Penultimate Declarations

Hey readers out there!

Someone got onto my blog by searching for ‘how much does Muskoka Woods pay?’

Hilarious.

Well, it’s come to that time. Classic, the final week surrounded by Batman himself (I had to admit, I caught my breath just a little), too many teenagers and no sleep. For everyone else that is, I’m sleeping okay because I look after kids all day and that’s it. But that’s enough for me.

Tomorrow is my last day with the kids officially as they leave Thursday morning. I am still ironing out the kinks in my plan to stay with friends of friends, go to Niagara Falls to New York and back, then bus it over to Alberta as funly and as cheaply as possible. I think it will wear the socks off me in terms of physical and mental exhaustion but I’m up for the experience and I look forward to new challenges and new people.

Hopefully then too, my blog shall be a little more interesting than the funny thing a kid did today.

Today it was Clarke who did crazy dancing in the middle of the beach. Quite sad not to have gotten my camera out in time!

It’s Tuesday night tonight and I leave Friday night. Only a few more to go and I’ll have to say goodbye to all my new and awesome trailer mates and fellow nannies and friends. Natali is leaving early Thursday morning and I’ll be so sad to see her go. She was a lifeline. She has school a few days after that and I don’t envy her that. I’ll be travelling and seeing the sights and so I have new fun adventures to look forward to.

I’ll give out a postal address when I’ve conformed what I’m doing in a few weeks. It’s hopefully a YWAM school but applying is taking me some time and has begun to get awkward. Forms and documents and references and blah blah blah…

Time to run, Impact is on again tonight for the last time ever and there will be some good songs sung. Can’t wait…

love, kez.

I’m Not Going to Write You a Love Song… (I Might Write You a Blog Though)

Another late Friday afternoon spent sitting at a computer connecting with the real world, a concept I am easy to forget in this place. The last week of normal camp has finished (and as someone pointed out, we had an EP on the last period of the last day of the last week of camp) and starting tomorrow is a shorter week called ‘Classic’ which is only for Senior High and is apparently just plain insanity. I hear rumours that half their camp budget is spent on this week.

My kids leave Thursday morning and so I won’t have them then or Friday, but CIT (Campers-in-training), my avenue to sanity, finished this week – which means a few days of  all three kids, all day. I had it easy this week I suppose, with  Mr. 7 being at Wild and  Mr. 5 doing all kinds of extra-curricular activities.

I suppose now is a good time to look back on my time here and evaluate my life. Despite having a fairly tough summer, I couldn’t say that coming here was a mistake. I suppose a secret to life is to get lessons out out of everything and see God’s Presence and Sovereignty in every situation. Which I think I have been able to do. There are things that God can only teach you and help you realise when you are going through the struggle. It’s been a hard slog here, and exhausting and I haven’t been able to feel close to God emotionally, I think I’m emotionally shot at the moment, but that’s good because God is bigger then what I feel and He’s been with me every step of the way. Even when I busted His chops for bringing me here.

Right now I’m listening to a “Long Song’ or whatever it’s called, which Julie Rains, my roommate sang at Impact on Wednesday night. We found a cd she had recorded for it (maybe?) and it’s only the one track but I like her voice. And her style. And her in general. She sleeps across on the top bunk so we have some chats and she puts up with my random whispering as I try to memorise countries of the world (I wanted this time to count for something).

One thing I have gotten out of my time here is some quality people. Different from me in many ways, but there are some gems in this place that I will think of long after I’m gone.

Today, for once, it was HOT. RIght now, at 7:20pm, it is 26 degrees. Can someone say ‘what it’s suppose to be!’

Peace out my Gs.

kez.

P.S. Man, there are crumbs everywhere!!!!

You Can Quote Me On That

“Do you think $500 is enough to put in my kid’s tuck shop account for the week?”

- quote of the week, from one of my roommates – quoting a parent. Perfectly summing up the kids that go to this camp.

The other one was Dave who, at the start of the camp was in a skit and pretending to be parent, received a pretend ‘freezie’ upon leaving and asked how much it cost.

“No, no, it’s on the house.”

“Oh, so it’s included in the $1000 I already paid to send my kid here? Well that’s nice.”

Too funny. I have held this lines close to my heart these past few months, encouragement not to take this time all too seriously.

The other quote is to never trust a fart. Hmmm, I like that one too.

Back to business. Today = day off and I haven’t gone into town or walked into Rosseau, I’ve just chilled, patiently waiting for one of the private docks to become private again, only to give up, retreat to my room and spend hours on the internet. I could spend all day here…

Alesya is here with me as well, we hang out alot, just chilling and later we are going to play tennis and no doubt she will win but I will shout loudly and make ridiculously outlandish winning dances so much fun will be had.

I just found out a friend of my brother’s from Perth (but she’s Canadian) knows a friend at this camp. It is indeed a small world when Facebook is involved.

