went to another camp from saturday to tuesday... four days in pure nature (well kinda, there was a village a couple of meters below) with the bugs and the bees for neighbours, four days taking care of a bunch of pratty (but sweet) kids, four days eating like an american but with enough physical output to lose all the fat, three nights sleeping outside being bitten and stung by a load of insects (which i fortunately couldn't see, being asleep) who seemed to be bent on avenging my apparently uninvited presence in their domain, three nights spent lying on the ground with a painful rock pushing against my side, three nights doin night shifts tending a fire which didn't want to stay alight... yes, it was loads of fun!!!
having always gone to an all-girls school i was highly unfamiliar with the whims and whiles of twelve year old boys... until the camp that is: boys with knives, boys with matches, boys standing too close to the bonfire, boys throwing firecrackers everywhere, boys poring over bikini magazines which they found in a little old lady's house, boys talking back at you with pratty lines like 'u're not my mother, u're not my teacher', twelve year old boys telling girls they're hot.....

on the first day, the whole forest was shrouded in fog (yes john, fog, FOG!!) making it kinda eerie... and cold!.
the rest of the camp was bright and beautiful though. all of the three nights were graced by fireworks from the village. on the first night, leaving cert (equivalent of) results had come out, so someone, apparently not expecting to pass, and extremely releived that they did, wanted to show the world. the second night was because news that a really famous political party leader was gonna be freed from prison after eleven years, so that brought out all the party members and supporters in the village, going around in their cars, brandishing party flags, putting on loud 'lebanese forces' music, shooting in the air, fireworks, just basically being extremely happy... on the third night it was because of a saint's feast.

on the last night the kids were allowed to indulge in an 'attack', a camp tradition where they tactfully come up with plans to capture fellow campers and subject them to torture with shaving cream, moose, shampoo, and basically anything liquid or viscous they can get their hands on. unfortunately this attack wasn't so tactful, and it ended up as a great big mess with my friend and i as the prime victims... my hair was white with shaving cream, which i couldn't get out properly till after a couple of showers after i got home.

so on the whole it was a fun camp. i discovered an unsettling affinity for knives, gonna get one soon, and i hope i can get it through customs. i also discovered a strange taste for old, stale, cold, and gone soft food. my friend who was with me came back with commendable toilet cleaning skills which fortuntely passed me by...