the end. (ish)

Okay so i have 1 day left in the states and i was thinking, what will i tell people when they ask "How  was America?" or "What was it like?"...

Camp America (@ YMCA Camp Jewell)
The absolute best time of my life, so far. Firstly, if you love working with kids, then you MUST do Camp America - it's just too good and you get far more out of it than you could imagine. Secondly, if you do, then try to work at Camp Jewell, which is the awesome camp that i was lucky enough to work for. You will meet some seriously great people and be in such a beautiful place. (I cannot praise this place highly enough - just trust me on it!)

Trek America (Canadian Pioneer)
Like getting bunched with a small group of random people from all over the world? The trek in Canada was FANTASTIC - it was a very well-organised, flexible, and exciting trip where i met some of the most interesting and funniest people, and did some slightly ridiculous but utterly fun things all the way across Canada. And if you ever get the opportunity to choose your trek leader, ask for Ann!

 

Boston

Whether you are careering around the city with a flock of friends, sometime-after-midnight, or taking a leisurely stroll through Quincy Market with family, then Boston is a big, beautiful city with a bounty of things to discover. I think i like Boston so much as a) it was the first American city i was able to explore and b) because although it is big, it is quite clean, tree'ed, and has lots of lovely 'college' campuses to visit (unlike, for example, NYC).

New York City (the supposed Liberty City)

Okay, at the risk of offending some of my American (and maybe non-American) friends, my description of NYC that follows is perhaps a little harsh (but also quite true). Two words: filthy and smelly. Now, i know it is a "big deal" going to New York, but honestly, i only found a few gems (Morimoto japanese restaurant, Chelsea Markets) in a whole lotta hype (i.e., everything else). It's seen as "exotic" and "glamorous" to go to New York, but why? I'll tell you - it's because we think it's "exotic" and "glamorous". Sure, you can watch a movie set in New York to see what it's like, but if you want someting more accurate, try checking out Grand Theft Auto IV. (You know, with all that said, i did love NY from the documentary-photographic angle. And, don't get me wrong, i had an utterly awesome time there too!)

Washington, D.C.

I know it's all you ever hear about when going to D.C., but the museums are FANTASTIC. Spend hours and hours staring glassy-eyed at a model neanderthal or gazing in amazement at the ceiling of Library of Congress.The city is also particularly good if you've read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, as you can almost lose yourself in the masonic history of the place. Dupont circle and George Washington's homestead are great, and so long as you keep out of the ghetto north-east quadrant of the city, you shouldn't have to worry too much about the unexpectedly high crime rate.

Chicago
Chicago  wasn't what i was expecting. Admittedly, my expectations were probably 80-90 years out of date, as i was expecting gangsters and the fruits of the prohibition to be abound, but that's just what i'd read, you know? Anyway, i suppose i really liked Chicago as it reminded me of a bigger Brisbane, only colder. The leafy streets were gorgeous. The metro line was like a theme-park ride. And bike riding along Lake Michigan sure is a good way to feel better about all that food you've been eating while you've been over here.

Austin, TX
Known for "keeping it wierd", this is probably not the place to come if you want to go on a holiday getaway, but heck, it sure is an interesting experience if you're visiting friends. Trailriding western-style at Cheryl's barn was definitely the highlight of the trip, but it was also just a lot of fun exploring downtown Austin and marvelling at all the steakhouses, handlebar moustaches, quirky bars and the eclectic music scene (i managed to complete my TV on the Radio CD collection).

San Francisco
The SF experience for me was one of eating fresh dungeness crab out of the shell, clinging frozen to the side of a Market St tram, eating local Californian cheese and drinking cider in Sonoma Valley (i wish i could say i drank wine, but you know how they are here), and biking my way across the Golden Gate bridge. Of the three times i went here, SF offered something new each time - whether it be crazy weather, a bison paddock in the center of the city, or a beggar scaring ungenerous tourists and passersby with a broken eucalyptus branch. It's a pretty diverse and very cool place to go.

Yosemite
The movie Into The Wild is probably one of my favourites, as is the book. I know Yosemite National Park was not at all featured in either, but i could understand both a lot better from being out there. The mountains/valleys are massive and you can really feel them drawing you in. I loved it.

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity..."John Muir

Las Vegas

 If you want a holiday, i'd definitely recommend coming here. Why? Because in all the other American Cities I was too busy just trying to "live" whereas here, everyone's on holiday (heck! i mean, so are you!) and relaxed and enjoying themselves, so you find that you can too. Whats more, there is so much money here that you can actually appreciate clean footpaths, good food, cleaner air, few beggars, and, of course, the glorious themed hotels & casinos along the Strip. And, if you're getting sick of carrying around that heavy wallet of yours, then don't worry, because by the end of your stay here it will be light as a feather! 

Los Angeles
The first two words that popped into my head on arriving in L.A.  were "glorified Logan". Now, if you live anywhere near Logan City, QLD, then you'll have a better idea of what i mean here. Basically L.A. is a whole lot of ghetto suburbs. There are "Green Doctors" and botox clinics abound. And the traffic is terrrrrible. However, it really wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. We were lucky enough to be staying in the only hotel on Rodeo Drive, in Beverly Hills (coincidentally, this is the most expensive place to shop in the world) and therefore our area was extremely beautiful. A good friend of mine said she'd kill me if i saw a celebrity - i'm still alive but i'm pretty sure we passed a few (not that i would know too well anyway) and i am almost 100% certain i saw Eugene Levy (two-left feet in Best in Show) at dinner on our last night here. Santa Monica and Venice beach were fantastic for shopping & eating, by the way, and you could really see the vegan/gypsy culture shine through...

Coastal Roadtrip L.A. to San Francisco
Somehow, we managed to leave one of the best parts 'til last - winding our way through Malibu, Santa Barbara, Carmel, Monteray, Santa Cruz, and Big Basin on Route 1.  One of the problems we have often found with america is aptly summed up by my mother, who said "The problem with America is just that sometimes there are too many Americans!" and it's true as sometimes it is simply so hard to escape the massive cities. However, when you do, such as on this beautiful drive, it is just so worth it. Among the gorgeous rugged mountains and coastal scenery, one of the highlights was staying at the Redwood Croft B&B in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where we were treated with a jacuzzi under the stars, an exquisite loft to sleep in, a full and delicious cooked breakfast (with real tea!), and all set in the midst of a towering redwood grove. A perfect end.

okay. well. i don't know where it goes from here. it's funny how you get so used to living one thing, that it becomes so hard to change. i want to go home, but i don't want to leave. summer has barely ended yet i am already so nostalgic for it.

america is, and was, something else.

yosemite (yes, i've skipped san francisco)

for some reason, whenever i am with the land, i have this wierd urge to become a native and just wander around talking to myself about the earth and all its stories.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, 

he finds it attached to the rest of the world." 

