Life at Camp

There is so much I could write about. Even though, for an outsider, the days look quite the same, they all feel different. I could write about that day we had a riding-staff barn sleep-over, in which we slept in the hay, while listening to the raccoons outside. Or the day of the Swim Across the Lake, in which a group of 20 canoes set of at 6am, to peddle the swimmers across the lake, and I was one of them. Maybe that day during change-over on which Minna, Laura and I canoed and portaged to an hidden-lake, had an picnic and did mind-journeys while floating on the water, surrounded by nature. Perhaps the arrival of my campers would be good, although I would have to include the talk I had with Joce in which she told me she ‘found’ the perfect cabin for me, because they all needed some new perspectives. I could also mention reese cups, Tim Hortens and other new food experiences I had. The Candle-Light ceremony is also a good candidate, cause it was a magical experience with poems, songs and the lighting of candles in the dark to remember the best experiences we had at camp, and which was concluded by singing the ‘Day is Done’ song at different location across camp. The organization of Earth Day, the plays, the EE lessons I taught or how the persisting drought is affecting us.
There is so much I could write about.

A Typical Day at Camp
6.45am; it is wake-up time! Depending on the day I get-up and feed the horses, go to weather-questers with the Voyo’s, work-out with the Northway work-out group or get ready to wake-up my cabin at 7.15 for Polar Dip. In general I wake them up 4 times a week and my AC does it 3 times a week.

7.45am;time to get the kids out of their cabin and get them to flag raising.
7.50am; flag raising. The whole camp gathers around the flag pole and sings the National Anthem O’ Canada, while the flag is raised. Each day a different cabin does a song, sketch, dance or something else to open the day. .

8am; start of breakfast. The breakfast tables are assigned seating. You sit with your cabin, your AC and sometime another staff-member from your section, Every meal starts with a grace in the form of a song after which the staff starts running around to get the campers food and special meals (e.g vegetarian, lactose, gluten etc). This often consists of several trips to the counter to get more food. Breakfast starts with cereal, (multiple different flavors), fruit (oranges and grapefruit) and juice. The second course is or something savory, like eggs, hash browns or bacon, or something sweet like Danishes, cinnamon buns or pancakes. After second course sections can sing their section song, while the tables are being emptied and cleaned.

8.50am; end of breakfast. Often the meal is followed by staff-meeting and other stuff.

9.15am; time to check-up on the kids and see if they are ready for Skill Advancement Time. They have a schedule of activities consisting of swimming, sailing, kayaking, jungle, canoeing, Wonders of the Wilderness (scouts), Eco-education, Theatre, Landsports and for the ones signed-up for it Riding.

9.30am; starts of SATs. I am staffed on either Riding of EE. At both activities I teach different levels, and age groups, or just help out with lessons or do barn chores. Each block is 1.5 hours long.

12.30pm; end of SATs. Brief period in which you can back to your cabin, or finish some stuff at the morning activity.

12.50pm; time to get the kids for lunch.

1.00pm; Lunch. Lunch often consists of a hot meal, like meatballs and rice, lasagna or chicken-fingers, with fruit as dessert. It is not assigned seating, so you often arrange a ‘date’ with another counselor or AC, so you can catch up on things.

2.00pm; Rest hour. Time for the counselors to have a break. Although, often a part of RH is used for meeting or other work, like writing Parent Letters, Evals or preparing lessons. It is also a time to check-up on your kids or solve any issues or fights.

3.00pm; start of CATS. (Choice activity time). Different 1-hour activities, ranging from kayaking to beading, or the waterslide to a swimming trip to space mountain. Staff are switched around on a daily basis, so we get a break from our normal acitivites.

5.00pm; beginning of Cabin Time. An hour of activities with the cabin planned by the counselor. Everything is possible and examples of CT are; scavenger hunt, t-shirt making, cabin bracelets, swimming, water fights, dare night, slumber party and much more.

6.00pm; start of dinner. Same as lunch, but with something sweet as dessert instead of fruit.

7.00pm; end of dinner, start of an half hour break to prepare for evening program.

7.30pm; start of evening program. The evening program last one hour and varies from an All-Camp game, cabin evening, section evening, the play, talent show, etc.

8.30pm; end of evening program. Often the hour between evening program and bedtime is spend in the cabin to talk about the day, socialize and get them ready for bed.

9.30pm; bedtime for the kids. The counsellor, AC and section coordinator say goodnight to the kids.

9.45pm; end of time with the kids. Four times a session a counselor is on duty, which means they have to be at a certain place until 11pm. Other nights there are staff meetings and sometimes we can go to bed and get ready for the next day!

On Saturday we celebrated Earth Day. Organized by EE staff, the main purpose was to raise awareness for the Environment and the Natural World.
That same day it was 40 degrees celcius, with a soaring high humidity.
That night there was a storm with thunder illuminating the sky for hours and rain which turned the main path in a river.

"You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”