SO MUCH to do

Okay, I’m goin’ crazy, or starting to. There is so much stuff to do here. Which I realize is an absolutely wonderful problem to have (I know my camp counselor friends would agree with me there), but it’s starting to get just an itty bit ridonc. First of all, there are markets every day from like 8:30ish to noon. I have been to none of them because I have class from 9-1 every day except saturday, but this weekend we’re going on a class trip to Marseille (awesome), so I will continue to never have gone to the market.

The problem also comes with “going out.” All I wanna do right now is sleep after two weeks of waking up early and walking a mile to class (and, you guessed it, another mile back) every day. BUT we’ve now had our second birthday for the group, so out we go! Ha. It’s just insane. I keep wondering if I’m going to have time to slow for a bit. Even today we have an ambiguously titled “Acedemic Planning Meeting” for the next three hours. THREE! It’s Friday! I wanna go home! (and sleep). Okay. Enough complaints. I live in a really, really cool place. It’s so fantastic I literally cannot do everything there is to do. And that is really something.

As far as personal updates, I made some awesome chicken…well I would say it was a soup or stew, but after I put rice in it the water was pretty much gone and I don’t know what to call it anymore. BUT I made it with white wine (at the suggestion of my father. Wonderful suggestion. I’ve actually come to realize how lucky I am to have the kind of family I do, especially in regards to cooking. As difficult as it can be to feed myself, I haven’t made anything that didn’t taste good). I also got to Skype my best friend in Cairo. Overall, it was a very nice day. I continue to have the feeling that I really have made the right decision in coming here to France, which is very reassuring given the fact I still have about nine months left here. Ha. Awesome.

Love from France,

Nathan

Experiences

To say that my summer has been hot, hard, trying and long would all be an understatement. Haha, it is amazing, truly amazing that ANYONE ever comes back to be a summer camp counselor again. I mean, this past summer I was pushed so hard that I literally hit the point of exhaustion and had to do nothing but sleep for a full day. It was a frightening time, especially because that has never happened to me before. Doing that is just so draining physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I don’t know if anyone realizes just how difficult it is to tell twenty other people what to do. Or to deal with arguments as silly as “everyone hates me because they said this one thing I did was annoying.” It would be insane for anyone to come back after an entire summer of that.

But I did.

You see, yeah. It sucks. A lot of the time. It just does. BUT, there are few other jobs in the world that allow a nineteen or twenty year old to do as much good as I have these past two summers. Literally, church camp can change lives. I know it has changed mine. In fact, almost my entire worldview and faith are based around two things: camp and mission trips. I know for a fact that I impacted children in ways I will never know. In profoundly positive ways, I hope. ‘Cause that’s what camp does. Or at least mine. I have never been anywhere else where the love of God was more evident.

And camp has continued to be a place where I grow. I have gone from being a great counselor to being a leader. I have learned how to instruct children and not just punish them. I have learned how to have patience as large as an ocean and love as deep as the sea. I have learned that EVERY child, and perhaps more wonderfully, every PERSON, contains within them the most glorious and wonderful light. And I have watched how parenting nurtures or stunts the growth of that light. I have watched what happens when kids in poverty are left to their own guidance for their upbringing.

And most powerfully, I let the geeky child shine for a week. I let those at the bottom of the social ladder, experience what it is like to be a leader. And I heard the words “I’ll miss you” from children I wish I could take home and raise myself. Because I know what it is they are capable of and I watch that be taken away by poor parenting.

Is it worth it? Hell yes. There are few experiences that are worth it that do not push the envelope. What I have learned and what I have done at camp is invaluable. Despite the difficulty. Despite the tears and almost tears. To do good. That is incredible.

Home

A Corgi (not mine)

After a summer of camp, insanity and never being clean for more than five minutes, I am home. I am: about to collapse, happy to be back, desirous of some serious alone time, sad.

First thing I did upon returning: Lay on the floor and let myself be mobbed by my two wonderful little dogs. One’s a Corgi. The others the size of a corgi. It was wonderful.

So now I’m resting up. Replenishing the gallons of water I’m probably missing, the thousands of calories and the hours of sleep. Oh, and repairing my emotional self. About 700 or more small children in one summer is a lot to handle. Not that I had to handle all of them, but they were there. At camp. Ready for me to be on call. To their safety.

Long story short, it’s good to be home with my mom, my dad and my brother. I’m not ready for France yet, not after the summer I just had, but I will be. Have to be. 21 days and I’m out. 21 days to get my fill of every friend in the U.S. that I have. Possible? Nope. But don’t have a choice there. I’ll live. I’ll grow. And maybe I’ll learn some things.

HOWEVER, for the time being, I’m chillin’. And chillin’ is good.