I'm a survivor

Matilda!

I made it through my first day of camp.  Granted, it was a half day, but I successfully tucked both campers into their beds after two grueling showers.  Today was fun-filled with basketball, a pizza dinner, a luau with bubbles and chalk-drawing, a hayride and the first 15-minutes of the movie Matilda.  And I don't think that I'll be eating much this week because between feeding the two, I don't really have time to feed myself.  Anyway, I'll write more later.  Signing off...

I almost cried...

...when I came back to Elon and saw that the automatic fish feeder had failed to feed my fish (I've been relying on it for the past two weeks).  The littlest, Julius, was swimming around when he saw me but Orange, the big one, was resting on the bottom of the tank and I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.  I started to panic and sprinkled the food pellets in their water like I sprinkle sprinkles on my ice cream (i.e. like mad crazy).  It took them a while before they started to eat and they still haven't eaten most of what I have given them.  

Now I'm trying to go to sleep, but I'm so worried about them that I will probably have a restless night ahead of me.  My main concern is that the sudden influx of food will hurt their starving stomachs.  Their behavior is just so odd and they won't even come up to the surface to nip at my fingers!  They are completely out of character and it is all my fault.  I swear, I don't know what went wrong with the auto feeder.  When I left, it was moving full speed ahead, powered by the new batteries that I had put in it.  

Luckily, Jenna is coming in only a couple of days and will be able to feed the brave little guys for me, providing them with the wonderful human interaction and supervision that the auto feeder is unable to give.  

I hate robots.

Okay, I lied.

I acknowledge the fact that it has been less than 24 hrs since my last post and here I am, again, posting.  But, in my defense, I am sitting in the lounge talking with my new friends!  Anyway, I just wanted to tell everyone that I am having an awesome Saturday.  We spent the majority of today at the lake on the beach.  I tore up the volleyball sand court with some pretty rusty moves I remembered from middle school gym classes and covered my feet in sand (I also cut my knee while diving for a ball).  Then I got a little sunburnt while I waited in line for tubing.  Other, more coordinated folk went wake-boarding (I was too scared to try it out).  

Tonight, the entire Camp Royall team is going out for a night in Chapel Hill.  We'll be dining someplace tasty after which we will be set loose to roam the city and do as we please.  Some people might go to a movie.  I haven't decided what I'll do yet, but I'm excited.

Love,

Monica

P.S.  Just incase you guys were wondering why my job sounds more like a vacation than an actual job...it's because we are plunging into hardcore training starting tomorrow.  Our campers will, then, come the week after.  Hopefully I'll be ready for them.

Camp Royall

I've arrived and am settled.  I'll spend my nights on the bottom bed of a bunk (the room is also the size of a closet and I am beginning to appreciate the "generosity" of college dorm rooms for once).  

Today was crazy, filled with lots of team-building activities.  I've met so many new people and still need to meet so many more.  So, because making friends is hard for me (I know it's hard to believe, but I'm actually shy in the beginning), I won't be writing in this blog as often as I have in the past.  Maybe I'll have some updates every now and again, but don't expect too much until August comes around.  I really should spend the majority of my time here socializing and making this place my home!

Good night, and wish me luck with what promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Love,

Monica

P.S. Spring semester's grades are in and my GPA has never been happier.  I guess this is an indication that my major change was a smart move.  

Butter Cookies

Today was my last day of work at the Nursery until I come back in August.  I was pretty sad today, especially since most of the little ones didn't understand that I was going to be gone.  I guess they'll figure it out for themselves next week when I'm not there.  Here's today in pictures:

My little buddy at snack time.  He LOVES those butter cookies!

After every picutre I took of him he would say, "Lemmee see!"

Teaching the baby to play with the trains instead of eating the trains

Baby godzilla eating the train tracks.

Close-up self-portrait

They'll make a cute couple some day.

She always wears those giant bows and they always fall off by the end.

He's my little helper.

Teddy grahams!

Here's to making new friends at camp!

Done with junior year forever

Everything (and more) is in the living room now.

I had my last exam today.  It was my ceramics final and my classmates and I had a group critique.  It lasted for a while, but the worst part was that at the end I had to transport all of my ceramics/pottery back to my apartment (all 3 hundred tons of it).  

Need I remind you about my tiny, tiny car? 

Anyway, now everything is awkwardly on the coffee table in the living room.  I've also got stuff on the end tables and next to the TV.  Hope the roomies don't mind too much.  Signing off now.  Here's a painting I did on the last day of Drawing II: 

Lego house

Here it is:

and the interior: