"What do you do?"
Well, I am the program director at Camp Timberline on the island of Oahu. The camp is dedicated to the education of school age children. We focus on leadership, teamwork and critical thinking, but what do I actually do? Well lets run through an average day...well no day is average, it's always different, but lets look at January 23rd...my Birthday.
110 seventh grade students from Millilani Middle School descended on camp in three buses. They brought enough luggage to sustain a small army on an arctic voyage despite only staying for two nights and three days. Once moved into their cabins I read the riot act listing all the rules and expectations then broke the them into 6 groups to be headed by the 6 new seasonal staff I hired last month. For the rest of the day I ran around putting out figurative fires, from clogged toilets to adjusting dinner schedules, all while sending emails and receiving calls on my Blackberry from other groups that would arrive between next week and next June. I was called to repair our ropes course and to cook dinner, though a blown fuse caused an impromptu dash to Home Depot to fix the latter the former only required a harness. After that, two night hikes led by yours truly then off to bed to do it all again the next day.
They are long days and can be physically and mentally tasking at times but in the long run I really do enjoy my job. It is always challenging in good ways and bad.
During the days that I don't have groups or projects or hours in the office I like to get around and enjoy the island as much as possible. Most recently I have been sailing a lot in Kaneohea Bay and hiking the occasional trail. When at home I either read or cook or build something new to make my house more a home. It's a good life and has been a good year the only draw back is being isolated socially. Between long hours and an isolated location, living "on the hill" can be tough but I have good friends I don't see often enough and no one, but me, can be blamed for that.
Well this post wasn't filled with the usual fart jokes...maybe turning 28 has made me grow up...hahaha nooooo...no worries there. I will at least leave you with a few pictures for your trouble. Enjoy
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| The first ripe mango from the tree outside my front door. |
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| 110 kids.... |
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| New crew sitting on the new benches we built. |
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| China Wall, my favorite place to swim on the island...and cliff jump. |
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| A dead chameleon I found outside my house this morning. |
Did the chameleon eat any of your leftovers?
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