English Classes
This is probably the area where I was challenged the most. Many of my students wanted to come to camp because of their relationships with the Americans who live in Bulgaria. They've come for years and are at the point in their English knowledge that they are not really interested in the class. This was challenging for me because I have gotten used to my students being interested in learning English. Instead of lighting up and enjoying the fact that it was camp and we could probably have just had conversations instead of formal lessons (something that would still help their English language skills) I clung harder to my lesson plan and as I found out later, wore my stern teacher face the whole week. So, while I enjoy teaching, I learned that the relationship with the students is a far more important aspect to teaching than the actual lesson. A good lesson, but a hard one to learn!
Electives
The CrossFit elective was a hard workout, but was very popular! Many people were pretty sore, and we had fun teaching them how to talk about their "muscle fever" as it's called in Bulgarian. The electives were a fun time to do an activity together and just hang out.
Free Time
Evening Activities
The evening activities ranged from zombie tag to board games. It seemed like the favorite activity this year was the bonfire on the last night. One of our teammates found and brought marshmallows and we had S'mores and enjoyed being together. A group of people even went stargazing after the bonfire. Many of the deep and significant conversations that happen at camp happen in the evening, either during or after the planned activities. Needless to say, we were all exhausted after late nights and early mornings! Camp was a great experience and I'm looking forward to next year!