hopefully my travels afterwards but we'll see how this goes.