Review: Carlton Arms Hotel, East 25th St, New York City

I found out about this hotel via HostelWorld, and was immediately taken in by the pictures on their website. It definitely looked like my kind of place, and it was located so conveniently (on the corner of East 25th and 3rd). For a private bedroom, it set me back $600 for a week's stay; the toilet and showers were shared, but after living in the woods for two months this wasn't even slightly a setback for me. It was a lot of money to part with, but seemed reasonable considering the location.

When I arrived, I found that the hotel entrance was a door next to a store, and you immediately have to climb a staircase to get up to the main lobby; I was amused by a sign downstairs, telling guests to bring the cat upstairs if she was at the bottom. Lugging my suitcase and holdall up the stairs wasn't much fun, but seeing the reception area kind of distracted me:

This place was covered, covered in murals; even in a week I was still spotting new things on my floor, and I haven't even seen the other floors of the hotel. It is absolutely stunning, and I love the idea of bringing in local artists and letting them loose to decorate every single room differently.

Checking in was a breeze; the people running the Carlton Arms are friendly, artsy folk who are really relaxed and approachable. I was asked which floor I wanted to stay on and, being lazy and sick of dragging my bags around, I opted to stay on the same floor as reception. They gave me the keys to the two remaining rooms on that floor and told to pick whichever one I preferred. I picked 6A, of which I've posted photos on here previously. It was a monochrome room with beautiful, slightly morbid murals on the walls - definitely suitable for me! I went back to tell the staff my choice, and to pay the remaining $510 I owed them. Here I hit a little snag - the temporary debit card that camp paid me on decided not to work. A lot of people had this problem, and I was incredibly embarrassed, not to mention worried that I would be thrown out before I'd even been there for five minutes. But the people running the hotel were honestly the nicest, most chill people. I was told to go settle in, and to bring them cash whenever I could get to an ATM. I was so grateful for their kindness, as I was pretty flustered at this point.

On my way back to my room, I noticed this windowsill and couldn't resist taking a photo:

As I was dragging my things through the door, one of the two cats (a tabby) that live in the hotel came into my room. She was very friendly, letting me pick her up and give her a big cuddle before depositing her back outside. I soon met the other, a grey and white cat who was a little more shy, and it was nice to have them roaming around the corridors - it made the hotel feel so much more homey and friendly. Not to mention that they keep the hotel clean enough so that you don't get cat hair all over everything you possess!

The bed in my room was a double one, and it was so comfortable (even if it was super squeaky). I loved sprawling out on it after a long day walking around the city. It was also equipped with a sink, and an air conditioning unit that worked like a dream. I was expecting it to be noisier than it actually was, but I suppose the noise was cancelled out a bit by the fact that all I could ever hear was the traffic out on 3rd Avenue. You'd think that would be really annoying and disturbing - I usually can't sleep with loads of noise happening - but I slept incredibly well at the Carlton Arms. Maybe I was tired from all my NYC adventures. Maybe it was because I wasn't sleeping in a cabin in the woods any more. I don't know. In any case, I slept beautifully there, even managing to have a couple of naps during the day when everyone was hustling and bustling outside.

A couple of the corridors on my floor.

All in all, I had a really wonderful stay. The hotel is 'basic', in that you don't get breakfast and there's not anything like a TV in the rooms, but the complimentary WiFi is great. The atmosphere in the place is so ambient and laid back; it's a truly charming little oasis in the middle of the big city and it was lovely to come home to it every evening. I definitely missed it when I left.

So, if you're planning on going to New York City any time soon, I would highly recommend the Carlton Arms Hotel. It's clean and pleasant, with the charm of an old house that's been really lived in and loved for years. If you're an artistic sort of person, a solo adventurer, a young couple or a fan of cats, you will adore it there. It's also really accessible, only a 5-10 minute walk over to 5th Avenue and the Empire State Building, and a short subway ride to famous places like Grand Central Station, Central Park and Times Square.

If I ever get to go back to New York, Carlton Arms Hotel will be top of my list for a place to stay!

NYC: Museums

I started today at the American Museum of Natural History. I was in my element, as I walked straight into the space section, and space is one of my favourite things ever. I went to a show in the planetarium; a great big dome-shaped screen was on the ceiling and the show was about dark matter in the universe. It was so interesting and caused a massive existential crisis for everyone in the room. The 3D effect of the screen above us like the sky was amazing, it felt like we were actually cast into the cosmos. Also, they had a meteorite hall, which is exactly how it sounds - I promptly lost my mind.

Another highlight for me was the main hall, where they had two massive dinosaur skeletons. As a child, I was obsessed with Jurassic Park and wanted to be a palaeontologist, and I still get excited over old bones, dinosaur or otherwise. This museum had an abundance of bones, so I was very happy about this. Unfortunately I didn't get to see all of the museum because it's bloody huge, and I wanted to visit the Metropolitan (and have a walk through Central Park), so I couldn't spend too much time there.

Central Park was next, as I had to walk through it to get over to the Metropolitan. I didn't really stop, but I got to stroll through the Shakespeare Garden and see Belvedere Castle! It was a genuinely chilled out walk in the sunshine, and I really enjoyed just taking my time and looking at the scenery.

