Most of my days are really fast. Tuesday morning is not. After winding down on Monday I usually get breakfast early, then spend some time on preparing for the week. That can mean modifying ambushes for odd tribe numbers, or possibly just printing out some of the paperwork I need throughout the week.
We bring in the campers at about 2:30pm. I run announcements in the Dining Hall while they all grab a cookie and milk. Then I send them out to get split into tribes by Jon Ford. Rob and I look around to make sure nothing is coming up with the counselors as they are sorting through some paperwork. By 4:00pm we try to ring the bell for our opener.
The Opener establishes some major Camp Barakel rules and alarms to pay attention to. Then we turn them loose with their counselors. After dinner Rob and I run a dual ambush with guys and girls playing different ambushes. I try to go to most of the chapels, at least to check in and see how they're going, otherwise I get paperwork and reading done before counselor snack. I also try to help out at counselor snack until about 11pm.
Wednesday-Saturday
I usually get to the Program Center before 8am to make sure all my ducks are in a row for the day. Then after breakfast I help run the Counselor Circles. On the West Side of camp we have one for girls, then another later for boys. It's a chance for the counselors to regroup mentally while they're campers are in morning chapel.
I almost exclusively run lunch announcements and the Big Splash afterwards. Big Splash is where we pick two tables and each of them sends a representative to challenge another camper or staff person. Then we go outside and they each have to kneel in front a bucket, only one of them has water in it. So it's a challenge where you have a 50/50 chance of getting soaked.
Most afternoons I have Zipline for all of freetime. It's a fun break from the thinking aspect of programing. You just operate the zipline, pretty simple. Saturday afternoons I have a break from the Zipline and I usually get pulled for Lifeguarding, or else I just go down to the water to swim with the kids.
After freetime we have dinner, ambush, chapel, counselor snack. This is my daily grind for the most part. I have a lot of responsibilities throughout the day, but there are often 15-45 minutes slots where I'm between tasks. I try to use these times to be a presense around camp, but I also get in a lot of reading. It's just enough time to take a break, but hard to do much beyond that.
Sunday
On Sunday I get up early for breakfast announcements, and then I send the tribes off to the East Side for Chapel. After that I become the inspector, checking out to see how well the 4th-6th grade kids can clean up. I'm suprised at how good they clean one week, then the next week there'll be a couple of tribes that completely blow it. I get to rush over to chapel late, then rush back over for lunch on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday afternoon is funny. Everything is kind of chill around here because games are over, free time is over, but there is still a lot of programing work to do. So I spend most of the afternoon adding up Merit scores, Sports scores, and also running the famous tradition of Counselor Hunt. Through all that I try to watch Musicale and eventually get some food before my Big Big Splash and the Awards. It's mostly downhill from there. We only have Firebowl and Counselor Snack after the Awards.
Monday
I usually need to be at the Medicine Teepee at 6:45am to get the leftover meds that we'll pack up for the kids. Sometimes Rob does this for me to help me get a little sleep. It's very much appreciated when he does. So I return the meds, hand out camper release forms, then after saying goodbye when the buses leave I get to watch the last kids before they get picked up.
That's Day 1 of Monday. Day 2 is cleaning. It really does feel like a whole day, although it's just 8:45am-11:00am. I run the Heritage cleaning crew, which is kind of a joke because I have two THREE year returners that help clean. They let me vacuum and I get some much needed alone time with a lot of noise in my ears.
Day 3 is the afternoon where we have free time. Sometimes there are organized events or training sessions, but usually we find some way to chill out for about 8 hours. The iron man summer staff used to welcome the buses back that same day. We're super thankful for the rest.
So that's the summer for me. I do have time to chill here and there, but most of the day is spent on the go. I'm having a lot of fun, and I still get to spend quality time with Mike Baker. I helped shingle for a morning, and installed a window into Dave Douglas' house one morning.
If anyone is still following I thank you for that. Please keep praying for me as I try to sprint my way through the summer here at Camp Barakel.
