Hello McCities,
It's been a while since I've talked to you all. Ever since my departure from the staff team, I've been taking a break from Minecraft in general. I'd like to update everyone on how I've been doing ever since, and why I haven't talked in quite a long time.
I am not expecting nearly as many people to read this post, as many of you have probably forgotten about my existence. lol
First, let's begin with how I've been doing ever since I left.
After stepping down from staff, I've been a lot more comfortable. Daily life isn't as stressful, I've been focusing on my summer work, and I've been preparing for my program at Brown University. I've been able to put more time towards relaxing activities such as writing, drawing, and reading manga. Lots and lots of manga.
Now, I am NOT saying that you should not apply for staff. Staff is an absolutely wonderful position that is very rewarding, and I just did not have the time to be a helper.
In fact, I really missed talking to all of you. Having tons of people read my posts was incredible, and I loved getting feedback for my writing. It really touched me when people told me they were inspired by my words, and I missed the feeling of being so influential.
But anyways, enough of that.
Let's talk about fun topics, like camp!
Ok well, camp wasn't that fun.
Because I was a counselor.
First off, let me say that my camp is an all-Chinese camp, where we practice Buddhism, and the "Three Acts of Goodness". (Don't worry, we speak English during camp. We're just all Chinese there). This camp is hosted by BLIA, a Buddhist organization all over the world. The side group that funds this camp is NY YAD, or New York YAD. It's also a Buddhist group, but it's centered in New York.
This camp lasts for 5 days, and is a sleep-away camp in New York. We stay in a little area called "Deer Park", which is in Orange County. There are six cabins; three for boys, three for girls. There is also a GORGEOUS lake, a house for the venerables/monks, and the main building, or Main Shrine. Connected to the Main Shrine is the dining hall, where we have our meals.
I've been to this camp for about... 6-ish years? I was a camper originally, starting at a super young age. After I reached the age of 13, I was too old to be a camper, and I became a counselor! I've been counselor for two years now.
And let me tell you... being a counselor is NOWHERE as fun as being a camper.
This year, the theme of the camp was "We Are One", and the concept was Pokemon Go. The camp sign was in Pokemon font, the scoreboard for the points was Pokemon-Go themed, and the teams were the names of Pokemon. I was on team Butterfree, but I really wanted Jigglypuff. It's alright though, Butterfree is still pretty cute >_<...
In my team were five girls and five boys. For the most part, the girls were fantastic. They all listened, and were all friends with eachother.
But the boys. The boys.
They were a nightmare.
They never listened to me, they had so much energy on 6 hours of sleep, and always ate SO much. Their water bottles were always greasy, so when I had to refill them, I had to pick them up with my shirt around my hand.
One of the boys had an anger issue, another was always homesick and crying, another never wanted to participate in camp dances, another never talked, and the last was always hyper and was disgustingly annoying. I have no other words to describe him other than "grease", "oil", and "A:SLDKAS:LKDASL:KD". He would always make this facial expression that was nothing other than ASLKDAS:LDKA:LSKD. I don't even know how to describe it, but it made me SO mad.
Anyways.
Being a counselor, we can only sleep after all the kids are sleeping, so I ended up getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Campers usually shower before dinner, and change into their own shirts for the final hours of the day. Then they change, brush their teeth, and sleep at the cabin. But counselors? We had to watch the campers shower at 6, be all sweaty, then keep staying sweaty until 12am. Only then could we shower and go to sleep. Most of the time, I was so tired that I didn't even want to shower. I wanted to collapse when the campers were still awake. But I had to wait an hour for them to finish doing their nightly hygiene stuff, then wait another half hour for them to actually fall asleep. Trust me, making 30 kids fall asleep is tough work.
Because of all of this, my under-eye circles, which were dark enough from school, became even worse. By the third day, I looked gray like a zombie. My eyes were constantly dark and droopy, and my hair was incredibly messy and gross.
Other than sleeping little, counselors have to prepare two things for a party called "Endless Light Night". This party always takes place on the night of the fourth day, and it's always super fun. The staff creates a huge bonfire, and we all party around it. But that's after the main show: the team performances. You see, before the raving, each team has to perform a dance and a skit.
That's right: you have to teach a bunch of elementary/early middle schoolers an entire dance, from start to finish. Then you have to make them act for five minutes straight.
Oh, it was not easy.
