I know rehire packets have been sent out, and I was wondering who's coming back as what. Also, we always love hearing from the newbies. You know, all the good gossip.
I applied for CIT or WIT director, and I've got an interview on Friday. Wish me luck!

So you are going for a change next summer then rose? Good luck with your interview.

Oh Rosethorn, I'm so glad you posted this now. I need to talk.

I had my interview today, and it took over an hour, and I really enjoyed talking with Brooke. I applied for assistant head wrangler, WIT Director, and assistant camp director, in that order. And I held pretty firm on that decision through the interview, though Brooke strongly suggested that I slip ACD up to the top of that list. And I turned in another stack of reference forms.

Then I went up to school and paid a lot of money to register for a class I'm not all that enthusiastic about taking, but I've almost got my Master's, so I'll suck it up.

But then tonight I got a call from Smiles the camp director, to try to talk me into the ACD job. And what she said made a lot of sense, and it did make me start thinking more about it. Then I talked to my parents, who pointed out salary and resume benefits (which honestly put me off a little, but they have a point).

So I've been talking with Hawaii (who may be head wrangler this year), and Smiles, and various other people... I know I could get the job, and I know I could do it well (though I also know it'd be rough at times, especially at the beginning), and I know I would like many aspects of the job. But I also have some doubts and misgivings about moving away from the barn (though I would be in charge of it, and thus have every excuse to go up there a lot as ACD, and I'd still work there in the spring and fall).

So there's that off my chest, that's my mental load of the day. It'll bear lots of thinking about and discussion.

Yep, time to get some more Cedarledge discussion going!

Oh, but in happy news, assuming we get a good nature director who I trust enough, my pet corn snake Mr. S was offered a position! I will, of course, have to negotiate his salary.

Now his salary is that paid in dead mice? I have no idea what a corn snake would eat.

Well he eats a mouse every week, and a dead mouse costs about $2 (a live one too, I imagine), so I'm sure that could fit into the nature budget...

I'm feeling better about my decision and life in general today (though still pretty restless, generally). I just needed to vent and sleep, mostly.

The interview went really great! Brooke was surprised I applied for WIT director, but she said she heard through the grapevine that I love me some horses so then she was cool with it. I told her the CIT program is closer to my heart and is definitely my first choice, but I will be happy either way. So once Speckles gets her reference in she can make a decision, and it looks real good! Speckles said she will have it in by Monday.
Indigo, I would be sooooo happy if you were ACD! That would be super fun! And I can't wait to meet Mr. S!

Glad your interview went well rose.

So I took the ACD job, and I'm really excited about it. It makes me smile. If it didn't, I wouldn't have taken it.

I really hope they find an awesome nature person, because I'm excited about bringing Mr. S, too! He's so getting a camp name...

Smudge, weren't you talking about coming to Cedarledge this summer? You know you want to!

I do but mummy smudge needs me for another summer! It is the hardest thing in the world not being to go to camp when you really want to.

Aww... Maybe 2011, then? That would be fun!

maybe - if not def 2012 - although mash wants me to go to lak so you might have to fight over me - wouldnt miss GS centenary year!

And how could you pass up a chance like Lak? :P

Here's some fun gossip: I was at Speckles's house last night and she is thinking about coming back this summer! She and her husband are going to talk it over. It's a World Cup year, so he's trying to get her out of the house anyway lol. Keep your fingers crossed! She is going to discuss things with Brooke and see how it goes.
I hope she comes back and rocks the CIT director position. As long as I know the CITs are well taken care of, I won't feel guilty if I get put with the WITs.

Ooh, that IS interesting gossip. I know she'd talked about coming back in a year or so, but you know how it is, sometimes you discover other things when you're not at camp.

Um, P.S. Indigo. Congrats on the official ACD position! I am so excited for this summer now!

Thanks! It's not officially official yet. My references still aren't in yet (slackers!), and Brooke needs to show my file to Jennifer... but I have every confidence!

I just sent Brooke an e-mail telling her to consider WIT director my first choice as long as Speckles applies for CIT director. I told her I would be happy at Gail's as long as I know the CITs are in good hands, and Speckles' hands are more capable than most. I know Speckles e-mailed her last night about maybe coming back, so I just wanted to reassure her that she won't be stepping on my toes or anything if she hires her as CIT. Speckles also said she sent in my last reference, but it will probably take a while still while they figure out where they are going to put me.

Oh, that's interesting news, and exciting!

And by the way, I loved our random text conversation about cuttlefish today.

While I was in Korea, all the seafood restaurants had these big tanks out in front with the possible edibles (some of them pretty... interesting). My absolute favorite were the squids. They were so cute! I have a picture or two on Facebook, probably in my first Korea album. I so want one.

Apparently you can keep them as pets, they are just a real pain to take care of. Well, by that I mean they're like other salt water fish. You have to do a whole bunch of stuff to keep their water regulated. When I have a real house I am so getting one.

A squid or a cuttlefish?

Personally I prefer cats and dogs!

Wow running saltwater tanks are a lesson in chemistry! So hard to get right but loads of people are keeping their own Nemos these days. I'll stick to goldfish though.

Well, I discovered you can get a cuttlefish for the cost of shipping from the National Resource Center for Cephalopods. Who knew. I printed out the instructions on how to take care of them. Someday...

I so want one too... That, and a horse, some goats, chickens, lizards of various types, at least one dog, at least one cat, gerbils, and probably lots of other pets.

And either a large farm or a zoo to keep them all in. At the moment I happy to stick to my kitty, mums dog and a virtual farm full of random animals!

So I got a message from Speckles yesterday. She says Brooke called and offered her the CIT director position and she hasn't even sent her application yet. She didn't say whether she was going to take it or not, but I hope she does it! Looks like it might be a horsie summer for Rosethorn.

I'm definitely thinking a small farm would be fun. Maybe near camp!

Cool!

But... I didn't get any cephalopod-based texts today. It was a little sad. The Hawaiian Bobtail Squid is SO cute!!

Or you could have a farm camp - run your own camp with GS values but on a farm!

4-H?

I'll settle for a ranch with all the poor tired horses I've come across.

Me personally a nice big house with room for a craft room and seperate sewing room, a bay window and a nice veggie and herb garden - animals required too much work!

They're back!!! Yay! I am of course crashing your thread again!

Congrats on all the job offers and fun stuff that is going on! I love that you guys are all so into camp and on the boards together!

Smudge, you so totally should come to Camp K when you come back to camp! haha, 3 choices to make! You would certainly get a different experience at a co-ed camp!

This is so totally not a Cedarledge thing but more of a position change, but I am applying for Unit Coordinator at my camp this summer! I've done the counselor thing for 2.5 summers already and I love it, but I need something new! I finally think that this year I will be ready to be a UC and will do a good job and love it! Our returner apps should be coming out within the next month, so I can't wait, now that you guys are all talking about your hirings!

Been to a co-ed camp giggles - was at one in 02! Oh that I didnt have to choose! I guess I still have loads of time to figure this out - but of course camp K does have OE! so could work 2 camps!

Good luck getting the Unit Coordinator job! I totally know what you mean about loving your old job but needing something new... That's kind of where I was this year.

I can't wait until camp stuff really starts, or at least more people are hired so I can start imagining staff dynamics and such!

heck, you could work 3 if you could get a visa for that time. Mar/April-June, June-August, and September-October/Nov. Although, there is a slight problem that you would need to do traveling or find somewhere else to stay in the couple weeks between each season.

Oh okay, that's cool. But this is true that you have a while to decide!

Very true Giggles! Not sure how mum would survive without me for that long but could always go to NH to visit my friend there between or on another Green Tortoise tour!

oh, I suppose that does make it a bit complicated, but if you did the 2 seasons you could do either of those things!

Very true - or even spend some time in Seattle and replace all the pics of random 20 ft traffic cones that I lost when my camera was stolen!

Smudge, the fact that you took pictures of random 20 foot traffic cones makes me happy.

hehe! Would share a photo but cant It was in the seatle sculpture park!

Oh my gosh, I haven't been to our sculpture park in YEARS! I want to go now!

...Except that it's cold, so I really have the urge to just huddle up by the radiator with a neverending supply of tea and hot chocolate and a warm blanket.

I don't know that I knew that Seattle had a sculpture park and I've lived in western WA my whole life! That 20ft traffic cone makes me smile though! I want to see it!

Amen to the cold factor, Indigo! It's totally throwing me off that we're not having a camp reunion this winter. I love going to camp when it's chilly. Gives me something to think about when I'm baking in my tent in July.

I couldnt tell you where exactly it is other than it was down towards the harbour and near another museum that was closed by the time i got there - I discovered it my mistake after going the space needle, sci-fi hall of fame and the rest of that site. It was pretty cool.

Indigo when did you get back to the US?

I got back last month! I'm enjoying it, for the most part. It's good to be home again. It would be better if I had a job, I think...

I totally know that feeling! At least you have camp to look forward to.

Drat! Was gonna apply for a job but dont have time to finish the application and get it posted ! Oh well!

whoa. that's interesting that speckles may be coming back! that would be great! Rosethorn you would sure have fun with those horsies.

I know I would! Still no word from Brooke yet, but she called me the "IT" director, so she probably is still trying to figure out where she wants to put me.
We would have so much fun at the barn, Torch!
Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Well JMo is on vacation in Florida until January 5-ish, as she tends to do at this time of year when we're all itching to know who got what job, so I think we all have to wait until then.

So I was noticing that our thread from last year is still on the first page... It was started last December, and has 692 replies. That's more than the countdown thread! Let's beat the record again!

My mom got me colored duct tape for Christmas, just for camp. It made me smile.

that's awesome! I got two torches for camp. one's a maglite. i'm excited.

I was so excited when I found a maglite at the beginning of the summer because it meant that it had been there a while so I totally just took it. It was a mini-maglite! woot!

Congrats on the camp presents! I don't think I got any camp presents, but I did get new apartment presents so that's good I suppose.

I got a mag-lite too! A massive 6 cell D battery one - but sadly i got it more for self defense coming home from Guides than camp

yeah, those mag-lites are heavy!

mines small. so it
ll be ok!

I used to have small ones - but i lost one last summer when I was travelling, my 2 AAA one somewhere in the house and other doesnt work so am planning to get a new one next year in america when I go over on holiday - cos you guys get them much cheaper than we do

I know. Rip off prices they charge over here! I was lucky to get mine in my works sale with staff discount and it was still ?20!

Brooke's starting to make calls! I got my job today!

Woo, ACD!!

Congrats, lady! I can't wait to hear which girls I will be working with. Oooh, the suspense!

I got mine yesterday! yay for wrangler!

congrats ladies and rose i hope you get the job you want!

Whee! I wish it were summer NOW! Or at least not so ridiculously cold... Brr!

me too! can't wait, but i guess i'll have too. i don't like this wintry business. it's miserable and i can't see my horsey! oh and thanks smudge!

We are not used to this winter business! We are currently having more snow than we have had in 20 years and at the moment the temp in my town hasnt risen about 0c in weeks - we are not used to that! And def not used to the day time temps of -8! I am sure you are all used to that but we arent! I miss the summer but love the snow!