After that pleasant interlude, I was back in the bustle of upper 5th and outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

I was immediately enamoured with this museum because they had a huge section on ancient Egyptian art! I spent about 80% of my time at the museum in that section, because it was all so interesting and so beautiful! There was also apparently some ancient Sumerian art somewhere, but I couldn't find it - this was crap because if there's anything I love more than ancient Egypt (if possible), it's the Sumerians. But I got to see plenty of Egyptian art, including a few cheeky statues of Anubis, my favourite person ever. So I was happy.

So, this entire tomb was donated to the museum from Egypt.

This has been a bit of a lazy blog, but how much can you really write about walking around museums and parks? They're so much better to go and experience yourself, being told about them doesn't come close to describing it. I've had a really nice day, and I'm feeling sad that my time in New York is close to ending. I don't really have any plans for tomorrow, as I need to sort all of my things out to go home (I'm meeting Starry and Smiley at their hostel in Queens early on Wednesday, so we can all go to JFK together). I will wander down to 5th one last time, and get some souvenirs for my family. It's been a blast, and I'm sad to go, but I am looking forward to being back home after two months away!

Camp Quotes!

During my time at camp, I was collecting memorable quotes that I overheard. Most of them are from my fellow counsellors, a lot of them are from me (because I find myself hilarious), and some are from the campers. I thought I'd make a list of them here, to keep them safe.

"We've got a tree fallen down, there's a fire in the unit shelter, and we've lost our socks."
~ Sunny, on the radio to the office during the disastrous staff overnight

"What are they gonna make us do?"
~ London, in a panicked way, after seeing our supervisors putting bits of paper on a table

"I was in Team Moose. I have dyslexia and so for the longest time I thought I was in team MOSES."
~ Starry

Tim-Tam: Knock knock-
Tink: I'm taller than you!

"All my weight is on this back wheel, baby, this truck's not goin' anywhere!"
~ Pugs, sitting calmly in the back of a pick up truck at night, in the pouring rain, on an almost vertical road

"We worked well together, but we also played well together."
~ Sunny

"We should be in a fucking Hilton!"
~ Smiley, disgruntled during staff overnight

(playing Apples to Apples)
Tink: So, for boring..?
Smiley: I put William Shakespeare-
London: Ugh, he's long.

"You're beautiful on the... Everything!"
~ Burnzy tries to compliment me

"I can shout at your kids if you want me to - no one'll fuck with this accent."
~ Jen, when Smiley was complaining that her kids never listen

"Is it weird if I put my bra in my cubby?"
~ Nibbles

"Abraham Lincoln cause he's boring."
~ Tink playing Apples to Apples

"My Stussy is better than your pussy!"
~ Dappy when Nibbles (who was wearing leggings with cats on) laughed at her Stussy hat

Nemo: Brownie's just in her own world-
Brownie: I was thinking about Crocs.

(while playing Mafia)
Camper #1: You were the Mafia last time-
Camper #2: Yes I was, and I killed many innocent people.

(out of nowhere)
Luna: I had a green neck!
Me: ... That's not even the weirdest thing I've heard at camp.

"Luna, do clouds rub together? And do they make a sound when they do?"
~ Ducky, asking important science questions

"Yeah, I just want to laugh myself into a coma."
~ Me

"Stupid ankles! What's the point in having them if they never work!?"
~ Me, after twisting my ankle

"I'm not scared of bears or anything, I'm scared of ghosts."
~ Indi, explaining why she didn't want to walk up to Sky Meadow alone in the dark

"All I know about Stephen King is that he's scary and that he watched his best friend die."
~ Squirrel

(during a human knot exercise)
Camper: There's an odd number of people!
Squirrel: There's an even number of hands!

"Remember when Luna's hair was a volcano."
~ Me

"Whose taco did Hailey put her arm in?"
~ Me to a camper

(at lunch)
Camper #1: What's that smell?
Camper #2: Probably me.

Camper #1: Someone should wake Pepper up - it's time for lunch.
Camper #2: No, that's not a good idea! Let her sleep!

"Why are you stroking a packet of biscuits?"
~ Starry

"My dad is the cutest little fucker going around."
~ Jen, after getting a nice text from her dad

(at lunch)
Camper: Are you vegetarian?
Me: You just saw me eat a pepperoni pizza!

"The headlines will be: Old Woman Kills Herself on Portable Climbing Wall."
~ Pugs, climbing on the wall the National Guard lent us

"Don't poke me with a hard taco shell!"
~ Me to a camper (who was in fact poking me with a hard taco shell)

"I'm a wise little Buddha, sitting here on my pretzel legs."
~ Me, for no reason

"She thinks she's the best thing since sliced lesbian."
~ Tink

"I'm all hot flushes from saying goodbye to Kiwi, I feel like I'm going through the menopause."
~ Starry

"It better not be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, because tHAT'S GOT AN I IN IT."
~ Pugs, trying to guess a word in Wheel of Fortune

"It better not be a vegetable, 'cause I won't know it."
~ Pugs, still trying to guess the word

"Is Piranha using her bra as a pillow?"
(She was)

NYC: Tall Buildings

I had a slow start today. I chastised myself a little, which is annoying - I've had to keep reminding myself that I'm on holiday now. The first thing I did was wander down to the Rockefeller Centre, where I bought a CityPass (I would honestly recommend getting one if you're in NYC, it saves so much money and hassle!) and got a ticket for the next available trip to the Top of the Rock. On my way up, I had a photo taken on the girder:

The view from the top was stunning. I stood up there for a long while, looking out at Central Park and the Empire State Building. It wasn't ridiculously packed either, so I got  a good look from all angles. It was also interesting because I'd never been on such a tall building before; you really don't get an idea of the height until you're there.

