And now the campers arrive…

Camp is open for business, life is crazy once again and things are all go!  I’m off to Andover on the 5am luggage/bus camper run to load the truck before heading on to Logan airport again to pick up a couple of campers arriving from France (Everyone is beginning to think I like airports…).  One of our CIT’s (also from France) is joining me for this part of the journey to help with  any language difficulties.  As their flight doesn’t arrive until 4pm, we spend a leisurely day in Andover before meandering down to Boston to collect the camper.  We don’t get out of the Airport until 6pm, which means we have missed the complete arrival day.  Back to camp at 8.30pm, just in time for the tail end of rules and lights out.

After making sure the guys are settled into their cabin, I head back to the office and then up to the staff lounge which Matt and I are working on tidying up and painting for the staff.  Jo joins us and we begin the paint work which takes us through until 2am (and that was just the walls).  The next day we finished the room off by painting the floor.  The lounge is now open for business and last night I relaxed and watched a movie with some of the guys after staff store.

Camp is a different place with the campers.  It is more vibrant and really comes to life when everyone is here. It’s also nice to meet up with campers from previous summer(s) and catch up.  Camp is more than just a place to come for a few weeks, there is a real atmosphere and community feel about it.  Everyone knows everyone else, and the first day or two is always about catching up with friends from last summer for everyone.  This is my 4^th summer in 6 years, and this place is home to me (in more ways than one – I actually don’t have a home back in NZ when I am here).  I get to enjoy the fantastic views (which New Hampshire are aparently now taxing – yes NH does have the odd tax, and one of those is a ‘view tax’ no sales taxes for me to worry about though…)

Morning at East Beach

Sunday night brings us our first Vespers of the summer.  Here staff and campers play and sing songs to the staff in front of a campfire and one of the best views in the world.  We are also visited by an Alumni who joins us as our evening storyteller – and he always has the most amazingly detailed stories for us.  An important part of the first vespers is the pinecone ceremony.  Here, campers and staff are called up by the number of years they have been at camp, and they in turn throw the matching number of pinecones onto the fire.  For me this year marks 4, my friend and Assistant Director Matt is at 20 years, and Dave the Director is at 29.  There is a lot of experience and history in this camp and this is shown through the number of staff, and even campers, who have been here for many years.

Camp Lawrence Vespers

Staff Week!

The international staff arrived on 17^th and the American staff on the 19^th.  I had the privilege of driving down to collect a vanload of internationals from Logan airport in Boston.  I drove down the night before and spent the night at the Marriott in Andover before getting up early to be at the airport by 7am for the first arrival.  After4½ hours collecting 9 people from a variety of flights, gates, and terminals, we were able to hit the road and head up to camp.  A couple of days later, all the US staff arrived and we were able to get Staff week underway.  With this being an ACA year (every three years camps are inspected by the American Camping Association to maintain their accreditation) we needed to make extra sure we covered all our bases in regards to training.  Matt and I took schedules from previous years and added a lot of additional training in as well as making sure we covered all the usual bases.  With a reduced staff, we also had to find a way to make sure no activity training sessions overlapped to ensure as many people as possible were able to be trained in all the activities.  To make this task more difficult, we also still had a lot of work to get done preparing camp for the campers – while this is not unusual, and provides good bonding time for the staff, there was an unprecedented amount of work projects to get through this summer.  The staff did an amazing job getting through everything, and all the training went off without any dramas.  After a week of planning and running training sessions, meetings, and coordinating work projects, Matt and I were exhausted.  No rest though – the campers get here tomorrow and we have to be all go for them as well…

Pre-Camp work…

So now that I am on the island, it is time to get some work done.  Pre-camp means manual labour…  And this is what is needed to get camp ready for the staff and campers.  Our camp is in quite a state this year as we have just finished building our new kitchen.  This is a huge upgrade from the old one, which is probably as old as my parents…  The result though is a messy main area, and work on the rest of camp being behind.  Several trees came down over the course of the winter, either due to natural causes or taken down for safety reasons, as well as a couple of cabins.  This meant there is a lot for us to do.  To make matters worse (or maybe it made life easier… the jury is still out…) Dave, the Camp Director was confined to his cabin after an incident with left him with an injured leg before camp.  This meant he had to leave getting camp ready to us, and we had to step up and make sure we get everything done without him being there to remind us.  Bryce, our friendly Maintenance Manager, was there throughout the process throwing tasks at us as well as everything Matt (Assistant Director) and I could come up with.

It all starts with lists, and more lists…  We worked through a huge amount of work and managed to get camp to look a little more respectable before the rest of the staff arrived for staff week.  Everything from turning the water on to cleaning up cabins, to splitting and chipping wood kept us busy.  The weather was cold for the first few days and then suddenly, we got up one morning and it was summer – the piping hot weather hasn’t left us since!

