{yes, I googled how to spell five and six in Spanish. yes, I already knew how to say them. I can count all the way to ten in Spanish. though the reason I’ve chosen Spanish numbers to count off the weeks of Summer 2016 remains a mystery.} {also, they didn’t really say the “Cedar-what? CedarWood!!” this summer, but I’m using it as the title anyway. you can’t stop me. it’s already done.}
After a long day with Stella which included a necessary Starbucks stop and losing an hour coming back to MB, we finally got to Camp Cedarwood [which is near Pinawa, MB]. It was really lovely to have a warm welcome back there and get one of their super sweet staff shirts {though they had both forest green with orange print, and orange with green print; I was given a forest green one!! So I respectfully asked to trade for an orange one, which they happily did as most people wanted the green. but yay for me!! obviously, orange is the bomb.}. [also, their staff shirts are not only orange, but also a cool pattern, say STAFF 2016 which makes me happy, and are a wonderful lightweight and comfy fabric! SCORE! camp staff t-shirt orderers, take notes;]
My first week there was Sr. Teen. {<3} [<-that’s a heart. Sr. Teen is fun!] There were a BAJILLION meds to hand out. Mostly at breakfast and bedtime, but a bunch squeezed in between. And wow was it torture waiting for them to come at first at breakfast. But I learned I just had to get my food, eat, and wait at my corner table. Sometimes other support staff ignored me there with my Rubbermaid bin {I actually had to put the meds into the bin I use to pack my stuff for camp because there were too many to put in the bins the camp has}, and sometimes some decided to come join me. However I shoo’d them away from the two seats I kept empty beside me for kids to be able to come get their meds. Otherwise I’d never get breakfast waiting for them to come first!
Since Cedarwood does not pay their nurses, we get a week free for a camper per week we volunteer. I clearly do not have children. However, I do know {and love} a lot of teenagers. After much fb messaging between myself and teens, myself and the camp directors, and emails to the office admin {not because of the camp, but because teens are not well organized in answering me or giving me information}, I registered one of my favorite YFC climbing kids that doesn’t really come anymore {KIA!!} and one of her friends. It was SO awesome to see her again, to get to hang out with her heaps, and to know that her life was being poured into by staff that love God, and her. It was also sweet to see campers I knew from last summer like Nicole and Julia, and some that I met at Winter Retreat in February.
{Julia and I at “Rockre”; photo courtesy of Cedarwood’s fb page}
My week six, and second week at Cedarwood, was Jr. Teen. I had heaps of fun hanging out with Leah’s cabin . Her girls were crazy. And super entertaining. I laughed with, and at, them a ton. They tried to confuse me on what their names are. Joke’s on them. I don’t really care if I’m calling them the wrong name, unless I’m documenting something. Leah, who had just arrived from Germany {and is from there, though she’d worked at Cedarwood before} taught me how to say “matchbox” in German. I totally nailed it.
There were a few campers I already knew that week too, like Kate who tried to teach me to skateboard last summer. She’s cool. But even with a tiny bit of practice this summer, I suck at skateboarding. And it scares me.
Also week seis, my favoritest sister came to visit me! WOOT!! I was really excited to show her around camp {she’d never been there} and share ‘After 8’ with her. In case you didn’t read about it last summer, ‘After 8′ is Cedarwood’s version of chapel, but it’s entirely different than any other camp I’ve ever been at. There are flashing lights, loud music and energetic worship, heaps of energy, mulitmedia presentations, then a calmer worship time and a more serious discussion time. Here, and during morning small group discussions, the Gospel is presented and explained. This is the real point of the camps I volunteer at. I/we loooove to have fun and hang out, but most importantly share salvation and the love of Jesus with campers. It was fun enjoying it with Robyn as well as the campers.
Because the nurse needs to be readily available at all times, I couldn’t go out on the water for kayaking, windsurfing, canoeing, tubing, waterskiing, wakeboarding, skurfing, cliff jumping, or pontooning. Which was a little sad. However, I joined archery, climbing {well, I watched till I was bored; didn’t want to take up camper time}, henna-ing, and skateboarding. I tried to join mountain biking, but one of the campers’ chains broke pretty early on. So I switched bikes and walked it back [they were going off camp property anyway, which I didn’t realize and shouldn’t do as the nurse. it also started raining, so I wasn’t upset about heading back.].
