Hello From Camp

I've been silent for a while because life has been really busy. And it's good.

Last week I met some of the barn staff and rode 24 horses in two days. Good thing I had a break two days to go visit my nephew because it made me quite sore!  We also cleaned out one of the mini farms and loaded chickens, two stubborn pigs and several other little friends into a trailer. You don't want to know how many girls it took to catch the pigs :/

This week the horsemanship training began at camp Sunday afternoon and has kept all of us trainees busy from morning til evening. Then in the evening we get to write lesson plans so really there's not much of a break but I love it.

Sometimes meeting new people is really intimidating to me which may seem contrary to how you view a very social person. However even tho I like being around people I do not like the initial introduction. It's so awkward and I'm awkward so it's all just really awkward. This whole camp experience has given me many opportunities to practice and I've found that it's definitely fun to make new friends BUT personal time is so very important.

The past two nights I've sat out by myself on the platform of a slide (quick escape if I were to be pursued by night critters) by myself and those moments in creation with stars, God, the Bible, and my journal have made these past few days worth every moment. And there have been many other things I enjoy.

Some countries represented by counsellors are Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, England, and Ireland. Lots of great accents :) The foreigners are some of my favorite people and having five brazilians in horsemanship training has been so much fun.

About horsemanship training: we start around 9 after a breakfast at the dining hall (mmm gotta love camp food!!!) and do activities from playing games to teach our campers to riding horses and even teaching lessons to each other. There are about sixteen in the group give or take a few and six of us are equine counsellors. The others are regular counsellors who will be certified in horsemanship so even tho they won't be spending as much time in the barn they still will use the skills. Some of them had never been on a horse before but have so bravely risen to the challenge and it's been a fun mix of skill levels. We're always learning no matter how much we know and this week has been a perfect example of that.

Right now I'm chilling in the fellowship room of one of the lodges with some fellow counsellors. It's where we get wifi and comfy couches. Right now I'm soaking up the calm before the storm. Campers arrive June 8th which means that all next week will be spent on all-staff training.  Never before has training been so fun so it's been quite an adventure.

I better sign off for now read up on my manual and all the packets I've been given to be an effective equine staff!!!

Oh, and by the way, today marks my twentieth year on this planet so I have officially lived my last day as a teenager. Yikes! Any advice for the twenties?