Winter Playlist

Winter Playlist

Enjoy.

The grand return

The initial aim, it could be said, of this blog was to document in some way my trip to the United States last summer. Once that was finished I didn't feel the need to continue writing.

But I've decided to resurrect it. In its new more general form, the blog will be a dumping ground for the things that pass through my mind but never seem to make it all the way out of my left ear. I beg you not to read it. For the sake of your own sanity. That is all.

Camp Eagle Hill

How about that for a gap! There I was thinking I'd have time to write something every few days. Alas, it wasn't to be. But maybe alas isn't the word I'm looking for here. You see the reason I have deprived you of my musings is that I have for the last few weeks become utterly engrossed in my work. I have been living in the mother of all bubbles but now I have managed to stumble out of it, weary and drenched head to toe in bubble fluid. I thought I'd say a little something about the bubble from which I have come, to salute it in some way. Camp Eagle Hill.

The day starts to music played over a PA system. No really, it does. And there's more, we then report to the flag pole where the Stars and Stripes are raised to the sound of yet more bugle music (America loves bugles. It's official.) and are honoured with a pledge of Allegiance from the half-awake children. To continue the cliche, we then all pile into a dinner hall whose walls are coated in the plaques from previous years' 'colour wars' (I'll get to these later) and stuff our faces with literally the most despicable food history has ever known. The cereal has 'candy' in it. The pancakes are doused in maple syrup and powdered with sugar. The 'OJ' is like orangey death squeezed into a cup. The entire meal consists of little more than discovering new and interesting ways of flavouring sugar.

Breakfast dispensed with, we clean our bunks. Herein lies a problem. You as a counselor are required in your responsibilities to ensure that the living area is tidied by your wards. Children do not like cleaning. They do not like it at all. They do not like it to the point that into order for them to be convinced of it's worth and necessity, verbal abuse and threats of physical violence of often required. They usually do as they're told, after a little hearty encouragement.

The day's activities pass quickly and usually without hiccups. I divide my time between instructing guitar and mountain bikes, which is sometimes as cool as it sounds and sometimes fantastically boring.

Lunch and dinner are unremarkable and that is all I shall say. Pizza and tacos get old when you eat them every few days.

'Tribals' and 'Colour War' are two events where the camp is divided into teams. Red and white for Colour War and red, white and blue for Tribals. These things are psychotic. I really can't explain them. Not only do you compete in sporting events against the other teams but you also compete in some far stranger ways. Here are some of the events:

• Dizzy Bat Relay: Each team member in turn runs out to a place on the ground where there is a baseball bat. They must hold the bat upright against the ground then place their forehead on the bat and rotate a set number of times. They must then run back to the starting position at which point the next member of the team begins. The team which gets all their members across the line first is the winner. The fun in this is watching people stumble and fall as they run back to the start. It's really rather cruel.
  
• Bucket Brigade: Simple. You fill up a big bucket with water from a little bucket. The little bucket is filled from the lake, approximately 40 yards from the big bucket. The little bucket must pass through the hands of every team member. However, there is a twist. The little bucket is filled with holes. The longer you take to pass it, the more water drains out. But the faster you pass it, the more water is lost through spillage. Once again, slightly cruel.
  
• Over-under relay: The team stands in a line. There is a basketball at the front of the line. The basket ball must be passed alternately over and under until it reaches the back of the line at which point the person at the back runs to the front of the line with the basketball and the process starts again. This is repeated until each team member has completed the run from the back to the front. The team that gets through all of their members first, wins.
• Apache relay: A giant event composed of a massive number of events occurring in relay. Events include juggling, fishing, crab-walking, making a bed, scoring a goal from the halfway line and running blindfolded. The relay ends with the lighting of the fire for 'rope burn'.
• Rope burn: The teams have set up a fire 10 feet above which is drawn a rope. Upon the completion of the Apache relay, the team may light their fire. The first team to burn through their rope, wins.
• Sing: Basically, throughout the entire colour war, the teams have been competing in singing and chanting. I would compare it to ill-refined cheerleading. The chanting and screaming culminates in an event on the last day called 'sing'. The teams must write new lyrics to existing songs. A panel of judges vote on which team has performed better.
• Team plaques: Each team selects a small group of artists who create the plaques that are later hung up in the dining room and in other locations around the camp. The plaques are presented on Sing night and are judged immediately after the singing.