My most frequently visited skill, however, was paintball. F.U.N. Haha, kids would ask “aren’t you supposed to be helping people, not hurting us?”, and one asked me about the Hippocratic oath {nice try kid, and you thought you sounded smart, but that’s for doctors, not nurses.}. They were all pretty surprised that the nurse would paintball with them. But I’d brought my paintball jersey. What else was I supposed to do with it?!
For the last thee {of five} days of skills, campers have two skills that are consistent to grow and improve in, and one that they get to choose every day for variety. In the consistent ones staff do skill “levels” {1-3} with them, both practical and theory, including a little test on the last day. Because I showed up for so much paintball {including leading the paintball cabin time [with my sister, cuz she was visiting me!!] for Leah’s cabin}, James {the paintball skill instructor, obviously} gave me a paintball skill card at the end of my time there! Too funny! I got level THREE {the highest, not lowest!!} for practical, and “Carmel was already way too good for a test” for theory. Love it.
Something strange/interesting but funny was being called “Nurse Carmel” all the time. I had to carry a walkie talkie on me {and have it on…} at all times so I could be quickly reached with any nurse-y issues. But it would always be “Nurse Carmel, are you on radio?”. Ha. Yes. Of course I am. Because I have to be. Unless, of course, it had died without me noticing… oops [that only happened once; sometimes it did die when I tried to respond, then would turn back on. argh. time to exchange it for a fresh one!]. Often at camp I just get called “Nurse” or “the Nurse”. Sometimes kids remember my name. Sometimes I get a different nickname, which is also cool. This is the only place I get “Nurse Carmel”, which makes me smile.
I only had one real hospital-needing injury per week at Cedarwood, which was nice. While I was sad that they were injured, I was glad that I was right in sending them when they came back with the treatment I expected.
I had Saturday afternoon off between camps [till Sunday afternoon], so I decided to go check out “the Rapids” that cabins got to go to during cabin time {but I couldn’t bc I needed to be at camp on dry land in case of emergency} and sounded awesome. It was pretty cool. I practiced my courage and adventuring by myself, and possibly should have been a little less adventurous… But I made it back in one piece! You can slide down the rocks with the current, and it’s pretty neat! Beautiful area, which was fun to walk around and explore a bit. I spent most of my off time relaxing in my hammock with my book, which was nice. I mean, I could do that most of the time at camp, but I’d much rather hang out with campers when they’re there and do fun stuff! So it was nice to just have nothing else to do for a bit.
{my super hot summer legs: tanned, with scrapes from falling during jogging and bruises from paintball, rockre, and fun in general.}
Each week there is a male and female camper “Rockre Hero” chosen, who gets a very prestigious t-shirt declaring as much. {Rockreation is Cedarwood’s version of ‘wide game’, or that time of day when we all play a giant game together, like sticks and stones or mission impossible.} Also chosen each week are a male and female staff “Rockre Hero”. Heroes can be chosen not only for ability, but also enthusiasm, encouragement, team spirit, and general awesomeness. Gotta be honest, I was kinda hopeful, just a little bit, that I’d be chosen. But I wasn’t. I’m done crying about it now. I guess I’ll have to go back next year and try harder. My enthusiasm is on point, usually, but my athleticism… well, less. I’ll work on it… Plus sometimes I have to actually act as nurse during the game, so there’s that… {one time I was in the most epic hiding spot for a game where staff start out hiding and have to be found, and less than ten minutes in a staff came and got me out to see a camper [who turned out to be totally fine and back to playing right after I was out of hiding… oh well]. hiding spot killed. but hey, that’s why I was there.}
Um. That’s pretty much all I can think of to tell you about my time at Cedarwood at the moment. It was great. I loved the change. I looooove both camps. That’s part of why I volunteer at two different camps. I honestly can’t pick one. I wish I could do both, all summer. And also be in Calgary more. And camp with my fam more. And watch more rodeo. So many awesome things all at once. Summer is the best. I always want to enjoy it to the max. And I think I do. I sure loved this summer, even though I wish it were MUCH longer and that I could do more stuff. And that it didn’t fly by so fast. Anyway, I hope you feel warm reading about my fun times during this fall that has suddenly arrived {the suddenness I feel may be due to the fact that I’ve been ignoring summer trying to go away…}. Keep fit and have fun. 😀
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