.........Day 9, The kids have arrived!!!!

Hey all!!

This is going to be an epic post, I have so much to tell you!! The internet has been down for about 5 days (it stops working when it rains and has to be reset) so I havent had contact with the world! Its been stressful! Actually I havent really noticed coz its been so busy, did want to check the football scores though, the camps been going mad about that!! Sad news about losing to Germany, cant say any of us were surprised!!

Today is a pretty easy day for Music people, the kids are on callbacks for the dance show and various plays they auditioned for yesterday, so not many of them want lessons! Proper timetables start tomorrow so Im looking forward to that!! Ive been co-put in charge of evening activities as well so I get to do that at night, which is nice coz its kind of like being back at Stafford House! Except this stuff has more of a drama theme, last nights was 'Paperbag Dramatics' which involved getting a bag with 7 items in it and they have 5 minutes to create a skit out of it. Then during it we throw random items at them and they have to include them and they get points for how well they do. The kids are scary amazing at it and dont even blink, last night was so much fun!!

Was very glad when the kids arrived, mostly because it meant we could stop having 'trainings' about when the kids arrive!! As funny as Geoff (my boss) is with the millions of camp anecdotes he has, it got to a point on Saturday where I literally couldnt take on any more new information and switched off. It all seems to be going ok though, no major disasters yet!! There are twelve 12 year olds in my bunk, which sounds like a nightmare but actually theyre all really good kids! And they sleep which is great coz although my body is adjusting to how long its awake during the day it really isnt ready to lose any more sleep!! I decided to go sleepwalking the other nigh, I woke up by the front door of my bunk carrying my blanket wondering how and why I was there! All very odd, it hasnt happened again since though thank god, coz that would really freak the kids out!!

The weather here is insanely schizophrenic, it can go from gorgeously hot and sunny to a total downpour within 5 minutes. I did wake up to the most amazing thunderstorm over the lake the other day though, it was actually beautiful! We've had one full day of sunshine since Ive been here, which I spent inside painting! I have wooden shack that I teach in and it was boring and plain when I got here, its now a lovely yellow and white colour with tie dye sheet coverings! Its immense, and as soon as I work out how to, Ill get the pictures up. I cant wait to start teaching, we had orientation day yesterday where we had to introduce ourselves and play something (I played the damn triplets from the Beethoven, not particularly well lol but from memory so not too bad!!). I did however miss most of the day though as I was out checking out the surrounding areas medical services! Thats right, its taken me a good week, but Ive finally injured myself!! Woop!! I was walking down some steps and slipped and kicked a golf cart thing that the directors use to drive around camp, and as I was in flip flops I came off the worse!! The nurses thought it was broken so sent me to the doctor, but lots of driving (we're in the middle of nowhere!) and millions of x-rays later (they thought I had metal embedded in my toe, turned out to be a glitch on the machine, flipping radiographers freaking me out (sorry Becca!)) it turns out its not broken, Ive just jammed the joint. Which is as pleasant as it sounds! Its so insanely painful its ridiculous, its hideously bruised and swollen and means I cant wear my new wellies (if the damn things ever show up!) It should heal in a few weeks, once the swelling goes down it should un-jam itself, the doctor offered to do it manually for me but it was politely explained to him that if he pulled my bruised toe Id kick him in the head so he said we'd wait!! I go back Friday so will let you know!! :)

The food here is still great, I got another (belated) birthday cake today which was AMAZING!!! it was 2 giant brownies with milk and white chocolate sauce in the middle with cheesecake flavoured 'frosting'. It was unbelievably good!! We also had a BBQ the other day with corn on the cob still in the husks, which was by far the best corn ever! I will say though, Sloppy Joes are as disgusting as they sound, luckily theyre chilli so I had an excuse not to eat them!! Oh and the American version of Walkers have the green and blue flavours the opposite way around which was very disappointing! :(

Went out on a random boat trip the other day, the owner was going out and rescued me and Joy (the piano teacher) from sweeping to go to! We went for miles, and he showed us Sigourney Weaver's house (apparently her daughter works in town) as well as the best house ever that was on an island surrounded by trees, but up on a hill so to get from the boat dock to the house there was a train!!! Oh to have that kind of money!! We found the end of the lake and he told us that it goes for 75 miles north and east before you so much as meet a road, its that remote up here!!

