Welcome to Texas

Have mercy...

I woke up this morning with the fan on and my eyes feeling particularly dry and sensitive to the light. I could barely open them! I rubbed them a bit and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Blood. Red. It was disgusting. I was convinced that they were just irritated and brushed it off, figuring they would be well in a few hours or so. That was not the case.

We left for College Station so I could get my oil changed and go to work. I also had to pick my contacts up at the eye doctor (perfecttt!). About 5 miles down the road, I realized that I could barely keep my eyes open. Imagine driving with your eyes trying to fall asleep, but you aren't tired or walking into a room with super bright lights after you've been in the dark. Needless to say, I stopped at the Wal-Mart and got some eye drops.

By the time I got to College Station, it looked like I had been crying my eyes out for days. So, after denying a box of tissues from the guy at the automotive place and convincing him I really was having a nice day, my mom decided it would be best for me to have the eye doctor check me out since we were going anyway.

After waiting in the lobby for an hour, the doctor worked me in and looked at my eyes with her giant eye laser scope and made noises like "hmmm" "oh my!" and "yikes..". She also seemed to back farther away than normal when she told me, "you have highly contagious viral double pink eye."

Uh. What?

Best part was, there was no co-pay due to a credit on my account and I got steroid drops for my eyes so now they will have big muscles. She also told me that I shouldn't go out in public until Saturday...ha!

Hello Texas!

Linger

Today was my last day at camp.

I have been counting down to this day since my first time on high ropes (haha) and while I'm happy to say it's finally here, the moment is still bittersweet. The staff I have gotten to know at this camp came from all over the world and are some of the most incredible people I have ever met. Those who have worked camp jobs before know how closely and quickly you bond in that type of working environment. It made it especially hard knowing that so many of them live overseas and visiting them often is an unreal possibility.

To all of my dear camp friends: I will miss you all more than you will ever know. I have appreciated each of you and your hard work that made this summer possible. We each stuck it out and supported each other in one way or another at some point over these past 10 weeks. I could not have done it without you all. Thank you so much for the laughs and the experiences. I will think of you often and hope we will stay in touch. If we don't, I wish you all the best in life because you deserve it. Find joy in what you do and always follow your dreams!

On another note, I will be home in Texas on Tuesday morning!! I am so excited to see my family...I have really missed them this summer!

Coming soon will be a summer recap on the adventures I failed to blog about during the month of July. Best wishes to my dear friends Alyse and Gilly who are on their way to the most magical place on Earth: Disney World!


"I want to linger
A little longer
A little longer here with you
It's such a perfect night
It doesn't seem quite right
That it should be my last with you..."

Conowingo Creek

We have had a busy last few weeks! I went to an Orioles game in Baltimore last weekend and got on the jumbotron 8 times, a personal record I might add. We got seats in the nosebleed section, but it was right next to the camera man so I pulled out my best dance moves and entertained the audience. I had a blast!

This past weekend we decided to go tubing on the creek here at camp. We take campers tubing, but I had never been before. The rest of the group had gone to D.C. for the day, so we decided to conquer the creek in style. On Friday, we headed out to Wal-Mart and picked up these fabulous Hello Kitty shoes for $5, best purchase I've ever made!!

After putting on our appropriate tubing gear, we headed down to the creek with two infant sized tubes. Mistake number one. We spent 20 minutes hiking up the creek, only to sit down in our tubes and sink to the ground, which resulted in a 20 minute hike back to inflate new ones. Once we were all settled and ready to go, I decided it would be a good idea to take my homemade cardboard boat down the small waterfall. Unfortunately, it didn't hold up as well as I thought it would and ended up sinking right away. I spent a few minutes flopping around in the water until I gave up on the idea and got back on my tube. RIP Cardboard Boat..

A group of staff had gone tubing a few weeks ago and complained that the water was too low, but since it had rained quite a bit the past week or so, the water was perfect! We had such a great time! We came to a shallow part in the creek and had to stand to carry our tubes past the small rapids. Alyse stood up to walk and had some giant crawfish thing attached to her back. I started screaming "IT'S ON YOUR BACK, IT'S ON YOUR BACK!!" She looked at me like I was joking and made no motion to knock it off. I think she got the clue when I had a meltdown and screamed "GET IT OFF!" repeatedly. We both started panicking and finally got it off, only to immediately initiate a crawfish check. For the rest of the morning I was convinced there was one on my head ready to suck my brains out...