I had the weirdest camp dream last night. I was a counselor in Cypress Meadows, but the unit was HUGE, like twice the size it really is, and there were tents and pavilions with beds in them. It was before the kids got there, and I was helping another counselor set up the staff pavilion. She was like, way older than most counselors; one of those scary overbearing Girl Scout moms. We were setting up hammocks in the pavilions, but according to her everything I did was wrong even though I knew it was right, from the way I tied my knots to the way I set up the mattresses. I was already so frustrated I was about to rip my hair out, when I looked up and noticed she was only setting up one staff bed per pavilion. As if we got our own tents. I started to explain to her that all the staff lived together, and then I woke up. It was weird. But I guess not that farfetched.

Not as far fetched as the camp dream I had during the summer when I dreamt that I was at chenoa but that the new CD has painted all the cabins pink!

haha Nor rosethorn, its not too far fetched at all. I've had real crazy camp dreams and realistic camp dreams too!

Oh, it's good to know there are different ways to do something right!

I had a weird camp dream one time, though it was weird that I remembered any dream at all since I never remember having a dream, let alone what it was about. Anyway, I dreamed that this one guy counselor and I started kissing and I appaerntly liked him ( thus the kissing). Well, when I woke up I gave it about 10 seconds consideration and knew that I really didn't like him at all that way. he's a cool guy, but not for me. Yeah, I have really weird dreams when I remember them, which is more like once a year.

The only dreams I tend to remember are the weird dreams. I dreamt that I was back at Camp Hoffman last night - it was in the future and in flashback - started at camp - with a mixture of staff from chenoa and Hoffman - and once I was at camp I flashed back to the present where I was writing my packing list and debating on whether I would need my walking poles - well must have been a little in the future cos currently i only have one walking pole!

But it has made me camp sick!

I had an awful dream last night... My (homicidal) rabbit could change into the judge from Sweeny Todd (only worse), and we had to kill him. Then I woke up. Really horrible. I had a talk with Buddy (the rabbit) today about not changing into anyone else. He was not impressed.

But in better news, I have a job interview tomorrow for a full-time subbing position at a private high school! I really hope I get it, that would be a great way to transition into an American classroom!

Hmm. That does sound like a nightmare. Sweeny Todd judge rabbits?
Goodluck Indigo!

Interesting dream indigo - good luck with your interview

Thanks! I think it went well. I'll get a call by the end of next week, and may have another interview before they make their decision by the end of the month. I'm hopeful!

That's so exciting Indigo! Congrats! Although, that dream is just weird!!

Gotta keep Cedarledge on top! XD

I was thinking of planning a camp-people trip to the zoo some time in the next couple months.

Brooke's out of the office until Feb. 1, so more waiting...

Oh the zoo is fun. I am so glad it's not me having to wait to find out my job! Makes me feel real fortunate,

I know, me too! It's so hard, waiting to hear back!

Oh, and I didn't get that last job I interviewed for, but they sent on my application to my old high school, which also has a sub position to fill very soon... I have an interview for that today! I'm hopeful...

Good luck with your interview Indigo

Good luck Indigo! And I know about waiting! I won't know until mid-February about what my position is this summer. Part of that is my fault though, in failing to send out the reference forms until now. But still! One of these days I will send out the references before I finish the application and get hired like a day after my interview or something like that.

Next year I am going to nag you giggles!

Ugh, you guys are so lucky! This waiting business is killing me! But a zoo trip would be awesome!

Got the job, and I start Monday! It might be just for 8 weeks, but with the situation, I kind of think it'll be longer. They were pretty desperate to find someone, but they seemed to like me a lot, too.

Oh Brooke, come back and hire more people, please!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's awesome!

Thanks Smudge!

This is the first year I've really had to wonder while I wait. In the past I knew I was going to get the counselor position but this year I am applying for UC, DC director, and then counselor as a 3rd choice. I'll be happy with any of them, but I want to know which one it will be!

thats great Indigo, must be cool to go back to your old school. and yes, Brooke, please stop the suspence!

Yay indigo - that is great!

Alright I can officially get excited. I'm CIT director!!!

Oh yay! but that means no long list of random items to be intrigued by!

Congrats Rosethorn!

Yay Rosethorn!!! I too must admit that I will miss the lists! I still have like 10 sets of chopsticks sitting around that I was going to send you last year! hehe I am HORRIBLE about mailing anything! oops!

I still have to get 2 more reference forms in. Well, actually i need to get 2 more to the people since they are not answering their emails. 1 more is done and sitting on my desk waiting for me to mail it (oops, shoulda given her an envelope and stamp and then she could have mailed it in!)

Yay!!!

My mom's still collecting random craftable materials... I hope whoever they get can use it all!

I am going to nag you to post that reference!

Thanks, guys! I mean, I could just start listing things for no reason: egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, tissue paper, empty milk cartons...

Sounds like an activity for your CITS - give them random stuff and see what they can come up with as an activity for the campers!

ooo, that's a good idea Smudge!

i second that. that would be super fun.

I actually used to do that as an arts and crafts activity for the CITs lol.

Yay! Great minds think alike Rose! it is also fun to give them random stuff (including rubber chicken) and let them create a game - i did that last summer - the had a beach ball, baseball bat various sized balls, a hula hoop, a blindfold and a rubber chicken and we let me create a game - it occupied them all evening!

some of my favorite games have been made up on the spot like that. Still play a few!

check out the thread about making a two-liter soda bottle greenhouse, they take a TON of bottles (1000 - 1500) so you could put that as a priority on your list if you're interested!

I can see it - at the end of the summer half the camps represented on here will have soda bottle green houses!

haha I hope so! I'm writing a letter to our Camp Director right now to pitch the idea! :-)

hey layton if you want to check out the proposal i wrote up pm me with your email and i will send it to you for you to check out.

couldn't get the pm to work for some reason? but it's

lap21@live.com

okay just emailed you.

let me know if you need anything. or if you have any ideas or anything too!

got it! thanks so much! I'll look over this and see about coming up with a proposal of my own and if I have any questions I know where to find you! Thanks again! :-)

One of our fellow Cedarledgers, Bird, is in the Peace Corps in Guatemala right now. She helped organize and build a soda bottle wall around the school she's working at, both for added security and a use for some of the trash that accumulates. It looked pretty cool, especially when the sun shone through it!

Have you not thought about joinging the peace corps Indigo - from what I have heard about it - it seems like something you woul like!

I didnt know that the Peace Corps still existed until 2001 - I had always thought it was a very 60s thing - but totally awesome!

I've thought about it! I might still do it at some point, but at the same time, I really want to have a house and lots of pets, and start a life here. I've been wanting that for a while now, and it's starting to overwhelm my love of travel.

Hey we should join together, Indigo! I've been thinking about it, too. We could go to Jamaica and teach or something.

Let's do it!

awesome ideas guys! regardless where you go, know you can always come back to camp!

Just felt the need to move Cedarledge up again... more people are getting hired, and I believe we have less than 100 days left until camp!

Indigo are you sending all your new hires here?

Less than 100 days! OMG I need to get crack-a-lackin! I feel like I've done nothing to prep. Then again, I feel like CIT is not going to take as much physical prep as A&C did. Lesson planning, yes. Trash picking and recyclable storing not so much.

I've got a Facebook group started for our new hires.

scared we will scare them off with our nuttyness?

Actually, posting a link to this board might not be a bad idea when I have a minute for it!

I am sure that we will all be nice to them - and I wont poach them to come and work at my camp cos I dont have one again this summer

Haha, two summers ago I went on an airport run just before precamp, and we almost poached another camp's international staff! They were late to pick the poor staff member up, so we stayed with her and said if they didn't come, she could come back to Cedarledge with us. They did eventually show up, though!

Hehe - that happened to us one summer our pick up was late!

I just referred a couple of new internationals here, so keep an eye out for them! Bumping this up for them (and also because I like to see it at the top)!

Ooooh yay new meat! need to start thinking of the camp horror stories!

Yes! New people!

Haha, I have to restrain myself sometimes... I have fun telling some horror stories, but the fact is, if they weren't so isolated, I wouldn't remember them so well.

I know what you mean Of course one of my funniest is the of the 2 girls who were at arrowhead for less than 48 hours - they had been at a different christian camp but they felt it was too extreme - so they got Camp America to switch them to Arrowhead and they arrived the day we were planning our staff over night which sent one of the girls into almost a panick attack cos she had a phobia of tents - hello but arent they kind of implied in the name of the program "camp america"!

Tent phobia? Weird...

Yup I worked with a girl for a week who had a tent phobia. So bad she went home in the middle of staff training.

Course you are speaking to the girl who will choose a tent over a cabin even on a cold night. And enjoys the weird looks for doing so.

You think the person who had tent phobia whould have known your camp had tents-- didnt that person look at the website or anything the camp director sent out before camp?

I slept in a tent only once last summer which was during staff training. Slept pretty comfortably too that night.

Well tents can be avoided if you try hard enough. We have troop houses, yurts, platform tents, screened cabins and all weather cabins. It's not had to escape them.

It is a bit of an odd phobia but I think the point I was trying to make and maybe not clearly enough is that unlike the USA in that camping in britian is done in a tent! If we are going to a cabin in the woods we say we are going to a cabin not a camp. So in signing up for CAMP America most people that I know assume it involves at least some camping in tents! But this girl had based her notions of what camp would be like on looking at private camps with lush cabins.

Because Camp America / BUNAC / CCUSA / etc is just *so* good about telling newbies about all the kinds of camps. They are obsessed with the private camps!

Sorry I'll turn off the sarcasm now and go back to my application form.

I know I have nothing to do with Cedarledge, but I love reading your posts... for some crazy reason. The tent phobia just made me laugh. When I was at GS camps, there was always a staffer who wouldn't want to live or go near tents! They always requested units with cabins or the lodge.

I've seen the same thing with Camp America and others. Many of the internationals think they are going to a private camp and then are very disappointed when they have to live in a unit in a tent.

- Teenster

I guess I been lucky since the camps I been at only had cabins... Even for camps that I voluntered at for a week we managed to get camps with only cabins. The volunter camps only rented the camps from exiosting camps

We get staff members who really hate the tents now and then... They generally get over it within the first session, or they decide that camp isn't for them. We also have had some international staff members (and most likely some Americans too) come, never looking into Cedarledge, only seeing the luxury cabins that Camp America apparently advertises, and expecting to get that. Always make sure to do your research!

Yeah my camp has all cabins too. We only have tents for when the older kids do overnight trips off of camp.

I also love reading the posts even though i have nothing to do with Cedarledge!

I can understand not particularly liking tents. I get people who like them for sure, but I've had some fun experiences with racoons getting into my stuff (yes, I had food and apparently it was not an airtight container, but i'm only in the tents like one week per summer and the awesome cabins the rest of the time). Ok, so I would be ok if i didn't bring food into the tent, except for the fact that I always need to go to the bathroom fairly badly when I wake up and having to put on shoes and run to the bathrooms is not very fun for me. I like the cabin haivng the bathrooms in them. Other than that, I like the tents! I certainly would get used to them if they ever put me in them for a whole summer, so maybe they should put me in my "learning zone" and do that, or I should do that for myself! I don't mind the no electricity. It's just the racoons and the bathrooms!