Its not just the campers who are talented, the staff are a bit mad too!! As part of my new evening activities job I co-hosted the staff talent night on Saturday and its amazing what people can do! The tennis guy is amazing at the cello and my co-counsellor in the bunk is the third best in Sweden at jump-rope (skipping!) Shes going to teach me to double dutch when I can walk again which is something Ive wanted to do for years so yay!! Helen (the girl who got me the job) sang Daddy's Son from Ragtime, which annoyingly choked me up again, I even knew it was coming this time!!

Spent last night on the phone catching up with England, was good to say hi and thank you to everyone who stayed up and talked to me at stupid o'clock in the morning, Ill try not to do it again! Good gossip all round haha and I miss everyone!! Orange performed a MIRACLE and actually did as I asked them first time, so my UK phone is now suspended so my US one is the one to contact me on: 001-801-389-3817. The signals pretty dodgy here but Ill get back to you ASAP if you text!! Hope you're all ok, email, facebook or text anytime you feel like it and Ill get back to you as soon as I can!!

Loves!! xxxx

.....Day 2 - it gets you when you're tired!!

Still very tired!! And as it would turn out that's when the need to cry gets you!! Have no idea where it came from but a phone call to my Aunt unleashed quite a few tears, think it was just generally all a bit overwhelming as everything seems fine now!!

EPIC 6 and a half hour bus drive to camp today, it seemed to take forever, all except the stop off at Pizza Hut which was over far too quickly! Camp is beautiful, its truly in the middle of nowhere, I don't really have any signal on either of my phones up here so Facebook or emails is the way to get me! (UK phone gets suspended on Friday so if you do feel the urge to text its on 001-801-389-3817) I saw my shack today, a little hut where I will be teaching for the next 9 weeks, tomorrows task is to decorate it with various photos. Ordered some wellies as rain is a common occurance and I didnt want to travel them over, so Target.com has supplied me with some I can leave behind at the end. Another beef roast dinner for tea then an ice cream social and its time for another early night!!

Will post photos when I get some when its not raining!! :)

.......Day 1

So so tired!! Landed in New York a few hours ago and came to the hostel we are going to be staying at tonight. My body currently thinks its 2am so its mildly confused as to why Im awake, and I suspect will only stay concious for another hour max! Just been out to find some food before bed, had a slice of pizza from a shop, very American but actually a good idea and something England should do!! Breakfast is at 8am tomorro then orientation at 9am and the bus leaves at 10am so a busy time, but then a six hour bus journey to make up for it!! Wanted to go exploring with some of the others who are going to camp from here but even the thought is exhausting so Ill save it all for one of the other 2 times Im here!!

Flight was fairly uneventful. There was a fracas at the bag check in when a random Chinese woman started shoving people. She successfully got 5 to the floor before security took her and her companions away, they weren't seen again so I dont know if they were allowed to fly, muchos amusing queue entertainment though! Got stuck with random Orthodox Jews on the plane, Im all for religion but the girl next to me was reciting the Torah out loud the whole 7 hours and it got very very wearing after 2!! The most random event of the flight award goes to me getting on the plane and realising the uni's piano teacher Peter was sitting a few seats in front of me, it took a while to place him!! Food was nice, sausage and mash with (very excitingly) Gu puddings afterwards, sadly they had decided to ruin a chocolate mousse with raspberry compote but the free chocolate brownie afterwards made up for any upset caused!! Got to watch the pilot of Glee again (and used all my effort not to sing along!) as well as a very amusing Michael McIntyre. All good really!!

Right, and now to call Utah to let them know Im here, then to sleep!! Should be an interesting attempt in a room with 11 other girls :/ .........

.......IT'S TODAY!!!!!!

Woooo!! Finally, after months and months of planning, I am at Heathrow waiting to get on a flight to JFK, NYC!!!! Eeeeeeee!! Im massively excited, which doesnt bode well for my fellow passengers!! I am reliably informed that there are 49 other BUNAC people flying on the same flight so hopefully at least one of those will be heading for Long Lake.

