Rubber Duckie, You're the One :-)

'Bout time eh?

Last week, I got to go into the "Field" with my girls and paddle down the Tuckasegee River in inflatable kayaks (aka Duckies)! I had loads of fun in my duckie! But, the some of the girls were a bit challenging and it was difficult to keep them positive throughout the day. 3 out of 6 of my girls fell out of their duckies and floated through rapids...and some of them weren't so keen about it. I, however, had a good time :-)

We camped out that evening at a beautiful group campsite. A few of the girls had never been camping before! So, it was fun to teach them how to set up a tent and what not.

The next morning, we set out to the Nanahalen River to go whitewater rafting! We paddled through the morning fog - it was absolutely stunning. The rapids were exciting - Class I and II only. By the time we were done, the girls (and myself including) were pooped out. Two days in the sun and on the water can really tire you out!

I had Friday night off and all of Saturday too which was MUCH needed for mental recovery purposes. I spent the evening at a fun bar with live music along with a good group of camp staff. Definitely nice to get off base a chill for a while.

Saturday was quite a day of randomness. My highlight of the day was definitely buying a beautiful, dark brown acoustic/electric guitar! I am determined to learn how to play while I am here for the summer. There are a few other staff who play and bought their guitars along to camp, so I definitely have some good teachers and people to jam with. Very exciting!

Other random things of the day included attending a graduation party for the brother of one of our guys on staff. But, we ended up having just the best time! His family was great and made some AMAZING food which we stuffed ourselves to the brim with. Also, we went to this natuarl attraction in the Pisgah Forest called "Sliding Rock." It's really cool because the rock is really smooth and it's like a natural water slide! Unfortunately, we didn't have our swimsuits, and there was a group of about 50 young girls from another camp there. So, we decided not to slide. HOWEVER - they crazy thing that happened was: While we were watching the kids slide, a guy walked up behind us, not more than 10 feet away with a LIVE rattlesnake in his hands!! He was pretty shaken up and out of breath. Turns out the snake was just on the paved path. So the guy grabbed it (I have no idea how...) and was freaking out because he didn't know where to put it! I'm just thinking, "Put it very very very far away from me. Thanks." He ended up chucking it into the woods a ways away and then bolting in the other direction. Yikes! We left soon after...

On Sunday, I moved to a new cabin and am now the happy counselor for 7 girls ages 15-16. They are soooo much fun and really excited about being at camp. Very motivated, positive, and silly :-) They crack me up. And they like Disney music! When I found that out, I knew we were going to get along just fine.

Our cabin is a bit more rustic than my first one. We have a pet toad that lives in our shower who we dubbed "Peeping Todo." We also have a ZILLION ants on our sidewalk. So much so that it looks like the sidewalk is moving. But, we get by :-)

I worked on base with the kids on Monday, office on Tuesday, and off yesterday! Yesterday was a super chill day. I spent the morning on base playing guitar and catching up on a few things. Then I decided to explore the Pisgah forest during the afternoon! Ended up hiking 7 miles through the forest. It was excellent! Got up to the top of Mt. Pisgah and saw a sweet view. Definitely an afternoon well spent!

I'll do my best to post some pictures...but the internet is so slow here...I'll attempt it - sometime!

Dinner circle time! Ciao :-)

Lightening Drill

Hi everyone!

Because of a likely turn of events (lightening and thunder in the Blue Ridge Mts), I am stuck in the administration house. During lightening drill, everyone must be under a roof, or, if out in the field camping/hiking, we need to pull out our lightening mats ASAP and spread out 15 ft apart from each other. Exciting stuff! :-) Thus, I'm chilling in the admin house.

**Up above is a photo of our staff at camp!! Jazz Hands!**

Haven't had much of a chance to update the blog lately. But, last week was our final days of what we liked to call "Counselor Camp!" As a staff, we went into the field and hiked for two days and spent one overnight in the field. We slept under tarps and set up camp just like home :-) Haha, it was a great time! On our second day, we hiked 5.5 miles with our packs and everything. The most exciting parts for me during the hike was having to tromp through 8 or so streams - some of which were flowing pretty good! At some points, we were in water up to our thighs. Our dry hiking boots turned into "Water Balloon" boots. My group deemed ourselves "Team Sock Juice!" Definitely a highlight of the week!

Yesterday our campers finally arrived! We greeted 34 campers for this week. By the end of the summer we will have had just around 100 campers come through. Hot diggity!

My co-counselors and I are in charge of 7 girls ages 16-18. Being that it is only the first full day of camp, the girls are still a bit nervous about being here. Most are signed up to stay 6-8 weeks. Should be interesting to see how the group dynamics unfold!

I am scheduled to work 3 days in the office this week from 9-6. I am kept super busy running mini errands around camp and uploading photos to the Parent Website so parents can check in on how their kids are doing. Tomorrow and Saturday are my days of this week. BUT, Thursday and Friday I am going whitewater rafting and riding the duckies with my cabin girls!! So very excited for that :-) We will camp out Thursday night and also do a bit of hiking too. Awesomeness.

By the way - This is kind of a neat thing going on at camp right now. There is a girl here from England who has been at the school since September of last year and has lost over 200lbs! Last week, PEOPLE Magazine was here to interview her and take some pictures of camp. ANNNNND, she may be on the cover of PEOPLE this Thursday!! She will also be interview on "Good Morning America" on Thursday morning!! So, tune in to that if you can! Also, she is staying my cabin till tomorrow morning when she leaves for New York. She is such a sweet girl. She is off to the camp in England for the summer and then will return to NC in August to attend the academy again in the fall.

