Church Camp

I've been away on churc camp this weekend. I left in the pouring rain on friday afternoon, car jam packed with supplies for the weekend that hadn't fit in anyone else's car - seeing as i was going up alone. Yup, road-trip for one... woo. I made it up there, despite incredibly poor tyres, pounding rain and i only got lost once! When i got there, we unpacked my little car, and settled in. I spent the night with a completely adorable four year old attached to my leg. We had tea and played group games for most of the night, with the rain pouring down outside. English and i played cards for an hour or so, before we all crawled off to bed, snuggling into our layers to try and stay warm.

After breakfast on saturday, we heard from speaker Tim Hein about change. The things he said were really interesting; things like community needing to respect all age groups, to bring in the community outside the church, to respect church changes but not to be ruled by them... He told funny anecdotes and spoke passionately; i wasn't expecting him to be so good, so that was a pleasant surprise. We had lunch, then split into groups. One group went rock climbing on the bouldering wall; i couldn't face spending time with people (especially in an activity that i would suck at and get laughed at during), so i did some craft like a total loner. When we changed groups, i joined in. We had to build rafts in teams and race them. My team won, wooo!!! Then we played Marco Polo and made whirlpools for an hour or so. When i got out of the pool, my dry clothes had been soaked by the boys and their bombing, so i had to borrow clothes from English, stand in a wet huddle by the fire with all my clothes strung out infront of it and eventually borrow a towel and have a nice, warm shower before dinner. After tea, we hung out for awhile before lighting (with some difficulty, due to the rain) a bonfire. We cracked open the glo-sticks - woo! - and toasted marshmellows. Then we stood in the rain (yea, we're really clever...) and talked for a few hours. We had an American guy with us, who'd come with one of the boys whom he was visiting, and he was really good fun to talk to. Eventually, i came to my senses and shooed the kids inside. We played more card games, had hot milo and then went to bed.

I overslept the next morning; nobody had woken me up and i'd forgotten to set an alarm. But i scampered up for some brekkie and then we had a little church service. Afterwards, i played with the little herd of kiddies that tended to follow me around - not that i didn't love it. We played bubbles outside and the kids just giggled adorably. I packed my gear, filled my car with all the stuff that wouldn't fit anywhere else, because i was, once again, headed home alone. We had lunch and then most of us headed off. I really shouldn't be allowed to drive when i'm emotional - i made a half hour drive through the hills in fifteen minutes... and then i was back at church.

After unpacking the car, i fell asleep on the couch. When i woke up, Hell and i ate an entire box of biscuits for comfort food. I had band practice, then the service; then we had cheese and chocolate fondue in the hall with our communion, as a kind of love-feast. We truly are an incredibly bizzare church; who else would have fondue as a bonding ritual on a sunday night?! The SouthAfrican and i had a chocolate fight and ended up with chocolate all over us... oops! We've never really matured. I was so tired, i was lisping (yes, it happens when i'm sleepy) and one of the boys threw a mocking 'i'm tho confuthed' back at me every few seconds. Ok, so it was pretty funny, but still. A few of us stayed back after we'd cleaned up to watch The Castle on the giant projector screen; it's a really funny movie! I don't think i've seen it in it's entirety before. Plus, it was really cool when i could understand the legal terms that they used, because i've been learning about them in constitutional law this semester. When the movie had finished, i hooned off home and crawled into bed. The cold that i'd been fighting off last week had developed into a flu-type-thing over the course of the weekend, not at all helped by the fact that i'd spent half of the weekend in the rain and in wet clothes! I was exhausted.

It was an interesting weekend. The campsite was awesome; the dorms were good, the couples rooms were really nice, there was an indoor pool, a bouldering wall, an in-ground trampoline, sheep, a low ropes course, ping pong tables (which we used LOTS), a pool table, a flying fox... granted, we couldn't use it all because of the weather, but still, it was a really nice place and i hope we go back there. I loved spending time with the children and they loved me; but it was hard, hearing that i was going to be a great mother someday, and that i had a gift with children. It makes you want that eventuality to occur and there's not a huge possibility that it will for me. The adults were lovely; i got along really well with the parents, and the other grown-ups, who liked that i took the kids off their hands and generally helped out. Still, i felt like the weekend was more work than fun. I had responsibilities, i couldn't relax, i didn't have my old friends there to muck around with... it just felt lonely and cold. But i think i probably learnt a few things, so it wasn't a total bust. And i know i helped out a little, so i'm glad that i could be of service there. Still, i'll have to remember this feeling next time i'm deciding whether or not to go on camp.

Now. I'm exhausted and my panadol is wearing off. It's time for bed. Good night!!