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Thank Oprah For That…

Friday, August 29, 2008
Posted in: random rambling

So, my lil’ sister’s been in the States for the past two months. She went to a Philadelphia camp, to work as a camp counsellor for the summer.

She hated it.

She compared the camp to a cult, actually. Apparently, nobody was allowed to voice a negative opinion, and those who did, were frowned upon. It was all a bit too happy-clappy for her (That’s my girl), but at least she met some like-minded people. (The Australians and the other Brits there, I believe. *g*)

She also hated the camp director, and couldn’t understand why such a person would want to work with kids, when he seemed to despise them. Apparently he was a bit power mad, another thing that grated on my lil sister’s nerves.

She’d only been there two weeks, when she started comparing it to a prison.

Anyway, she left the camp two weeks ago, (not prematurely or anything, so she managed to stick it out), and decided to go to New York, then Canada, then New York again, then Miami, before finally heading back to Heathrow yesterday.

I’m so glad she’s back, safe and sound.

Now, I’m gonna kill her for the £123 bill that she rang up on the mobile phone (that we’re paying for, mind), in July.

6 Comments »

  • Aww, so your sister was in my area! Yeah, Philly is definitely…unique. But I hope she got a cheesesteak while she was here. Glad she made it home safely.

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  • Gail Faulkner
    August 29
    1:47 pm

    Laughin’ I know exactly what being staff at a summer camp in the US is. I can’t imagine anyone related to you lovin’ it. Was it a church camp? If not, she didn’t get the full “staff” experience.

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  • Lascuba
    August 29
    2:51 pm

    I was never a camp counseler, but even as a child attending those camps I felt the same way–all that fake perkiness and enthusiasm drove me nuts.

    The religion-based camps are worse, of course, but that still seems to be the overall attitude over anything child-centered in this country. Apparently, everything has to be super cheerful at all times, or else the kids will suffer a lifetime of awful self-esteem.

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  • Some people have a happy, happy mindset that only happy, happy view points do any good and that a disagreeing opinion is automatically a wrong one.

    This is one of the moments when I say thank God I’m self-employed.

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  • katieM
    August 29
    11:01 pm

    They are trying that at the school where my sister teaches. Everything is POSITIVE! POSITIVE BEHAVIOR GETS REWARDS!!! Negative behavior is frowned upon, but not corrected because they don’t want to bring attention to NEGATIVE things. I would never send my kids to her school. And she hates it! Disruptive kids get a stern talking to and a big frown, but that’s it. Can you imagine how ruined those children will be when they grow up? They’ll never hold a job because they have no consequences now.

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  • When I was around 17 I encountered one of those Positive, Positive counselors. Sure, she was annoying at times, with all that happy chatter, the bouncy walk and eye straining bronze tan. But she helped me develop tongue-and-hand coordination and dexterity, and taught me that skinny dipping can be an art form. God bless that woman, wherever she is today.

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