The Summer Continues...

Random bits about my last couple of days.

Hobb Knobbing ... being the host, or hostess, for the evening here at camp. There are quite a number of camps that come to Golden Bell to use the facilities, so if they need something in the evening, we have to be available to assist them. This is why we have Hobb Knobbers. I am not sure where the name came from. We just hang out it the dinning area of the lodge with keys and a radio. If anyone needs anything, it is our job to get it for them or find out information or help them get other assistance if needed. One night when I was hobb knobbing, some girls got locked into their room. I had to call for help and it took quite a long time for Levi and another staff member to get the door open. We also have to cover the pool after it is used, open snack shack (a place on camp where they sell candy and pop stuff) in the evenings if anyone wants anything, sweep/mop the entryway, take out trash, turn out lights, and that is about it. This is what I happen to be doing at this exact moment.

Activity for the day: Tubing. Tubing was quite fun, but it was getting a little old by the 6th time down the river. One little girl (8 years old) named Abby started by herself and then (as far a I know) she got out somewhere only a little ways down the stream. As the lifeguard, I was the last person down the river, so I could help anyone if needed. Well, Abby decided to get back in after all the rest of the group had floated down. However, when she was back in the river, she just yelled for me to help her and hold her hand. I was a little ways in front of her, so I waited and then I held her hand the rest of the way down. Anytime I let go, she would almost have a mild panic attack ... "grab my hand, grab my hand." But when I was holding her hand and we went over rapids, she would laugh and let herself joy tubing. While we were holding hands, we almost ran into a fisherman. It was so close. I had to yank my hand away and then push her away from me, so we didn't make the fisherman topple over. It was pretty entertaining how much she relied on my hand for her to have fun. Also, she wanted to go down fast (as long as I was holding her hand). She would get in front of me on the tube and then say something like "Go faster. Come on, you are supposed to be pulling me." Then, she went for a second time and it was pretty much the same thing over again; she still had to hold my hand the entire way down. I have to say, it was quite the experience. Abby was a part of the first group, or the younger group. We let the boys go twice and the girls go twice, so for that group (in the morning) we tubed 4 times. Since they were younger, we only went in the calmer area.

The afternoon group, who arrived right as we were finishing lunch (good timing), were teenagers. We took them down the river farther, so they could experience more rapids. I kept getting stuck on rocks and I was pretty sure I would fall a few thousand times. It was pretty entertaining, though. Everyone from that group only got to go once, because it got later in the afternoon and we had to return for dinner. I am happy about that...because I was getting tired. The last (6th) time I went down today there was a girl who, I think, was a little too big for her tube. It was quite interesting trying to figure out a way for her to remain on her tube without toppling over. I felt bad for her and tried to help her the best I could. It took us much longer to go down that time, because I kept having to wait for her to climb back into her tube. I was so proud of her, though. Every time she fell she would just grab her tube and try to get back in it until she did. She fell a lot too. Two of her friends were also tubing. At one point, we came up to this rapid area and I saw a girl just sitting on a rock. When I was far away, she just sat there and waved at me. What happened was that she lost her tube and her friend went down the river to get it, so she was just waiting. The friend finally returned up stream carrying the tube with her, which I thought that was very nice. The three of them tried to stay together and ended up bringing up the rear conmigo. I definitely worked my muscles. My arms are in a constant protest right now. Hanging on to rocks all day in a river (with pretty strong currents) can do that to you apparently. I am also pretty much burned to a crisp. It is my own fault, since I didn't put on sunscreen right away. My legs definitely feel like furnaces now though.

When I was running snack shack this evening, those three girls came up to order some food, and I said hi to them all by name. They were all a little confused for a while. Then, 3 minutes later, they finally realized I was the lifeguard and that is how I knew their names/nicknames. I thought it was funny. They told me that they didn't recognize me because my hair was down, I didn't have a life vest, I wasn't in the river, and I was wearing different clothes. I think it was partially also because I showered. :) I actually showered twice today. That is like a record for the whole summer. I usually don't shower as often when I am here at camp compared to being in the 'real' world. I just get really busy and tired here at camp. Plus, you get dirty EVERY day.

