The Zoo, sleep deprived children, and losing my mind

This week was a bit better than last week simply due to the fact that I wasn't arrested. On Tuesday we had the zoo come to camp and I think I might have enjoyed it even more than the kids did. They brought a porcupine, a python, some sort of flying squirrel thing, and a hawk. I had never seen a porcupine in real life before and they are surprisingly cute. Also the kids were terrified of it which made me laugh.

Zoo Lady with her Hawk

On Wednesday, for street leader night, we did not play basketball in order to allow the the gym to be used for dodge ball. Playing dodge ball was a lot of fun but I realized a couple things. 1. I am far two competitive to play games with high school kids. 2. Allowing grown men to play dodge ball with soccer balls is a good way for people to go home injured.

Thursday I had to pick 7 of my 8Th graders that would be able to attend the Jr. High all nighter the next night. Jeffry is one of my favorite camp kids and I really wanted him on the all nighter because it would have made it more fun for me. The problem was that he had been a pain in my ass all week and hadn't been doing his homework. It was a tough decision but I decided to leave him out so that more deserving kids could go. He assumed that he was going to be invited to go regardless of his behavior (which has always been the case since he is everyone's favorite) but he understood why he was not invited when I explained it to him. Hopefully the opportunity to be invited to future events will be a good incentive for him to behave in the future.

Hasi being crazy at the all nighter

On Friday night we had our all nighter. 60 Jr. high kids showed up and we loaded them into the buses at 7:30pm and took them roller skating. We were at the roller rink till about 10:15 and by the time we left, my feet felt like they had swelled to about 10 times their usual size.

After skating we loaded the kids back into the buses and took them to the bowling alley. Luckily I bowled well enough in all three games to not lose to any Jr. highers. We bowled until 1 am and then headed back to urban promise for pizza and just hanging out.

After the pizza, the kids were hanging out in the gym and the parking lot. Apparently someone complained about them being too loud because the police came. I went outside and talked to the police and told them we would keep everyone inside. It felt like I was back in college all over again (at least college prepared me for something I guess).

Albert Explaining the Bus Rally

At 4am (after drinking lots and lots of caffeine) we explained the rules of the bus rally and loaded the kids back into the buses. We then sped around the city in two buses racing to different locations to accomplish the tasks of the bus rally. Unfortunately my bus lost. We got back at about 6am had some breakfast and then started taking kids home around 7am.

Some kids couldn't hack it

On Saturday I slept from about 8am till about 11:30am.... I watched some basketball on the TV at urban promise and as I was walking back to my house to make lunch, some of the other interns saw me and invited me to go to Philadelphia with them. I went. They were going to find a coffee shop to use the Internet and write their support letters. We got stuck behind a dump tuck on the street in Philadelphia and I noticed the Michigan/Purdue game playing on ESPN inside a bar. I jumped out of the van and went into the bar. The other interns continued on to their coffee shop. I spent a few hours in the bar watching Michigan lose and then headed to the coffee shop to meet up with the other interns. When I got to the coffee shop they had finished their support letters and we headed to Dirty Franks (the sweet dive bar that we discovered a couple of weeks ago) for a couple drinks and some good conversation. After Dirty Franks, we went home and I went to bed.

On Sunday I woke up late and was lazy all day and just watched football. I was sad to see Brett Farve lose the way he did but that Vikings Saints game was a lot of fun to watch.

Sitting in the bar, watching the Michigan game alongside people who were clearly regulars at that bar, really made me miss having a social life outside of Urban Promise. We are stuck here in this little bubble where our entire lives revolve around Urban Promise and the other people who work here. Camden, being what it is, doesn't provide too many attractive options socially outside of Urban Promise and our internship is very intrusive into our lives. Because our schedules are so busy and always changing, we are expected to inform our intern director of any trips we are going to make or anytime we are going to be more than 20 minutes away from home. This is sort of a transition phase in my life and I know that this is probably not where I am making any sort of long time home (although i don't really know for sure). All of this is really starting to get to me. I love camp and my kids, but the rest of it is really starting to drive me crazy. I am really ready to move onto the next phase of my life. I could use a lot of prayer over the next few weeks/months for the endurance to get through May with my sanity (if i ever had it to begin with).