Hi all!

So, I left off in the last blog talking about my spider bite, so I'll start this one off with an update - the next morning it put me in hospital. The night before, I went back to the clinic for a check up, where they decided to stick a bunch of needles in me like some kind of pin cushion, which was as painful as hell and didn't work. It was still around the size of my fist when I woke up, so my supervisor sent me to the nearest medical centre that morning with a guy from the camp clinic, where I was given powerful antibiotics and strong painkillers. I'm glad to say that I'm finally back to normal now!

That night was our International night off, so we were taken to Novi again, a nearby city, where we had a girlie night in with movies and pillow fights! After checking out the local mall in the morning, we were taken back to camp. As I volunteered to work with one of the lifeguards the previous Saturday, we were allowed another day off in the week, so Deb and I went back to an Shelby's house, one of the American counsellors. She lived in a really pretty house where we were greeted by the cutest little dog, Sophie! It was really generous of her to let us stay, as otherwise we would have just had to spend our night off at camp, but the Americans are always welcoming - Shelby's mum even asked us why we hadn't brought our washing back for her to do! Of course, we just felt too awkward and rude to do that. We spent the night eating pizza and amazing cheesecake whilst watching movies, looking forward to the huge lie-in we were getting the next day. Upon returning to camp, we were taken on "Staff Wreck" that night, an organised activity for all staff every Sunday and Thursday night. This one was to mark the beginning of Colour War, taking place the next day and a big deal at camp.

Each year, the whole camp is split into 4 colour teams for a day to compete against each other in the annual "Colour War", or the "Maccabiah games". At 10:30pm on that Sunday evening, the staff we assigned to their colours, and the captains were announced; it's considered an honour to be announced Colour Captain each year, with 2 members of staff chosen for each team, so there was a lot of gossip and excitement about who was to be selected. Once announced, each of us dressed up in our team colours and were taken out to the back field where 4 fires had been built at each corner. We were all given 2 plastic cups, with the task to run to 4 water-filled barrels in the middle of the field, fill up our cups, and try and put out the other team's fires before yours was. Needless to say, it got pretty messy, water flying everywhere, broken cups littering the grass, shadowy figures running out of the darkness to tackle you to the floor, some serious tactical work going on…People were trying everything, from carrying the water in their mouths, to taking off items of clothing and soaking them in water to wring out on enemies' flames! My red team's fire was the 2nd to go out, so everyone ganged up on the last 2 fires before Yellow team won. It was really good fun, if a tad too violent towards the end! And so the games had begun.

The following day, everyone dressed up and painted themselves in their assigned colour, learning their specific cheer songs for their team. Each colour team took part in various activities throughout the day in each area of camp, from sinking canoes the fastest and coming up with best cheer, to tennis tournaments and horse-riding relays. Points were counted up for each activity, building up to the finale: Apache. This was a giant relay race throughout the camp, with the kids from each team transporting a baton through each area, involving three-legged races, running backwards, wringing towels into a bucket, flag-raising, kayaking to a certain point in the lake, swimming the rest of the way, "shake and bake" (aka rolling in the sand and running in the water until all of the sand was washed off) and more! The final section of the race was to carry a packet of matches to the admin field, where 4 fires had been set up beneath a stretch of suspended rope. The winner of the Apache race was to be the first back to light the fire and burn through the rope hanging above. Ultimately, this was the most important part of the day, and the blue team won overall. That night, a few of us international staff headed out to the local bar, Bullfrogs, to celebrate Hatty's 21st, one of the English Horse-riding girls :)

The following day we had another Michigan storm, causing many of the activities to be cancelled, and that night proved to be an awesome display. It was eerily quiet, with no rain or thunder to be heard, only giant flashes of lightning streaking across the sky every couple of seconds. I and another girl wondered outside around midnight to sit on the grass and watch, fascinated, as the bolts silently lit up the whole sky. Only when they began to appear right above our heads did we run back to our cabin - being surrounded by trees isn't particularly attractive on these occasions!