Levi and Danielle's son Ethan took his first few steps today and I saw it. Levi was showing him a radio that he wanted to get, so he took 4 steps toward it. It was really cute.

I had to sweep the entry way tonight because of hobb knobbing. When I was sweeping it, this little boy came along and asked if I needed help. I thought that was awesome how he just offered help. I was pretty impressed. I told him I didn't need any help, but thanks. He really did surprise me though. I think his parents are raising him right. It was a good thing to see.

On the other hand, yesterday, I had to go to the bathroom. Well, first, I think you need to know that the lodge only has one open public bathroom at the moment. They are still finishing the other bathrooms. (They added on to the lodge and it looks amazing.) Anyways, I went to the bathroom and there was someone in it, so I just stood by it to wait. Well, this little boy comes around the corner and gets between me and the bathroom door. Apparently, he had to go too. He was just standing there, so I finally said to him that I was going before him. He said okay and moved a little farther from the door. Then, another littler boy comes around the corner and stands between me and the door, so the first boy moved closer and a third boy joined the other two. There the three of them were crowding in this small space around the bathroom door. At this point, I was not sure what to do. The boys were old enough to know better, but they still got in front of me. The second boy kept glancing at me and finally told the first boy that the second one (he) was going to go to the bathroom first. I was going to tell them that I was going before all of them since I was in line first, but I finally decided it wasn't worth the fight. I was already pretty annoyed, so I just let out a big sigh and went to the pool bathroom, which is not that far away. I just thought those boys should know better, and it surprised me with how they were acting. Let's just say, I wasn't too happy with them, and I was a little annoyed.

Next week, I am counseling for Gravity, which is an adventure camp for teens. We are going to be living in tents and cooking our meals and doing a bunch of fun things. Right now, I am the only girl counselor for it. There are only 3 girls coming. They are all going into the 7th grade. Last I heard, there were 14 boys planning on coming for the week. I am not quite sure who the counselors for them will be. I am getting nervous as the days get closer, because I haven't counseled yet for teens, but I am also very excited to counsel for this camp. We are going to hike and go white water rafting. I hope I can show the girls who Jesus really is and just help them grow in their faith. That is what I am praying for now.

This Friday a bunch of the counselors and I are going to see the Harry Potter movie. I am excited to get away from camp and into the real world again.

Well, I am getting tired. It is midnight already here, but there were some people having a meeting. They just finished a little while ago, so I am going to bed. I am definitely sleeping in in the morning.

Sweet dreams!

Golden Bell...The Beginning.

Arrival Date: Sunday, May 17, 2009.

As you may see, I have been at Golden Bell for a little over two weeks now. Camp is an awesome place and has been very interesting. Rain has become an everyday occurrence here in Divide. I am not sure how much I enjoy being wet all the time, but there is not much I can do about that. Hopefully, the weather will turn sunny as the days go on.

The official first real work week just began on Monday. The summer has begun. The past couple weeks were full of training, getting to know the staff, and preparing for this summer.

On coming to camp, seven other counselors and I jumped into lifeguard training. We all bonded over swimming 500s, reading through the instructional manual and watching a few hours of videos displaying the different saving techniques. Saving people is definitely tough work. For our testing, we had to "save" a 10 pound brick and swim it about 20 meters, swim a 500, and preform different saving techniques. Some of these situations were quite difficult and I have had my fill of chlorinated water for the next year. Tonight is my first time guarding and I am a little nervous.

Along with swimming, I have passed my test on how to belay, gone on the zipline and the high ropes course, learned the ins and outs of housekeeping, and experienced other random aspects of camp life. Recently, I have had the pleasure of driving many of the camp vehicles around. I actually like driving them. :) Before Sunday, I had never driven any larger sized vehicles around. Now, I have driven 15 passenger vans, a suburban, and regular vans. Sometime this summer I am hoping I get to drive one of the four wheelers, but we will see if that ever works out.

