Day 5

Today was the first day of real camp.

Real camp. It was crazy, busy, hot, stinky, confusing, funny.
Fantastic.


All my whining the first few days, my fears about my possible job problems and issues, the terror of being a bad RA, all went away today.

The kids are adorable and hilarious. Mostly by accident. I won't divulge names, but one of them, who insists I am 83 years old, asked me if I had any kids. I said no, and another one of my students, without missing a beat, said "boy i bet you're glad about that".

They can still get irritating though. I've been good at being both firm with real rules and reasonable in conversation at the same time. They take me seriously, but not too seriously. They listen when they need to, walk with me so I don't lose track of where they are. They're really friendly with each other too. One of them, before bedtime, walked down the hall and said goodnight to everyone else in the group before turning out the lights and going to bed.

I am very excited and happy with this job. I hope it stays that way and I can remind and remember the awesomeness of this first day when they start to really get on my nerves. Today made a lot of problems go away and I feel like now, with the residents here, I know what I have to do, have a good vision of what my responsibilities are, and feel the confidence I need in order to do well at this camp and really deserve the money I get at the end.

I am going to be the best RA ever. Hopefully. Wish me luck, folks.

Also, there wasn't a post yesterday because we had a half-off day. M., I love you and miss you. Thank you for seeing Brave with me yesterday and getting wings for dinner (we slaughtered them chickens good) and I can't wait to see you again. You helped set me straight so I could go in to today's workload with a level head.

Gotta smile on my face tonight, everyone!

Signing out,

Kevin