The End is Near

One more week to go.

I don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said. Part of me is super excited to leave, but then the other part isn’t ready. I have so much stuff left to learn skateboarding wise. After getting hurt, I haven’t really learned anything new on my board. I don’t want to come back home and such, but I am trying not to think like that. Skateboarding is about having fun, right?

I will be leaving with some great new friendships and even greater connections. This experience will be nothing but a positive one. I have learned a lot about myself, a lot about others, and maybe even too much about the real world outside of my political and religious bubble.

I may come back, I am not sure. Right now I just want to enjoy the heck out of my last week. Crappy work schedule and all.

That is all I have to say. I still haven’t taken any pictures. Maybe I will do that today.

Woodward Week 6 (My 4th week).

Warning: This is mainly word vomit... A way for my to get out all the thoughts inside my head. I complain too much and I don't have anything profound to say.

My fourth week of Woodward and I am ready to go home. I can go home at anytime too, but I want to commit to the full 6 weeks, because I think it is the only way to get the full Woodward experience. So far my experience has been one like the high school popularity contest I worked so hard to avoid. Everything here is based on popularity, it isn’t about your passion or commitment, it is all about who you know. I was told that by a long time staff member on the first night that I arrived here as he voiced his frustrations to be, but I didn’t believe him. I didn’t believe that the politics here could be any worse than the politics at Springhill or any of the other places I worked. The only difference is that at the other places I worked I was high up on the food chain and here I am at the bottom. Here, I don’t want to be at the top. I don’t like the way the top treats the bottom. It is like this miniature version of the all the political values I am fighting on the outside. DUMB!

I am still not counseling. I am not sure that I really want to counsel though. For the most part, the counselors here don’t care about the campers lives. Instead, they care about themselves. They don’t spend time with their campers. They are not in it to create positive change in the lives of children. For that reason, I like my pseudo-counselor position more and more. I spend more time with the campers than most of their counselors, and I am very happy to have that role. I find it sad when campers come to me to voice their frustrations with their own counselors and tell me I should be their counselor, but I can’t do anything about it. I can only be happy that they feel comfortable confiding in me. I have no doubt that I can create positive change in the lives of the campers without being a counselor. I don’t need that title. For me, it is a lesson in Humility. I am learning that I am not the humble person I want to be. I have to remember that the last will be first and the first will be last.

Ok, so, I realize after typing this, that it is too much complaining for one post. As always, it is important to point out that I am having tons of fun. If I wasn’t having fun, I would have left a long time ago. I am enjoying skateboarding, hanging out with the campers, and meeting new people from all over the globe. Being here is not a bad thing; it will only impact my life positively.

Still, I feel a bit homesick. I have too much downtime here that I think too much. I need to be kept busy. I am just like a little kid.

Four weeks and a sprained ankle later, I am almost back to the level of skateboarding I was at when I can to camp. There is nothing like a trip to Woodward to de-progress your skateboarding. I think I am going to come out of this experience with a new outlook on skating. I think I almost got to serious about it for a little bit. I just wanted to get better and better and I forgot about having fun. From now on, skateboarding needs to be nothing but fun. I need to lose the Jock mentality.

I am for sure working back at Springhill weeks 8 and 9! I don’t think I have been this excited to go back to that place since I was in middle school. I really have a new appreciation for that place and the way it really tries to honestly fulfill its mission statement.

Campers come again tomorrow. I have the whole day off today, so I plan to rest up and get ready to meet more amazing kids in the morning!

I really need to take pictures.

Woodward Update #3

Saturday shouldn’t be the day I update this thing.

I don’t really like being here on Saturdays. I have never been homesick before in my life, but on Saturdays I get homesick. That is probably just because I have never really been this far away from home for this long of time. Normally I am within a comfortable driving distance from my family. It is weird not having that here. Whenever I see the camper’s parents, I get like jealous. I miss home.

During the week I love it here. I love hanging with the campers and just enjoying all this place has to offer.

I don’t get to counsel again next week, but I am ok with that. I kind-of like to do the pseudo-counselor thing and just hang out with the action sports girls any time I am free. The only thing I lack is the paycheck. But it is just money, and I guess I don’t really need it.

This past week we had an amazing group of female skaters come through. I have never skated with so many good girls in my life; I just wish my ankle wasn’t still jacked so I could have skated harder with them. Still, it is just fun sessioning with girls. They were all just so cool too, all very different personalities, but all very cool. Just a fun group to be around.

We also had this huge group of rollerbladers come in from Detroit. I broke out my rollerblades last night and did some extreme 8-whelling with them. It was such a great time. Definitely one of the highlights of my week. Rollerbladers are always the nicest, most down to earth people around. I wish skateboarders and snowboarders were that cool.

I think I too often forget about the amazing natural scenery that surrounds me out here. I get so consumed by camp that I forget to look out and see the beauty of the mountains all around me. I want to climb one of these mountains before I leave.

I decided to pick up another three weeks, so I am officially half-way done with my time here. I think I will go home after that and maybe try to work a couple weeks at Springhill. I think that would round out my summer really well.

That’s about it, still doing well, just missing home. My ankle is almost healed, so I will hopefully get to start skating hard again in a couple days.

June Second.

The end of my second week of camp leaves me with a feeling of indifference. This next week is my last scheduled week and I am considering asking for more weeks. I thought that I would for sure want to stay here as long as possible, but now I am not so sure. Some of the negative points I outlined in my last post are weighing on me and part of me just wants to go back home and maybe out to Springhill. Still there is that other part of me who is having a really fun time, I get to skate, hang out with kids, make new friends and live at the one and only camp Woodward. I mean, who could complain about that. I will make my decision and talk to the bosses tomorrow. We will see what happens.

Not counseling wasn’t that bad, and that is a blessing, seeing as I am doing it once again this week. I still managed to be a part of the female action sports cabin’s lives and I plan on doing the same thing this week. The free time is nice to. The only bummer is, quite honestly, the lack of counselor paycheck. I really need to make all the money I can while I am here because Tahoe is looking more and more certain. But, I will suck it up and not counsel for another week. I can still make a difference, I just have to do it 100% for the kids and not for me.

Skating wise, I am struggling. I am not learning new stuff like I was hoping I would. I am sort of intimidated by the skill level of the other skaters here. For a while, that really bummed me out, but I think it is helping me realize that I put too much pressure on myself and I need to focus more on just skating for fun. I, like, sprained my ankle on Wednesday and I have been out ever since. That is also a bummer, but it is fun to just hang out here as well.

So yeah, I am having a fun time here, but it isn’t all fun and games like I thought it would be. The good times are really good, and in the bad times I just have to remember how good this job will look on my resume. I am looking forward to this next week, to healing, to becoming even more comfortable here, and enjoying whatever this adventure throws at me next.

Still haven’t taken a single picture… it will happen.