Thursday&Dessertfest

August 28^th, 2014

Thursday was just a whirlwind of a day! We woke up at our usual time and got to Camp by 8:15 to finalize some things for Dessertfest later on. We hung up most of our posters from the whole program and decided to auction them off right before lunchtime. After hours of dealing with the slideshow and projector, we finally figured it out and were good to go there. I made a 16-minute slideshow of our program over the past 6 weeks, so I was glad to be able to show it.

Because it’s the last day of a Camp week, the kids have the option of dressing up. There were a lot of Harry Potters, Hermiones, and other witches, which made it feel like Halloween! I was the only one of my counselors who dressed up and was out of uniform, but I loved being Hermione and letting my hair just do whatever it wanted.

We did our last blitz with the kids, which was bittersweet, but wonderful because everyone got into it! My favorite part of today was the Raffle. We signed 8 Camp Adventure shirts, lots of socks, and auctioned off most of our posters. Sorry parents! lol. Ms. Mango drew each kiddo’s name from the sorting hat and one by one they got to come up and pick something. Surprisingly, every single kid was happy with what they got. I was afraid that a bloodbath would go down over the signed shirts. Thankfully, we were good to go! Surprisingly a lot of kids picked socks and had us sign them—so cute! We also had Glitter the Counselor in the morning and I got glittered a LOT today!

Dessertfest was insanely awesome because so many parents came, the Colonel Commander attended as well, there was plenty of dessert for everyone, and the slideshow worked. First, we had the kids filter in through a counselor-created tunnel to a Camp song and then each house (group) came up and performed their songs or skits. I am so impressed by how good they are and I love to see the looks on their parents’ faces :) Afterwards, Colonel Gray gave a very touching thank you to us and the program and gave us each a little gift, which was so thoughtful! It feels wonderful to feel so appreciated :)

My favorite part of the event was when us counselors went up and sang a song that revealed our real names to all the kids and parents. You can imagine the surprise when they heard me reveal my name as I went first. Everyone was expecting us to sing our Camp names too. I heard so many gasps and little giggles; it was great! Afterwards, we showed the slideshow, enjoyed some desserts, and chatted with parents and kids until it was time for our very last Closing. Our last Closing was very emotional and we had a lot of camper volunteers to tell stories. I’m so unbelievably blessed to have worked with such great kids and a lively staff. We concluded the day by taking pictures with Campers and we even received gifts of cards, chocolates, loom bands, etc. I almost cried when Liam came to say by and he kept his head down cause he was getting emotional too. I let him know that I hope to be back next year, and if not, we had a great summer together. I’m gonna miss him and all our little nuggets so much!

Jacob and Elsie’s dad came up to me as they were signing out and told me that he really wants us to know how much we mean to his kids and how we really do make a difference and that our efforts don’t go unnoticed. Later on, Liam’s mom found me on facebook and sent me a message thanking me again and expressing her and Liam’s gratitude. I let her know that I’d message her if I am able to come back to Paderborn next year and wished her and Liam the best. Another parent texted me and said thank you as well. What wonderful parents! I seriously could not have asked for nicer parents of our campers. They are so involved with their kids and are just so kind to us. That’s one thing that I’ll definitely miss about this base for sure!

Little Emmy dressed as "Hermione"

Hermione for the day!

Glitter the Counselor!

Expectations for the week!

Our Sports Jerseys and posters of where each counselor is from!

Superhero Week Poster!

Little ol' Elsie. Love this kid. Cutest little voice. She won a shirt in the raffle haha :)

Emmy :)

One of my favorite kiddos, Liam :) 

Gifts from the kids and families. The little wooden gift in the bottom right is from the Colonel 

Most of Week 6!

August 25^th-27^th, 2014

Our last Monday was probably our best one yet. It was due to a combination of us counselors being in a great mood since it’s our last week, making the most of our limited time left with these kids, and our group this week! We have 42 registered, but only 38 today, so it was a great number for us! It’s also Harry Potter Week and I LOVE Harry Potter :) We worked extra overtime on our posters and decorations and it definitely paid off.

