So the day after climbing, we were going to go climbing again to a different spot, but needed to meet with Paul instead, which worked out well because I had a short stomach bug that seems to be going around. The next day we decided to head to Dubai and had a great time. I have tons of photos but won't be posting them tonight because we're all exhausted.
We've had a group in camp since Sunday. A group of 6th graders arrived Sunday at noon, ate lunch and then had 2 activity rotations before dinner. they climbed on our climbing tower before bed. Monday we had 4 activity rotations, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, then campfire with marshmallows after dinner. Then I decided to take them on a spider hunt. We found tons of spiders and 2 scorpions! Saw my first scorpion.
Tuesday morning we took them to the beach for two hours to let them run around and have fun "kid" time. They spend lots of time at camp doing activities they don't have much control over that are pretty structured. We all think its important for kids to have fun, free time where they can play in a safe and engaging environment. They made this amazing palace out of sand that they filled with water and then hermit crabs. They named all 20 of them and even selected a king, the biggest crab with the most awesome shell.
They left at noon on the bus that brought the next group. Sunday and Monday, the activity I was in charge of was group development- which includes trust, teamwork and leadership. We had six rotations so each of us did our activity 6 times.
needless to say, most of us were pretty tired of our activity and decided to switch. I took trekking. For trekking, we walk 30 minutes to the beach, up the side of a mountain, over the saddle, down the back side, around the mountain on the ocean side, and then back to camp. I'll try to take some photos tomorrow. So I did that twice today and am exhausted. Tomorrow will be interesting. I think I'll have to snack between treks. Morning starts with breakfast at 7am. I'll probably stay at camp tomorrow night (we rotate nights) so I can roast marshmallows in the fire and spend some time with the kids. This group is grades 7-9.
We'll have Friday and Saturday off, which we hope to spend doing something super awesome, though we don't know what yet. Sadly, it's Will's last weekend with us. He'll be leaving March 18th to go back to Wyoming to finish his semester in school. He was taking only one class- Modern Middle East, so his professor let him stay in the class because of the circumstances. He's pretty sure he'll come back in the fall.
Hope to post some photos soon of our adventure in Dubai.