18 July 0123am

So yes. Things have really gotten better over here since the last time I wrote. The major event that happened at prison camp was parents visiting day last weekend, where the parents come to camp and participate in activities with their kids from late morning to afternoon. I Didn’t get last Friday off because of visiting day..oh well.

Now since this camp is a for-profit organization, the management’s objective for this day is to garner more signups for next year. Its so funny how they planned a chain on events for the kids leading up to this day to make them happy so that they can tell their parents good stuff about camp and hopefully sign up again next year.

So within the past week, the kids have gone bowling, roller skating, rafting, been to the water park, gone banana boating, had free pizzas for supper. And while making the kids happy, these series of events have successfully cheered me up substantially..heehee.

First it was rafting last Wednesday. And mind you, not all counselors get to go on these trips. The names have to be picked by the head counselor. And because I have proven myself to be reliable, trustworthy and capable, (in her words, kind of) I was picked to go on not one, not two but 3 trips! Some counselors didn’t get to go on any trips at all and were kicking up a fuss about not being valued, and complaining that the camp plays favoritism. Watever la…babies.

The bus ride out to the Delaware river for rafting was only the third time I had seen the surroundings of the camp in day light. I tried to remember roads so that I knew how to there on my day off. Overall I was just happy that I was out of campgrounds. Like the moment we were out of those gates, I had newfound energy in me. The grass looked greener, the trees looked taller, the sun looked brighter.

Rafting didn’t turn out to be as exciting as I would have liked, and not to mention that I was stuck on a raft with kids that wont stop arguing. But I was happy to be out of camp.
Following that, the days just got better.

On Thursday, I got picked to go to the Camel Beach Waterpark! I lovee waterparks! The one I went to last year in Florida with Sim – talking about it still gets me all excited and worked up. I was so excited about going that I forgot I was gonna be stuck with 8 difficult children, arguing all the time.

See, my girls have a problem agreeing with each other. If one wants to go on the toiletbowl slide for example, there would be one or two that would refuse to go on and I’d have to sit out and wait with the bloody children that are trying to be difficult. So its pretty obvious why I didn’t enjoy the waterpark so much. But it was the bus ride there and back that was awesome. 1.5 hours of uninterrupted me myself and I time, good weather, fresh mountain air, nice suburban view, good music, wind in my face..brought me back to the times riding in the van in Bali from Padangbai to Tulemben.
Mental note: Must have car without roof. Wind in my face makes me happy.

Then came visiting day - Saturday. Now there are some kids in my bunk that I have absolutely nothing good to say about. So it kinda made me nervous when their parents came and I had to make conversation with them.
Parent: Is XXX getting along well with the others in the bunk? How is she doing?
Me: Oh yes, XXX is doing very good. You know, girls being girls they bicker from time to time, but overall shes been getting along fine with the rest. Shes a good kid.
What was I supposed to do? Tell them their daughter is the devil’s spawn? The parents are probably in denial anyway. A few white lies, make everyone feel good….no harm in that.

Then on Monday, the kids left for rollerskating at like 6pm. Since the bunks were all cleaned, the rest of us counselors who weren’t on duty to go rollerblading basically had 3.5 free hours to kill until we could be let of for our night off at 930pm- 1230am. So I decided that it’ll be nice to go chill by the lake until it gets dark. So Nicola (co-counselor from England) and I took our books and portable chairs and went down to the lake. It was soo peaceful there. With the sun setting in the background, the still water reflecting the image of trees and cabins across the lake. It was beautiful. And since I was telling her how I cant have good conversation with most of the American counselors here ( I wonder why huh..), we had a nice chat about what we’d like to change about ourselves so that we can become better people. She said she should learn how to shut her mouth at the right time and I agreed. Haha. I said I need to learn not to be quick to judge people and make more effort to make conversation and not strike people off my list too easily. Also to learn to go with the flow sometimes and take myself less seriously. Need to seriously work on that. Haha…its a pun. geddit?

Then came the best day ever at camp – today. During my free period, the group leader came up to me and told me I had a private sailing lesson scheduled with a 7 yr old. Haha..I haven’t even taken my Dingy 101. At first I was a lil nervous. I mean how can a 7 yr old understand like the points of sail, the forces on the boat and sail and when to sheet in and out the main sail? But she turned out to be really intelligent and I even let her try helming! Then, after lunch, I was pleasantly surprised when asked to go water skiing with the kids!! I spent the whole afternoon banana boating on the lake. Awesomeeee. And I during my night off, I finally managed to talk to the other Sheryl!

I wish every day could be like today. 3.5 more weeks left. Really aint so bad. I can take it. After that, holiday!! O god…give me patience n strength!