Have decided backpacks are insanely annoying (ha, after 2 days with one, this is going well!!) I keep forgetting I have one on my back and whacking people with it. I took out a small child on the way to the airport, backpacks are also good for self defence from irate mothers, just FYI. Judging by the shocked look on a womans face on the Tube yesterday it looks as big as it feels, I imagine its somewhat like going from a Mini to a LandRover, I just need to get used to the fact Im twice as wide as I was 2 days ago! Im not yet bow-legged from the weight, although it shouldnt be long, I havent stood up straight with it on yet, thats what I get for needing my life for the next 4 months to fit into 80 litres!

Have heard a lot of American accents so far today, (I have no idea why it didnt occur to me that on a flight to New York there'd be Americans, guess I didnt think about it!) and its very much making me miss my Auntie in Utah! I havent seen her properly in over 5 years and I cant wait to go stay with her! Just sucks that Im gonna have to wait another 10 weeks, its like being homesick, I just want to get there!! But all in good time, I can at least ring her when I get there and it wont cost the earth so thats something!!

Right Im off to peruse the duty free shops, there's a Harrods and a Tiffanys here (Im definitely not in Newcastle anymore!) so the chances of me leaving with English money are slim to none haha. Shall see you all on the other side of the pond, eeeeeeeeeee :)

.......minus 1 day!!

Have to type fast!! Am being allowed access to the Crew Internet Lounge at the hotel at Heathrow and can't be on too long!!

Yes that's right, I survived the trauma that is getting in and then out of London unscathed, the journey actually went rather smoothly, the only hiccup being when the train from Kings Cross to Heathrow had to stop and we all had to get off because it was running so late they just took it out of service!! Once at the Terminals 1, 2 & 3 I got the worlds most expensive taxi (£9.80 for a journey that, had pedestrians been allowed, I'd have walked) to what turns out to be a fairly posh hotel! In keeping with it's London home, the hotel has just charged me nearly £30 for my tea, although it was a fitting last English meal of a roast beef sunday dinner (yes Mum, I ate my veg) with chocolate fudge cake to end :) Needless to say breakfast in the morning will be avoided and some form of french pastry 'avec' chocolate will be being sought in Terminal 3.

Encountered some very interesting people on the train, was at on a table with a Music professor from Oxford, a Music student from Kings College, Cambridge and a Music student from the Birmingham conservatoire. Needless to say they looked at me and my Cosmo with some disdain, and I resisted all urges to ask them to come and have their conversations somewhere near me the next time I couldn't sleep! Speaking of, that's something that is unlikely to happen tonight, the excitement has finally kicked in, and it's all become very real! I plan to spend tonight having a bath in the lovely deep bath in my room, then trying to sleep in the really rather comfortable double bed!! I also get to sleep in my new pajama bottoms tonight, which is pretty exciting too!! (For those of you who dont know the pajama bottom story, I had to buy them especially off the internet at a somewhat ridiculous cost as regular shops havent quite realised that tall people not only want their trousers to fit, but their sleepwear too! So no more jogging bottoms from now on!! Woop!!)

Right have held this computer up long enough, its amazing how helpful people are when they think you have money to spend haha!! :)

Saturday 19th June - Minus 2 days!!!

Moved out of uni yesterday, I now have nothing to distract me from the fact that in 2 days I am going to be on a plane to an entirely different continent for nearly 4 months. I'm having more and more panicked 'whos stupid idea was this' moments, it's all becoming a bit real and a bit terrifying! Clearly I forgot that, while I was having the time of my life planning this trip, that I was actually going to have to do it! I think my future career my lie in arranging this for other people, that way I get the best of both worlds!! All of the planning, none of the palpitations!!

Have had a lovely last week at Lancaster, and leaving was actually really emotional, God knows how I'm going to cope next year when I'm leaving, never to return! There's several people back there who I'm going to miss loads while I'm away (and no I'm not going to name names, I'll have told you if I'll miss you, if I haven't.....oops sorry!!) and they really made my birthday week special, and turning 23 that little bit more bearable :) Just one last night out with Mum and Lorna (for which I have the most gorgeous dress!) and then there is literally nothing else to do but get on the train to Heathrow!!

