Only 16 days left of camp - be still, my heart.

I sent an e-mail to Camp Laurel today asking if anyone had been informed of my desire to work there for the final week, and received a response from Keith (their director) to call him on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. I take that to mean that I may be interviewed over the phone - the standard 'why do you want to work here,' 'what would you do in this situation,' etc. I'm not too worried - I have yet to fail an interview that involves child care. (Knock on wood.) The only hitch would be that I can only stay from midday Saturday the 5th through midday Friday the 11th. Not sure how much good I'd do them in six days, but you never know.

I am getting so sick of 15-year-old girls that I don't know what to do with myself. The Ton-A-Wandah kids were never like this. Goes to show you what a high income bracket can do. The girls at my table are constantly calling one another 'fatty' and variations thereupon. ("But she knows I'm just kidding!" "That still doesn't make it okay!") Sigh. And yesterday during rest hour, a girl named Sam (one of the ones I can't stand, who thinks she runs the camp) asked Audrey (a girl from Quebec whom I like a lot) to teach her some French. (Sam knows some 'classroom French', and Audrey speaks it natively.) Audrey had been in my group at Funtown Splashtown last week, and she knew I could understand some French, so she said jokingly to Sam something along the lines of, "Don't you just hate this counselor sitting next to me?" I stuck my tongue out at her.
Sam, however, didn't know I spoke any French, and responded, "Oui! Toi aussi? Elle est grosse!" ("Yeah! You too? She's fat!")

Sadly, the French words didn't come to me immediately - it's been a few months - but I did exclaim in English, "You guys are MEEEEAN!" I didn't know whether to laugh or be angry. Audrey, of course, was literally rolling on the floor laughing, and I could hardly blame her. Sam had an 'oh shit' reaction, which she quickly covered up with, "Know what? I totally knew you spoke French," and some lame excuse about something I'd supposedly said during the first week of camp. Hah. Put your foot in your mouth that time, didn't ya? I enjoyed her discomfiture so much that I forgot to be mad. The fact is, I'm 22 and pretty comfortable with my athletic body - I'm not a stick like the campers, obviously, but I'm not overweight either - and Sam's comment didn't really bother me. But when I was 15 or 16, it would have. Which is why I'm jumping on this 'fatty' thing as much as possible, no matter how much they tell me they're kidding. 15 is a tough enough age as it is - they don't need "jokes" making it tougher.

On a nicer note, I had a long conversation with Linnie, one of 'my' girls, tonight - she's into astronomy, and when she heard I had gone to Space Camp she got really interested and wanted to hear everything about it. I told her all about the simulators and activities and all, and she decided she wants to go next year. Since we were alone in the room, I even snuck out the computer and showed her some pictures on the website. We ended up talking about the potential for life to exist in outer space, how the human body works, and somehow ended up on the Holocaust. I showed her my Auschwitz pictures and recommended a few books to her - if there's one thing I know, it's books - and she lapped it all up eagerly. I really enjoyed talking to her. What a difference between 13 and 15.

Anyway, I'm off to bed - tomorrow is my night off, Friday is the last activity day, and Saturday the campers leave and I get a full day off. Then on Sunday it all starts over again for the third and final time. Brace yourselves...