Winter Camp Royall 2010

'Nuff said.

Avadakadavra

Autism wins again!

Anyone who would like something to smile at or brighten their day with should read the article by clicking on the link below. It is an inspiring story about a young man named Jordan. This story is really important to me because I know Jordan and have seen how nice of a person he is while spending some time around him at Camp Royall this past summer and the summer before that. Jordan is such a fantastic, happy guy and I think it's awesome that he is now a homecoming king!

Homecoming night special win for special needs young man | special, high, swansboro - Neighbors - Jacksonville Daily News

Gulf

I LOVE Jack Conte.

Anyway, it's my day off. Just hanging 'round camp. Had a weird allergic reaction to something yesterday evening and woke up at four this morning with it again. Don't know what's going on with my body. I didn't do anything differently yesterday. Maybe I'm allergic to constant routine. Alas, went running this morning to clear my head. It worked. Head is so clear I'm bored. What should I do today?

Yum

I'll talk about him down the line...he LOVES legos!

I finally got some Indian food today. I absolutely love Indian buffets and their characteristically crappy interior decorations. I also love random Bollywood television stations and waiters that keep topping off your glass of water whose water level has only dropped a centimeter since the last time it was topped off/you quickly took a sip.

Did I mention that I also love and adore my camper this week? Today's day off from work made me realize that I might have had more fun spending the day with him, even if it meant working!

In other news, I just got my camper information folder for next week and it is for a little boy that I had last summer. You might remember him from this post and this post. The boy in this picture is also coming to camp next week. I wonder if either of them will believe that I am me (due to the drastic change in hairstyle).

Love,

Monica

The Beach

I went to Wilmington, NC with some friends (Elisabeth, Louiza, Corey, Kenny, Mark, Jordan Sk) yesterday (pictures sooooon-ish). We left camp around 9 and got there around 11-something. Got some wine, some sandwich parts and after finding parking, finally made our way to the sandy shores for some pleasure-filled picnic-ing. I also ate seaweed whilst on the beach for irony. It was seaweed that I had payed for, but the best part was that while I was eating, seaweed from the beach (free seaweed) was blowing around me and my feet. Both versions pretty much smelled the same.

In the water we screamed a lot because we kept running into schools of fish and seeing large shadowy shapes with flippers, flappers and fins. A couple people got bit by things or stepped on crabs and what not. We played lots of water games that involved lifting people up out of the water and throwing them. My back got burnt by the sun, I collected lots of seashells and may mail them out to people. We caught baby fish and made sand castles and played frisbee. We moved people's things out of the way when the tide started to come in. We went to the dockside restaurant...I got a delicious veggie burger and even more delicious sweet potato fries. Then we went back to Mark's and tried on his old halloween costume, took pictures and played catch-phrase until the batteries died. Oh, we also made our own delicious desserts by combining varieties of ice cream with coffee and creme brulee creamer. Tasted good.

Then drove home, got back to camp at midnight, hung out in the staff lounge with Jordan Si, Jean and Elisabeth...ended up staying in the staff lounge until 4 a.m. because it started raining really crazily and heavily and couldn't make it back to the cabins.

Woke up (i'm writing in fragments now, by the by) did laundry/am doing laundry and just finished watching/listening to this:

Wish me luck...new camper today. Let week 2 begin!!!!

Love,

Monica

Kaput

Graduation...check.

Cool candid picture of me on Elon's website...check.

Transition to Maryland...check.

New 55 gallon fish tank...check.

New thoughts about finding an apartment in D.C....check.

Excitement for camp to start in only five days...check.

However,

Already missing friends and Artswest...big check.

The Greatest Place on Earth

Click on the flyer above to make it bigger so you can read about an awesome job opportunity for the summer.  I'll be there! 

Look what I found

I found this picture of me and one of my campers on the new and improved Camp Royall website.  I thought it was cute and had to share.

I actually just got back from a few hours of wedding-fun with future bride (and roommate), Alexa.  I got to experience, first-hand, the ravenous spirits of moms and bride-to-be's as I climbed and clawed my way through the clumps and crowds at the wedding show/expo.  And it was all to get in (to my tummy) as many wedding cake samples as possible (that cake does taste as good as it looks).  I also experienced my very first fashion show of any kind and saw many beautiful wedding gowns and cute, colored flower girl dresses.  In retrospect, I do very much regret not being the flower girl at my godfather's wedding.  Come to think of it, I regret not being five years old anymore each and every day.

At the end of the day, I was very overwhelmed and began to quit processing any information, likening my appearance to a zombie's as I continued to accept free pens.  That being said, I can only imagine how Alexa is feeling.  She was accosted by many a hungry spokes/sales/planner person and was sent home carrying a giant men's warehouse bag full of all sorts of information.  I do wish her luck as today was fun, yet eye-opening!  Nevertheless, when the day comes, I know she will make a lovely bride.