When I came down, I explored a little bit. I went to the Lego store, which was ridiculously cool because (obviously) there was Lego everywhere. There was this ridiculously tall thing with bubbles, and each bubble contained a type of Lego brick; you could fill a bag with them like pick'n'mix sweets, and it was so cool. I also went down to Nintendo World, which was just as cool as it sounds. Upstairs, they had a mini exhibition on all of the consoles that Nintendo have developed; it was so great to look at all of it, and I was quietly laughing to myself when a kid was pointing out the original Game Boy and talking about how strange and old it was. I told him that I still own mine, and he looked astounded that anyone could be so ancient.

Next, I went up to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building for another breathtaking view of New York. While I was queuing inside, waiting to get to the elevators, someone said to me, "Just so you know, it's a thirty minute wait!" I was like, "Mate, I'm English. I know how to queue." When I got up there, it was a lot more crowded than Top of the Rock was, so I didn't get as much of a chance to look around. I did, however, get an amazing panorama photo.

So I had a really fab day taking in the sights, and standing on some really bloody tall buildings. Tomorrow evening, I am going to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and I am dead excited.

A Trip To Boston, Ben & Jerry's Part 3 & Leaving Camp

On Sunday, we (Cookie, Pugs, Tink, London, Osprey, Smiley, Starry, J Crew, Piranha, Nibbles, and myself) took a trip down to Boston; the primary reason was that we were dropping off J Crew, Piranha, and Nibbles at the airport *sob sob* We got the whole afternoon before they left though, and it was really nice. We wandered around and Cookie was telling us all sorts of things about the city (she's from there) and it was all so interesting. The weather was gorgeous and everyone was in a nice mood.

When we went to eat, Cookie took us to a place called Faneuil Hall, and I'm not kidding when I say it's a half-mile of different food stands. You could literally buy anything there; as well as the vast array of different cultural cuisines there were also loads of sweet stalls where you could buy gorgeous cakes and pastries and ice cream and candy. I had a home made lasagne from an Italian-American stall and a strawberry and cream cake from one of the sweet stands; I spent the rest of the day in a satisfied food coma.

Saying goodbye to J Crew, Piranha and Nibbles was awful :( But they've gone off to Miami so they're going to have a really good time!

On Monday, I had my third outing to the Ben & Jerry's factory. I am so spoiled! It was really fun this time, though, because I wasn't working; before, I had a group of girls that I was responsible for. The tour was still good (made even better by some hilarious French guys who - when the tour girl talked about how we can't get all of their flavours in Europe - shouted "Discrimination!" in their really French accents, cracking all of us up), and this time the sample was Strawberry Cheesecake. I got a leaf-shaped bottle of maple syrup to take home for my family to taste, and a Ben & Jerry's t-shirt. What really stood out about this visit, though, was the Vermonster. "What's a Vermonster?" I hear you all ask (probably). Well.. This is a Vermonster:

I'll break it down - that bucket is filled with 20 scoops of Ben & Jerry's (you can pick a few flavours - we had Vanilla Caramel Fudge, Cookie Dough, Milk & Cookies and Strawberry Cheesecake), walnuts, M&Ms, hot fudge, cookies, a huge brownie, sprinkles and a massive mound of whipped cream on top. Between the seven of us, we managed to eat the whole lot and it was bloody glorious. I mean, we all immediately got diabetes afterwards, but it was still amazing. We also looked at the flavour graveyard and I laughed for about 10 minutes over the fact that Ben & Jerry's used to have a flavour called 'Vermonty Python'. No, seriously.

Tuesday was the day we (Tink, London, Osprey and I) left camp; technically our contract didn't end until Wednesday, but because we had to leave Boston in the morning, we went to stay at Cookie's house (she lives about an hour out of the city). She has the cutest house ever, and it was really nice to be in a Real Building. We played Uno and nearly died laughing, it was a lot of fun. We got up at 5am, which was gross, but we had to because Tink's flight was at 10am, and London and I wanted to be there to say goodbye.

It was really sad to say goodbye to everyone at camp - before we left on Tuesday we said goodbye to Alex & Ben (our barn director, Reins, brought them with her for the summer and they are the nicest, cutest, most well-behaved boys ever), Smiley and Starry (who I will be seeing at the end of my New York trip - we all fly home on the same day but at different times, so we're just going to get a cab to JFK together), and Pugs. Pugs was a really difficult one, because she was basically everyone's mum at camp, and she took care of me so much over the summer, as well as always cheering me up with her hilarity. She cried a bit, and Osprey, Tink and London were crying - I felt bad that I didn't. I only usually cry if I'm angry or stressed, not from sadness. I'm not a hollow shell I promise. It was crap saying goodbye, but I've made everyone promise to stay in touch.

And thus, my camp contract ended, and I was unleashed upon the real world.

Post Camp

It is 8 days until I go to New York, and it's so surreal that it's come around so fast. This is my first solitary holiday, my first time in NYC, and it's all really exciting. I can't wait to explore!

