All Things New (food)

'All Things New' was the theme of camp this year (excellently executed in christian formation by Dan the Seminarian) and I definitely tried heaps of new things while I was there! (Heads up- A lot of the following things are likely to be food related. I was in america ok, food is pretty big over there. Heck, everything is pretty big over there! *not complaining*)

I'll start with s'mores a.k.a a true taste of america. Over the two months I was in the US, I totally became an expert in marshmallow toasting: set the marshmallow on fire a few times to get a nice crisp outside (if it's not burnt then you're doing it wrong), gently heat over the flame, whilst maintaining a smooth rotation of the stick, to melt the inside. Once that's done, place the marshmallow in between two graham (pronounced 'gram', missing out syllables what is that about america) crackers with chocolate, mmmm.

On the subject of food, I also ate a corndog for the first time (it was pretty alright but not something I'd choose over a hotdog), had chipotle (very good. would recommend.) and have since found and ate in a chipotle in London (yes!!). But the highlight of my summer food-wise would have to be pudding. We don't have it here, it's a bit like a custard but of a thinner consistency and it tastes way nicer and it's just great. Pudding also has some of my best memories of camp associated with it (evenings spent with the kids/sparking discussions of what pudding is in the UK/getting overly excited whenever pudding was mentioned/making pancakes) so overall it makes me super happy.

Something non-food related that I enjoyed learning were all the different sports and games. On my second night in America I vaguely remember watching the Stanley Cup ice hockey final but falling asleep due to jet lag.. Mike's team won though! Yeah! Chicago! During camp we played a lot of GaGa which is basically all players in an enclosed octagon with a ball that you have to dodge, pretty much. Something that I wish was popular over here, it's good fun! Capture the Flag was another good game and probably my favourite of the whole summer.  And I finally learnt the rules of baseball (but have since forgotten them)!

Bethan

Climbers

In each of the activity areas around camp we had the same group of kids for a week, which meant on the challenge course could see them progress through the elements, get to know each of them and encourage them to go further and higher as we went through the week.

In the first week, we had 7-11 year olds so a few of them were pretty small which made it trickier for them to reach some of the rocks on the wall to climb to the top. That first week was also suuuuuper hot out so climbing with sweaty hands and burning them on the rocks was also a challenge to deal with! What I loved about the younger kids is that they were so much more excited and proud of themselves when they did manage to climb to the top. One of my campers who managed to get up there told me after that she was so tired and wanted to give up but then heard God's voice saying "you can do it" and so she did! One of the best things I heard all summer.

Another camper that week, determined to make it to the top on the hard side of the wall, spent over ten minutes reaching, grabbing, falling off and swinging back on again attempting to overcome a tricky part of the wall. Telling her she could come down and try again after a rest didn't make a difference "but if I come down now, I might never make it this far again!" Eventually she made it but not without injury, her hands were covered in blisters which made me feel awful, but she didn't care at all and was just happy she made it to the top on the hard side!

And then throughout the sessions, there would be campers who didn't want to do much at all which was fine, but I was pretty proud when their fellow campers encouraged them to try more and they did, it was great (or maybe they just got sick of me saying "Are you sure you don't want to go up a little? Just climb the ladder? 100% sure? For definite?" "..Are you still sure?")

Bethan

Everything Skit

These blog posts are about to get real deep real fast, much like how I remember starting the summer during staff training. But first, just so we all know, I'm eating peanut butter on crackers for breakfast- how american (I miss seeing things and being like "that's so american!" eg outside mailboxes with the red flippy thing/red solo cups/corn dogs).