Love,

Monica

I'm back

I just rolled into Elon after spending a week and a half in MD for Christmas, a week working and New Year's at Camp Royall and some change at David's house catching up on sleep.  Getting my textbooks for my winter term class (Plants and Civilization) was an interesting experience because one of the books is a cookbook full of delicious recipes!  Maybe our homework will be to cook (doubtful).  What is more likely is that I will be reading and writing a lot of papers because class only lasts about three weeks and I have four good-sized textbooks from which to read.

In other news, the fish are alive and Orange is EVEN bigger than I remembered.  With the Christmas money my parents gave me, I will be able to buy them a bigger tank for their long futures (koi can live many, many, many years).  And in one short week, I will be starting a 12-week long Autism volunteer-ship in Chapel Hill.  The program I will be volunteering with is called "Art-to-Art" and is the drama program run in collaboration with the Art Therapy Institute of Chapel Hill, the ArtsCenter and Paperhand Puppet Intervention (I'm pretty sure that the phrase "paperhand puppet intervention" sums it up).  I am soooo excited!

Okay, now off to clean my room and read for tomorrow's class (I don't think teachers should be allowed to assign homework before the term has even started).

Love,

Monica

Camp Royall Talent Show

Here are two goofy pieces and one less goofy piece that Jean and I did for the staff talent show a couple weeks ago (in original order):

And, yes, I realize how dreadfully obnoxious I get when I am super nervous on stage.

Memories

Today was the very last day of camp*.  Here are some snapshots of week 10, one of the best weeks of my life!

*I cried so much today and made others cry at the sight of my crying.  What a wonderful place I'm going to have to leave tomorrow.  :(

The Princess Pat lived in a tree

My parents both came to the weekly campfire tonight.  And they both sang our ridiculous, wacky, nonsensical, quirky, embarrassing, funny, lovable Camp Royallian camp songs!  Picture, please, my dad wiggling his hands, arms and, above/below all things, his bum in rhythm to a capella shouts thrown 'round a fire. 

Autism Wins

 courtesy of  Jean Rheem photography

Today it hit me that there are only two weeks of camp left.  Faceplams*

When I first started working at Camp Royall, I had not the slightest grasp on what I was getting myself into.  If I had had to define ASD then, I would have foolishly blurted out some lame, textbook definition lacking personality and truth.  And after that first week of training (i.e. the first time that said definition finally gained some dimension), I seriously doubted my strength and commitment to perform such a challenging job for the next two months that were ahead of me.  But then I met people, REAL people.  And all my fears and worries melted away; I understood the importance of honesty and trust, instead.  I saw how my campers trusted me, bearing their true skins (figuratively and literally, quite frankly), knowing full well that it was because they, too, understood my honest intent of making camp the best week of their lives!  

I have grown several years in the realm of responsibility and have traveled through light years of love in such a short (yet intense) amount of time.  At camp, I am responsible for the mental and physical well-being of another human being (yeah, I know...it blows my mind too).  For this reason, campers must fly quickly past the category of stranger and nestle themselves safely and securely into the welcoming arms of the family that Camp Royall is.  

And I have not the opportunity to even think about being selfish here.  I have gone weeks forgetting about my personal health and hygiene because of how much of a priority the happiness of my campers has become for me (I love that I don't bother to put makeup on anymore)!  Many of my campers have been younger than me and many have been much, much older than me.  But, all have been as easy with which to form friendships and care about on a level comparable to the way a mother must inherently feel about her child.  

The camper/counselor relationship that I have experienced this summer is like the strongest magnet that can't be pulled apart: Two things very different but fused together by a bond as straightforward as blind love.  And as each person learns, reciprocally, from the other, it becomes a bond truly unique to this wonderful camp and community of Autism enthusiasts in North Carolina.

courtesy of Carina Shojinaga photography

The best part about this whole experience is that I finally feel like my life has some kind of direction.  Now that I have discovered the way working with people with Autism makes me feel, I can't go back to feeling anything less.  My life is changed forever (dramatic, yes, but the way I truly feel).

Christmas in July

I'm alive, I swear.  A bigger update to come soon.  Crosses heart*

Elisabeth, Jean and I went to the Botanical gardens at Duke Univ on our day off.

Mr. In-between

Kenny and Jordan: totally unrelated to this post, but totally called for

Week 7 is almost halfway done (I can't believe it)!  It is definitely a change in pace from last week (high functioning adults), and my energy levels have reached an official, all-time low. But I absolutely love and adore my camper in spite of this.  In many ways, his imagination and love for the pool remind me of my little one from week 3.  However, my camper this week is smaller, younger and a little more stubborn/grouchy.  

I'm just beginning to understand him, though.  I expect that by the end of the next 12 plus hour day, I'll know him as well as I know some of my friend's cell phone numbers (i.e. almost by heart).  And, hey, I've already begun to assemble an impressive repertoire of counter-behavior strategies.  For example, tickling and pretending to be any of a variety of species from the genus of "big cat" have consistently demonstrated themselves as surefire ways to turn his frown upside down*.

