First Campers

Hey folks, it's Sunday and finally my day off after a busy week with Crofton House yr 9s. On Monday we all packed our bags, which for me was a giant plastic bag full of clean laundry and pretty much nothing else, and headed off on a 3 hour road trip to the small town of Hope, BC. It is home to Camp Squeah, a Mennonite Camp where Summit hosted one of their most long standing clients, the West Vancouver private school of Crofton House.
Their yr9 trip is hosted at Squeah as it is better suited to the overnight trips that the girls go on.

As I was not one of the trip instructors, my job was running program onsite. The girls were split into 8 groups, 4 went out on trip and 4 stayed at camp for program. Program consisted of 1 hour blocks where the groups rotated through the different activities. Most of the time I was in the gym, running 'Gym Time' with Tyler. We basically thought up a bunch of games like Bump, Coconut Families, Blind Toilet Toilet Flush and Kings Court. It was super fun, most of the groups were really into it and we had a great time playing the games with them. The teachers got really into it too, which was always good to see. I also had a go at teaching Outdoor Living Skills with Alex, which was basically all about water purification, how and why we do it and the like. That was ok, not as fun as running about throwing balls at people, but good stuff to know nonetheless. I was also meant to run Campfire Cooking one time, but it was with kids who had come back from trip and they had already done it when they were out so we just played some games in the lodge instead. Ox-wrestling was always good for a laugh, as is balance tug of war. I was also introduced to a game called Mafia, which Alex assures me is a godsend in Summer as a bunch of 12 yo boys will play it for hours at a time. Must remember that for the next season.

It rained pretty much all week, so I was super stoked on my Gore-Tex jacket and rowdy rain pants (thankyou FGPN!!). I actually had a really cushy sitch compared to some of the other instructors. The trippers hiked out, camped in the rain, hiked back, sat for about 15 minutes drinking coffee and then hiken straight back out again to do the exact same thing. Others were stuck out in the rain trying to get a fire going enough to cook popcorn.

On Friday we hopped back in the vans to head back to Squamish and played an awesome game of 'Careless Driver' (Point out a careless driver, name their infraction and you score a full point. Bikes are 3/4 of a point and pedestrians half). When we were at Squeah we found this games book that was published in '75. It had a heap of hilarious games like 'Careless Driver' such as 'Fat Man's Race' (Race between men 200 lbs and over) and 'Pussy Wants a Corner' (I wasn't really sure what this one was).

Saturday was the 2nd annual volly party, which is basically a Camp-wide busy bee where Parky's (the owner) friends and family from around the valley and Squamish come to camp to help ready it for the first lot of kids of the season. I had a sweet day, helping our biking instructor Jenn Brown with the mountain bike park. We built some new apparatus like a sweet ramp drop-off, some teeter totters and a dismount log (a log where you have to jump off your bike and lift it over). With the help of the other instructors Sven and Tristan we also got a rowdy advanced circuit in place for the older kids. Once we finish off the sandpit and the dirt corner it will be totally epic. As is tradition, the volly party was finished with some good times on the bouncy castle and a canoe full of beer. Working at camp seems to be an awesome way to score free beer. It's also proving to be the most fun job ever. I'm already planning on coming back once they get the winter camps going.

So now it is Sunday and finally my day off!! Yay! I think the plan is to go see a movie this evening and maybe do some bouldering or just chill out for the most of the day. Here are some photos from Squeah. Hope you are all well, will probably write sometime next weekend, but its the 10th Yr Summit Anniversary Party so who knows when I'll get a chance.

Staff Picture after Crofton left

The mature and dependable Camp Summit staff

A Crofton girl the all reckoned looked just like me, so the entire year took photos of us together

Solo, one of the trippers, with his rowdy glasses

Rowdy times in the van coming back from Hope

Sean disgusted with Crumbles' lack of window cleaning skills