Camp Erdman: Conquering Your Fears (Part 4 of 6)

Continued from the previous post...

After lunch, we did two hours of drama training with Amy. Then it was rock climbing and the Confidence Pole. The Confidence Pole is exactly what the name suggests: a tall lean pole that one climbs up to test one's confidence. Once one has reached the top, one has to stand (way scarier than it sounds because it is very high up) on top of the pole and then jump to get a bandana that hangs about two feet away. The challenge is definitely many times harder than I made it sound here. Erica and I agreed that this was actually the scariest challenge - more so than the Odyssey. During the Odyssey, we weren't alone and there were people there giving us help and support. On the Confidence Pole, you were on your own. Of course, I chose to do some rock climbing because it was on my list of "100 Things to Do before I Die" and I've always wanted to try it. (However, I never imagined the chance coming so soon as I didn't know where you could get the chance to go rock climbing in Hawaii. Now I know: camp!)


Rock climbing!
Is it a coincidence that Luli just happened to be the instructor for rock climbing?! There are other YMCA camp instructors, but I always end up in his group somehow. He keeps showing up doing all kinds of crazy stuff. Perhaps he really is the superman he claims to be. *laughs*

Janelle went rock climbing first and really struggled. This worried me because Janelle was a lot stronger than me so if it was difficult for her, I would die up there. She later told me that it was mostly her nails getting in the way. Rachel went next and watching her made it look so easy! I couldn't stand waiting any longer so I was the third person to try it.

I thought it was easy, but it was harder than I imagined it to be. I didn't think too much about strength because I assumed all you needed to do was grab onto these tiny rocks and reach the top. Of course, it wasn't so simple. (Why am I such a simple minded person?) Before I went on, Luli stopped me and pulled the harness tighter on me. I guess he was scared that it was loose but I felt it was secure enough. I was really embarrassed when I first started because I couldn't even lift myself up on the rocks. No one else had trouble getting themselves up. I knew I was weak, but I didn't realize I was this weak. If I couldn't even get on the wall, how could I expect myself to climb up? I had to take off one of the rocks on the side and put it on the way bottom so I could step up. Watching others gave me time to think up a strategy. I planned to follow the rocks in a certain way (go zigzag) but it was harder than I thought and I couldn't do it the way I planned. Many times I got stuck, not knowing where to go. When I was halfway up, I really got stuck. I had no rocks I could reach. I couldn't climb any higher. I knew I was testing everyone's patience because I was extremely slow. I also knew everyone was watching me down below and this made me feel really bad. I didn't want Luli to help me, but I wasn't going any forward, so he gave me some instructions on where to go. When I was really stuck, he told me to go for a rock that I could barely reach. Everyone told me to just go for it and that it was okay if I fell. I jumped but slipped. That was when I felt like I cheated again. I could feel Luli pulling me up and I eventually grabbed the rock.


I'm almost there!
Afterward, I slowly climbed my way up and reached the top. When I came down, he patted me and said, "Good girl." =.=; After I took the harness off, I felt like I was still wearing it since he pulled it so tight around me. I walked around feeling like I had a wedgy. Cam went after me. I hate him. He reached the top quickly because of his height. Ms. Nagareda was also pretty cool. Juri was the most impressive. She was the fastest girl to reach the top.

After rock climbing, I felt really tired. I was glad to have an excuse to not try the Confidence Pole. I actually don't regret it, either - that challenge doesn't really interest me after going up on the Odyssey III. Erica, Jenni, and Misaki did not go on either one because they were all dead tired.

After the activities, we had some free time to do whatever we wanted. If we chose to, we could stay in our cabins and sleep or rest. We could go swimming or do some archery. I ate an orange and went out to the camp store to buy a postcard as a souvenir. I was disappointed with how ugly the postcards were because they were only drawings of the place and not actual photos. Camp Erdman is so beautiful - I don't understand why they don't take advantage of that. On my way to the store with Jenni, Erica dragged me along and forced me to take some pictures with her and others. We walked by the beach and fooled around. I talked with Tammy and Misaki. I never intended to go swimming, but I wanted to some archery. However, my hands were sore from going on the Odyssey and rock climbing. It hurt to move my fingers. My palms were bright red and scratched silly with small cuts and blisters from holding onto the ropes. In the end, I didn't do any archery. I did some archery at school before and I remember needing to pull really hard. If I knew my hands were going to be sore, I would have brought gloves along. Archery would be no problem. After walking around on the beach, it was our "quiet time" again. This time we wrote about:

1) What we did to accomplish our goals of building better friendships.
2) Whether or not we were successful with building better friendships with the two people we named previously.
3) How we grew personally so far.

I built better friendships through the challenges. Everyone also cheered for each other during the rock climbing so I felt that everyone was being very friendly, encouraging and supportive. I don't really talk to Ha or Ally very much, but they were helpful during the Odyssey. Ha would hold her hand out for me to jump over and Ally and Sam would pull me up when we were finished. I think I definitely grew personally through those challenges. All my life, I've been quite a baby. I didn't want to try new things. I stuck with the familiar. I didn't want to get dirty. I was scared of everything. I didn't take risks. Once I tried and failed, I would cry about it and not want to do it ever again. I always cried. I think that part of me changed a bit. I'm trying to live my life fuller and to be at least a little bit more daring. The one thing that Ms. Nakamura emphasized on our first day to her class was that we would "try to step out of our comfort zone." By challenging myself, I think I did just that. Plus, all of that was a big workout!

After dinner, we played charades for a while. During the first round, I pretended to be a mime and during the second round, I pretended to skydive. The last one was the hardest, though. We had to act out "The Lord of the Rings". Sam did an amazing impersonation of Sméagol and repeatedly mouthed the words, "My precious..." over and over. She made some gestures, pretending to put on the ring. We were the Ring Wraiths going crazy when she put on the ring. People couldn't tell what we were doing and Ha shouted out, "Brokeback Mountain!" Everyone burst out in to laughter. How could she mistake "The Lord of the Rings" for a movie about gay cowboys? According to her, we seemed like the gay cowboys and Sam looked like she was...with her finger. They're so crazy! I would never have guessed that in a million years. Then we put on a short skit for the highlights of camp. Janelle, Michelle, Juri, Cam, Sam, and I were in a group. It was a lot of fun and everyone said this was the first time they've seen me act so crazy. @_@; Was I really?

To be continued...