Reporting Progress...

[Stage Notes:: Piles of papers strewn across the couches]
[TV:: Titanic]

Well, time has been flying by. As my friends and fellow teachers in Michigan await the start of their school years at the end of this Labor Day weekend, I am preparing progress report grades. That's right, I am almost half way through my first quarter. It still feels like I just started, though with each passing day, the summer at ND seems to be fading further and further into history. All in all, things are going fairly well.

The biggest surprise of this journey has been the people that I have met and the other volunteer organizations I have found out about. Yesterday I spent the day hanging out with my roommate, some people that are a part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corp and a Dominican Volunteer. Prior to yesterday, I really had never heard of either program. It is amazing to meet so many people that are so concerned with social justice. Our dinner conversation lasted for close to two hours discussing what each of us considers to be the biggest social justice issue of our generation. Of course then the night progressed into talking about being new to Atlanta and playing games of all sorts.

Well I just wanted to say hello because I have not been writing much. Now I must continue with my school work and prepare for the festivities of the next two days.

P.S. To all of my MDA family, I am sorry I cannot be there with you at all of the events going on today and tomorrow. Sadly I do not even get to see any of you on TV, but I will be watching the telethon and thinking of you :)

Alive, or something like that

[Stage Notes:: Head throbbing, too many thoughts running through my head]
[TV:: Commercials]

First and foremost, I would like all of you to take a second to pray for my friend Alex and his family. Alex underwent a very risky back surgery today. The surgery appears to have been successful, but it is still early. He now has a very long road to recovery and this will no doubt be very challenging emotionally on the family. Thank you!

As for me? Well, as the Germans say, Mann lebt. Roughly translated it means, I'm alive. I have survived the first two days of tutoring and for the first time, have some ideas about what to do tomorrow. It is hard though when the two students are so different academically. It basically means I have to write two lesson plans for each day. Other than that, I am just dealing with the general confusion that comes with life and trying to understand the mysteries that lie ahead.

Classes are going pretty well, though they are about to ramp up again. Up until this point, I did not have any math content class because the professor was still teaching at Colorado State. From what I have seen, I am pretty sure I am going to love this class.

It really seems like I should have more to say, but I just can't think right now. I am going to try to get back into the swing of blogging regularly, but I am making no promises. If you have any specific questions, ask them in the comments and I will do my best to answer. That might help me focus on a topic :)

54 Days

[Stage Notes:: Hockeyhockeyhockeyhockeyhockery...hockey!!!]
[TV:: Dallas at Vancouver; Game 7 | Hockey Night in Canada]

I love hockey. Especially playoff hockey.

I love being able to tune into a Canadian TV station during playoff hockey. During the playoffs, every night is hockey night in Canada.

Just thought that needed to be mentioned.

Go Wings!!! Oh, and in case you didn't know, the Wings won last night in double over time at Calgary! What an awesome game. There really is no more exciting sport that I have seen. Though I still have not seen a game of Jai Alai which I imagine is just insane. Maybe it is just because playoff hockey is so nerve racking. The only other really nerve racking sport in my mind is Soccer. Especially World Cup soccer. And shortly behind that is March Madness college basketball.

Ok, that said, this post is really about the 54 days mentioned in the title.

7 Weeks; 5 Days.

June 17th (or if you are lucky it can be June 16th) is the start of Camp.

Camp is my life blood. It is what I live for because it has year in and year out changed my life. It is a week of waking up with passion, and falling asleep because you have been running on Adrenalin and passion for 18 hours. Then you do it again. And you laugh and cry and hug at the end, but you don't really say much because there just aren't words. That is camp.

Honestly, camp has almost taken on it's own meaning. One of the actual definitions is:

A place in the country that offers simple group accommodations and organized recreation or instruction, as for vacationing children

HEHEHEHE. Not even close to an explanation for camp. I don't really feel like I can explain it right now so I think I will post the essay I wrote about it for the ACE application.

Enjoy, and think about what you would say if someone asked you to tell what is most important to you...in less than 300 words. I have to go work on my camp application because there is a planning meeting tomorrow(or today for most people that will read this)

What is Most Important to You? (300 Words Max.)

How does a person decide if what is most important is an event, some words of wisdom, an individual who touched his life, or a simple tradition? For me, it is a combination of these things that begins on Father’s Day when I join 130 of my closest friends for a week at Muscular Dystrophy Summer Camp.

We have our own reasons for returning year after year. Campers want a week where wheelchairs and leg braces are commonplace. I go to put the other fifty-one weeks into perspective. Every day of the year, I face situations that require humility, willingness to ask for help, sacrifice, and a desire to overcome. At camp my friends demonstrate how to answer yes through the examples they live out.

Throughout daily activities at camp I am reminded that the biggest barrier for people is the assumptions we make about them. Campers teach me how to recognize when I need help and more importantly how to accept it with grace, dignity, and occasionally a sense of humor. My friends whose diseases have no name show how to face uncertainty with courage. Volunteers challenge the conventional meaning of words like value and trust when I see how we must rely on each other to get through the week. Together, our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional strength is taken to the breaking point, and as a result each of us grows stronger and wiser.

When the week ends, it is impossible to walk away unchanged. I leave with a refined definition of who I am, and what people are capable of. The memories and mementos of camp are my daily reminders of not only how to define words like strength, ability, and dignity, but also how to live them out every moment of every day.

It's Alive....again....

[Stage Notes:: Sitting at work, Pepsi on the desk, major tension headache]
[ipod:: Kei's Song | David Benoit]

First things first, the Camp Photoblog is alive yet again, though sadly I do not know how long it will last. I am searching for a new free webhost for it, but in the meantime enjoy it while it lasts. I am requesting that anyone who wants to be notified of its status send an e-mail to dailycamppics AT gmail DOT com. I will add you to a list that I can send updates too :).

I do not have much to say today because the truth is I am not feeling that great and that is skewing my perspective on pretty much everything. That's life though, so I guess I just have to deal with and move on. The highlights included:

• Thrift store shopping for Mexico
• Bocce Ball and Irish Pubs do go together
  
• Spending the day with a friend and her one year old daughter(who ironically does not like me, but loves the stuffed dog I gave her for her birthday)
• Wandering around Great Lakes crossing realizing that Thrift stores really do have good deals
• Reading a few chapters of a new book [title withheld until conclusion of reading said book]
• Looking through a bin of old McDonald's toys and deciding that Hula girl Lila just might be the van's mascot in Mexico
• A candy dispensing Mr. Potato head that is also a wind up toy is very versatile
• Jesus' miracles can all be done using only 5 actors, some bed sheets, a robe, Swedish Fish, some sort of to be determined cereal, water, a few cups, some food coloring, and streamers!
• Stores you really, really want to go to close two minutes before you get there...Always!
• Speaking with a French accent to 1st-5th graders is always fun

There you have it, my whole weekend in 10 bullet pointed items. Three cheers for Monday being almost over!