It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and the sidewalks are buzzing with chatter as the campers walk to their destinations. They are sharing what they did in class, and I can hear some kids counting to 10 in Russian: adeen, dva, tree … Some are excited to show their friends their juggling skills while others talk about the watercolor paintings they have made. When classes end for the day, the sky opens and rain starts to fall. We walk through the rain splashing through the puddles on our way to dinner. There is a sea of colorful umbrellas bobbing up and down breaking up the gray, cloudy sky.
The rain clears up, and we are left with the long-awaited cool breeze. My fellow counselor, Molly, and I are running the soccer optional. We lead the campers to the South Lawn where it smells of freshly cut grass and rain. We watch some of the players wipe out on the slick grass, eventually including me when Molly and I join the teams. In the hour and 15 minutes that we have, we finish 3 games with a total of 19 goals and 11 out of breath, sweaty faces.
At the end of the night before lights out, my campers and I talk about the SCATS Olympics coming up on Saturday. The girls shout ideas left and right, from wanting to paint the boy teammates’ nails the colors of our country — Canada — to wanting to steal maple syrup and bacon from the cafeteria, a suggestion I immediate vote against as that would be a very sticky situation. They are so excited, Emma suggesting we make red and white friendship bracelets for our team and Megan wanting to get small Canada flags to stick in the backs of their shoes. Their eagerness can’t be contained, so look out this weekend!