Multi-day CBC 2006 post - Staff week
Jul. 3rd, 2006 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yrmencynHoly crap, this place has a wireless network set up! Guess I'll post this now.
July 1 -
Talked to the boy for the first time on the phone tonight. I was, in fact, leaning toward queasiness when I hit the call button on the phone; what if he should... I don't know, not want to talk to me? Irrational fears, no less potent for their madness. I dialed from atop the grave of Cpl. Roscoe Hupp, a WWII veteran who probably never imagined he would have such a melodramatic afterlife. Luckily for me and the eavesdropping gossip spirit of the departed, he did answer, and didn't mind talking. Idle chitchat, not much of consequence, but I had one fear allayed: his voice. All this time we've been talking, I've been worried that Kevin might have a voice that would just drive me nuts; I react pretty strongly to voices (small wonder for a linguiphile with steadily crappifying eyesight). My fears were foundless; he has a lovely rich baritone, smooth accent with a couple of quirks I'm looking forward to investigating...
Training is going neither well nor poorly -- it's the first day, and a lot of people are quite tired, for whatever reason. The arrival process has been too choppy, thank god. Rick gets in tonight (in fact, he's probably here now, but I'm sitting propped up in bed typing this -- being admin staff, I have a room to myself, so long as you don't count piles of laundry detergent, ziploc bags, and canoe oars as roommates -- so I wouldn't know), but he's the only really late arrival. Mike W. (one of three Mikes, arg) had his baggage lost by Delta in the midst of an ugly delay/cancellation saga, but that's solved now. I drove into Rayne (15-20 minute drive) to meet up with the airline courier at a Burger King, since he wouldn't drive all the way into the backwoods to drop it off here at the camp. And that's it, folks. Lights out in 2 minutes.
July 3, 1pm -
Ach, mon dieu. The past 36 hours have been quite tiring. Shortly after I typed up the last bit and had settled into my bed for a deep, dreamless sleep, there was a knock at my door. I had forgotten that Rick had nowhere else to sleep but in my room, since I had the only open bed, thus I had to get up and move all manner of crap off the second bed -- I'd been using it as storage space for various cups, bags, detergents, and other camp detritus. But yes, he got moved in, and now I have a roommate. It's alright, I like Rick fine.
Yesterday was fairly dull, though productive. We were supposed to be doing Community Water Safety/Basic Water Rescue training in the afternoon, but just as we got out to the pool, it started to rain. We managed to get through swim checks and a couple of emergency positions, but then it started thundering, so rescues and boarding procedures will have to wait for another time. Instead, we got changed and came back to the Batcave (central meeting area) for a gamut of team-building games. It's really amazing to watch the staff gel; they (we) go through the same processes of bonding and cohesion that we are describing on the campers' part. On Saturday, we were mostly strangers -- lots of new people, and a number of returning staffers from different years who didn't know each other -- but by now, midday Monday, we're already starting to act familial, all up in each other's business. A lot of it is through the mechanism of the team-building exercises, which encourage group critical thinking and trust, and a lot of it is through controlled disclosure exercises, where fairly superficial personal details (favorite move, person you admire, etc) are provided to provoke a sense of intimacy. So that was a lot of fun, really, and that's good.
After the fun stuff, though, came the dreaded manual sessions. Usually we only work methodically through the entire staff manual, which is harrowing enough. This year, however, we're being inspected by the American Camp Association to renew our accreditation, so we the ad staff think it's helpful for the staff to be aware of the standards we adhere to, not only on an implicit level (lookit the big binder), but also on an explicit level. And so, Susannah had me going through the ACA manual. Now, let's be clear, here. This is a gigantic tome. Susannah has her nice copy in a single mammoth 3-ring, but my copy requires two 3" ring binders, and they are chock-full. I talked for 1.5 hours, detailing the standards and providing commentary on the ways in which staff is expected to uphold and contribute to their maintenance. I got through probably a third of the standards, so I've still got a good 2 hours left (some entire sections Do Not Apply, like horseback riding, for example). The night capped off with an optional game of Movie Charades, which is code for "Wherein Susannah is sadistic and makes you act out movie titles like 'Hotel Rwanda' and 'The Englishman Who Crossed The Pond and Climbed Up a Mountain.'" Well, that and phone talking.
Today has been more book-larnin'. Right after breakfast, Dr. Arnold (a local retired pediatric cardiologist and physician-executive) came in and gave a powerpoint on Congenital Heart Disease. I think some of the staff was bored, but I personally enjoyed it, because I'm a big nerd. Also I dozed off last year during his talk, so I never really learned some of the terms. Now I can tell you what Tetralogy of Fallot or Transposition of the Great Vessels is, woohoo! OSHA training followed, and was just as meh as every other OSHA training I've ever done for any other job or camp.
And now here we are, post-lunch, have an hour-long rest period. It's a good thing. IF nothing else, it gives me time to digest: I've been overeating. I'm already in camp eating mode, where I consume unto millions of calories a day and still lose a little weight. Unfortunately, we're not really engaging in that much physical activity at the moment, so all that food just drops like a brick in my stomach. Blarg. Anyway, time to go read.
