"Stranger in a Strange Land"

     Every kid remembers the first time they lived away from home.  For me, the first time was a four week stay at Camp Kiniya for Girls which is a YMCA camp in Lake Champlain, Vermont.  A friend’s mother from school recommended this camp to my mother who could not wait to sign me up.  I checked the camp out on the internet.  Everyone seemed to give it a five star rating.  But as things turned out, this fun filled camp experience was a total nightmare for me.   

    
     Before camp started, I received a long list of things to bring, all of which had to squeeze into a trunk with wheels.  Then all of my clothes and supplies had to be labeled with my name and camp ID number.  It felt like I was getting ready for boot camp.  Finally, the day came to leave Virginia and head for Vermont by car.  It was a long trip but I was told Vermont was beautiful and that I would just love the cabin sitting on Lake Champlain.  Yeah right. 

     After 10 hours of driving we arrived at Camp Kiniya.  My first impression was that things looked rather primitive.  I then was told to get in line for cabin assignment.  When I approached the line, I noticed something strange going on.  A woman was lifting each girl’s hair with a wooden stick and poking around for guess what?  LICE! 

     Fortunately I passed the lice inspection test and was given my cabin assignment.  The cabin was one of the older ones.  Not a new one like my friend had stayed in.  It was old, smelly and looked like it was going to collapse any minute.  There were some nice bunks with a view of the lake but I received the upper bunk by the squeaky screen door facing the dark brown stained wall.   The restroom was miles away from this particular cabin which was not a plus.  Later I would find out that mice and squirrels also shared the cabin.  We were not allowed to bring any electronic devices such as iPods or CD players.  The cabin was grim.  My parents gleefully waved good bye and then drove off into the Vermont sunset.  I cried. 

     I didn’t know a soul and the girls were not friendly.  It rained for two whole weeks so horse-back riding and swimming were out along with other outdoor sports.  I enjoyed the singing after dinner.  Speaking of dinner, it was prepared by Russian cooks who shopped at Costco.  The food was always the same.  Pasta with pesto and bologna sandwiches, were constant items on the menu.  I usually held out for dessert which was ice-cream and cookies.  It killed the after taste. 

     Once the rain stopped, we were encouraged to participate in water sports.  This sounds good but the water was freezing after two weeks of rain.  I wore my sweatshirt and pants to the lake but that didn’t stop me from turning blue from top to bottom.  A lot of the girls were accustomed to cold water but not me.  Speaking of cold water, I never had a hot shower the entire time I was at camp.  

    Most of the girls were excited about the overnight hiking trip planned for the last week.  I packed my sleeping bag, shorts, t-shirts, jeans and hiking boots.  I wasn’t sure about this hiking trip but it had to be better than swimming in the ice cold lake.  As it turned out, I was lucky to come out alive from this dreadful expedition.  We encountered five moose and one bear.  There was also a wolf that howled all night.  This may sound hard to believe but it did happen.  There were outhouses but no showers.  The temperature dipped down at night but slowly came back up during the day.  We walked eight miles to the top of the mountain and had Vermont cheese and bread for lunch. This was the highlight of my camp experience.  Yeah right. 

     When my parents returned to pick me up, they wanted to tour the camp and chat with all the camp counselors.  I could not believe they were prolonging my torture.  My parents had received letters saying that I was having a great time.  I did not know this until I got home.  They were so jubilant that I didn’t have the heart to tell them they had spent good money for me to have the worst time of my life.  It seemed to take forever for us to leave the camp.  Once we were on the road, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.  I guess the problem was that I am really a city girl to the core.  I eventually told my parents the truth about summer camp.  They said that someday I would laugh about the things from Camp Kiniya.  Yeah right.