Camp Erdman: Arrival at Camp (Part 1 of 6)

** Please note that my camera is broken, so many of the pictures here were provided by my fellow classmates. Thank you! =)

I was excited to go to camp, but I tried not to think too much about it because I knew I'd start worrying about all the things that could go wrong. I started packing only two days before camp and barely managed to fit my belongings in the suitcase. My huge pillow took up the most space so I had to jump on it to flatten it. The next morning, I arrived a little before 8:00am in front of the cafeteria at school. We waited no later than 8:30am for everyone to show up. In the end, there were eighteen of us, nineteen including Ms. Nakamura. There were fifteen girls and three boys.


A shot taken during the bus ride. Pictures don't do justice.
The bus ride was inevitably long, but I didn't mind because I love riding on school buses as much as I hate riding on public city buses. Is that so weird? Perhaps it is because I only ride the school bus when there are field trips. I like to watch the scenery fly by the window. The busy city slowly changed into a forest of trees to endless plains, which stretched as far as the eye could see. I was amazed because I've never seen anything like it and it seemed to go on forever. Eventually the plain fields made way for an enormous field of sunflowers. I didn't know such a place existed in Hawaii. We also passed by a ranch (I saw horses!) before finally arriving at camp. I am a city girl so this was my first time traveling to the countryside. I didn't even realize this at the time, but YMCA Camp H.R. Erdman is located on the beautiful North Shore of Oahu. The camp fit in snugly between the Waianae Mountains and the pristine beaches of Mokuleia. Now I can say I've been to the other side!

We dropped our luggage off at a building labeled, "Crosson Hall” and headed over to an open courtyard area by the ocean. We sat in a circle with two camp staff members. The first to introduce himself was a haole (white) man. I didn't catch his full name (I think it was Lulizin) but he said it was too difficult to remember and say so we were to call him, “Luli". He asked us if we came to camp as a grade level or a class. We explained that we were a World History Honors class. They held surprised looks on their faces so I assume it is strange for a history class to go to camp. After all, why would a history class go to camp? We explained that we were here for drama training since we are going to perform a historical play. Intrigued, Luli told us how he did theater and dance back at home.

Luli also asked, "Why all girls? Where are the boys?"

We looked at each other for a while when Ally piped up, "Cause girls are smarter. This is an Honors class so there are more girls than boys."

Luli spoke with a European accent so I did not quite catch what country he was from. He mumbled the name of his country and Ha exclaimed, "Brussels?!"

He looked confused and repeated, "...Brussels?"
Julia asked, "Brussels as in Brussels sprouts?"
"Did you say Brussels???" Ha laughed.
"No, I'm from ******."

I was lost. I think everyone else was confused and the conversation eventually dropped. The other staff member cheerfully introduced herself as Chiemi “Chemmy” from Japan. Nice and simple. We played games such as the Mexican wave (Luli renamed it the Hawaiian wave because it's Hawaii) before going on our orientation around the camp. We split into two groups and I ended up in Luli's group. We got to see the sites and look at some of the stuff we might be doing later on. Despite it being a cloudy day and the expectations for rain (it didn't come), the ocean was a beautiful sight. We walked around and we started talking about the ghosts rumored to haunt the cabins at Camp Erdman. Luli reassured us that he never came across any ghosts throughout the time he stayed at camp.

"There are no ghosts, but there is something special about camp. Let me tell you, there is something magical..."

He continued to talk about this rock he came across. It was a special and magical rock with some connection to the old Hawaiian spirits.

"It's Hawaiian. I speak my old home country language mixed with some Hawaiian, but mostly Albanian and I speak in it and it moves! It never fails, this rock. Whenever I say something, the rock moves a little bit…slides an inch or so."

The famous rock soon came within our sight and everyone grew excited. He drew us into a circle and said we should step back to give the rock space to move. If we were in its way, it would smash our toes.

"Okay, I will say something to the rock, okay?" He whispered.

We huddled closely and listened intently to his instructions. After he speaks to the rock, we were to tap it twice together and step back.

"Okay, ready?"

"WAIT-- let me take a picture of the rock moving!" Ha said.

"No, no, no. The rock moves slowly and carefully. The camera will not catch that. Watch closely and carefully. You will notice a slight movement. Stand back."


Luli speaks to the rock.
He cupped his hands tightly on top of the rock and whispered some inconceivable words, presumably Albanian. When he finished, we hesitantly stepped forward and tapped twice. We jumped back, watched, and waited. Nothing. I searched Luli's face, but it revealed nothing. He started to walk away while taking a sip from his water bottle. We stayed, still watching the rock closely. We were all concentrating on any possible movement that it might make, no matter how small.

Suddenly, Luli turned around and said, "Guys, guys! It's a joke, alright? I did not think you guys would believe me. Now come."

We are such fools. Gosh, I can't believe he managed to trick us into believing something so unbelievable! The story sounded fishy to me, but I think what made everyone listen was because he spoke so seriously. He held a solemn face and spoke with a hushed tone. As I write this, I remembered how he mentioned doing theater work back at home. He is such an actor. I guess a good actor can fool people into believing anything, no matter how ridiculous it may be. I knew some girls were pissed off for having been deceived, but I didn't feel angry. I started laughing.

"I did not think you would believe me. I say to the little ones who come here." He points toward the ocean. "I say the Godzilla come here from there and they believe. They wait for him to come." He pointed further away to something in front of us, nestled between trees.

"There is actually a huge spider here at Camp Erdman. It created this huuuge cobweb. It is the biggest cobweb in the world. It is really big!"

Again, he had me taken in by his talking and almost managed to trick me a second time. The other girls didn't let their guard down this time and called him a liar so I snapped out of it.


The branches on the tree in the back left are fake.
After a while, he brought us to our cabins located across the road. The little cabins were painted yellow and looked incredibly cute. We stopped by some trees and Luli reached up to grab a handful of leaves that were hanging loosely on the branches. He explained that these were fake and put there by the “Lost” crew to make the bare trees look “prettier” for the set. Of course, he already lost most of the girls' trust (please excuse the pun!) so nobody could tell if he was lying again. Luli insisted that this time he was telling the truth.

"I'm serious. When I lie, I have to tell the truth five minutes after that. Just ask those men. Go ahead. Ask."


Our pretty little cabins (and where they filmed 'Lost'.

He pointed to a bunch of workers busy with building a small fence. Ha made a bet with him that he was lying. The loser had to run from the cabins to the Odyssey III and back. (However, this did not happen because we were in a hurry to leave in the end.) We later found out that they ARE from "Lost"! The cabins that we were to stay in were part of a set the television series had once used. Now that's cool! =)

To to be continued...


The picture above features popular actor Tamasaburo. He is highly popular with the ladies. :O