The boys would never want to dance, and they couldn't even do the dance properly. I made the dance SUPER EASY for them, and helped them through it, but they STILL couldn't do it right. I would yell "Left hand! Right hand!" but they would do right hand, then left hand.
In the start, the girls didn't like the dance either, and always complained that it was too difficult. One of the girls got super bratty and even started crying because she couldn't understand what to do.
So I scrapped the entire dance I worked for a month prior to camp to create, and dumbed it down even more.
At the end, the dance was incredible, and I was super proud. But it was definitely not worth the work.
As for the skit, it was mostly my co-counselors' work. One of them wrote the whole script, and the two of them taught the skit to the kids. My only job was making the props, and the headbands for the kids to wear. I had to make one headband for each Pokemon character, and it was super tiring.
Now let's stop talking about the kids, let's talk about the camp in general.
Every morning, we have to do morning chanting for half an hour, which is super boring, and then we have to chant for ten minutes until everyone gets their breakfast.
We literally have to chant the same line over and over and over and over again until everyone receives food. It makes me want to die inside.
This happens for every single meal.
Then, at night, we have to chant the same morning chanting regimen all over again, even if we are about to fall asleep.
For classes, theres Buddhism class, theme class, arts-and-crafts, and camp songs. All of them require serious skill trying not to fall asleep.
When it comes to Buddhism class, I almost fall asleep every single time. At least I'm not a camper who has to answer questions that the venerable asks them.
Theme class is basically Buddhism class, but with slightly more interaction. It is also incredibly boring.
Arts-and-crafts is even worse, because now I have to do stuff. I ended up basically making the kids' projects FOR THEM, because none of them know how the things work. I literally killed my fingertips with double-sided-tape.
Camp songs is when I have to fake my energy and dance to our dance instructor Jenny. We have to run around, scream with energy, sing camp songs, and it's so tiring, especially on 5 hours of sleep.
To conclude, I'm super glad it's over.
Every single night, I would applaud myself for keeping up another day with the kids. They were truly a job.
Thank you for listening to my camp rant.
There is definitely much more I would complain about, but I honestly don't feel like writing it all. I need a break.
Bye bye,
Eun <3
It's been a while since I've talked to you all. Ever since my departure from the staff team, I've been taking a break from Minecraft in general. I'd like to update everyone on how I've been doing ever since, and why I haven't talked in quite a long time.
I am not expecting nearly as many people to read this post, as many of you have probably forgotten about my existence. lol
First, let's begin with how I've been doing ever since I left.
After stepping down from staff, I've been a lot more comfortable. Daily life isn't as stressful, I've been focusing on my summer work, and I've been preparing for my program at Brown University. I've been able to put more time towards relaxing activities such as writing, drawing, and reading manga. Lots and lots of manga.
Now, I am NOT saying that you should not apply for staff. Staff is an absolutely wonderful position that is very rewarding, and I just did not have the time to be a helper.
In fact, I really missed talking to all of you. Having tons of people read my posts was incredible, and I loved getting feedback for my writing. It really touched me when people told me they were inspired by my words, and I missed the feeling of being so influential.
But anyways, enough of that.
Let's talk about fun topics, like camp!
Ok well, camp wasn't that fun.
Because I was a counselor.
First off, let me say that my camp is an all-Chinese camp, where we practice Buddhism, and the "Three Acts of Goodness". (Don't worry, we speak English during camp. We're just all Chinese there). This camp is hosted by BLIA, a Buddhist organization all over the world. The side group that funds this camp is NY YAD, or New York YAD. It's also a Buddhist group, but it's centered in New York.
This camp lasts for 5 days, and is a sleep-away camp in New York. We stay in a little area called "Deer Park", which is in Orange County. There are six cabins; three for boys, three for girls. There is also a GORGEOUS lake, a house for the venerables/monks, and the main building, or Main Shrine. Connected to the Main Shrine is the dining hall, where we have our meals.
I've been to this camp for about... 6-ish years? I was a camper originally, starting at a super young age. After I reached the age of 13, I was too old to be a camper, and I became a counselor! I've been counselor for two years now.
And let me tell you... being a counselor is NOWHERE as fun as being a camper.
