Caminando por el bosque: One and a half months at camp

I'm alive! Back in May I mentioned a potential summer camp job. Admittedly, I was hesitant to write more in fear that at the last minute things would fall through and I'd be left unemployed for the summer. On the contrary, I was originally only offered 3 weeks and ended up working 6 weeks! So, that explains my long absence.

F.A.Q. about That One Time at Camp:

Where did you go?

I was in two camps in the province of Castilla y León. For the first two weeks of  July and August, I was here:
Molino de Butrera

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It's the same camp as the encuentro, and my personal favorite of the two locations. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. For four weeks I was surrounded by greenery and rolling hills and forests. The downside: bugs. So many bugs. I quickly learned the word for ticks in Spanish. 

During the second half of July I was here:
Vegafria

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This camp is in Segovia, and significantly different than the Molino. For one, it's situated smack-dab in the middle of the village. I was told by the coordinator that this camp was designed as a "trampoline" for kids who had never been to camp. Downside: flat landscape typical of La Mancha (ok, so we weren't in Castilla La Mancha), and the flies. Oh dear god the flies.

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What did you have to do?

In a sense my job wasn't much different than that of an auxiliar. I was hired to play the ignorant foreigner who "didn't know Spanish." I wasn't there to teach English classes, although I was occasionally assigned entire English activities. Most of the time I was placed within a normal camp activity (sports, archery, etc) and expected to explain it in English. During my free time I was also there for English conversation.

Aaand that's actually all the questions people ask because nobody really cares about my camp experience.

Overview:

July 1-15: Molino de Butrera

The camp had about 90-something kids, which apparently was half as many as the previous year. As a monitor, you are up at 8:30 and in bed by 2:30 if you're lucky. Weekends don't exist. The shift in my sleep schedule also left me exhausted for the first week. I gained the reputation as always appearing half-asleep and yet completely aware of everything. That said, the staff was fantastic and I tried to follow their lead as best as possible. 

Highlights:

I dressed like the statue of liberty for the 4th of July. 

We went on a three day, two night camping excursion through Ojo Guareña park. The monitors camped in tents and we somehow crammed 40 kids inside a church.

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Taking a break after walking 10+ km

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I tried rock climbing. I'm terrible at it!

Too many inside jokes to name.

Getting covered head-to-toe in mud that didn't wash out of my hair for three days.

Swimming in the river.

July 15-28: Vegafria

We boarded the bus from the Molino Sunday afternoon and arrived in Vegafria that same evening. The sudden change was rough. This camp had about 60 kids, but the facilities weren't well-equipped for that capacity. Yes, everybody fit, but the dining room tables had 11 kids each and there were only three bedrooms for the campers. Try getting 30 adolescent boys to be quiet and fall asleep. It felt like things there took longer. Serving food took an hour. Activities always started late. I don't think I ever went to sleep before 3 A.M. I got sick. And there were flies everywhere. It wasn't particularly a bad experience but the constantly delayed schedules tended to wear me down.

Oh no

Highlights:

Almost all of the campers came from Las Rozas (the posh city in Madrid) and therefore had a high level of English.

People kept wanting me to say "queso fresco." Not sure why, but it caught on like wildfire.

Two of the days we had a day long excursion to a swimming pool.

Life is difficult

Canoeing in a canyon and then taking a bus to Segovia.

I did Geocaching for the first time.

Using a compass to hunt for mojito ingredients (admittedly after the campers were in bed).

One kid legitimately thought he was a vampire, and his brother was essentially a 10-year old Hodor from Game of Thrones.

When I got sick, the kids asked me how I was doing. One even gave me a hug. 

Getting porlada, which is a super-secret ritual akin to hazing but I'm not going to tell you about it.

And then I went running with this on my face

I got a call from the coordinator asking if I wanted to stay in August. Yes, it was only because every single other English monitor had gone back to the States but HEY! A job is a job and it was mine for the taking. 