John Muir

chicago continued.

okay well atleast i find it amusing to write (this is my kind of my diary to remember whats happening anyway) and a few devoted followers are better than none!

chicago reminds me a lot of brisbane in a lot of ways. a lot bigger, of course, but similar architecture and business districts, and a nice feel to the city. we were staying in a little neighbourhood called Wrigleyville, which is just north of the city. its a short ride on the metro rail (above ground, rusty tracks, fast trains whipping around corners and wooden station platforms - it was heaven for me and Kyp to take photos). (photo: our local church, across the road)

the apartment was in a yellow fall leafy neighbourhood with little brick terrace houses, we were staying in a trendy apartment - 3 bedrooms, a small porch out the back (a little rotten almost, and looking out onto the alleyway), and windows all along the front.

the luxury of this apartment, of course, was that on one particularly stormy morning we slept in until about 12pm... however our activities besides that included:

wandering down to the lakeside, hiring bikes and biking about 5-7miles along lake michigan, going on a boat tour up and down the river to view all the architecture (first sky-scraper ever was built in chicago), and skipped paying $15 to go to the observatory deck at the John Hancock Building and instead caught the elevator to floor 96 and drank cocktails (or the dreaded mocktail, hahaha) while sitting in the "house" seat and watching the sun set over chicago.

We also made a trip to the Cheesecake Factory (i had previously tried a delicious Oreo cheesecake in boston) so mum could try it out, where we got each of our meals literally on a serving platter, rather than an actual plate. Needless to say, mum's meal fed her that night, and then all three of us the next night. now why is it that so many americans are overweight...?

we also got a Godiva chocolate cheesecake to "take-out", which was lovely, but extraordinarily rich.

checagou ("wild onions")

i sit here, next to mum, on a couch, watching "Man V Food" (ridiculous show about an American filling himself with lard, with a side of lard), with a lovely full tummy, writing about the last fourish days in Chicago.

chicago is a combination of leafy apartments in suburbia, strips of "rust belt" and ghetto neighbourhoods, a hive of incredible architecture, and a happening downtown of sky-high buildings puncturing the blue. And it's all perched on the side of the massive Lake Michigan.

To both kick-off and close our lovely time here, we visited our 'local' japanese restaurant, Ukai, where we tasted exquisite japanese-fusion foods, cheaply and (for once) in a respectable serving size! Included in our tastings was grilled eel, hanger steak, air yuzu, gomae and other complex delicacies.

ta ta ta ta ta... i am actually wondering whether it's really particularly interesting reading what i am doing? probably not. i'll leave it here i think...

Wahhshington, Deastrict ahv Cahlambia

is it a bad sign that i have start writing phonetically in American? probably, though i would like to think that in real life, my accent has remained pretty un- err, unchanged.

the past 4 nights have been spent in a trendy renovated apartment, about 3 blocks south of the National Mall. I have been able to actually cook (something decent) the past couple of nights too as our apartment had a well-stocked kitchen, including basics like pasta and herbs and spices. It even had a couple of different liqueurs; two strange mexican-looking ones which i didn't touch but also a pleasant creme de vanilla liqueur, which was somewhat port-like in flavour and a provided nice nightcap.

so our weeks' events included:
An evening walk at the east end of the Mall, up by Parliament House and then in the morning an exploration of several of the noted Smithsonian museums. We visited the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Native American History, the second of which we stopped to have special mexican spiced hot chocolate (they also served buffalo and other native foods) and i also purchased a native american book of recipes and traditions.

we also visited Mount Vernon, the home and farmlands of George Washington, which was just so beautiful, lovely big gardens and paddocks and forest and slave-houses and his mansion. It reminded me somewhat of Clarendon and the big estates by Stanley, in Tasmania (however not as grand as the tasmanian places, i found...)

What else, what else... Arlington cemetry, Washington Monument (the big masonic obelisk... brings back memories of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown), Lincoln Memorial and the White House.

Today we also went to Dupont Circle and browsed through old record shops, tiny japanese boutiques, tea shops, and! a combination of some of our favourites - had a late lunch at Teaism, a japanese restaurant/cafe/tea shop, where i had sweet matcha and a bento box in a beautiful old terrace.

Our last night is tonight but i highly doubt we will get up to too much as we are going to need to try to squeeze in the great number of things (mum) bought.

New yoke

last night concluded our holiday in New York, where we were staying in "A rest stop for rare individuals" at the Hotel Chelsea. we celebrated by going to the famous Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's japanese restaurant, and i have to say, the food was absolutely some of the best i have ever had.

We started with a lamb carpaccio with scallions and chive oil, and the thin slices of meat just melted in your mouth. the flavours were both subtle and absolutely delectable, and i took a good minute to savour each bite.

I then had beautiful fresh yellowtail fish, seared in the bowl at my table, sitting on a bed of rice and egg. the taste was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Mum had a chef's selection of sashimi (so beautifully presented) and dad had chirashi.

For dessert we had yet another gastronomical delicacy of warm flourless chocolate cake with pear gelato, thinly sliced pear, and caramel popcorn (a slightly bizarre combination that tasted absolutely superb) and a sobert combination of raspberry, lemon, and apple.

Anyway, this was definitely the highlight of my new york trip, as i am so gastronomically and cooking-ly inclined. The restaurant was also beautiful in that it was designed by famous japanese architect, Tadao Ando (whom dad has apparently followed for years).

Some other highlights of the new york trip included:

A pedi-cab tour of central park by a very jovial and knowledgable young man, Amadou. The park was very gorgeous and we got to visit all the movie locations and ponder this and that.

We also went up the Empire State Building at night, you know, doing the whole touristy thing (i figure that in new york, i would rather not be anything but a tourist). It was quite amazing, just to gauge the extent of the city and how built up it is.

We visited the Chelsea Markets several times (it makes my heart melt, to see all those gourmet bakeries and the artisinal cooking and so on), wandered aimlessly through Greenwich, Noho, Soho and Chinatown. Ate bagels for brunch and drank hot-chocolate to stave off the cold. Walked under the Brooklyn bridge, past tall brick housing complexes, tiny graffiti'ed playgrounds, and forgotten alleyways.

We walked up Wall St, got our photo outside the U.S. Stock Exchange building, contemplated the affects of 9/11 at Ground Zero, and took many reckless taxi-cab rides ducking in-and-out of bumper-to-bumper traffic and streams of pedestrians.

We pretended to be from the upper echelons and wandered through Trump Tower, Madison Avenues high-end stores, and sat at the top of Columbus Circle, directly overlooking Central Park, sipping cocktails (or fruit juice, as was my case) and listening to a jazz performance by Horizon.

I got sick at Ellen's Stardust Diner from eating the "American" (i.e. 100% plastic) cheese on the top of my dish (however the atmosphere was cute - absolute 1960's diner with singing waitresses and poodle skirts). A sample of diner food below... (to be avoided at all costs?)

And we of course we stopped by times square and grand central, just for a peek.

re-unite

i'm finally getting up to date!

Yes! I have now re-united with good ol' Mum and Dad. I was most definitely looking forward to seeing them again, as travelling alone is very wearing and lonesome sometimes.

We met in Boston where i took them to their first american breakfast at Au Bon Pain, which was very lovely and peaceful, and then we stored our luggage at my hostel and i took them on a 'mini-tour' of boston - the boston commons, downtown, Quincy Markets and the harbourside - before we headed over to our apartment on Newbury Street.

