Yo,
I'm in a coffee shop in Minnesota and planning the next phase of the adventure.
To recap where I've been and what I've done since the last time I was writing in this blog, I returned to college and finished it. Graduated with a degree in Spanish I don't really care for, from an institution that I'm not really sure was right fore. Playground's where I spend most of my days, chillin out max, relaxin' all cool and wondering what on earth I need to be doing with my life now that I'm at the end the to-do list I received at the beginning of my education.
I forestalled existential crisis by signing up to work at a summer camp to teach Spanish while I was still at school. I went pretty much directly from college to summer camp and found things to hilariously the same and others to be frighteningly reminiscent of my own camping experiences.
Before my eyes played out the familiar drama of adolescence, far-removed in time but not in memory. It was strange to see creatures who seemed to be going through the same time that produced my identity but were so vastly different than I was at that age. Whereas I was interested in abstruse humor and being weird in a manageable way, these kids had no trouble fitting in, only trouble understanding anything in the world around them. In short, they were dumbasses.
But I didn't realize that at the time, I just saw them as different, it wasn't until weeks later when one camper crossed the eerie line between aldeano and staff that I realized that these characters were familiar players from my high school stage, they were just the ones that paid me no attention. Now they just thought I was the shit cause I was six years older then them. That was fine for me. I gave them a house cheer that featured manliness and a 300 reference. Fair.
Second session was a bunch of middle-schoolers severely affected by ADD. This experience was trying beyond comparison. Every minute I was telling them to shut up during announcements, to quit eating with their hands, quit hitting each other, don't call the kid that talks funny Urkle. In all-too-common moments of meditation and evaluation of those mystical things called goals and growth, I would comment privately that my greatest achievement and camp was not ending the irritating existence of one of my campers.
Through a certain turn of events I turned to push-ups and other isometric exercise to keep them in line. This was a great turning point for the experience. During this exercise regime (haha)they started listening to the things I told them the first time and if they ever hesitated to participate in an activity, I or another counselor would just give them a little push-up gesture to jog their little memories.
I'm in a coffee shop in Minnesota and planning the next phase of the adventure.
To recap where I've been and what I've done since the last time I was writing in this blog, I returned to college and finished it. Graduated with a degree in Spanish I don't really care for, from an institution that I'm not really sure was right fore. Playground's where I spend most of my days, chillin out max, relaxin' all cool and wondering what on earth I need to be doing with my life now that I'm at the end the to-do list I received at the beginning of my education.
I forestalled existential crisis by signing up to work at a summer camp to teach Spanish while I was still at school. I went pretty much directly from college to summer camp and found things to hilariously the same and others to be frighteningly reminiscent of my own camping experiences.
Before my eyes played out the familiar drama of adolescence, far-removed in time but not in memory. It was strange to see creatures who seemed to be going through the same time that produced my identity but were so vastly different than I was at that age. Whereas I was interested in abstruse humor and being weird in a manageable way, these kids had no trouble fitting in, only trouble understanding anything in the world around them. In short, they were dumbasses.
But I didn't realize that at the time, I just saw them as different, it wasn't until weeks later when one camper crossed the eerie line between aldeano and staff that I realized that these characters were familiar players from my high school stage, they were just the ones that paid me no attention. Now they just thought I was the shit cause I was six years older then them. That was fine for me. I gave them a house cheer that featured manliness and a 300 reference. Fair.
Second session was a bunch of middle-schoolers severely affected by ADD. This experience was trying beyond comparison. Every minute I was telling them to shut up during announcements, to quit eating with their hands, quit hitting each other, don't call the kid that talks funny Urkle. In all-too-common moments of meditation and evaluation of those mystical things called goals and growth, I would comment privately that my greatest achievement and camp was not ending the irritating existence of one of my campers.
Through a certain turn of events I turned to push-ups and other isometric exercise to keep them in line. This was a great turning point for the experience. During this exercise regime (haha)they started listening to the things I told them the first time and if they ever hesitated to participate in an activity, I or another counselor would just give them a little push-up gesture to jog their little memories.
Comments
you resorted to work to keep your campers in line :-)
you will make an excellent teacher, or dad, someday.
I'm only saying that because I'm hundreds of miles away from you and therefore relatively safe :-)