After we made it down the creek, we both decided that our Hello Kitty shoes were no longer meeting our expectations and decided to call it quits early. We got out on the All States trail and made our way back up to the other side of camp. For some reason, every single spider on camp decided to make a web across the trail, face level. So I designated Alyse the spider stick person and watched as spider after spider latched onto her face. After the sixth or seventh one was dangling from her hat, she decided that enough was enough and I became the spider stick holder. I eventually got frustrated and just held my tube in front of my face whilst running as fast as possible. We ended up surviving the trail...barely...and after a vehicle rescue from our German friend Spinelli, we were on our way to the comforts of a house with a washer, a bathtub, and a TV with the Olympics on. We rounded out the weekend with a trip to the Waffle House where I had "Texas biscuits with gravy"...


Speaking of Texas,
8 DAYS UNTIL I'M BACK!

Scared Scared Scared!

This past week we had off unexpectedly due to a low camper enrollment. VACATION! I was so excited! I gave my aunt a call and went and stayed with them in New Jersey for half a week. It was WONDERFUL! I can't describe how badly I have missed the following luxuries:

A shower with adequate water pressure/temperature
Edible food
A bed
Air Conditioning
Civilization

I definitely enjoyed myself and got to see some of my family that I haven't seen in over 9 years. I also got to meet my little cousin Tara for the first time, what a joy! We wrapped up the week with a trip to the boardwalk where I ran into some familiar faces:

We spent the night eating too much ice cream and watching fireworks, it was so great! Also, a special congratulations to Team Essington for defeating the claw game and winning a sweet jersey.

After leaving my Aunt and Uncle's house, I got on a train and headed out to Philadelphia. A few friends and I had planned to celebrate the 4th there, so they were going to drive up and meet me. I had it all planned out to where I would take the train in, get on the subway, then walk to the hotel. Unfortunately, I got on the WEST route instead of the EAST route...I realized my extreme error when the Fresh Prince theme song started playing over and over again in my head.

I texted Alyse and decided to get off at the next stop. Mistake number 2. I got off (carrying 3 pieces of luggage, mind you) and found myself in the heart of the West Philadelphia ghetto. I thought about staying in the subway but decided against it after people started following me around asking for money.

I parked it next to a pay phone on the brightest part of the street and waited an agonizing 25 minutes for them to come find me. It was really one of the scariest moments of my life and you would have had to be there to fully understand what I mean.

Anyways, after my friends rescued me from my poorly planned subway fiasco, we arrived safely at our hotel and spent the rest of the night with Queen Latifah, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and the Jonas Brothers. We rounded out the night with an awesome fireworks display, an authentic Philly Cheesesteak and a mob of rambunctious rioters. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! (give or take a few days)

Summer Bucket List:

Jump in the pond here (wait until you see it)
Celebrate the 4th of July in Philly
Canoe down the creek
Find a sweet spot for my hammock
Find an entrance to an underground railroad tunnel in the woods
Use every latrine on camp
Stay a night in Bell Manor
Identify all of the mysterious berry bushes around camp, then eat them

Summer Bucket List

All summer, so far, I have tagged along with our horse manager, Gilly. It has been so interesting for me to learn about horses and how to take care of them, tack them up, work with them, etc.

She has been a great teacher...apart from the fits of laughter she breaks into whenever Katniss, Jamers, or I get on a horse (jk). Some common phrases she shouts at us have been: "Feet!" "Fix your reins or I'm going to hang my washing on them!" "Chicken wings!!". It's been a blast and she has really been patient with us.



Yesterday, for the first time ever, I got to gallop on a horse! It was so cool. I have always wanted to, but never got the opportunity. It was on my camp "bucket list" and now I can cross it off! That's me:

I had such a great time, it must have clouded my judgement on my walk home from the barn. I was coming down a path and heard an animal rustling in the leaves about ten feet away from me. It was really dark, so all I could make out was a medium-sized, dark colored blob. My first, immediate thought was "GREAVER!" so I picked up a rock and threw it right at the mystery animal.

Next thing I knew, I was staring into the eyes of a rather large and angry skunk with nowhere to run and nothing to hide behind.

I literally froze.

All I could think of was "how am I going to get all the way back to camp with skunk juice in my eyes" and "I wonder if we have enough canned spaghetti sauce to get out the smell." We had a staring contest for the longest 6.7 seconds of my life and it decided to have mercy on me and walked away. I power walked all the way back to camp constantly checking behind me to see if it was in pursuit.

