Campers

Hey guys! So just finished with my 2nd group of kids, a group of 9 boys that I was lucky enough to have all to myself...It didn't seem to make alot of sense seeing as other groups had less than 9 kids and its alot harder being a girl counsellor working with a boys group. These weren't just any boys either. They were crazy. But I suppose it allowed for some fun times (occasionally) as well as some very very stressful ones. The rest of the staff are so supportive though especially when they know you have a tough group. They just wouldnt stop hitting each other with anythin they could find, sticks, stones, watches, oranges...they're hands. I had to keep a constant eye on them. Unfortunately the weather had a turn for the worst again this week and it was snowing again. Luckily its all cleared up for the weekend and it was a toasty 18 today which I spent in Canmore and Banff where we saw Star Trek :)

We're renting a room in Canmore and the Rocky mountain ski lodge at the moment so we stayed here last night and tonight and maybe tomorrow. Unfortunately it went on my card..so I'm in the process of trying to get money off everyone. Not doing that again. It's a wicked place though, a loft so we crammed in like 11 people last night with 3 beds and a futon. Impressive.

So we have a long weekend this week and so we get monday off. It's Slush Cup and the local ski hill Sunshine so might head up there for some skiing if I decide to spare the money.

Got to go for now, will touch base with everyone as soon as I can.

Alex

Training and kiddies

Hey guys! It's friday night, second week of camp chief hector (CCH) and I've undergone all my staff training for the spring season and have had my first group of campers come through.

Our Spring season is made up of different school groups of kids about the age of 12 coming for the week, tuesday through friday, to learn about the outdoor lifestyle in canada, and to experience tipi living! So my tipi is called Yamnuska and its in a wicked spot on the top of a hill with a near 360 degree mountain view! During training last week we all stayed together in tipis but we sadly had to part when the kids came this tuesday. Unfortunately I was also fairly unpracticed at the tipi fire so Ben (nature name-Spark) had to come and help me out but since then you'll be glad to know my fires have been roaring!

So I had a group of 9 kids all in grade 6 who were my responsibility for the week. The most difficult bit is having to have 24hour care of the kids so you cant let them go off in pairs to do anything...maybe incase they get eaten by a cougar or something...but it's still a bit of a pain and by the end of the week all the councellors are mighty sick of entertaining the kids and everyone is ready for a night/weekend out in Banff or Canmore or Calgary which is what we've done for the last few weeks and it's been great fun!!

I only get an hour of in the evenings and take that time to hang out with the other councellors so I don't have much time for the internet during the week....and on the weekends I don't bring ym camera cord but I promise at some point to upload some photos. I still have moments when I realise I'm completely surrounded by huge snowy mountains and it's so great! All the people are great as well and I feel like I've known them for years instead of just a few weeks, it's crazy.

Hope Perth is all good. I get alot of hassle from the other Aussies about being from Perth, one of the teachers of the school had never even heard of it! I was appalled. As well as being from the other side of Australia from everyone else, apparently I have a weird accent as well, so I get everyone from Canada and Australia making fun of me, but its all good...I'm just different :)

Camp Chief Hector

Hey guys! This will have to be a quick post because its 10.30pm and I'll be getting kicked out of thelodge soon, and I've only managed to score the computer for a few minutes

So I arrived here on a snowing Sunday night after a sweet dinner in Canmore with Uncle Jack, AUnt Shielia and Shannon (Thanks so much for having me by the way guys! And I'm sure I'll be asking more favours of you in the months to come!!:) )

Sunday night we were lucky enough to have a real dorm (cluster) in a real building! But since then Tipi life has begun and so everynight is spent walking through snow that at some points reaches your knee. It has snowed all day every day I've been here except today! So everything is white! which makes things SO COLD but also so beautiful. So far all the nights have been around -10degrees celsius. So I make sure I'm wearing all my clothes and am absolutley covered by my sleeping bag, including your face because otherwise my face actually begins to go numb! And yet the moment the fire goes out I wake up as the temperature jsut drops so much! Today was the first day I have actually used my drink bottle because every morning I wake up the water in it is frozen through...and it's sitting right next to my bed! Anyway so you should just know its cold...I think today is the first day it actually got above zero (to about 2 in the middle of the afternoon! YAY).

So kids arrive on Tuesday every week and each of us leads a group of 9 kids who stay in the tipi with us and we are in charge of for the rest of the week, apart from an hour off on weekday nights when their teachers take them for an activity or something. So we've been learning how to track animals and know what animal males what type of track, adn what type of mood they might be in to make that track. I've also learnt the different steps of different animals (like pacing and overstepping etc). We followed bear tracks for a bit yesterday...that didn't make much sense to me...but I suppose it would be pretty cool to see a bear. They also have cougars around here which are pretty common and more of a worry than the bears. That's a worry.

What else have we learnt...oh yeah HEAPS and HEAPS of games (that's what alot of our dday is spent doing...playing games) and I've learnt facts about the trees around here and there names and properties.

I better go because everyones leaving..and I don't want to walk through cold snow by myself...

Oh and we all have to have 'Nature names" which is what all the kids and other staff call us while we're here.
Mine is Kootenay, Koots for short:)

xx Koots