Camp

This week I had the opportunity to work as a monitor for Home to Home Total English school camp. What is a monitor I hear you ask? Well a monitor is someone who looks after children while they’re doing activities and to make the camp experience as fun as possible.

The camp lasted from Wednesday to Friday, however I had to be at the camp on Tuesday so we could settle in to the place and be prepared for the kids arriving the next day.  Ines my host grandmother drove me to the nearest train station in Sils and waited with me until the train for Barcelona arrived. Feeling nervous I boarded the train and set off for the camp. After arriving in Barcelona I had to take a bus to the company office which was based in Palau-Solita i Plegamans about 40 mins from the city centre. I expected  to meet other team members in Passeig de Gracia station but after scouring for wifi connection I phoned one of the team members and she told me that she would meet me near the train station around 3.30pm. I looked at the time on my phone and it was 1.40pm so I had just over two hours to kill. My stomach was rumbling so I decided it was time for food and there was a McDonald’s nearby. Yeah, I know what you’re saying. You’re in Barcelona and you’re having a McDonald’s. Why?

Well, for starters you don’t have to look like a sad person going into a restaurant alone (okay I know loads of people eat in restaurants alone, but I just don’t like to do it!) In McDonald’s it’s one of the places where you can eat alone and not worry about wishing there was someone you can talk to. I was absolutely dying for a Big Mac and I haven’t had one for a while, so I figured why not? Within half an hour I demolished my entire meal and soon headed out to find somewhere which had free wifi (as McDonalds didn’t have any). I then found an amazing bookshop called Casa Llibre, which not only sold Spanish books, but English, French and Italian ones as well. I had a little browse and checked my phone for wifi. It worked and I managed to Whatsapp the other team members about a meeting point near the Gaudi house which was across from where the bookshop was. At 3.30pm I made my way over to the meeting point and met up with the other team members. I met Carolina who was from Colombia, Donatela who was from Ecuador and Rory who was born in Barcelona to Irish and Scottish parents. After looking on Google maps we took a ten minute walk to the bus stop to Palau. There were other people who were on the bus going to the company office but to different camps and we had such a laugh, getting excited for the camps and discussing which age groups of kids were the worst behaved.

Arriving at Palau we met our coordinator Jordi, packed the van with the materials and our bags and made our way to Navés where the camp was. I met the other team members, Javiera from Chile, Cesca who lives near Barcelona and Ken from the Philippines. The journey was quite long so most of us were sleeping on the way there. Once we arrived we settled into our room where all of us slept in bunk beds. Normally I take the bottom bunk but as I was one of the last ones in the room I got the top bunk. Then  it was time for a short meeting so Jordi told us what was expected of us and what activities would be happening at the camp. After this it was time for dinner and then bed.

The next morning we had breakfast and then tried to decorate the place with pictures of England (which was the topic for the camp). We were soon finished and then it was the waiting game as the kids needed to arrive. It was agonising as we didn’t know what time they would arrive. Finally at 1 o’clock two coaches pulled up and the kids shuffled out waving excitedly. Soon the kids were settled into their rooms and it was time for lunch. The next few days were filled with activities such as a live version of the game Cluedo, where the children ran around finding out who the murderer was (SPOILER ALERT: It was the king in the London underground with the ninja star. I know, strange right?)  It started to snow before we went for dinner. Ken and Donatela were very excited as it was the first time they’d ever seen snow. The next morning when we went outside we looked at the woods and it was similar to that of a Christmas card.

We went trekking and told the kids to be careful as they were throwing snowballs. Due to the weather we changed the activities slightly. The weather wasn’t suitable for the original activities, so instead Jordi came up with an idea of having a snowman competition. It was so much fun to see the kids build their own snowman and in the end all the different teams won as Jordi couldn’t decide a winner. After that we had a detective workshop where the children got to trace their hands and put their fingers on inkpads and put fingerprints on their hand drawings. Using lemon juice, cotton buds and paper the children also got to write secret messages. When a candle was held up to the paper the secret message was revealed. Finally we had some free time to relax before dinner. In the room we had conversations about our romantic lives (mine is currently non-existent haha!) and what we were planning to wear to the disco as none of us really had any dress up clothes. The girls put on some make up but by the time I was ready to do mine, it was time for dinner and in the end I decided I didn’t need to wear any (it’s camp, so I’m lazy).

After dinner it was time for the disco. We joined the kids in the main building and they were all dressed up as different characters among them Minnie Mouse, Baloo from the Jungle Book, a policewoman and one boy who I thought was dressed up as Gru from Despicable Me told me he was dressed as a hipster (which was really interesting!) Soon the music started playing and we started dancing. The kids requested the song ‘Turn down for what’ by DJ Snake. The song is really annoying however when it starts playing you can’t help but dance to it. The song played five times and by the end it really irritated me. However the kids loved it and in the end the disco was for the kids. There were other songs played including ‘Picky’ which is a Spanish pop song and ‘Lean On’ by Major Lazer. It soon felt really hot and some of the kids were complaining about being thirsty. So I accompanied them to the dining room which we had to go outside for and I felt the sweet relief of cold air on my face.

They started playing ‘Uptown Funk’ by Bruno Mars when I returned to the disco. I imitated the moves from the music video and most of the kids were dancing with me and copying what I did. So it was a lot of fun. After the disco I was exhausted and we went straight to bed.

The next day was the last one. We only had four hours left of activities and we were going to make the most of it. This included a scavenger hunt where I had to read clues to my team about London. Once we found the pictures there were different challenges including the ‘Over and Under’ game (Google it) and all the team members threading a rope through the jumpers/shirts so that they were all attached in a circle. After this game it was time for our final activity: Treasure Hunt. I had a rush of adrenaline as my team and I run around finding and answering questions about England. Once we got all the questions we pieced together the clue and ran to where the treasure was. Our prize was a bag of lollipops and once it was finished we went to the dining room where we said thank you to the students for coming to the camp and having such a fun time with us.

After this we served the students lunch, so the teachers could have lunch at the same time as them. Then after lunch there were tearful goodbyes and once the coaches left it was time for us to have lunch. After enjoying our last meal at camp we took our luggage and packed it in the van which took us back to Palau. Then it was back to Barcelona city centre and for me on a train back to Girona – exhausted but so happy I took part in this incredible experience working with some great people.

Now it’s the Easter holidays so I can relax and enjoy some well deserved time off school! 

For more information check out Total English Home to Home on Facebook or their website http://www.hometohome.es/pages/totalenglish_ind (If you don't speak Spanish or Catalan you can use Google Translate, it gives you the jist of what it's about).