Wilderness Week

I am finished with my first week counseling! This week I had ten girls all age 10 and 11. The first couple of days were really fun just getting to know them all and playing fun games and such. I loved being excited about little things and I liked lifeguarding and playing with the kids and getting to know all of the other wilderness week kids.

By Thursday, however, my patience began to be tested with most of the girls. A few of them were great and never complained or sad anything negative, but some of them were the exact opposite. I have never been asked so many questions and have never heard so many random feelings that I have no control over. But they are all pretty young and obviously have a lot to learn yet :)

One of my favorite memories over the week was experiencing silly bands. Silly bands are rubber bands that are shaped like things, lions, hearts, centipedes, flowers, elephants, etc. The kids LOVED trading them and trying to get them off of you. There was one kid who would always come up to me and try to trade with me. He wanted them so bad! So at the end of the week I gave him one of mine and he was so happy and said, and I quote, "I will never trade this silly band because you gave it to me. I will never forget you, you are my best friend. You and Abby J. (another counselor)" It was so cute!! Love it.

I had my favorite campers who were great the whole week. They always listened and rarely complained. It's so nice having at least a few of those in the cabin :)

This first week was good because I got to learn more about how camp works and now I feel like I know more of what I'm doing. Next week is family camp and I am very excited because all of the counselors are sleeping in a cabin together the whole week and we just get to hang out with families! I'm glad.

Now I have to get some sleep.

Who to talk to.

Camp has been super fun , but also hard at some points in time. Throughout my life, I have always had someone who I am extremely close to and am able to tell them anything. Being here at camp, I don't have a friendship quite yet like that, it's been hard for me to know who to go to when I need to talk about something that is personal. I know that just about anyone here would love for me to talk to them about anything, but the opportunity hardly arises. I know that friendships like that come with time and that I will be able to have someone like that here at camp soon, but I guess the first couple of weeks have been hard in that way. It's kinda cool though too, because I have learned already that even though I may not have anyone here I can talk to, I can always go to God no matter what and wherever I may be.

Here it comes!

With two weeks of training under my belt, I finally feel like I'm ready to get some campers. Staff training was a lot of fun and filled with some crazy activities. We celebrated Christmas, had a dance party, played some games, cliff jumped (into the river in the picture), stayed on the Island, camped in tents and dressed up like super heroes, and so much more! Getting to know everyone and hearing people testimonies was such a cool thing to help me feel more comfortable at camp. I can tell that this summer is going to be a good one with everyone who is working here.

This first week at camp I am doing Wilderness Week. Which is a lot like a normal mainland camp, except we do more things concerning wilderness. I am getting excited to finally be able to counsel and get the summer started. I feel like we've all just been waiting to finally get campers. They come tomorrow and I can't wait!

CPBC first days.

I am here at camp! The first few days have been pretty good. It was a little weird trying to figure out how things work here. I still don't have the hang of it, but I feel like I am getting better as each day passes.

Camp is so beautiful! It is not too big, so you can walk just about anywhere within minutes. The lake is gorgeous. The water is clear and the bottom is sandy and not rocky...which is really nice actually. Camp is also different than what I expected. It is a lot nicer than what I suspected. I am use to roughing it when it comes to camp, but it's not bad at all. Very clean and organized, which is great when it comes to actually running a camp.

People here are great- of course. I knew a hand full of people before I came and that was very useful and made me feel more comfortable the first few days. I am meeting new people every day and getting to know them some too. It's exciting to anticipate how close we will be by the end of the summer.

The first day I was here we did work projects. A few of the other staff and I cleaning the costume closet. This is pretty much a medium size cabin that is FULL of awesome dress up clothes, shoes, hats, and other props. I can't wait to do skits and dress up all goofy for the campers. It's going to be a blast.

This first week, I have been doing lifeguard training. We do it pretty much all day. It's not too exhausting, but it is a challenge to remember all the right things to do. We went in the water today and it was really fun! The water is quite warm for this time of the year (so I hear). Thank goodness!!

FOOD. Oh man, how could I forget. The food here to so good!! I think I am going to gain at least 10 pounds. This is a fact. We had grilled cheese, tomato soup, biscuits, stir fry, salad, & carrot cake today. Who knows the delicious menu that we will have tomorrow!

I am looking forward to this week being over so that we can start staff training. Then we can start the summer with kids and counseling! I am glad to finally be here and to begin my first summer at Covenant Point :)

-Jenna