Random Update (6.29.13)

The dryness is a constant reminder of the nearby desert. The other evening at the campfire, we saw a lightning storm in the distance over the desert in the East sky, opposite the clouded, pink sunset in the West. My skin has been getting a bath of lotion twice a day. The last two days I have included baths of sunscreen due to the final day pool competition and a day at a nearby secluded lake with the staff on our day off. I will a) be very dark and b) have a severe farmer's tan by the end of the summer.

I am very fortunate to be outside so often in such a naturally beautiful area of California with such great people. I feel like I am going to camp with the kids I am supposed to take care of, because I have never done anything like it before. At camp, I have seen a simplicity of living that is definitely admirable. By simplicity, I mean in materialistic terms. It does not take much to live in the climate here. It hardly rains. The nights are cool and refreshing. The days are hot and empowering. Paper signs can be left outside on trees. Shoes are all left outside on porches. Things have a perpetuity here that is nothing like any other place I have been. Many of the people here have traditions that follow this same spirit of continuity. A few girls have grown up on the ranch. A few of their close friends practically have, too. Two of the older (read: mid 20's) male counselors have been campers or counselors here for over a decade, and are full of facts and hints and tips and information about the camp and the nature environment that it sits in. I think it is a quite normal thing for small, secluded areas of the world to develop strange and unusual customs that create their own identity. That is certainly true at this camp. Some traditions are silly: the legend of the pink dolphin, nutty Friday night dances. Some touch the heart: kids faces lit by wispy campfire light singing "Blowin' in the Wind," or laying out on the grass and wishing on shooting stars together, the night before they all leave. 

It is not a perfect place. Kids are a handful. Time to myself is precious. I am missing possible time with family and possible time at home. But it is pretty darn awesome so far.