I'm not sure how many wigs I've worn this past summer. Too many

Olympic day

July 29-August 11: Return to the Molino

This time I had all of an afternoon back in Madrid to recharge, do laundry, etc. That Monday we arrived back in Butrera in time for lunch. It was like coming home. We started out with 70 kids and by the second week that number dropped to the 30s. The second week we also had a group taking classes to become monitors (in Spain you need a license to work at a camp), and they were good at engaging the kids during free time and taking a bit of the work from the monitors. 

Highlights:

On the first day they couldn't figure out if I was a girl or a boy. Confidence: Negative 100

Almost going camping again. I went on the hike only to be told I was needed back at camp. Drats!

A girl got a tick on her eyelid.

Mustaches!

I became known for making weird faces. People called me emoticono (emoticon).

The kids represented me in my true form

Buying candles from a German man in a tiny pueblo called Bedón.

Cathedral in Bedón. Also Campsite #2 from the first hike.

Monitores monitoreando

"Camping" literally feet away from the Molino. I carried my mattress into the tent. 

Imagine tents here

Learning how to make new bracelets!

Visiting a cave.

Bat in the toilet. I had to fish it out with a toilet brush.

Shooting stars!

Views from the hike. This area is seriously gorgeous

In summary:

I had a really long but rewarding experience at camp. I am normally averse to nature and have always considered myself a city girl, but I was surprised how well I took to being in the middle of nowhere for a month and a half. I still lack many useful life skills and there's still no way I could survive in the wilderness, but participating in camp activities has opened me up to trying new things. Plus, being away from technology for that long was refreshing. Yes, I would sporadically use my phone for Whatsapp or Facebook, but the time spent connected to the outside world was drastically limited. During that time I wasn't worried about my appearance (thankfully, because I looked like Hell), or my future, or loneliness. I was living in the moment and having a good time. 

If anything, coming back to Madrid has been the biggest culture shock and I still haven't quite adjusted. I've gone from having a full schedule everyday to sitting around on Reddit wondering what I'm doing with my life. I'm stuck somewhere in between my camp self and my Madrid self. I've reverted to my couch-dwelling, internet-fueled persona. However, I've bought some hiking boots and I hope to take them for a spin around the mountains here.

All in all, I would absolutely do it all over again.

This one time, at summer camp...

Where did the month of May go? I've been jumping from one event to the next, without much space inbetween. First, the issue with my dad. As soon as that issue settled, Álvaro and I were off on our road trip. I returned on Monday and went to an interview for a potential summer job. That Friday I was packed in a car with four other strangers, driving back up north to meet the other camp counselors. Looks like I have summer plans.

Assuming all goes well (and considering this is Spain, an employment contract guarantees absolutely nothing. I consider myself employed when I have arrived on-site and actually started working), I will have a summer job as an English camp counselor.

On the 10th of May (Ah jeez, has it really been almost two weeks?) I arrived in Molino de Butrera for a weekend job orientation. The camp is located in the north of Burgos. In fact, it was so far north that we were practically in Santander. The downside? It was freezing. I had missed out on a gloriously sunny weekend in Madrid (as soon as I returned the temperature dropped and it rained all week) in exchange for a high of 10ºC (50ºF) and persistently cloudy skies. Thankfully, the location made up for the gloomy weather. It was beautiful! It looked like a "real" summer camp, with wood cabins settled against a green hill. I was also quite surprised to find that I was only one of three native English speakers at the camp. To be fair, they did warn us that we'd need a decent level of Spanish.

The weekend essentially consisted of trial-runs of camp activites and get-to-know-you games. As I've never worked at a summer camp, I'm not sure how many bother to bring the counselors to the campsite a month in advance, but it certainly motivated me to return in the summer. It was an intensive weekend, waking up at 8 AM and playing games until 1 or 2 AM. I had no phone and no internet--I was completely disconnected from the outside world. On Sunday, I returned to Madrid feeling grungy and exhausted, but hoping to return.

The downside? Between the May holiday and this trip, I needed a solid week of recovery. I think I'm finally starting to feel like a human being again.