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!