letters to camp (matt webb)

More pen-pal letters! A few weeks ago I sent my friend Matt Webb a letter at camp (the first one he'd ever received at camp—ever!) and he's been sending me letters back. One of the great things about being a pen-pal with an artist? The letters themselves are works of art.

The envelope. The "currfully" part is funny because Matt is from Tennessee.

Secretly in code but awesome looking! Can you figure it out...?

And bonus secret fold-out letter on the side. Amazing!

My response letter: a mini book! (Shocking, I know.)

I made it Insta-Book style with a secret nature scene inside.

Honestly, Matt's letter was so amazing when I just saw the envelope I got so excited I shook a little. Fact. Hopefully mine can make him a little happy, too.

letters to camp (ashley)

I made this tiny book and then wrote a letter in it to Ashley and sent it to her at summer camp because who doesn't like mail?

Don't be fooled, this book was originally made out of blank computer paper: I lined these pages myself.

Surprise! The book is tiny! Doesn't that just make it so much better?!
(The correct answer is yes.)

preparation

Ways that summer camp prepared me for living in Ecuador:

1. Getting up early: At camp we had to get up at 7:15 am every morning. In Ecuador we have to wake up at 6:30, BUT the time zone is an hour behind PA time, so it's really like waking up at 7:30. I'm actually sleeping in!

2. Not having a cell phone. No texting? No problem! I didn't have service in Lake Como, PA, and I don't have service in Cuenca, Ecuador. I'm used to it.

3. Inconsistent showers in terms of water pressure, hot water, and regularity.

4. Sleeping on uncomfortable mattresses with blankets that are not mine.

5. Strange bathroom rituals: At camp it was "poop, flush, whip, flush." In Ecuador, it's "wipe, throw toilet paper in garbage, flush." In other words, the plumbing in a developing country and the plumbing at "Camp Summer" are strikingly similar.

6. Tempermental internet. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and no one is ever online when you want them to be anyway.

7. The weather: it is cold in the morning and at night and hot in the middle of the day. Hmmm... living in the Andes sounds a lot like living in the Poconos...

8. Living with upwards of 15 other girls, all younger than me.

9. Planning activities by looking through the the piles of supplies we already have? Easy. The hard part is that it's for 1-5 year olds instead of 7-15 year olds. Their skill set is a little different...

10. Eating the same thing over and over and over again. Rice, anyone?

memories...

Since I didn't blog at all while I was actually at camp, I feel the need to do a little story telling now. I hope you enjoy

Story #1:

Ashley and I are the same person. Ashley, for those of you who don't know (which I realize is pretty much all of you) was my co-counselor at summer camp. She is amazing. She's from Florida/Alabama, is 22, married to Rob—the pottery master and head of pottery at camp—and is hilarious. She was a counselor here at camp last year too and I was so lucky to have her to help me through the trying times that are summer camp. It got to the point where we could complete each others sentences, one of us could tell our girls what we needed them to do then the other would enforce it without even missing a beat. We worked together at T-Shirt Factory (tie dying t-shirts) and one of us could nap while the other helped kids and then we would switch and there was never animosity or frustrations and she is seriously one of my best friends now. She calls me her other-other-half. We even made up our own tie dye fold called The Cashley (or Hugs and Kisses because it makes x's and o's when it's done). In short, I love Ashley Lugo.

Story #2:

We are not supposed to talk to our campers about our personal lives (to avoid awkward questions about drinking, virginity, and the like) so to help deflect questions about me and Jace we just told our campers that we were siblings which usually sparked the comment, "Oh yeah. You do look alike." Well, one night Jace and I sneaked away from one of the evening socials to microwave tiny delicious pies we had bought at Walmart the night before and then forgotten about. As we were trying to eat them without burning either our hands or our mouths Alex walked into the kitchen. He was complaining about how his parents were late picking him up for his night and day off because they were helping his brother move into his new apartment when all of a sudden, mid-sentence he stopped and, looking from me to Jace, asked, "Hey, are you guys brother and sister?" Without missing a beat I go, "Yup." Then he asked if we were twins to which I replied, "No. Not twins." When he wanted to know who was older Jace told him to guess. He guessed Jace (probably because he is taller) and Jace goes, "Yep. Good guess." Haha. The whole thing was hilarious because we were so serious about it the whole time and Alex did all the work: all we had to say was yes or no.

A week or two later Alex came up to us at an evening activity and asked us if we were really brother and sister, which we assured him we were. "Yeah, that's what I said too but those girls over there seem to think you are dating." "What?" I responded. "That's ridiculous." "I know!" and then he walked off.

Meanwhile, camp goes on and we forget about the whole thing. Then, during minicamp, Jace and I were standing together at another evening activity and for some reason he gave me a hug (probably because he said something and then I told him we were through and he had to make it up to me). Alex, unbeknownst to us, was sitting on a bench behind us and commented to Stephanie, who was sitting next to him, how cute it was that Jace was hugging his sister. Stephanie, understandably confused, asked who Jace's sister was. Alex, surprised, said, "Cassi." To which Stephanie responded, "Ummm... They're dating." It is at this point that seemingly out of nowhere Jace and I hear yelled from behind us, "YOU!!!" We turn around to see Alex, open mouthed, pointing at us while Stephanie is sitting next to him beside herself with laughter. Jace looked at me all confused and that's when I realized that the lie we had told weeks ago had come back to haunt us. Well, mostly to haunt Alex. We laughed and then went over to taunt him further. It made our night.

