Camp Erdman: First Day Challenges (Part 2 of 6)

Continued from the previous post...

After the orientation, we played some games at the open courtyard and then ate lunch at the campfire place by the beach. After eating, Ms. Nakamura gave us some free time to go back to our cabins and get settled. She told us to meet her at the open courtyard at 12:00pm with our notebooks and pens. It would be our “quiet time.” Everyone had to find their own private spot somewhere on camp grounds and for twenty minutes, we wrote about:

1) Anything. Our thoughts and feelings at the moment and any worries or concerns such as homework left unfinished...*coughcough*
2) The personal goal that we want to achieve here at camp.
3) Names of two people you are not close to and want to get to know better.
4) Our expectations from camp.

My goal was to relax and be able to communicate with others better. I only realize now that I am not much of a people-person (not at all). Outside the safe circle of my family and friends, I am very shy and tend to be antisocial. I have a hard time communicating with others...and I especially hate those awful, awkward silences! I expect to have fun at camp and to also become a stronger person, both mentally and physically.


The prettiful ocean.
I finished what I had to write quickly (I’m lazy!) and spent the rest of my time staring out into the ocean. It is quite stupid to spend all your time with your head buried in a notebook when the scene right in front of you is so breathtaking. The view was spectacular and unreal. The wave currents were strong and crashed onto the shore frequently. No one is allowed out into the sea, not even the best surfers. My glasses eventually became covered in what I thought was sand dust at the time but later found out was salt. It was crazy - the amount of salt there was. The salt hung very heavy in the air. By the end of the day, everyone’s hair was clumpy and well...salty.

We met with our drama training teacher at Crosson Hall after our free twenty minutes. The tall and lanky lady introduced herself as Amy from the Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY). We played some games and learned words like tableau. We did things like auto-imagery (freezing pictures) and formed letters with our bodies. Our session with Amy ended after about two hours. By that time, I felt a little exhausted. I had no idea so much more was coming.

We met with Luli in the grass and did some more activities involving planning, communication, and cooperation. Teamwork was stressed every time. We did an activity involving bamboo sticks and two golf balls. @_@; After that was completed, Luli told us a crazy story from his childhood. When he was five years old, he decided he was going to fly and jump from the second floor of a building. His mother was standing right outside. He jumped and flew to the ground. Nothing happened because he got caught in the hanging clothesline. It forced him to twirl a bit but it saved his life. He got away with no injuries. I was thankful for that because it would have been terrible if the clothesline was not there and something happened to him right in front of his mother.


Teamwork!
In the next challenge, all eighteen of us stood inside a red rope that was to be our "spaceship." We were to pretend we were in outer space. Our friend (a stuffed animal named Bumble) was thrown at a distance and we needed to bring him back safely inside the spaceship. The rule was that we could not go out of the spaceship by ourselves and everyone needed to be connected somehow or we would die. At first, we held hands and ran to get Bumble, but Luli kept kicking him father and farther away until we were stretched as far as we could go. Holding hands was not enough because we still couldn't reach Bumble.


We were struggling here. Gahh...just a little bit more.
Everyone resorted to getting down on the ground. I grabbed onto Ally’s ankle while Erica held on to my foot. That still wasn't enough to reach Bumble and we ended up holding onto one another's shoelaces. I winced at needing to get down on the dirt and getting my clothes dirty, but I had no choice. We eventually retrieved Bumble into the safety of our spaceship.


My lame drawings.
Our next game involved three wooden platforms and two boards. We were to pretend we were desperate Alaskans stranded atop glaciers. There was a big storm coming and we needed to hurry home before we all die. Our goal was to get to the third platform (representing home). The boards could not touch the water (the ground) and neither one was long enough to reach the other platform alone.


Ally carefully crossing the boards.
It was a long and tedious process and took a lot of planning and thinking (I admit I took no part in this because I’m stupid). After what seemed like hours, we all made it across. We did accidentally let the board hit the ground 3 times so two people were "blinded" and Jenni "lost her leg."