The next night we watched the camp play, an adaptation of Finding Nemo which was adorable, before heading to the camp dance, taking place outside because of the heat. It was really fun and went on into the night as gradually all the kids were sent to bed. Feeling hot, tired and sweaty, a few of us staff decided to head to the lake to go for a dip to cool down, whereupon a group decision was somehow made to go skinny dipping! (Let me just add that it was very dark outside at this point, so we were able to maintain some ounce of dignity!). It was hilarious, everyone screaming and splashing around, apparently waking up a large amount of kids sleeping in the nearby village, causing a good few people to ring the beach wondering what was going on… and, OF COURSE, our clothes were stolen, during which I remembered that I was supposed to be back at my village in 5 minutes to perform "Shmeira" (Hebrew for "to guard"), a compulsory activity whereby 2 members of staff are assigned a night to stay up from 10:30pm to 1am to check on the kids every half an hour to make sure no-one was missing. So there's me, running around in only a random lifejacket I picked up (genius), trying to find my clothes and dry myself at the same time, whilst trying to organise a ride back to the junior side of the lake which is normally a 20 min walk. Luckily someone had a supervisor buggy so ran me back, with me trying to get the rest of my clothes on, making it with one minute to spare. Phew! During Shmeira, the other girl and I had to go into each cabin with a flashlight every half an hour and make sure that all of the kids were in their beds, then call over to the office to let them know that everything was fine. It gets kinda boring but we just painted my nails and watched random films until we finished.

The 19th was the last day of the first session; the summer is split into 2 sessions, with one group of kids coming for the first 24 days, then another coming for the last 24. That morning, timetables were suspended and we had "super schmooze" whereby the kids could choose to go to whichever areas they wanted before lunch. As it was raining (hard) we only had a few brave souls coming to boating and canoeing, though after a while we had to cancel due to the cold, so we had the rest of the day free. I spent the evening with my assigned kids in their cabin, having a goodbye feast of sweets and chocolate and giving out their awards for the summer. I made them each a friendship bracelet with a lollipop, along with a little personal letter and funny poem for them each, which they loved! It was really cute when they gave me an award for "Master of Canoeing and Boating" back that they'd made earlier too, which is now pinned above my shelves! We sat around eating and sharing funny stories at camp and swapping contact details with them - I've already had a short skype with one of the girls J It was really cute, especially when I was taken aside by their 2 American counsellors and told that I was the best specialist they'd had, giving me a little friendship bracelet. I'm gonna miss them all!

Tomorrow was an early one as we had to be up at 5:45am for the mammoth task of moving all of the kids HUGE duffel bags out of the villages and onto removal trucks to be transported to Adat Shalom, a local centre where the parents were to collect their kids that day. After breakfast, the kids were all escorted to the buses where there were many tearful hugs and goodbyes, whilst we all stood around singing farewell songs and waving goodbye. So heart-wrenching seeing some of the little ones in floods of tears because they didn't want to leave!

This weekend is Session Break, a 3 day break from camp between the first and second session. We Internationals were taken to Ann Arbor for the weekend, the University City around and hour West of us. A group of us took a taxi into the town to the Mongolian Grill, a great restaurant where you select your food on a buffet and take it to the grill to be cooked in front of you. The US chefs loved us Aussies and Englishes, so we were given special attention, even allowing me to grill my own food J During this weekend, the popular Ann Arbor Street Art Fair was taking place, so we strolled around the stalls for a bit in the evening before heading back to our hotel for a few drinks and games.

The next day, Kerry and I spent the day having a "cultural day out", strolling around the fair, using a little tour bus to reach each section scattered around the city centre, getting caricatures made of us and exploring the Michigan University. By popular demand, we met some of the others and ate at the Mongolia again, before heading back to get ready for the night; we were to head out to the nightclub, Necto. It was a good night, before I sadly got booted out for being caught underage drinking. Damn these American rules!

Needless to say, some people weren't feeling too perky the next day, so we had a chilled one, going out for lunch and skyping family and friends, before being taken back to camp. As the kids were due to arrive the next day, we worked within our areas getting things sorted and having staff orientation meetings before a small pool party was organised for us in the pool with a movie projected onto a small screen.

And so the kids arrived! After breakfast today, we all lined up along the road as the huge green Tamarack buses pulled up one by one and dropped all of the kids off. Some of us made an archway with our hands and cheered as they ran off the bus and under us, with shy smiles and darting eyes as they tried to take everything in. Most of them are returners from previous years so there were lots of excited hugs and squealing as they met their past counsellors. We all got into our bunk groups, and I'm in a new one with 10 9-10 year olds, so we got everything unpacked in their cabins and played games and activities to get to know each other. Once they'd got past the first hurdle, they could NOT keep quiet! They were bouncing off the walls, blowing bubbles, throwing their teddies around, jumping all over me, trying (and failing) to imitate my accent. I love them already! They try and hold my hand everywhere, beg me to sit with them at lunch, and I've already been informed by 3 of them that I'm their BFF (best friend for life) already! Cute.

So, it's just after lunch now and I've gotta run to lifeguard for the swim tests that each kid has to take to see if they can be allowed in the water without a lifejacket throughout the session, so it's back to my busy, busy schedule, and I'll report back soon!

Lots o' love and hugs xx