I’ve stolen a book from Larissa who lives below me called, Sex, Sushi and Salvation … it’s a bit like Blue Like Jazz. It’s okay, but I’m not really into reading people’s opinions on everything, I’m like, dude, I can form my own opinions. Maybe I’ll write a book and some random ignorant girl from halfway across the world will diss it. I can only dream…

My ability to tolerate camp food is decreasing. I have two weeks here, 11 working days left and hopefully I will not become anorexic or bulemic and not because of a control issue, but because I just can’t stand the food anymore. Wednesday lunch is hotdogs which I can stand and Saturday dinner is ‘Muskoka Burgers’ which I can stand so if I eat twice a week, I might just make it!

Maybe not.

The other night I learnt all about a country called Tuvalu and it’s quite interesting. It seems that if the water levels keep rising then in awhile it will cease to exist which seems a pity because I haven’t been there yet. I’m sure they’ve got some good things to teach me before they become ocean.

The side of my bed has become my office which is acceptable because I can sleep using only half my bed. There is a plus side to being skinny and eternally cold. Unfortunately, it keeps growing with papers and letters and envelopes and forms and folders and a bible and a book and two pens and my passport. Ooh, don’t lose that one.

At the mo, my plan looks like finishing up at this place at the end of August, catching up with friends at Niagra Falls, going on to NY, spend a few days there and come back. Then get to Alberta, somehow, and maybe see a friend and then start a school with YWAM.

SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE!!

Enough talk, time to Facebook some more.

Peace out dawgs.

kezzo

Unwinding Cable Cord.

*sigh* and its a contented one.

Finally, finally, after all this time… it’s photo time.

“What time is it? It’s photo time… time for a photo…”

Is this camp driving me a bit nutty… yes.

Let it begin…

Beauty At A Price

A few girls and myself went out for a night on the town for my birthday… well, the closest town is a bit far and not highly populated, but still, we made i work for us.

Squish to Fit

Ok, well this process would be a whole lot easier if I wasn’t using a computer where everything was in Russian… but oh well. One more for the road and if you are mum or dad, there’s lots more uploaded on my Facebook account so go there!

Alesya and Me

Oh well, I’m still here, waiting while I upload photos to each program I use. I suppose I can put up another one…

Arrrggh

This one was taken on Pirate day, a day I invented to keep them entertained for a morning. It worked for all of about 20 minutes. Sigh.

Oh well.

Facebook isn’t working so it looks like I’ll post some more here instead…

.. I should go to bed at some time…

Kabarti Kabarti Kabarti

The next photo is… well, I haven’t decided that yet, I kinda just figure it out when they all come up… oh and Kabarti is a weird game that I wrote a blog about. Mentioned it at least. The actual rules are a bit sketchy but it looks like it’s fun. Or something.

Too Fabulous for Words

And I tihnk that can be it. It’s way late and I have to work the morning tomorrow so, love you and leave you. It’s probably nice day time there in Perth right?

Pfft, well we have sunshine at the moment

The endo.

Kezzo.

All the good news is First On Facebook.

Peter Kapitola, what does your Facebook status mean??? Are you cereal? hehehe

If so, then nothing I’m about to say will even matter.

This morning was the Australian and New Zealand breakfast which I have been looking forward to for the last four weeks and I accidently slept in. I hate my humanness sometimes. Gee.

In other news, I still have no idea what I’m doing after the summer although I’ve ruled out staying here for the fall. Autumn Kerryn, Autumn, don’t turn AMERICAN!!!

I’ll probably hang in Alberta but I’m now 50/50 about which base to hang with. They are both running the same school at the same time a few hours drive apart. Sweet.

I am currently living on $7 and a $1.50 tuck account. $1.50 buys nothing since it’s ridiculously expensive there. I am willing to donate $0.50 to the cause so that I can buy one final Coca Cola.

Not so much to report, miss you all. Canadian summers are stupid. It rained today, in between the strong heat.

kezza

There Goes My Hero

Write a new post! I think I will, thanks for asking WordPress.

This here is a declaration of my awesomeness at Guitar Hero 2. Well, medium awesomeness at least. Last night, after the kids went to sleep, I finished Guitar Hero on Medium level ( got paid for my gigs!) and got sucked up into a flying saucer and whisked away… er, my character, not actually me on some pseudo-Canadian woodland UFO adventure. For me, it was getting a bit tricky by the end and was averaging only 3 stars a show, but I did manage a 5 star show earlier on and a couple of four stars…

…possibly none of this is very interesting unless you are a Guitar Hero junkie, as of now, like myself.

Today is my day off, no one else’s and so thus, no one else to drive me into town (or even walk with me to the local town 30 minutes away). I think what will end up happening is me staying here all day but I’ve actually discovered it costs me less that way. Which is good. It’s one thing to get your paycheck, it’s another to get it and spend it all in the course of the next few days. Alesya finishes work in awhile so I’ll hang out here with her I think.

Week 6 for camp has started, week 7 for me being here. This is the fourth last week.

Uh, YAY!

Still no idea what’s happening next, Alesya said I can borrow her phone to ring the YWAM people and that’s exactly what I will do tomorrow. I could never be a full-time YWAMer, I’m much too organised for that.

