The Red Sox at Fenway Park

So I am off to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park – the holy grail of Baseball in New England.  This is

Me at Fenway Park

 something I have wanted to do for a long time now, and actually organised through an American friend who is currently in New Zealand on a working holiday of her own. The trip begins with arranging time off from camp.  This is a bit of fun as I need more than the regular 24hour time off in order to be able to get to Boston and then back the next day…  I manage to arrange the cover easily though as in the role of out-camping director, I don’t have a cabin of campers, and have convinced the programming staff not to give me a daily schedule.  I borrowed my friend Bryce’s car, and head off to Longmeadow where I am to take a VIP bus to the game and back with a bunch of Police officers and Firefighters, all friends of Sarah’s.  I have a 3 hour drive, and then a few beers at the local bar with a bunch of people I have never met, before heading to the local fire station to catch the bus.  Once on the bus, I meet more strangers, and really get into the swing of things.  There is a lot of drinking and banter, including the usual ribbing of Firefighters and their lack of work…  The VIP bus turns into the party bus, and we are well on our way when we hit Boston and the traffic.  Once we were parked, we had one final drink before heading into the park.  This involved a visit to the merchandise store for the obligatory t-shirt, and my new friends picked up a green monster for Sarah back in NZ.  We then enjoyed a beer or two outside the park and a Fenway frank before heading in to find our seats.  We had great seats, and the game was fantastic, especially the atmosphere.  It was very hot though, and I found this drained a lot of my energy, and I guess that of the Red Sox as they lost in a bad way!  I was not happy about this, as I have been a fan of the team since I was a child, and was hoping for a fantastic home win at my first game…   It was not to be…  But even though others were leaving before the last ball, I was strong and stayed until the end.  After the game, we boarded the bus for the return journey, and this is when it really became party central!  Everyone went hard, and there was a lot of drinking, and dancing on pretty much any surface.  IT was a lot of fun, and an enjoyable way to end the evening.  Once we got back to the firestation, Stu who had  organised the trip and was my host, took me next door to the police station where he worked , and I got a couple of photos next to his cruiser.  We then headed back to his place and settled down for the night.  In the morning, I got up and hit the road back to camp wishing I had more time to hang out in Longmeadow…  Maybe next year…

Alternative Transportation

Orange and Grey (colourwars) – kind of a big deal!

Spears representing Grey

Ok, so I messed the order up, but this is worth backtracking for…  Second session is synonymous with Orange and Grey!  They have gone together for decades – you simply don’t mess with perfection…  Orange and Grey is the biggest event at camp.  It is a draw card which fills second session every year without fail.  Campers register for this session in the hopes of victory – teams are allocated by cabin, and the camp is split in half from the epic opening ceremony, competing in everything from track-meet, to individual activities, team sports, silent meals, and chant meals, and it all culminates with a huge omnibus involving everyone at camp.  Everyone has their allegiances, and many have a tradition of being on the same colour/team for years.  Campers and staff look forward to these three days as much as each other – it is nothing short of war, and is a battle everyone comes prepared for…  This is one of those things where you just have to be there to understand – everyone at camp is totally committed, including the Director.  In past years I have always been on the Grey team, this year I snuck into the Orange ranks, and although I was more of an independent it was still hard not to get caught up in the momentum… 

Leith Representing Orange

This year was no let-down.  With our fantastic new program director in charge, we had an outstanding program and some great new ideas and activities to mix things up with the good ol’ traditional stalwarts.  In the end it all came down to the omnibus and the finale with the Indian war canoes – what can I say – once again it was a victory for Orange…

 Once we got these awesome few days out of the way, we were back into our regular camp program, which while it wasn’t Orange and Grey, it was still awesome!