*knocks on wood

High functioning adults week

Plebe Makeover

Before and After shots:

Can I just exclaim here how awful the glasses that they make them wear during boot camp are? Okay, yes.  Those boot camp glasses are just awful!

Erm, it's pretty late (considering I woke up at five this morning) and I need to get ready for bed.  Agenda for tomorrow is breakfast with the grandparents in the morning and then college park for the remainder of the day and night (slumber party with Rachael) and then I'm heading back to camp on Friday.  I promise to write an actual entry about "I Day" as they call it (short for Induction Day, duh) at a later date.  Woo class of 2013!  I am suddenly surging with Naval Academy (soon to be Navy) pride.

Love,

Monica

P.S.  Today a USNA mom turned to me and said, "Do you have a son or a daughter here today?"  I said, plainly, "I have a brother."  The whole thing made me laugh out loud but, honestly now, do I really look like I could pass for a parent?  I mean, the other day I got carded when buying sparklers.  How can I look both too old and too young for myself, people?!

Week 3 and Week 4

My camper from last week, the sudoku wiz

Finally an update...

Week 3 has passed and week 4 (12-17 yrs. old) is just about to.  Today is my day off and, after having a full night's sleep on night duty (the chillens were well-behaved), here I am. 

I really miss my camper from last week, a lethal combination of cute and cuddly, but my camper this week is quickly becoming the love of my life.  He is a slow-walker, non-verbal and functions cognitively at 2 months.  Therefore, he is a big baby and I love helping him around camp.  He is cutest when drinking from his water bottle and when floating awkwardly in the pool (his swirling motions remind me of a sea lion or otter).  The best thing about him, and also the most confusing thing about him, is that he will stare into my eyes for extended periods of time.  He kind of drops is head down, gets in your face and then locks eyes.  It is cute because I know he wants something from me but I also have no real way of knowing what it is.  

Today he is with a floating counselor, but as is with any day off, I can't help but think about my camper.  To distract me from longing for him, I'm thinking of running some errands of the Target variety*.  I also might find it in myself to drive to Elon and clean my fish tank.  The drive isn't that long and if I do decide to go, I will probably get to see Jenna (who was abroad Spring semester).  It's been a very long time and she'll have lots of London stories to tell.  Jenna would also be able to catch me up on the episodes of True Blood that I have missed (no cable, not even TV, at camp).  

In the afternoon, I will probably meet up with David.  He taped an episode of Chopped, which is our guilty pleasure on food network (among many other guilty pleasures on food network).  It's basically like three short Iron Chef competitions (one for appetizer, main dish and dessert) and involves four competitors instead of just two.

I should probably get going now.  I need to shower and plan my day.  

Love,

Monica

P.S. My week off is next week (starting on Friday) and I will be going home to MD for the first time since March!  Can I just say, I miss seeing (and smelling) cows each and every day.

*My "water-proof" watch filled up with water yesterday evening while in the pool.  It stopped working completely minutes later (though I'm not sure of how many minutes).  I'll need to get a new one as soon as possible because you can't live at camp without knowing what time it is and I need to cover up this horrendous watch-tan.  Speaking of tans, take a look at this ring tan I've developed:

Funny motions

David and a caterpillar (I just had to share it)

I had night duty last night which means today is my day off.  However, all I can think about today is how much I miss my camper!  He is THE CUTEST KID I've ever seen before in my life (and I mean, c'mon, I work at a nursery full of cutie pies during the school year).  Anyway, he could do commercials or model.  He is the epitome of what it means to be eight years old and cuddly cute.

My favorite part about him is that he is a natural comedian.  You see, whenever we go to the pool we like to show each other funny faces and funny "motions" underwater.  I started with "the pizza eater" face (me motioning eating pizza underwater) and he offered back things like "the sleeper" (pretending to sleep on the pool floor) and "the accident" (his mimicry of a boy who had pooped in the pool earlier that day).  And while "the accident" is always a crowd pleaser, nothing can beat these next few that I will explain:

1) The frightened man: He goes underwater and pretends to run away.

2) The angry woman:  Underwater, he screams and motions pulling out his hair.

3) The cement mixer: He swirls around in a circle underwater.

4) The pig in the mud: He swirls around in a circle underwater.

...at which point I told him that it was funny that "the cement mixer" and "the pig in the mud" were the exact same move.  He agreed with me and suggested that we do:

5) The pig in the cementer mixer: He swirls around in a circle underwater, while oinking.

I wish I could post a picture of me and my camper, but I can't...yet.  I need proper permission first and I hope to acquire it (but my blog, with the addition of said picture, will probably cease to exist due to an explosion of cuteness)!

So, for the rest of the day, I need to write my daily notes for yesterday.  I need to shower and get dressed up (because David is coming to take me to dinner or something).  And for the meantime and in between time, Andy and I need to figure out what to do for our day off (he had night duty last night also).  

Love,

Monica