been a long time

I've been at summer camp. It a good place set in New York's Catskill Mountains, about 2 hours from The City. I'm a counselor/specialist, which means I have a number of kids I live with and look out for, and during the day I teach at the camp. Six 55-minute periods per day. I work five out of six, and have the other one off. Most of the rest of the day's time is spent with my kids in the bunk, playing sports/activities, or in the dining hall. Two nights a week I'm on duty from 9:30-12:30, the other 5 I'm free to do what I please (until the 12:30 curfew.)

I am the Computers specialist, which takes a little of the summer out of summer camp. I'm inside the new (but unfinished) air-conditioned building at camp most of the day; my five periods of work, plus my two on-duty nights, and more. I've pulled a few half-nighters here in the lab; there's so much to set up (apparently curfew doesn't apply if you're working for the camp's benefit...) My job has been frustrating as I'm a counselor, a teacher, and the camp's IT guy. I've had to set up and configure all of the computers and the network, which includes moving the machines into the new building, which still has no flooring, temporary tables, and constant hammering noises from the builders upstairs/in the next room. There is another guy, Alan, working with me in teaching computers, and he is a graphics wiz -- so that helps with teaching the kids, but not with any of the IT stuff... Alan and I moved the computers into the lab the day before camp began, and had to begin teaching the following day. Each period and free time if the computers aren't being used by the campers, the counselors are using them to email, so installing and configuring the machines is quite a difficulty. Which means we don't have adequate tools for the kids to work with. Not that they want to do anything but games and internet anyway. But, to end my bitching, things are steadily coming together; the lab is finally beginning to be quite useful and usable, and we're slowly learning to turn the kids on to things they can do with the computers.

I arrived on the 14th to begin work here. After a terrific at home bbq the night before with my friends, I had a pretty terrible next day. Packing bags with a slight hangover, driving four hours, missing a deer and hitting a guardrail instead, then driving a camp kitchen staff member home and getting lost on the way back really blew my day. Being in an unknown place with unknown people is enough to make life difficult.

Campers didn't come until June 22nd. I arrived early because I'll be leaving early. I felt quite like a stranger in my own country during pre-camp. Of the 80 (guess) or so counselors at pre-camp, there were 4 Americans. The rest were mostly Aussies and Kiwis, and even since the rest of the Americans arrived, the Pacific islanders still make up the majority. I had not expected this, but it's been a terrific experience. I dreaded and now almost regret the day the Americans showed up. Pre-camp was fantastic, though; it was as if we were at our own summer camp. We worked 9-5 during the day, then had the night to do as we pleased. It wasn't until the campers arrived that I realized how nice we had it. Once the little buggers showed up, we were rudely awakened to the fact that we had been living for ourselves, and everything was about to change.