Mildly concerned about the weight of my bag, it's nowhere near the limit but it's worryingly heavy and it may not be that easy to carry :/ however shall carry on regardless and play the damsel in distress if I need a hand carrying it :D (ha, Jeremy I heard you roll your eyes then!!) Although given that my life for the next 15 weeks is in there I'm not sure I trust anyone with it! I've packed and re-packed several times, and my list is nearly worn out, it's nice to be home where the reason for my crazy exists though, Mum is just the same and is proud of my efforts!! :)

I now have a 'cell phone' for while I'm away, as of Friday my English number will no longer work so if you feel like giving me a text between now and October (and I expect important gossip to be passed on immediately, none of this Facebook nonesense!) then this is the number you'll need......

001-801-389-3817

Obviously I will be able to check Facebook and emails while I'm away, so any non-urgent gossip or general musings on life may be sent there!!

That's all for now, I'll update you from Heathrow!! :)

Friday 11th June - minus 10 days!!

MY FLIGHT TICKET IS HERE!!!! EEEEEEEE!!! It's all official, I'm actually booked on a flight in 10 days!!
(In case you can't tell, this is me excited!!)
:)

Tuesday 1st June - minus 19 days!!

So its June 1st!! And that means 3 things; its 10 days until the World Cup starts, 11 days till I take one more step closer to 30, and 19 until I officially start my travels by getting on a train at Preston. 3 weeks today I will be in Long Lake, NY at the camp I will call home for 10 weeks, and Ive gotta say Im pretty damn excited! Although as it would turn out theres a fairly thin line between excited and terrified and I cross it on an alarmingly regular basis! I cant believe I get to get paid to teach the flute to people, it sounds so perfect its insane, and to get the chance to do it in America just makes it all the better. I have occasional wobbles where I wonder if Ill actually be able to manage it, but Im assured I will so Im just going to act confident and hope everything else falls into place!

Im mostly ready to go I think, Ive got a few things left to get, and those of you who know me well can congratulate me on waiting until now to pack!! My visa was sorted back in April during a short but terrifying trip to the Embassy in London, my travel insurance was eventually sorted out shortly after and last week I finally won my fight with my doctor to get enough medication to last all summer so hooray for not having to spend $500 of my savings/wages on that!! Ive also got most of my travelling sorted for afterwards, and although some details may change depending on camp, they should mostly stay the same. I wont go into it all now, but have done a handy Google map, so those of you who are interested and I havent already told in great detail (although there cant be many of you who exist!), feel free to look here........
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=109629027493582904002.000487588e1fda26f9ebd&ll=38.959409,-98.261719&spn=32.907523,78.662109&z=4

Its weird planning to be away for the whole summer, I wont be back in England till October so that part of my diary is going to be fairly empty!! Theres a lot of people Im going to miss loads when I have the time, and I suspect having Helen (a friend of my course who got me the job for those of you who dont know her) there will be an absolute godsend! Seeing the babies at the weekend was hard, I wont see them till Christmas now, Im missing both their birthdays and just generally 6 months is a long time in little kids lives!! Ive had to promise to send postcards, although not one for all of them, obviously Sam gets his own :P I also wont feel like Ive had much of a break from uni, I leave the last week of term, and miss the Extravs (end of term parties) although maybe spending close to 12 hours covered in Strongbow and blackcurrant wont be such a bad thing to miss! I am feeling left out of the planning though, and have to constantly remind myself that Ill be here for it next year, and at the end of the day Im doing something much better!! (Im not always convinced!!)

Its also been a surprise that I really feel that Im going to miss Stafford House this year. For all that was awful last summer there were a lot of good times and Ive got some lovely memories and its weird to think I wont be going back. I always make good friends there too, and usually in some excellent holiday places (I had a lovely week in Barcelona last year courtesy of Julia!), although I can see this year being the same in that respect! I will miss learning more of a language though, camp was always an excellent place to practice Italian, and this year I picked up Spanish as well, so being able to speak English all summer could make it a very different experience of working with kids.

I have several things left to do in England before I leave though, turn 23, watch England beat the USA (one can only hope), do my end of year recital, which officially finishes my year, and then lug all my possessions down 4 flights of stairs and argue with Mum about where in the car they go! Who cant look forward to all of that?! Probably not much more to say until after that, so Ill let you know when Im on my way :)