Take one a day: 2007.08

I'm back.

I have just finished volunteering at the Bodwell's University Summer Program, a Summer camp designed for students to immerse themselves in an English environment, to learn the English language (well, maybe also swearing words of different languages) and to meet people from different cultures. The program was about four weeks but including the orientation and the end trip it took about five weeks or so.

I did not expect too much from the program before going into it. It's not that I did not know how to spend my summer but because as a new post-secondary graduate, I thought it was more important to secure a job rather than to volunteer. Fortunately, the program proved me wrong. Not only I have acquired skills which will prepare me for future encounters, but I have also received a job offer from the Bodwell High School! (which I still need to consider about.)

What more can I expect than meeting a group of diverse, energetic, and amazing people from around the globe? I don't know how many times I have said this but coming to the program was perhaps one of the smartest choices I have made this year and perhaps, in my whole life. Funny as it may sound, but I have earned so much experience from working with kids and leaders of different backgrounds. I have also learned a lot about myself and the certain aspects which I have not already realized; I have also learned how to deal with conflicts, not only with kids but also with colleagues or even with supervisors. I learned to see things from other's perspectives, I learned to fight for what I want, I learned to show my affections through hugging and kissing. Undoubtedly, there were times when the world seems to have stopped and things had gone out of control. When the kids are so paranoid and think you are bossier than their parents. The job is not easy, seriously, they would come to you and complain about almost everything; the food, the schedule, the teacher, the mosquito in their rooms, or even their love problems, and believe me, it is more complicated than you thought. We were told to check washrooms and bushes during night patrol. As painful as it may sound, seeing the kids cry at the end of the camp and reading the notes they wrote to you make you feel proud and realize that you may have changed someone's (or your own) life. Seriously, I've lost count of how many times I have cried over this camp, and believe me, I rarely cry.

The job was not easy, well, at least from what I had expected. I will always remember

11:30pm meetings.
the training sessions.
waking up at 6:30am.
7am morning calls.
9am showers.
unexpected knocking at your door throughout the night.
overcrowded school bus.
loading the school bus.
greasy and cold pizza for lunch, for dinner, and if you are lucky, you will get it in the morning too! yum!
The kids think they could outsmart you with almost anything but really you know you have been there and done that. Still, you enjoy catching them red-handed.