camp
So now I can get facebook at camp but no livejournal. The computers are kind of nitpicky. But, I don't really have time to update there anyway. I have the night off currently and am feeling a little bit guilty for not being at camp-even though I should not feel that way.
I left just before a crisis situation. A kid got sick and pooped all over the bathroom and himself. He cleaned himself up but had called his mom to come pick him up. He was refusing to see the nurse...I didn't have to deal with it but feel bad for the counselors that did.
My job really is not that difficult. I feel strange being in a directors role and am feeling slightly uncertain of my role because it is so undefined. But, I'm figuring it out as things go on and as the summer continues I will be able to add more and more things to the program that will hopefully be beneficial.
The last couple of days have been great. The first day the campers were here was rough. The male counselors especially were just not on the ball. It wasn't horrible, but people were 10 minutes late to activities, letting campers break the rules, and most importantly-a counselor lost a key and I was the last to know. It wasn't awful but could have been better, and during the evening meeting I said so. Anyways, afterwards I felt bad because people took it personally-especially the girls, and the current director was upset about what I had said. I don't know-I think what I said needed to be done, and maybe I could have done it less harshly...but then again I'm not that harsh really am I. I don't know. I suppose I could have phrased it differently.
I guess I need to get back into the mode of working with "normal" people again as opposed to gang members and ex convicts. But I don't even think that was it. I'm over this particular situation I suppose-it's over and it's a new day. I just feel like I can't really step to the plate right now because the old director is here adn any change I propose is shot down rather quickly. I think it's a matter of pride for him-and also difficult for him to see something change when he has done it a different way for so long. We'll see how this goes I suppose.
Thinking about it now, I suppose I'm not really over the situation that happened the first day. I need to emotionally recover from it I believe. Basically, all of the counselors knew that one of the counselors had lost his key that opens any door on campus. Well, they knew the right thing to do was come to the directors and didn't...I understand from their perspective they were protecting the person that lost the key. However-I wish I would have known so we could have handled the situation better. Plus, now I'm constantly wondering who I can really trust. Not so much with the camp stuff but with friendship stuff as well-because getting to know people is as important as the work things going on right now. I don't even know if I'm making sense right now. I need to get over this. Quick.
Training week was great. Playing games with teh counselors and getting to know them for who they are was fantastic. And I hope to spend lots of time with them as the summer goes on. Saturday night I had dinner with Demir, which was nice...it was weird to be with someone that I hadn't seen since college. Although college feels like yesterday I also realize that it was basically a lifetime ago. And I've transitioned twice since then-to chicago, and to here-and thinking about all of those different worlds at once brought about some strange emotions.
The kids are here this week. There are only 39 here which is basically nothing. Next session we will have over 80 which is going to be quite a transition and hopefully won't be too insane for me. We have a lot of Mexican kids coming which will be fun because I am able to use my spanish with them.
Tomorrow we are ordering supplies. I'm super excited about ordering the huge twister board for 30 people! :) And some other stuff too.
We have this adorable kid here this week that speaks no English. (He's Korean). The process of communicating with him has been difficult but not impossible-and he's picking up English as the week goes on.
I went surfing during training week. It was problematic because I'm scared of the ocean but I decided to be brave and try. The first time I got up on my knees. But the next time somehow I managed to get the cord wrapped around my neck. And the third time, too. And trust me, being strangled by a cord while you are being pushed towards the bottom of the ocean is quite scary. Now I'm even more scared.
This entry is incredibly disjointed. I really like the area. I love the camp, the counselors are fantastic just working out some trust issues coming from both directions and looking forward to being able to make my own changes. And looking forward to seeing Jesse at the end of the summer, obviously. I really want to prove myself this summer. I want to do well at this job, for myself, to have a success story-to prove to myself I can do what I love. I won't be as good at it as the person before me but I should do alright. I just need to keep my head up and enjoy the beach as much as I can.
I left just before a crisis situation. A kid got sick and pooped all over the bathroom and himself. He cleaned himself up but had called his mom to come pick him up. He was refusing to see the nurse...I didn't have to deal with it but feel bad for the counselors that did.
My job really is not that difficult. I feel strange being in a directors role and am feeling slightly uncertain of my role because it is so undefined. But, I'm figuring it out as things go on and as the summer continues I will be able to add more and more things to the program that will hopefully be beneficial.
The last couple of days have been great. The first day the campers were here was rough. The male counselors especially were just not on the ball. It wasn't horrible, but people were 10 minutes late to activities, letting campers break the rules, and most importantly-a counselor lost a key and I was the last to know. It wasn't awful but could have been better, and during the evening meeting I said so. Anyways, afterwards I felt bad because people took it personally-especially the girls, and the current director was upset about what I had said. I don't know-I think what I said needed to be done, and maybe I could have done it less harshly...but then again I'm not that harsh really am I. I don't know. I suppose I could have phrased it differently.
I guess I need to get back into the mode of working with "normal" people again as opposed to gang members and ex convicts. But I don't even think that was it. I'm over this particular situation I suppose-it's over and it's a new day. I just feel like I can't really step to the plate right now because the old director is here adn any change I propose is shot down rather quickly. I think it's a matter of pride for him-and also difficult for him to see something change when he has done it a different way for so long. We'll see how this goes I suppose.
Thinking about it now, I suppose I'm not really over the situation that happened the first day. I need to emotionally recover from it I believe. Basically, all of the counselors knew that one of the counselors had lost his key that opens any door on campus. Well, they knew the right thing to do was come to the directors and didn't...I understand from their perspective they were protecting the person that lost the key. However-I wish I would have known so we could have handled the situation better. Plus, now I'm constantly wondering who I can really trust. Not so much with the camp stuff but with friendship stuff as well-because getting to know people is as important as the work things going on right now. I don't even know if I'm making sense right now. I need to get over this. Quick.
Training week was great. Playing games with teh counselors and getting to know them for who they are was fantastic. And I hope to spend lots of time with them as the summer goes on. Saturday night I had dinner with Demir, which was nice...it was weird to be with someone that I hadn't seen since college. Although college feels like yesterday I also realize that it was basically a lifetime ago. And I've transitioned twice since then-to chicago, and to here-and thinking about all of those different worlds at once brought about some strange emotions.
The kids are here this week. There are only 39 here which is basically nothing. Next session we will have over 80 which is going to be quite a transition and hopefully won't be too insane for me. We have a lot of Mexican kids coming which will be fun because I am able to use my spanish with them.
Tomorrow we are ordering supplies. I'm super excited about ordering the huge twister board for 30 people! :) And some other stuff too.
We have this adorable kid here this week that speaks no English. (He's Korean). The process of communicating with him has been difficult but not impossible-and he's picking up English as the week goes on.
I went surfing during training week. It was problematic because I'm scared of the ocean but I decided to be brave and try. The first time I got up on my knees. But the next time somehow I managed to get the cord wrapped around my neck. And the third time, too. And trust me, being strangled by a cord while you are being pushed towards the bottom of the ocean is quite scary. Now I'm even more scared.
This entry is incredibly disjointed. I really like the area. I love the camp, the counselors are fantastic just working out some trust issues coming from both directions and looking forward to being able to make my own changes. And looking forward to seeing Jesse at the end of the summer, obviously. I really want to prove myself this summer. I want to do well at this job, for myself, to have a success story-to prove to myself I can do what I love. I won't be as good at it as the person before me but I should do alright. I just need to keep my head up and enjoy the beach as much as I can.