May 2007

Howdy,

How is everyone?

Well the internet outside my bedroom is now working so Brian and I can write more often plus add our pictures. I've already added pictures below relating to our previous entries but there are more photos in my photo album. (See authors and then select more photos on the right hand side.) Brian may be buying a camera of his own so for the moment we will be putting all the photos in my album.

It is currently 5:20pm Thursday and camp staff are still doing work around camp to prepare for the kids on Monday. Sandy has been away the last 2 days so I have had to stay in Med Lodge and help out kids there plus prepare for my MB classes next week. I've cleaned and re-arranged all the furniture there. I swear that place has not been cleaned for about 5 years. I filled 5 bags of rubbish that day and vacuumed about 3 times. Brian has been working out doors with the rest of the staff building tents and fixing up camp. He is currently covered in clay and water from pressure hosing the concrete.

If all the work around camp gets done today we all go white water rafting tomorrow. We won't find out until dinner tonight but I think we will be. If we do go I won't be taking my camera with me coz I don't want it to get wet or stolen. It's a shame I can't take it coz it's really pretty where we go and I'd like to show you all some of the stuff we get up to. I went rafting the other day in North Carolina and the water was freezing! I had to tell the kids to keep wiggling their toes coz it was as if we had our feet in ice for the 2 hours. Very cold water!!

This morning Brian and I woke up at 6am and went for a run around camp. We ran just over a mile (1.8km we think) and I actually ran the whole thing! I was very proud of myself but extremely buggered at the end. I will sleep very well tonight! Brian on the other hand seems to run it pretty easy.

I hate running but the food they feed us is sooooo fatty! Everything has either heaps of sugar on it or loads of extra fat. Burger King over here (our Hungry Jack's) has double and triple whoppers plus a burger called the 'stacker' which has 3 meat patties, 4 slices of cheese plus bacon on it. I think it's quite a popular meal to eat too.

We've been reading all your comments and emails so it's great to see you haven't forgotten about us already. Formation starts soon so I got to go to that so stay tuned. I'll also take photos of formation and the staff marching when all the troops arrive next week. Below are photos of camp taken around the lake.

Jess

Well our first glimpse of camp was at about 11pm that night. We didn't see much of camp as it was dark and we were pretty tired we slept as soon as we arrived.

Jess and I are in different cabins and they're not that close to each other. Jess is in the administration building and spent her first night alone. I am in the directors cabin and share with 5 other guys.

In the morning we got a good look at camp and it has changed alot since 1993! We overlook the lake and up at the mountains. I think Jess and I sat in rocking chairs on the porch for hours the first day we arrived. It's nice and relaxing to just sit and look at it all. (Jess now wants a rocking chair).

Everyone arrived on Sunday and we were introduced to over 100 staff members. Jess met Sandy (the medic and the lady she shares the room with) and had a big shock. Sandy is taller than me and well, wider as well.

I finally got to check out the golf course and was pretty happy with what I saw. I get to drive a golf cart too. Jess is teaching Athletics and space Exploration for her Merit Badge classes and then is the assistant medic at nights and all day wednesday.

Staff week is pretty hectic with setting up camp before the troops arrive next week. If all goes to plan we will go rafting on Friday. Jess went rafting on Monday as they needed an extra female to go with them, plus they thought it would be nice to get Jess away from Sandy.

A typical day during staff week sees Jess sleeping in until 6:30am and me waking up at 6am to go for a run around the lake as I have to get fit for band of brothers. Staff lines up for formation at 7am and we march down towards the dining hall and raise the flag before breakfast. After that we have program time where we sort out our class programs for when the troops come. Then we have lunch, then some hard work in some hot sun for our work projects which means setting up tents, picking up rubbish and so on. Jess gets to stay in the med lodge and do nothing. Then we line up for formation again at 5:30 and march down to the flags and have dinner at 6pm. We then get an hour of free time (kids play ultimate frisbee in this time) and relax around camp chatting to Mark and some others. Then it's more program time or safety and harrasment seminars. We finally get to go to bed at about 10:30 with lights out by 11pm. That is a normal day for staff week so we can't wait till the campers arrive and so I can play golf.

We are now going to the auditorium for a staff camp fire so one of us will write more soon.

Hope you're all having a good time.

Brian

After a night in LA and a 3 hour flight we arrived in Atlanta. Our plane was a little delayed and we ended up getting out of the airport at about 8:30 at night. The thing about Atlanta though is that they have day light saving and it doesn't get dark till about 9pm, so basically when we landed it was as if it was the afternoon. Not so great for our jet lag!

Mark and Jason (people from camp) picked us up and took us out for dinner at a place called TFI Friday's. It was really nice. Camp put us up in a really nice hotel for the night and it was in a nice safe area (a change from LA!)

Brian and I both had long hot showers which was nice but we found out the next day that Atlanta also has water restrictions. Whoops!

The next day we did some sight seeing and went into the city of Atlanta to see Centennial Park plus did a tour of CNN (which camp all paid for). We haven't yet had a chance to go to Six Flags, The Coca-Cola factory or the aquarium yet but hopefully we will be able to go to these on our weekends off.

Atlanta is actually a pretty nice city but apparently at night time that changes. It's nice to see some green grass and lots of trees in the city though.

We only got to stay in Atlanta one night as for some reason their plans changed and we got to camp early. On the way though we ate dinner at a place called Buffalo's which has really yummy food. There we met Daniel (another guy from camp) and we drove to Clayton from there.

This can only be a short coz we don't have much time left on the net.

Flight was good, we got in approx 5:30am Brisbane time which was 12:30pm LA time. Flight was good, we had a spare seat between us in our row of 3 so us 2 got to spread out over one extra seat which was better than nothing!

LA is unbelievable! We haven't done any sight seeing but the amount of houses you fly over to get to the airport is amazing. Nothing like landing in Brisbane at all. You pretty much fly over houses low, cross the freeway and there's the landing strip.

Tomorrow we fly to Atlanta and camp is putting us up in a hotel for 2 nights until they pick us up for camp which is pretty cool. We will have more of a chance to write and add pics then.

Gotta go! From Brian and Jess

P.S - Go the maroons! Heard QLD made you blues put your money where your mouth is!

Cya for now

We are currently sitting down eating breakfast at home, and leaving for the airport in about an hour. My mum keeps hasseling us whether we have everything packed and I am at the stage where if I haven't packed it now I really don't care! It's all packed, I know it is

I'm not excited yet but I will be when we reach the airport. Then we've got to wait 3 hours! We now have a stopover in New Zealand for 2 hours on the way, instead of just a re-fuel so today will be my first trip to NZ!

For those who don't know already, Brian and I are heading off to the USA to work at a Boyscout Summer Camp in Georgia. The camp is in Clayton - about 3 hours from Atlanta.

Brian will be a Group Leader who will take the kids for their Golf Merit Badge. So basically he gets to play Golf in the summer sun for about 8 weeks and get paid for it!

My position is not officially arranged yet but what I know so far is that I will be the assistant Medic to a lady called Sandy. Basically I will just be assisting her at night times, and taking over at Medlodge while she teaches some first aid/cpr courses during the day. The days that I am not assisting her I will be filling in positions for activities like rock climbing, COPES, archery etc and getting paid for it. The other important thing is that I get to wear scrubs while doing med duties

Then when Summer Camp finishes we will be flying back to LA and spending 9 days there. We'll be heading to Disneyland, California Adventure Land, Universal Studios, Knotts Berry Farm & Medievel Times plus heaps of other stuff!

Cheers

Jess

Pics I found on the net for Camp Rainey Mountain.