Sorry I haven't written in a while... I've been so unbelievably busy and the only time off that I had last week... I used it to take a nap! The only reason I am writing now is because I took a much-needed 3 hour nap today, so I'm not as exhausted as I usually am at 11:30 at night.
Last Sunday, we got a new group of students for Explorations Week #2! Two of my students left on Saturday and I got 2 new students. Since I haven't written in a while, one of those students is already gone. She stayed for a week and left on Saturday. The other student is doing 2 Explorations in a row so he's here this week, too.
When our new students came last Sunday, I was the RA of the Day. That meant I was running around like a crazy person, getting everything set up for the new students and for the big group activities that night. That night, we had a huge activity that we did called "Project Runway" (based off the actual show.) All of the RA groups divided up into teams and picked one person to be the model and they had to design an outfit out of whatever materials they received. It was a blast! The runway looked awesome and we all had a blast!
On Monday, we did tie-dye (which I did for the very first time in my life!) so that was exciting. The only bad thing was that they all turned pink in the washer. But we had fun making them.
Also last week, we started a game called "Assassins." These students get SO intense with this game. Every student gets another student's name on a piece of paper and they have to "kill" that person. They have to tap them on the shoulder and then whisper, "you're dead" without anyone else hearing. We started a new game of Assassins this week and this time... some of the RAs are playing, including myself. It starts at 7:00 am tomorrow and I can honestly say that I'm a little scared. Quite a few students got hurt last week (I don't know why we're playing it again) and students wait outside of other student's rooms, waiting for them to come out so that they can "kill" them.
There is a tradition here at camp (not sure how this started) that if you say a bad word, you have to write a haiku. Last week, one of my students said a bad word and so I told him that he had to write a haiku by the end of the day. He comes up to me with his haiku a couple hours later and hands it to me. It says, "Refrigerator refrigerator up my refrigerator." I asked him why he used the word refrigerator and he said, "because it has 5 syllables." Then another one of my students asked if he could write a haiku "from his heart", just for fun. I said sure, why not? So the next day he comes up to me and gives me a haiku that says, "I like to store milk inside of my massive white refrigerator."
...now tell me that's not inappropriate.
It took me a couple reads to realize that the word, "refrigerator" has a whole different meaning to high school boys.
On Tuesday, I went with the "Fun Aquatic Worlds" class on their field trip to Des Moines as the photographer. We went to a research-type aquarium, where we saw a lot of interesting species of fish, sharks, turtles, eels, iguanas, and snakes. On the way home, the professor, who was driving the 15-passenger van, obviously did not know how to drive the thing, and hit the ticket dispenser and a pole on the way out of the parking lot. He looks at me and says with his Serbian accent, "uhhh... what do I do now?" He left a pretty large dent in the side of the van. When Lindsey asked him what happened, he said he hit the CURB.
On Wednesday, my dad and sister were in Des Moines, so they took a little detour up to Ames to come visit me. I was able to take an hour off to go eat breakfast with them at Perkins. It was so good to see them! I almost forgot what it's like to have a life outside of this job. Seeing them gave me a nice break, but you should have seen some of the looks they gave me while I spoke. I think they could tell that I hadn't been getting enough sleep. Then I somehow managed to order 3 drinks without realizing it... that certainly didn't change their opinions of me.
Later on Wednesday, all of the students and RAs went to a place north of Ames called, "Peterson Pits." There, they have a small lake with a beach so you're allowed to swim. The kids went swimming and we also took a bunch of canoes so we all got to experience canoeing as well. I was brave enough to take my brand new camera out on the canoe with me, but I was basically having a heart attack the entire time. Especially witnessing about 8 of the canoes capsizing.
Thursday afternoon we all tried Zumba for the first time and Thursday night was the Talent Show! We had about 10 different acts, and it was so fun to watch. The best act, though, was the last one. All of the RAs dressed up as old women (even the guys) and stuffed pillows under our old lady dresses that we got at Goodwill. We made a mix of different songs and got out there and shook our booties and made complete fools of ourselves.
Friday night was "Movie Night" and after the movies (The Proposal and Anchorman), we took the kids outside to play "Sardines" which is similar to Hide and Seek.
On Saturday, we tried going to the Aquatic Center. Twice. It was raining so they were closed, but we assumed it would be fine since it wasn't storming. When we got there, they said they were going to "reevaluate" at 4 and maybe open it back up at 5 because it was supposed to be sunny. It WAS sunny at 5, so we took the kids back over there at around 6, and they were still closed. Double fail.
Saturday night, we played "Murder Mystery" then watched "Inception" and ordered some pizza.
Yesterday, we got a new group of students, so I now have 3 more students in my RA group. However, one of my students (the girl with Asperger's and OCD) left today. She had so many issues these past couple of weeks to the point where she could no longer stay here. She moved out of the dorms, but she'll continue to take her Chemistry class this week. She went to go live with her step dad here in Ames and from now on, she'll commute to class.
Last night, we spent some time at the "Underground" on campus, where they have bowling, pool, ping pong, and video games. Today, we made it to the pool! Third time's a charm, right?
