Belated Posts #3: The Final Cabin, Part 1 - Power Hour

During the last week of camp, I was lucky enough to be counseling. It's always a blessing to be on site during the last week because, well, it's the last week and it'd be nice to actually be there for it. I was also lucky enough to have Drew Boraas as my co-counselor for the week. Drew was the health aid for the summer so, obviously, this was his first week counseling. You may be thinking, "Why was it lucky you had a first time counselor as your co-counselor?" Valid question, and the answer is simply that Drew is a pretty cool guy; it has nothing to do with his counseling experience.

Anyway, none of that is relevant, really. For the last week of camp, I had third graders in my cabin, which is pretty ideal, considering I'm going to have a career working with second graders. However, these third graders didn't have very good memory. I don't know if there was like, a virus in the cabin that spread from kid to kid to cause a coding/storage/recall deficiency or something, but they just could not remember anything. For instance, every day we have something called "Power Hour," which is when the counselors get an hour without kids. During that hour, the kids go play games with the Assistant Program Directors. I never know what games they're playing because it doesn't concern me. However, my kids always thought I knew.

Monday:

"Joe, what are we doing for Power Hour?"

"Playing a game with Stever and Annie."

"What game?"

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"I don't participate in the game, so I don't ask what it is. I'm not even there for it, so I don't know."

Tuesday:

"Joe, what are we doing for Power Hour?"

"Remember what you did yesterday for Power Hour?"

"...Carpet ball?"

"Nope. You guys played a game with Stever and Annie, right?"

"Oh, yeah!"

"You're doing that again."

"What game?"

"I don't know."

"Is it 'Everybody's It Tag'?"

"Did you play that yesterday?"

"Yes!"

"Then no."

Wednesday:

"Joe, what are we doing for Power Hour?"

"I'm gonna go way out on a limb here and guess that you're going to play a game, and that it'll probably be with Stever and Annie."

"What game?"

"When was the last time I answered that question for you?"

"Umm...I don't know."

"I don't know what game you're playing."

Thursday:

"Joe, what are we doing for Power Hour?"

"I'm curious - what do you think you're doing for Power Hour today?"

"I don't know."

"Well, what did you do yesterday?"

"Play games with Stever and Annie?"

"Right! And what did you do the day before that?"

"Play games with Stever and Annie...?"

"Right again! And do you remember what you did the day before that?"

"Play games with Stever and Annie..."

"Exactly! So, if you were to just venture a guess as to what you are doing for Power Hour today, what would you guess?"

"...What game are we playing?"

"Sigh...Have I ever known what game you're playing for Power Hour?"

"No..."

"Right. And today is no different. I do not know what game you are playing."

There are a few more scenarios that are similar to this one, but I used up a ton of space with dialogue and I think it would be cruel to continue. Just believe me when I tell you that this cabin tested my patience more than any other cabin I have had. It was fun, though.

Joyce From Morris - The Story of a Creepy Old Lady

I'm on a day camp in Morris right now. First of all, let me just tell you that despite the fact that Morris is a pretty small town, this day camp is awesome. Probably because the kids we're working with are fantastic, our host family is nice, and they have a really nice house with nice things.

Today, for one of our scheduled game times, the other counselors and I decided to take the kids outside to play a game (ships and sailors, if you were wondering. I'm sure you don't know what that even means unless you work or have worked at camp, though). During the third round of the game, I realized that there was an elderly lady holding a newspaper and a glass of beverage (I'm not entirely sure what the beverage was), standing on the sidewalk watching us. "Well, okay," I thought, because old people love kids - it didn't seem too weird to me. She cheered for the winners of that round and said, "You're all winners to me!" I still wasn't too weirded out at this point. Then she came over to me. I was holding my guitar for some reason - probably because I'm weird (there were exactly zero reasons for me to have my guitar) - and the lady asked if I could play in A minor. I can't, because I don't know what that even means. "Um, I can play an A minor! Lolz," I replied.

"Can you finish it?" I have no idea what that means. To be honest, I'm not sure she knows what that means.

"Uhh...wha-? Probably not...?"

"Can you follow me?"

"Umm, no."

"Do you know how to play 'This Land Is Your Land?'"

"Nope."

"Is it okay if I sing it with the kids? I'll do it a capella."

"Um, yeah! Wait, ...yeah? Sure. I think."

"Okay!" She then walked up to the kids, who were assembled in three lines because they were waiting to start another round of ships and sailors. "Hello, children! My name is Joyce, and I want to see if you can put your hands together." The kids all clapped once. "That's right! Put your hands together for our country!" Then she started singing 'This Land Is Your Land' and all of us counselors and all of the children were equally confused and weirded out. Once she finished the song, I started the next round of ships and sailors. One kid didn't want to play, though. He was probably traumatized from that crazy lady. She hadn't left, though, and offered her help. "Hey, kiddo, come on over here," she said. He did, but only because she was standing in the designated area for kids who had gotten out. "Let me tell you what I like about you, kiddo," she said, bending over so she could look him right in the eyes. Like anything with a brain would do, the poor lil' fella backed way up. "Come back over here. I'm not gonna bite ya. I'm not even gonna touch ya. You're a redhead, and us redheads gotta stick together." She then extended her arm and held out her hand. "Can I have a high five?" and the kid backed away even more. Then Joyce just left, and we hurried all the kids back into the church, away from the crazy ladies that apparently just roam the streets of Morris, searching for children to creep on.