Now that everyone is back in the sturm und drang of home life and Camp is a pleasant memory, I wanted to see if I could list some of the high points of Camp for me.
I think all the kids this year made a concerted effort to grow a lot so that we adults would be stunned by their maturity and size. There is a lot of the younger us in them and all their personalities are emerging strongly. The older teens and YAs are starting to feel the crush of responsibility and adult life as they face college and work just like we did in those old black and white days (Warning! Teens planning a reunion this year! Warning!). The adults continue to be swept away by their work and home responsibilities, not to emerge until their senior years, and the Grandparents observe everything with knowing smiles, but without the urge to direct anyone anymore.
We did pretty well with the transition to Amish Acres, with only a few hitches, and were fortunate not to completely alienate all the Amish with our loud boisterous Chinese behavior, and the staying up late every night. Where did we learn that from? I have to say the food was unusual, and Amish people do eat a lot of carbohydrates, but all was nourishing. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, being very temperate and only one rain day. No super hot humid Hong Kong-like weather this year!
The pool was a big hit, as was Toviska, which shot to the top of the Hit Parade along with Flea. We might have missed the motorboats and the lake, but we saved a ton of money! Maybe next year for the boating. All the organized activities went well and everyone stepped up to make them organized and enjoyable. The teen/adult volleyball game at the water park was just as wild as the ones we used to have against the Oakwood staff, without the pressure to uphold racial pride.
Joan and Jeff made a great opening video for Festival, and the preteens were all precious in their skits, as were the music players. Allen’s Second City experience is also contributing to the Camp milieu. We had martial arts (and crafts), and we had the electric Nappanee blues, and more. The teen skit was again brilliant, rivaling some of the best ones we did as teens, perhaps surpassing them in media-savvy humor. Every year Festival manages to surprise and delight with all the creativity.
This was the first year Camp had a real White House staff press conference and debriefing, as opposed to the mock White House visitors we had back when President Carter, looking a lot like Clarence, visited Family Camp. Tina told us all the great stories, but alas, all off the record (“deep background”). But we can say we are in good hands, and more of them are Asian than in the last administration. Also, if you want to get from Washington to Elkhart really fast, it’s good to own a helicopter and a jet.
This year’s Camp was documented in a lot of ways, all of them digital. No more chemicals, except for all the ones used in making the electronics. We got your blog (this page):
https://chinesefamilycamp.org/
We got your digital pictures here (click on the pictures for more underneath):
http://picasaweb.google.com/CFCblogs/
We even got a lot of videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/cfcblogs#play/uploads.
And if that wasn’t enough, here is the original Family Camp web page with the group picture on it: http://giantbrain.com/fc/
If you have pictures or videos or things you want to say, it’s possible to share with all, just let me know and I will help.
Thanks to all for another great Camp,
— Mark C.
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