We started off with a kiddo who was so unbelievably nervous and upset to be here. It was his first time in Camp Adventure and he just returned from UK the day before, so mum stayed at Camp for an hour and sat in the back. I was very surprised by how well he did for the rest of the day though, even after she left! There were a couple time where he would ask me to call his mum, but when I asked him to wait five minutes and then come back if he still would like me too, he didn’t come back :) which means he was having fun. He even shared a story with the whole group today during Closing, which was such a pleasant surprise! Mum was sooo happy when she came to pick him up and he was in a good mood.

We also had some of our Weeks 1 and 2 kids return from other camps or holidays. One of my favorite kiddos is 9-year-old Liam who is just adorable and a little charmer I might add. He has a girlfriend in Wales apparently and went on a McDonalds date with his girlfriend in Germany. Oh the love life of an elementary-aged kid…He made me a loom band though to add to my collection. We are all very happy Liam is back also because he sets a good example for the rest of the kids and loves Camp.

Ella, Keira, and Abi also returned. They were very sad at the end of Week 3 because they said they couldn’t come back since they would be in France. While I am very happy that they have returned, they did so because there Mom is in the hospital with Lyme Disease, which is what you sometimes get from ticks :/ So hopefully she feels much better soon! But we love having the girls back :)

Today, we made Harry Potter glasses out of pipe cleaner during Rotating Activities and played lots of high active games, thus meaning a lot of plasters (band-aids). My favorite part of the day though was our Sorting Hat Ceremony. For those of you who are not familiar with Harry Potter, every year there is a talking and magical hat that decides which house each wizard or witch is in. So after slighting changing the 4 house names (small group names), combining the oldest group with the youngest group to make 4 groups, we called up each kiddo to the front to take a seat. Ms. Mango placed the hat on each kiddo’s head and Ms. Honeydew (pretending to be the talking hat), hid behind a curtain and would announce which kiddo was in which house. It really was rather fun for everyone and we had a lot of good laughs. It was also a great way to divvy the kids up into our pre-made groups instead of just having each counselor read them off on a list.

We also had the kiddos make owls today, also themed to Harry Potter, and stick them on paper bags. Throughout the week, friends and counselors can leave positive notes in each bag until the kids collect them at the end of the week!

Tuesday was a bit rough and very long. We’ve told our kids over and over throughout the past 6 weeks to only scream if you’re hurt, in danger, or someone else is. Today, a bunch of kids screamed bloodcurdling screams because of a dead bug…Everyone lost their shit. Forgive my French, but it was necessary. It was so bad, I couldn’t even talk over them, so I got up on the bench and blew Ms. Kiwi’s whistle. That got their attention. What followed after was a long conversation with them and sitting in complete silence for 3 minutes. Each time that someone made a sound we started over. I laid the smack down. After that they were brilliant for the rest of the day :) Well, with the exception of Rinzen…

We’ve always had problems with Rinzen, although I wouldn’t call him an extreme case. But today was his worst day. He refused to come inside after the activity was over, despite the pouring rain. It took Ms. Kiwi and I 30 minutes to get him to come inside. He was throwing a tantrum and completely glued to the bench. We tried lifting him gently by the arms and I grabbed his legs so he wouldn’t drag them and then kick right into the chest. Thank you, Rinzen. I almost went a whole summer without being kicked, bitten, or slapped and you gave me another record. So after finally getting him willingly inside, I filed an incident report and gave mom a call. Fun stuff.

Although a stressful day, a fun activity we did was potion making. We combined baking soda, glitter (for color), and vinegar with the kids and they got to see the effect of the three as it bubbled up. From there they added in other materials, such as paint, leaves, mud, etc. Kids LOVE messing with randomly goopy things and exploring their creativity.