Newbury Street is a highly trendy and popular street packed full of designer clothes shops, boutiques, gelaterias and restaurants so it was a gorgeous location. Best of all, we were in a little basement apartment, just out of the movies, which was very comfortable and modern inside, and i had my own bedroom and bed for the first time in... what? 4 months? (privacy is a thing i know little of any more haha)

For our first dinner together i took them to a lovely french cuisine restaurant called Stephanie's.

and for now that is all... i will update more in the foreseeable future.

the last leg (of canada)

okay finally i will conclude the canada trek.

So i left off last in Quebec... i enjoyed my last day there sitting in a restaurant with my english pals Vikki and Shona, feeling warm, watching the rain pour down outside, and eating salty french onion soup with gruyere cheese and bread melted on top, and a blue cheese, goat cheese and brie platter. perfect end to canada, no?

From here we ventured south across the canadian-usa border, where the US officials of course wanted to make a fuss about my passport (and my passport only), and only let me through after paying $6 to have a small sheet of paper stapled into my passport (which had been ripped out by US officials on me first entering the country anyway... huh.)

Once in Maine we headed down to Acadia National park, our last real destination and national park. Here we enjoyed watching the sunrise hit the first point in the US (the top of Cadillac Mountain, where we were positioned) and i tried my very first go at deep-sea fishing. I caught 1 mackeral and 1 pollock - a star effort i thought for a beginner! it was much fun too and we each got a free Maine lobster to take home and eat.

So, as you can imagine, we had an excellent dinner that night of fresh caught pollock grilled over the campfire, fire-roasted corn, and the most beautiful lobster i have ever eaten. so fresh and sweet and all.

After that we celebrated by heading in to Bar Harbour (the small little town on Acadia Island) and having delicious gelato, and then popping into a very small and sweet bar for special blueberry mojitas (not too great - very strong, very sweet, but free thanks to the local friends Jo and I made).

Last night! we ventured into the tiny outlet-shopping town of Freeport for some shopping (or a little stop to sit and watch the world, as i did) and then on to our last campsite, one which was closing up for the winter and meant that we had one whole half of the campsite to ourselves (huzzah!).

Ann made us a special mexican gumbo-type thing which was amazingly delicious and then we partying on into the night enjoying our last night together (and getting roused on once or twice by the camp ground owners) and doing the Cupid Shuffle (it's a modern-day line dance... look it up on youtube) together.

And so that fairly much concludes my canada trip. by no means is it all inclusive though, so you'll have to ask me more. honestly though, if you are ever doing a trek in america, go with Trek America and ask for the tour leader Ann and you will have the best time ever.

Montreal - Canada continued

Yippee we were now in Montreal! We started our orientation by stopping at the top of Mont Royal and snapping shots of the city underneath us. We also were staying in a hostel for two nights too which was nice to have an actual bed instead of a ground sheet to sleep on.

That night we celebrated by going out to a lovely italian restaurant named Ferrari's and all having a drink, as i was finally in an 18+ drinking age area. Montreal nightlife is said to be some of the best in the world so we had a fair amount of fun ducking in and out of little irish pubs and sitting watching pool and then finally going to a couple of little nightclubs (where we got free entry, all the better) before trying the local specialty - poutine (basically chips, cheese and gravy... it seems all i am eating is rubbish doesn't it?? trust me i wasn't eating that type of food all the time haha)

The next day i wandered about montreal visiting the underground city (because it gets so badly snowy there), the Tam Tam Jam ('for free-loving spirits', tam tam drums and little hippy-ish stalls), and the Italian and Old Town provinces.

Our last canadian destination was Quebec. For those of you that don't know it already, Quebec was by far the most french of all the places we visited. Just about everything was parlez-vous francais, and it was just g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. with little cobbled streets and french provincial buildings and the big citadelle from 'back in the day'. We first visited it at night after dinner at our camp and went over via ferry, which gave us a beautiful view of all the city lights. we stopped by le petit cochon (the little pig) for dessert where i had a special maple cake and belgian hot chocolate (again, a great view of my diet, hey? really, i don't eat like this all the time!!) and then we went wandering for a bit.

Quebec was by far my favourite canadian city, and has really made me want to see europe for all the gorgeous alley-ways and history and heritage.

the rest of canada...

Alright so obviously i got a little stuck in the writing-about-canada process. honestly, time just seems to fly by sometimes and by the time i get back to my dwellings for the night i am beyond exhausted and just want to settle in for a cup of tea and maybe a little sit in bed with something to read.

But! Let me briefly tell you the rest of what happened in canada:
In Algonquin park it was getting was really getting cold and we were now in full bear-country, so had to bear-proof the campsite that evening. The next morning was canoing in Lake Opeongo, with my awesome english friends Vikki and Shona in my canoe, and then a 7.7km hike around another lake to the top of a mountain to a beautiful view of the colour-changing leaves and the undisturbed canadian wilderness.

The next day was a nice early wake-up call (5.15am or something???) so that we could get to our white-water rafting by 9am. Needless to say, they had no wetsuits to fit me, so i was wearing something far too baggy and couldn't even find my swimsuit to wear under it. And it was freezing. And it was raining.

However i had immense fun, even though it was cold and i couldn't feel my hands. It was also very beautiful country by the riverbanks. We camped under a giant shed that night and had a big party, as there was a little pub at the place where we were staying. This is the river, the next morning:

Next up! Ottowa where i tried a "beaver tail" (fried dough with a topping... cinnamon & apple or chocolate & banana or something like that) and wandered around the markets. I also saw my first groundhog! how quaint.

The next day was bungee-jumping outside Ottowa and on to Montreal. Now yes, i will admit i was seriously considering doing it. I even said to Ann, our trek leader, that if she did it i would do it (she did it). but... when i got there, it was MASSIVE and over a big waterhole, and i thought to myself, do i really want to spend $110 to hurt to myself or something equally as bad? So no, i didn't do it, but had a lot of fun watching the 4 who did want to, and considering it was never one of my great ambitions i left with the attitude that atleast i have an extra $110 to spend on buying things for myself!

canada - part ii

onwards to toronto!

it honestly has such a cute sounding name, hey? haha, anyway, Siobhan & JoJo (a different Jo to the one i share my tent with) and I spent our afternoon in Toronto wandering around marketplaces whilst the rest of the group went up the CN tower.

We found a very cute 'market' street near chinatown, which was lined with retro clothing stores and nepalise goods shops and hippies. exactly my kinda thing. it was fun wandering through it... very street-scene photographic.

Next day: On to Algonquin National Park.

Yes. today it was forecast to be a nice, rainy, 1 degrees C. ah. And our tents still hadn't dried. And we basically set them up in mud. and! we were now in bear country (lucky us!).

It was actually remarkable fun setting everything up in the rain, and then going for a nice light 3.5km hike beside a beautiful canadian river, and a good photo opportunity for some winning group photos.

canada - part i

i think the past two weeks have almost rivalled my entire summer.

it. was. so. much. fun.

i was basically on a trek with Trek America, 13 of us plus our brilliant tour leader, Ann.

i'll sum the trip up for you, but if you really want to know what happened you'll have to talk to me, because it was just SO good.

basically i was sharing a tent with the ridiculously funny english copper, Jo, and the brilliantly fast olympic athlete-in-training, Amy. we started in the dregs of New Jersey and motored north through Pennsylvania and New York State through some of the most beautiful country-side i have ever seen. Mountains, wooded forests.

