Camp is OVER!

Tamsyn and I

I'm back. I'm healthier. I'm tired. I'm frustrated without reason.

I have a very interesting time at camp. And by interesting, i mean, well, not totally fulfilling, yet not a lose of a week either. When you think camp, (or church camp i guess) you think of hanging out with friends, eatting BBQ and listenitng to a good preacher try and change your life for the good. Which ususally happens!

This camp was different. We did have lots of time to hang out with friends, and we did BBQ once. And the speaker...well...he neeeds some more training before he does anymore camps i think. He was not a preacher. He walked in on our first session and said "I'm not a preacher, i'm not going to preach to you. So, what questions do you have for me?" and that was it. I as well as most of my friends, were a little stumped as to what he was talking about. The speaking never really got much better then that. He told us his testimony and then just wanted us to ask him questions, which usually, he deflected and turned into questions back to us. He was an odd bird i tell you.

We arrived at camp on tuesday evening aroun 5:00. We were able to get settled in and had dinner at 6:30. It was beautiful there. It was a game reserve that had Springbok, Zebra, Ostrich and Elk type animals on it. It also had an Eagle bird sanctuary which was pretty cool.

Wedneday we had breakfast, then the session, then we had free time till the evening session after dinner. So a few friends and i walked around the property to see if we could see any animals. We did not see anything except a few Springbok and a few Ostriches far off. And we saw the birds, of course.

It was a nice hour and half long walk. Then we got back to our campsite and lunch was about ready. So we ate and then i got my blanket and brought it out in the grass and layed out and read my book. It was delightful. The sun was warm there was nobody around so it was nice and quiet. It was great! Eventually Simon came over with his guitar and started playing and then a few other started to gather around and sit on my blanket. My reading had to stop. We soon i had a good group of about 10 people sitting on the grass and my blanket chatting. It was nice, although, i must i admit, i was a little pertubed by the fact that i could not ready my book anymore.

We dicided that we wanted to play a game so we went indoors where the table was. We had again, picked up UNO and were playing it nearly once every few hours. I played most likely 50 games of UNO over 3 days. And i am the fastest shuffler and dealer, so they don't like to try, they just make me do it. My hands actually hurt after the week was over.

It was soon time for dinner and then the night session. Which, really was even more dissapointing. People were falling asleep, walking out, just not paying attention. It was ridiculous!

That night we all hung around our rooms. The building we slept in was a square building with a wood burning fire place in the middle and then rooms surrounding it. Each room had 3-6 beds in it and had it's own bathroom per room. The girls were split up into two girls a room and the guys had 4 to a room. So at night, we would light a fire and all sit around it and just talk and hang out and have fun. This night, Wednesday, we brought out the music and some started dancing. It was hilarious and fun. Then i brought out the two fake snakes that i hhad brought and that started a whole other round of hilarity. We had so much fun with those. We would just start throwing them on people and then wathcing them scatter. At midnight, most people went to bed, but a few of us (5) decided that we were going to take a walk. the moon was out so we could be able to see pretty well. We walked down to the field where the animals usually are and were able to see all the zebra and springbok and elk like animals. It was awesome. However, a bit scary. I did not like being there in the dark so much, but it was two girls and three guys, so that was fine, i guess. We came right up to one of the Zebra's and i was shaking. The guys kept telling me that if i was too noisy the zebra would charge me. Now that i am in my right mind, i know that is not true, but in the dark, surrounded by the animals, i believed them. I about cut the circulation of one of the guys arm from squeezing it so hard.

The next day, Thursday, it rained all day. It had started raining about 2am and didn't stiop until late in the evening on thursday. Despite the rain though, it was a nice day. A lot of UNO playing and just haning out. I really didn't do much. Towards the end of the day, around 5pm i layed down to take an hour nap before dinner at 6pm. I was still trying to get ove my cold and the medicine was helping but i just was not getting much rest,so i neede a nap. However, instead of waking up at 6 for dinner, i woke up at 9:30, when people came back to "the village" as we called it to start the fire. I had missed dinner AND the session. I was mostly upset about dinner. I ate two cookies and my weight in marshmallow's and was fine though. =) God provided!

So that evening, again we were all hanging out around the fire. At midnight, they decided to bring out the projector we had with us and we all watched a movie. It's a south african comedian movie. It's about this guy that does stupid things and makes a fool of himself and other. Kind of like candid camera is, where they surprise people, but this guy is the host of it, sort of. Whatever, i had already seen it but stayed up just to hang out with my friends. At 1:30 we all went to bed. I got up at 6am to get a hot shower and pack and then was able to go over to the dining hall and have my devotions outside witht he peacocks. Oh! The Peacocks! There were about 15 of them runing around the whole camp. One of them opened up it's feathers twice, but that is all. They are so pretty. AND LOUD!

I had my devotions, and was soon joined by a few people. We had a nice chat waiting for breakfast. Then we after breakfast we had our last session and then loaded up the buses and drove back to campus. It was good.

We arrived back at campus about 1:30 and unloaded our luggage and all went to have lunch.

Later that night Emily came and picked me up, as i was going to spend the nigth at her house and get my laundry done and just relax quietly, away from these school people!

It was nice. We went and picked up dinner and then went back to her house to watch movies and eat and just enjoy relxing.

The next morning i didn't really do much except watch two movies and finish my laundry. I had made dinner plans so around 4:45 i was dropped back off at school, where i unpacked, got ready and was picked up about 5:30 for dinner. I went out with some friends and didn't end up coming back to campus until 11:00pm. It was great to be out and feel like a normal person again.

Sunday i woke up at 9:30, went downstairs for some toast and then came back to bed and read my book for a while. At 10:15 Chantel came and got me and we watched a movie. Ten i went back to bed and read some more. Around 1:00 after lunch Chantel and i watched another movie. Then i got back in bed and read the rest of the night. I also took a nap, so that broke things up a bit. ;)

This morning i awoke at 7:20, got in teh shower, got ready and went to class. I have two classes on monday, then a free period and then two classes to finish off the day. I have two papers due tomorrow but i needed the library to work on them so i was not able to do it over the weekend. So that is what my afternoon will consist of.

I got my essays back for english that i had done. Remember i had 6 essays to turn in? Well 4 of them were for english. I got A's on two of them and then the other two she wants me to clarify some things and then resubmit them. She said they were good, but could be better. We shall see what i get on those. I will have to do that tonight as well. Oh formy essays, i had taken a few of my blog posts from here and turned them in so that i could see what she had to say about my writing. I know i am not the best at grammer and things like that, but i think that i did pretty well.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I will upload more when i have time.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the time at camp. I appreciate you showing me your glory through nature and frienship. I had a great time. And this weekend was wonderful. Very relaxing and enjoyable. Thank you for being here with me and giving me the strength to care.

Help me get through this week and all the assignments that i have to do.

I love you,

Heidi


Van


Mini bus seats


Packing


Emir packing the trailer


Johan and Shawn trying to zip the pink suitcase they shared. LOL!



Tamsyn and I


Emir and I


Lucien and I


Garth and I


Peacocks!


Outside dining hall


Peacock


Peacock


blanket where i read


Blanket where i read


Simon


Lesiba - Gertian - Josh


Megan


Adrian


Llwelyn


Posh


Josh


Lesiba


Donovan



Like i said, more pictures to come later...i am tired of waiting for them to upload. This here blog has taken two hours.