What a weekend!
WOW. Coming back from break was like a windstorm, of academics that is. Now all I can remember is a blur, my family and friends that occasionally received phone calls assumed that college had eaten me or I simply fell off the side of the planet.
Not so much as an e-mail, but they kept faith I guess. I love (no not really) coming back on Monday’s which are just jam packed regardless of the academic part being done by afternoon. The following days were about the same and the weekend following was about to be the same.
Luckily we did so much in class that week I got back that I had most of what there was for homework done early. So….I finally worked out the details and made my first trip to Concordia’s Language Villages. I had been planning on that weekend for awhile and it was an experience and a half.
There were many things that I didn’t find out until the day finally came when we were going to leave. Lucky for me I’m the type of person that can stand not to have those burning questions answered and would rather just wait and see. So I walked over to the international housing and once my friend and I finally found the van I met some of the people that I would be spending the weekend with.
To my surprise most of them I actually knew of or had at least seen around campus and a three hour car ride to Bemidji is just long enough to get to know everyone a little better. The camp that I would be a counselor at was for (at least this weekend) High School students, most from near the cities, with the intention of spending a weekend in a camp of immersion to practice their Spanish and learn about Argentina also.
That was the theme of the weekend and all surroundings, activities and food matched it equally. The first night was a bit overwhelming, partially because we got there only minutes before the campers had arrived and they were just as confused as we were for awhile. I had a family and also a house of campers to meet with and speak only Spanish to.
There was a lot of rule learning and general camp procedures going on that evening, but the largest shock was that the campers were not allowed to have cell phones, ipods ect. This was actually an understandable rule, but at the same time counselors weren’t necessarily allowed to used theirs in front of campers.
That first night I text my mother who was asking questions like always and briefly said “cant talk will call when I’m back at school, yes I’m here.” At least she knew I made the trip and the week still surviving.
Our second day we got the campers up for breakfast and began learning about Argentina in many different ways. We had some lunch and did some activities that we had signed up for on the first night. There were a lot to choose from like cooking, dancing, soccer, leather, mask making, kickball, and even basket weaving. The campers got to choose two and after that they were given some free time to buy things with their pesos (which had been exchanged for their money earlier) at either the candy store or the souvenir shop.
That night we had a more formal dinner just before the dance. It was really strange to be on the other side of the situation and having to be the chaperon. It did make me feel a little old for once, but the counselors did their small share of dancing also.
Sunday flew by and before I knew it I was back eating with DS with friends with them asking me what I did that weekend. From what it sounded like not many people had stayed on campus that weekend anyway so it was a slight difference from a weekend in Bemidji.
It was definitely a cold weekend to be spent partially outside, but its already looking a lot better outside so returning in April sounds like a much better plan, especially with a little more experience under my belt. I guess were luck to have these kinds of opportunities to reach out to younger kids in a way that they will remember for years to come. Making an impact is a great feeling, you may not think of it right away or even know it for awhile, but a few weeks later I feel like my time spent was worthwhile.