Reliving Summer Camp Days

Remember those days when you would be free from parents, chores, and intense Chinese summer study? (okay, everything except for the last one maybe). How about being put in awkward situations with people you didn't previously know but who, at the end of one week, seemed like your best friend and became the person you needed to sit by you at the dinner table so that you didn't stick out? Remember wearing the same t-shirt for days, and having your swimsuit double as part of your daily outfit? Maybe I'm just weird and that's just me, but that's what this feels like--except now I'm a teacher, and it's kind of tough.

After loading one of 5 buses packed full of Chinese kids and giving a little speech about myself, we took a 3 hour trip to Mile (pronounced "mee-luh"). Mile is famous as being one of the headquarters of Honghe cigarette company (huge in China, which is home to 1/3 of the world's smoking population). The school we arrived at, Qinglai School, is all Honghe money, as is much of the town...I've seen stucco homes and nicely manicured lawns that remind me of Florida. The school did not disappoint: its facilities would make my high school look like a joke, and even put most private Catholic schools to shame. The school is laid out around a huge lake, that has a high diving board (30 feet?...you take an elevator to the top). It has an area for gymnastics, a huge basketball area, several soccer fields, a track, an amphitheater, an auditorium, and its own beaches around the lake, among other things. The grass is amazing...you come to realize how important grass is after you've been pounding around in the concrete-laden cities for a month. The website is www.qlschool.cn but the pictures are lacking.

Anyway, we got there, and of course they had Beijing Olympic shirts for us, with the camp's name on it. Everyone was issued two shirts, and the campers have been wearing them every day so far...it's kind of nasty, but they say they've been washing them in the sink. You can see two of our volunteers: Sam on the left and Joseph on the right. Sam constantly has Chinese people touch his dreads to see if they are real. He has even been named "Predator" from the movie, because of his looks. He said he'll be walking around and kids that aren't even in his class will call him that.

We got settled in and the leaders of the camp decided to move the opening ceremony from Monday afternoon to just 2 hours after we arrived at the camp...nice. It wouldn't have been a problem, but I had to give a speech as representative of all the American volunteers, because of my leadership position. My speech had been written for me because I had gotten very sick, but it was still all in Chinese characters and I had yet to translate or figure out what a few of the characters meant. So, with the help of Leonardo, my next door neighbor, I scrambled through the speech and figured it out, translating it the best I could.

I pulled through--despite a couple hiccups, the speech went okay...I had to read it in both English and Chinese. Then I skipped dinner in favor of my long run, eating Ramen-like noodles instead. The next day we had class...and we had been given little, or rather no instruction on how to teach. My class specializes in games. This picture is of us getting ready to play telephone--you can imagine the weird things you end up with when you've got kids who can barely speak English. I'll keep you updated on our progress.