I'm back on Catalina again. After two glorious weeks on the mainland - one lazing away and one working on summer camp prep and my tan, I've come back to the island. This time, I am in Two Harbors.
It was an adventure to make the boat...again. If this becomes a theme, I'm going to have to punch something. Because I refuse to run for another boat. Not my fault this time either...Chad didn't leave enough time for us to park our cars and get picked up. It ended up working out alright, because Tiffany and Kim just parked our cars, but it definitely was not worth the stress.
Anyway, here I am, back on Catalina. And Tuesday night was not a good night. I thought that 2 1/2 weeks would be enough to cure island fever. It wasn't.
Let me just say that I've never been a huge fan of camping. I mean, you sleep in a bag. You wake up feeling weirdly damp. You feel grimy all the time. I don't even like camping for 2 DAYS. How am I supposed to make it 2 MONTHS?!?!
Positive: I'm not in what we could strictly call a tent. It's more of a "tent cabin."
Negative: I'm not in the same one every week, and sometimes they are all rented out so we need to haul all our stuff 15 minutes down the road to Little Harbor.
Negative: The showers cost money. $.50 for 90 seconds. I can barely shampoo in 90 seconds. Plus, half of that time gets taken up waiting for the water to warm up. Also, they are all the way down a giant hill in town. By the time I get back up the hill I'm sweaty and dirty again. And, they don't really schedule much time for us to take showers...so I wore a bandanna today to cover my dirty hair.
Negative: The closest bathroom to our "tent cabin" is a set of porta-potties that haven't been cleaned since 1927.
Negative: They don't feed us on the weekend. Sure, they give us a stipend for showers, laundry and weekend food, but we have almost no way to cook things. Certainly no oven. Ryan and Julia graciously gave up their microwave to us. But the finer things in life (like creme brulee) will have to wait until I get an oven again. Hopefully September.
Postive: The giant hike up the giant hill helps work off some of the calories we get from eating fried foods catered by the restaurant. But only some. I'm going to need to detox when I leave this place.
Needless to say, I was a little depressed after getting off the boat on Tuesday. But a weekend in Emerald Bay with my lovely ladies Cari and Mel helped a lot. Plus, Jen comes this weekend!! So I get to spend the 4th with family. :) And Harry Potter comes out soon and I'm going to see it at midnight! Super excited. And then it's my birthday and July's almost gone. Happy thoughts. I just need to keep thinking happy thoughts. :)
Monday, June 27, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The Cure for Island Fever
This past week has been a much needed week off the island. After being stuck on the island for almost two months straight, a week of sleep and pampering is definitely what I needed.
May was a bit of a crazy month - lots of children running everywhere...and some emotional drama among the staff as well. I think we all needed a break.
I ended the spring season with a group of pretty adorable sixth graders...my own group! I took them kayaking and snorkeling and taught them about nudibranchs and operculums. :) I had a FULL day last Thursday as I started with their inspiration time at 8 in the morning and finished with skit night around 9 at night. And, no...I didn't have any breaks in there. (Maybe a little time after dinner...but it was pretty much go go go.) In the midst of the insanity, I also had to pack up my life as I will be moving to Two Harbors for the summer. Of course I waited until Friday morning - but I got everything together with plenty of time to spare. And I swear my suitcase shrunk. I don't know how I managed to fit everything back inside, but I was really afraid of the suitcase breaking.
Throughout the last week or two of camp I also took on some heavy competition with several different games of Nerts. If you don't know what Nerts is...well, you really should learn. Basically, it's communal solitaire - but you are racing against the rest of the players trying to get to 100 points. Super fun. But apparently during May I gained the reputation as the person to beat. I also was accused of cheating. (Not true - I'm just that good.) :) Anyway - one of the boy scout employees - Hoover - challenged me to join the game. And let me just say - he's not better than me - we were always neck and neck for each game and he would get lucky and squeeze ahead the last round. Anyway, the night before we left camp, Hoover and Dennis told me I needed some Nerts therapy and we played one final game. I'll spare you all the details, but the second to last round I had 98 and he had 99...and we laid the same amount of cards down the last round...so he beat me again...by ONE. So upsetting!!! But it was fun. Anyway - here's a picture of us getting ready to play a round with our "game faces" on.
May was a bit of a crazy month - lots of children running everywhere...and some emotional drama among the staff as well. I think we all needed a break.
I ended the spring season with a group of pretty adorable sixth graders...my own group! I took them kayaking and snorkeling and taught them about nudibranchs and operculums. :) I had a FULL day last Thursday as I started with their inspiration time at 8 in the morning and finished with skit night around 9 at night. And, no...I didn't have any breaks in there. (Maybe a little time after dinner...but it was pretty much go go go.) In the midst of the insanity, I also had to pack up my life as I will be moving to Two Harbors for the summer. Of course I waited until Friday morning - but I got everything together with plenty of time to spare. And I swear my suitcase shrunk. I don't know how I managed to fit everything back inside, but I was really afraid of the suitcase breaking.
Throughout the last week or two of camp I also took on some heavy competition with several different games of Nerts. If you don't know what Nerts is...well, you really should learn. Basically, it's communal solitaire - but you are racing against the rest of the players trying to get to 100 points. Super fun. But apparently during May I gained the reputation as the person to beat. I also was accused of cheating. (Not true - I'm just that good.) :) Anyway - one of the boy scout employees - Hoover - challenged me to join the game. And let me just say - he's not better than me - we were always neck and neck for each game and he would get lucky and squeeze ahead the last round. Anyway, the night before we left camp, Hoover and Dennis told me I needed some Nerts therapy and we played one final game. I'll spare you all the details, but the second to last round I had 98 and he had 99...and we laid the same amount of cards down the last round...so he beat me again...by ONE. So upsetting!!! But it was fun. Anyway - here's a picture of us getting ready to play a round with our "game faces" on.
So, apart from the Nerts therapy, a night spent dancing in Two Harbors, a few hilarious YouTube videos and some Sour Patch Kids to go with them, I've spent the last week off the island. And it has been a GLORIOUS week. I got to spend an afternoon with my dear friend Chris down in Fullerton - catching up on life since January. I've eaten Thai and Indian cuisine, plus an amazing In-N-Out burger/Neapolitan shake. I've seen X-Men First Class, Pirates 4, and Super 8. I got accepted into Fuller Theological Seminary! Yay. And I've gotten an hour long massage and a pedicure. Can you think of a better way to spend a week? Because I can't. Island Fever got its butt kicked this week. For realzies.
As for this next week, I will still be off the island, but probably working in Cabrillo for the week. Which kinda sucks because I probably won't get to shower for the week - just wash my hair in the sink. But we'll see - I might just take the first half of the week off...
Anyway - I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. Love you all!
I'm not a poser!! I am a certified lifeguard. :)
Headed out dancing. I LOVE this girl.
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