One more week

I have one more week of camp, which, after last week's insanity, is probably a good thing: the pace here, at least that of last week, is not sustainable.

This week is very different: it's a select group of disadvantaged urban youth and young men, ages 15-23. They're here to do leadership type camp activities and experience life out of camp. It's off to an anticipated interesting start: three brothers arrived after a 9 hour bus ride with active lice. Taking care of that nightmare - we couldn't exactly just send them home - took most of the evening and some of this morning. (With the aide of hair clippers, it went much faster than it may have otherwise, and the boys got a free haircut!)

I stopped by my boss's office at 10 p.m. last night to update him on the status of the lice-carriers, and he gave me a short talk about staying safe this week. "Just a head's up, we have a fair amount of gang symbols and such brewing already. Be aware of yourself in large groups, lock yourself in your cabin when you're in there, and call me at any hour of the day or night if you feel even remotely unsafe." Gulp. (In case you're new here, I'm 27 years old - barely older than some of the campers here - and not exactly from an urban background.) I told him some guys had already tried to barge in the health center under the guise of getting directions for a night hike, and had I not been with company already, I may have been a bit uncomfortable with that encounter. The same guys that wanted directions found my bedroom window and were making cat calls to me as I was trying to help some other guests here. That said, the other guys I have had contact with have been nothing but totally polite ("ma'am this and that, please and thank you) gentlemen. It's a good group overall, and so far it's been totally enjoyable to watch the guys learn about being outside. I'm just crossing my fingers there won't be too many fights to patch up.