The day finishes off back at the bunk. We tuck ourselves into our hard and unyielding beds and wait for the new day to begin. That is unless we are 'On Duty', in which case we must sit outside on the porch for a number of hours because our camp director decided that the mosquitoes in the area were dying out and needed feeding.

I'm just going to go ahead and say this; I love this camp. All the nonsensical traditions; the trays that we are required to carry our food on and then asked to immediately disregard as soon as we sit down; the, at times, terrifyingly stupid children; Mike, the head of maintenance, who sounds like he breaths coal dust instead of air and the lake which at it's clearest could be described as 'murky' all coagulate into a place where little dreams come true every day.

So thank you, Eagle Hill; all the kids, who were a pleasure to instruct; all the staff, who were a pleasure to work with. I had an unforgettable summer. A thousand pages wouldn't do you justice.

Party in the USA

So here we are. 2 weeks and one 2:2 later and I have become fully immersed in my absurd new life in this absurd country. Camp is truly an immersion and America is a parody of itself. I've fallen in with the very people that I used to mock.

I know all the words to the pledge of allegiance and to that Miley Cyrus song. For breakfast I eat 'Captain Crunch', waffles with syrup and a peanut butter-and-jelly bagel. For lunch, it's Macaroni and cheese and for dinner; cheeseburgers and French fries. When I'm not drowning in their inexcusable yet irresistible food, I drown in the work here. I have so little free time that I have lost all interest in free time as I have completely forgotten what it entails.

But I've remembered one thing since I started here. I love kids! They drive me crazy some days and occasionally the guitar teaching facilities can leave a bit to be desired but there is nothing quite like it.

I'm going on a big day out to the big city pretty soon so I'll be sure to upload some photos with that post.

Until then, stay safe. Hope you all had a nice 4th of July.

Bags and lists

In less than 24 hours, I will be in the United States. And before being picked up and whisked out to the countryside I’m going to have to get to the rendezvous point on Manhattan Island. The most exciting part of this is that I’m going to need something to eat. I’ll be eating lunch in New York! I can’t wait to order a bagel with some ‘hawt cawffee’ to wash it down.

It’s all bags and lists and times and a desperate sense of deep panic now. Have I remembered everything? My flight leaves at 0705 for Heathrow so I need to be out of the house at 5am. Not exactly a lie-in and not exactly when I want to be rectifying things I’ve forgotten to do today.

I wonder what I’ll be thinking when I step off the plane? I’ve been looking at some choices for the iPod for this moment. I know what I really want though.

Speak to you from the US!

Preparation

For those who don’t know, I’ll recap why I’m leaving across the ocean. I’ve taken a job as a counsellor at a summer camp in New York State. The camp is situated in Elizaville which is about an hour from New York City.

I am going to be teaching guitar and mountain-biking to the kids from the 26^nd June until the 26^th August. After that, I’m going on a wee road trip from New York to the city of Los Angeles, terminating on September 14^th. To get out there, I’m flying from Edinburgh to Heathrow and then onwards to Newark. The departure date of 22^nd June looms large.

I have momentarily relocated to Edinburgh from Newcastle so now I’m on the launch pad, ready and waiting. I’m buried under pieces of paper; pieces of vital paper to which my fate is bound. My visa and immigration forms, my medical insurance details, my passport, maps with instructions on how to get to pickup points and Dollar bills are the things I wallow in these days. Have you ever felt a Dollar bill in your hand before? I find them unsettlingly wide and short. They are also all from $1 to $100, exactly the same size. The fact that they are indistinguishable in this sense cannot make it easy for blind people!

But the time is nearly upon us and soon the planning must end and the packing must in earnest begin. In 2 days I’ll be in New York!

An Introduction

I have set up this blog to document my travels this year in the USA. It will also serve as a place for me to comment on things and stuff, which are my two main fields of interest in life. I’m going to enjoy writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Rory McElearney 20/06/10