Ok, so in my last post I talked about my time working as a camp counsellor in Maine, or the work aspects of camp to be specific, and there is a lot of working at a camp. Campers need supervision; they're teenagers so it's not the close guidance younger children need, it's more a case of just keeping an eye on things, making sure nothing negative's going on. Though it's not always 'direct' work, you need to be on your toes pretty much all day, so your time off is very important.
The staff at camp were split equally into two shifts, with each shift taking alternative nights off, so everyone is 'on' in the daytime, then come dinner time one shift is 'off' until the next morning. Simple really. Naturally people want to wind down on their time off, and being out in the woods you can't just go to a bar, so there are a few places at the camp that are staff only. There's a staff cabin on-camp that has a TV, games consoles, internet access and a separate room with beds, but being in and around the other cabins, there's a strict no-alcohol policy in effect. All of the alcohol policy's at camp are very strict, with no exceptions, but I'll come back to that later. Along with the staff cabin, there is also a campsite-like zone just outside of the camp that's used for socialising. It's owned by the camp, and has a campfire and a yurt set up there; being away from the campers and cabins you can drink, smoke, and not worry about things like swearing or discussing personal things with staff.
Drinking's not the be-all and end-all, of course. I was 20 in my first year at camp, so I couldn't drink legally, and there was no chance that I'd try and flaunt that rule. At first it was a stretch. Being from the UK (and looking quite a lot older than I am) I was used to drinking as a solid part of socialising, and to take it away means you have to adapt. It opened my eyes to how much of a crutch alcohol can be - there are plenty of people I've considered friends who I've never spent time around without a pint in hand.
With children on site, every summer camp is ultra-strict when it comes to alcohol. If, for example, it was found out that you had been drinking on your night off, and you're underage, when you wake up the next morning you'll be escorted straight to the director's office, told that you're fired, and (once the campers had left the cabin to go for breakfast) you'll be escorted back to your cabin to pack your things, then put on a car and taken to Portland Airport. No screwing around, no goodbyes to your co-workers or the campers, no sign you were ever there. You vanish from camp, and the staff are told in a meeting, away from the kids. The same applies to taking alcohol onto the camp and smoking on camp - you'll be taken away from camp as soon as there is an oppurtunity to do so without causing a scene.
Being out in the woods does stop you from going to bars. But it can't really stop you from doing the essentials. You need your amenities; toothpaste, soap, shampoo; there's the need to do laundry every other week or so; and there's just having some basics like a 10 pack of cola in your cabin or getting a magazine. Though we're not near a town of any real size, there is a village about 5 or 6 miles away from the camp. There's a laundrette and a mini-mart there which covers all the basics, though not much more. Chances are you'll get to know those two stores really well over the course of the summer; the staff even expect international staff from the camp over the summer months. If you want a takeaway there are a few pizza places and a Chinese a few more miles away if you want something different for dinner than what's available at camp that night.
If you need more than the basics though then a trip to a supermarket's probably due. The nearest wal-mart is (as the crow flies) at least 20 miles away. It's a 40 minute drive each way, and considering your time off is pretty limited, planning who gets to go can turn into a pretty big deal. The wal-mart is situated right next to an outlet mall and cinema, so sometimes it's better to go on your day off rather than in the evenings.
On your full days off, you naturally want to do something engaging, and get away from the camp for a couple of hours too. Days out to the beach, to Portland in Maine, and into New Hampshire are the most popular choices usually, though there's the chance to do whatever you like really. Having our own staff minivans with the fuel costs covered, there's a pretty big are you can cover to go and visit, though it needs to be a group agreement - the minivan holds 12 people, so you need 12 people willing to go and do the same thing of course.
The camp also hire a bus and arrange a staff day to Boston, usually in the middle of the summer. It's a 3 and a half hour drive to get from where we are in Maine to Boston, but it's completely worthwhile to leave the woods and be in a major city for the day. I might be a little biased because Boston is arguably my favourite city (it's between Boston and Toronto anyway) but it's a distraction that's well worth the time.
