Session 1 Day 2: Settling in
- Dave
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
We woke up to a beautiful summer morning on our first full day of camp. While it gets hot during the day, the evenings cool down nicely, making it very comfortable for sleeping. That early morning time—when campers are just waking up and the air is still cool—is a special part of the day.
After getting up, campers brush their teeth and take care of their morning routines before joining a short tent meeting with their counselor. These meetings give counselors a chance to check in, make sure everyone is sleeping well, and go over the day’s schedule so campers can be prepared—both mentally and with whatever items they’ll need.
Following breakfast, we continued with our regular rotation of activities. Today’s schedule looked like this:
Red Team: Crafts, River Tracing, and Cooperative Games
Pink Team: River Tracing, Cooperative Games, and Giant Swing
Blue Team: Cooperative Games, Climbing, and Sports
Green Team: Climbing, Sports, and Crafts
Orange Team: Sports, Crafts, and River Tracing
Gray Team (Teens): Giant Swing, Archery, Tabletop Games, and Zipline
You may have noticed that the younger campers have three activities listed while the teen campers have four. That’s because the youth campers end their day with something called tent time. Unlike rest time, tent time is not just free time, and they’re not required to stay in or around their tents. Instead, counselors meet with each tent group and help them choose an activity together. Sometimes, two tents will pair up for larger group games. Today, some of the activities the campers chose included making friendship bracelets, playing badminton, and catching bugs. It’s a fun way for campers to take ownership of their time and practice reaching a group consensus.
By mid-afternoon, the skies had clouded over and the temperature dropped, making tent time especially pleasant. It’s always striking how different the weather is here compared to Taipei—much cooler and more refreshing, especially in the evenings.
Tonight, we have a special event: movie night. After two days of high-energy activity, this gives everyone a chance to wind down and relax. We make popcorn and do our best to recreate a movie theater experience right here at camp. Tonight’s movie is The Parent Trap, a classic about a pair of twins separated when their parents divorced, who meet by chance at summer camp. They hatch a plan to get their parents back together—hence the name!
That is all for tonight. Below, see the link to the Dropbox folder for the day's pictures.