See the cabins at the GS camps I have worked at didnt have bathrooms in them! I love platform tents cos they remind me the the ridge tents that I used to camp in as a guide

Yea the cabins I've lived in usually have a Lat unit near by and it's always a case of getting up and walking. For some reason it takes about 2 weeks for me to train myself to not have to get up at 4am exactly.

I love sleeping in a platform tent, with the sides all rolled up so it's "floating". It's a glorius feeling with the breeze comming through and seeing nature all around you.

Ah and the deer walking past your front door. They usually seem less scared of tents than cabins. Maybe it's because the tent units are quieter...

I love floating platform tents!

aww, the deer walking by and the breeze! awesomeness I like the tents themselves, and that would be awesome! I especially love having the sides up on a sunny afternoon, maybe with a little light breeze going on. ahhh I don't know if I would trust the flaps up all night with our weather over here, even in the summer, but on sunny days, ahhhh Man, now i want ot chill in a platform tent on a sunny day right now!

Me too!

That feels SO nice! Or on a really hot night, letting the breeze flow through. Or when it's raining... I love the sound of rain on a tent. Most relaxing thing ever!

i love the sound of rain a tent too - and it soo much better on canvas than the nylon stuff of pop-ups!

it's such a wonderful sound.

also agreed!

Aw, much as I love Manor House, I'm gonna miss the tents this year. There's always precamp! LOL.

You could always choose to stay in a tent? Our add staff lived in tent city - which was 4 platform tents and a yurt - while nearlly all the rest of the staff lived in cabins or adaronacks.

Nah, I wouldn't skip living in Manor for the world. Ha can you imagine just setting up a tent in the yard and being like, CITs! If you need me I'll be outside!

At least you would get paece from them at night!

haha, so I don't know Manor, but I do know someone who kinda did that. He was a lifeguard but he was living with the special needs boys to help out their counselor (I was the other counselor, so I was in a staff cabin) at night. Well, those boys sure know how to stink up a cabin at night(at least one of the kids does). Plus, I think he did this other weeks, but he pitched his little 1-2 person tent on the porch! hehe

At hoffman there ended up with a bat in the staff cabin and the staff were soo scared of it that they spent the whole week in a pop up tent cos all their platform tents were full! And the same week my co and I ended up in a tent for several nights after the roof of our cabin started leaking! Infact the first morning we were in the tent my co woke up with 2 HUGE dragonflies on the tent above her head and she totally freaked out - it was sooo funny!

I remember at least one situation where two staff members pitched a tent in their unit. I think it was due to overcrowding... but then the following week, when there was room for them, they had so much fun in the tent that they decided to stay there!

We don't have tents at my camp, but we did just get a yurt, which is absolutely awesome. Perhaps I'll introduce the tent life this summer..

We have yurts too, spend two of the ten weeks in the yurts.

We've got just the one, but there's a few camps in the area that have enough yurts to house admin and support staff. If you could see me, then you'd know what the face of jealousy looked like haha

We just have two and we only use them when then cabins and forts are filled.

forts?! Do elaborate on that one!

The first floor is like a basement and upstairs its just likd a regular cabin where the kids sleep. Pretty simple....kinda one of those hard to explain things, sorry.

it's okay. I still want to visit your camp just so I can stay in a fort though..

Which is an idea, have a unit-wide competition to see whoh can build the best fort... Oh goodness I'm excited

Sometimes our units get too full and so we have cabins set aside for overflow. Most of the time it is A-frame, a big A-frame cabin with a bathroom and kitchen and some bunks downstairs, and a bunch of bunks upstairs. There's somewhere around 20-25 bunks total in that cabin. I think that's the largest cabin we have. Oh, wait. Hill House (woot woot! our CITs stay there and it is the Hill-ton of camp!) has 4 bedrooms- 2 with 6 beds and 2 with 4. So A-frame still beats it by a couple beds. Hill House also has a little kitchen, bathrooms, and a living area with 2 couches (wooden frame with cushins). It's rockin'!

So I just went to "Camping Procedures in GSEM", which was basically a course for troop leaders getting ready to take their troops camping. I was the only one there aiming to be a weekend camp supervisor. But I sure did help my table out with camp knowledge! It was fun to get down to camp, but it looked so weird without leaves on the trees! It was the first time I'd seen camp in a year and a half, and it was almost surreal, seeing the rocky ledges or units through the trees. Makes me want to go back and trek up into the hills!

Now I just need a Troop Camp course, First Aid certification (which I'll get in precamp), a Camp Supervisor course, and then an apprenticeship, which I'm hoping I can do with Smiles next year! I'm excited!

Also, it will soon be March. March means that spring is coming! It's about time...

Yay!! Congrats Indigo! When you mentioned camp without leaves on the trees I was kinda confused for a second. I know you don't go to my camp but apparently I had generalized my camp. See, my camp is kinda in The Evergreen State and basically has almost all evergreen trees, so even without the leaves on the big leaf maples and whatnot it still looks like camp. haha

Haha that must be funny. I got asked to help with a neigghborhood event on the 1st weekend of April- I'm pretty excited!

G'Day everyone!

My name's Munchy and I'm from Melbourne, Australia.

I had an email from Brooke a couple of weeks ago and I have a phone call with her tomorrow about a position at Cedarledge. I've checked out the website and the camp just looks so exciting!

I've been reading your posts (and laughing quite hard), and I'm hoping I get the position just so I can meet you lot. I'm hoping to travel around America after camp and possibly head over to England afterwards.

Here's hoping my talk with Brooke goes well tomorrow.

Munchy.

G'day munchy - welcome to the fun I am not a cederledger but I love camp and you will see several of us gate crash this thread - but we wont poach you!

Are you sure about that Smudge? Lol!

Welcome Munchy! From another thread gatecrasher.

well giggles and i promised indigo we wouldnt - but that being said Cali didnt make any such promise!

Don't you go poaching our staff! ;D

Hi Munchy! I love the name. Good luck with your interview! Brooke's super easy to talk to, don't worry.

I spent 2 weeks in Melbourne last spring (our fall) with some former Cedarledge lifeguards. Best vacation ever! We've had good luck with Melbourne.

what didn't i promise not to do?

Not to poach cederledgers to your camp - cos you just wouldnt do that would you?

oh okay..

no i wouldn't poach staff! i tend to be the one who gets poached rather than the one who does the poaching.

Hey all!

Smudge: I noticed there were a few intruders in this thread.... :P
Glad to hear you won't poach me. I won't mention how many years of camping experience I have under my belt, it might encourage you :P

I'm pretty set on Cedarledge though, it looks awesome!


Indigo: Glad you had such a good time in our happy little country. Love going to Melbourne, but I sadly work too much and don't get to go as much as I'd like too.

And thank you, I'm hoping Munchy will be my Camp Name

haha, I love how when a newbie to cedarledge comes on all the crashers come out of the woodwork and say all this!

by the way, Giggles=campkgurl. My camp name is Giggles but I wasn't thinking when I put campkgurl as my screenname that Giggles would have been a better one! Oh well, I answer to both!

Yes, I am a gate crasher and I won't steal anyone away from cedarledge, at least not on this thread... hehe. No, I will for sure show my lovefor my camp but it's up to you if you come over to the western side of the USA!

I do enjoy that name!!

Oh, I forgot to welcome you to the boards! We have a good time, whether or not we are the majority (cedarledgers) or the minority (everyone else!)!! I think there are as many regular posting cedarledgers as there are regular posting people from every other camp combined!

Thanks Giggles, I did wonder who it was who answered to that name.

Thank you for the welcome, I'm happy to see that people from other camps are posting. Just shows you how friendly we all are.

Yeah, this message board is my favorite! Everyone is all friendly and awesome and they love camp as much as everyone else so you can totally go all crazy camp person on here and everyone just joins in!

I think Munchy would be a good camp name!

So Munchy how many years camp experience do you have? I cant poach you anyway cos the only camps I am going to this are in the UK

It's a nickname I got when I was at Uni. Short for Munchkin, because I'm slightly short and very cheeky.

I have 18 years experience camping, both as a camper and as a Leader.

ohhh cool! that is even more than I had my first summer I had about 10 as a camper and a couple as a leader.

part of my reason for not going back (and there are other reasons) this year is I am working at Caledonia 2010 - the scottish centenary camp and then Fusion which is a big centenary festival. I will miss camp though - and even though i cant go the cederledgers keep trying to poach me!

Oh wow, sounds like you'll really know your stuff! That's exciting.

I assume you've seen the website, but if not, here it is: http://www.campcedarledge.com

And when/if you get hired, I'll invite you to join the Facebook group, too.

Where's Rosethorn? She's usually really quick to the welcome committee. Maybe she's in the middle of a play or something...

OMG, Indigo, you were spot on there! I'm in between show weeks for Anything Goes, so it's been frantic as all get out. Finally have a moment to relax, though. Whew!
Munchy! Welcome! Can't wait to meet you. Cedarledge is a great place. I'm sure you'll love it. We can always use more short cheeky people. We are typically the best kinds of people.

Smudge: I hope you have fun! I went to a big international camp once, that was exciting! Sadly I missed the Centenary Camp this year.

Indigo: I was looking at a Cedarledge Facebook page, I think it was for past counsellors? I have seen the website, it looks fantastic. Brooke sent me the link in one of the first emails she sent me. I'm looking forward to talking to her, we've had to postpone our chat until tomorrow night (my time). These time zones are confusing.

Rosethorn: Hi there! Can't wait to meet you too! I notice yoou have the word 'Possum" (or something similar) in your signature. That's my Guide name!

Hey Welcome! I love the name Munchy! I think you should keep it! Cedarledge is really splendid. Can't wait to meet you!

There are actually about 50 different Cedarledge Facebook pages! A few main ones, some for campers, some for staff, some for former CITs and/or WITs, and a new one for each summer, for the past few years.

Rosethorn, I've missed seeing you around! We should go to the Loop some time.

Cedar trees: Looking forward to meeting all the Cedarledgers too. Let's just hope my chat with Brooke goes well.

I'm getting a friend from work to teach me how to ride a horse, it looks like fun! Probably won't get a chance to ride at camp, but it'll still be good to learn.

As long as you are in a two week unit, you will probably get a chance to ride with your girls. It is fun. Oh, and Possuummm is one of my CIT sisters; I have all of their names in my signature.
Indigo, we do need to go to the Loop sometime soon. I haven't gotten to check out the knitting shop down there, and I'm also craving some Ranoush. Just give me a call, and we shall make it happen.

Munchy, there are usually opportunities to ride at some point! It varies from day to day, of course, but you should get a chance or two.

Rosethorn, I get spring break next week, and I think this is my last week of teaching anyway, so in a week or so, let's do it!

Great! My phone call with Brooke keeps getting delayed but I'm talking to her within the hour!

oh - hope it doesnt get pushed back to stupid oclock in the morning mucnhy!

Hope all goes well!!!

Oh no, not stupid o'clock in the morning! That's the worst time ever!

Good luck! I hope you'll be joining us for real!

