This day was an extremely long day. I woke up around 5:30am so I could get ready and pack for the next few days at camp. Then Cami, Steve, Renee, and McKenna came and picked me up. Dave decided he wanted to go and thought that he could at least relax out there. So we all left around 6:45 or 7 ish for a three and a half hour drive. There was so much to see, but I didn't want to be too bothersome and ask questions every 5 minutes. Romania outside of Bucharest is so beautiful. It is so green with a lot of hills and lots of winding roads, AND they have lots and lots of round-abouts. They make me really happy. Driving here is pretty different though. I am still trying to figure out all of the lanes on the roads. Definitely not what we have in the U.S.. It is pretty interesting out here and knowing where you can and cannot drive. Also, going into towns there is a sign with the name of the town on it and when you leave there is the same sign, but a red diagonal line through it. Then until you hit the next sign you're pretty much in no-man's land.
The very end of the drive was a little bumpy. The camp is probably around 2 or 3 miles (or so it felt) on an actual dirt road They really aren't very fun to drive on. A couple of times I almost hit my head on the roof of the car. It was definitely worth it though. The camp was absolutely beautiful. I will try to describe it, but hopefully I will get pictures of it soon. First there is a beautiful creek that wasn't very high yet. I found out that last year I think they had a 50 year flood (a flood that happens every 50 years) that caused the creek to grow into a river and Cami and Steve spent a whole week cleaning up all of the debris.
Then, to the left of the creek was a nice little bridge that you could walk across, but instead we drove across the creek. After that we drove up a hill. On the right side of the hill at the base, there was a saw mill with lots of fire wood by it, Then a decent size plowed area that they are hoping to turn into a soccer field. Then going up the hill on the right side, lots of maple trees, a place they call the trading post where they keep all of their supplies, an out house, and a small cabin for all of the male staff. Then you are at the top of the hill. At the very top are two cabins that are connected. One is for the female staff and the other is for all of the kids. Across from the male bunk house is a stage area where speakers will be and such, then closer to the bottom of the hill, across from the soon to be soccer field is a deck area with a trampoline in the center. Also, behind the cabins at the top of the hill are the woods, a tree house, and a fire pit.
I hope you can kind of see it. I am sorry about not having pictures yet. I left my memory card in the states and didn't realize it until I was out there. Sadness, but I will try to buy a memory card by the next time I head up there.
When we got to the camp our first job was to set up the trampoline. The trampoline was connected to the deck so we got it all laid out and McKenna, the strong girl that she is, hooked all the rods to the deck. It was definitely hard work so I only did two. I really can't say much. The main problem was that you needed a tool to hook all of them into the deck, and there was only one of them and... I'm a weakling. Lol.
After setting up the trampoline Dave, Renee, McKenna and I stayed on the deck for a little bit longer. That is where I encountered my first tick. It was big and gross. Disgusting in fact. It was just crawling around on the deck and of course, since I was the only one with tennis shoes on, I got to squish it with a huge, disgusting pop! Blah! It was gross, but definitely dead. It's like it exploded under my foot.
After that wonderful event we pretty much relaxed all day. Dave, Renee, and McKenna taught me their version of Nerts, Presidents and what is called Heck of a Game. All of which were pretty fun and card games. They are pretty big on card games here so we spend a lot of time doing that.
After playing cards for awhile I was feeling a bit useless so I found Cami and she gave me a job. I was to make the beds. She explained to me that here in Europe they don't exactly sleep with sheets. They put what is called a bed covering over the comforter and sleep on the sheet and use the comforter with the bed covering over it as a their blanket. Putting the bed cover on the comforter is rather difficult if you have never done it before. It's just like when you put a pillowcase on a pillow, but it's a comforter and hassle.
I did that for maybe an hour and in the process of doing it I found rat poison in one of the blankets. We think that mice stored it in their pouches and then transported it into a big pile on a comforter. That was quite a surprise when I found it. Let me tell ya. Lol. Every year apparently the camp has a problem with some type of animal or insect. One year it was snakes, another year rabbits and I think that this year it just may be mice. Hopefully not, but it might be.
After preparing some of the beds I went to play some cards and then later went and sat by myself. When I was just sitting alone I was kind of having a hard time feeling useful. Honestly, I felt pretty worthless and that I had no idea why I was here in Romania. It really bugged me because I knew I had a purpose, I just didn't seem like I did because of how little I had done so far. Since being at camp I had only put bed covers on the comforter's. That wasn't much. So after thinking like that for a little while I knew I had to find someone to talk to or hang around. Just to get myself out of my own world. So that is exactly what I did.
The rest of the night went pretty well though. After supper we played speed-mitten and that was a ton of fun. Then we watched Van Helsing. Such a good movie and even better when you are in the country that it was filmed in. The Mather's were debating on which town it was filmed in because it looked familiar. After that we all went to bed to rest up for the next day.
Also, at the camp they have three stray dogs. They are actually really really friendly and are so sweet. There is Molly, who just had puppies, Baxter, a male, and Benji, who we are pretty sure is pregnant. So far we have not seen Molly's puppies yet. We think she is keeping them hidden from us because she is their mother and wants to protect them. She is a pretty black dog with brown eyes and her underside is white. Then
Baxter is pretty much the friendliest dog I may have ever seen. He almost looks like a husky and has the sweetest brown eyes. They are just adorable. Cami thinks he may have had a previous owner because of how tame he is. Every time he comes up to you he gets down really low so not to frighten you and he doesn't even try to get into the cabin. He is also the most social dog and always around us or sitting on the porch. He knows who we are and is very much protective over us and barks at anyone who comes onto the camp.
I didn't really see much of Benji though. She seemed nice, but looked pretty old. That conclusion may come from the fact that she is an all gray dog though. But all of "our dogs" are nice and friendly. Usually you are careful of strays, but you don't have to be with these. Just as long as you are careful not to touch one of their hurts from a previous fight they were in. :)
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