First stop of Niagara Falls and a Maid of the Mist ferry ride underneath the falls.

Niagara Falls was very beautiful, however, what you don't see in the photos is that just to the right and directly behind me is the town of Niagara Falls, which is casino after casino after run-down street after dirty high-rises. I honestly couldn't believe that. However it was just slightly mind-blowing trying to imagine how it would have been before a city was there...

That night! Niagara by night-light, camping on Lake Ontario and woken at 6am by a massive thunderstorm rolling over the lake across from Canada. Needless to say, we all woke up in puddles (tents are not waterproof).

moreeeee coming.

capitol city

yussssss. i am now in the city of... um, lost symbols? Yes and truly it is quite beautiful (i am saying that about every place here aren't i? it doesn't make it less true, if that helps).

Basically i am staying in a err rather cramped but friendly hostel in Adams Morgan, a pretty happening part of town (atleast as far as awesome streetscene, restaurants, bars and nightlife go) and it is alsoa very photogenic area, i believe.

Today included a trip to the Smithsonian museums of natural history and of air and space. Highly entertaining (me and emma had some good laughs i feel at the expense of our dear homo-neanderthalis brothers) and very interesting. Would you believe they actually have a McDonalds in the smithsonian museum though? it made me lose a bit of respect for them, to be honest.

(will continue writing later, lights out now... haha)

a word for each city: Philadelphia

giant avenues of green,
and hallways of graffiti.

streets stained with history.

the past seeps out from the buildings around
whilst salty smog screens the sun.

a word for each city: New York

so i decided i would quite like to start a thing, where i write a poem or just something mildly inspirational (?) about each city i visit... starting with New York:

this place reminds me-
reminds me of the computer games you play
with neverending borders
with no boundaries
with blackspace going on forever

it's a big city.
when you're down in it
the streets are neverending hallways.

phillies

G'day all!

So we are now down to three. The two Aussies (Kristen and I) and the Pom (Emma, hahaha). Today we had bagels in central park for breakfast and managed to catch our bus to Philadelphia. We arrived next to Chinatown, in a slightly sketchy looking area, but had so many really friendly people come up to us and ask us if we needed directions getting anywhere or if we were lost.

We more-or-less were, considering we had booked a hostel which it turns out was an hour bus trip from the city. So we cancelled that and lost our $$ for that night, but we managed to find a very very helpful lady at the visitor centre who got us a special deal, double queen suite at a really gorgeous hotel near the water. It's in Old Town, which is like the really historic area, absolutely beautiful buildings and lovely little restaurants lining paved streets and little alleys and old brick buildings. Reminds me kind of Melbourne or even some Tasmanian places, so i feel A LOT more relaxed here.

We also get free breakfast, free snacks and cheese and wine in the afternoons, and the receptionists are so helpful to us.

So we basically spend two nights at this place, which is excellent and i am looking forward to, and then Emma and myself head on down to North Carolina to stay with Katie at her college. It's an 8 hour train ride but it's okay cos i will see a lot of the countryside and everything else. Get to finally catch up on sleep maybe?

And i forgot to update you on New York:
We left camp on monday at 2pm but only got to NY at 8pm due to trains, etc. Our accomodation basically fell through because we were relying on a friend's hostel (but of course it wasn't going to work anyway, we realise retrospectively) but we headed straight out to a chinese restaurant and toasted with Pina Coladas and Long Island Iced Teas.

Fortunately we eventually found a place at the Royal Park Hostel/Hotel which was actually really comfortable, so we all squished in there (there were maybe 8 of us?).

Times square is... well, pretty surreal. It was ultra touristy but that was kinda cool cos you know what? When it comes down to it, we are tourists. We visited the M&M and Hershey's shops too. Emma and Kristen watched a show on Broadway, whilst Sinead and I headed to Chinatown.

Chinatown was MASSIVE. It was a little sketchy again, but i had an awesome almond pastry from a taiwanese bakery which was cool. We also went into Little Italy, which is right next door to Chinatown. Hawkers kind of made Chinatown restless and we were hailed by many restauranteurs in little italy but it was such a gorgeous setting.

Anyway, more to come, more to see, more to do. Lots of love

new york, new york

it's a big city.
when you're down in it
the streets are neverending hallways.

part II

so now i go walkabout.

'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.'
henry david thoreau

the american dream?

so i've been talking to a lot of my friends about this. The whole 'see the world' vs. 'go to college' thing, and how different it is for Australia and America.

In Australia - a gap year is perfectly normal, travelling to see the world before settling into uni/work/life commitments is absolutely reinforced, and the expectations of getting into a "good school" (any uni you go to is good in Aust. really, yes?), getting a "good job", having a "good partner" and "good kids" and repeating it ad infinitum is not really there at all.

In America - there are really big expectations on most of my friends to go straight to college, then get a good job, etc. and continue the cycle of study-work-family-debt before considering travelling. It's almost as if there is a bit of a feeling among the general populus that "well! i was born in america! where else do i need to go?". Of course i am speaking REALLY stereotypically, and not at all reflecting the whole view. It's just what i have picked up?


"Did you know that for pretty much the entire history of the human species, the average life span was less than thirty years? You could count on ten years or so of real adulthood, right? There was no planning for retirement, There was no planning for a career. There was no planning. No time for plannning. No time for a future. But then the life spans started getting longer, and people started having more and more future. And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future--you go to high school so you can go to college so you can get a good job so you can get a nice house so you can afford to send your kids to college so they can get a good job so they can get a nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college." John Green

the american dream?


australia doesn't need it...

camps overrrrrrrr

summer camp's over!

I'm now working what's called "Bob's Camp" for this week - it's a camp for kids who are in temporary adoptive care. They are obviously very troubled and some are quite difficult for their staff to manage (we camp jewell staff don't have to have any responsibility for the campers ourselves so we are not stressed at all which is good!) but it is in general SO SO very relaxed compared to summer camp, which is awesome.

Here are some more pictures from Boston, by the way:

and the night before, at some time between 12am-2am:

I also have a plan formulated for travel post-camp! Woo.

i'll update more when i can next be bothered (probably tomorrow). lots of love

ah bahsten

Hi there...

So much has happened in the past weeks that i have barely had time to check the internet!
To list a few, in Boston i...

• only arrived at the city with all the other Camp "Woodstock" (we renamed ourselves) internationals at like 12am at night, found something to eat at the Cheesecake Factory (oreo cheesecake) and got the to YMCA youth hostel at 2.30am for a little shut-eye

• went to Quincey Markets, a huge market full of super delicious foods

• had a Boston Kreme donut from Dunkin Donuts

• tried clam chowder

• visited a fraternity house

• visited Cambridge... MIT university and Harvard, all the trendy little shops and cafes around there

Fourth session is now rolling on and it seems crazy, but i only have 2 and a half weeks left at Camp Jewell. In lots of ways i really don't want to leave, as this has been my complete and utter home for the past 10 weeks of being in America. It is so beautiful here and you really don't take day-to-day life for granted as it is just so, so action-packed and filled with having fun.