So the day after tomorrow, I'm off to the ACA Midstates Conference with Brooke, Janine (another of our council's camps' boss), Smiles, Happy, and the other (former wrangler, now Fiddlecreek) Smiles. It should be an awesome trip! I'm really excited!

I am jealous - i have wanted to go to an ACA conference for years!

Good luck Munchy!!

Have fun Indigo!!

Thanks for all the best wishes guys.

Looks like I'll be seeing you at Camp Cedarledge, woo hoo!!!

Glad it's over, I was quite nervous. Brooke is a very lovely person.

congrats!!!!!!

Thanks!

Nice!

I love that Brooke's so easy to talk to. I get really nervous in interviews, and she makes it easier.

Congrats Munchy! i am sure you will have an amazing summer.

Brooke really is a great lady. Most of the time I feel like our interviews are just interesting conversations lol.
Glad you will be joining us, Munchy! I can't wait to meet yoooooou!

Yeah, I get nervous during interviews too. Brooke was very nice to talk to, made me feel really comfortable.

Just a query about something I found on the Cedarledge site. On the 'What to bring' page, what's an 'A-shirt'??

They're also called "wife beaters." It's one of those really thin white tank-top-type undershirts with ribbed cloth and thinner shoulder straps. They've been a favorite in the past, but in recent years they've been phased out of the camp dress code for decency reasons.

I thought they were still ok as long as you wear a bra that doesn't show through?

Ah. I don't wear anything like that anyway,so I'm safe :P

I don't even know, I feel like it changed a lot, and then I was gone last year, so I couldn't keep up with the dress code trends... I just wear T-shirts, so I'm fine too!

By the way ACA Midstates was SO much fun!! I went to a lot of really interesting sessions, got some handouts, took some good notes, and came home with some useful ideas. Oh, and got a free bug zapping racket!

Yay that is awesome - glad you had a good time

I'm going to Cedarledge today, to paint the office and play around!

JEALOUS!

me too! Heck, I'd be happy going to Cedarledge to hang for a day, despite the fact that it holds no emotional or familiar connection to me!! Well, unless you guys were there. Then I would know people, but still you know what I mean!

Me too - to hang out at any camp is better than at no camp

We had a blast! The office is painted, and we got to do some exploring and preparation for precamp while we were out there.

I referred another new staff member over here!

...But really, that's just another excuse to bump this up to the top again.

Hehe - so where is this newbie from and oooooh what kind of scarey stories can we tell her??????????????? *wanders off plotting*

Oh Smudge, it's not like we have any scary Cedarledge stories, except how crazy these guys are

But yay!

I think I may have recruited a day camper for my camp in my friend's daughter!!! Although a lot of factors could easily put that to a stop. hmm, we'll see.

You know, I'm not sure where she's from! She might not even be international, Brooke just keeps giving me e-mail addresses.

hehe - I know I dont have any cedarledge stories

Yay for a new camper for your camp!

Turns out she's from Perth! Now I know.

Also, my brother's girlfriend (who does a lot of troop camping) has applied to work at Cedarledge. She just had her interview the other day, so it might take a while before she hears anything.

Now do you mean Perth Scotland or Perth Australia?

Perth Australia.

Cool! By the end of the summer you will have an Aussie accent

I love trying to pick up accents... And I think it's hilarious when the internationals pick up American accents! They're usually way overdone, but it's so funny.

I dont accents - dispite long periods living in places with really strong accents all I have is a kind of generic british accent! I tend to pick up vocabulary - for example I switch between trash, garbage and rubbish, and torch and flashlight!

One summer I lived with a group of British/Aussie counselors and staff. Since I was the only American in the group, I picked up some words and phrases like, torch and rubbish. Sometimes I still say some of those things either at camp or even in my classroom.

- Teenster

I have a terrible habbit of picking up accents, I'm so embarrassed when people call me out on it! :-/

I don't mind when people pick up accents - I knew someone who used to deliberately cover her lovely scottish accent (and it was lovely not like the harsh accent that makes you sound thick that people near me have) with a BAD fake american accent!

I've been having loads of fun hanging out with camp people lately. It's promising to be a great summer, despite the fact that every few weeks someone else says they aren't coming back... Sad times. But we will persevere!

Aww shame - but I guess, sadly, life gets in the way of camp sometimes

It does seem the dropout rate is uncommonly high this year.

I have no idea how we're doing enrollment wise for kids but staff wise, I think we're struggling a bit to get new staff members. As of right now, I think we're short about 16-18 or so counselors and that's just counselors. Only 10 weeks to hire a ton of staff...

I think our enrollment for kids is up to its normal standards, and we're still in the process of hiring and shuffling people around so things get filled up.

wow, I think we were done hiring like a month ago, though I could be wrong. I suppose it helps that there aren't that many camps in the area that I know of (well, day camps like YMCA stuff, sure, but res camps in the woods, not so much) and that we actually managed to get quite a lot of returners.

I don't know how we are doing as far as kid enrollment goes.

There's not many camps surrounding us either. Its even more surprising to me because the closest really big city to camp is a college town full of college kids. And then we're a YMCA camp, the actual city that our camp serves or whatever is another huge college town in the state. You would think we'd be getting more people interested, especially with the way our economy is so down in Michigan....you can really save a ton of cash with this job for the summer but I guess most teens aren't interested in giving up their summers.

I know that alot of my friends always thought I was crazy - cos what they seen was the long hours you work - rather than how much fun it was, the fact that most of the time you had room board (and some camps you even have that over session breaks)!

We do have a handful of other camps around us, but Cedarledge is the cheapest one by far (along with our other two council camps). We offer a lot of variety, though most of it is basic stuff, and we charge for two weeks about a fourth of what other area camps charge for just one.

We aren't the cheapest camp but we do offer a lot and our facilities are really nice for a camp and we have a ton of fun. The meals are really great too, so although we aren't really cheap I think we are a good value.

And most of my friends just do not want to give up their entire summers which I guess is understandable. I do it because I love camp, have loved it since I was a kid so this is like a teen dream job for me. But for other people, working from June until end of August, 6 days a week only getting 24 hrs off a week once session 1 starts, and being slightly underpaid isn't worth it to them.

Sadly that is their loss! They really dont know what they are missing Where as I on the other hand do

We are also fully staffed - well, we need one more lifeguard. If any of the three international staffers I e-mailed would respond, we might have that spot filled too! But otherwise, we're staffed.

Our numbers are looking pretty good - I'd like to see them higher already, but they are higher than they were last year at this time, so everyone keeps telling me that's good!

I would come and guard for you if i could fluke - but I am still stuck in the UK for the summer!

Wow, missed a bit with my Internet being down.

Seems we have a couple of Aussie staff, looking forward to swapping stories with other people out of my state.

Every day I get more and more excited about this camp. Got my Visa interview coming up, then I'm halfway there!!

Woo, that's exciting!! I can't wait for camp to start. I'm counting down the days until I get to move in for the summer!

According to MoMo, it is 63 days 'til the CITs start. That means it's even sooner for me. Eek! I gotta get crackin'!

Me too, I have to start packing I think I counted something like 54 days until I leave, but I'm so tired I may have miscounted :P

About 16 more days until I take off and I haven't shopped at all... I have so much to do in such little time.

49 days till ad staff week starts! I'm going to do some shopping today... Mostly shopping for the rest of life, but there are a few camp things already. I really need to go through my bag of camp clothes and see what needs replacing.

Four weeks of school, one week of finals, and then open house! I love open house; it's like a little camp fix before the season starts for real.

I am currently getting one of my nearly camp fixes for this year - I am staying at Pax Lodge in London with 9 guides and 4 other leaders - all of whom are being social while I came for a shower and internet before bed!

Two of my friends from school asked me about working at Cedarledge this year, which was kind of exciting. Do you know anything about the hiring sitch right now, Indigo?

I'm not completely sure. Last time I heard (last week) we had something like 53 staff members hired, out of our 70-ish total goal. They're finding some waterfront heads and still deciding on nature director and such. I haven't heard anything about A&C recently, but hopefully they can find somebody good for that!

By the way, Rosethorn, are you super excited to go talk to all the girl scout moms in U. City with me on May 6?

My friend Johnny is thinking about applying for A&C, and he'd be a good pick if he decides to do it cuz his parents are both art teachers lol.
I am soooo excited to go talk to scout moms in U. City with you on May 6th. It's gonna be a party in a box.

It sure is! I'm going to some far-off places to do the same with Brooke tonight and Thursday... if she'd ever answer my questions about when to meet her! I'm a little frustrated right now... But it's fine. I'll give her a call, and after that, eat some of the delicious chocolate-covered strawberries my dad's making. Then, all shall be right with the world.

Ooh, chocolate-covered strawberries! I'm sooo jealous. They are my favorite treat.
Do you know if they have all the unit leaders they need? My friend Dana is thinking about applying, and she is over 21. She could still be a counselor, but I think she would rock out the UL business, plus it pays better lol.

I don't know, but I know there are more than the ones on the staff page. Tell her to apply for UL, but to put counselor as her second choice.

I was going to visit Pax Lodge after camp, but it was going to be $2500 more on my flights. Oooo... I'm so jealous!!! Got those badge for you though

Yay I have spare pax ones - I will send you some! Mashnut and I (and another friend) are heading to Our Chalet next year and then in 2012 when I eventually get back to camp we are going to go down to Our Cabana! Would like to do Sangama at somepoint too (am dreaming about doing it by Easter 2014 but that might not happen!)

On a sadder note - my counties Brownie house burnt down a few days ago.

Yeah, I'm hoping to head to Pax Lodge in 2012, not sure about the others. I'd love to visit them all.

That is terrible, mate. I'm very sad to hear it. Our hall is over 10o years old, so if it burnt down we'd be devistated.

Pax was cool - I really enjoyed staying there! If you do go to pax you should come up and visit scotland - and see our shiny new activity center which should be finished (or nearly so) by then - fortunately we already have planning permission, and land etc!

Yay!! Just let me know where I can send those badges and I'll send them off. How many did you want again?

38 days 'til precamp, y'all. Woot!

I can't wait!

You have even less time to wait, Ms. Ad Staff!

I know!! Something like 31 days for me! And the horses arrived the other day, so I'm going out today to help with the vet, and then I'll start my weekend and evening excursions to the barn on Sunday.

less than 5 weeks and I haven't started packing......

don't worry about it Munchy, I highly doubt any of them have started packing! Most of us put it off for quite a while and do it last minute. But I bet at least some of them (including me) start buying early and I start packing early as well, but that's more of an "oh, I won't need this until camp. Let's put it in a pile on my floor" type packing. Then the last night I stay up until at least 1 am packing!

That was always my type of packing or the bag stuck in the corner and stuff just shoved in it as you find/think of it!

Yeah, I'm more concerned about getting packed and moved out of my school house before I start worrying about camp.
I went shopping with my mom today, and she got me a s'mores t-shirt that smells like chocolate lol. So cute! It reminds me so much of camp.

A lot of years, I'm fully packed by the end of March... I'm kind of slacking off this year! But I do have most of my camp stuff gathered in the top shelf of my closet (and some under my bed). I'll have to decide what I'm packing in this year, since I want to pack lighter than usual, and I left my big suitcase in Korea (it finally lost all its zipper pulls! I think there's one in every country I've been to).