We even went on a short hiking trip in the Crags near Pikes Peak and it was snowing.

Last Friday, all of the summer staff packed up to go on a backpacking trip. That first day we hiked about a mile and a half and then set up camp. It was awesome just being together in the mountains. A group of us decided to hike up the top of a pile of rocks and the view was gorgeous.

I was a little scared to stand up at the top.

The trip began very nicely. We threw a little Frisbee, set up our tents, and climbed on the rocks. One thing I would recommend when climbing rocks is to keep your camera in a safe place where it cannot fall out. Yes, my camera was in the front pocket of my hoodie ... and ... although it wasn't destroyed, it fell out when I was in the process of climbing a rock. I ended up stepping on it and now it supports a couple of cracks in the screen. So far it I can still take pictures ... I am hoping it just stays that way.

We had dinner and then headed to bed after using the BIF...(Bathroom In Forest)...That is always quite the experience, to say the least. That night I shivered more than I slept. It got to about 32 degrees F. The entire night I would wake up and just lie there trying to go back to sleep and to stay warm. I ended up cuddling against Arielle who was sleeping next to me in the tent. At first, she thought I was the tent so she started moving away from me. It didn't help that we were on an incline. She finally realized it was just me and let me cuddle against her. It helped a little bit, but I was very thankful when morning arrived. I stepped out of the tent and hurried to the fire, after struggling to put my contacts in, of course.

Well, a group of boys gathered around the map and decided that they were wrong about how long the trail was. I was pretty sure I read a sign saying it was 6 miles long, but they told us it was 11. That meant we had to hike 8 on Saturday. It was going to be a long day. We packed up camp and started off.

We had hiking buddies...this is Laura. She was mine. :)

The hike began well. Along the way, we shared our life plans. It was nice to get to know people more and it helped pass the time. By lunch time we made it to the summit. It was a relief to know that the rest of the way was mostly downhill. I like going downhill a lot more than uphill. :) As we ate lunch the clouds started to build around us. The distant thunder reached our ears and we could see lightning jutting out of the clouds.

While hiking down, we had to climb over many fallen trees and avoid the water that overtook the path. When we had just about reached our new camping sight, someone came down the mountain with news that Arielle had hurt her ankle. We set up camp while a group continued to help her down the mountain. I could not set up my tent yet, because I did not have all the parts, so I just hung out, waiting, around the fire. Then, it started to rain. The group arrived and they were soaked. After a little while, I noticed that everyone in our group was either cold, but somewhat dry, or in the rain, but somewhat warm. I was in the latter group. Finally, Levi announced that since it seemed not everyone was prepared for the rain and the chances were very high that it was going to get below freezing that night, we were just going to return to camp. Arielle, with the help of three other amazing girls, started down the path, while the rest of us broke camp and followed after.

*Side note: The guys had figured out that the trail was only 6 miles, like they previously thought.

The trail was very wet and cold. At places where the trail crossed a river, we had to walk over soaked logs that were laid across forming a bridge. The scenery was marvelous; however, since I had my poncho on and we were trying to go quickly down the mountain, it was very difficult to enjoy it. By this time, my jeans weighed 10x as much because they were soooo soaked. It was a joy to reach the end of the trail and the vans, just in time to discover the Suburban would not start. But that's Golden Bell. :) We sent people back to help the rest of the group. After jumping the Suburban and regrouping, we all jumped into the cars and headed out. Once we were back at Golden Bell, we all got dry and then went to the lodge for pizza. It was delicious.



It was a relief to not have to stay that night on the trail. I cannot even imagine how cold I would have been considering I was freezing, but dry, the night before. But with everything that happen, I would definitely go again.

Well, that is it for now ... I am just waiting to see what other adventures come my way this summer...