Page 25: Eagles Fly! Goodbye!

In the end I decided not to blog about after-camp travels. I've bored my facebook news feed, family and friends with the stories about that "that one time we got 6 of us in a 4 man taxi at 3am" and there's selfie photos in 6 different US states, but I won't subject you to that. This blog was about summer and camp, right?

But I wanted to announce...
This summer I completed 10 things off my bucket list (!)
Which is ridiculously exciting, because some of these dreams I first wrote down in that notebook when I was thirteen!

$ Go to an american summer camp

$ Go to Walmart

$ Go couchsurfing (we used air'b'n'b, same idea!)

$ Visit an American college



Ta-da!

$ Go paintballing

$ Go up a skyscraper (empire state!)

$ Watch an American baseball game

 

$ Sleep in a hammock

$ Go white water rafting

$ Find and eat something grape flavoured

$ Spend the evening in candlelight and then blow out all the candles at bedtime


And, man, travel stories! The time my suitcase was declared obese by the check-in guy and I had to get the weight down. So after taking out the conditioner and jeans and seeing the weight not move I took out my journal and the numbers flew off.

Check In Bloke: That's some journal there, 8 pounds?

Me (embarrassed and defensive): I just have a lot of memories...

The Nerd Herd have actually just had a post camp reunion this week, Sean and I visited Ryan, Dominique and Ryan in Edinburgh! Here's us having milk'n'cookies at 9.15.



Camp friends, stay friends :)

This is the last ever 'I Like To Be In America' post. Thanks to anyone reading this, I'm happy you decided to follow my journey and I hope that if any young people stumble upon it they'll consider working at a camp. It's work, hard work and don't let anyone tell you different, but that doesn't mean I didn't have one of the best summers I've ever had (and I got paid for it!).

Bye!

 

Page 16: "Job Perks"

It's an 18 hour day for 8 weeks with 5 days off. But I'm sure it's actually the best job for me, right now, anywhere in the world.

I'm reminded of this on a regular basis. For example, I'm writing this after being in the Outback, building a metre high fire to burn rubbish on and having a cheeky s'more. Does rubbish disposal and office snacks get any better? (No.)
I'm lucky to be here, and it's the people that make it so great!

Our night off plans were modest- go to the mall and watch a movie. But the minivans were all booked out when we turned up. Damn. Which meant we were spending our night off in camp. Damn.
Then, we actually thought about the sitch- being 'stuck' at a summer camp with your friends and a free night really isn't a bad thing...

Especially not when one of your friends is a qualified lifeguard who offers to take the group water boarding on the empty lake :)

Thanks RyRy!

Or when you get permission from your supervisor to take your friends on a camp out ("Go for it. The Outback is your crib Georgia").

So I made a glow stick trail through the forest and lit all the tekes (forest lanterns) bfore going back for the group and walking them across in the darkness.

S'mores. Hammocks. Starry sky. No curfew and NOT A CHILD IN SIGHT.

Perfection.

Left to Right: Ryan, Sean, Me, Louise, Dominique (Momma D)

These are the hilarious and sensitive people I've had the luck to find in NY who also happen to be supremely gorgeous, intelligent, creative and athletic individuals <3

I'm so LUCKED OUT!

Page 7: Living The American Dream, Right Here!

There are nine spider bites on my legs. Yeah I counted because THEY ITCH.

Working in the forest has its drawbacks.

But it's also a pretty fun job. (And maybe I'll become Spider-Woman or something?).

Today I put up a load of hammocks and tested them out. Now, to an untained eye it looks like I'm just chillin' in a hammock. But actually I'm testing the tension and swing then re-adjusting accordingly. Ha.

Oh, and we now have an archery range in Outback so I've put some training into that. My miss is more frequent than my hit. I've been hitting things, for sure, but not the target. Aww. Although it makes the th-wack of when I actually hit the target more satisfying I need to be a skilled archer by the time kids arrive so I can instruct!

My current skill level as demonstrated by J-Lau!

I've caught myself a few times worrying "I need to stop thinking up Hunger Games themed Games for the kids and actually do work. Then I remember- I'm a camp counselor, this is my job. Awesome!

Last night was also pretty cool.
There's a couple of cars and over a hundred of us so nights out have proven a logistical challenge. And a long wait :( Picture this- there's six of us in the car park waiting in line for a ride as the American staff shuttle backwards and forth to the bar. We've made an effort. I'm wearing red lipstick. Dominique is in a dress. Becky and Louise have make up that looks awesome.

We're waiting with Sean and Chris then Catrina rocks up in line and invites us fishing.

For real.

So, at 9pm (which is dark-ish here) in our nice clothes we head down to the creek and going fishing before going to the bar. Hands down wierdest pre drinks ever!

No one caught anything (well, Sean caught some lake weed...) BUT Chris caught a firefly. The trees buzzed with them, Fireflies (also known as lightning bugs) are sassy bugs that light up and zoom around. It's like kinetic fairy lights and they have the ability to transform a swampy creek into a disney-esque wonderland.