However it will be nice to finally have some time to myself and to sleep. I think it will take me a couple of weeks to catch up on it.

This weekend is Corn Roast, a big event on the Camp Jewell calendar, where all kinds of previous staff and campers come back for a kind of 'reunion' where they roast corn and everything. We are also going to be having a movie night outside on the hill which should be pretty cool.

This session i am teaching the most gorgeous group of kids. I am teaching the Haflingers, which is now the highest riding group in the one-week program. I have five girls, all between the ages of 8-11, and they are just the most helpful and skilled little riders i have seen so far! They really make teaching very fun, and i have been able to do all kinds of games with them, including trotting over cavaletti poles and doing little obstacle courses.

I am also finishing up this session in the Bucks cabin again (which i started in and which is probably one of my favourite age groups) with Julie as my co-counsellor. We have really chilled out so much more for this last session and i can tell we are both enjoying it a lot more. Tonight is our cabin challenge and we may do something like some low-ropes initiative courses or a hike up Sunrise Mountain.

So far my third session was my favourite session as i was in the Appy's cabin, which is basically 13-15yr olds and they were all so mature and helpful that it was awesome.  And i also didn't have a riding group then so i was able to teach a lot more of the non-horse-related-activities like outdoor cooking, candle-making, arts and crafts, and tie-dye which was pretty cool.

I also had a bit of an emotional roller-coaster in third session which was interesting, but which i am feeling pretty good about now.

When fourth session ends we have the staff banquet on the evening of Saturday the 21st, with most of the staff's work contracts ending on the 22nd. That will be pretty sad. My contract goes for another week, until the 30th of August, as does quite a lot of the internationals.

And then comes the solo adventure... i am planning to travel with Emma for the first two weeks, and then when she leaves i may come back near camp and head out with another international friend, Mel, and do a trek or something. The basic plan is to call on as many of the counsellors' colleges that i can...

tornadoes, skunks, dunkin donuts...

i have had another action-packed week with the Drivers (the one-week ranch campers). among lightning storms that literally rocked the cabin, tornado warnings (exciting) and scorching hot days, i have had an awesome time on our overnight camp at Sunset Point (on top of Thunder Mountain), went on my second hay ride in the carriage drawn by draft horse, and had an awesome home-cooked dinner with my host family (i had my first pumpkin pie hahahhah delicious!)

Last night was the overnight, which started off being cancelled due to the weather but was put back on againn when it stopped looking threatening. it took about an hour or two to start the fire but thanks to Becca, one of our counsellors-in-training, we finally got it going. I had the most awesome dinner (photo below: a mix of cut up potato, carrot, meat, bread, onions, seasoning and mayonaise) and lots of s'mores.

we also watched a very dramatic heat-lightning storm in the distance. brilliant orange lightning which was incredibly beautiful. 

Jodi and Allison also organised an awesome staff perk the other night and got some coordinators to mind our campers at about 9pm and we all went down to the dining hall lounge and just hung out with chips and dip and dunkin donuts. yes, had my first dunkin donut which was pretty good. i just went with chocolate but i think i will have to branch out even more at some point :D

starting a list of things to do/try/see whilst i'm in the US also so i'll update you with how i go as i go about it. one of my favourites/funniest things i've seen on my list so far is: "- seeing an obese cop waddling out of Dunkin Donuts with a box full of donuts and a large coffee..." so stereotypically american-movie-cop ha. i thought it was amusing, anyway.

i also finally bought myself some stamps and envelopes so if you live in the fair wide land of Aus. then you may be graced with the arrival of a letter from me (if i can write some).

grand theft auto

okay, so not really, but i did get to borrow Caitlin's car today and take my first drive in the states! very fun. surprisingly (for some of you) i did not 'do' a Grand Theft Auto driving experience... but was remarkably calm and followed all road rules.

we, err, did however have some err... something at the gas station. me and emma were standing there bewildered with the pump in our hands, trying to get the thing to work, trying not to look suspicious, and having the gas station attendant stare us down from the inside. eventually someone else pulled up and we asked them how to pump the gas and he kind of laughed and asked if we'd paid for it yet...

we obviously took for granted the fact that in Australia and the UK we get the petrol before paying, unlike paying then getting as it is in the states.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that i had a fun time driving on the right-side of the road and following slightly bizarre (to me) american traffic rules.

second session...

End of first session included watching our upper riders do a horse show for main camp, checking out an art show by main camp kids, and listening to a music show & drama performance. We also had a dance out on the basketball courts which was fun and a banquet where i accidently ate two bowls of ice cream (what?! It had strawberry and chocolate and sprinkles and oreos and everything!). Last was closing campfire and all of the girls and boys in my riding group were awarded their neckerchiefs. Was very proud haha.

We also had a secret ranch-only tradition that night when everyone got back. I brought out a box full of candy (some of which was the camper’s candy which was confiscated earlier in the session) and we had a sugarfest. In real terms, it was like feeding time at the zoo. They went crazy sugaring themselves up and then a pile of them decided to have a “sleep-over” in the centre room with Caitlin and myself. It was fun. And Caitlin was an awesome co-counsellor.

So first session is up, i’ve bid farewell to my campers and have just chilled out for 24 hours. Then session two arrives. I have moved from the Bucks cabin (the two-week program for like 11-12 yr olds) to the Clydes cabin which is the one-week program for about 9-10yr olds. I have a new co-counsellor too – Julie. She’s super awesome, particularly with the younger ones so it’s good. She’s from Watertown, CT, so is fairly close-by.

The Clydes are definitely quite a challenge... mainly because we have had some severe homesickness with a couple of the campers and because they are just that little bit younger and smaller that you have to do slightly more to help them. Staying up till 1am holding camper’s hands and patting them to sleep i sure don’t want to have to do too often.

After a day or two of being here the homesickness seems to have settled a bit and i am actually really proud of two campers in particular who were CERTAIN that they were going home straight away because they could not stay. They have pushed through their homesickness and actually come up and said “You know, it’s only 3 more days, I can get through this and i am actually having so much more fun now. Thanks.”

I am now teaching the Quarter Horses riding group too, which is the most beginner group in the one-week program. I can still take it nice and steady with my teaching, which i like, however some of the girls are only waist-high and so need lots of help tacking, etc. which i honestly cannot manage with my hands at the moment. In talking to my bosses they were super, super good and have set me up with 3-4 other counsellors/ junior staff at all times around horses and all so that i can just do nothing except use my voice.

My hands have actually been pretty good in general, but the stress of younger kids has made an immense difference. At least i only have the younger ones for another week and a half then i should be able to move back to older kids, which i seem to relate better to.

Being in the one-week program i also go on a different overnight camp, which is tomorrow night. We go up through the top horse pastures to near the top of the mountain where there is a campfire and some picnic benches, etc. Apparently it is amazingly beautiful, particularly at sunset.

This weekend on Saturday morning this group of kids go home and on Sunday at noon the new ones arrive so i will have almost 24 hours to be “on” but with no kids to be responsible for which will give my hands a break.

