Leten Lager

Our hike to the Gushovski Monastery

The camp was excellent! The first day was the most challenging, but even that wasn’t so hard. I led the introductions and used some easy ice breaker games we learned during training. Then, we divided the 37 kids into three groups, one of which I led, to plan performances for the evening bonfire. Motivating a wide range of kids that don’t really know each other to come up with an idea that they will have to perform in front of a large group is a challenge under any conditions, but when your language skills are still in the ‘developmental’ stage, it’s really hard. Luckily, I have the best colleagues and one of them helped me with that activity, the kids were also really patient. The rest of the camp flew by: we hiked to a 17^th century monastery, played a ton of Bulgarian dodgeball, swam in the river, painted rocks-it was perfect. Even when it rained, the kids were easy to be around; they were plenty entertained trying to ask me questions about life in America, testing out random English words, or just playing cards in the giant army tents.

Painting rocks and making art from found objects

I’m really proud of myself for how it all went-not for planning or anything, I mostly just observed that, but for my role in interacting with the kids. I was intimidated about working at the camp. I’ve never been a camp counselor, or anything similar, before and despite living with an 8 and 2 year old for the last few months, I’m still nervous about being around children. My fears were totally unfounded! I got along great with them and they respected me. I even led a hike with all 37 of them by myself to a natural spring a kilometer away, no one cried or died on my watch. I’m excited about next year and am really looking forward to planning activities with the school in town.

Tents and sleeping mats before we put them together

I was very impressed at how well everyone did with the rustic conditions. There was no running water or even outhouse style toilets. We brushed our teeth in the river and the bathroom was the forest behind the last tent; yet no one complained and the food was incredible. Without a kitchen, vehicle, or fancy camping cooking gear, I was expecting a Bulgarian equivalent to mass produced spaghetti, powdered mashed potatoes, and peanut butter sandwiches; instead, we had fresh salads, grilled chicken breasts, roasted potatoes, kufteta, karnachi, banitsa, and fresh honeydew or watermelon for desert. One woman made all the food for three large hot meals and two snack breaks for 43 people each day over a fire with a makeshift grate and she didn’t seem to break a sweat about it. I helped was the dishes in the river and marveled at her culinary skills.