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So the training is now nonstop with the children.There is a lot of work to be done, but there is also a lot of downtime.When you come to camp the worst thing you can do is try to figure out how much you make hourly.The money does help, I am not going to lie, but you pretty much don't make s*** for money.There is a lot more than monetary compensation that comes from this job.The children make this job so enjoyable I think I would do it for free if I was asked.Then again, now that I think about it I think, I am doing it for free.
I had to say goodbye to my children for the first time on Friday.It is very funny the fact that you might not speak the same language as these children but they become very attached to you.You make up your own language and signals that represent different things and have meanings that only the two of you understand.I had one little girl, Sophie, who never left my side after the first day I met her.She would hold my hand when we walked through the woods on our camp adventures and would come look for me when it was time for the children to go off with the monitors to do activities.We had a game we would play where she would come up to me and throw her hat at me.It was her way of saying hello or she wanted to play.She would do it and then flash an adorable smile.She even had her friends doing it after a while.One of her teachers said she does not normally take to people and it was strange how she just took to me after a few days.She was a little red headed Spaniard with freckles and big green eyes; she looked like a little doll.Even if I got up and moved away from her in the middle of an activity, she would then get up and follow me where ever I went.I think a lot of the children were like that.They realize they are away from home and want someone to temporarily be the replacement for the parents.We all ended up with children that adopted us this past week.To us as adults it is sometimes just a job that we do during the day and then go and drink and hang out with the other monitors by night.Which is pretty much what camp is, long hours during the day and then long nights of drinking.By the time the morning rolls around though it is all about the children once again.You sometimes even forget about the fact that less than 6 hours ago you were so drunk that you couldn't stand up.
When Friday rolls around there is something inside the children that tells them it is time to go and they know that they will never see you again.Most of the kids are just running around having a great time playing the last few hours of camp with their newly made friends.Then there are the ones who become attached and don't want to leave you.I looked over at Sophie at one point and she was no longer making goofy faces and acting silly, instead she was just looking up at me with her big green eyes.Rather than throwing her hat at me like she did for a whole week, she slowly took it off and handed it to me.I put in on my head as I always did when we played our game and she climbed up on a rock and took it off and handed it to me again.This time I took it from her and put it on her head and just smiled at her.It was at that moment she knew the fun was over.She wiped the tears from her cheek, gave me a hug and walked over to her princess suitcase and rolled it to me to take her down to the bus.With adults you say "we will keep in touch" or "find me on the Facebook", but with children at camp there is none of that.I am sure with time, and by time I mean a day or two, she will forget about the people from the camp; but then again I can't be too sure about that because I still remember my teachers and people from camp that came into my life over twenty years ago.I do not know if this will get easier as the summer goes on,but I am readying myself for many more Sophie moments and the weeks go on……..
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