Staying Alive, staying alive, oh oh oh oh

Well, that week is over. It was a long, long week, and I am happy to now return to my less interesting life as staff. It was a good week of challenge and growth. I learned a lot. I didn't wring any knecks, even though some of them deserved it. I didn't even tell any of them off, partly due to self control and partly because I don't know how to do so in French.

This week I have spent a day and a half fixing bikes. Between mountain biking and BMX, we destroy bikes at a frightening pace here at Teen Ranch. We don't have anyone here who is assigned to maintain or repair them either, which means that the broken bicycles pile up. Last week we had to use a couple of BMX bikes for mountain biking because four of our mountain bikes were busted. That doesn't work well. We also had three or four flat tires going into the weekend. When I mentioned all of these frightening details to the staff coordinator I was hoping he would find somebody to fix the mess. He did, but I was the one he found. Not exactly what I had in mind, but oh well. He excused me from the regular rotation of duties for a day and a half so I could focus on bikes, and now by the grace of God almost all of our bikes are once again more or less operational. I must confess that I enjoyed the challenge. It kind of reminded me of playing with Legos, except that I never used a hack saw to make things work when I played with Legos.

And now, I will post some photos. They are all full-sized because I don't have my own computer here and my friend doesn't have any photo-editing software, so my blog will probably load really, really slowly. Oh well.

Teen Ranch Hermon

Fastest gun in the west of France.


Tipis at sundown



Hidden mountain lake- during WWII secret church services were held here on Sundays because it was a remote location that the Nazis did not know about. The town closest to here, Chambon sur Lignon, hid thousands of jewish children during the war and nobody ever betrayed them to the Nazis. The nation of Israel gave the town an award because of it.

Je suis animateur

Hey world! This is me, the one you haven't heard from in a month. Camp is going well. I think. It has been a constant series of things that I never thought I would let myself be talked into. I believe we call that a "growing experience."

My first week here the camp had not yet started. I mowed the lawn, "fixed" a fence (By using longer screws to sink deeper into the rotting posts) and did a bunch of other minor maintenance.

Week 2 was the first official week of camp. Normally for a camp we have about 20 to 25 staff. The first week we had 9. It was a crazy, crazy week. We had a good team, though. We got along well and once we all knew the daily routine we managed to stay on top of things, even on Friday when our 2 cooks were gone and the septic system was backed up. Our staff coordinator did most of the cooking, in between trips to go scrutinize the smelly hole out front with the septic dudes, while I made the salads.

Week 3 was vastly different. We have a new staff coordinator each week and often half of the staff changes as well. That week we had a lot more staff and I was moved to permenant kitchen duty. I really need to start writing down recipes because Willi, our chef, is super good. We also had a shortage of male counselors that week so I was asked to take charge of a teepee in the evenings. This also meant that I had to take notes during the daily chapel service and figure out how to discuss it with the guys each evening. It also meant that I had to go to twice as many meetings as I had the week before. In addition, I was asked to sometimes help escort groups for VTT (mountain biking). I was really nervous about the teepee time. I have never had the slightest desire to put children to sleep, especially if they are not my own. And now I had to do it with 5 kids, and in French. But it went pretty well, I think. We had some good conversations. One night we discussed the meaning of life, and at the end-of-camp session when the director was reading off the comments that kids had about the camp, one of my boys had written that here he had learned the purpose for life. That really blessed me.

This week we have no male counselors whatsoever. I was initially asked to continue with the teepee routine and spend a bit more time doing mountain biking. Then, when it became obvious that we were going to have a lot more staff than normal, and therefore housing issues, I was asked if I would be willing to give up my room in the staff building and sleep out in one the tents used for the counselors (approximately 3 feet from the teepees). Then I was asked to take charge of the sound board for all of the group gatherings. Then, about half an hour before the camp started on Sunday afternoon, I was indirectly informed that I would be a team leader. The director pulled this off by asking me what I wanted for a team name. I told her "Sioux," in honor of my time at UND.

So, during the opening session I was introduced as one of the counselors. I was given 8 kids and off we went to do... something. Nobody had told me what we were supposed to do. So we wandered over to the basketball court, sat down, and we all introduced ourselves. Fortunately all of the kids had been here before so I didn't have to explain anything. Since that moment, I have been launched into the role of camp counselor, something I never thought I would do. It is challenging, especially in French. There are a lot of down times when we are supposed to magically come up with some way to entertain the kids. If I had known I would be doing this I could have perhaps prepared something, but as it is, it is a serious challenge.

The language and culture barriers are a challenge also. Sometimes it is hard to catch what they are talking about. I can't discuss much pop culture because I don't know French pop culture. Even when we discuss english music and films (which is at least half of what French kids are plugged into) we have to repeat names two or three times to understand each other because the French pronounciation is so different from English and all the movie titles are translated.

And then there is discipline. Fortunately this week is more calm than last week. That is disconcerting during worship time when only a third of the kids are singing, but it is really nice at 1:00 in the morning when I blunder out to my tent after the staff meeting. Last week it was loud until 2 A.M. despite the 11:00 lights-out. Most of the discipline issues are just the little authority tests that teenagers are so fond of. They pick a rule and push the boundary. I'm not a fan of it. Please pray that we all have wisdom to know how to handle these things and work together as a team. In past years the counselors have been very lax, and since nearly all the campers are returners we suffer the consequences when we try to stick more strictly to the rules.

I am hoping we have some male counselors coming next week. Even if we don't I may insist on returning to staff (or half-and-half) just so I don't burn out. But, in general, I am doing well. We have one day off each week, and they decided to split my day into two half-days. The first half was this afternoon, so I wanted to take advantage of it to catch you up on my life.

Have a great week, and enjoy the summer!