I'm pretty excited about our horses! I'll have to get back into practice with them, I've only touched a horse once in the past year before today...

Yeah, but do you have a 22 hour plane trip ahead of you? :P:P

That's actually my type of packing, I tend to get all the equipment and food before hand, but forget to pack my bag :S

I sure do not, and I don't envy you for that, Munchy! You'll be so tired when you finally get here!

I'll be arriving on the 27th so hopefully I'll have a decent sleep before camp :P Though I'll probably be as hyper as a 5year old!

Haha, no different than the rest of us, then!

in order to keep my plane costs low I usually have several stops and it takes all day.. and I don't sleep the night before, and yet, I'm still that hyper 5 year old when I get there haha

I can never sleep on the plane. I try to arrange it so my flights get in in the evening, so I can put my stuff down and sleep, then feel better the next day. When I flew from Australia to Japan last fall, I got into the airport at 6am and had the rest of the day to try to stay awake. It was pretty rough!

That sounds like me - I prefer to fly at night but I dont sleep on the planes. When i fly out to visit my camp friends in sept I have to be at the airport at 4am and then have loads of hanging around time, a short flight, more hanging around time and then a long flight, more hanging around and then a bus But it will be worth cos I will be seeing camp friends and visiting my camps sister camp!

Flying to England overnight was terrible. This little kid kept crying and keeping me awake. So frustrating. And then I had to stay up all day because I arrived around noon. Blargh. Never flying at night again lol.

I find that it helps with the jet lag - which strangely I dont get when I fly to the USA only when I fly home at the end! But I can imagine it would be pretty bad with crying children!

wow, what you guys will do to get to camp! I suppose I have a similar equivalent in that I drive to my camp which is 5-6 hours away from school after work on a Friday and come back on Sunday, all for a one night Dad/youth overnight. But at the same time, I know it doesn't compare since 22 hour flights/layovers are horrible! I did a 9 hour and then a 1-2 hour flight when I went to Germany but that's still only like half the time!

haha, everyone at camp was laughing at me because I was practically skipping through the mud on our way around camp and I would randomly sigh or say "yay!"

lol and I thought my 90 minute drive was bad...

It's worse than mine in the summer, 3 times worse actually. My drive from home/parent's house is 30-45 minutes but since this was a weekend event during the school year I went over for the fun of it. But yeah, I thought that was bad. I don't even want to know what it would be like to have to do a 22 hour flight to get to camp! Or even a 3 hour one!

I feel that the long commute helps me with my camp experience, I am 100% out of my element, in a new place, out of the "real world". different place, different scenery, different flora/fauna, etc.

My first year at camp it took me three days to get to camp - day one 3 buses and 13 hours to travel to the south of England, day 2 a train, a plane and mini bus ride stayed in a dorm on a day camp, day three - go get Social Secruity number, back to pick up more people at the airport then travel to camp via camps sisters camp further north in NH to drop people off and eventually got to at something like 9pm - I had left home at 7am 3days before that! Another year I did the over night bus to London and arrived at the airport aout 5 hours before check in opened I think that day I was up for about 40 hours straight - got to camp and pulled the best prank ever! Oh the things we do for camp

That makes a lot of sense, Layton. Camp used to be the place where I could be myself, but I've found that I am still my "old/camper" self at camp now. I pigeon-holed myself. I am on staff and I know this but I guess it's hard to explain. One example I can think of is when I do swear (which really isn't that often, but it does happen) the other staff that have known me a while will say ":O Giggles swore!" as if it is like the biggest shocker they could imagine. Heck, even the newbies seem to be kinda shocked when I swear. So I'm really looking forward to going to a new camp and starting out as my "now" self.

Wow, I can't even imagine that long of a trip. Sure, it will be a fairly long trip to my new camp, but nowhere near that long!

Haha, I do that too, Giggles! Now and then I swear in front of my wrangler friends just for the reaction it gets me. But it's kind of annoying when people just see me as over-the-top or laid-back, and don't take me seriously, just because I like to have fun at camp.

I'm like that, too. I swear very rarely, but the people who I have been working with for three years still say, "Beck, I've NEVER heard you swear before." even though they have :S

I swear everyday

I dont swear at at all so I could only imagine the reaction if I did!

I'm very careful about what I say in front of my girls and with customers, but I'm less restricted when I'm with friends. I try not to go overboard though.

Yeah, that's how I am, Munchy. I'm very good at censoring myself.

Oh man, so I was at Dad/youth overnight talking with one of the dads about rowboating and how many kids you could get in it or something like that and I said that I put my 6 kids in it. He looked at me and said, "You've got 6 kids?" hahaha It's been a while since someone didn't understand that my "kids" are any kids that I work with, like my campers! hehe

I've had that happen a lot! I mention my camp kids, or my students, and people give me a weird look... then I remember that some people give birth, rather than borrowing other peoples' children temporarily.

I told another Leader the other day that I now have 24 girls and someone else overheard me and looked at me weirdly. Yes, it would be strange for a 23 year old to have 24 daughters :P:P

haha, yeah when this dad said, "you have 6 kids?" I was wondering how old he thought I was! He seemed shocked but it wasn't a "holy crap is that even possible?!" shock, but more of a "wow, 6 kids is a lot of kids for 1 person/family" kind of downplayed shock. Sure he could just be really good at hiding stuff, but still. That's almost a moment where you don't want to hide your real shock! How old do you think i am that it's possible for me to have 6 kids?! I'm actually only 21! So while, yes it would biologically be possible to have that many, it's not even plausible/probable if he thought I was 26.

I get that kind of reaction when I am talking about my 30+ guides r 24 brownies! Fortunately I have lots friends who are either guiders or teachers so kinda get it!

One of my friends sort of did a double take when she complimented me on my hippie mural and I said, "Oh, thanks, my kids made that." It took her a minute to realize I was talking about my camp kids, but I think that was more because she had been drinking lol.

hehe - we did a mural in 07 on the doors of the cook out cupboards - looked amazing apart from where the painters had signed it - would have been better if they had done it across the bottom rather than up the side - but it was all painted by staff - dont think they trusted the kids!

I just finished up student teaching and my kids kept giving me those silly band things that are all the rage among third graders (http://www.sillybandz.com/ just incase you don't know) and I clearly had to wear them or they would have been upset and I'm at my other job once and someone goes "Heather, do you have enough of those stupid bracelets on?" and I was like "Oh, yeah, well I kinda have to wear them, my kids gave them to me." Now this woman is a coworker who's known me for 2 years and her mouth just drops and she goes 'You have kids?" and I was really attempted to say 'Yep, 10 girls and nine boys' but i didn't i just reminded her I was teaching lol.

I've never heard of those before, but I checked out the website. Anyone else have a feeling those are gonna pop up at camp this summer? Haha outrageous trading post product of the year, perhaps?
Indigo, remember those silly jellyfish yoyos that kept selling out like crazy at the TP? Kids like strange things. At least they are more wholesome than those stupid sex bracelets that were in fashion when I was in middle school, though.

I thought the jellyfish yoyos were super cool, but then I love stretchy, rubbery things.

Of course, back in my day (my MUCH younger day), we were into slap bracelets. All the cool kids had them. And guess who didn't?
That's right, me again!

The jellyfish yoyos were kind of fun to play with, but they always got gunk all over them because they were slightly sticky, and they just started to gross me out after a while.
I remember slap bracelets! After a while we weren't allowed to have them at school because we would hit each other with them.

I had a guy ask me to go to an event once. Then he told me he knew it was late notice, since I'd have to find a babysitter. When I told him I don't have kids, he made some comment about how I had talked about them, and he just assumed I had adopted several. Uh, no. I didn't really adopt 30 kids. They're just my students.

They were really popular when I was at primary school (prob a good ten years before you had them rosethorn - eeek that makes me sound OLD!)

I just had the usual, marbles, Pogs, Pokemon.... :P

Pokemon - didnt exist when I was at primary school - we did have pogs and yoyos, marbles werent really in!

I'm with Munchy- pogs, yo-yos, pokemon, etc. Slap bracelets were around and still liked, (though probably banned from schools) but not as popular as they were.

HAHA, flower! Awesome story.

Pogs and yoyos when I was in about 1st or 2nd grade, then Animorphs, Harry Potter, Pokemon, and Beanie Babies hit about 3rd or 4th grade.

We had some pogs in later grade school. Pokemon started around 7th grade or so, I think. I don't remember much about the others!

Oh, by the way, have you guys done the online training yet? The first section focuses on how to talk to parents and kids on the first day, and centers around a Korean family. The daughter is named Mi-chin. Well, "michin" is a word I learned from my Korean students... It means "crazy," with extremely negative connotations. That's like... naming your child "Psycho."

Fun fact of the day!

Ahahaha! That's hysterical. Oh man...
Are they the same as the online trainings we had to do last year?

We had pogs... till someone hit my principal with a slammer.
we had slap bracelets... till my principal decided we might accidentally slit our wrists with them.
We just started selling Twilight slap bracelets at Borders and one of my managers and I about had a heart attack (even though we're not really Twilighters at all)
They also just started reprinting the Babysitters Club books and my manager started cussing in a good way when I showed them to her. Customers were staring at us. It was pretty funny.
If you haven't seen silly bands yet... just wait. I'd recommend running into a fivebelow and getting yourself like five packs for bribes over the summer (there are 12 in each pack) we used to give them to my kids as treats... otherwise known as bribes. Behave and I'll give you that silly band shaped like a duck you've been missing. Three of my girls had them on both arms up to their elbows every day. and they're basically just rubber bands that retain their shape lol.

I'll keep an eye out for those silly bands! They sound fun.

Rosethorn, I don't know if it's the same online training as last year... I didn't do it last year, being in Korea.

Today's the first working day of the year at the barn! Let's hope the rain passes us over for the rest of the weekend!

Ah, Baby Sitters Club. I was really into that. I never really got over Pokemon, I'm still into it, even though I'm now in my early 20s. Harry Potter didn't really start becoming popular until I was in early high school.

What online training?

Oh, yeah...I forgot you weren't at camp last year, Indigo.
Munchy, there are three little videos you have to watch online before camp starts. It will be explained in your staff packet. They are easy. If it's the same stuff we did last year.
Those sillybandz do sound like a lot of fun. Bribery for campers = very yes. Too bad my girls will be too old for that sort of thing.

My sister loved baby sitters club and harry potter wasnt even a thought in JK rowlings head when i was a school - infact she was prob still at school - givent that she isnt much older than me

Rosethorn: You think the CITs will be too old for fun, colorful adornments? Perhaps they're not the group I took them for, then! I know a lot of the WITs would probably love them!

I know this has nothing to do with anything but since this is the closest to a thread dedicated to GS camp! I have to say it!!!!!!!!!!!


I HAVE THIN MINTS!!!!!!!!!! That makes me very happy!

OMG I found a box of them in my freezer the other day. And they were mine. I had forgotten about them. Best. Discovery. Ever.
And, Indigo, I feel you're probably correct. The CITs would probably love colorful adornments. I think I might order a couple bags of those sillybandz things. Do they retail them, or do you have to get them online, I wonder?