Anyways, speaking of my camp bucket list, here are a few additions:

Jump in the pond here (wait until you see it)
Celebrate the 4th of July in Philly
Canoe down the creek
Find a sweet spot for my hammock (that one's for you Mike)
Find an entrance to an underground railroad tunnel in the woods
Use every latrine on camp
Stay a night in Bell Manor
Identify all of the mysterious berry bushes around camp, then eat them

I'm still thinking of some more, so I'll update it as I go!

Night of the Twisters

After our first week with campers, we finally had a weekend off and decided to go to eat at TGI Fridays. We made a quick trip up to the horses to feed them and noticed a storm blowing in. It was promptly ignored and we headed out.

About a mile down the road, it started raining and hailing. We pressed on, crossed the dam, and GOT HIT WITH A GIANT TORNADO. Not really..but it actually just missed us. There were giant tree limbs all over the road and a truck in our lane got crushed by a falling tree. It was so insane.



After we ate, we had to go back another way home since they closed the dam. It was bumper to bumper due to a wreck and when we finally got through it there was a $6 toll booth. Between Jamers and I, we didn't have enough money and decided to drive through the EZ-Pass lane without a tag. In Texas, pretty sure they mail it to you...but in Maryland, giant alarms go off and all the green lights turn red and start flashing. We were so scared we sped off and took the first exit. The rest of the way home, we kept looking in our mirrors convinced the cops were going to hunt us down. I went back to camp and Googled it and all you have to do is call in and pay the toll...I think their means of communicating that to us was a bit excessive!

All in the name of adventure.

Summary of a trip to the grocery store with an international staff member:

Gilly: "then you put chips on top of it"
Me: "you cover it in french fries?!"
Gilly: "NO...CRISPS! THAT'S THE LAST TIME I TRANSLATE."

"Greater" Believer

This is a Greaver. Or as Gilly/Autocorrect would say, a "Greater". They are a highly venomous, super intelligent hybrid breed only known to Camp Congowingo. I would have a better picture, but the Greaver cannot be photographed. It is too elusive.

The Greaver can only be killed with a Chib, which is a Scottish weapon. We are working hard to spread awareness...this drawing was done on a napkin at a restaurant and was promptly explained to our waiter (who believed us).

They are trying hard to take us down. Just last week, Gilly twisted her knee, I hurt my ankle, and another counselor was bucked off a horse: all at the hands/paws/talons/death claws of the Greaver.

They're gathering forces and we're gathering Chibs. Are you a Greaver Believer?

Rock Slide Rash

First of all, our internet has been down for more than a week and it's won't be back into full swing until this coming Wednesday. Apologies for taking so long between posts!

I have been very busy here at camp. We finished off our last week of training, which was mostly spent on the high ropes course - setting up and taking down, practicing rescues, maintenance, etc. It was a lot of fun and extremely tiring, but I learned so many new things.

Turns out I was wrong about our course at first glance, we have a lot more elements than I originally thought. The kids start off on a Burma Loop Bridge or a Postman's Walk, to the Catwalk, multi-vines, Burma Bridge and Zip. We also have a Jacob's Ladder, Centipede and Flying Squirrel. We had a pretty small group training for the course, so most of us got to spend a lot of our time up in the trees while those who didn't want to climb belayed. All the new and different elements make facilitating a lot more fun for me and I'm excited to finally get on the course and use my new skillz with our awesome ropes manager Jamers:

The term "Rock Slide Rash" was inspired by the design of our harnesses and a certain Scottish horse manager. They have these awful "comfort straps" in the back that are not comfortable. By the time you're done climbing, (as our trainer would say): they're no longer on the hills, they're in the valley. It became a big joke from our group and we always mention it when we're on the course...or in public. See this example, demonstrated by our Sports Manager, Katniss:



Speaking of Katniss, at camp, we all go by nicknames. I had originally come up with a nickname that I thought would be really funny, but everyone just ignored it and started calling me Texas. Now whenever I walk in a room all the kids start chanting "Texas" over and over again until I do something cool. I started telling them I live in Alaska just to mix things up...


As I mentioned before, this past week was our first week with kids and it was CRAZY. We had an open house on Sunday that was absolute chaos. I was working with the horse manager, Gilly and we had the awesome job of leading kids (and parents) around in a circle on horses for close to 6 hours. It was about 100 degrees outside and very un-fun...but the kids enjoyed it so that was the best part. After open house, some of the kids stayed the night and the rest came for check-in Monday morning.