So that's camp life. There's probably a lot that I've left out; it's a huge experience, but I'd like to think I've covered most of the major points of the experiences I've had. I'm not working at camp this summer, if I were then I probably wouldn't be able to write this, I'd be working round about now, and there is a lot of work involved. It's hard work, but it's appreciable work, it's work that's fulfilling and enjoyable, and finger's crossed I'll be going back in 2011
Friday 30 July 2010
Saturday 24 July 2010
Waking to the sound of bells
As I mentioned in my first post, I've worked at a summer camp in the past. In both 2008 and 2009 I worked as a counsellor at a stay-over private camp up in Maine, set up specifically for teenagers. I have to watch how I phrase things here, because whilst I don't have a single bad thing to say about my time there I'm not so sure whether they'd appreciate me spreading their name around on the blogosphere.
Camp life in Maine is essentially a self-contained world of its own. The kids can stay at camp for 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, and the staff were there for about 10 weeks in total. With the nearest decent-sized town with a supermarket about 20 miles away as the crow flies (it took roughly 45 minutes to get there) we are pretty much cut off from the outside world. The camp is big enough to develop a sense of community, and after a few weeks camp is its own little 'bubble', with your trips to the outside world, either with kids on day trips or on your days off, feeling a little alien. You lose track of what day it is (my camp didn't run to a Mon-Fri calendar) and your knowledge of current affairs fades the longer you're there. Not that you care; camp news takes priority over world news, and there's always some kind of story going on at camp, whether it be needless gossip, an issue with a camper, or what's for lunch.
Day-to-day events run to the bell. On top of the camp office is a large-ish bell, and it’s rung throughout the day. It rings to wake people up at 8am, again and 8:30 to tell everyone to go for breakfast, at 9:15 to start the first activity of the day, and every activity throughout the day afterwards. It also rings for lunch, dinner, and to let everyone know that the evening’s entertainment is about to start and it’s also used for fire and storm alarms, of course. In fact the only daily occurrence you won’t hear the bell ring for is to tell everyone it’s time to turn the lights out and go to sleep. Both the staff and the kids live their life at camp by the bell; you always know what you’re meant to be doing and where you’re meant to be, it’s a regimented affair but that’s not necessarily a bad thing when working with kids.
My field of expertise (or at least what I think I'm ok at) is music, and my work at camp revolved around this. I play a handful of stringed instruments, from bass guitar to banjo, and my main daytime role at camp was instrument tuition! Before I went to camp for the first time this sounded like the perfect job, teaching music all day long, passing on my knowledge and experiences to musical rookies and veterans alike. What I didn't realise is this rose-tinted view, whilst very much achievable, actually requires a good deal of prior preparation. I'd never taught properly before, and my teaching theory was going to be 'the open class'. My lessons were to be an open slate - I found out what my students wanted to learn and we worked on that, rather than me laying down the curriculum! And for a class of advanced students in a workshop scenario it would probably have worked a treat, but I wasn't teaching advanced guitarists. I was teaching intermediate guitarists and beginner bass players, kids who needed guidance before freedom, and I was completely stumped. Plan B didn't exist, I had no prior teaching experience, so it was very much a case of improvising as I went along, and doing my best to make sure my students learnt something. Teaching sounds like an enjoyable pursuit, but without any training or past experience of it, it's actually terrifying. Confidence, or at least giving the aura of confidence, is so important in teaching, and when you're bumbling through your lessons like I was you simply don't have said confidence. Come my second year it was completely different, of course. I was experienced at teaching groups of teenagers, confident in myself, and I had material to work on if my students weren't as adventurous as I'd anticipated.
My other role in the daytime was to teach bands. Teach isn’t really the right word for it, it’s more like coaching really. Campers who would like to play in a band are pooled into groups and given 3 weeks to rehearse for a live show, and as part of the music staff I’ll be given one or two of these bands to lead. I might simply be acting in the capacity of a manager, guiding them, helping organize things. Or I could be more of a tutor and coach, motivating and helping them learn their parts, gelling the group together. Sometimes you’d take on a role in the band itself; I’m a bass player first and foremost and as a rule of thumb we’re a rare breed these days, so I was often drafted in to bands who couldn’t find a camper willing to play bass. I don’t mind doing it at all, though it does feel sometimes that it’s not exactly what the kids really want.
