Camp, Goldbond, and the Olympic Games

Oh so many things to Blog, but I’ll try to stick to the highlights. Today I’m on my first day long break (called a Selah) from camp, and I’m already missing the place. Camp has been more fun than I ever would have imagined and it’s a lot easier and smoother than I thought it would be. Each day we get up, eat, play, eat, sleep, play, eat, play, talk, sleep…and then repeat it the next morning. Honestly, this is the life. Plus one of the greatest parts is that the people who are at camp are amazing. Some of the kids are a little obnoxious, but I love the majority of the kiddos and all of the counselors are remarkable.

Most of my days are just spent corralling my kiddos (I’ve got 8 different 10 year old boys that I share with another counselor) and then heading off to work various activities, but mostly stuff involving ropes, like the zipline, the rockwall, the screamer, and the ropes course. But I also spend a decent amount of time fishing, playing soccer, and beating kids in tetherball. It’s a blast, and I love it…except when the snotty kids want to get their way and won’t listen, but hey, no job is perfect.

One of the funniest things that happened is the other night I was hanging out with my boys right around dinner time and decided that it was time to introduce them to Goldbond®. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, a bunch of little boys screaming, “My balls are burning, no they’re freezing, no they’re falling off.” All while running around the cabin doubled over and holding their groins. The funniest part is, they can’t get enough of it now! Every day they say, “We want Goldbond!” Ah, they’re great, and a better source of entertainment than any TV show.

Alright, last thing and I’m out of here. I’m going to the Olympic Games 2004 in Athens! One of my friends at camp got tickets (7 different events!) from another friend and needed a buddy to go with him. I’m going with this guy that’s just amazing, all around athlete, Christian, and servant to others…plus he’s cool as…well, Triple-Medicated Goldbond. So the plan is that as soon as camp is over I’ll go to Europe, meet up with him, head to Athens, watch the Olympics, travel some around Europe, visit my host family, and then come back and start work ASAP. It’s going to be a whirlwind, but definitely a whirlwind of fun, and with some excellent company. I’ve longed to go back to Europe for years now, and I’m just flabbergasted at how God has come thru and placed something in my lap that’s larger than I could even have imagined on my own.

End of Phase One

This will be brief. Tomorrow marks the last day of summer school for me. I already had to take one final early today because I'm leaving again for camp this weekend. Fortunately I think that final went fairly well, albeit not as well as I would have liked. The really sad part about today is that I had my last class, and I'm really going to miss the personality of my teacher and the camaraderie of my classmates. It's always kinda funny in that you enjoy something most just when you're about to lose it.

In other news I've really gotten into the series Alias. I borrowed the first season from a friend, and one week later I'm halfway thru the second season. It's so entertaining, and I just can't get enough of it.

Other than that I'm just excited about camp, kinda worried though, because I don't really feel like I've prepared over the summer at all for it. I know it's pretty bad, but I've had so little time outside of school...and frankly the last thing I want to do is go out and shop for costumes. Oh well, I'm sure I'll still love the kids despite not being able to shoot them with the world's largest watergun. Okay, time's up...back to studying!