sessions come and go, but legends are forever

This is my last day as a specialist, or Sensei Chris, and overall it was a blast, so here is a recap on a couple of highlights...

I had a number of records that the children could set which they got really in to. One of them was how many roundhouse kicks they could do without setting their foot down. This competition got heated when one boy Craig Einstein (yes, the great great nephew of Albert Einstein) was able to kick 305 times without setting his foot down. Another boy, Ascanio thought he could beat this record, which I promised him the chance to, but there never were open activities when he could come. So, on the third to last day when I had terrace duty, he brought out the shield, and on the terrace blasted away 350 kicks. Of course Craig was right there, and I gave him the right to rebuttal where he turned around and smashed 500 kicks right there on the terrace. Albert would have been proud.

 Craig, with Ascanio walking away defeated.


In the second half of the session, when I had groups for the second time, I also got to bring out the trampoline, which meant that people could fly off and do kicks. The "matrix kick" got really popular, where kids took off the little trampoline with one foot and saw how many kicks they could do in the air. As far as teaching a lesson goes, it made it a lot more of a relaxed lesson, but pretty much everyone enjoyed it.

Here is one kid who came to karate a lot doing a split kick. He wanted to learn how to fight people and defend himself, but clearly he will be most effective in a situation where he has a trampoline and can kick to people at the same time. 



What really made my day one day was when anabelle, who was filling in for Kirk brought a group to come Yodel in front of my karate tent. This all came about when I mentioned to her that Yodelling really should be an activity at camp.

mon ami de valais

On my next day off, I took off from camp the night before on August 1, Switzerland’s national holiday. It was raining pretty heavily, so instead of walking from my caravan all the way to the funiculaire, to get to Sierre, I played the odds of someone taking pity on me and hitching a ride down the mountain. 5 minutes later, after making l'autostop, three Portuguese ended up taking me all the way to Sion, after some mutually enjoyable conversation. The plan was to meet up with Matt in Martigny, a good friend from the Valais who I met two years ago. I got there early, and he was still up at his village Mex (20 minutes away) listening to his mother give a speech as she is the mayor of the town. I rocked out to some Swiss band playing some good waltzes and well known French songs. Matt got in just in time to see the grand spectacle of fireworks being shot off from the castle that overlooks the town of Martigny (or Octodure as the Romans once called it). It was much better spending Swiss day with Matt and his friends than at camp, because I actually felt part of something Swiss, even though it really turned into a high school reunion for Matt’s college. It was also funny how the kids came from all over, and traded stories about their different towns like how a wolf has killed fourteen sheep in Matt's town.

The next day was the perfect day off. I got to sleep in. I had a good two hour post-breakfast-philosophical conversation with Matt and his Father, Jean Pierre. As someone who travels the world and meets with officials to discuss sustainable development, Jean Pierre had much insight about how to go about fixing the world. One of my favorite expressions he said was “if you wouldn’t want to live in the house you help build, don’t build it,” in reference to the hypocritical double standard that exists with the UN. We then took off to go climb in Dorenez with Matt’s brother and met up with a friend from last night, Thiebault. I can’t even remember the last time I climbed on rock, but it has been ages. Either way, we climbed up some 6A/B cliffs which were anything but easy, especially for me with my shitty form. I made it to the top of two of the routes, which I felt good about, but Matt blew us all away. It was cool seeing the way to set the rope, and the different techniques that worked to get up rocks. I got pretty banged up climbing the wall, especially because the shoes I was wearing were 42s when my size is a 44. After a good four hours of climbing we took off back to Martingy and met up with more friends from last night.







Three rigorous games of Beach volleyball, and a couple dives from the 5 and 10 meter jump at the municipal pool later (one of the kids we were with was a life guard so he got us in for free), I hopped on the 8:38 train just to get into Sierre in time to take the funicular back up.

A good day off

I think it is a reoccurring theme that I spend all my days off climbing mountains. Yesterday, Amanda's and my day off, we decided to do the following…

We borrowed lift passes from camp (which are used by the seniors) and took the gondola and then tram up to the Plaine Morte Glacier at about 9000 feet. The higher you go, the better the view gets, and l’Haute Route is traceable by eye. Starting with the Mont Blanc popping up as the highest mountain in the mess of others, and moving left to the Dent Blanche, Zinalrothorn, Weisshorn, Bishorn, Matterhorn… From there we hiked around the backside of the mountains that loom above camp. The glacier is exactly as it is called in French, just a flat plain of snow. In other parts where there were still patches of snow, we slid down on our butts, which is always a blast. It brought me back to my first butt-sliding-in-the-alps experience with Alain on our way down from the Mont Blanc. We stopped at the wielstrubel hut, and then continued down with beautiful views and good conversation. We dined on my favorite mountain lunch (bread, gruyere cheese, salami, and a cucumber) up on some rock in the valley behind the mountain range, completely alone. Lots of marmot holes, but the only animals we saw were a colony of snails. Continuing down, we descended to a glacial lake that is dammed at one end, Lake Tsouxier. We got hit by a clearing shower or two, but it’s hard to mind when there is still a magnificent view and the sun pops out shortly after. On the trail back to Crans, I decided to take a “shortcut” that cut through a cow field, which ended up turning into a mountain goat trail. Unfortunately, the cows weren’t up for kissing me, for the ceremonial first kiss I got from a cow in Switzerland when I was 8. The mountain goat trail turned into a bushwhack to get back to the normal trail, but it was completely worth it. The trail was long and went over and around a number of cliffs. 9 hours later, we were back in Crans to a hot sauna and a dip in the pool. My legs are still sore though.

