For the past two weeks I’ve been volunteering at Birch Camp
as a camp counselor. I had such a blast getting to play with kids, help them
learn about the world around them, and meet some really cool volunteers. My
first week I was an activity counselor for Nature. I spent a lot of time hiking
around with groups, collecting frogs, and facilitating camp-outs/campfires. The
camp had campers of all ages babies through adults because it was a camp for
families and we also provided activities for the campers including nature
hikes, “rock climbing,” fishing, and more toddler specific activities like a
scavenger hunt through pine needles, and making leaf rubbings. It was a fun week. I stayed in the cabin with the
6-8 year old girl campers and their counselors and had a lot of fun getting to
know them and sharing their camp experience. The second week I was a counselor
for the toddler group. We were in charge of 6 boys and girls ages 4-5. Luckily
at that age the campers still stayed in cabins with their parents, but we took
care of them from about 8a, until 9 or 10pm when their parents came back to the
cabins. It took a lot of energy to chase around that many kids all day, but I
did have a ton of fun. The kids were so adorable, and while the days were
exhausting and eating meals with them was crazy I had a phenomenal time
singing, dancing and playing with the campers. I hope it works out in my life
schedule for next year that I can go back and volunteer. The “Birch Camp Family”
was such a welcoming bunch; many were volunteers who return year after year to
make the magic of camp happen and their so passionate about what they do its
fabulously energizing to be around.
Yesterday I arrived in Charlotte for my new term of
Americorps service with Habitat for Humanity. The affiliate threw us a welcome
potluck with staff, supervisors and local Americorps Alum. It was awesome to experience the community they
have created here and everyone is very welcoming. There is a strong presence of
NCCC alums and I also met some Bike and Build alums as well. Two of my new
Americorps coworkers just finished their Bike and Build trips! There are also a
couple people who love running so we’re planning on running together. Last
night I fell asleep on the couch in the common room as my new friends watched
movies and played trivia, so this morning I woke up early and managed to have a
very productive day. I was able to walk to the nearest library branch (about
3.5 miles away) and get a library card. I also found a yoga studio a few blocks
away from there that seems pretty cool, so I’m going to check out their classes
and hopefully find a cool yoga community to belong to. Later in the day a
couple of us went to uptown Charlotte to explore/celebrate Alex’s birthday. We
walked around “the Green” which was an awesome park area with cool statues and
fountains, then continued walking around seeing what the city had to offer. The
city was surprisingly deserted, it’s certainly not a hopping metropolis, but
there should be some cool events and festivals this year to enjoy!
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| Book Statue on the Green |
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| Charlotte signs! |
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| Some new friends! |