For check-in, we were going to do rotating stations with the different area managers (sports, nature, art, etc). I was the "overall supervisor" so my job was going to be to place kids with their units and rotate them every 20 minutes or so. I had just gone back to my cabin to finish up some last minute paper-work things on my computer when I left to head up to the dining hall. I left the cabin and hop-stepped off the porch straight to my left ankle sideways. IT WAS HORRID. It caught me so off-guard, I hit my face on the ground (LOL). I've hurt my ankle pretty bad before, but this was unnaturally painful. I was instantly nauseated and didn't even want to look back at it. After I laid on the ground for 7 minutes or so, I looked around and realized there was absolutely NO ONE nearby and nobody planning on coming for a while. I literally crawled back to the main camp and found someone to help me. If only I had a volleyball with me...I could have painted it with my blood and named it Wilson. Anyways, we went to the hospital and I got an x-ray..no breaks (thank you God), but definitely screwed up some ligaments. I spent the rest of the week splinted up and on crutches. When I was little I always used to want crutches, but I was stupid.

CRUTCHES SUCK.

By day two, my arms were so sore, I couldn't lift them above my head without my shoulder muscles cramping. I ditched those things as fast as possible and started walking again yesterday. It's feeling much better and seems to be healing nicely, so I'm excited about starting out next week on two feet. Overall, I had a pretty bummer week...but things are looking up and I've got some great friends here who are keeping me positive.

As mentioned before, meet Katniss Everdeen and Gilly:


SPECIAL THANKS to my awesome MOM who sent me a whole loaf of banana bread!!

and

to the wonderful Sr. Staff mom, LAUREN DAY, who sent me a package from Camp Allen. These both totally brightened my day and blessed me so much, thank you both!

Bell Manor

On the back side of the property, there is a large manor that was part of the Underground Railroad in the 19th century. It is rumored amongst the camp to be haunted by a woman who hung herself in front of the oval window and the slaves who died in hiding. It's an extraordinary building. I haven't been inside yet, but they are trying to renovate it to it's original look and I have heard that it is started to look really nice inside. People at the camp have claimed to see the "ghost" of the woman hanging in the window and have heard of eerie things happening in the basement, such as screaming or voices. I think the stories are pretty entertaining.



We walked to the house and looked around the outside. It was pretty creepy, but we all had a great time trying to retell the stories. Apparently there are also sub-basements on the property that lead to underground tunnels they used to move slaves through. I haven't seen them firsthand, but I would really like to. One of our trainers said that one tunnel is still in tact and there are multiple entrances/exits throughout the woods around camp. I'll take more pictures when I get a chance to go inside.



On the other side of the field, by the manor, there is a stone chimney that is free standing. It is also rumored to be haunted. The story goes that a woman, during the Civil War, saw soldiers coming in the distance and hid her children in the chimney. The soldiers came inside, took her out, and burned the house to the ground. Many claim to still hear the cries of the children "on moonlit nights". I sat inside the chimney and didn't hear anything...it's also really tall so I was curious about how they would have hidden up inside of it. It's a cool chimney and we had a lot of fun telling stories and taking pictures inside of it. While we were walking there, I rushed ahead of the group and hid in the woods. When they walked by, I jumped out and scared them. It was pretty funny...had to start the night off right, of course! There was also a message in a bottle a couple girls had found a few days earlier inside of the chimney, but when we went tonight it was missing. We joked that the baby took it, but we're pretty sure it was the guy who came and did our outdoor training. He was a firm believer in the ghost life of Camp Conowingo and claimed to be a part time ghost hunter. He also mentioned something about a hybrid snake, but that's a story for another time.

I'm off to my Yurt for bed. Goodnight!

Ticks, Torches, and Tannenbaums

After a 5 hour flight and a 3 hour drive, we got to camp on Saturday evening. It is SO much colder here than I thought it would be! I definitely didn't bring enough warm clothes or blankets, so I spent my first night freezing to death. Other than that, it has been great. Most of the staff here (about more than half) are international, so I've met some great friends from Germany, Scotland, the Ukraine and England! My friends from Germany taught me how to say, "Hi, my name is Kim. How are you? I'm hungry, let's eat spaghetti, now!" We also sang "Oh Christmas Tree" and everyone laughed. They are a lot of fun and everyone is always really excited to learn new things or try "American" foods. One of the girls "can't wait to go to Target and the Dairy Queen." It's really funny.




