A Smooth Day and Teaching

Today was my first day since the campers showed up that I actually had a solid day at work without any major downs. Things went well, they went fairly smoothly, and there were no major fights- just some stress about the allocation of oven usage. Swim staff (the ones who often give us some tzuris) and the CIT who’s assigned to serve their tables at lunch have started to learn how to deal with the kitchen in productive ways- the CIT has stopped yelling, so we give a little more, and when they want their extra snacks, they’ve been sending one of the folks on staff who’s nice to me and whom I like, so the whole thing goes more smoothly.

My shiur today went pretty well, I think. I ended up with 8 people who came, although a few of them expected it to be a somewhat different topic from what it actually was- the description that was given of it was fairly vague and left out a few important details. So I had 4 people who were really into the topic, and 4 people who were sort of involved, and sort of more interested in having random conversations with each other. But they participated enough to be involved and to learn a little bit, and my 4 involved folks really did good stuff and had good insights into the text. For the first time that I was teaching people about my own age, it went really well, I think. I felt like I was in control and leading a good and organized lesson, and that people got the ideas that I wanted to get across. I could have been more fluid in my speaking, but I expect that that will come with time. And then one of the folks who came and I continued talking about the issue on our way to ma’ariv.

A Smooth Day and Teaching

Today was my first day since the campers showed up that I actually had a solid day at work without any major downs. Things went well, they went fairly smoothly, and there were no major fights- just some stress about the allocation of oven usage. Swim staff (the ones who often give us some tzuris) and the CIT who’s assigned to serve their tables at lunch have started to learn how to deal with the kitchen in productive ways- the CIT has stopped yelling, so we give a little more, and when they want their extra snacks, they’ve been sending one of the folks on staff who’s nice to me and whom I like, so the whole thing goes more smoothly.

My shiur today went pretty well, I think. I ended up with 8 people who came, although a few of them expected it to be a somewhat different topic from what it actually was- the description that was given of it was fairly vague and left out a few important details. So I had 4 people who were really into the topic, and 4 people who were sort of involved, and sort of more interested in having random conversations with each other. But they participated enough to be involved and to learn a little bit, and my 4 involved folks really did good stuff and had good insights into the text. For the first time that I was teaching people about my own age, it went really well, I think. I felt like I was in control and leading a good and organized lesson, and that people got the ideas that I wanted to get across. I could have been more fluid in my speaking, but I expect that that will come with time. And then one of the folks who came and I continued talking about the issue on our way to ma’ariv.

A Camp Ramah Kitchen Moment

Part of our old kitchen steward's training for our new kitchen steward which was done almost like a performance at our most recent meeting, and again today:
Q: Why do we do [x] at Camp Ramah?
A: That's the way it's always been.
Q: Why don't we do [x] at Camp Ramah?
A: It's different.
Q: Why can't we do [x] at Camp Ramah today?
A: It's only for Shabbat.

We're in search of a 4th question, possibly to be answered with "some questions don't have answers". I find this very amusing, for some reason. The whole production of it was so much our new guy humoring the other, but getting a bit of a kick out of it himself- I don't know, but it stuck in my mind.

A Camp Ramah Kitchen Moment

Part of our old kitchen steward's training for our new kitchen steward which was done almost like a performance at our most recent meeting, and again today:
Q: Why do we do [x] at Camp Ramah?
A: That's the way it's always been.
Q: Why don't we do [x] at Camp Ramah?
A: It's different.
Q: Why can't we do [x] at Camp Ramah today?
A: It's only for Shabbat.

We're in search of a 4th question, possibly to be answered with "some questions don't have answers". I find this very amusing, for some reason. The whole production of it was so much our new guy humoring the other, but getting a bit of a kick out of it himself- I don't know, but it stuck in my mind.