In the evenings we would put shows on for the campers, called evening programs. With some good planning and teamwork we could put on pretty much anything, from a movie night, to a disco, to a live music night. My music roles at camp continue in these evening programs as I head one of the two teams of sound engineers, nicknamed the SWAT teams. It’s pretty simple work, just setting up a PA, monitoring it through the show, and putting it away again at the end of the night. It’s one of the few jobs in evening program that needs to be done pretty much every night, though some night’s work are bigger than others. For the SWAT team, the night on which the bands get to perform, called the live dance, is the biggest night of the summer. It’s our chance to show off, to demonstrate what we’ve been doing all summer, just how the theatre department has their stage performances; the art department has their arts show, etc. We do our best to make the show as big as possible; we bring out the biggest speaker rig, dynamic lighting gear, and large stages, so the campers have as much room to strut their stuff as possible. Weather permitting, we’ll even set the show up outside, which produces an atmosphere like no other on the night.
I’ll stop this one here before it gets a bit too long. In my next post I’ll write about the other side of summer camp – the time off.
Camp life in Maine is essentially a self-contained world of its own. The kids can stay at camp for 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks, and the staff were there for about 10 weeks in total. With the nearest decent-sized town with a supermarket about 20 miles away as the crow flies (it took roughly 45 minutes to get there) we are pretty much cut off from the outside world. The camp is big enough to develop a sense of community, and after a few weeks camp is its own little 'bubble', with your trips to the outside world, either with kids on day trips or on your days off, feeling a little alien. You lose track of what day it is (my camp didn't run to a Mon-Fri calendar) and your knowledge of current affairs fades the longer you're there. Not that you care; camp news takes priority over world news, and there's always some kind of story going on at camp, whether it be needless gossip, an issue with a camper, or what's for lunch.
Day-to-day events run to the bell. On top of the camp office is a large-ish bell, and it’s rung throughout the day. It rings to wake people up at 8am, again and 8:30 to tell everyone to go for breakfast, at 9:15 to start the first activity of the day, and every activity throughout the day afterwards. It also rings for lunch, dinner, and to let everyone know that the evening’s entertainment is about to start and it’s also used for fire and storm alarms, of course. In fact the only daily occurrence you won’t hear the bell ring for is to tell everyone it’s time to turn the lights out and go to sleep. Both the staff and the kids live their life at camp by the bell; you always know what you’re meant to be doing and where you’re meant to be, it’s a regimented affair but that’s not necessarily a bad thing when working with kids.
My field of expertise (or at least what I think I'm ok at) is music, and my work at camp revolved around this. I play a handful of stringed instruments, from bass guitar to banjo, and my main daytime role at camp was instrument tuition! Before I went to camp for the first time this sounded like the perfect job, teaching music all day long, passing on my knowledge and experiences to musical rookies and veterans alike. What I didn't realise is this rose-tinted view, whilst very much achievable, actually requires a good deal of prior preparation. I'd never taught properly before, and my teaching theory was going to be 'the open class'. My lessons were to be an open slate - I found out what my students wanted to learn and we worked on that, rather than me laying down the curriculum! And for a class of advanced students in a workshop scenario it would probably have worked a treat, but I wasn't teaching advanced guitarists. I was teaching intermediate guitarists and beginner bass players, kids who needed guidance before freedom, and I was completely stumped. Plan B didn't exist, I had no prior teaching experience, so it was very much a case of improvising as I went along, and doing my best to make sure my students learnt something. Teaching sounds like an enjoyable pursuit, but without any training or past experience of it, it's actually terrifying. Confidence, or at least giving the aura of confidence, is so important in teaching, and when you're bumbling through your lessons like I was you simply don't have said confidence. Come my second year it was completely different, of course. I was experienced at teaching groups of teenagers, confident in myself, and I had material to work on if my students weren't as adventurous as I'd anticipated.
My other role in the daytime was to teach bands. Teach isn’t really the right word for it, it’s more like coaching really. Campers who would like to play in a band are pooled into groups and given 3 weeks to rehearse for a live show, and as part of the music staff I’ll be given one or two of these bands to lead. I might simply be acting in the capacity of a manager, guiding them, helping organize things. Or I could be more of a tutor and coach, motivating and helping them learn their parts, gelling the group together. Sometimes you’d take on a role in the band itself; I’m a bass player first and foremost and as a rule of thumb we’re a rare breed these days, so I was often drafted in to bands who couldn’t find a camper willing to play bass. I don’t mind doing it at all, though it does feel sometimes that it’s not exactly what the kids really want.