Here at camp, we're cleaning, taking inventory, and doing general upkeep. There's not much to be done now, as we got the kids to clean on the last day of Week 6, and we did a lot of cleaning on Sunday. Yesterday, I finally got to ride Jet, my favourite of all our horses! He was great, and Judge was leading so that was great too. I had so much fun, here's a couple of photos:

I'm nice and chilled out now (even though I think I'm coming down with some kind of lurgy), and I cannot wait for next Wednesday!

Singin' In The Rain (In The Lake) - Weekly Roundup 6

The final week of resident camp arrived. I was still living with Nemo and Phelps in Tall Timbers, except this week our program was Saddle, Paddle & Arrows, which is exactly as it sounds. I also had my lowest number of girls ever - 12. It made a nice change. I was a bit of a slacker when it came to keeping a record of the highlights - week 6 was when everyone was tired and just getting through the last days, so I found myself being quite lazy with this. Regardless, here are the highlights I do have:

• My kids were having their swimming time in the lake when it started to rain. Instead of getting grumpy or squealing and getting out of the lake (as I thought they would), they immediately and simultaneously started singing/shouting Singin' In The Rain.
• The girls were obsessed with my accent, which I'm kind of used to now. What I wasn't expecting was for one of my girls to turn around and say, "Tell me stories so I can listen to your accent". They also started using British words for things, in extremely over-the-top accents.
• I learned to make 'chevron' style friendship bracelets and felt very accomplished.
• The kids were a lot more cheerful this week (as well as being super sassy, which was 50% frustrating and 50% hilarious).
• I was writing a Bill of Rights with the girls when Judge walked over and told us to tell her some jokes. My girls immediately stepped up and told some, including gems like: Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill? To get to the bottom. They continued on this vein until Judge was sufficiently amused and left as randomly as she came.
• The National Guard brought their climbing wall over for us to use, and Pugs had a go at climbing it. As usual, hilarity ensued when she said, "The headlines will be: Old Woman Kills Herself On Portable Climbing Wall."
• Our staff skit was cool as it was completely improvised but people still loved it! We got loads of laughs and I heard one kid say that ours had been 'the best one yet'. A lot of staff also said they loved it, and seemed impressed when we told them it was improvised. We were very pleased with ourselves!
• Phelps and I were walking up to Tall Timbers and she was telling me about a big rustling sound she'd heard while walking up there at night; she attempted to demonstrate the noise by crashing into the ferns but immediately fell over. It was hilarious and I laughed until I couldn't breathe. Here is a picture of the squashed ferns at the site of Phelps' crash landing:

• I was sitting in the barn while my kids were having a riding lesson - Judge pointed a flashing light thing at me and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" at me. I immediately threw my phone.
• One of my kids, CJ, was trying to bring her paddleboard back after boating. It was not cooperating, and kept floating away from her and towards the centre of the lake. CJ immediately lunged after it, shouting, "NO. BAD PADDLEBOARD." and it inexplicably cracked me up.
• Judge was chasing Rica with a jug of ice. Rica retaliated by brandishing a broom.
• I had another successful overnight (what is happening to the world?). We went to the old yurt site, where I thought the ancient portaloo was a fridge. I was soon corrected and warned never to open it. I didn't need to be told twice. We made another dessert pizza (which was a hit, of course) but had a small catastrophe when Phelps managed to drop her flashlight into it. That night, I also had to say to one of my girls, "Don't poke me with a hard taco shell." and that's not even the weirdest command I've given this summer.
• The camp's 106th birthday was on the Wednesday of Week 6. Every month of the year got a birthday cake, and the April one was magnificent, thanks. We also sang Happy Birthday to all the months of the year, so we all got a bit of a birthday celebration!
• I was in the Anakoosh (health centre cabin, where nurse Hiccup lives), and I opened up the freezer to grab an ice pack for Nemo's bad ankle. Inside, among the ice packs and Ben & Jerry's, was a rubber chicken. I'm not kidding. I asked Hiccup about it and she couldn't provide an answer.
• I remembered something hilarious from session 2 - one of the girls was sick, so I took her and a buddy over to Hiccup. Only halfway there did I notice that Catie (the buddy) had one sneaker on and one riding boot on. I asked her about it through my tears of mirth, and she said, "Well, I couldn't find my other sneaker!" I refrained from asking why she didn't just put both of her riding boots on.
• I also remembered from session 1, when Omega drove us to the beach; my kids were asking how long it would take to get there literally every five minutes, so Omega threatened to deliberately take a wrong turn for every time they asked that question.
• Phelps had her birthday the day after camp birthday, so the girls and I decided to throw a little party for her with streamers and snacklets. I told the girls to go and distract her for five minutes so we could finish setting up; they promptly took Phelps to Hiccup, where she was forced to ice a minor bruise for five minutes. I laughed so hard when I found out. They also adorned her with many bead necklaces and like three crowns. Anton (our chef, who is Russian) also let me have a Boston cream pie to use as a birthday cake. Here's Phelps cutting her cake (my girls look so miserable in this photo):

• One of my kids threw bright pink paint on me. Enough said.
• A random girl (I think she was in London's unit) sat with me at dinner one evening and ate five corn on the cobs. I was amazed. Later, I tried to get her attention to make her clean up her plate, and said, "Excuse me? Excuse me? ... OY, SWEETCORN." and she actually responded. 
• On Saturday, we had our staff party after all the kids had gone. The food was Mediterranean themed (and delicious!), and everyone dolled up. It was nice - we were all in a good mood and got to chat about everything without the fear of campers overhearing. It was a lovely evening, and the staff closing campfire was nice too; we all shared memories from our summers and thanked each other for support and friendship.

