Summer has officially begun and so have the camps!!!
This past week I was in Pretor, one of the villages around Resen located on the lake, for a camp hosted by the American Corner. It was for kids from Bitola and was a 4 day camp on Creative Writing and Leadership. Everyday the kids had a workshop on Creative Writing and then in the afternoon they had presentations on negotiation, leadership and volunteerism. The camp was held at a campsite located in Pretor. It is a typical campsite with bungalows and the bathroom separate from the rooms, but the kids still had a very good time. My role was the activities coordinator. One night we played Scrabble, which is probably going to be the game that I am known for by the time I leave, and another night we played Jeopardy. I also helped wherever I was needed; but most of the time you could find me sitting reading a book. The kids had a great time and it was also a rewarding and relaxing time for the coordinators involved.
The kids hard at work in their Creative Writing workshops. The room that we used we called the cage because instead of walls it had wire screens.
Scrabble!!!! We had a mini tournament and whichever pair had the most points won. The winning team was a pair of younger boys and they had around 90 points. The beat the high school kids.
Jeopardy Night. It took a few tries to get the kids to answer in the form of a question. They had never seen or heard of this game before that evening.
When they were not in workshops or watching presentations, the kids played games and sang songs. The song "Wonderwall" was always playing from someone's cell phone. The two most popular songs/chants -- "bananas of the world unite" and "baby shark," were energizers; and they definitely got the kids excited. The kids liked them so much they wanted to sing them every day and would randomly start singing them on their own. At the end of camp one of the American Corner interns, Vlade, had the idea of having the staff do a performance of the song "Wonderwall". When he told me this, I suggested we change some of the lyrics to add elements of the camp. He got all excited; so for an hour the two of us, with help from others, came up with "Wondercamp," highlighting the funny moments aka the banana and shark chant and Ivana blowing her whistle. This simple idea grew; and by the end, the kids made a music video.
Check it out!!! Vlade is really playing the guitar and yes that is her real voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXd8Oge833k
We also went on a excursion to the village of Kurbinovo to visit a one of a kind church. It is the only one that has paintings of Jesus.
Normally they ask you not to take pictures in the churches so not to ruin the frescoes, but we were with a historian from the area and she said that it would be all right.
We also made smores!!! I was in charge of toasting the marshmallows and everyone came out perfectly if I do say so myself!
Since the concept of a line is foreign in Macedonia and we did not want the kids to be pushing each other to get the smores, I thought of the idea of having the kids form a train. It's fun and orderly!!!
The American Corner Bitola Camp Staff!!! (From left to right: Bile, one of the photographer kids, Vlade, Anna, Ivana, Me, Ivan, Lauren, Roseta, Phebe, Stephen (the other photographer, and Zlatko)
The group shot!!! Everyone all happy and looking snazzy in their camp shirts!
Tomorrow I am off to go see the village/town of Krushevo that I hear is very pretty, then spending one day in Prilep for the Pivo Festival (beer festival); then it is off to another camp, Camp GLOW (Girls Leading our World). I won't be able to write this weekend or next because of the camp, but will have plenty of stories when I return.
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