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Out of Minneapolis and into the (camp)fire, aka, it's hot here.

My Teva/Toms tan is already getting very intense, along with an increased tolerance for sun and bugs. I'm becoming a true camp counselor.

It's Day 4 at American Village and it's hard to describe what I've been up to the past couple of days. We've been setting up camp, unrolling handmade posters saved from past years, practicing our improv, and sorting through sports equipment and things to sell at the "general store."

Just a reminder, I'm working at an English immersion camp in the south of France in July. In August I might be moved to another camp location, but this place is pretty beautiful. It's part of a larger compound of campsites, situated along a lake near Miramont de Guyenne, a small town an hour Southeast of Bordeaux.

Our cabin-tent-daytime saunas.
The campsite is very rustic. My camp director describes it as the "most American camp-like" of the site. There's only electricity in a couple of locations, the headquarters and the main gathering space. We sleep in bunkbeds in giant tents with canvas on all sides but with wooden floors. There are multiple rooms, so it feels almost like those Harry Potter camping tents, but less ornate. We dine en plein air in a shelter-like structure. Apparently it never rains here, so bad weather shouldn't be an issue.


But have I mentioned it's been in the upper nineties the last couple of days? Since we're always outside, I'm slowly getting used to the heat, and it makes any AC (or "le clim") I encounter SOOO wonderful. We took a trip to the supermarket on Wednesday where I bought oatmeal, peaches, grapefruit shampoo, and a three euro bottle of Bordeaux. Mmmm.

The kids (11-15) are coming on Sunday, which is "Ellis Island Day" at the camp. They go through "customs", where the counselors confiscate contraband; a language test; they pick out a name, etc. Oh, the names! Normal names are not allowed. Our counselor group consists of T-Bird, Griffin, Dory, Scuba, Leon, Ness, Crabby, Curry, Daisy, Ozzy, the Colonel, Thunder, and me, Liberty (how murica is that?). We create a list of names for the kids to pick from or they can choose their own. The mental list right now includes Grumpy Cat, Hashtag, Ya You Betcha, etc. It's going to be a lot of fun.

The ESL team selfie- Leon, me, Scuba, and Ness. 
My counselor team is great- it's about half American (2 California, 1 each from Kentucky, Illinois, Connecticut, and the Virgin Islands, and then several French, plus a Scot and a German. We've split roles into Activities Counselors, Language (ESL) Counselors, and Daily Life Counselors. We all get along really well and we're all slightly crazy. Looking forward to getting our kids!

We've been sharing food with the diabetic camp next door so I don't have much to brag about right now. We're getting a new cook when the kids come, so I'm hoping they'll take it up a notch. Tonight, however, we had a meal of roast turkey, tabouleh, cut up tomatoes and cucumber with balsamic vinaigrette, and carrots sauteed in butter and herbs. For dessert (there's always dessert), a carton of fromage blanche (similar to plain yogurt) with apricot/peach jam.

I did have a wonderful meal with my former host family on Monday evening, consisting of duck, potatoes, ratatouille, camembert, roquefort, and comté cheeses, plus chocolate mousse. It was pure heaven. They were so generous to pick me up from the airport and take me to the train station the next day- made my arrival in Paris much easier. It also made me realize how much I need to practice my French :)

 Until next time,

 Liberty! 

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