We're now in the post-camp part of the summer, and I'm really looking forward to my New York trip! I'm staying in the cutest hotel in Manhattan, and my rooms and flights are all ready and sorted - I am so excited to explore the city, and to remember what civilisation is.

Road Trips & Astronaut Food - Weekly Roundup 5

Week 5 marked the beginning of the third, and final, session of summer camp; I was moved out to Tall Timbers, a set of adorable blue cabins just off of main camp.

I am working with Nemo and Phelps, both of whom I've already been in a unit with. We were joined by Trout, who is a live-in; I'm really happy with the staff I've been put with!

The reason that there are only three unit staff is because we had one program and sixteen girls. Compared to the horrors of Week 3 (31 girls, 3 programs, 4 staff, 2 interns and a live-in, and a partridge in a pear tree), these numbers were a piece of cake! I was also happy because my Week 5 program was Road Trip, which I did in Week 1 and really enjoyed.

I also like Tall Timbers because I'm getting really good at walking around camp at night without a flashlight, and there's a dark path through the woods to the unit which is good practice for my new night vision skills. As for the highlights of Week 5:

• My second trip to the Ben & Jerry's factory! It was a hit, obviously, and we got plenty of ice cream. As well as a sample (sweet cream and cookies), I had a Milk & Cookies shake, and bought myself a tub of ice cream and a pin that says 'Body by Ben & Jerry's'. We had a lot of fun and an especially funny moment was when Phelps' ice cream scoops fell off of her cone and she epically caught it in her hand.

• My kids made me laugh on a couple of occasions. At lunch one day, one of them asked me if I was a vegetarian after watching me eat a slice of pepperoni pizza. Another day I had just woken up from a nap and I heard one of the girls say, "We should wake Pepper up, it's nearly lunchtime." then another girl hurriedly said, "No no, that's not a good idea. Let her sleep!"
• Our second trip was the Montshire Museum of Science (YEAH, SCIENCE!). It was such a cool place, it even had a T-Rex skeleton. There was also a scale model of a human skeleton and a moose. It was a really interactive museum with lots of stuff to do - I think we counsellors had even more fun than the kids. I especially enjoyed the fog room, the bubble place, and the area dedicated to weather systems in space! I was in my element at the museum, and bought some penguin stickers and a pack of astronaut food (freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream).

•  A short stop at Hanover, which is a college town not too far from camp. I accidentally bought three books at Barnes & Noble - a book of Grimm's fairy tales, Dante's Inferno, and a cute book called The Book of Myself, which has prompts for parts of life spanning from early, middle and later years - it's like a DIY autobiography!

• Rivir's coffee disaster - she went to pour a little sugar into her coffee and the top of the container fell off, spilling loads of sugar into her cup. Nemo and I couldn't stop laughing, but Rivir got a laugh herself when she told me to take a sip of the resulting beverage. I sipped, sat there in shock, and then informed Rivir that I now had diabetes.
• Splash Week occurred during this week (and as of the end of Week 5, there are still some survivors, so it will continue into Week 6). Basically, a bunch of counsellors signed up to be part of it and each of them were given the name of one of the other participants to be their victim. They have to splash their victims with a cup of water, and the splashee's victim becomes the splasher's new target. This continues until the last counsellor standing. Victims can protect themselves by having their campers in a circle around them, and splashes can't occur indoors or at program areas like the waterfront or barn. It was funny to watch the dwindling number of counsellors get more jumpy and paranoid as the week went on. The funniest thing was Trout managing to splash Tim Tam four seconds after Splash Week officially began. Trout is now out of the running, but Phelps is still standing, so we're supporting her - it was funny to see her with a constant orbit of kids whenever we went anywhere.
• Luna has a couple of hermit crabs and Phelps and I were playing with one while our kids were doing Ecology. She was so cute and kept retreating back into her shell if we moved too suddenly ♥

• Our last trip was to Quechee Gorge. On the drive there, Pugs produced a huuuuuge bag of Starburst for me and the girls to snack on, which was a promising start. She lobbed a handful over her shoulder for the girls when they weren't expecting it, and they were baffled by the sudden Starburst missiles flying through the van. They went to the climbing centre, and had a lot of fun there - there was also a cute dog belonging to the owner that we all fawned over.
  After climbing, we went to the Gorge itself - it was a lovely walk down, and the view at the bottom was beautiful. The weather was really bright and warm, and we basked for a while before the long climb back up (that was knackering).
  We also popped to the village, where there was a Cabot store selling all sorts of Vermont-made goodness; I sampled a lot of cheese and some lovely fudge - I ended up buying some fudge (raspberry and chocolate swirl), real maple syrup, a postcard with a photo of Quechee Gorge on it, some jellybeans, Pepsi, and a glass bottle of grape soda. Nemo and I also took a turn around an adjacent antique store and cried over all the beautiful old things.
  Pugs made me laugh yet again when three of my girls were sitting on those rides where you put a quarter in and they move. They thought, because they were antique, the rides wouldn't work. Pugs came along and stuck a quarter in all three of them, and they did work, which scared my girls to death. It was hilarious!