I have been half reading – half writing in a book my Uncle told me i should read, by Neale Walsch. He says, “Know that what you do in the time of your greatest trial can be your greatest triumph.”

So although this session is a little more of a challenge i am just taking it as it comes, and am actually really enjoying just mucking about with the kids. You kind of let everything go around them because to the kids, the more ridiculous you are, the more they like it.

my first 4th of July

woo my first 4th of July parade/celebrations! was pretty cool - we had a parade for it which was cool and we had a float for ranch - which was a carage pulled by Prince and Doc, the two percheron horses. We also had a competition to dance in villages in a choreographed fireworks dance.
They put fireworks on the field which we watched from on top of the hill and then we all ran down towards the waterfront where there was a boat filled with fireworks on the lake too. Very pretty.

Ranch Camp Float

Firworks boat

I also had a fairly eventful weekend. I was the only counsellor on for my cabin from saturday to monday which meant i had very very little time to do anything except be 100% focused on the kids for the whole time. That was fine of course but i had a few testing events... atleast i now know i can deal under stress pretty well. :)

The group of kids i have at the moment will only be here until saturday morning so i only have 4 more days with them. It should be fun; i have got to finish preparing my riding group to sit for their "neckerchiefs". There are about 7-8 different neckerchiefs, and they are basically tests on your riding ability etc.

UPDATE: campers arrived! now day 4 first session!

oh my goodness. The campers are here!!!

They arrived on sunday after lunch and since then it has been pretty FULL ON. I came into this not knowing at all what to expect - from the camp, the campers and myself - but let me tell you one thing: it. has. been. incredible.

Seriously, there are some of the most amazing kids here and i've only known them for four days! I am in the Buckskin (Bucks) cabin with Caitlin, who is my co-counsellor (and the best person i could ask for :P), and 13 campers, aged 11-12 yrs. I am also teaching a riding group called the Haflingers, which has six riders in it.

I have already taught 5 lessons so far, and am learning as i go along, but we seem to be progressing well and i'm really impressed with how they are going. Most of them have either never or only a couple of times been on a horse so it is the real fundamentals of riding which i am enjoying teaching.


I don't really know how to explain it, but being here is just the most amazing feeling... it's like being in the middle of the "real", natural world, surrounded by people and "little adults" who just plain want to enjoy life and have a good time. Although it is a lot of hard work, and even a little stressful at times, i am constantly staying energetic and positive in order to keep up with the kids, and it just makes for such a great experience. Although i often think of all my loved ones at home and do miss you all, i am not feeling homesick as i simply don't have enough time to think about being homesick!

So far this week we have had Opening Campfire on Sunday night where all the counsellors from different villages in camp  peform a skit from each village and sing songs (much fun).
On Monday night we had Ranch Campfire. This was amazing and involved walking on a solo 2-3km hike through the woods following lit torches and the sound of a distant "Ba-dah" drumbeat to get to the ranch fire site at the top of the mountain above the horse pastures.

We also had Spirit Fest on tuesday, which is basically a night of singing songs loudly and cheering for 2 hours with the entire camp... They also had all the international staff come up and all say the word "banana" in the different accents, one at a time, and whoever recieved the most cheering won. I am proud to say that my good ol' eloquent Aussie "banana" won, which was a huge confidence boost too. It was a crazy night!

Tonight is the Ranch Dance which all my campers were excitedly dressing up in tie-dye and bright socks to have an awesome night.

what else, what else...

first day welcoming party... Julie, Allison, Katie, Me, Caitlin L (Maverick), Sarah (maverick), Alana, Emma

My bed. :)

last day of freedom

Had a completely action-packed week thanks to the start of main-staff training at camp. I'll just give you a brief summary:

• swim tests
• Several "lost person" drills, searching the lake
• Opening campfire - we did a skit from Saturday Night Live, "What up with that?"
• training, training, training
• Chilli at Jodi's house (realllllllly delicious, with cornbread (a first for me) too!)
• Dessert cook-off over a fire - me and emma and aaron made 'no-bake cookies' which were YUM, plus had banana boats and a slightly, err, different pineapple upside-down cake
• The "really lost person" drill, running around camp looking for Hobbs, the tiger (who was moonlighting as our lost person)
• International banquet dinner - really delicious, but aparently a traditional Australian meal is Pork with coffee and port sauce? (maybe it is? maybe it isn't...?)
• Got  a host family! I'm sharing with emma and we have an awesome family who have worked/are working at camp jewell - the father is Australian! so refreshing to talk to another Aussie. :) They also got us a cool crate full of stuff to help entertain kids!
• Closing campfire - singing, war cries, skits, earnt myself a ranch neckerchief, hung out :)

Tomorrow the kids arrive! Feeling very excited, a little nervous, but looking forward to it. My next day off is Thursday (that's Friday to you... Aussies...) so i may not get a chance to email, blog, etc. until then. please still send me emails etc. though :)

Wish me luck!

rocking the suburbs

Hey all,

Just a quick update on my weekend.
Got back from road tripping to Moorestown, New Jersey (just oustide of Phillidelphia). me, emma, bryttany and katie drove for 3.5-5hrs down to stay at Katie's place, which is this gorgeous house in the middle of a very "american" looking suburb (apparently looks just like Wysteria Lane from Desperate Housewives, if anyone has seen that...).

 bryttany, emma, katie

katie's mum was sooooo nice, she has this real southern tennessee accent which was awesome to hear and she was so hospitable! she cooked a huge chicken and vegetable grill which was deeeelicious, and made us a traditional southerners breakfast too.

We did a lot of swimming in their pool and general mucking about. i finally got to get some new clothes too!

we drove through NYC too (which although isn't that big of a deal, it was pretty cool, cos it was like just there), through Bronx and saw the smog of Manhattan and NYC skyline.

awesome xx

overnight ranch staff camp

just got back from BobWrika (which i always thought was spelled "baaba wreequa" cos of the american accent) campsite where we had our overnight ranch camp. It's just across the border, about an hour-ish ride, in Massachusetts. was lots of fun though i was riding a horse called Rhubarb who just about killed my hands on the way home - wouldn't stop jogging!




The campsite was gorgeous (as everywhere here is) - a kinda cleared area of lush wild grasses among maples and acorns and raspberry brambles and wild strawberries. we slept under tarp. lucky it didn't rain too much ;)

we had a "hobo" dinner (which those who were politically correct called a "homeless" dinner...) which consisted of finely chopped tomatoes, onion, potato, carrot, meat and cheese mixed up and wrapped in alfoil. it was surprisingly delicious cooked on hot coals.

preparing dins... Jodie, Julie, Bryttany, Me, Katie

camp...

 

Nate calling on the fire spirits...

It was also Caitlin's birthday yesterday but she had to leave to go on some training trip which was annoying for us planning birthday stuff (and her i'm sure too haha). We got someone to drive her over to our camp though and we had a surprise birthday cake and everything which was all good. :)

also had my first s'mores (if that's how it's spelled?) which was awesome. Jodie (the s'mores pro) showed me how to make it - 2 roasted marshmallows sandwiched between a square of hersheys chocolate and 2 graham crackers. yummmmmmm.


