Daniel's Summer Blog

The Sixth week of camp, the middle of second session is generally the peak of the staff members' stress levels. By this time, all the campers have leanred exactly how to push all of their counselor's buttons and do so with increasing frequency and efficiency. Also, the staff becomes fed up with itself, the coworkers, the tyrant supervisors, the lazy minions, the ridiculous wishes of the big fishes. Para demonstrar: It was mandated that the first day off of the session would be the (only) 24 hour day off of the session. Allow me to explicate why this is foolish. The beginning of Session deux brings stress, yes, but not enough that cannot be taken care of with a 12 on the first day off. The second session 24 is often the last refuge of counselors, a lifeline, during the crushing stretch of aforementioned burnout. It is a light to which they can look forward, before the cornea-scorching flame of post-camp freedom.

Not unrelatedly, my eye condition, which I seemed to have contracted during staff week, finally sent me to the Toccoa Clinic not once, but twice in two days, with Sally driving myself and the Hamburgler because he has soft-lense associated hypoxia which was previously misdiagnosed as an ulcer. I have a serious bacterial infection which has yet to be pinpointed, they cultured my eyes Thursday, so I will find out tomorrow when the three of us head down there again. I have been on four sets of eyedrops thus far, each producing varying levels of success. I will not be wearing contacts for at least the remaining three weeks of camp, which is ok, except that wearing sunglasses becomes difficult.

Never go on days off with more than one car. Words to live by. But do go to The Marble Slab in Ashvegas, it is delicious (swiss chocolate with frozen snickers mixin and a chocolate covered waffle cone). The best part is that there is no choice of size. Either you go all or you go home. This blog has been brought to by the letter arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And the number 132,000,000.

Two things does this apply to:
First session is done, and I am sitting in the eye of the storm, waiting for the crush of second sessioners to arrive at the airport tomorrow. As we all know, the first session campers are loveable punks, at least more so than their late-summer counterparts. The latter prefer more stucture, more medication and more wanting to appear like they do not belong in first session.

The second, and more written about example is Zinedane Zidane, the All-World, Mega-Superstar french soccer player and hero. Late in the game, at the beginning of the second overtime, Zidane and a large Italian defenseman, Materazzi, exchanged words. They separated, Zidane took a couple of strides forward, and then turned and headbutted Materazzi squarely in the sternum, knocking him to the ground. After some hesitantion and discussion Zidane was shown a red card, and left the game (tied) in the final overtime, in the final game of the World Cup, in the final game of his storied career. What a punk. They still gave him the MVP award, which will merit discussion for months to come, considering that he also missed another game for getting two yellow cards earlier in the tournament. Also, the frogs only missed one penatly kick, which in theory he would have taken (or Henry, who was benched) and made.

I got to hang around with my family today, it was a very sharp reminder of how insane it is to have a family present, the sheer chaos of discussion, going places, organizing everything so that everyone is always happy which is impossible.

Viva Italia!
Daniel

This week at the Shiur Matkal, the new shtender was presented us. A shtender, under most circumstances is a simple wooden stand on which a siddur can be placed for reading, usually by whoever is leading. In this case, the shtender is not just a skeleton, but rather a whole box, and inside various nooks and crannies of the shtender are ritual objects, compartmentalized by daily, weekly and annual use. Most of the shtender is made out of walnut wood, with metal only used when necessary and for cups and the like. Each separate piece has some intricate carving on it, most, but not all, pertaining to shivat haminim, the seven species (of plants). One of the pieces which does not have plant life on it was the case for Megillat Ester (read on Purim) which featured a bit of dark humor, a hangman's noose, symbolizing the hanging of Haman. The case also has a magnet on the top, so that it literally hangs inside the shtender, metaphorically hanging Haman all year long.

Speaking of hangin' 'em high, the Staff vs Campers All-Star Hockey Game took place shortly after lunch the same day, and I am glad to report that the Staff avenged last year's loss with a 6-3 thumping of the campers. No stat line for yours truly, but I got some nice chunks of playing time, and got to yell when I was not actively involved.

Already, unbelieveably, unstoppably, first session is beginning to wind down. It seems like the campers just arrived, but they go home in roughly seven days. The strain of camp is more apparent than ever in some people, but we have stop and remember, that yes, this is really really hard, but it is equally if not more important not only to us, for the experience, for the learning (not for money though), but also that for the kids, this is the best month of their life, and every summer only tops the previous one.