And we are back… It
has been a long and eventful couple of weeks, and I will try to continue to
update piece by piece as I have time. At
this point, the English camps are over.
I think for now I will focus on them.
English camps are interesting. In ways, they are similar to church camp or
ALC. A bunch of teenagers get together
for a week to build relationships and learn.
Logistics: Camp starts Sunday afternoon at a hotel (Penzion
Later) 2 hours away from Olomouc by train.
They get Czeched in (sorry, I couldn’t resist), we play some games, we
eat supper, and the programs begin. The
first night we hear from the team from here in Olomouc, go over some rules, and
have an introduction into what camp will be like. We then break into teaching classes for some
discussion time. After discussion we
have free time, and then curfew at 12.
Monday through Thursday are pretty similar. Devotional (optional) at 7:45, followed by
teaching group prayer time (the teachers break into their groups, and each
group prays for what is on their mind), and breakfast at 8:30. Breakfast (I refuse to call them “Breekfast”)
announcements start at 9 (announcements for the day and introduction to the
day’s sub-theme), and are opened by a skit by one or two of the class groups over
the previous day’s sub-theme. We then
did the camp dance, a game related to the day’s sub-theme, and then went to
English classes by 9:30. Class ran until
12, with a 15 minute break at 10:45.
Each day had a lunch skit at 12:15, over the sub-theme for the day, and
lunch at 12:30. Free time was from lunch
until 3:30. Each day we have different
activities (optional) to fill part of free time, and had a group activity that
started at 3:30. Dinner was at 6,
followed by the evening program at 7.
The evening program consisted of the camp dance, VBS-style songs, maybe
a video or two to express the day’s sub-theme, a testimony (related to the
day’s sub-theme), sometimes a skit (related to the day’s sub-theme), and a
dramatization of part of the apostle Peter’s life (you guessed it, related to
the day’s sub-theme). Evening program
was followed by discussion group, followed by free time or a planned activity
until curfew at 12. Monday and Tuesday
were just free time, Wednesday was a movie night (Unconditional, great movie),
Thursday was the talent show (always runs past midnight, hence the different
schedule for Friday). Friday, the
morning devotional was pushed back to maybe 9:15 (by that time I was so tired,
I wasn’t really paying attention to time), followed by breakfast and
announcements, then class by 11. The
rest of the day followed according to plan, until after the evening
program. Because Friday was a special
night. We had the “Walk of Lights”, an
activity intended to connect or Re:Connect all the day’s sub-themes together
and to Christianity. That was followed
by discussion group (optional for Friday night only), and no curfew. At the older camp, a group of us left the
Penzion for a vylet (a long walk) at 2 in the morning, to go to a mountain top
to watch the sun rise and sing (we made really good time- it only took us 1.5
hours to get there…). Saturday
activities start with breakfast about 8:30 and morning program at 9. Saturday we try to tie the theme together
with Christianity and we watch a slideshow of the week. We then pack up and clean up until lunch, and
hang out until about 1, when we hike down to the train station to head back to
Olomouc. And we sleep. And sleep.
And sleep. I think the record is
19 or 20 hours, but 10 to 15 hours is pretty common.
As for me, I am tired, but will continue to get better as I
catch up on sleep. When that will be, I
am not too sure… Tomorrow I am heading
back to the Penzion Later to help move camp stuff from there back here to
Olomouc. We are leaving early in the
morning to make the afternoon activity tomorrow at 3 (basketball/volleyball, followed
by at least part of Bree’s testimony).
It’s going to be a great day!
For now, I am going to call this good. It is getting late, and I do not have the
time to write all about the friendships or memories made. But those should be coming shortly… Until then, take care and God bless!
John Coffey