• We got tired of our girls asking constant questions about what we were doing next during the day, so I began to reply with "Stuff and things." - Phelps and Nemo quickly caught on to this habit and we are now stuck saying this whenever questions occur.
• I tried my first sample of genuine Vermont-made maple syrup. Nemo had been nagging me for two weeks to try it, and all of my girls had egged me on, and I can say I'm glad I tried it. It is heaven.
• I finally had a successful overnight! We cooked dinner at Tall Timbers, and our dessert was a s'mores pizza after how well it was received the previous week. It was ridiculously melty and sugary and delicious, and the kids loved it. We then went over to the Lakeside site and put up tents in the dark, which was a palava. But it didn't rain, and we managed to stay out there all night! I was very pleased, even though I ached all over from lying on the rather rocky ground all night. I was also pleased with my campfire that I made back at Tall Timbers:

• I finally made a successful tie-dyed shirt. It's pink and purple, in a spiral pattern, and I haven't yet managed to take a photo of it. But it's amazing, and I'm rather proud of myself.
• At the weekend, we popped to Applebee's for dinner, and to Walmart to forage for snacks, and London and Tink were really impressed on the way back to camp, when I rapped the entirety of Party Up by DMX (a very un-camperrific song indeed).

A Cookie Dough Party & Squirrel's Checkered Feet - Weekly Roundup 4

This one's coming a bit late because I simply haven't had time to make a blog so far this week! I was still in Tovariche last week, and we still had Wranglers and Saddle Up, but this time we also had Chocolate Chef! I've been very busy indeed, but I'm finally here with all the highlights of Week 4 of camp.

• We took the girls who were still at camp over the weekend to a park down the road from camp, and sprawled on the grass while they played. It was really relaxing and I got to catch up with Tink and London, which is nice as I barely see them at work, we're all so busy! We also demonstrated to all the arriving parents that we are very responsible counsellors by walking along the side of the main road as there was no pavement. SuPeR sTaFf.

• One of my kids asked me: "Are England years the same as ours?" - I was baffled and told her to go read up on basic astronomy.
• The kids loved the way that I speak, and I got called an awesome counsellor all week. It was great! My kids always wanted to sit with me at meals, and Coral said I was her favourite counsellor ever. I felt good about myself and my job.
• Luna set up a crime scene and did experiments with the girls to find out who had stolen all the hula hoops from the sports shed - the girls had so much fun working with the clues and doing different tests to find the culprit. My favourite part was when the girls realised that the perpetrator had tried to frame us for the crime and Olivia said, "THEY FRAMED US THE big weenies.." and it was so funny.
• Squirrel's feet tanned through the holes in her sandals; when she took her shoes off, her feet were checkered and all of us laughed for ages because of it.
• Late one evening, Piranha was stalling about going to bed because she was afraid to walk up to Sky Meadow in the dark. She was holding her flashlight under her chin and pulling a stupid face, saying, "Tell me I'm beautiful." over and over. It was, I have to say, incredibly funny.
• I wore my Markiplier shirt one day, and loads of the girls around camp high fived, hugged, and called to me because they like him too! It was very cool, even if he's not the most 'camperific' of people.
• One of our kids, Sam, accidentally broke her glasses and was horrified at what her mum might say - she promptly wrote her mum a letter saying "I'm really sorry" but with 30 'really's. Nemo fixed the glasses with pirate duct tape.
• Our cookout was amazing - we had it in the dining hall because there was a thunderstorm (surprise, surprise - a thunderstorm on the night I planned an overnight camp out!), and we ate tacos. Then for dessert, Kiwi came up with the idea to make a s'mores pizza! We took some dough, and put pieces of chocolate and marshmallows onto it, then cooked it so it all melted together, and sprinkled some broken graham crackers on the top. It was absolutely gorgeous and we all went into collective sugar comas when we were done eating it. 
• One of our units this week was Chocolate Chef, which Kiwi and I were leading. We made so many sweet treats that we were all stuffed by the end of the week. We made ice cream from scratch, cookies and chocolate brownies!
• At the end of the week, about half of my girls wanted me to sign their t-shirts. I felt really cool for a minute! I also got told I'm the best counsellor, and that I'm amazing. It's times like these that I feel most satisfied with my job.
• My kids decided that when I'm grumpy I am a ghost pepper because "they're the really spicy, evil ones!" - so if I was threatening to be mad at them, they would say, "No guys, be good! We want Dr Pepper, not Ghost Pepper!"
• As well as the two(!!) mice that lived in our staff cabin, occasionally some chipmunks would run in and attempt to steal chocolate or a potato chip. We soon saw them off, but they were kind of cute - if I'd have had my way I would've left them to it.
• Nemo got hired for third session! I was so pleased because I recommended her repeatedly to admin staff, saying that she was fab (she really is). In celebration, Squirrel nicked some cookie dough from the kitchen and we had a cookie dough party in her honour. Needless to say, we all felt a bit sick by the end of it.
• On Saturday Tink, London, Starry, Kiwi and I went to Burlington, which is the most populated city in Vermont. It's the most adorable, quaint place, and we spent all day wandering around and having a laugh amongst ourselves. There was a Ben & Jerry's shop (in fact, it's the first shop Ben and Jerry ever set up when they were starting out!) that we took full advantage of. We also tried out all the perfumes in Victoria's Secret, and had lunch at an Italian-American pub.
• London, Tink and Kiwi got crepes from a guy who London dubbed 'Pancake Man' and insisted on having a selfie with him - Tink then also had a selfie with him, and decided his name was 'Crepe Guy'. He was hilarious and just went along with how silly we were being, and we laughed for ages about it.
• We accidentally crashed a wedding. Tink, London and I were in an art gallery in Burlington and decided to go up to the second floor; two hot guys got into the elevator and were making loads of jokes (that we laughed very heartily at). Then one of them turned around to us and said, "So, are you going to the wedding?" and we giggled away, thinking it was another silly joke. Then we walked out of the elevator and... Well, it was a wedding. 