NOTE: The last day of camp Alex asked me if Jace and I were going to get married. I responded, "Oh yeah. We're actually already engaged." To which he responded, "Oh really?! WAIT! I hate you."

Story #3:

I taught my girls The Sweater Song. My 10 year old girls. And it was their favorite. I wrote out the words for them (editing the first line for their and my benefit) and we would sing it together and then they would ask me to play it for them on the guitar like every night so they could sing it. It completed me.

My favorite though was when we had a new group of girls come and the old girls wanted to teach the new girls the song. We played it through for them once and asked them what they thought. One of the girls said, "Well, it's a little inappropriate, don't you think? I mean, NAKED?" It was all I could do not to laugh. The 13 year old girls I had cabin-sat the night before were listening to songs like Birthday Sex and when I tried to tell them that was inappropriate they didn't seem to understand. So to have a song deemed inappropriate just because it had the word naked in it was such a shock to me: in a good way. I smoothed it over by explaining that the "naked" being referred to in the song was metaphorical: he just feels naked without his sweater; he's not actually naked. (I think it went right over her head.)

road trip to everywhere

So, after camp ended I went on a four-day road trip with a fantastic boy I met at camp and whom I may or may not be but definitely am currently dating. His name is Jace. (It rhymes with face.) You may remember him from a previous entry—he has toe shoes that make him look like a ninja. Obviously my dad thought it was one of my more brilliant plans. I think his exact words were, "That is the worst possible idea you could ever have." I took that to mean that if I got a tattoo while I was drunk and then got pregnant on the trip than it couldn't be any worse than having gone on the trip in the first place, so I did just that. 

Except not at all. (Don't worry, Dad.)

After we got paid Wednesday Jace and I drove home to my house, did laundry, ate delicious food, and slept. Yesterday morning we did more laundry, ate more good food, then packed up the car around lunch time and headed off for our first grand adventure: Woodstock.

Woodstock was a fabulous hippie town where we thrift shopped, ate veggie pizza, and generally enjoyed ourselves. I highly recommend it. So do Jace's parents. But they don't want to talk about it. Oh! Also as we were leaving we found a castle park! It was exactly like the one that used to be in Chatham before they knocked it down and replaced it with yet another lame plastic playset. Of course we stopped and played. It completed me.

We had no plans to stay anywhere specific that night—we decided to just drive in the general direction of Niagra Falls until we were too tired to go any farther and figure it out from there. Sadly, since we've been camp counselors all summer and are used to getting up at 7:15 am on the dot, eating crappy food, and never getting enough sleep, we reached our exhaustion limit around 8:30 pm. Well done. However, there was no cheap sleeping arrangements to be found. So we drove and drove and drove and finally stumbled upon a KOA Kampsite around 10:30 pm that saved our lives. The office was closed when we got there but we filled out the correct forms, put the $30 cash in the proper envelope, found a tent site, pitched out tent, and fell dead asleep. We felt like real adults, all responsible and paying for things. You know.

We woke up in the morning to a babbling brook, neighboring RVers, and an old man with a trailer that had a Porche inside. No big deal. Also, last night as we were unpacking we discovered a dead mouse in one of our sleeping bags. Luckily Jace is quite a man and scooped it out of the stuffing and threw it outside the tent. We tried our best to not mention it while the sleeping bag was still in use because what? gross.

one time, at summer camp...

So my stint as a summer camp counselor is officially over. I tell you what, it was time. I had a great time, met FANTASTIC people (Ashley, Rob, Jace, Mary, Stephanie, Lauren, Matt, Andrew, Maggie, Suzi... the list goes on), and learned lots of new skills (like how to weave a headband out of hot loops on your fingers and how to make a flippity bowl) and now I am exhausted. Good thing I leave on Thursday to go to Ecuador. For two and a half months. To work with children. No big deal. I am really interested to see the differences between the way rich, American, mostly Jewish kids act compared to the poor, Ecuadorian, mostly Catholic kids. It will be a fascinating study I'm sure.

camp summer

So I made it! We traveled cross country and now I am in northeastern Pennsylvania at "Camp Summer." We are not allowed to use the name of the camp in any kind of electronic publications so I will now be using the moniker "Camp Summer."

So far Camp Summer has been pretty chill. There are no kids here yet, it's just training this week so I'm just making friends with some of the other counselors. I've already managed to dye my hands magenta however. Good times.

A few facts to note: I will not have constant cell phone or internet access, so I will mostly likely only be able to call/e-mail you on my days/nights off which will be Sunday and some other night yet to be determined. So, don't be offended if I take a week or so to get back to you on anything. The kids aren't supposed to see our cell phones or laptops so I will most likely not use them at all except when aforementioned. However, we are also supposed to cover all visible tattoos and midriffs and underwear are supposed to be covered by clothing at all times and that for sure doesn't happen so... We'll see what's what after the first week of camp.

Also, I have been experiencing a little bit of culture shock which is weird since I am from here. However, I realized this week that I haven't been surrounded by other kids my age who are not predominantly Mormon since high school and it's a little weird. I think I'm adjusting fairly quickly though and I've already made a few friends! One of whom is patiently sitting next to me in my car as we steal wifi from a neighbor in Hancock, NY on our first night off. He has toe shoes for mountain climbing which made him look like a ninja.

I will do my best to keep you updated on how things are going. Additionally, we are not allowed to use our cameras at camp because of liability or soemthing I'm sure, just like you can't take pictures in public schools without parent's permission. So, lame. I'm sorry. But try not to get too bored with my text-only posts for now. I'll see what I can do about making friends with the camera girls...