The Flight…

So the day has arrived…  After a night without sleep (nerves, excitement, anticipation, one of these is responsible for this!) I head to the airport to meet up with 8 other Summer Campers who are heading to camp for the first time.  We all met at 10am and checked in for our flight, avoiding the large queues, and then headed for the bar.  Unfortunately this was closed, so we had to make do with the food court.  We hung out for a while and had some food before clearing security (there were two sets of security to clear). While waiting in the boarding lounge I ran into a Work USA Plus traveller (which seems to happen every time I travel these days).  After a small wait, we were called to board.  As our seats were down the back of the plane, we were the first group called to board, which is always good, as I hate waiting…  Then, after having been awake for 37 hours we were underway for the first 12-hour leg of the journey. 

The Summer Camp Group Flight

As I can’t sleep on a plane I knew I was in for a long trip so got straight to checking out the in-flight entertainment.  After watching 4 movies, I struggled to find any music which I wanted to listen to (even though I couldn’t sleep, I had reached the point of not being able to keep my eyes open…). 

 We arrived into LAX at 6.30am and cleared customs reasonably quickly.  I then handed my luggage back over to the airport as it was checked right through to my final destination, and wandered down the road to the next terminal for my onward flight.  I had a 17 hour layover here, which is a little ridiculous, but I have a tendency to do these things to myself.  There is very little to do at LAX, and once I had figured out how to get my boarding passes for my domestic flights, I passed through security and then got some breakfast and settled in for the day… and it was a long day… I was rather tired, so tried to dose for a while unnoticed, unsuccessfully… A lady sitting nearby asked me if I had a good sleep after I resurfaced! 

Finally 11pm came around and it was time to board the next plane – now as I had checked in so early I had a seat near the front so had to wait and was one of the last to board – not impressed! We then hit the air for another 4 hours before hitting Cleveland for the morning transit.  An hour there and I was on the last plane – a small jet with 3 seats per row and the toughest stewardess I have even had on a flight.  This flight lasted 90 minutes, and then I had an hour’s car ride to camp, with a stop off to get some groceries on the way.

We had lunch and then I had a shower, my first in a couple of days.  This woke me up a bit and is allowed me to last until 11pm (my cure for jetlag is staying up to the normal time – trust me it works wonders, especially after 87 hours awake – that’s more than 3 days!). I spent the afternoon catching up with friends and the Camp Director before settling in and watching the Basketball with my cabin mate.

I made it – I’m now at camp for the 4^th summer in 6 years…

Leaving Party

As I sit on the couch recovering from last night’s epic leaving party I realise how lucky I am to have so many friends around me from all over the world.  IEP and my years at Camp Lawrence have opened up so many doors.  I have friends who I can stay with in pretty much every corner of the world, and most are people I met either at camp or IEP.  I am sure the Tuesday night pubmeet at The Bluestone Room will not be the same without me and I will miss the regular session with my worldly friends.

Enjoying an evening out

I am also going to miss the friendly banter around the office, as well as helping others get away to the USA on their working holiday adventures.  Sharing in people’s excitment as they prepare for their travels can be as much fun as doing it myself. But I must remind myself that the time is here for my new adventure!  A few months at Camp Lawrence, followed by a visit to Colorado to visit another good friend, then off to Las Vegas to start my 10-day Trek America tour… Another epic summer in the USA!

BRING IT ON!

Cheers New Zealand

Saying Goodbye

Wow – the time is oh so near now… With just one day left in the office I am not sure if I can get everything I want to done – some stuff may have to wait until I return or someone else gets around to it.  There is always so much to do and so little time, even though now they are exciting times for not just me, but for everyone heading to camps all over the USA.  There have been many dramas and lots of long days over the last month as we finalised our plans, and the time is nearly here to board the plane and head to warmer pastures…  I can’t wait!

Saying goodbye is never easy – no matter how many times you do it.  I have a lot of good friends here – even in Auckland – and am not the best at saying goodbye, or for that matter organising leaving parties (just ask my workmates…). They will happen though, and by the sounds of it will be epic.  It is understandable though – I mean, how could you not miss me?  It is going to be quite a weekend…

After a few years of this, the excitement doesn’t really hit until you are at the airport.  Monday is going to be a big day for me – literally – it is after all, much longer than 24 hours… Although without my itinerary and a calculator I can’t work it out…  Ask me again in a few days…  This year I get to share my flight with a group of first-time Summer Campers again – there will be 9 of us on the flight, so it should be quite a fun trip.  Not only will we get to riot in the Spinnaker Bar at the Airport before we board the plane, but on the plane we will be able to talk amongst ourselves and I am sure as the day goes by, and the many hours on the plane, we will all just get more and more excited about the pending summer.

Be sure to enjoy your winter New Zealand – I for one will not miss it!