Hope all is well! I think lightening drill is just about over....sky's clearing up anyhow :-)

Made it!

Hi Y'all!



(I am totally going to be y'alling it up by the end of the summer *grin*)



So! I arrived in North Carolina on Saturday after a 18 hour drive with Dad. Dad was WONDERFUL and did all the driving! Thanks Pops!



North Caroline is beautiful. The forests are lush and green - I mean, GREEN green. It's awesome! Thank goodness for my new rain gear - it's rained everyday I've been here! And it's so funny because it will rain even when the sun is out. There is no predicting the rain showers here :-)



Thus far, camp has been mostly meeting and hanging out with other staff (who are all very cool by the way). We did CPR training on Sunday and Life Guard training on Monday and Tuesday. So I can now save all your lives. Or try to anyway... *wink*



I have already gone on a couple hikes in the Pisgah National Forest, which surrounds the base camp. We are located right in a valley and all around us are mountains covered in greenness. Between the mountains is the fog which settles into the creveses. It is stunning.



You pretty much always feel damp here. If its not raining the humidity is intense! On Monday the humidity was 95%. Last night, it downpoured and I awoke to a mini stream outside of my cabin. Yay for flipflops!



Today is our first day off before staff training begins tomorrow. Went for a run this morning along the windy highway that bends up the mountain. It was only slightly sprinkling when I set out but the rain started coming down pretty hard towards the end. But I like running in the rain!



Kids arrive on June 7th. All the new staff has already heard "horror" stories about the kind of trouble the kids get into when they first arrive. Many have behavior issues or are just not happy about being at camp for the summer. So, we shall see what kind of fun things go down when campers arrive...



There is a group of kids here now that attend the school. This is a program for middle and high schoolers so they can attend classes but also follow the program as well. These kids have lost anywhere from 200-50 lbs! It's pretty amazing. I've been able to chat with a couple of them and it's really interesting to find out there perspective on the camp. There is even a girl with the same name as me. And she even pronounces it the same way I do! We talked about how people always pronounce our name wrong - it was fun to connect with her that way.



Well, me and a few of the other lady staffers are heading down to the town of Waynesville for lunch and to check out the shops. Should be fun!



Catch y'all later!

Black Caps and Yellow Tassels

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity! Goodbyes & celebrations, packing, UNpacking, REpacking... Phew! It's been a mix of uber excitement and a bit of nervousness for what's to come!

I finished my VERY LAST FINAL a week ago Tuesday! WAHOOOOO! On Wednesday, Bart, my roommate for the past two years, and I hosted a fantastic potluck at the Ellis house. There was banana/sweet potato sushi, red curry tofu stirfry, homemade pepperoni pizza, and s'more pie! The downpour of rain didn't damper spirits at all. The instruments were brought out once everyone's bellies were full and a jam session commenced :-) I even attempted to play 'Horse with No Name' on the guitar, and I've definitely got some work to do....

Thursday I went on a super bikeride with my good friends Bart, Katrina, and Thew. The wind was a beast, but we pedaled on through! More goodbyes were said throughout the finals days of my time in Point - definitely a bittersweet time to be leaving a city that was my home for 4 years. I met so many wonderful people and made some amazing friends.

Along with goodbyes was the daunting task of packing up EVERYTHING I owned in my house. Lucky for me, Mom, Dad, Cate, and Aunt Carol came on Saturday morning to help me load everything into the trailor. One person can really accumulate a lot of stuff! Sheesh...time to downsize my personal belongings I think...

As Winnie the Pooh would say, Saturday was a blustery day. The UW-Stevens Point Commencement Ceremony was held outside at 2:00pm in the afternoon. The set-up was lovely with the multi-colored flags lined up behind the stage, but the wind and cool temperature made for a very chilly ceremony! More than a few caps were blown off throughout the course of the day. But, despite all that, the ceremony was beautifully done. I was honored as Summa Cum Laude for the Class of 2009 and walked the stage to shake hands with the Chancellor and receive my diploma! Yippy!! :-D

And, for those who would like to see a few more pictures from the events of the day, go to -

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=ilfnc2a.clh5dt0e&x=0&y=anuycx&localeid=en_US

After the ceremony it was time to warm up with mexican food at El Mezcal. My dear professor, Doc Munson, his wife Barb, and my friend Katrina joined us to celebrate! The graduation celebrations continued into the wee hours of the morning, so that by the time I actually went to bed, the birds were chirping and the sun was coming up. *grin*

Now, I am in the midst of unpacking, organizing (meaning, trying to find a spare place for all my STUFF), and repacking. On Friday, my dad and I will start the 15+ hour drive down to camp in North Carolina!! I can't wait to begin - bring on the summer!!

Cheers!

Anna

Welcome to my blog!

Hello all :-)

Thanks for checking out my blog! I am hoping to use this blog to update everyone who is interested in finding out what I've been up to and what new things I discover in the land of North Carolina!

Disclaimer: I will be working 6 days a week with very little "off" time, so if I run into difficulties updating my blog on a regular basis, I sincerely apologize.

Emails, comments, or phone calls are ALWAYS appreciated :-D

Cheers!
Anna