Lindy (Ravenclaw) wants to come home
I don't think I'm homesick, precisely. I just don't want to put up with Uncle Sam anymore. He's french, old, kinda creepy (though no, he has not creeped on me, thankfully), and is self-centered to the point where he does not listen. At all. To anyone except himself.
AND HE PONTIFICATES. I hate it hate it hate it.
Granted, I've been at Le Bourride less than a week. And the kids are great - I'm teaching english and both enjoying it and covering Actual Subject Matter, and my class is angelic (except when I tell them to, you know, fill out wanted posters because we're now in the Wild West, and then they kill everyone...) and the other counselors are all nice, but - there's something that doesn't really gel in this team. Part of it is the language barrier. Uncle Sam's english is SO poor that he uses Skippy as a translator some of the time, and just talks in French some of the time, and doesn't seem to care that some of us can't understand french. Our DLs can, of course, and about half the team has proficient french. There's a lot of french flying around the camp, though it's supposed to be english immersion, because he can't say everything in english. Sure, I shouldn't ream him out for not knowing perfect english when I can't speak french. BUT. Neither am I directing a site.
It's just... frustrating. I got my head ripped off yesterday (not by yelling, of course. Uncle Sam is very firm on the fact that he Never Yells. He does, however, talk, sternly, telling us that we're terrible people, and that we didn't do things exactly his way.) Seriously, though? The only thing that went wrong with the program last night was that I hadn't spent my afternoon making 2 6 ft. tall cacti, and had passed out on a couch, instead. Yes, we were all a little slow in setting up our stations. But carnival started on time, it went fine, the kids enjoyed it...
but evidently it had no soul. (or sule, as Uncle Sam called it)
We actually stood up to him last night. But the problem with that is that he thinks we're all against him (disliking him, sure, against the AmVil goals, no! We just don't think that he's following them correctly) and so now he's kinda ticked off with us all. But RAWR. We didn't do anything WRONG!
Sigh. It's my day off, so I don't have to deal with this nonsense today. But it's just frustrating, because the goals of the program are for the kids to have fun and for them to learn English. that's pretty much it. and we fufilled those goals - there was no reason for him to flip at us.
Under the Amvil guidelines? there is no reason for us to spend the first day making all the kids' beds. NO REASON. Yes, they're spoiled rich french kids, who've never made a bed in their life. Huzza. Clearly, it's time for them to learn, no? Under the AmVil guidelines, you at least pretend to listen to your team, so that they don't hate working at your site, and end up doing their jobs poorly because they don't want to listen to you at ALL.
In other news, the food is terrible, the site is beautiful but the field is small, the view of the mountains is fantastic, but there is a coffee/tea/hot chocolate machine that's turned on at mealtimes. I've been drinking copious amounts (of hot chocolate) because it is much happier than having to deal with all of the above.
My co-counselors are cool - the ones I didn't mention before I actually hadn't met, so here goes:
Moby's french, and he's going to play the guitar for us at some point
Wings is sweet, kind of mellow, kind of quiet. she's one of those people who 'nice' fits
Submarine is french, very good english, pretty cool
Iffy is french, funny, and we're going to watch Hancock later because I haven't seen it. Should be exciting.
Oh, and the Tour de France passed by today, so we got to watch it. Twas pretty cool - though those guys are FAST.
AND HE PONTIFICATES. I hate it hate it hate it.
Granted, I've been at Le Bourride less than a week. And the kids are great - I'm teaching english and both enjoying it and covering Actual Subject Matter, and my class is angelic (except when I tell them to, you know, fill out wanted posters because we're now in the Wild West, and then they kill everyone...) and the other counselors are all nice, but - there's something that doesn't really gel in this team. Part of it is the language barrier. Uncle Sam's english is SO poor that he uses Skippy as a translator some of the time, and just talks in French some of the time, and doesn't seem to care that some of us can't understand french. Our DLs can, of course, and about half the team has proficient french. There's a lot of french flying around the camp, though it's supposed to be english immersion, because he can't say everything in english. Sure, I shouldn't ream him out for not knowing perfect english when I can't speak french. BUT. Neither am I directing a site.
It's just... frustrating. I got my head ripped off yesterday (not by yelling, of course. Uncle Sam is very firm on the fact that he Never Yells. He does, however, talk, sternly, telling us that we're terrible people, and that we didn't do things exactly his way.) Seriously, though? The only thing that went wrong with the program last night was that I hadn't spent my afternoon making 2 6 ft. tall cacti, and had passed out on a couch, instead. Yes, we were all a little slow in setting up our stations. But carnival started on time, it went fine, the kids enjoyed it...
but evidently it had no soul. (or sule, as Uncle Sam called it)
We actually stood up to him last night. But the problem with that is that he thinks we're all against him (disliking him, sure, against the AmVil goals, no! We just don't think that he's following them correctly) and so now he's kinda ticked off with us all. But RAWR. We didn't do anything WRONG!
Sigh. It's my day off, so I don't have to deal with this nonsense today. But it's just frustrating, because the goals of the program are for the kids to have fun and for them to learn English. that's pretty much it. and we fufilled those goals - there was no reason for him to flip at us.
Under the Amvil guidelines? there is no reason for us to spend the first day making all the kids' beds. NO REASON. Yes, they're spoiled rich french kids, who've never made a bed in their life. Huzza. Clearly, it's time for them to learn, no? Under the AmVil guidelines, you at least pretend to listen to your team, so that they don't hate working at your site, and end up doing their jobs poorly because they don't want to listen to you at ALL.
In other news, the food is terrible, the site is beautiful but the field is small, the view of the mountains is fantastic, but there is a coffee/tea/hot chocolate machine that's turned on at mealtimes. I've been drinking copious amounts (of hot chocolate) because it is much happier than having to deal with all of the above.
My co-counselors are cool - the ones I didn't mention before I actually hadn't met, so here goes:
Moby's french, and he's going to play the guitar for us at some point
Wings is sweet, kind of mellow, kind of quiet. she's one of those people who 'nice' fits
Submarine is french, very good english, pretty cool
Iffy is french, funny, and we're going to watch Hancock later because I haven't seen it. Should be exciting.
Oh, and the Tour de France passed by today, so we got to watch it. Twas pretty cool - though those guys are FAST.