no internet :(

So I've lost my internet at my house for the past couple weeks, and thus the lack of update. I'm very sorry! I have lots to update on, too. Right now, however, I have to help set up for our "harvest carnival" that we're having for the kids tomorrow night- a bunch of 5th and 6th graders in a gym with lots of games and prizes. It's gonna be chaos but lots of fun. We're also taking 4th and 5th graders to Hershey Park and then to Messiah College on Saturday and Sunday (more chaos!), but hopefully I'll be able to find time to update before the weekend ends.

I hope everyone is doing well! And that you all have a lovely halloween :)

Dance Party

Yesterday was a good day. For internal community service in the morning, I was working with Josh to get things together for the harvest carnival coming up in a couple weeks. The harvest carnival is where a bunch of kids from each camp come and each camp runs different carnival games which are spaced out in a big game. So yesterday I went with Josh to Wal-Mart and the dollar store to pick up things we need, like streamers, face paint, jars to put goldfish in, etc. Pretty fun for "community service". I even got to pick up a washing-up basin for our kitchen sink (even tho everyone was like 'why the heck is there a bucket in our sink??'). And for lunch Charlotte and I made my Rachel Allen recipe- pasta with spicy sausage and cream. mmm. That's always a winner right there.

Camp went really well too. What DID suck tho, was that it was FREEZING in the building (as well as outside, since it was pouring rain). I think rainy days are prone to have kids bouncing off the walls, but we were able to get the kids energy out by having a dance party at opening program. We started with individual competitions. I went up against Choppy, one of the boys (who actually lives in the house next door to me), as "worst dancer". Sadly, I didn't win, but I still think I was worse. There were lots of other dance battles, and you can see some pretty sweet dance moves by the leaders on my facebook. Soon, all of the kids were up and dancing and going crazy. By far, the best thing was Michael doing two backflips in a row :



We also have an intern class every Thursday night. This week we had the StreetLeader director, Dana, come and give us personality tests and tell us about what each thing means. I found out that I am an I.N.F.P. Than means introvert, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving. You can ask me what that means if you're interested. But the description it gave seemed pretty accurate. It was interesting to see where everyone else fit as well. I'm not really a fan of those types of test ("there's no right answer..." etc), but it is surprising how insightful it is into why you behave a particular way.

So now it's the weekend, which is always exciting. No camp on Fridays, so they're usually pretty relaxed. Hopefully we'll still be able to hang out with some kids this afternoon, though. And I might go with some of my kids and leaders to a youth group they go to on Saturday nights, which should be fun. I hope everyone has a good weekend. I want know know what fun things people do- I miss you all and want to hear about your lives too!! So keep me updated :)

So I'm sure you're all wondering just what exactly my internship here consists of. Well, my after school program (Camp Grace!) is located in north Camden and I work there with 3 other people I live with. We also have an intern director and 4 or 5 "street leaders", who are Camden highschool students employed by Urban to help out at the different programs. Everyone I work with is awesome. The street leaders are all 11th/12th graders and are hilarious. When we have opening program at camp, they can often be seen doing crazy skits, or dancing while dressed in ridiculous clothing. I think all of the interns find them just as entertaining as the kids.

The kids at Grace are great. I heard so many stories about how “Grace kids” are the trouble makers, and how out of all of the camps that they are the toughest to deal with. That being said, I went to camp the first day with some apprehension, but I have grown to love all of the kids over the past few weeks. There have been a total of 31 5^th and 6^th graders and about 10 7^th and 8^th graders who have come to camp since it started, so it hasn’t been without its hectic “I want to pull my hair out” moments. But for the most part it's been a great experience. Their favorite game when they arrive is "come on over", where they have to run from one wall to the other without being tagged. No matter what new games we try to play we always resort to it. And they love opening program, where we have am ongoing competition between the boys and the girls while we watch skits, play games, and sing camp songs. We also have snack, homework time, and a final activity (art project, science project, etc)- there's a lot to pack in to 2 1/2 hours!

Another thing I do during the week is 2 hours of community service on Tuesday mornings. There's about 6 of us who are currently working on a mosaic mural in south Camden. I've been working on the tree that you can see on the right side of the bottom picture. Across the tree it says "art will save us". Let me tell you, it's not easy to try and find tiny tile pieces to fit around the words, but doing the mural is kind of therapeutic. Plus, I cannot tell you how many people walk/drive by and complement it while we're working. Everyone who lives there is so appreciative in the initiative in trying to rebuild south Camden...one building at a time.

There's also lots of other things that I have to do throughout the week, but most of it isn't as exciting, and I'm sure you'll hear about it at some point anyway. Sadly I've lost my camera charger (thus the not-so-good phone pictures above), but when I get a new charger, I'll make sure to put up lots of pictures of camp kids and all my exciting adventures. So stay tuned :)

Steal your heart away

While thinking of a name for my blog, I stumbled upon New Jersey's state song. I didn't even know New Jersey had a state song. Well, I won't go through all of it because if you are really curious you can look it up yourself, but the last 2 lines say:

"Each little town has got that certain something, from High Point to Cape May;
And some place like Mantoloking, Phillipsburg, or Hoboken will steal your heart away."

Now, I've never been to Mantoloking, Phillipsburg, or Hoboken, but I'm not so sure that any of these places would 'steal my heart away'. Camden, however, is proving to be very different. I've lived here one month, and I know I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Filled with violence, poverty and crime, my heart is being stolen away to this city in need.

I hope that over the course of this year I can capture even a glimps of the experiences and stories I encounter- from living in a row home with 10 other people, to the after school program I help run in North Camden, where we meet in a church that's falling apart around us. God has definitely placed me here for a reason; I'm excited to see how this year unfolds, and I'm happy that I get to share my experience with all of you.