One night I couldn’t sleep so I did some maths to help me relax. Yes, I’m a nerd, did you not already know that? Anyway, here we go…my current pay, after board is taken out, is $3.30 an hour. I pay $75 a week to sleep in a rectangular trailer with 5 other girls (and 5 other girls’ stuff). I get paid for 48 hours work a week, although the number of weeks I’ve worked less than that has equaled possibly zero. Not that I’m sad about that, although… I am, but still, my traveling time is about 3 minutes so there are always silver linings to every continual dark cloud floating over the lake.

Once again, lunch is on and I have to go. I took my laundry bag down last night so that I would definitely not miss it again this week. I can survive one week on dirty clothes… pretty sure two weeks would be a stretch.

kezza

P.S. The other day, after saying that everyone else was a sacrificial anode for the mosquitoes here, in one night I got 32 mosquito bites all over me. It was nuts. I think I must have not slept with a sheet over me and someone had opened the door at night for too long and let them in. I wasn’t impressed. I’m still not, they don’t go in a hurry and it’s not the best look. Nevertheless, I haven’t been bitten since so I’m eagerly killing the mosquitoes that come my way still.

Aren’t You the Incredible Hulk?

Dearest all,

Well, today had been interesting in many ways, most of them good ones.

INTERESTING THING #1:

Clarke decided to try the whole Mentos in the Soft Drink trick to see what would happen.

Nothing.

For a second or two…

and then fizz fizz fizz all up and out of the bottle and over him and the table and the bench… luckily we were outside at the Tuck Shop so I laughed and not cringed. Then Sabrina spilled her drink a bit over my leg (am SO used to being covered in food and dirt and artificially coloured drinks now) and I invited Miles to spill his, just to make it complete. He never ended up spilling his which is incredible considering his ability to completely be unaware of anything around him.

INTERESTING THING #2:

The kids got out Guitar Hero II and played this morning. They needed me and Scott (the dad) to play some songs so that others could be ‘unlocked’ and so I helped them out. Then, once Sabrina went to sleep and the boys went to CIT (Campers in Training), I started to have a play. Now, to put this in perspective, normally during this time, I have a sleep on the couch and just rest. This afternoon however, I cranked it into Medium mode (no easy feat coming from Easy…) and chose a cool chick who was wearing clothes as my character and jammed away, earning cash for my performances, getting sponsorship and buying clothes from the money I earnt (I was happy with the guitar I had).

TWO HOURS LATER.

If Sabrina had woken up I would have said, ‘Go back to bed, I’m playing Guitar Hero!!’.. luckily she didn’t and so when I looked at my watched and saw it was time to get the boys, up came Sabrina and to the flagpole we raced. Well, ok, I dramatising it for effect, but I will just say that the time FLEW and I did have so much fun.

Guitarist, drummer, singer… I could be them all in a rock band. Just as well they don’t have a flute because I’m not sure it would sell so well… but I would totally dominate nevertheless.

INTERESTING THING #3:

Three pieces of mail for me today. One was a social Insurance card – sweet, was wondering what my number was. One was a card from Mum and Dad  – thanks!! I got Grandma’s earlier in the week… ok, so if that doesn’t puzzle anyone about how the postal system (in Australia AND in Canada) works, then you must work for them. Two cards sent on the same day, arriving days apart. Oh well.

My third piece of mail was my PAYCHECK! Oh sweet beloved piece of paper, how I adore thee. It’s always nice to get a paycheck and feel the joy of having some money and temporarily forgetting just how hard you worked your bum off to get it. I still haven’t cashed my first one, I think I’ll try to save it and put them into an account at some bank which I will visit one day and use it while I’m in the Can-da.

Finally, to reaffirm how much I don’t fit in at this place, today Miles was covered lightly in green paint because of some art activity he was doing at CIT (of course Miles was and not Clarke). One of the staff came over to talk with the kids (because everyone knows the kids and noone knows me – their ever-constant companion… a bit like God really….) and Miles started to explain…

“I looked green because we were painting in CIT and it got on me.”

Then I said, ‘actually, he’s really The Incredibly Hulk but that’s just what we’re telling everyone so they won’t know.’

Now, Miles loves The Incredible Hulk so I thought it was a fairly humourous line. Nope, not a laugh, not a chuckle, not even a smile. *sigh*

I didn’t want to have to say, ‘ummm, I’m not being serious,’ so I just left it at that, laughing at my own inability to say the right thing, even if what I say happens to be hilarious in my mind. That’s all that matters to me anyway.

I don’t know if it’s just a different sense of humour type thing here, with all Canadians or just rich ones or what. Not sure. The worst part is, I haven’t even started to joke about poo or sex yet so I’m pretty sure that won’t go over well. At least I have some friends who will toe the line with me.

“Line? What line? You’re so far past the line it’s like a dot in the distance.”

Alrighty my tighties, I’ve got to go eat dinner before they finish serving it – quite sure everyone has left this place since it’s the Instructors’ night off. Home alone but that’s okay, Alesya is here I think, we’ll go make some movies because she’s a hoot. At least she will smile when I joke about sex.

The end.

kezza.