So Many Happy Campers!

When we woke up this morning at camp (machaneh), the ground was wet with rain from the night. Luckily, the rain didn't start until long after each camper (chanich) was fast asleep. Because of the muddiness, we raised our flags inside of the Moadon (clubhouse) today. That didn't phase anyone, though, because there was just as much spirit (ruach) in our songs this morning as there is on every other morning. For breakfast, we had waffles, which everyone was excited for. Some of the waffles had toothpicks with Canadian flags on them, in honor of Canada's Independence Day today (we have one Canadian on our staff (tzevet), which is why we celebrated).

Two Bonot hug an Amel.

After breakfast, everyone went to their chores (avodot). Today, I filled in for someone who had to miss avoda, so I got the chance to work side by side with campers (chanichim) in the kitchen (mitbach), cleaning up after breakfast. Speaking of the mitbach, we passed our health inspection today because of how diligently everybody cleaned in there! The mitbach staff also spent hours and hours making every appliance cleaner than when we first bought them, which was really important to all of us here at machaneh.
After avoda ended, the chanichim cleaned up their areas for a little while, before beginning their daily age group activites (peulot). Today, the Amelim (post-third and fourth graders) talked about "building their own Judaism," which involved speaking about how different Jewish symbols and pieces of history mean more to certain individuals than others, so everyone views Judaism in a slightly different way. The Chotrim (post-fifth graders) were down at the pool again for instructional swim. Luckily, by this time in the day, the sun had come out and everything had warmed up immensely. The garden (gan) was put to good use today when the Sayarim (post-sixth graders) met there to discuss reducing their carbon footprint, as well as recycling and how it relates to Judaism. The Tzophim (post-seventh graders) had a very relaxing peula today.

Some happy Chotrim during lunch.

They met in the Moadon with their sleeping bags to watch a movie. The Bonim (post-eighth graders) met in the pavilion to talk about how they will handle kupa, which is all of the snacks that they get in the mail from family and friends. The Bogrim (post-ninth graders) arrived back to machaneh right in the middle of the peulot. They walked up the hill from the parking lot and immediately showered and tucked themselves into bed. I talked to some of them later on, and learned that they had a very sleepless and rainy hike (tiyul)- although it was still very very fun and an important relationship-building time. When the peulot came to an end, sports began! Everyone except the Bogrim went to their sport and had fun for a while before free swim. They didn't participate because they were sleeping off their tough tiyul. I didn't go down to the pool for free swim today because some Amelot asked if they could braid my hair and, lets face it, who isn't a sucker for those gals.
When free swim came to an end, everyone washed up and then headed down to Hyde Park for lunch. Hyde Park is an area of machaneh near the dining hall (charar ochel) that is shaded by trees. There are many benches there for people to sit and eat or talk. We had a barbecue for lunch today, which consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, and veggie burgers. There were also salad supplies out for people to have salads. When we have meals at Hyde Park, it allows for an even more casual atmosphere than when we eat at tables, because the chanichim can walk around or play on some of the structures we have in there, such as the treehouse, the gazebo, or the slide. Lunch soon transitioned into rest time (menucha). On a hot day like today, it was no surprise to me that many people chose to stay inside of their cabins (tzrifim), most likely lounging somewhere near a fan. By the end of menucha, though, right before it was time to go to electives (chugim), there was a much larger number of kids out and about. A notable activity that a specific chug ran today was in "Harry Potter Chug."

Sports and fun with tarps during chugim.

Today, the kids in this chug got to make their own wands out of chopsticks, with the held of hot glue guns and beads. the kids Glues spiral patterns of glue onto the wands, and covered the bottom in beads. Then, they painted over it all so the wand was one of two uniform colors, and it looked like the wands (chopsticks) had cool textures that weren't there before.
Now the chanichim are doing peulot again. Later, there will be a snack (kibud) which will not be apples today, but bananas! We will do shira, singing, as we lower the flags and go to dinner. After dinner, there is an evening activity (tochnit erev) which will be themed around "Avatar: The Last Airbender," which will definitely be loads of fun.
Thanks again, lila tov.