Nature Break

Whenever a Bald Eagle flies over, the Campers, cynically or whimsically (you take your pick), all yell "Nature Break!". It's becoming an every day occurrence to see a bloody enormous bird fly over like the lord of the manner. You should see the mess these things make too - they put seagulls to shame. Then again, they are three times as large.

Week One of kids is over. It's Sunday and we're having what's known as a Sleep-in - it basically means that the campers get to sleep until 10, if they want to. Obviously, I'm not having a sleep-in. The rest of the counselors are all students though and would happily sleep until two in the afternoon. All of my campers are awake, bless them. It's been a good week overall. As it turns out my artistic skills aren't really that necessary, all I do is supervise the kids while they paint and pootle around in the arts and crafts room - either that or I supervise them doing archery. We have the Father & Son crowd here this weekend - basically it means younger boys and their "Pas" are staying the weekend, mostly so the Pas can relive their childhoods. The generations of men and boys at this place is staggering. There's a plaque in my cabin from the Director's first year as a Counselor back in 1959. It looks like it was painted yesterday.

You'll be happy to know my work on the totem-pole is progressing nicely. One of the carpenters is helping me make it. Have I mentioned the totem-pole? It's basically a plaque for the big competition at the end of the summer. I'm documenting the whole thing, so there'll be explanatory pictures eventually. The weather has actually turned up too! We've finally had a string of uninterrupted sunny days and last night the stars were all out. It's nice to be able to see the same stars as back home. It's weird really, the sky looks exactly the same - I may only have gone two miles down the road, maybe this is just a surreal dream. You know those summers you had when you were a kid when the sun didn't stop shining and everything was brilliant, it's a bit like watching that happen to other people, and by proxy re-experiencing it yourself.

So, here are some top tips for dealing with eight year-olds:
1) Throw your normal framework of patience out of the window and start again. They don't play by your rules, so make up some new ones.
2) Don't believe them when they say they're okay when they clearly aren't. Keep asking until the tears come then make them feel better and move on. Don't make a big deal out of anything remotely negative.
3) Just because they have straightforward needs (eat, sleep, play, potty etc.) doesn't mean they are straightforward. The naughtiest and rowdiest ones in my cabin are the first ones to go to sleep and actually want to be in bed and get a good night's sleep. For some bizarre reason the quiet ones want to stay up late playing Pokemon.

I'm getting a lot of reading done. The amount of Unassigned periods I'm getting during the day guarantees that I'm reading at least sixty pages a day, which is pretty cool. I do have a lot of books with me (and of course I've bought more - who could resist buying books?). I'm required for one hour a day's "work" per day (arts and crafts or archery) the rest of the time the other counselors supervise the sports and activities - occasionally I help out on the waterfront, but it's rare. Obviously, I have to supervise fifteen kids when they aren't playing sports, but it's a nice, steady rate of work. By ten in the evening I can relax and do more reading. This is definitely the easiest and most rewarding job I've ever done. It's a bit like being paid for your presence and the skills you come with are a bonus. No complaints here.