English Camp - Day 5

Day 5

In our morning planning meeting, we talked about how Wednesday would be the hardest day and that many conflicts might arise and we should be on guard against negative or hurtful reactions when they came. I thought to myself, “If Wednesday’s bad, what was last night?” For me, however, Wednesday was a great day. I remembered that one of the goals of the American’s at English Camp is to have fun, both ourselves and to try and make camp an enjoyable experience for the students. I was resolved to make the most of the class time and join in the sports in the afternoon. God really helped me have a good attitude and cheerful spirit.

Classes were a lot of fun that day. In the book, we read about the Shasta spending the night in the Tombs of the Ancient Kings and about the crossing of the dessert. We then had the students write essays to turn in for grading. The afternoon conversation time was the best. Because we were talking about crossing the dessert and working together to survive in the morning, we introduced the students to Forbidden Desert. This is a tabletop co-op board game where all the players take different team roles (water carrier, archeologist, and such) and must work together to build a steam punk spacecraft to escape a treacherous dessert, filled with sand storms, mirages, and the hot rays of the unforgiving sun. Despite the complexity of the rules and language barrier, we all really enjoyed the game and it gave us an opportunity to problem solve together in English…or at least try.

Sports that day were sort of a free-for-all. Instead of playing a game in with the set teams for the week, students and staff signed up for different activates. I signed up to play volleyball and joined the group on the court. We did some pre-game stretches and then broke into teams. Lesanka is near the top of one of the hills that surrounds the Pastviny Lake. This added mountain climbing to our game as we scrambled to rescue the ball from overpowered hits or missed volleys that sent the ball toward the steep edge of the court. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see the teamwork of the students.

Another great part of the day was the evening activity. The students were invited to watch a movie. This meant I could get to bed early, and you know me, early to bed and early to rise.