 

At camp, every evening we had a time before bed with our cabins called 'devos' (short for devotionals, I think). This was simply a time to talk about our christian formation time in the chapel, ask and answer questions to do with faith/God/life in general, catch up on how each others day had been through 'how pow wow' (How you saw God today, the low part of your day and the high part of the day) and also to pray. Throughout staff training we had devo time with the female staff in our cabin, going through Rob Bell's book 'Velvet Elvis' which is well worth reading and it made for some good discussions. On the second night of staff training, through being asked to share three moments or people in your life that helped shape you (or something to that effect), we all got to know each other really well, which was awesome that that happened so quickly and easily and it felt very God-planned to me as I felt super comfortable sharing and talking with these people I had only know for two to three days. And lets be honest I probably didn't say a massive amount during those first few days so it was pretty cool to be able to talk freely knowing that even though we all came from different backgrounds, we all share in the same love of Jesus and that's what's great.

 

During the camp sessions, Hannah had the idea of us as counselors performing the Everything skit to our campers, knowing how it affected us when we saw it and thinking it would be worthwhile for them to see, to let them think and to spark discussions. Those of you who have seen the Everything skit will know how powerful and moving it is, the message is strong and the Holy Spirit can really hit your heart and your head with that one. If you haven't seen it and would like to you can here. This is also an example of how at camp I just went with things; at home I would never have performed like that but it's camp and it's good and fun and totally worth it. After we had done the skit, there was a dicussion and time for the campers and counselors to voice how it made them feel, what they thought of when they saw each part and how they interpreted it. Following that, during the worship, us counselors prayed for any camper who wanted it which made me feel all of the things and was a special time and I felt God knitted us all together as a community throughout the week and we had been casted off that evening (apparently I do knitting analogies now, what a granny).

Bethan

#camplife

For those of you who don't know, this summer I spent two months working as a camp counselor at Camp DeWolfe, which is on Long Island in New York. As well as being a general counselor I also co-lead the challenge course which was AWESOME FUN and involved rockclimbing, high ropes and low ropes. Yeah. Pretty sweeeeeet. (and I gained genuine actual muscles in my arms from all the belaying. Jussayin'. #hardcore.)

I really wanted to write this blog post because things keep reminding me of camp and set me off on "oh! at camp this happened.." or "this summer we did this with the kids.." or  "it was so funny, we did this this and this.." and I know not everyone is interested, or I'll get halfway through a story and realise that the person I'm talking to is not completely paying attention or just being polite and I should probably stop talking because those small stories and memories aren't much interest to people who weren't there. Which I don't mind, but I need somewhere to shove all the really cool, and somewhat personal, parts of my summer at camp that aren't just "Yeah it was so amazing, the campers were great, I loved it, I did rockclimbing with the kids and there was the beach only like two minutes away and american food is weird but they have PUDDING which is great and no I didn't come back with an accent but I will be calling the toilet the 'bathroom' until I readjust."

Missing camp life- the beauty of our natural surroundings, the campers, my friends (who basically became my summer family)- sort of feels to me like a heartbreak (not that I'd know for sure having never been in a relationship, let alone had my heart broken over one. But thats besides the point). Which sounds and feels really insane to me but I dont think I've ever been more sad at leaving a group of people ever in my life ever. The day we said goodbye I cried (quietly and respectfully, mind) on four different types of public transport, breaking my previous record of one, yay. It just hit me that the people I'd spent two solid months with, who'd helped me out and been so much fun to be around, weren't going to be around any more and not only that, but some of them will be in a different country and different timezone which totally sucks and who knows if all of us will ever be together again because of circumstances and the flopping ocean, not cool.

This whole experience has definitely changed me (oh the cliché, it hurts). For instance I am totally a fan of peanut butter now. And I have arm muscles! Did I mention those yet? I HAVE THEM. I am pretty proud, not gonna lie. And I've got to make the most of them because they totally will not last. But in all seriousness being a camp counselor this summer definitely has made me more independent and confident and just generally more like 'I can do anything! Yeah! Go team!' which is cool and something I am thankful for, especially because I'm off to university in two weeks. (Two. Weeks. What.)

So, I've decided to write a series of posts 'that one time at summer camp' over the next few weeks or so for myself and whoever is interested, they won't be in any particualr order but will be small memories of my summer at camp which was the best ever and I totally recommend that if you have a free summer and are thinking of doing it then go for it, seriously.

 

 

Bethan