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Published: October 18th 2005
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Mt. Washington
Ok so there were a few clouds in sight....and I was freezing!! Howdy everyone!!
Haven't written for a long time but I will update you all on my camp lifestyle and routine. There really isn't a big change to what we do every week you see, apart from special days but I'll get to that later. And we share the computer between around 50 staff members so I don't have a lot of time to write either!
Staff week was quiet, just training sessions, not too many new things but a good opportunity to get to know the rest of the staff. My parents also managed to pay me a visit and check out this camp that I have been raving about for so long. And since the kids hadn't arrived I was able to show them all of camp and we even took a little trip to Mount Washington, a must-see (OK so we drove up instead of hiking but we got the perfect view, no clouds in sight!)
My day starts at 7.15 am when the first bugle blows, Reveille. I usually don't even hear it or fall straight back to sleep until the second bugle, Waitress, at 7.40. Then usually fall asleep again until Soupee, the final
Independence Day
Ready to wake up camp at 6.30am! bugle, which is when you have to go to breakfast. It's a good thing that our cabin is opposite the Dining hall, we just roll out of bed, splash our face and go there in our pyjamas. I share a cabin with Jenny, who is from around this area in New Hampshire and is working as the Arts & Crafts Director. She came here as a camper, went through the counselor training program but hasn't been here for 10 years, so it's pretty cool that she came back.
Now back to what happens very day....After breakfast everyone goes to the flagpole where the US flag is raised by the oldest campers, the W's, and announcements of the day are made. We, the Horsebackriding staff, Katie (Irish), Karin (Swedish) and me, head to the barn and tack up the horses for the first class at 9am. Usually we have about 5 campers a lesson, but these days have been hectic at the barn, with several horses being sent back to the "rental place" in Maine, because they have a really contagious infection where their glands swell up and abcesses are formed and they burst, it's all bloody and gross. And
First Island Campfire
Rowan (the official fire specialist) looking pensive so sad for these horses because we can't do anything but clean it up and hope it gets better. With the 3 horses that had it we just wanted to make sure they went back ASAP though because we didn't want the others to catch it. So the past few days we've been desinfecting stalls, cleaning tack, buckets, and now we have two new horses, one of which (Snow White) is not that trained so we're not that comfortable putting beginner girls on her. We've named all the horses with Disney names, so we have a Lilo, Stitch, Tinkerbell (who is actually not a mare like we were initially told), Simba, Socks and Sebastian. We should be getting a new horse to complete the team this week.
About once a week there is a program day which means there are no normal instructionals in the different departments (Small Crafts, Waterfront, Sportsfield, Dance and Drama and Arts & Crafts) but special activities ae organised. For example, a while back it was Independence Day and there were relay specials at the waterfront (with a greasy watermelon, another with sunglasses and t-shirt swim relays) then piggy-back rides and ice-cream relays (this involved
Internationals Day Off
Fun in Storyland with the international staff me lying flat on my back and the campers racing towards me and feeding me ice-cream....hmm good idea!!!) and obviously these days always involve lots of dressing up-yay my favourite!!! Such good fun!
Then on my birthday I wasn't too sure what to expect, even though I had my 21st birthday here as well two years ago and that was amazing. It's hard to tell what it'll be like because you're in this place with a bunch of people most of whom you've only known for about 3 weeks!! Although of course there are a few familiar faces. It was a normal working day for me, I wasn't able to take the day off, so see the routine above for what I did until dinner 😊
At lunch I got a whole bunch of presents from other staff, really cool crafty stuff they'd made like earrings, an anklet and pretty sparkly cards and stuff. At dinner I also got a cake which was delicious even though it was frozen (there was a miscount because there were some twins who had a birthday too). Then there was Hucksters and a Candlelight ceremony for the campers who have been here for
Surprise Birthday Party
My party in the Snelldome 5 or 10 years, followed by singing and candles (no time to go into details right now but it's one of those things where you really have to be here to understand that's it's NOT a weird ceremony and actually really nice and touching. A time to appreciate how special camp is and how lucky we are to be in such a beautiful environment)
After Candlelight that I went to change to play basketball with some other staff in the Snelldome (gym) and they had organised a little surprise party for me with snacks and bug juice! Aaawww....So we just had a couple of hours playing games like tabletennis, foosball etc.
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anonymous
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hi flora
you probably don't know me but I rode rt huckins. Tinkerbell rules the world!