This year, the theme of the camp was "We Are One", and the concept was Pokemon Go. The camp sign was in Pokemon font, the scoreboard for the points was Pokemon-Go themed, and the teams were the names of Pokemon. I was on team Butterfree, but I really wanted Jigglypuff. It's alright though, Butterfree is still pretty cute >_<...
In my team were five girls and five boys. For the most part, the girls were fantastic. They all listened, and were all friends with eachother.
But the boys. The boys.
They were a nightmare.
They never listened to me, they had so much energy on 6 hours of sleep, and always ate SO much. Their water bottles were always greasy, so when I had to refill them, I had to pick them up with my shirt around my hand.
One of the boys had an anger issue, another was always homesick and crying, another never wanted to participate in camp dances, another never talked, and the last was always hyper and was disgustingly annoying. I have no other words to describe him other than "grease", "oil", and "A:SLDKAS:LKDASL:KD". He would always make this facial expression that was nothing other than ASLKDAS:LDKA:LSKD. I don't even know how to describe it, but it made me SO mad.
Anyways.
Being a counselor, we can only sleep after all the kids are sleeping, so I ended up getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Campers usually shower before dinner, and change into their own shirts for the final hours of the day. Then they change, brush their teeth, and sleep at the cabin. But counselors? We had to watch the campers shower at 6, be all sweaty, then keep staying sweaty until 12am. Only then could we shower and go to sleep. Most of the time, I was so tired that I didn't even want to shower. I wanted to collapse when the campers were still awake. But I had to wait an hour for them to finish doing their nightly hygiene stuff, then wait another half hour for them to actually fall asleep. Trust me, making 30 kids fall asleep is tough work.
Because of all of this, my under-eye circles, which were dark enough from school, became even worse. By the third day, I looked gray like a zombie. My eyes were constantly dark and droopy, and my hair was incredibly messy and gross.
Other than sleeping little, counselors have to prepare two things for a party called "Endless Light Night". This party always takes place on the night of the fourth day, and it's always super fun. The staff creates a huge bonfire, and we all party around it. But that's after the main show: the team performances. You see, before the raving, each team has to perform a dance and a skit.
That's right: you have to teach a bunch of elementary/early middle schoolers an entire dance, from start to finish. Then you have to make them act for five minutes straight.
Oh, it was not easy.
The boys would never want to dance, and they couldn't even do the dance properly. I made the dance SUPER EASY for them, and helped them through it, but they STILL couldn't do it right. I would yell "Left hand! Right hand!" but they would do right hand, then left hand.
In the start, the girls didn't like the dance either, and always complained that it was too difficult. One of the girls got super bratty and even started crying because she couldn't understand what to do.
So I scrapped the entire dance I worked for a month prior to camp to create, and dumbed it down even more.
At the end, the dance was incredible, and I was super proud. But it was definitely not worth the work.
As for the skit, it was mostly my co-counselors' work. One of them wrote the whole script, and the two of them taught the skit to the kids. My only job was making the props, and the headbands for the kids to wear. I had to make one headband for each Pokemon character, and it was super tiring.
Now let's stop talking about the kids, let's talk about the camp in general.
Every morning, we have to do morning chanting for half an hour, which is super boring, and then we have to chant for ten minutes until everyone gets their breakfast.
We literally have to chant the same line over and over and over and over again until everyone receives food. It makes me want to die inside.
This happens for every single meal.
Then, at night, we have to chant the same morning chanting regimen all over again, even if we are about to fall asleep.
For classes, theres Buddhism class, theme class, arts-and-crafts, and camp songs. All of them require serious skill trying not to fall asleep.
When it comes to Buddhism class, I almost fall asleep every single time. At least I'm not a camper who has to answer questions that the venerable asks them.
Theme class is basically Buddhism class, but with slightly more interaction. It is also incredibly boring.
Arts-and-crafts is even worse, because now I have to do stuff. I ended up basically making the kids' projects FOR THEM, because none of them know how the things work. I literally killed my fingertips with double-sided-tape.
Camp songs is when I have to fake my energy and dance to our dance instructor Jenny. We have to run around, scream with energy, sing camp songs, and it's so tiring, especially on 5 hours of sleep.
To conclude, I'm super glad it's over.
Every single night, I would applaud myself for keeping up another day with the kids. They were truly a job.
Thank you for listening to my camp rant.
There is definitely much more I would complain about, but I honestly don't feel like writing it all. I need a break.
Bye bye,
Eun <3