In the evenings we would put shows on for the campers, called evening programs. With some good planning and teamwork we could put on pretty much anything, from a movie night, to a disco, to a live music night. My music roles at camp continue in these evening programs as I head one of the two teams of sound engineers, nicknamed the SWAT teams. It’s pretty simple work, just setting up a PA, monitoring it through the show, and putting it away again at the end of the night. It’s one of the few jobs in evening program that needs to be done pretty much every night, though some night’s work are bigger than others. For the SWAT team, the night on which the bands get to perform, called the live dance, is the biggest night of the summer. It’s our chance to show off, to demonstrate what we’ve been doing all summer, just how the theatre department has their stage performances; the art department has their arts show, etc. We do our best to make the show as big as possible; we bring out the biggest speaker rig, dynamic lighting gear, and large stages, so the campers have as much room to strut their stuff as possible. Weather permitting, we’ll even set the show up outside, which produces an atmosphere like no other on the night.
I’ll stop this one here before it gets a bit too long. In my next post I’ll write about the other side of summer camp – the time off.
Friday 23 July 2010
Yeah, one of these
I don't leave the UK till the 22nd of August, and this blog could do with some posts to pad it out before I leave anyway, so I've resorted to the myspace standard that was the bulletin quiz.
Hi, my name is: Kevin
Never in my life have I been: High. I don't have a problem with drugs, just never appealed to me
The one person who can drive me nuts is: Anyone who patronises me
High school: started over 10 years ago and finished 6 years ago, and that makes me feel old as fuck
When I’m nervous: I feel it in the pit of my stomach, but I don't show nerves.
The last song I listened to was: 'some girls are bigger than others' by the Smiths
If I were to get married right now my best man: Would probably be my ginger wingman, Coxy
My hair is: Dark blonde, shortist, and unkempt
When I was 5: I was in a major car crash in Greece, and was lucky to survive
Last Christmas: Was arguably the quietest Christmas my family's ever had
When I look down I see: very little. It's dark in here
The happiest recent event was: Getting my confirmation letter saying I was definitely studying abroad this coming academic year
If I were a character on ‘Friends’ I’d be: I've never watched an episode of friends from beginning to end. Shocking, I know
By this time next year: I'll probably be back at summer camp. I've missed it a lot this year
My current gripe is: I seem to be really distant and confrontational with people, and I'm not sure what's set it off
If I won an award, the first person I would tell would be: the 'rents. I'd let them spread the word, I'm not very good at bragging
The thing I want to buy: a lovely new guitar, delivered to my dorm
If you visited the place I was born: you’d want to leave too
If you spent the night at my house: There's a good chance one of us would be sleeping on the floor. There's no room here. Go away.
I’d stop my wedding if: I found out I was marrying a closet racist/homophobe/bigot/daily mail reader
The world could do without: sensationalist journalism
Most recent thing I’ve bought myself: houmous and doritos
Most recent thing someone else bought me: a crunchie bar
My middle name is: n/a
In the morning I: can't straighten up until I've had a shower
The animals I would like to see flying besides birds are: platypus's. Greatest animal ever
Last night I was: frustated with people
If I was an animal I’d be: a bear, probably. Some of my friends call me Kevbear already
My birthday is: the 7th of November
Hi, my name is: Kevin
Never in my life have I been: High. I don't have a problem with drugs, just never appealed to me
The one person who can drive me nuts is: Anyone who patronises me
High school: started over 10 years ago and finished 6 years ago, and that makes me feel old as fuck
When I’m nervous: I feel it in the pit of my stomach, but I don't show nerves.