The next challenge was the spider web. It was the same one he joked earlier about being the biggest spider web ever. When I walked closer, I realized it was made of wooden frames and ropes and was about the size of a goal post in soccer. We were to get everyone across the web through the holes. We could only use each hole once before it "closes up." Touching the ropes were also forbidden and we were allowed only seven touches. The holes looked extremely small and I didn’t know how were going to get through them. Janelle volunteered to go first so she could help carry others across. She slid in through one of the bottom holes.


"Here" indicates the hole I went through.
I was one of the last ones to go through. Without warning, people started to grab me and I was in the air. I didn’t even know who was holding me up and where, except for Sam who said, “I’m sorry, but I have to grab your butt, okay?” That made me laugh. It was slightly scary watching everyone lift one person up and through the small holes without touching any of the ropes, but I was surprised to feel so secure when it was my turn. No hands were wobbly or shaking and I felt extremely safe. I felt no fear of being dropped. I trusted these people completely (Tammy didn’t - she was scared to death and kept screaming). In fact, I’ll admit that it felt good when everyone was carrying me. *laughs* It was also awesome that there were people on the other side to receive me and carefully put me down.


From top-bottom, left-right: Erica, Misaki, me, Jenni, Janelle, and Hoang.
We finished the last challenge half an hour earlier than planned (it was 4:30pm) so we had free time until dinner at 5:30pm. We played around and took so pictures by the ocean. Erica looks so happy to be on the top of our pyramid! XD I was really curious about dinner and worried about what we were going to eat, but it was pretty good. There was bread, chicken, rice, corn, and chocolate chip cookies. I drank punch but I wished there were water or milk. After dinner, I swept the cafeteria floor. Jenni is such a sweetie because she offered to stay behind and help me. That was when I noticed pictures of the YMCA staff members pinned on a corkboard by the closet. It was interesting to see that the staff members come from all over the world - I remember seeing Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand, other states in the U.S., and Kosovo. Luli was from Kosovo. Oh yes, Ha. The words "Brussels" and "Kosovo" really sound alike! =)

After dinner, the teacher told us to return to our cabins and grab our flashlights. We played a trivia quiz game in the open courtyard for a while. I was on a team with Rachel and Tammy. Random questions were asked and I could only answer one: "What are the four main islands of Japan?" (This was before the Japan Wizards Competition took place, but I would kill myself if I didn't get it.) Our team came in last place since Rachel and Tammy couldn’t answer any question.

After the game, we went inside an octagon area in the main building and were given 20 minutes to come up with a 10 minute dance routine. I panicked for a while because I never choreographed a dance routine before. I kept thinking,
"Jang Woo Hyuk...help!" But Misaki and the rest of the group (Vincent, Julia, and Rachel) helped a lot so we made it work. Part of the dancing involved Julia and I doing the Egyptian dance. That was so much fun! On that night, I also gained new respect and admiration for Vincent for doing his wiggly dance in front of everyone. It was hilarious. It was also fun to watch what all of the other groups came up with. Everyone had entertaining dance routines. We all danced to a catchy and repetitive eighties song. The only lyrics seemed to be, “Jump on it!” (Does anyone recognize the lyrics?) After the dancing, Ms. Nagareda, our other chaperone, arrived. She is a PE teacher at school and was recently granted the title, "Coach of the Year." =D

She came just in time to conduct our scavenger hunt. We had to find a big toe covered in dirt (no, you did not read wrong), a four inch rock, a five inch strand of brown hair, a piece of plastic, a soda cap, etc. Our team came in second place because Ally and Juri were very competitive. Jenni and I didn’t have much work to do. XD

After the scavenger hunt, we grabbed our late night snack at 8:30pm (a corn dog) and broke into two groups. We had discussions about what our experiences were and how we felt after today. I looked up and realized that there were no stars out on that night. Erica reminded me that it was cloudy today so the clouds were covering all of the stars.

After the discussion, we went back to our cabins. We were supposed to be in bed by 10:30pm at the latest because there was a big day ahead of us tomorrow, but of course, no one listened. There was whispering going on all night so I had trouble falling asleep.

To be continued...