Other than days off, life here has been ticking along, with Cairo quickly approaching. Last night we had a specialist dinner which is a once a year thank you from camp to the specialists where they feed us endless good food and wine. It was a black and white dress code. Buffet appetizer of fish, and steak fondu and French fries. Two days before that I also got invited to the Junior dinner – which means the camp likes me, because usually you are not allowed to go to two. The scene there was much more intimate with the junior section, and the food was amazing. Starters were tuna tar tar with avacado, followed by a filet mignon cooked to perfection.

welcome to karate

In many ways this camp can be a bubble and a lapse in reality, but each day must be appreciated. As a specialist, there is a much different perspective. More or less, I do the same Karate routine starting with warming up and stretching, then bopping kids on the head with the noodle after teaching them how to block. It then gets quicker, and pretty much everyone tastes the wrath of the noodle. Today, Phillippe was in my Karate tent – a rarity, showing the camp off to two strangers. It was perfect timing for him to come and see me smacking children in the head. The lesson then goes on to different punches and kicks, keeping the noodle for blocking, ducking, and jumping. Some of the hilights are how many roundhouse kicks the kids can do without setting their foot down, or flying side kick. It’s pretty invigorating, times six. It makes the days tick by...

from the karate tent

so now it is second session here at camp, and I am Sensei Chris, the Karate Instructor. Today is arrival day and kids are coming and going, I am letting them do flying kicks off the trampoline.. In between time, I am looking up Chuck Norris quotes just and making a poster of them to add some flair to the tent.. One of my favorites. "Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits."

Wrapping up last session was quite fun. I am definitely going to miss being a Junior Counselor. With my kids we had our stunt night, and I convinced them to preform the song "I wanna Rock and Roll all night" by Kiss.. I painted all of their faces black and white, and we made guitars out of cardboard. It was basically the make kids look cute by painting faces and having props formula. My kids rocked out hard on stage, and made me so proud. It reminded me of my Camp Stella Maris days when my group preformed the same song.

Last night we had a barbeque with all of the counselors and Scott and myself made amazing burgers.. It was a good little taste of America. Except we didn't have any salt and pepper, so I ran across the street to charm the waitress at the restaurant into lending us some.

This summer is flying by.. It will be a change of pace now, getting off at six on some days, much more time to myself. I am looking forward to having time to go horseback riding here (hopefully they will let me gallop), biking up to the overnight hut, playing drums with kirk at the jazz bar, and getting my camera fixed!!!

I also bought my next one way ticket to Cairo for the 27th of August. So it is official. So is the English/PE teacher job that I have there at the Green Valley School. Inshallah.

Stunt night

Stunt nights at camp are always a good time for campers and counselors. Now with a huge circus tent it has a much more cohesive feel than the normal club room. This year I did three different acts. For the first, I was added last minute to one skit as a beat boxer to the international rap. The others in the skit were rapping in Russian, Hebrew, Polish, German, and Finnish. So I decided to come up with something in English to start it off.. It came to me in a nice long shower.

Sabah el-Noor, Ciao, Gutentag
Some come to camp to escape the smog
Whether it's the juniors who play leap frog
Or to come see Danny while he's walking his dog.
The Seniors always flirting and you know they don't sleep
The Pioneers be chilling up with Jagdeep. (mountain hut guide)
The food is tremendous, the view is stupendous
If you need a franc, I have two, I can lend this
But the best thing about this place
Is to turn around to a smile and familiar face
So I'll drop the beat for the international rap
If you enjoy please stand up and clap..

The place went nuts and everyone enjoyed it.. Great confidence booster because I was so nervous beforehand.
Directly after, I was playing Djembe with Kirk for four dancers who did an afro dance. It was invigorating, and the dance was really good. It was one of those dances where there is a call and response between drummers, and then a signal. I wore a bright african garb. For the last one, me, Kirk, Ruth, and Alex played the song grey street. I played the drum set with only with my hands. We jammed hard, and musically we nailed it, but it was hard to make a sound that filled the circus tent, and it left a taste to want to play good music live for people.. (which will happen soon at the jazz bar).

follow the yellow brick road

before my camera died, i took some pretty cool pictures on my full day hike. we started off in a cloud, which made the whole hike a lot like mirkwood forest. ended up talking to some camper for about 3 hours about arabic. i was a hero making a fire in one of those pits because all of the wood was wet. go me.