I am gonna stick half a box in the freezer!!!!!!!! They are great frozen! How I love and miss thin mints!

I LOVE Thin Mints, especially frozen ones! Mmm... So delicious...

I found Silly Bandz online, and I haven't seen them in stores, but I haven't been looking (or actually visited any stores that might sell them lately).

I was only introdoced to them frozen my last summer at chenoa - have some in the freezer now though!

oh my goodness!! I miss CF candy and GS cookies!!!!! I really wish I'd opened the box of almond caramel clusters that my parents had sitting in the downstairs pantry. Cool thing is I bet they will still be there in 6 weeks, so all is well!

Sillybandz do sound like an excellent bribe! Especially for the elementary aged girls and the CITs!

I checked it out, and apparently you can only get them online and in small specialty stores. They don't carry them at Toys R Us or anywhere like that. I wonder if they'd have them at Lagoona Magoo? I'll have to check next time I go to the Mills. Indigo, we should just have Vince get a bunch of them wholesale so we can sell them in the trading post. It would be brilliant, and would probably pay for our banquet lol.

You can get them at Borders, my store just started selling them. You can also get them at Five Below or other dollar stores that are five dollars and below (you more than likely wont be able to find them at like... everythings a dollar since they retail for 2.99, 5.99, or 10.99 depending on the size of the pack) You can also get them at Hallmark oryou can even get them at 711 around here... However, if they haven't caught on with the kids where you live yet then they might not be everywhere like they are here. Also, my 12 year old cousin loves silly bands. My 9 year old third graders loved them, and yesterday I saw a five year old drag her father over to the display and demand the princess pack (thankfully her father told her she had too much tude so she wasn't getting anything) I personally enjoy them, as silly as they are, because they come in lots of bright colors. I usually where three or four of them that compliment my outfit and whenever kids see them on me they automatically have something to talk to me about (Oh look! you have the flamingo! I have a dragon! Isn't it cool!) so I don't see why older girls wouldn't like them, if nothing else they are very pretty colored bracelets and some of them even glow in the dark

p.s. I really want some thin mints now, sadly, cookie time is over...

Sorry heather - but at least you can get them next year - unless you are working at GS camp and then you will prob have them at camp - I have to get kind friends to ship mine over to me

I had a Thin Mint last night...

- Teenster

I had one this morning I have one unopened packet which iam gonna save - i have half a packet in the kitchen and a half a packet in the freezer - trying to ration them to make them last!

I hear you can order them online... which I might have to look into...

Isnt that when you email your best GS friends and get them to order them for you? (unless of course you are talking about the silly bands!)

oh no, it's the gs cookies however, my friends and i have all graduated girl scouts something like 7 years ago the only girl scouts I know now are 7 years old and will hardly be ordering anything for me lol their parents would kill me

Hehe - true!

Here: http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Boxes-Girl-Scout-T...=item335cc76898

My friend Dana got hired as a UL! I'm soooo excited! She is so cool; she will fit in just fine with the camp crowd. She's working on a camp name and says she wants something literary like me lol. Can't wait until camp!!!

Nice! What does she like to read? I have to say, I might squeal with glee if someone came with a Terry Pratchett name...

I'm not sure I was trying to help her come up with one the other day, but she says she has too many favorite books and authors to narrow it down. Not sure how much fantasy she likes; we shall see.

How about Darcy? even though he's a man... i would take Darcy as my name any day lol.

I personally prefer Gil Bylthe to Mr Darcy! Every time Anne turns him down I am sitting here willing her to say yes!

Wait a second... I work at a book store and I have no idea what book that is from, but if someone is better than Darcy, I need to read it. Enlighten me please

Anne of Green Gables - one of my all time favourites!

My first counselor at Cedarledge, who I loved, was Anne, after Anne of Green Gables.

I thought about that as a camp name but it is too close to my real name!

So far she is thinking about Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, but she's afraid that would be weird working at a Girl Scout camp. We are gonna come up with one while we are working together tomorrow. Should be fun!

I quite like Scout! Of course you could go for something like Olave (as in Olave Baden-Powell) - her autobiography Window on my Heart is amazing

What about Boo if she likes to kill a mocking bird?
This is gonna sound like a tangent but just stay with me here... Kit. There's a character in Failure to Launch, who has a mocking bird living outside her window and it's loud. So she decides she needs to shoot it and when she goes to the store to get the gun the man tells her she can't. She asks why and he goes 'Well for one, there's the book, To Kill a Mockingbird.' and she goes 'Excellent, I'll take a copy of that too.'
Anyway, that's what I think of now every time I think of to Kill a Mockingbird...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01CF6w9L754

sorry, it really was a tangent lol.

Scout would be a good name! Do you remember the business manager in 2003 named Cedar? Same kind of thing!

We had a lifeguard named Boo a couple years ago! But it was for a different reason.

We have a famous TV cheif over here and her daughters name is Scout!

I work at a girl scout camp and we had a scout for three summers and it was never weird.

Wow I never knew this existed! I saw Rosethornes post on f.b and had a look! Its like a new world is opened to me!!!!!

I leave back to the States next week! Super amped for 2010 Camp Cedarledge.....

Rosethorne any Middle Earth/Narnia goodies I can bring you?

Love Moo xx

Hello and welcome Moo.

Hi Moo! I can't wait till the 24th!

Hi Moo Zealand!! Love the username!! I don't go to Cedarledge but we like to sneak onto/crash the thread. There are many of us who do so!

I know how you feel! I was doing research for a paper for one of my classes on special needs kids and summer camps when I was on the ACA website and explored and found this. Needless to say, the paper was put on hold and done the night before it was due thanks to my new obsession/addiction to the boards! That was 2 years ago! Wow, crazy!! We're pretty awesome... hehe

<< crasher...

but only cuz this thread has turned into random more than cedarledge...

Heathersaurusrex - giggles and I have always gate crashed the cedarledge threads cos we didnt have anyone else going to our own camps and then others started following suit

I should point out that I also a gatecrasher - and honory cederledge - the years i did Camp America - they were always nagging me to send all the new cederledgers here

We don't mind gatecrashers! Maybe one of these years you'll join us at camp!

If mum hadnt had her stroke in 08 I was totally going to apply to cederledge - infact before I went travelling I emailed your CD! But then mum had her stroke amd I had to take a break from camp It is on the list of camps I am going to apply to in 2012!

So just realized that Camp Cedarledge is in Missouri.. Where I'm from! haha so as I leave home you all come and take my place! small world..

haha, nice! I know I knew at some point that it was in Missouri, but it just never stuck because it didn't really matter.

Yeah, occasionally the Cedarledge thread actually talks about Cedarledge only related things so that makes it a Cedarledge thread! Other than that I'd have to say it's kinda just a regular talk about whatever camp-y thing you want to! Works for me!

Which reminds me? What's the record for number of posts (pages doesn't work since we all have a different number of posts per page) for the Cedarledge threads? Gotta see how close we are to beating it! Especially with all the crashers!

And people in this thread dont moan if we go off topic! Yay for off topic-ness!

YAY!!!! Next summer's thread should be Cedarledge and general thread! hehe jk, that just gets too complicated! However, since it says it's a Cedarledge thread, unless a Cedarledger moans about off-topicness they can just tell anyone else that moans to leave if they don't like the thread topics! After all, if they like the rules of it so much they wouldn't be on a thread for a camp they don't go to!! woot! hehe

I think a couple years ago, we had a couple of crashers get into some kind of high-speed argument or something that took up two full pages overnight, and that annoyed me... but then it stopped.

...And apparently last year's thread was 14 pages, and 692 messages long. We'd better hustle!

We would need about 300 more posts!

Wow, that's a lot of posts that we still need! I thought we'd be closer by now. Hmm, well I bet you guys will step it up once it gets closer to the time you are leaving! You have less than a month, right?

I feel like this post is longer than last year's. Weird.
Moo! Glad you found us! Can you just find Prince Caspian for me and bring him? Cuz that would be great.

And whats-his-face... the blonde one...
him too just drop him off in NY

do you mean legolas heather?

I'm curious, Moo, how easy would it be for you to smuggle a kiwi in your bag? Or... some indigenous mammal/marsupial?

no, but now that you mention it....
I meant the brother... peter maybe? is that his name?
However I will settle for Orlando Bloom. I mean, it would be hard, but I would just have to deal.

Moo Indigo has a thing for unusal pets!

Oh yeah, Peter's a cutie, too! You can have him. I'll take Caspian and we can have dark-haired literature nerd babies.

...It's true, I really do!

I know - when I wrote that i was thinking of that little bettle you had when you were in Korea

You had a beetle in Korea? That's awesome!

How do I know this and you dont rose?

Hmmmmmm so the New Zealand wish list is for Legolas/Peter, Prince Caspian and a kiwi bird (or the likes).....

I really will see what I can do? I think that customs here and in the States will be pretty narked about the kiwi bird though to be honest. But if I was to swap for a squirrel maybe they might negotiate?

Oh and Indigo we don't actually have indigenous mammals down here lol. Honestly its all birds and fish! Australians are better for mammals.

You bring her a stuffed Kiwi - that would get around the customs!

I have to admit, I don't know a whole lot about New Zealand... but I like to learn.

Rosethorn, there are pictures of my Korean beetle on Facebook, in my Pets album! He was quite impressive.

Aren't Kiwis like... ostriches... ostriches are mean.
Just throwing that out there.
I hear there are good sheep in New Zealand

I'm really not sure how Smudge knew about said beetle and I didn't. Weird.

That is weird - I promise i am not a stalker - i have a feeling it has come up on here - maybe during the summer when you were at camp and werent!

You're thinking of emus, I think! I saw some wild ones in Australia, and they didn't seem too mean. They didn't attack anyone, anyways! Kiwis are small and flightless, a little more like quail, I think.

i though kiwi was a small green fruit with black seed - very nice in fruit salad!

LMAO.
I couldn't remember if kiwis were big or not. We have a lot of Ostrich farms around here and they will kill you. Those people who say they stick their head in the sand to avoid confrontation have never met a New Jersey raised Ostrich.

Lol kiwis are small brown birds, like a quail I spose! They are small, not really emu like lol. In New Zealand we call the fruit version 'kiwifruit', but everywhere else in the world they are just called 'kiwis'... possibly explaining the confusion.

Emus and Ostriches are nasty... I've heard stories. They sound like the hippotamus of the pastures

yeah, kiwi's are small little round puffballs with long beaks and actually don't even have wings or arms or anything. very nocturnal - and a little larger than a softball in body size.

Emus and Osriches are very territorial thus they come off as being so agressive - they don't stick their heads in the sand to avoid confrontation or at all even. they do however eat small pebbles to help with digestion.

just realized how nerdy I look for knowing about these birds haha

Have you ever seen an ostrich fall down? Funniest. Thing. Ever.

Have you ever seen an ostrich beat up a sable station wagon and win? I have... from inside the station wagon.

how did that happen?

That sounds terrifying!
Hey, Indigo, for real Cedarledge question: When does pre-camp end?

I literally fell off my bed laughing at the idea that Kiwis were meaner then ostriches :P :P

You're talking about Emus, mate, we have them here in Australia. And they are NASTY!!!

