Home Sweet Home

We finally made it home Sunday night (August 5th) via four different flights. It was a long day of traveling. We left our hotel at 6:30 am (Munich time) and I arrived back home around 9:30 pm (Lincoln time).Some made it home even later. The flight from Dusseldorf to Chicago was long and boring, especially since my headset plugin was broken. No in-flight movie watching for me! I read a book and attempted to sleep (not very successfully) for nine hours. A big thanks to the Leymasters for giving me a ride back from the airport. The first week back home was good, but challenging. It has been fun to see everyone again and to get to share stories about the trip, but so many days with so little sleep left me exhausted (hence, why it took so long to update the blog). I was ready to call it a night and go to bed at about 4:00 pm each day. I split time at work between Lincoln and Omaha last week and with my boss on vacation, I was the lone manager on most of my shifts. My only day off ended up being Sunday, when I was on planes all day. Some days I felt like I didn't remember how to do my job anymore after being away so long or I was just too tired to think. Thankfully I have a wonderful coworker who was willing to help me out whenever I needed it, no matter how many phone calls and text messages it took!  

It is a little hard to process everything from the last few weeks. It was truly one of the best experiences of my life and I am incredibly blessed to have been a part of this camp. I am so thankful for the new friends in my life and the memories that will last forever.

Do Zobaczenia Polska

On Thursday we had our final chapel and said goodbye to all our new friends. Chelsea warned us how hard it would be to say goodbye. She was right. It was so hard to leave everyone. I never cry at funerals, but I teared up hugging all those kids. They are all such wonderful kids. After we left camp we toured Auschwitz. Talk about an emotional day. Friday was a free day for us in Krakow. We shopped, did some sightseeing, and ate lots of gelato. Luke came with us to be our tour guide. He was awesome. Today we were supposed to go home, but bad weather in Munich forced us to land in Nürnberg for more fuel. By the time we reached Munich we had missed our flight by just 10 minutes. So now we are spending the night in Munich and will fly to Düsseldorf tomorrow and then to the US. Definitely can't say it hasn't been an exciting trip!

Last Day of Camp

Today was our last full day of camp. In class we just reviewed the topics we covered throughout camp and then we took our class to the store for ice cream. We even rolled Vicki down in her wheelchair. We ended class with some games including Uno. During workshop time the kids had a chance to pick their activities. During crafts they had a choice of three of the previous projects, in sports and music the groups picked what they wanted to play and sing. Our evening activity was Jail Break again and afterward we had a closing chapel that included a lot of music and a slideshow presentation of the camp. After the presentation many of the students were in tears and walked around hugging all the counselors and teachers. It is touching to see how sad so many of them are to leave. It shows they enjoyed themselves and are as sad to say goodbye as we are. Some students will be back next year, others will be too old to return. We leave after lunch tomorrow, before the campers, so there will be more time for tears. Once we made it through the mass of students we had a staff pizza party.

When we leave tomorrow we will go to Auschwitz and then on to Krakow where we will stay until we fly home. It is sad to leave our students and new friends, but we know we have to eventually go home and get back to our "normal" lives and sleep patterns. For now though we are enjoying what little time we have left with our Polish friends and sharing our experiences over the last two weeks.

The Hike

Yesterday we went on our camp hike. We traveled by bus to our starting point and then took a ski lift up to begin the actual hike. It was my first time ever riding a ski lift. I felt a little bit nervous but the view was beautiful. We hiked along the Poland-Czech Republic boarder and at one point were able to stand with one foot in Poland and the other in the Czech Republic. It was so peaceful and relaxing to be surrounded by God's awe-inspiring creation. It was also great to spend time with the kids and see them have fun. Some even praised God with their voices as they hiked, singing songs from chapel. The views were breath-taking. I wish I could post some pictures on here, but I've had trouble getting them to load properly. My pictures will likely not do it justice anyway. After the hike we had a campfire where we roasted kielbasa and made s'mores. Everyone had a good time and the kielbasa was delicious. While waiting for their turn at the fire, the kids played dodgeball. It was a great end to a great day.

Today will be our last day of class. Tomorrow we leave for Krakow. For some the emotions that will accompany our departure have already started to come to the surface. I've said it before, but it is going to be really hard to leave these kids and counselors. I feel so blessed to be a part of this camp and to have all my new friends in my life.

Please continue to pray for the camp for both healing of those who are still facing some medical issues and for safe travel as we say our goodbyes in the next couple days.

