A Key to Camp Metigoshe Terminology

So I got home safely last night and was telling my parents about camp. They thought I was talking in another language! So I realize the things I'm writing might sound funny to everyone else t0o. Here's a key to some funny Camp Metigoshe Terminology. I will have a few more entries to come about the last weeks of camp so stay tunned.

Day Players- Rising 3rd graders who come and spend one night at camp, a total of like 17 hours. Trail Blazers- Rising 4th and 5th grade campers
Pioneers- Rising 6th and 7th grade campers
Discoverers- Rising 8th and 9th grade campers
Seek Weekers- Rising 10th and 11th grade campers
CITs- Counselors in Training, Rising 12th graders and college freshmen

Road Runner- a morning jog done with your cabin
Polar Bear- a morning dip in the lake (about 25 seconds long)
Ojibwas- a group of Native American Indians who live in the Turtle Mountains where camp is located.

So I flew home from North Dakota yesterday. It was really sad to go. It was hard saying my goodbyes to everyone. I wish I could have stayed one more night just to hang out with all the counselors after our campers left. I got some really good hugs my last couple of days and was made a huge pan of nachos that said "we love you" in sour cream :)

State Fair Fun

Camp Fire

I love these people!

There were many jokes about how to make me stay... how to make me miss my flight was one of them. Amy and I drove to Bismark for my flight (about 3 1/2 hours away), which apparently takes longer than we imagined. I ran into the airport in a hurry and rushed up the the counter asking if the flight for Chicago had left yet. I ended up missing my flight but was re-booked pretty quickly on a flight to Denver then onto Atlanta. The first flight was a United flight then I switched to Frontier. Somewhere in the change my luggage was lost and I still don't know it's fate but I'm hoping it'll arrive on my doorstep soon.

I am seriously considering going back next summer and possibly teaching there for a year. I'd love that. In December camp holds an event called Nights of Christmas. I'm thinking of going to that and testing out Winter. There will be snow mobiling and snow tubing! Sounds sweet to me! Apparently everything colder than -10 feels the same up there. It'll be an interesting experience.

Oh North Dakota, how I LOVE thee!

Ojibwa Week

This past week I had Ojibwa girls. Ojibwa is the Native American tribe from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation that's really close to camp. It's a very interesting week of camp. Everything is pretty different and most rules are thrown out the window! They tell counselors before the week begins the kinds of behaviors to ignore (talking during directions, not participating in activities, cursing, hitting counselors, putting paint on people), behaviors to redirect (throwing rocks at buildings or people, etc.), and behaviors that will cause them to be sent home (hurting another camper purposely, climbing on the high ropes course, or sneaking out at night. I actually had to break up a fight between two boy campers and they both got sent home. It was really sad.

I'm so thankful we talked about these behaviors because I would have been exhausted if I had chased my campers around all week trying to get them to listen and participate. I think with higher expectations the campers could have been a bit better behaved though. Especially they boys. They were wild and could be seen fishing, running a muck, or climbing on top of roofs at any given time. The week just flows differently than other weeks of camp. They had a lot more free time and a TON of swimming time.

We got to go small group camping which was really fun. We sang really loud camp fire songs, made s'mores, and tried to out last the pouring rain. I co-counseled with Emily and we had a good time making pancakes and sausages over the fire the next morning.

It was a very memorable week. It taught me a lot and I think it's a valuable thing to experience as a teacher because I will undoubtedly have students who just do things slightly differently. I learned to let them be and they would eventually come back to the group and participate when they were interested.

These are some pictures of fellow staff members.

This is Ian, one of the cooks, and we basically have the same hair cut.

This is Mindy and she rocks!

The Complete Seek Week

This has been my favorite week of camp thus far! It was not very traditional because the kids are so old. They’re allowed to do more adventurous things. We only spent 2 out of 5 nights in our cabin. By the way, our cabin was Cabin Sunset which was named according to its great views over the lake. We did high ropes, adventure course, ice cream Sundaes, camping, bonfires, late night saunas, breakfast in bed, movie night, canoeing, cruising on the pontoon, and a whole lot more! I liked it because I was able to have good conversations with them at that age. I was worried about that but our Bible study times (SWAT times) and our prayer partner times were good and we got into some deep questions.

That's me :)

Weekends are so great around here. It’s really fun to bond with the staff members and relax. It’s like getting away to the mountains for the weekend. It’s pretty peaceful. We sauna, we swim, we bonfire, and we watch movies. Little do the kids know that while we use outhouses and cabins without electricity during the week we watch movies and check email over the weekend. This weekend was actually the QUILT AUCTION at Metigoshe Lutheran Church. That’s the church we sing at every Sunday and it’s where Kyle and Betsy Debertin, the camp directors, work during the year. The quilt action is the main fundraiser used to pay the staff’s paychecks. We sold 204 quilts for about $60,000 total today. Betsy says no one comes to the quilt auction looking for a bargain but they are looking to make a gift to Camp Metigoshe.

Next week I’ll actually being doing a day camp at Metigoshe Lutheran. I’m really excited because I get to stay at camp still- but in a building with bathrooms! Woop! It’ll be nice because we can use supplies from camp and just drive it over with us in the morning. The church is about 5 minutes from camp. It’s only me and another counselor, Wyatt. Our boss asked if either of us could learn guitar in the next 24 hours…. Unlikely. They’ll send some staff over a couple times a day to play for us. I’ll keep you posted!