The last song I listened to was: 'some girls are bigger than others' by the Smiths
If I were to get married right now my best man: Would probably be my ginger wingman, Coxy
My hair is: Dark blonde, shortist, and unkempt
When I was 5: I was in a major car crash in Greece, and was lucky to survive
Last Christmas: Was arguably the quietest Christmas my family's ever had
When I look down I see: very little. It's dark in here
The happiest recent event was: Getting my confirmation letter saying I was definitely studying abroad this coming academic year
If I were a character on ‘Friends’ I’d be: I've never watched an episode of friends from beginning to end. Shocking, I know
By this time next year: I'll probably be back at summer camp. I've missed it a lot this year
My current gripe is: I seem to be really distant and confrontational with people, and I'm not sure what's set it off
If I won an award, the first person I would tell would be: the 'rents. I'd let them spread the word, I'm not very good at bragging
The thing I want to buy: a lovely new guitar, delivered to my dorm
If you visited the place I was born: you’d want to leave too
If you spent the night at my house: There's a good chance one of us would be sleeping on the floor. There's no room here. Go away.
I’d stop my wedding if: I found out I was marrying a closet racist/homophobe/bigot/daily mail reader
The world could do without: sensationalist journalism
Most recent thing I’ve bought myself: houmous and doritos
Most recent thing someone else bought me: a crunchie bar
My middle name is: n/a
In the morning I: can't straighten up until I've had a shower
The animals I would like to see flying besides birds are: platypus's. Greatest animal ever
Last night I was: frustated with people
If I was an animal I’d be: a bear, probably. Some of my friends call me Kevbear already
My birthday is: the 7th of November
Thursday 22 July 2010
Hullo There
This is my new blog, and I'm about to explain why I've made a new blog to you.
For the past 15 months or so, I've kept a blog called Bluepig, where I've carried a little blue pig on my travels with me, taking photos of it in various locations. And that's going to carry on; I like doing the project when I'm away from home and I want to see just how far it can go. However, it's a picture blog more than anything else really, that's what it's there for and that's what I like about it.
For the next 10 months or so I'm going to be studying abroad. I'm taking part in my University's exchange student program, and will be spending the second year of my degree in upstate NY. The blog's URL 'chemic abroad' is a reference to my hometown and me leaving it - if you know me you'll get it. Rather than dilute the concepts behind the bluepig blog, I've just gone ahead and made a second blog for me to share my experiences on, the Bløg!
I don't honestly know an awful lot about the place I'm going to. Much like when I worked at a summer camp for the first time in 2008, I'm deliberately not researching the place or the surrounding area too much. The experience is going to be wholly new, for better or for worse. Probably the latter based off past experiences, but isn't the whole point of doing such a thing as spending an entire year abroad studying to experience new things? There's no enjoyment of naive exploration if you can second-guess your way around a place, no spontaneous and magnetic connections with the people you meet on arrival if you've already made friends beforehand, no joy of the unexpected if you're simply going through the motions.
This post wasn't planned, and it's taken a swift detour into rant territory, so I'm stopping here. New blog. Enjoy.
Oh, and it's called Bløg because I like the way it sounds (think bleurg). Nothing clever.
For the past 15 months or so, I've kept a blog called Bluepig, where I've carried a little blue pig on my travels with me, taking photos of it in various locations. And that's going to carry on; I like doing the project when I'm away from home and I want to see just how far it can go. However, it's a picture blog more than anything else really, that's what it's there for and that's what I like about it.
For the next 10 months or so I'm going to be studying abroad. I'm taking part in my University's exchange student program, and will be spending the second year of my degree in upstate NY. The blog's URL 'chemic abroad' is a reference to my hometown and me leaving it - if you know me you'll get it. Rather than dilute the concepts behind the bluepig blog, I've just gone ahead and made a second blog for me to share my experiences on, the Bløg!
I don't honestly know an awful lot about the place I'm going to. Much like when I worked at a summer camp for the first time in 2008, I'm deliberately not researching the place or the surrounding area too much. The experience is going to be wholly new, for better or for worse. Probably the latter based off past experiences, but isn't the whole point of doing such a thing as spending an entire year abroad studying to experience new things? There's no enjoyment of naive exploration if you can second-guess your way around a place, no spontaneous and magnetic connections with the people you meet on arrival if you've already made friends beforehand, no joy of the unexpected if you're simply going through the motions.
This post wasn't planned, and it's taken a swift detour into rant territory, so I'm stopping here. New blog. Enjoy.
Oh, and it's called Bløg because I like the way it sounds (think bleurg). Nothing clever.
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