Camp Bow-Isle

My brother Ben has worked and lived at Camp Bow-Isle (a Christian Science Summer Camp off the coast of Vancouver) for the most part of the last two years and has raved about it as a fufulling experience. Having always wanted to be a counsellor for a summer before I find myself a long-term job I decided to give Bow-Isle a shot.

Unfortunately though, it was amazing. During the week of staff camp we were challenged physically and spiritually and I got to know the rest of the staff who were a good mix of creative, welcoming, serious and crazy. The first night of staff camp we climbed up Mount Gardner, which the camp property backs onto, in the dark and slept at the summit under the stars. That set the tone for a job that was definitely not 9-5 and far from boring.
For junior boys, Colby and I had 6 great campers in tent 5. The program was great and included camp wide games such as 3 sticks ( essentially capture the flag), pirates and cargo (picture a sweet game) and Quidditch in the rain, yes a modified version of the sport played in Harry Potter (where players run around with pool noodles trying to throw volley-balls through ladder mounted hola-hoops). I got to play the snitch who is a person wearing a tinfoil covered helmet that one player from each team spends the game trying to tag. For the out-trip we went out to Cape Roger Curtis a beautiful penninsula from which you can see Vancouver Island and the lights from Nanaimo.
Senior boys was also incredible and I had 2 great co-counsellors and 6 campers again. With senior boys you can try more during camp wide games like 3 sticks and the Sword in the Stone which is like capture the flag with more offense, chaos and pool noodles. The camp played the first live action version of settlers of Catan which also had chaos and pool noodles making it too, an instant classic. There is much much more to tell but I must catch the bus to the airport in Vancouver where I shall spend the night before leaving for Paris in the morning. The 5 weeks of camp that ended yesterday were extremely rewarding and I look forward to carrying what I learned forward into my european trip which begins tomorrow. By the way, I'm catching up on emails at the university of british-columbia campus and it is a beautiful campus. That's me for now.