Thursday, June 3, 2010

Camp: Arrival

I can only upload pictures from the hours of 2-7 am, so it might be a while before I post any, not that I have had time to take them anyway, but that is besides the point. We have satellite internet here, which is a technologly I didn't know existed, and that is because, no one uses it unless absolutly necessary. But enough about the wonders of the interent, let me tell you about camp! The GPS could not find the address I put in for camp, so we just set it to the town where the camp is located and found our way from there, turns out I typed Neil Lee Road, when I should have typed Nell Lee Road, but I made it here in one peice eventually. I am living in a house with three other staff members, the assistant camp director, the program director, and the arts/music/judaics director. I have my own room, with air conditioning which I promptly kissed upon arrival, because it would have been a loooonnnnggg summer without it. I am typing to you from my very own office, the first of my social work career, although I always pictured it with less Israli flags. We have been in trainings the last few days, and I have been doing my best to remember the few hebrew words that I have learned so far. Boker Tov is wake up, and it was a tough one this morning, I kept jerking awake last night in fear, after hearing tales of a racoon that ATE through two doors in the kitchen, he didn't break the lock with his nimble fingers, he just ate a hole in the door, and then, he ate a bag of pancake mix. The thing is ferocious.

Everyone on the Administration staff is great, and I hope that by the end of the week we will all be buds, I am still homesick, even with things to do, and being at camp makes me miss the fellowship something awful. I am really excited to have campers, and get to work.
UPDATE-
I typed the above entry yesterday, and it feels like a week ago. I am about to experience my first Shabbat, albeit altered for camp. I got into a discussion with Benny the Judaics director last night about the rituals that define Judaism, and in his opinion, you can be Jewish without ever actually professing a belief in God, but just by going through the rituals. I am not suprised by this, as I think it is human nature to be drawn towards familiarity and routine, there is comfort in ritual, it is tangible. I cannot remember the last time where I felt so out of my element than here, and I love it. I am hoping that this experience changes me and helps me grow in more ways than I expected. (and I hope I get plenty of pool time in as well....)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

boker tov is more like good morning. we used to do "boker tov campers/camp director" at the jcc the same way we did "good morning campers/camp director" at fellowship. you'll figure out the hebrew- or at least the right sounds. congrats on an office- even I don't have that!

Kellie/Joe said...

I was going to say bokar tov means good morning, but Maribeth beat me to the correction punch. Thanks, Maribeth.

Post a Comment