Kiwis taste very nice... the fruit I mean. :P

Hey... you never know... the bird might taste nice too.

At our local six flags we have an animal safari park. Its like 800 acres of land with all of these animals from all over the world running around. They separate the difference continents or areas by fences so no one gets mixed up, and the predators are clearly separated by a much taller fence. The animals that wont eat you or trap you in your car are just allowed to run around there is no fencing by the road since the speed limit is like five anyway and they have guards armed with tranquilizer guns at the borders between areas. So anyway we're driving along and this ostrich just sits down in the road in front of us. And my dads inching up on it trying to make it get the idea that it needs to move and it's just giivng him a nasty look and staying right where it is. So my dad sneaks up a little closer and my mom's going 'Tom, you're going to hit the ostrich' and my dad's going 'No I'm not, it'll run away...' and then all the sudden the ostrich starts flapping it's wing wildly and squawking. The whole car was shaking like we were in a huge earth quake. My little cousins are shrieking and crying, my brother and I are laughing hysterically, my mom is hitting my father and my aunt being the lovely easy going woman she is grabs a feather that had flown in through the window and goes 'Look kids! Ostrich feather!' and my cousins stop crying and look at her like she's crazy for like a split second and then start shrieking even louder. So when the thing finally runs away my dad drives up the the guards and tells him what happened and the guard goes 'You prolly just got his toes, damn things do that all the time and they're always surprised when someone rolls over their toes'
and it caused something like 1500 dollars worth of damage to a company car. my dad told them that it was skateboarders that did the damage.

Poor bird - and poor car! And poor skateboarder for getting the blame. Funny story thought

Precamp will end on Saturday morning, June 5, like it normally does!

I saw an ostrich trying to pick a fight with a young giraffe at the zoo! It was pretty funny.

LMAO

That is funny Indigo - the kind of thing i would have tried to take photos of!

Do you think I might be able to leave a couple hours early if I get my business done? There are some auditions up in St. Louis that I want to get to at 12 on the 5th.

E-mail Brooke and Smiles about it! You can cc me too if you want, but I haven't gotten a list of when who's requesting off yet (or maybe I have, and I've forgotten). I think I remember somebody else asking about that, too.

Will do! It's not a huge deal, I just want to try and get out of there quickly so I can get to STL early.

Just make sure you get Manor in great shape, and it shouldn't be a problem, I would guess!

Brooke just e-mailed me with 4 new staff members (American)! I invited them all both here and to the Facebook group. She gave me the wrong e-mail address for Rosethorn's friend, but I'm sure Rosethorn can take care of that! So I'm pretty excited about that.

I have less than 2 weeks before I move in, and I'm starting to freak out just a little! But mostly I'm SO excited! I think this will be an awesome year.

Talked to Brooke, and she said we are getting out of precamp on the 4th. Woot!
Dana decided on a camp name. She's gonna go with Scout.
Ran into Giggles on campus today, and she is super pumped to get started with the season!

That's exciting!
I saw (on my many times sitting in Council's lobby waiting for Brooke) that Giggles recently got her gold award! I'm glad she's coming back.

oooohhhh gold! Impressive!

Oh, nice! I didn't know she was an active Girl Scout. That's really cool!

So I have to say, I'm enjoying the frequent thunder storms... I love some excitement in the sky. But it needs to stop canceling our barn days! And it also definitely needs to NOT rain this Sunday afternoon for open house!

I agree for no rain on sunday... I'm graduating... it's you know... a couple hundred miles away... but still

Congrats, Heather!

We've had great weather over here! But I don't want to jinx it, so knock on wood!

Hope the weather cooperates for graduation, barn days, and open house!

Thanks! Now to find a teaching job which is... next to impossible in NJ...

Good luck with graduation and finding a job heather!

I love thunderstorms (unless i am in the middle of field in a metal framed tent!) but we dont really get good ones here! Infact people around about here think a BIG thunderstorm is 2 or 3 flashes of lightening and a rumble of thunder!

Oh I KNOW, finding a teaching job is such a pain! Not much luck in Missouri, either! I might just end up having to do something else.

Its the same here!

Indigo I know you like travelling have you looked into working at something like the american high school that used to be based in Aberdeen (dont know if it is still there) - cos there were so many americans over because of the oil in the north sea.

They are recruiting american teacher to work in england. They're also desperate for teacher in Hawaii... NJ is laying teachers off left and right cuz our awesome governor cut millions of dollars from each individual district (not the whole state... the districts...) However it seems that VA and Maryland are doing some hiring. Indigo... I was on a teacher recruiting website that had nothing but jobs in missouri. I would rather not move that far away but maybe google teaching jobs? I think t was teachers-teachers.com? or maybe schoolspring .net...

Serioulsy? They are recruiting American teachers to work in England! I know lots of british teachers who are struggling to get jobs - that is just crazy!

Yeah there are like a million recruiting agency=ies that say there is a shortage of teachers in England and they are recruiting from America, Canada, and Australia...

that is a little nuts lol. Maybe they should contact the recruitment agencies and be like whats up? lol

Well part of the problem is that I need to stay in St. Louis for at least a few more months after camp is over to finish my master's degree. Also, most of those teaching positions you're finding don't apply to me! Elementary teachers are always needed. Secondary English, not so much. And I do love to travel, but I'm kind of feeling the yen to settle down. Not necessarily to have a family, just to have a place of my own. And I'm pretty selective about weather and social environment.

I dont know if you would like scottish weather - it is usually cold an wet - although the north east does get some snow!

What about peace corp or VSO?

I found a bunch of jobs in St Louis... apparently out there it is very different from over here. We have 0 elementary ed job openings and tons of openings in specific fields especially for middle school (most of us fear the raging hormones of your average 11-14 year old) lol

Good luck to you too. When does the masters end? I just finished mine and it was like... i was very very tired and all paper writing-ed out by the end

Well I do have a bunch of applications out. Hopefully I'll get something! Otherwise this might have to be my last year of camp just because I can't keep waiting for a teaching job.

I'll finish my masters in December! I can't wait!

Many districts in North Carolina are laying off first and second year teachers. I'm lucky in that I earned tenure this year, so I'm safe... for now. My district is hiring some teachers, but not a lot. We also aren't going to get our raise for the coming up school year, this will be the second year in a row this has happened. We also lost our vision insurance and next year we may lose our dental. I was looking at getting my masters this coming up year, but it looks like I'll have to wait because now I won't be able to afford it without taking out a huge loan, and I don't want to do that.

- Teenster

See... my mom's district rifted everyone with less than 7 years tenure. They all got letter saying their contracts were being evaluate and something like 65% of them were terminated. Won't your school pay for your masters? They should.
Also, why would you give up on camp for teaching? The reason why I am mad excited about this is so I can have a summer job every year...

The beauty of teaching is that since I have my summers off, I can always work at camp. True, I really have no break in that I literally start camp the next day after school is out... then I start school the next day after camp is out, but it's totally worth it. I really went into teaching so I could work at camp.

My district will not pay for my masters. Besides, I am looking at getting my masters in something that isn't teaching. I am looking into sports management. I would love to be an athletic director for a college or university. True, having that job would mean I would give up on camp, but I do know that camp is not a job that I can do forever.

- Teenster

Oooh I thought you meant you were thinking about doing your masters in ed

Oh no, I meant that if I can't find a teaching job, I'll have to find a job doing something else, which isn't likely to give me my summers off! Though it would be fun to write for a living, or even edit, which was my original plan when I decided to major in English... We'll see!

Try getting a job for a local college when you finish the masters. My best friend just finished her masters in writing and wants to write as her profession and she's gonna be getting a job as an adjunct professor to support her writing.

Maybe you could write for the ACA magazine - that way you still be involved in camping even if you cant go each summer!

Seems to be a nationwide issue. My district is laying off 540 elementary teachers for next year (though they're still hiring a handful likely for special ed and some harder to fill secondary like math and science). We've had over 100 million dollars cut out of the budget each year for the last two or three years, and it's likely going to be even worse for next year. But then I teach for one of the largest districts in the U.S. Just not the easiest time to be getting a teaching job.

Summers at camp is definitely one big plus to teaching.

My friend and I were thinking about moving out to Nevada or arizona a couple of years ago to teach but we heard the union isn't very strong out there. If NJ is getting kicked around the way it is (with the strongest teachers union in the country) I cant even imagine what's happening elsewhere...

I am getting my masters in adventure education so I can work at camp full time!

I don't know, we'll see...

Cedarledge's open house is Sunday afternoon! I'm pretty excited!

Our union isn't that strong, and by law we have no ability to strike. At the same time, our economy is worse, and yet we haven't had things as bad as teachers a lot of places. They are freezing our steps this year, but we'll still get to move for more education. This is the first year they've touched our pay except not to give any more cost of living increases. It will also be our first year with teacher lay offs, but most will probably be absorbed by moves/retirements.

This can be a hard place to teach though. Lots of home life challenges and not a great deal of support for education since you can make more as a valet than with a college degree.

I'm really hoping the barn programs aren't canceled today for rain! The last two cookout/trails were.

Open house is tomorrow! If you're in the area, come on over! (I know Rosethorn and I will be there. I'm looking at you, Cedarledge lurkers!)

Open house today went so well! I was afraid it would start raining, and it was rather cold, but we had about 200 visitors, including new campers, returning campers, and a few new staff members (two of whom had their interviews on the spot with Brooke!). Most of them were super excited to be there. One girl I met had been having doubts about camp, and she was really nervous, but when she got back from her tour, she was smiling and seemed much happier! And Rosethorn, I had a LONG talk about life with the dad of a CIT (Rusty) and a WIT (possibly Kiwi). We're pretty much BFFs now.

A successful day!

Good for you!! Sounds like a productive day!

Oh! I am glad Open house was a success! I live in Illinois is having a major education crisis right now. First of all, we have the economy and our criminal ex-governor. There is a drastic cut in funding, and many schools in my are are reducing to dry bones. No music, no sports, and many teacher cuts. One crummy teaching spot had over 1000 applicanta. Since this is really close to St. Louis, these teachers are probaly also plugging the works in St. Louis.

That is insane... we need teachers here Down Under. However, they probably want to go somewhere where there's better pay and they get a little respect.....


Sadly, I wasn't in the area (still being over here in Australia), but I'm glad to hear the open house went well. Looking forward to seeing Cedarledge for myself in 10 days

cedar trees... That's one of the main reasons I had to move out of Illinois...

- Teenster

I'm glad open house went well! I'm sad I couldn't make it, but I was spending some quality time at the zoo with my cousin, who is in the military, and his kids. Good times had by all.

Yesterday was a beautiful day at the barn! For once, the sun was shining, so we were able to have a nice trail ride and cookout.

I'm taking my rats to CD's house for the summer today! I think they'll have fun with her at "rat camp," as my mom puts it.

Just double checking: moving in on the evening of the 28th is an option as long as we RSVP, right? Or has that deadline passed?

I have no idea, honestly! I stuck my staff packet in my closet somewhere, then I piled all my camp stuff in front of the door... not the best idea, really. But now that the big rat cage is out of my room, I think I'll move my camp stuff there, so maybe I can check it out!