Now... i'm basically waiting on an extremely late hoodie which was supposed to arrive about a week ago from Camp America cos i have very little clothing, let alone anything warm. i thought i overpacked but it seems i majorly underpacked...
We have tonight off which is awesome cos we'll go out to dinner. Pizza or something i think.

Happy days!

weeeeek two

getting my laundry done for the first time in 11 days! (phew, my jersey was smelling of camp smoke + rain + 10 days constant use = urgh....) But i did "Aussie Battler" it on for a while there.

i did my first session of instructing today! i was instructing complete "beginners" (i.e. the other counsellors etc. acting) which was hilarious but very good practise. i feel a lot more prepared for when kids arrive.

the walls surrounding my bed are covered in photos of the horses, cats, riding, my family and all the ones i brought with me. it's looking good!

sundayyyy

am now certified in Wilderness First Aid!

having an awesome typically-american-movie-style time here. driving around in expensive american cars listening to loud music and singing while squished up in the car together. had the night off and we went to Fuji Japanese teppanyaki restaurant. american japanese = nothing, compared to being in japan or even australia :P but still awesome.

it is Emma's (UK) birthday tomorrow so we had cake tonight which was yummm.

saturday 12th june

howdy!

I have officially been here just over a week. settling in nicely ;)

Had a most awesome day the other day. We got the day off from 12pm, so me, Katie (from Philidelphia), Caitlin (from Maryland) and Emma (UK) went to Avon to have lunch (yum) and then do some shopping. Caitlin got her hair cut which looks awesome, and we got me some new jeans (my old pair split when i lunged out!) and shorts. Just generally mucked around and sung to loud music in the car.

We had dinner at Allison's house (horse riding program counsellor) where i tried my first gulash! was good! Also! New experience- we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back. It's basically like a Cold Rock in Australia, but - get this - the smallest ice cream size you can get is BIGGER than the largest you can get at Cold Rock. So, 'cos i couldn't work out all the combinations (basically an infinity of them) i got Katie to order for me i got a "small" chocolate icecream oreos and brownie blizzard. Very delicious :D

The "precious" photo of me and Katie with Dairy Queen.

Seriously though we have the best group ever at ranch. It's really awesome. There's about 10 of us and it's cool cos we all work really well with each other and just bounce off each other. The Americans here have been so awesome and welcoming :) i love it.


Oh, and quickly, some other things to add to my list of funny drivethru things (i think we've had pharmacies so far): drive-thru bank, and drive-thru convenience store...


Yesterday i rode a 3yr old morgan X clydey (?) named Rodney who reminded me a bit of Jairrah. He was very sweet although completely green, really, and in love with this sweet little black horse called Mooney. Mooney is some sort of gaited horse breed - like a hackney or walking horse or something - so her paces are beautiful! I got to ride her cos Rodney got too handy (pulling on my hands) but Mooney was so gorgeous! First time riding a gaited horse.

We also practised vaulting on Speedy, a vaulting barrel, but i kind of collapsed onto and off it because i no way have the wrist strength to hold my body yet! (on the plus side, i am building up muscles excellently! it's really good work for the hands for the most part)

and lastly we visited the camp fire circle for some secret Ranch stuff i can't quite tell you about. Think of it as initiation *wink*

Anyway, i send my love to all and a special message to my Aunt who's birthday party is this weekend. I hope you have an absolutely wonderful time! Love elise

One week!

Wooo it's been one week since i left! Amazing.

We had the fortune of mucking out the top pastures yesterday for 3.5hrs! hahaha it may sound bad, but it's actually quite good work. I was in a team with Jodi (Coordinator), Allison (program councellor), and half of the other councellors - Katie, Aaron, Julie and Emma. We managed to completely clear about 7ish acres of manure - of which there was LOTS cos of 30 horses and no one had mucked since spring started.

I'm going to be taught how to drive the ATV too! woo :)

Past two days has been freeeeezing and it's currently 6am-ish and very foggy - i can't even see the lake. It's not too bad though i am managing with a skimpy hoodie and my school jersey until my Camp America hoodie turns up. Hopefully today too *crosses fingers*.

Just some general information about the area - Connecticut seems to be a state where many rich New Yorkers have a holiday home, so houses are massive white wood, so neat, beautiful gardens and clipped lawns. On the corner of the Camp Jewell property is a house that is on the national heritage list - and it's owned by the Bacardi family (as in, the founders of Bacardi Rum)!! Also, Meryl streep lives "somewhere" close by to camp too. How cool. Imagine if i saw her down in little Winsted or something hahaha!

So today because it's due to be rainy again, etc. we have been given from 12pm off today. That's exciting cos i think we're planning on going out to some city/town thing in Massachusets for dinner which will be fun.

We also have an overnight horse riding camp planned for some time next week which i am looking forward to. Apparently we cook our dins in the fire, then have lots of marshmallows, hersheys and graham crackers to make S'mores after. Our coordinator, Jodi, is luckily IN LOVE with candy and chocolate so we are well catered for. She is also super nice!

Anyway you'lll here more about that later. I'm off! MUCH love to all back home, and my dear little kit-kats.

E

another day

howdy howdy howdy.

yesterday morning when i came in to the dining hall to use the internet and blog/skype home, i noticed that the bins were tipped over and scattered everywhere. It didn't really register, and i heard thumping around in the seating/kitchen area and naturally assumed it was a cleaner or cook. turns out, five minutes after i left some other councellors came down, went into the seating area, and there stood a bear...

Lucky not to disturb a bear or unlucky not to realise he was even there? pretty crazy either way!

Also ranch camp is So Much Work! we are virtually working from 7am to 9pm each night, only stopping to eat. (i should totally be getting paid more!) and it's really tiring. and that will just about double once kids arrive.

Thank god we were given last night the evening off from 7pm, so we went to walmart (i don't know how wise this was... we just bought lots of chocolate, etc.)

I quite like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups though. quite delicious if as long as you don't eat too much.

Yesterday we also two riding sessions, 3 hours long each, and ONLY WALKING so my nerves in my legs were ACHING (thanks to my wonky hips) and so were my hands/elbows. I had to sit out the afternoon session of riding and i think i'll have to do that each day 'cos otherwise i won't be able to walk or use hands!!

Keep commenting and sending messages! It helps! Love e

Day four, five and six

I have now been ranch training since sunday. The horses are lovely, as are the councellors. Since moving in to Camp Hide-away i have been living in luxury (yay!) as it is all newly done, centrally heated (it's been quite cold recently) and has several common rooms between cabins.


Food has improved immensely, and is super delicious which makes me have to watch i don't eat too much! haha, no it's okay we do so much exercise in a day - getting very fit. I have recently discovered the joys of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches too. Never sounded awfully appealling to my back home, but is actually very delicious. Also a common is potato bread instead of white... never tried it.


We have beavers, bears, and wild turkeys here too! The turkeys were quite sweet to see wandering around, but i haven't seen bears or beavers yet.

I rode a chestnut quarter horse (like Kacey! - not as pretty though) yesterday named Josie. She was very sweet. We are just working on learning how to feed, muck out stables, and ride the American Camp way.