The camp is very rustic, so all of our "cabins" have no electricity or plumbing. The campsites here go by "units" and there are many different types. For the first two training weeks, I'm staying in a yurt! It's strange...but cool! There are also tepees, platform tents and cabins, so we will switch around every week depending on what age group we are with. The camp is on 600 acres and is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I could spend hours every night just watching all the fireflies or sitting by the river. During the day it's been around a high of 75 and down in the 50s at night and since I got another blanket it has been so wonderful.







We are currently going through small trainings and cleaning up the camp. Tomorrow we start Leave No Trace training where we learn more about living outdoors without making an impact and we are also trained to teach others. I also start my Level 1 Ropes training on Tuesday. Here we only have a zip series with a cargo net and Jacob's Ladder, in addition to a low course. I'm pretty excited about the training. I wouldn't normally be, but literally all the international staff here make everything so much more new and fun to me. Nothing seems repetitive because it is so new to them, so they are very excited and have a lot of questions. This has been the biggest blessing for me!




Here, they go a whole year without using the camp so there is A LOT more work and cleaning that needs to be done. It surprised me how many things got so dirty just sitting around. I couldn't help but think about Bill Hooks during our clean up...he would go insane here. There are only 2 rangers for the ENTIRE property and camp maintenance. Since the winter here was very warm, there are TONS of TICKS! I had one on my leg the first day and another girl had one as well. The rest of the international staff is convinced they will all die if they get a tick. They spent our hour off-time Googling pictures and facts on Lyme Disease...it was hilarious. They also randomly say, "quick, check! Is there a tick on my neck?!" I'm excited about getting to know even more about them as the summer goes on, they are so interesting! One of the girls needs a "torch" (flashlight) and most of us can't wait to go to WalMart so we can get things we forgot at home.




Thanks for taking the time to check up on my life. I'm going to go to dinner and then learn some more salsa dancing from our office assitant who is from Columbia. As they would say in Germany "Tschüss" (bye)!!




If you would like to write me:




Old Adventures and New Beginnings

I admit it...I have neglected my blog for more than a year! So much has happened...so many wonderful things that I would love to write about, but will only share a few:




College Retreat:




I had the privilege of leading the 2012 college retreat this year. What a blessing! It was the first time I had taken a program and started it from scratch. It was only a weekend retreat, but I literally planned for almost an entire year. It was fantastic. The staff, the participants, the response...it was beyond any expectation I had and one of the top experiences I have had as a college student. The Lord was so faithful to our planning and preparation and despite our shortcomings, still did even mightier things than we could have ever imagined or "planned" on our own. I am looking forward to attending next year and mentoring the new directors!

Summer Camp:




I ended my last summer as a Sr. Staffer at Camp Allen in August of 2011. I had such a wonderful summer...I learned so much about the Lord and what His desire for me is as I continue my walk with Him. I learned many things about myself, both good and bad, and managed to work through them with a group of about 27 other people who inspired me, challenged me, and supported me as I grew. I will never forget the experiences, community, love and fellowship I have experienced in that place...there is nothing anywhere that will ever replace it or compare. This coming summer will be the first summer in 13 years that I have not been at Camp Allen in some capacity...that's a scary thought for me. I had so many pivotal experiences there. When I was 8, I rode a horse for the first time. When I was 16 I did a front flip in front of a (very patient) crowd after trying and failing for 7 years before that. When I was 14, I walked into a room of strangers that all cheered for me and knew my name. When I was 15 I witnessed a miracle in cabin 8. When I was 10, Dave Rupert told me about Jesus and I believed it. So many things, too many to list. Things that have molded me, changed me, challenged me, inspired me. Things that showed me how much the Lord loves us all. Things that I will never forget.




Last night I had a dream that I was at camp again. I walked to every cabin and room in each campsite and there were people in every building from all of my past experiences there. People I love and cherish, people who inspired me, people who were inspired by me, campers, friends, cabin-mates, staffers...everyone was there. In every room each person gave me a hug and "sent me off" to this next chapter in my life. It was incredible. A very vivid and intentional dream that I will never be able to explain in the right words, but it was what I needed. I feel ready now, with the "dream" blessings of those who mean the most to me, to move on to my next adventure.




Guess what? It starts tomorrow.