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!