Nevertheless, us counselors were glad when the day was over and literally went home, ate dinner, and went straight to bed lol.

On Wednesday, we had a much better day. Rinzen was better behaved and kids seemed a bit mellower. We made Butterbeer today, which isn’t beer, but a mixture of cream soda, caramel, and whipped cream. It’s a popular drink from the Harry Potter books. Sounds disgusting, right? It was actually delicious! Now British kids are not fans of what they call “fizzy drinks,” they love their juice, but because cream soda isn’t really that fizzy, a good ¾ of them loved it! We did limit them to a small drink though cause that much sugar in any child is going to be a problem. One of our girls even claimed that she felt “drunk” from it lol.

My favorite part of the day was during the Closing when I heard a little kid’s voice coming from the toilets. I walked down the hall, knocked on the door, cracked open the door a bit and said, “Hi this is Ms. Cherry. Who is in here?” I hear a little British voice reply, “Ms. Cherry…” And 5-year-old Elsie comes out from the stall butt naked, pants hanging at her ankles, “Someone locked the other stall door from the inside.” I almost died of laughter. I let her know that I’d look at it later and she should come out soon so she wouldn’t miss Closing. It was just so freaking funny. Love this kid.

I’m so excited and sad for our last day tomorrow! I am guaranteed to cry during Closing I know it! I’ll update about Friday after tomorrow of course. Until then, Cheers :)

Sorting Hat Ceremony 

One of my favorite kiddos, Liam :) 

Our awesome poster, courtesy of myself and Holley :)

Last Weekend in Paderborn!

Friday Funday: August 22nd, 2014

Fridays are always the best days. All my staff was on their game and everyone’s moods were good. We practiced as a whole group for Camp A Presents and the kids did so well! Proud director right here :) I love my little British nuggets. I actually received somewhat of a compliment from one of our little crappers at lunch today. He first asked if I was married. And when I replied “Nope.” He asked why, and I said it’s because I haven’t fallen in love with anyone. He then said, “But you’re so pretty and nice. I still don’t understand.” Lol I was flabbergasted. What a kid.

The rest of our day went as planned. We had a couple kiddos bawling today cause it was their last week at Camp, which is always so sad. One of my favorite pairs of siblings left today: Bradley and Amelie are such sweet kids and boyyy do they loved football! We had the kids dress up today for Sports Week and they of course dressed up as…football players! They had their shin guards and everything. Love it!

For Harry Potter Week! I hand-wrote that from a picture online :) 

Another quote from Harry Potter I hand-wrote. Not bad :) 

Bradley and Amelie. I'll miss these two! 

Mosiacs with Finley, Bradley B., Ms. Grape (Alma), Ryan, Mimi, and Elsie (clockwise from left).

More mosiacs with Ms. Kiwi (Emilie), Amelie, Kelsey, Grace, and Ettie :) 

Camp A Presents Practice with our lowest number of kiddos yet! Only 30 this week!

Friday night was well…quite a lot of fun. We went to Paderborn Winefest with a few of our officer friends and it was so much fun! One of most hilarious topics we talked about was the use of “stroke” verses “pet” innuendos. The kids at the field trip kept on saying, “Ms. Cherry may I stroke the goat?” Uh stroke? Us Americans were dying of laughter. And then some of the officers continued to say it at Winefest, so we had a long conversation about why Americans think “petting a goat” is the more appropriate phrasing lol. Oh the conversations we have. 

I actually learned a lot of British History, which is soo fascinating. One of my questions was how do English schools teach history since there history is so detailed and expansive? Quite simply…they “cherry pick” many of their topics to focus on and graze over the others. I have a hard enough time learning all that is American history, which is really no more than 300 years. So learning all that English history, despite it's summarization, seems a daunting feat! 

There was live music as well and we had a good time dancing! I learned a different version of Swing Dance from my friend Chris and we all had a good time busting a few moves haha. 