Week 4 was a blast, and now Week 5 is in full swing and we're having a lot of fun! Hopefully my update will be more on time next time.

Froot Loops In Cauldrons - Weekly Roundup 3

Second session started last Sunday; this time I'm working with Squirrel, Kiwi, J Crew, Nemo, Brownie and Rica! We had 31 girls in our unit, spread across three programs - Wranglers, Saddle Up, and Dolphins. I'm back in Tovariche, which is the unit I was staying in for pre-camp, and I love it there. Us staff are having to sleep in the unit shelter, which is the cabin in the background of this photo:

The reason we are staying in there is because we have so many girls, so we don't fit into the tents! However, the unit shelter is cool because it has lights and plug sockets, which are like rare luxuries now. The highlights:

• At dinner on the first night, the rice was served in really small bowls; Piranha and I immediately thought this was hilarious, and convinced the girls sitting at our table that we were only allowed a grain of rice. We passed the bowl around and everyone put one grain on their plate and it just looked so funny; I ate my piece of rice and said "I'm so full now, guys." which made my girls laugh.
• In camp rules, reasons to wake up counsellors are blood, bones, barf, and fire. We call them the 'three Bs' and 'the F'. We asked our kids what F stood for and one of them shouted out "Farting??" - it was absolutely hilarious, and all of the staff immediately launched into saying that if we were woken up because someone had farted in the night, we would not be happy.
• Kiwi's irrational fear of the bullfrogs - at night in Tovariche, all you can hear are the bullfrogs croaking away. I got used to them in Ojakle during first session, but Kiwi was not comfortable with the noise, and was deathly afraid of one getting in to our cabin.
• On the first full day, Nemo and I enlisted our Saddle Up girls to help us in a daring mission (stealing s'mores supplies). We posted our girls around the Ev and the dining hall as lookouts, and dashed into the annex to grab what we needed. The girls took their roles very seriously and the mission was a success!
• For her staff skit, Remy walked on and poured a whole container of water on herself. She then got two bottles of tie dye paint and tipped them all over herself. She did the whole thing without saying a word and everyone was hysterical by the end of it. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen; I couldn't look at Remy without laughing for the rest of the skits because she was just standing there, soaked, with red and yellow dye all over her t-shirt.
• The mouse at 5am - I woke up to the sound of rustling packaging. Thinking that another staff member was having a cheeky snack, I sat up, only to see a little mouse jump out of the box we were keeping our s'more ingredients in and run away across the floor. I admired his daring, the little rascal.
• Several times this week, I got to sit in a rocking chair on the front porch and just chill in the quiet - it was so peaceful to sit in the shade and look out at the flagpole field.
• "I'm going back to bed." - This has become my new mantra. I say it if the girls ask me lots of silly questions, or if I'm getting fed up with repeating myself. I said it several times throughout the week, and joked with the girls about keeping a tally of 'times Pepper wants to go to bed'.
• During our cookout, we were trying to encourage the girls to get wood for the campfire - Rica did this by yelling out of our cabin window: "What does the fox say? COLLECT MORE WOOD, COLLECT MORE WOOD." We also re-wrote 'Gas Pedal' to be 'Marshmallow'. And our cookout took four and a half hours to finish because there were so many of us to feed. The staff didn't get tonnes of food, so Kiwi and I became daring kitchen raiders, with Piranha's help.

• During barn time one day, one of our horses (Mulligan) was upset because he has a boo-boo on his back and had to stay in his stall. He got so upset that he was kicking his stall and we decided to bring him outside. Because I've been taught to lead horses by the barn staff, I held onto his lead rope while he pottered around, eating loads of grass. He was swishing his tail as he was doing this and - when Indi came over to look at his bandage - he accidentally hit her in the face with his tail, and I laughed at her for fifteen minutes.
• One morning, we let the girls have a sleep-in breakfast, which is when we get food to bring back to our units and eat there instead of going to breakfast earlier. Rica and I couldn't find bowls or spoons, so we ate loads of Froot Loops out of cauldrons, using ladles. Our girls couldn't stop laughing at us.

• I had a night off on Thursday and Kiwi, Bing and I had an adventure to West Lebanon. We had dinner at Ninety-Nine, which was lovely, and we had a laughing fit there over Bing watching the golf playing on TV and bemoaning the fact that the TVs weren't HD, and a strange sound that a bloke in the restaurant made, which Bing then mimicked really badly. We then went around a really cool comic shop, and popped into Walmart for supplies (I had lists from two different people). It was really good to get away for a few hours, and I had such a laugh with Kiwi and Bing.

• My kids absolutely loved my impression of an American accent - even other counsellors are impressed by it! I felt pretty cool when about 11 of my girls demanded that I do the accent for them; I did, and then spent about ten minutes just talking about things in England and how miserable it is, and they didn't stop laughing. They said I was the funniest person in the world, and I remembered why I decided to do this job in the first place ♥
• I have been given lots of friendship bracelets - in the picture below, from the rainbow one on the left, the bracelets were made by: me, London, Nemo, my secret buddy, Ducky, Phelps and one of my girls from session one. I feel so loved!