I climbed Death Mountain (actually, it's been renamed "Sunrise Mountain") yesterday - very pretty from the top, where there is a treehouse amongst the maple trees, which are everywhere. I also saw these wierd little gecko-like things that were brilliant fluro orange, with red spots, and walked as if they were severely mutated. Interesting.

I have now been drug tested too and was taken to town yesterday to look around.

I'll try keep you updated - love elise!

day four

Day three

Afternoon all,

Today was my second day at camp, with noticeable imrpovements. Firstly, breakfast was massive with waffles, fruit, yoghurt, sausages, cereal, porridge, donuts, danishes, muffins and hot tea and coffees. Possibly not the best menu for those who are unrestricted with how much they eat... but fruit and yoghurt and waffles were fine for me!

One of the other counsellors drove a small group of us to Torrington (near Burrville hahaha) to get drug tested and get our social security numbers. Torrington is a very sweet town and the houses here are just amazing - so neat with beautiful gardens and neat lawns and tall maple trees. Passed several Dairy Queen's, Wendy's, Burger King's, and a Friendly's, which is apparently a type of restaurant specializing in ice creams.

Also had my first visit to a Walmart. Um, well, what can i say? It is massive. And it is big on, well, being BIG and being cheap - I'm not just talking about the stock too, about 95% of the people are wider than their trolleys, which are stacked full of 3kg packs of plastic-wrapped sausage sticks, 5-for the price of -one Mac & Cheese's, and jumbo packets of chips which are literally twice the size of our largest packet, and only something ridiculous like $0.87.

Another thing are the radio stations... For those of you who have ever played Grand Theft Auto, then this was Exactly like that (i.e., completely ridiculous, a spamming of funny-sounding websites (babiesovernight.com) and funny ads going: *sweet-sounding lady* "Do you feel hungry?" *grumbling man voice* "Mmm" *lady voice* "Well, why don't you come on down to Friendly's..." or something like that. (you have to imagine them saying it in the American accent to get the full affect)

I also took a hike (only 10mins) over to Camp Hide-away, which is where the Ranch Camp is situated. I am lucky to be working there - it's stunning! It has several cabins and a dining hall which overlooks the lake, as well as a wooden stage area down by the water (which i found out is Lake Triangle).

Ranch camp training starts tomorrow - wish me luck - and particularly once i start working with the summer kids i won't have much time to blog, so i'll try fit what i can into now! Photos are mainly up on facebook, by the way, as it takes a while to upload photos here.

day two - arrive at camp

Hi All!

I have now arrived at Camp Jewell YMCA. Connecticut is absolutely gorgeous. Lush green pastures with purple wildflowers, tall, so so pretty forests of pine - my god it is nothing like Australia, it is just like in the movies, so beautiful.
There are also these sweet little white wood houses everywhere - again, just like you see in the movies - and red wooden barns on the side of the road tucked into small lush clearings between the forest. The roads are gentle and wind through tiny townships nestled on the banks of shallow rivers, which in turn are flanked by more wooded forests. It. Is. Just. Devine.

I was picked up at the Hartford airport by one of the Ranch camp coordinators and it was an easy hour drive to the camp. Situated on the side of a lake (of which i am yet to find out the name of) are little nestled clumps of wood cabins, a large stretch of cleared grass, basketball courts to the side, pockets of pines here and there, and on the lake itself, a 20ish meter prettily arched bridge across to Chapel Island - a tiny island that is lightly wooded and has an arc of benches (forgive me a moment i have forgotten the term for the long seats in churches) where i am presuming they may hold a chapel service.

Lunch was the epitome of healthy catering - hotdogs, chips, coleslaw, gherkins, baked beans and ketchup. My fingers are crossed about dinner - i have heard whisperings of spag bol.

Mainly though, what has put me in a better state, have been the other counsellors. I was really quite nervous, but they are all very friendly and apparently us 7 Ranch counsellors will become very close (also apparently Ranch Camp, situated on the other side of the lake, is called Ranch Hotel because compared to where we are staying at the moment, it is luxury- Nice!).

Most of them live around the area and most have been either coming to camp or working as a counsellor for 10 years! There are only a couple of us who are newbies, but thats okay, i am already feeling a lot better for being round them!



At the moment i am staying in a cabin called Argos just for the next couple of days before all us ranchers trot on over to our side of the lake for training. Praise be to whoever out there cares - i have wireless in the cabin, which means i can THANKFULLY keep in touch with my missing counterparts back in Aus.

Anyway, lack of sleep calls me forth to my pillow. I have the rest of today and tomorrow to do whatever i like, whenever i like (i can turn up for meals if i want or sleep the whole time or go where ever i want on camp) and so after a snooze i plan on going for a walk in the woods around the west side of the lake this afternoon before tea.

Much love, Elise

day two

04/06/2010
3.30am
Our western culture is so fixated on the fact that you must extricate yourself from your family.

• Moving out of home as soon as you start uni (isn’t this really a time when we want support from our family?).

• Being separate from them as soon as you finish high school. In fact, if you are not separate from them, then you are an oddity and people say, “well, she...is a bit of a recluse, has no friends, spends all her time with her family” as if it were the worst thing you could do or be.

• And travelling away from them, without them, and on your own.

I’m not saying it’s a particularly bad thing, it’s just something i observed. I mean, if you asked most people i think that you would find that family is the most important thing in their lives. So why do we go to such an extent to remove them from our lives, to be so far separate from them?
I say this particularly as though i think travelling alone is certainly “character building”, isn’t the real object of life to be happy? Because if i were truly honest, my happiness would obviously derive from my closeness to my family, my interactions with, and travelling alone – well it just plain makes me unhappy!
What i am saying is, i don’t think it’s a bad thing to travel with your family and the people you know. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to spend a lot of time with them. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to spend the rest of your life as close to them as possible – yet it seems that this is almost somewhat frowned on?
Who was that wise guy that once said “Happiness is only real when shared”?

Anyway, why am i up again only 4 hours since i last talked to you? ‘Cos i only got about 2 interrupted hours of sleep. I feel about 30 years older than i am. I have dark baggy eyes for the first time in my life. I am still running on empty, with a tumultuous gurgling tummy  to evidence my extended fast.
It’s quite funny actually, on noticing when i used the bathroom earlier that all the water in the sinks, basins and shower gently spinning down the plugs in the opposite way to what i am used to. Of course, i do know about this northern/southern hemisphere thing, but it just feels so profoundly... wrong to me. Of all the things, i think this is what has most concreted the fact that i am 17 hours away from home, over the other side of the world, in the USA , and nowhere near anywhere or anyone i  know. Funny, huh?

Later... On the plane to Hartford...
My first “American” meal with which i broke my fast this morning was a bagel and cream cheese. Pretty typically American I think. It was quite nice, however all the food i have seen, and, somewhat more importantly, smelled, has all been exactly the same. It’s like – no matter whether it’s a hot dog, chips, a hamburger, a salad or a “sandwich” (in quotation marks because they are actually more like twice the size of a sandwich) they all smell the same –  this kind of appealing-but-not-so-appealing, MSG-laden, fast food-type smell.

Makes one a bit cautious, i have to say.