Unfortunately, it rained quite a bit, and by “a bit” I mean almost the whole time. It was “proper rain” as our friend Rihanna calls it. The Brits have many names for rain actually. They describe it as “a way of life.” For a while there it was a “misty drizzle.” Haha I can’t even handle all the terms they use for different types of rain. It’s really quite humorous.

Despite the “proper rain,” we all had a great time and quite a bit of wine :) Chris and Dan bought a couple of bottles for the lot of us, which was very generous. We all made it home in one piece though :) Let me tell you though, the Brits know how to have a good time!

The next morning was rough for a couple of my girls, but once we got some water and food in them, they were good to go! We hit up downtown Paderborn and I bought some chocolate for my family and shopped around a bit. I’m very tight on money so I only bought chocolate, a baguette, and a coffee. But like I’ve mentioned before, I really just enjoy walking around with a cup of coffee and taking everything in. I wasn’t able to wear flops today though because it was pouring rain. I don’t know what is up with this part of country, but it definitely isn’t helping us travel anywhere. Thankfully, I can still use my eurail on the local buses, so I’m using up my pass. Overall, it was a very successful weekend, including our very low key and productive Sunday :)

I’m looking forward to our last week with our wonderful kids, Emilie’s birthday, a BBQ we are invited to on Thursday, and flying home early Saturday morning here :)

Winefest!

My wine for 2 euro. The rest were bought for me :) I learned that one way in which you can tell if the wine is a good wine, is when you twirl it in the glass and the liquid somewhat sticks to the glass. 

A much needed German meal. The mayo here tastes delicious with chips (fries)!

Had a good time with Alma at the Winegarden :) 

Our post dancing pic! 

I tried on a traditional dress today at the store for fun and loved it! I would definitely buy one if I were here for Oktoberfest. 

Week 5!

August 18^th-22^nd, 2014

Monday began splendidly because we only had 31 kids! It seemed sooo quiet and mellow and none of us had to shout the whole day, which is a first! We had a handful of returning kids, but some new ones as well. I definitely felt more rested today primarily due to a relaxed and sleep-filled weekend :)

Because of the smaller numbers, I was able to participate more in the activities and spend more quality time with the kiddos. I love being back in my element and feeling more comfortable in a role I’m confident in! 

It’s Sports Week this week, so we are having the kids make their own mini jerseys and stick them up on a football (soccer) field we painted last week. It looks really good actually! Although a little late, I came up with the idea that us counselors draw the shape of our state on a large piece of paper and write fun facts about the state we’re from. It’s kind of a fun idea because the kids have something else to look at that gives them a visual and more information on where their counselors are from!

Ms. Kiwi (Emilie) and I are leading Comic Book Club this week and our group of kids really seems to enjoy it. We went over what comic books are, gave an example of what they look like, and asked the kids for comics they have heard of or read before. The most popular ones with these kiddos were Garfield and any superhero comic. It was fun to see them create their own comic and show me the sequence of events :) Our other two clubs: Dance Club (led by Ms. Mango and Ms. Berry), and Yoga Club (led by Ms. Grape and Ms. Honeydew) were successful as well. Dance Club is learning the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ and another cool dance that the kids can learn rather easily over a couple of days. Yoga club went surprisingly well and I think the kids enjoyed doing a calmer exercise and taking off their shoes haha :)We only have 30 kids this week, which is our lowest number so far, but what a nice break that is. Never did I think having 30 kids would be “easy” but this week is very mellow so far and we have some awesome kids :)

Let me just start out by saying that our decorations are fabulous and we knocked it out of the park this week. Next week is Harry Potter week and those are pretty awesome too. Not to brag or anything…(:

We had a pretty great start to our week with Janise being gone and Champagne Tuesday, that’s right…Champagne Tuesday ;) and it was veryyy much needed. Jenna, Emilie, and I decided to partake in this annual event and had the best time. We met some other officers who are super nice and we had the best time having all sorts of conversations. My favorite part was when we all took turns playing American music and then British music and making up dances to them. So much fun! It was nice to unwind from work and hang out with other people around our age!

Wednesday we had our annual firefighter visit and the kids loved it again. Their favorite part is spraying the hose of course. One of our girls threw a fit because she didn’t get to try on the helmet though, so that was a not so fun part of my day. But compared to the American kids I’ve had in the past, these little Brits are angels…and I’m not kidding. Unfortunately little Elsie fell again. She decided it’d be a good idea to put her jumper (jacket) over her head and walk. And walk she did, straight into the fence, losing her balance and flopped on the pavement. It was rather heartbreaking to see her little cry though :/ even though we’ve told her many a time not to cover her face with her jumper. Oh Elsie…

Bradley also took a tumble today. He already has a broken arm by the way. He decided to climb on the walk adjacent to the stairs after being told by Ms. Grape (Alma) not too. And crash! He went rolling down the stairs. We felt so horrible though. Thankfully he was okay and mom wasn’t mad at us. He’s such a sweetie, but walking along the cement stairs was definitely not his shining moment. More accident reports for me!

One of our favorite kids to joke about is Lizzie. Now Lizzie is known for her genuine, but backhanded compliments. For example, she told me today, “Ms. Cherry, I prefer you more fresh-faced and not with those black lines on your eyelids.” Why, thank you, Lizzie, not sure what you meant there…Constructive criticism maybe? Lol. She also told Ms. Mango (Jenna) that, “I like that you’re not super tiny and fit like Ms. Kiwi (Emilie), it makes us more similar.” Uh what? lol. Sometimes you just gotta laugh at the blunt delivery.

Thursday we went on our first and only off-base field trip to the “Walking Path.” Let me tell you…the walking path is not very…shall we say…’walkable.’ There are lots of sharp stones, cold water, and then there’s a smalllll stretch of soft mud and sand in there somewhere. But the kids seemed to enjoy it despite a couple that are our youngest 5-year-olds. Poor Elsie and Gabby had a bit of a rough time, and Ms. Berry (Erika) had to carry Elsie at one point because she was crying so hard. Of course Janise was there to complain and made Erika put her down. Hmm, do we want a child crying in pain the whole way, or to carry her and break a very small Camp A rule? Stupid.

Thank goodness for Charlie! She works for Steve at AWS and was such a great support on our fieldtrip. She’s definitely more relaxed like my counselors and myself and helped counter Janise’s unnecessary stress. I couldn’t tell you how many times I counted to 29 today for head counts. Good lord! But it was great to get the kids off base and to explore some new place in Germany. Fun for the counselors as well!

Have I mentioned how quick the 45 minute bus ride was?! These kids are awesome! Not a single scream or complaint the way there or on the way back. When I took my 9 Kinders last year on weekly fieldtrips, there were screaming fits or excessive tantrums ALL the time. I loved my kids last year, but boy were they the toughest kids I’ve ever dealt with. My Little Brits are blessings.

“Are we allowed a drink?” is my new favorite saying by these kiddos. It’s just so polite and nice in how they say it. How could I say possibly say ‘no??’ Sometimes though, I am tempted to say ‘no,’ especially with the amount of juice Elsie drinks. Every 15 minutes I am asked in the littlest British accent, “Ms. Cherry, may I go the toilet?” To which I reply, “Are you sure you have to go, Els? Can you wait five minutes?” :) Love that child though!

Will write about Friday later :) As the Brits often say…Cheers!

Small group time!

Closing Circle 

Firefighter Visit! 

Peter was loving it! 

Looks a bit like Darth Vader, eh? :)

Getting ready for the barefoot walk! 

We're ready to go! 

Pretty views along the way!

One of the paths.

The Mud Hole.

We got to feed the goats :)