• At closing campfire, Tink and I lost our minds and had a laughing fit because we didn't know any of the songs and kept trying (and failing) to get the hang of the tunes. It was also funny when she handed me a fun-size Twix and I stuffed the whole thing into my mouth, then spent the next five minutes trying (and failing) to eat it subtly.
• My secret buddy this session has been fab so far - as well as giving me a friendship bracelet, she also left a pack of Sour Patch watermelon sweets in my mailbox. Written on the box was 'check the freezer'; I did and found a tub of Ben & Jerry's! It was the Milk & Cookies flavour, which I love. I want to find out who she is so I can give her the biggest hug and thank her.

Next week, Kiwi and I are running the 'Chocolate Chef' program. This is exactly how it sounds - we just get to make chocolate themed goodies with our girls, and eat said goodies afterwards! Kiwi and I are so excited for this because we love food, and this program gives us a ready made excuse to eat loads.

I am still exhausted and trying to govern 31 girls hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, but I'm still happy and I'm still enjoying myself! I hope to get a chance to ride one of the horses next week, that'll be cool; luckily J Crew is one of the barn staff, so I can speak to her before bed time and hopefully work something out! It is 30 days until I go to New York, and I cannot believe how time has flown.

Minion Band Aids, Kitchen Raids & Six Flags - Weekly Roundup 2

It's been another hectic week that has flown by. I've been here for around three weeks now, and I simultaneously feel like I've been here forever and for no time at all. I feel like I'm getting the hang of the job a little bit more, though I'm still not used to having basically no time off ever. It is, however, only 38 days until I finish here and go to New York City for a week! Here's some highlights from this week (our programs were Saddle Up and Just Coastin':

• We had another amazing staff skit, thanks to Sunny. This week she re-wrote 'Do You Want To Build A Snowman' from Frozen to be about our unit and camp, and it was even better than last week, as we also had Ducky accompanying us on her ukulele.
• Our overnight was rained out AgAiN - honestly, it's getting silly now. However, we were outside for longer than the previous times, so I consider it a partial success. We put the tents up while it was still dry, and had an outdoor fire on which we cooked some delicious tacos and doughboys. The kids were all happy and enjoying themselves, even if they did get a bit nervous about sleeping in the middle of the woods. Us staff had just started to settle down, when the sky opened up and it was suddenly torrential out of nowhere. Thus followed a panicked gathering of our girls and our stuff, and a mad dash in the pouring rain, across the docks on the lake, and into a van Squeaky drove some of the way. We'd only just gotten everyone back and in their tents when the thunder and lightning started - it was so mad, but so much fun. Maybe one day I will actually complete an overnight.
• I managed to convince some of my girls (and Burnzy) that I had Prince Harry's phone number and that we were good mates. I kept up this charade for a good ten minutes before I let them know it was a complete lie.
• We have a secret buddy system where you give your buddy gifts and notes during the session, and my buddy cheered me up so much! I first got a nice written note from her, with smiley face confetti that fell out when I unfolded it. Then I found some Despicable Me minions band aids in my mailbox, and was given a pair of purple floral sunglasses on behalf of my buddy later the same day. I found out today that Rivir was my secret buddy, when she walked up to me and handed me a pack of colourful scrunchies, and I gave her the biggest hug because she made life a little brighter this week.
• On Wednesday, Static, Lux, Burnzy and I took the Just Coastin' girls to Six Flags New England! That was a hilarious day; the staff got to ride coasters, we all ate loads of junk, I convinced one of my girls to face her fears of rollercoasters and go on the Batman ride (she loved it!), and I got photobombed by Scrappy Doo.

• London, Ducky and I spent our kids' swim time with our feet dipped in the lake - because the day was so boiling hot, the cold water was heavenly. We spent the whole time sitting that way and just talking and looking out at the lake.
• On Thursday night, we organised a spa night/kitchen raid with our kids. We had stuff for them to do their nails, bath salt making, face masks, and hair braiding. Then, having convinced our kids that no one knew we were in there and that we would be in Big Trouble if we were caught, we did our kitchen raid - we took ice lollies, orange juice, pink lemonade, chocolate chips, Fritos and marshmallows and had a mini feast. We then decided to leave a message from the pirates who had been spotted on the lake that morning, effectively blaming them for our kitchen raid. It was so hilarious because our kids actually thought that we were tricking everyone.
• A huge group hug from 17 of my girls at a time when a hug was most welcome.
• It was sad to say goodbye to our kids again because they were really great this week, and made me laugh a lot. It was a bit of a relief to not have any kids on camp for a minute, but strange after all the non-stop activity of the week.

Here's a photo of the lovely ladies of Ojakle:

Back (L-R): Burnzy, Sunny, Phelps, me
Front (L-R): Zenny, Ducky, Luna

This evening we found out our new units (I'm moving back to the unit I was in during pre-camp), and London, Tink, Smiley, Starry, Dré, Bing, and I went out for a meal to celebrate surviving the first session of camp.

Speaking of which, there are only 38 days left of camp, and I cannot believe it. I'm almost halfway done already, it's absolute madness. At the moment, I'm happy to be having this experience and to have met such wonderful people here.