Villa Gesell!

I still need to upload my pics from Villa Gesell, but for now you can look at this.... http://www.mazcue.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/villa-gesell.jpg

I know, it has been forever since I have written a new blog. But I have a good excuse. While I was at sleep away camp in Villa Gesell, I had no computer or telephone access, so I had no way to use the internet or make any phone calls. Now I’m in Buenos Aires (I’m working in the JDC office for the 13/17 program until February)  and I have some computer access (I left my laptop in Cordoba) so that’s why I am finally getting around to this so late. Mil disculpas!

There are many ways I could discuss my Argentine sleep away camp experience but I think what you would most enjoy is reading about the differences between Argentine camp and U.S. Camp. Oh where to start….

1. For U.S. camp, you have to send in your camp forms months in advance, so they can read your profile and your medical records. For Argentine camp, everyone turned in their forms the day of departure to the camp.
2. My sleep away camp in the US always had boys and girls side. In Argentine camp, the boys and girls shared a tent without any counselors. The counselors slept in a separate tent close by.
3. When I found out I was coming to this camp, I mentioned how I was a camp counsellor for a summer and that I taught arts and crafts and archery. They told me that my skills were not necessary and at first I couldn’t figure out why. The activities were lectures based on the topics of peace, Zionism, Israel, domestic and sexual violence and Jewish identity. There were 4 lectures a day, each one being around an hour to an hour and a half. There were no sports, no art, no boating, which is something that my camp had. 
4. Timing. At camp in the US, it is a very set and confirmed schedule. Activities go on in rain or shine. Many times the activities started late. For example, the activity after lunch was supposed to start at 3PM but frequently it started at 4:30PM.
5. Communication. My camp in the US always had many foreign counselors from all over the world. Throughout the year camp would update us about who was coming to camp and from where, and then there would be a little paragraph about them so people would be able to get to know them before camp  started. When I arrived at Argentine camp, many people had no idea I was coming, including some of the camp leaders. Many were confused as to why I came to the camp and what my objective was (I am the FIRST American to come to this camp) and many people asked me if I flew from California to Villa Gesell and then was planning on flying back to California when camp ended. Needless to say I was surprised that some people didn't know that I was coming and to be honest this was not the most comforting for me.
6. Leadership. At my US camp, the director was about in his 40’s and all the counselors were around college age, between 19-25 years old. At Argentine camp, the counselors were between 17-20 years old and the head Rosh, the camp director was about 22-23. I was one of the oldest people at camp.
7. Food. At my camp in the US, we had a dining hall complete with plates, cups, silverwear, and in case we didn’t like the food they were serving, there was always the option of salad bar or BP&J sandwiches. At Argentine camp, we had to bring our own plates, cups and silverwear. 

-         More about food: It is the US camp legend that the food is terrible so every camper brings a suitcase full of candy, cereal and basic foods for survival. I obviously thought Argentine camp would be the same way, so I brought with me tons of crackers, oatmeal, rice cakes, survival food. Everyone thought I was crazy, why would I need to bring food if they were going to serve us food? What I didn’t know is that the camp hired a catering company, so the food was edible and actually really good!!!

-         Kosher: Every meal was  unkosher, something that I am not used to at camp. Milk and meat was  served together and the meat was not kosher. My camp in the US was always 100% kosher
8. Shabbat. Every Friday night we would say kiddish, make hamotzi and eat challah, have a traditional dinner with chicken, matzaball soup and side dishes, have dessert and then sing zsmirot and classic American songs. At Argentine camp, the only slightly Jewish/Shabbat festivity that was done was that we sang one Israeli song (that I didn’t recognize) Friday night. Saturday at my camp in the US we always had services and then the day was dedicated to us, we could do whatever activity we wanted, no structure because Shabbat is a day of rest and then at night we all came together as a camp and said havdallah. At Argentine camp, Saturday was like any other day and havdallah was not said.

There are many more differences that I could write about but I can’t remember now, but I think you get the idea. It was an interesting experience and Villa Gesell is great! I really bonded with the 15-16 year olds from Cordoba and other cities so I feel like in terms of my work that was a success. I really enjoyed seeing more of Argentina, and I will probably never have this opportunity again. The camp was definitely a huge learning experience for me, extremely eye opening and bursting with social and cultural  differences and it was extremely interesting to view and be surrounded by this very different camp mentality 24 hours a day.

The night of January 31st I return to Cordoba to slowly start getting into the groove of things again, aka work will be starting up mid/end of February. February 11 or 12 I'll be going to Los Angeles and San Diego with the 2 Argentine girls. I don't know who is more excited, them or me!