Days 6 & 7

On Sunday the students performed their drama for the congregation. It went well. They all did a really nice job reading their lines. After church we had open workshop time where the students could choose which activity they wanted to go to. In crafts they made memory books to have people from camp sign. In sports they had options of four square, soccer, or learning to play catch with a baseball. Baseball was actually a pretty popular choice. They are curious to learn the sport. In the afternoon we went to Wisła for the festival. The walk to Wisła is beautiful, but shortly after we started it poured on us, so it was a long, wet walk. During the thunderstorm we noticed a lightning strike nearby. Turns out it was really close to the camp and knocked out the internet connection just before Pastor James could Skype the congregation at Holy Savior. We looked around some of the shops and booths and had some gelato. Thanks Ewelina for the suggestion of pistachio and chocolate. It was delicious. Jean and I found some of the lace the area is known for just before we left. We bought matching table cloths that are gorgeous. The walk back to camp was sunny and dry. We made it back just in time for supper and had the polish hotdogs Lisa has been looking forward to so much. Our evening activity was Family Feud. After the kids went to bed we watched the Poland--Italy volleyball match. Go Polska!

On Monday we talked about food in class.We had the students talk about their favorite foods and did a taste test with them using foods from both the U.S. and Poland and taught them words to describe the foods. The strongest reaction for most was to the Hot Tamales we brought. They don't really have hot, spicy foods of any kind here so the kids are not used to such tastes. In crafts the students made their own creations using melty beads. I'm always amazed at the creativity of some of these kids. They come up with some really beautiful ideas. In sports they played "crazy dodgeball." It is a game made up by Pastor James in which you have four teams playing against each other at once so the balls are coming from three different directions. Music and drama worked on new songs and skits with the kids. The evening activity tonight was Capture the Flag and afterwards we gave them floats made with their choice of Coke or Fanta. They loved the ice cream floats. 


Thank you to all who have been praying for our sick and injured campers and teachers. They are all healing well. It has been so great to see the level of love and concern everyone here has shown for each other. It will be hard in a couple days when we have to leave these kids!

Days 4 & 5

On Friday, most of the students learned about body parts. In addition to going over vocabulary and practicing sentences, we taught our class to play Simon Says. We also took them outside for a little while and played Duck, Duck, Goose. During workshops the kids made friendship bracelets, played volleyball, and continued to work on their music and drama presentation for Sunday. To celebrate the start of the Olympics, the evening activity was camp Olympics. We even started with a torch run by Pastor James. The kids participated in events such as a relay, soccer, basketball, football, racing, and a boot toss. After the kids went to bed the counselors and teachers had an opportunity to watch the Opening Ceremony on the t.v. in the teacher's lounge. We also celebrated a birthday for one of our counselors, Ewelina.

Today we talked about clothing in class. We reviewed body parts by playing Simon Says with the students again. After introducing clothing vocabulary, we played Bingo with clothing items. To close class we taught them Heads Up 7 Up. The kids really seemed to enjoy it all. During their free time after lunch the pool was opened to the students. They spent most of their time throwing teachers and counselors into the pool. The pool is really small and probably only about three or four feet deep. Pastor James was the first to get dunked. He was soon followed by anyone the students could get their hands on. In crafts the students made airplanes out of Styrofoam plates. In music and drama they continued to work on their presentation for Sunday, and in sports they had a water balloon toss/water fight. Again teachers and counselors were targeted the most, especially by the older students.

We've now been here for a week. Time is flying by. It is sad to think that in less than a week we will have to say goodbye to all these wonderful students we've bonded with.

Days 2 & 3

We are having a great time at camp! We stay busy from the time we get up in the morning until we go to bed (usually late) at night. Lesson planning is getting easier as we get a feel for what we are doing and what works and does not work with our students. They seem to be enjoying the class and one of our Polish counselors told us today that our class is fun so hopefully the students feel the same. In crafts on Wednesday the we made tie-dye t-shirts which the kids were excited for. Since I had never done tie-dye before, I was kinda excited too. Rikki, our tie-dye queen, may have ended up with more dye on her than some of the shirts have after spending the whole afternoon helping all the kids. In sports on Wednesday the kids played frisbee games. Music and drama continued on with their work and taught the kids a few new songs. Our evening activity was Jailbreak, a variation of dodgeball. Lenny continued his missionary story at the closing.

Today the kids made beadie buddies in crafts. This year's beadie buddy was a fish with a cross in the middle. All of the kids were really creative with their color choices and made some really cool fish. In sports they played Pirate Cove, a version of capture the flag with four teams. Our evening activity tonight was Capture the Turtle in which the campers were divided into two teams and had to try to find a "turtle" that was hidden. They could be frozen by members of the opposing team or by sharks that were spread around. Once frozen, they couldn't move unless they were rescued by either a teammate or a dolphin. As one of the sharks I think I spent an entire hour running almost non-stop, but it was a lot of fun. The kids are warming up to us more each day. It is so much fun to get to know them. They are all great kids. Tomorrow, if all goes well I will post some pictures.