It’s about time that I say something.
I’m going to try not to say far too much in one blog post. Again. Because I haven’t been successful at that so far.
Some of you may know that I just had an English camp this past weekend. As intense a process as it was, I think that I can discuss it fairly briefly (…or maybe not).
I believe that most of you who are reading this have participated in a summer camp in some fashion. Perhaps you were a camper once. If not, maybe you were a counselor. Maybe you were part of some camp crew or donated supplies to a camp. Maybe you’ve just been that lucky someone to drop someone off at camp. I don’t know, but you can draw from any of those experiences to know a little bit of what I was involved in this past week.
Five other ETAs and I put on an English camp for students from four of our schools. This meant doing everything from providing proposals at each of our separate schools, calculating budgets, arranging chaperones, buying supplies, choosing students and getting them to actually turn in permission slips, making a schedule and inventing activities, coming up with back-up plans, ensuring that students would be fed and have places to sleep. I definitely drew on all my previous experiences as a camper and crew person. This past weekend, however, would not have been such a tremendous success if even one of us hadn’t been there for the others to rely on.
So even though I had different teachers end up driving my students even up to hours before we left for camp, us six ETAs and about eighty students along with roughly twenty chaperones/teachers/assistants stayed in the recreational area of Gunung Senyum this past weekend to give some English students a confidence boost and introduce them to a certain extent as to what “camp” means to people from the U.S. as oppose to the generic term for “camp” in Malaysia.
You see, I think many of us have come to discover that camps are necessarily as fun in Malaysia. There is an idea of fun, but at the same time, there also seems to be a lot of work in camps in Malaysia rather than fun activities. For example, when I was developing a packing list to give to my students, my teacher was surprised that I didn’t think they would need a notebook. He asked me what exactly they were going to be doing that wouldn’t require a notebook. Seriously? For Three days and two nights, you think that every activity they do is going to demand the use of a notebook? Goodness. In addition, camps and just about every other event where there are people gathered means that there are likely to be “important” people giving speeches because they can and people have to listen.
Suffice to say, our camp was not like that.
My fellow ETA, Owen, accompanied me up from Maran and my students in a happy little caravan of cars. We were in the tiny, cheap car driving up supplies and my campers’ bags.
My school arrived first at the camping area to discover what the accommodations would be like and so on. At first, I was really nervous and not doing very well at knowing how to fill time when we were waiting. It was a skill I have since worked on. You may not have realized it, but there are lots of little filler moments at camp where you need to keep students entertained so they don’t become…destructive or wander off.
Frisbees! I introduced more students to throwing frisbees which was exciting. Now, I think my students are more eager to learn ultimate (which I will actually have time for nearing the end of June when choral speaking will end).
The first night of camp was…awkward. Students were getting settled and definitely keeping to themselves between the various schools. We, the ETAs, were all just trying to sort things out for ourselves. We had made schedules and even discussed it more or less, but there was an abundance of little details that needed attention, but only after we dealt with the students.
Over the course of the evening, we made them get to know each other. We played human bingo, sang songs, and mixed them into teams for the weekend so they had to start getting acquainted with one another. It almost seemed like a bad idea at the time with how stand-offish everyone was. By the end of the weekend though, I think we all felt a bit brilliant for having divided them as we did.
As leaders of the camp, you are always the last to sleep and the first to wake up (more or less). The lights were already out in the girls’ dorm (where I slept) when I walked in. Kristina, Davina, Owen, Quentin, Blake, and I had been discussing plans for tomorrow and had finally called it quits because all the power for the lights switch off automatically at midnight.
The girls’ dorm was…not like any sort of camp I’ve been to. There were no beds only raised wooden platforms which sat on cinder blocks. Then you just lie on any mat or blanket that you’ve brought with you. So for two nights, I was sleeping on a yoga mat with just a sheet covering me, and since there were so many girls in the dorm, I was just sleeping shoulder to shoulder with two of my girls. When I needed to shift in the middle of the night, I had to be very thoughtful so as not to bump into them as I turned over. Just part of the experience though.
It was also an experience to wake up so gosh darn early to…not pray. The girls all wake up around 5:30am to begin preparations for the morning prayer. Of course, if they’re on their period they don’t HAVE to wake up, but most of them are lucid more or less. I was awake and unhappy. It had started raining when we went to sleep last night and it had rained all the way through. Not to mention, it was still going strong. Time for a plan B.
Fortunately for us, we had planned a section of mellow activities in the afternoon since we had planned to have more strenuous activities in the morning. We just flipped the order and hoped for the best.
Over the course of the weekend, we sang so many songs with the students. I can’t really say how much all the students enjoyed all the songs, but some certainly did. We taught them classics like “Boom Chicka Boom,” the “Hokey Pokey,” the “Boog-aloo,” and “Peel Banana.” Some songs were more successful than others, but we really tried to make camp memorable with our constant enthusiasm (and we were successful in that regard).
It’s interesting to plan a camp around countless prayers and numerous eating times, but we did it.
Saturday was a long day of activities with lots of running around to facilitate that things actually happened. We had to cut corners here and there (definitely not for the best), but it was the best possibility for us thanks to inclement weather and the filth which attacked the very clean Malays. They like to take lots of baths. I, on the other hand, did not shower from Thursday night until my return home on Sunday night.
But what else do you want to know about the camp? We had team competitions, more songs, and even a hike. The camp was beautiful but definitely demanding a coating of bug spray if you wanted to keep the mosquitoes away. Oh! I played soccer (football) for the first time. I, essentially, made a fool of myself, but feel like I accomplished something since I headed the ball twice.
Sunday, we had a scavenger hunt that we invented for the kids along with closing ceremonies where we awarded all the students with various prizes and souvenirs for their participation. In the end, what was left was merely to pack up and go home. That’s English camp!
Okay, I admit that I’m missing an abundance of details, but most people, I feel, wouldn’t be interested in all of those thoughts. All in all, the camp was a good experience for everyone. I learned a lot about coordinating and arranging a camp and how to make it even more successful as I look out for ideas on new activities.
This week, so far, the students who attended the camp have been talking about the camp a lot. They already want me to do another one. Little do they know that I probably can’t take them on another camp just to be fair to the other students. Nevertheless, I hope that they learned or used more English or developed greater confidence in the language. I’m not sure, but they certainly liked camp.
So this is basically yet another week during which I am sleep deprived. I think it may just be a constant state for me in Malaysia. I’d rather have that than…other things.
And that, as they say, is that. It may be brief, but what more do you want to know? I hope to write again soon.
Shout out to my dad! HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY!
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