two weeks down, First one with the kids!!!

This week has been full of entertaining moments to say the least. To name a few, went swimming on Tuesday, where I was in charge of the not so great swimmers down in the shallow end, and one of my kids (a little spunky guy) kept climbing out the side of the pool to use the small slide at the edge; and every time he got out, his suit would just drop down revealing his bare bottom for all to see… it never failed, he got out, mooned the pool, then turned, smiled, laughed, and went down the slide! We of course found this hilarious and had a difficult time trying to scold him between our laughter.
Wow, on another note, I completely lost it one day! I hadn’t planned on having to use ANGRY mike till much later in the summer if at all; but yes, it was hot, I was basically alone with one of the other staff (a younger dude who has been having some issues with liability) and our max allowed number of kids (roughly 27 between us two). To paint the picture; it was hot, probably high 80’s low 90’s, muggy, chaotic, and to top it off, two or three kids had to use the bathroom, and of course the ones outside were closed… meaning we would have to take them into the center, which would have thrown us out of ratio, so we instead needed to take everyone in! it was in the act of trying to get the kids to line up for a head count (with children yelling and running around) and basically not paying attention (and with no help from the other staff who was just as actively not paying attention), that I just went beserker and flat out released the LOUD ANGRY mike!!! RAWR!!! To which the kids immediately snapped to, and in a seemingly unison wave, dropped their heads and refused to make eye contact, ALPHA DOG BABY!!! But, yea, not my finest moment…

Thursday- Gyoungju amusement park
AMAZING, the rides were so much fun, and because I’m with the olders, we got to go on the best ones, including a looping, twisting roller coaster called the Phaeton, which the kids and some of the adults refer to as the “phantom”! and the Tornado and so many other rides- a great success, 0 lost kids, and some funny pictures, so perfect. Also, I managed to befriend my nemesis, who up until then had been giving me the tude like it was his job. We’ll just call him G (no name policy)… anyway, he’s kinda the outcast, small for his age, but sharp as a whip. When everyone else found their “buddies” for the day, he was left alone, and became my bud! Which turned out great, except when I missed witnessing a scuffle in the parking lot, then he was re-assigned to another group, because he was acting out (and I couldn’t make a case for his defense). But yea, G is the messiest eater you will ever see, his white shirt was orange and red by the time we got back to school, but his attitude was coming around (I guess both of ours were).

And then… infantigo/impetigo strikes!!! Impetigo is a highly contagious form of infection similar to staph or strep, which causes itchy sores which later turn into open wounds or blisters like an elevated case of chicken pox. We learned about the infection during orientation week, and jokingly talked about how rare it was and the low chance of us seeing a case during our lifetimes… Aaaaaannnddd, we’ve got a case in our center, which we found out about this Friday just before we took off for the weekend. To make matters worse, one of our counselors may have also gotten it, which messes up ratio (of kids to adults) and potentially takes her out of action for 7-10 days. SO, to re-cap; after our first full week with the kids (which was exhausting), a trip to an amusement park, some ballistics coming from my inability to control the kids, and a bare ass in the swimming pool; we got hit with a highly infectious disease! KOREA is awesome!


Yesterday 6-20 herb hills
Thoughts of the day:
- High Ropes course over the park- outstanding, really fun and challenging, today I am actually sore…
- Trevor broke the muscles in his leg within the first few obstacles… had to be taken to the hospital and x-rayed, I later helped him wrap his leg again, after the swelling had reduced from the size of a softball to a normal leg, and now he might be out of action for a while- luck is really with us these first few weeks.
- King kong adventure course- normal starter course
- Tarzan, harder sports course- which we attempted and OWNED after a lunch break, no words can really truly describe it. There was swinging, climbing, scaling, pretty much every extreme action verb you can think of (we did it). A great Saturday!

- Ripped open the armpit, not really, but kinda got it snagged and rubbed raw…
- Mr. mun/moon- one of the course operators took an interest in us and helped us through the course like a personal guide- which was very lucky indeed
- Traded away more z-bars and kashi bars to a younger couple that graciously offered us their black bean bao (buns)- MER!!!
- there were some Native Americans entertaining the park go-ers during lunch which both saddened and entertained me to no end
- Found a Kona coffee shop in korea (go figure)
- and realized we will actually be going back to herb hills on Thursday for our weekly field trip with the kids


Also, last night (Friday) I discovered my sever allergies to soju- korean rice liquor- the drinking age is 20 (so I’m legal everyone), but I got speckled and red literally from head to toe! And while I’m friendly with soju, it is not friendly with me… yet, but I am going to make it my friend before I leave k-town!!!
Had some Korean BBQ, left still a little hungry, but satisfied for the moment, wandered into the bar with the gang and found out what a juicy bar is… got hit on by the bar ladies, and tried my very best to ignore her completely by looking at the very interesting white walls lining the bar… ☺. But we really did have a good kick off to the weekend- a much needed escape from the chaos, and infections that is camp!

SUNDAY-
Happy Father’s day Faj!
I know it’s not quite F-day in the states yet, but I’m gonna call you today just in case (cuz who knows what tomorrow’s camp will bring!


And congrats to Peter and Michelle, NEW BABY COUSIN LEA!!!!!!!!