I originally planned to write a blog post for each week of this summer spent at camp. As you can tell, however, I didn’t. This proved infeasible and time-consuming. Instead, I have decided just to write several blogs on the subject without specific attention to particular subdivisions of the summer. In other words, I’m going to just write a couple of posts that will cover the events of the summer, but the topic for each will probably span the entire summer. In other words, I’m just going to ramble about camp on my blog until I get tired of talking about it. In other words, my writing style is not going to change in the least from its regularly discursive and long-winded manner. ‘Discursive’ as it was just used there isn’t really necessary or significant, but it sounded cool.
So I still have a week and three days before I leave camp and return to reality. Three or four days after that I will return to the unreal and non-rational but simultaneously extremely rational non-reality that is life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I’m starting to look at my three homes like separate but metaphysically religiously philosophically related theoretical relative dimensions (That is far too many adverbs. I apologize; bear with me). Camp Agape is the *non-real* world, my ‘Home’ home in Raleigh is the *real* world, and UNC is the *really real* world. If you’re confused, don’t worry. Those adjectives don’t mean much of anything, besides that I’ve been reading a lot of dense stuff that I don’t really understand.
My point… My point has been sidetracked. My point was going to be that I am very much adjusted to life at Camp Agape. Life at Camp Agape as a counselor is radically different from life at home in Raleigh, which in turn is rather different from life at UNC. Camp Agape and Chapel Hill are different in very different ways, however, which is why I kind of set them as opposite poles in the previous outlandish paragraph.
The point I am attempting to make with all of these haphazardly explained points is that within one week of time I will be forced to adjust from one reality to the next and on to the next. However, I’m not worried about having a mental breakdown or being overwhelmed or suddenly losing my identity or coming down with a really weird, mental version of the bends. What I’m concerned about is acting extremely and unexpectedly unusual. Although when I put it that way I feel silly about actually being concerned. It may be a year too late if I don’t want to be seen as *unusual* at UNC. Then again *unusual* is a pretty common thing there, so what does normal really mean? But that’s neither here nor there. (Experiment: I’m going to paraphrase that cliché. Data: “But that’s not here nor there.” “But that is not situated in this location or in that location.” Conclusion: It will always sound silly).
Of course, the point I just made with that last paragraph is only the introductory expositional point of this post. Now allow me to get to the real point. I’d like to outline and briefly describe life as it is at camp, or at least a few of the weird ways that I have necessarily adjusted to life at camp. The contrasts with life in the real world (and the really real) will be obvious. Or I will unnecessarily go into detail about those too. We shall see.
At camp…
- I get up every morning before 7:30 to wake up kids and convince them to take showers. Now my internal clock wakes me up at 7:15 every morning, even if that means I’ve only been asleep for four hours. This is not going to fly when I get back to UNC. My circadian rhythm will require a stern talking to and an attitude adjustment.
- I am responsible for a group of 4-8 kids everywhere I go. I do headcounts every four minutes. Then I have to repeat the last kid’s name until he stops hiding in the bathroom and gets his shoes on. My friends may object to me suddenly becoming the punctual mother goose of the group. (Does that mean I tell nursery rhymes too?)
- Spending all day in the hot and humid North Carolina weather and being eaten up by bugs are facts of life. Everyone has grown accustomed to being sweaty, smelly, and itchy and to being around other sweaty, smelly, and itchy people. We pretend not to notice when we see someone wearing the same shirt three or four times a week. These habits will need to change quickly. I should be able to count on my family to correct me here.
- Humongous amounts of spontaneous energy are required of me. I get up tired and cranky and must quickly adjust my attitude. I drink one cup of coffee every morning and then rely on the huge amounts of calories I eat to burn up and keep me at the same level as the children. I talk and run and yell and dance at breakneck speed for hours. Then I sleep hard. This excess energy may be disruptive in an academic setting, or in any setting which isn’t filled with crazy young children. It’ll be interesting to see what breaks first: My excessive caloric intake or my gratuitous calorie consumption.
- I do all kinds of silly and ridiculous things. I embody campiness. Now the most random things trigger silly connections in my brain, making me sing silly songs about infant primates, German school-children, and yodeling. This could become a problem. I imagine it will go something like this:
- Scenario #1:
- “Hey Michael, look at that cool butterfly!”
- “BU-BU-BU-BUTTTTERFLY!!! FLAP YOUR FLAPPY WINGS!!!”
- “Michael?”
- Scenario #2:
- “Hey Michael, check out this cute video of a polar bear!”
- “NARWHALES!!! THEY ARE NARWHALES!!!”
- “I don’t understand.”
- Scenario #3:
- “Surprise Michael! I got you a cake, not a pie.”
- “DOO DOO DOO, OCTOPUS!!!”
- “Michael, you've changed.”
Eh I’m not worried. I don’t think many people will notice the difference. They'll just wonder why I smell bad and mumble at three times my normal speed.