Only 5 more days!!!!!!
Last Sunday, we got a new group of students for Explorations Week #2! Two of my students left on Saturday and I got 2 new students. Since I haven't written in a while, one of those students is already gone. She stayed for a week and left on Saturday. The other student is doing 2 Explorations in a row so he's here this week, too.
When our new students came last Sunday, I was the RA of the Day. That meant I was running around like a crazy person, getting everything set up for the new students and for the big group activities that night. That night, we had a huge activity that we did called "Project Runway" (based off the actual show.) All of the RA groups divided up into teams and picked one person to be the model and they had to design an outfit out of whatever materials they received. It was a blast! The runway looked awesome and we all had a blast!
On Monday, we did tie-dye (which I did for the very first time in my life!) so that was exciting. The only bad thing was that they all turned pink in the washer. But we had fun making them.
Also last week, we started a game called "Assassins." These students get SO intense with this game. Every student gets another student's name on a piece of paper and they have to "kill" that person. They have to tap them on the shoulder and then whisper, "you're dead" without anyone else hearing. We started a new game of Assassins this week and this time... some of the RAs are playing, including myself. It starts at 7:00 am tomorrow and I can honestly say that I'm a little scared. Quite a few students got hurt last week (I don't know why we're playing it again) and students wait outside of other student's rooms, waiting for them to come out so that they can "kill" them.
There is a tradition here at camp (not sure how this started) that if you say a bad word, you have to write a haiku. Last week, one of my students said a bad word and so I told him that he had to write a haiku by the end of the day. He comes up to me with his haiku a couple hours later and hands it to me. It says, "Refrigerator refrigerator up my refrigerator." I asked him why he used the word refrigerator and he said, "because it has 5 syllables." Then another one of my students asked if he could write a haiku "from his heart", just for fun. I said sure, why not? So the next day he comes up to me and gives me a haiku that says, "I like to store milk inside of my massive white refrigerator."
...now tell me that's not inappropriate.
It took me a couple reads to realize that the word, "refrigerator" has a whole different meaning to high school boys.
On Tuesday, I went with the "Fun Aquatic Worlds" class on their field trip to Des Moines as the photographer. We went to a research-type aquarium, where we saw a lot of interesting species of fish, sharks, turtles, eels, iguanas, and snakes. On the way home, the professor, who was driving the 15-passenger van, obviously did not know how to drive the thing, and hit the ticket dispenser and a pole on the way out of the parking lot. He looks at me and says with his Serbian accent, "uhhh... what do I do now?" He left a pretty large dent in the side of the van. When Lindsey asked him what happened, he said he hit the CURB.
On Wednesday, my dad and sister were in Des Moines, so they took a little detour up to Ames to come visit me. I was able to take an hour off to go eat breakfast with them at Perkins. It was so good to see them! I almost forgot what it's like to have a life outside of this job. Seeing them gave me a nice break, but you should have seen some of the looks they gave me while I spoke. I think they could tell that I hadn't been getting enough sleep. Then I somehow managed to order 3 drinks without realizing it... that certainly didn't change their opinions of me.
Later on Wednesday, all of the students and RAs went to a place north of Ames called, "Peterson Pits." There, they have a small lake with a beach so you're allowed to swim. The kids went swimming and we also took a bunch of canoes so we all got to experience canoeing as well. I was brave enough to take my brand new camera out on the canoe with me, but I was basically having a heart attack the entire time. Especially witnessing about 8 of the canoes capsizing.
Thursday afternoon we all tried Zumba for the first time and Thursday night was the Talent Show! We had about 10 different acts, and it was so fun to watch. The best act, though, was the last one. All of the RAs dressed up as old women (even the guys) and stuffed pillows under our old lady dresses that we got at Goodwill. We made a mix of different songs and got out there and shook our booties and made complete fools of ourselves.
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| Zumba! |
Friday night was "Movie Night" and after the movies (The Proposal and Anchorman), we took the kids outside to play "Sardines" which is similar to Hide and Seek.
On Saturday, we tried going to the Aquatic Center. Twice. It was raining so they were closed, but we assumed it would be fine since it wasn't storming. When we got there, they said they were going to "reevaluate" at 4 and maybe open it back up at 5 because it was supposed to be sunny. It WAS sunny at 5, so we took the kids back over there at around 6, and they were still closed. Double fail.
Saturday night, we played "Murder Mystery" then watched "Inception" and ordered some pizza.
Yesterday, we got a new group of students, so I now have 3 more students in my RA group. However, one of my students (the girl with Asperger's and OCD) left today. She had so many issues these past couple of weeks to the point where she could no longer stay here. She moved out of the dorms, but she'll continue to take her Chemistry class this week. She went to go live with her step dad here in Ames and from now on, she'll commute to class.
Last night, we spent some time at the "Underground" on campus, where they have bowling, pool, ping pong, and video games. Today, we made it to the pool! Third time's a charm, right?
Only 5 more days!!!!!!
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