First Week of Camp

This week was nuts. I worked with the orphans this week for the first time and I had a great experience. It had its ups and downs but was something I won’t soon forget. On Monday, the American interns and the Romanian translators/paid volunteers got onto a bus and drove to an orphanage where we met 50 kids that were split up onto Olympic teams. The theme of the camp is the Olympics and there were 8 teams that competed in events throughout the week of camp and there was a closing ceremony where final medals were awarded.

My team was the UK. We had 10 people total, 2 American interns (me and Carrie, who was the yin to my yang because she was the type of person who loved all over the kids and was in touch with their emotions when I just riled all the kids up and provided a lot of the team’s energy), 2 Romanian translators/paid volunteers (Renata and Adi, both who spoke good English and were a great part of the team because they didn’t just sit and wait to translate, they went out and led some of our activities), and 6 kids (Tibi – 13 yr old boy, Alex – 14 yr old boy, Luci – 13 yr old boy, Cristi – 17 yr old boy, Ana Maria – 16 yr old girl, Felicia – 17 yr old girl). We competed in games all week like 4 way soccer, waffle ball, a body building contest, potato sack race, messy games, answering questions about a sermon they got each day, reciting Bible verses, and just cheering. Everything throughout the week was worth points and we got to win some events and completely lose some others. We made a UK commercial to try and convince people to visit UK and we did really well in that competition because of the enthusiasm our kids had and their costumes for David and Victoria Beckham. At the end of the week our team ended up getting 5th place. This was very god for the fits that some of our kids threw on an hourly basis and the lack of athletic ability on our team.

It was hard for me as a guy to be the leader of this team because out of all of the guys interns I am most definitely the least athletic, least talented, and most flabby. It was a little difficult to have your team rely on you for events where you need to be strong like the piggy back race. Also, the cheering part of the week was difficult. Every day at least 8 times our teams would have to line up and cheer our team’s name. My voice is gone. I chanted UK UK UK UK UK UK so many times. While I was in my I-week when I joined Sigma Pi I lost my voice because I had to yell so much. I lost my voice just as much this week. The only difference is that I have to lose my voice like that 5 more times.

On the Friday of the camp week, every one goes to “The Weekend” where we all swim. I’ve blogged about this pool before, so if you want details, continue to read my past blogs. When we went this week it was great for about 30 minutes. After that, the weather stopped being sunny and hot like it had been ALL week and turned to a torrential storm. Everyone had to get out of the pool and get under the nearby shelters. The thought of all of those kids shivering but smiling will never be erased. It was so funny. The all had such a good time, even for a half hour. None of the kids took the pool for granted, they went crazy for those few minutes and enjoyed it so much that they didn’t even care that they had to get out and go home. When they left it was kind of sad, but we all cheered anyways because it was just such a huge relief. It was great.
Last night, 5 of us went out on the town and went to the festival that the town of Tirgu Mures has every year. It was neat because the center of the town which is usually packed with cars was turned into a big shopping center. There were lots of craft booths, and car dealerships, motor cycle places and all of that stuff. I definitely bought some souvenirs there for you people that get souvenirs. It was pretty great to see the musicians there and to watch the kids dance. Also, there was a Native American booth where they were showing off what Native Americans looked like and shared their culture. It was very interesting to see how intrigued the Romanian people were. It was so funny because its something that I see all the time in New Mexico and all over America, but here its such a rare sight and such a novelty. The Native Americans were signing autographs and getting pictures taken with the locals. I made sure to ask them if they were from America because I was a little suspicious that they might be some Romanians in disguise.

If you are one of those people who are continuing to pray for me, please do so. The thing I need most right now is continued strength. The camp week is long and I need some strength to get through all of them. One of the Romanian volunteers said that this past week was very very easy because the kids that are coming are little brats and will fight each other. Please pray that the camp weeks will go smoothly. Please continue to pray for our team as some of them come home this week and fly back to America. Thank you for all of your prayers. I will add more pictures as I am able.