July 1 -
Talked to the boy for the first time on the phone tonight. I was, in fact, leaning toward queasiness when I hit the call button on the phone; what if he should... I don't know, not want to talk to me? Irrational fears, no less potent for their madness. I dialed from atop the grave of Cpl. Roscoe Hupp, a WWII veteran who probably never imagined he would have such a melodramatic afterlife. Luckily for me and the eavesdropping gossip spirit of the departed, he did answer, and didn't mind talking. Idle chitchat, not much of consequence, but I had one fear allayed: his voice. All this time we've been talking, I've been worried that Kevin might have a voice that would just drive me nuts; I react pretty strongly to voices (small wonder for a linguiphile with steadily crappifying eyesight). My fears were foundless; he has a lovely rich baritone, smooth accent with a couple of quirks I'm looking forward to investigating...
Training is going neither well nor poorly -- it's the first day, and a lot of people are quite tired, for whatever reason. The arrival process has been too choppy, thank god. Rick gets in tonight (in fact, he's probably here now, but I'm sitting propped up in bed typing this -- being admin staff, I have a room to myself, so long as you don't count piles of laundry detergent, ziploc bags, and canoe oars as roommates -- so I wouldn't know), but he's the only really late arrival. Mike W. (one of three Mikes, arg) had his baggage lost by Delta in the midst of an ugly delay/cancellation saga, but that's solved now. I drove into Rayne (15-20 minute drive) to meet up with the airline courier at a Burger King, since he wouldn't drive all the way into the backwoods to drop it off here at the camp. And that's it, folks. Lights out in 2 minutes.
July 3, 1pm -
Ach, mon dieu. The past 36 hours have been quite tiring. Shortly after I typed up the last bit and had settled into my bed for a deep, dreamless sleep, there was a knock at my door. I had forgotten that Rick had nowhere else to sleep but in my room, since I had the only open bed, thus I had to get up and move all manner of crap off the second bed -- I'd been using it as storage space for various cups, bags, detergents, and other camp detritus. But yes, he got moved in, and now I have a roommate. It's alright, I like Rick fine.
Yesterday was fairly dull, though productive. We were supposed to be doing Community Water Safety/Basic Water Rescue training in the afternoon, but just as we got out to the pool, it started to rain. We managed to get through swim checks and a couple of emergency positions, but then it started thundering, so rescues and boarding procedures will have to wait for another time. Instead, we got changed and came back to the Batcave (central meeting area) for a gamut of team-building games. It's really amazing to watch the staff gel; they (we) go through the same processes of bonding and cohesion that we are describing on the campers' part. On Saturday, we were mostly strangers -- lots of new people, and a number of returning staffers from different years who didn't know each other -- but by now, midday Monday, we're already starting to act familial, all up in each other's business. A lot of it is through the mechanism of the team-building exercises, which encourage group critical thinking and trust, and a lot of it is through controlled disclosure exercises, where fairly superficial personal details (favorite move, person you admire, etc) are provided to provoke a sense of intimacy. So that was a lot of fun, really, and that's good.
After the fun stuff, though, came the dreaded manual sessions. Usually we only work methodically through the entire staff manual, which is harrowing enough. This year, however, we're being inspected by the American Camp Association to renew our accreditation, so we the ad staff think it's helpful for the staff to be aware of the standards we adhere to, not only on an implicit level (lookit the big binder), but also on an explicit level. And so, Susannah had me going through the ACA manual. Now, let's be clear, here. This is a gigantic tome. Susannah has her nice copy in a single mammoth 3-ring, but my copy requires two 3" ring binders, and they are chock-full. I talked for 1.5 hours, detailing the standards and providing commentary on the ways in which staff is expected to uphold and contribute to their maintenance. I got through probably a third of the standards, so I've still got a good 2 hours left (some entire sections Do Not Apply, like horseback riding, for example). The night capped off with an optional game of Movie Charades, which is code for "Wherein Susannah is sadistic and makes you act out movie titles like 'Hotel Rwanda' and 'The Englishman Who Crossed The Pond and Climbed Up a Mountain.'" Well, that and phone talking.
Today has been more book-larnin'. Right after breakfast, Dr. Arnold (a local retired pediatric cardiologist and physician-executive) came in and gave a powerpoint on Congenital Heart Disease. I think some of the staff was bored, but I personally enjoyed it, because I'm a big nerd. Also I dozed off last year during his talk, so I never really learned some of the terms. Now I can tell you what Tetralogy of Fallot or Transposition of the Great Vessels is, woohoo! OSHA training followed, and was just as meh as every other OSHA training I've ever done for any other job or camp.
And now here we are, post-lunch, have an hour-long rest period. It's a good thing. IF nothing else, it gives me time to digest: I've been overeating. I'm already in camp eating mode, where I consume unto millions of calories a day and still lose a little weight. Unfortunately, we're not really engaging in that much physical activity at the moment, so all that food just drops like a brick in my stomach. Blarg. Anyway, time to go read.