I dug it out!! There's no deadline. Just let Smiles and Brooke know!

Oh, good. I will inform them shortly.

Oh geez, 6 days to go before I leave and I'e barely done anything to get organised :S Ah well, If I arrive at Cedarledge with an empty suitcase and my sleeping bag, I'll be fine. :P I've heard Wallmart is nice this time of year :P :P Looking forward to meeting all the staff there more than anything, I think.

Yeah, Walmart is pretty much amazing. They will have everything you need and for cheaper than you can get it in Australia.

I took the internationals on their first big Wal-Mart run a couple years ago... it was pretty magical.

That does sound magical!

I remember trying to explain the concept in Ireland... They didn't get it. I think it was compounded by the fact that it was a bank holiday and we, as Americans, didn't understand why anyone would have a holiday if they couldn't go shopping (all of the stores are closed too because those people shouldn't have to work either) We're talking to these people and we're like do you have a Target or a Walmart or something like that. And they directed us to a grocery store so the next people we were more specific (Is there a store around that sells alarm clocks, shampoo, makeup, hoodies, and shoes?) and they just stared at us, looked at each other, looked back at us and told us no, but they thought a store like that would be a good idea. When we were leaving we were like Oh Ireland, I love you but I couldn't live without Target.

My first summer i got to camp about 8 or 9pm and by 11pm had permission and was on the road to the nearest walmart Fortunately I had arrived before most people so it didnt cause any problems!

Being an international, I LOVE Walmart, just recently found myself at a Walmart, first time since last summer, and got all excited and didnt know where to start! Internationals + Walmart = MAGICAL!
Really glad open house went well, wish I could have been there but I'm sure you were amazing Indigo.

Oh great, now I'm excited about going to Walmart :P I hate shopping!! :S

The funny thing is, I don't even really shop at Wal-Mart when I'm not at camp! For a long time there wasn't one near my house, so I shopped at K-Mart or Target (Target's still a favorite of mine). Then they built one really close to me, but it's not as enjoyable as the one near camp.

I've got to say... I rarely go to walmart... I prefer Target... but my room mate and I used to go to walmart all the time and we had a great time. I think it depends on who you're with and why.

I go to Walmart for books and that's about it. I can't afford to buy my (series paperback romance novels) books at a bookstore and Target only sells some of them. Plus when I'm at school there's a walmart 20 minutes away and a Target 40 minutes away. At home I rarely go to walmart, though with Target only selling some of my books now I might have to go to walmart.

Target is actually where we go at my camp, though there is a walmart nearby too. I think the Target is just a little closer and I don't know of anyone's objections to Target. Plus Target is just totally awesome!

Ah, the Festus walmart. Place of my childhood dreams...

Giggles... next time you're looking to buy books, stop at a borders. The romance paperback you're talking about run anywhere from 4.99-7.99 (and the odd .89) and I am pretty positive they have more of a selection than walmart. While you're there just ask for a borders rewards card. It's free and you'll get coupons once a week. They are generally anywhere from 25-40% off... and when you're talking about a 7.99 book, that ain't bad.
However, i should mention that I work for Border's... so I am biased. But there is someone at every store who is trained in every section (I'm YA and IR) and they'll know the newest best books in the section...

I used to love Borders but they are not in my good books any more! Cos they closed my local (well glasgow) down and I think every one in the UK!

I have to say I really love walmart - but it was mainly the craft section which I believe they have done away with :(.

I got the prettiest skirt a couple of years ago from Kmart - whenever I wear it I get complemented on it! And the best thing is that is was on sale and only cost me $3.

Border's hasn't been doing well recently. Mainly because Barnes and Noble is better at Marketing than we are. However, the entire company is really excited about this summer because we have an exclusive ereader coming out that is being called 'the kindle killer' by all the big newspapers... so maybe we can make some money after all lol.

I know but I have an aversion to the other big books stores we have over here here Waterstones - so currently rely on ASDA, tesco, amazon, charity shops and my rubbish library for books!

I get most of my books from thrift stores! I've found some really great ones, just for a couple dollars or less. But when I get a good member coupon, I'll go to Borders and look around. Plus, a friend of mine works in the cafe, so I go visit him now and then.

Yeah, I'm the same way. I mostly get mine from thrift stores if I can, or the little used bookstore by my house. Indigo, I need to take you there sometime! If those fail me, though, then I'm a Borders fan all the way.

Our thrift shops dont usually sell the kinds of books I read - but I do get books from there!

Yeah, it's always hit or miss. But when I hit it makes me very happy!

Heather- yeah I go to Borders too and I have a card for there. We don't really have one over here, at least not very close. Back home though, I go there as it is closer than B&N. Yeah, I am well-versed in the prices of my books and Walmart sells them for like $2 cheaper than retail and Borders sells at retail.

Yeah, they have a bigger romance section in general for sure at borders, but I think of the books/"series" I usually get they have at least almost all the ones Borders does.

Well the weather has finally kicked itself into gear for camp! Sunny skies and temperatures near the 90s! Well, possibly scattered thunderstorms. But I can live with that.

The Ren Fest yesterday was awesome! Camel rides, pickle guys, singing pirates, flea circuses, games in the mud, and tarot readings.

Last night I packed my car. Mr. S does not appreciate being stuck in his travel cage/bathtub/feeding cage, but he'll be fine for the day, until I can get him situated at camp.

Today I work at the barn, tonight I move my stuff into Guest House, and tomorrow the rest of the ad staff arrives. I'm so excited!!

What is Ren fest? The games in the mud sounds very red neck!

Renaissance right? We have a guy that follows you around with coconuts making horse noises (as in Monty Python) here

Haha! That's awesome! We took photos with a giant wooden rabbit like the one in the movie.
There was supposed to be jousting, but the field was too muddy for the horses, so they did some Scottish games instead.
I told Momo that she needs to set Indigo up with the pickle man and me up with the camel boy and that her passing the CIT program depends on it lol.

Sounds fun!

I bought pool noodles to do jousting - I havent fully figured it out but I am thinking I also need hobby horses!

My high school used to joust during Homecoming week because our mascot was a lancer. Basically we played chicken on dry land and hit each other with large pillows. It was fun. Probably not very safe, but fun things seldom are.

So true!

Sounds like Pillow polo at my school. We used these things that looked like giant q tips, theoretically to hit a volleyball around on the floor into each others nets... but you know we spent all our time whacking each other with them lol.
The coconut guy started following my mom around last time and she was really alarmed cuz she's never been able to sit through holy grail so she didn't get it lol.

When I was a wrangler back in 2004, we jousted! We picked two of the calmest horses, who liked each other, and trotted them at each other bareback, holding pool noodles. They weren't really fans of the activity!

I can imagine they wouldn't be - I know that in days of yore it took alot of training for both the horse and rider! I am thinking pool noodles and hobby horses - if nothing else it is an excuse to buy hobby horses!

I have a lot of respect for the horse trainers of yore. They must have had a tough job!

I moved all my stuff into my summer home last night! I packed pretty light this year, so it didn't take too long. My snake was the most difficult thing, having to lug the tank around and rearrange the heater. I'm hoping to find him stretched out happily in the tank when I go back today!

I'm still a bit nervous about all this, but as ad staff week, precamp, and first session come along, I think I'll get into the swing of things and love it. Kind of like my first year, when I was a counselor, and didn't really expect to be any good at it... and then I was.

So I emailed Brooke about checking in early for precamp, and she hasn't responded. Guess I'm just showing up lol!

She might be too busy to respond I know when I tried emailing my CD in the few weeks before camp and it could take a while for her to get back to me!

I just read an article about sillybandz getting banned from schools for being a distraction. LOL they really ARE the slap bracelets of this generation!

Yeah we finally had to tell our kids they could only have them at recess. Also they trade them and stuff which isn't ok at a lot of schools because whatever is being traded isn't technically the kids property, they technically belong to parents so if someone trade three silly bandz for a Jeter rookie card... dad gets a little annoyed...

Hmm...I've never really thought of it like that. When I was a kid we had to buy our own pogs and stuff with our allowances.

Yeah... well it started being a problem with food trades because children who were too young, didn't know, or didn't care would trade their pbj with someone elses chocolate pudding and all of the sudden you had too allergy attacks on your hands cuz pbj's mom didn't give him the pudding for a reason and vice versa... Then, when pokemon cards became a big deal parents would get irate because their child traded a really rare card for a not so rare card because it was pretty meanwhile mom was hoping to use that card to pay for college. IMO those kids shouldn't have had access to those cards if mom was gonna be so touchy about it. I was never allowed to play with our 300 year old china just cuz it's pretty. Heck, I'm still not allowed to touch it. My mom knows to keep valuable things out of her children's hands because you never know what will happen...
ANYway my kids know now not to trade in front of me cuz I'll always make them trade back.

I had to take a couple from students today. They were playing with them while taking their state test... Ooops... they're still on my wrist... a dinosaur and a sea horse.

- Teenster

had to look up what silly bandz were. I want them.

I'm buying some for my CITs tomorrow when I go to Borders.

Its funny... cuz they were on the evening news with Katie Couric like a full month and a half after they were commonplace in my classroom.
The Kangaroo and Hippo are my personal favorites, although I really want the fantasy pack so I can have a unicorn one but my store has been sold out of everything but the pet pack and zoo pack for a couple of weeks.

I just got a rock star pack because it was all they had at Borders. I took them out while we were eating lunch at the food court, and my 17 year old sister thought they were the coolest thing ever. I guess that assuages my worries about whether the high school CITs will like them lol.
Anywho, I'm off to camp after dinner tonight. See you guys on the other side!

have an awesome summer rosethorn. Can one of you PM cedarledges address you might get a surprise package if i can find the thing i want to send

Have an awesome summer! I'm sure you're already on your way though!

We got to go home pretty early today! (as much as I love camp and miss it when I'm not there, a short break is always a treat) I had a great time in ad staff week. Pretty sure I have some new favorite people ever to add to my list!

Precamp was great too. I'm so happy with the staff! There are some really amazing people... and no one who you just look at and think, 'Wow, that one won't last!' ...Not good to judge on appearances, but you know it happens from time to time.

I'm getting the hang of my new job and responsibilities. There have been a couple of little bumps along the road, but nothing so earth-shattering that it couldn't be fixed. The dining hall is probably the most different thing for me, as I've never had anything to do with it before (aside from eating there), but with some help, I think I'm doing pretty well with it. I have plans to get more organized this weekend, perhaps after catching up on some sleep!

The mosquitoes are pretty bad this year. I've found a few ticks, but nothing major.

Our director says it gets easier when campers come... I don't know if I believe that yet, but it'll for sure get more interesting!

I'm excited! I'm also excited to cram as much non-camp fun into this weekend as possible!

Glad that pre-camp is going well for you Indigo!

wow, it's another month until my precamp and with my 2 extra weeks no longer there it'll be my first trip up there for more than 1 day. July 2nd!

Awww poor giggles!


It is 42 days until Caladonia 2010 - the first of the camps/fastivals i will be working at! And with so little time the camps website is not fully up and running which is really starting to Urk me!

The campers come tomorrow... I'm pretty excited!

Oh, me too for sure!

Hope your first session goes well!

Thanks!