Summer Plans: Phase 7

I have officially decided. I am going to Kenya this summer!

... AHHHH!

Summer Plans: Phase 6

Phase 6: Decide like the engineer that you are

When called to the witness stand, my gut instinct got all wishy-washy then feigned some dry heaving and asked to be excused. Gut instinct, as usual, is useless.

So let's put some lists and numbers to the choice. Kenya vs NYC.

Financially:

Kenya: would nay make any money obviously. Cost of flight, immunizations, visa, etc: about $2000-3000.

NYC: would add to collection of coins. I'd be able to afford things like flying to visit my bestie who now lives in Argentia. Fly anywhere and every where and spend money recklessly on clothes and fancy food.

Emotionally:Kenya:the blue line, here approximated by 9sin(2x). Kenya is like AHHHHHHH. I'd be lonely a lot, I'm sure. And there would be a lot of adjusting.

NYC:the red line, here approximated by sinx+3. NYC it would be like more rah rah good times guaranteed.

Bloggingly:

Kenya: So much to blog about! Would miss 20sb meetup.

NYC: Would meet so many blog friends!

Finding direction in my life?:

Kenya: MAYBS.

NYC: PROBS NOT.

Health:

Kenya: as my mom said, "What's the worst that could happen? You get sick and dehydrated and they have to send you home in a medical airplane?" ... uh, sounds pretty bad. And I don't think that's the worst. Also, I have plenty of digestive issues. Imagine those issues without a flush toilet? At least it's at a higher elevation, so mosquitos/malaria isn't so much an issue.

NYC: the subway is dirty, but I have hand sanitizer.

Helps out my future career:

Kenya: Not really, but maybe indirectly.

NYC: I guess so but not really if I do end up going into law school.

Originality:

Kenya: Incred-unique opportunity. If I ever go to Africa, it should be now. Total real experience ("this is not Africa-lite" I've been told) with the nicest, most welcoming people ever. They say I wouldn't see another white person for the whole time I'm there. You sometimes see zebras.

NYC: The first time I packed up and moved to New York was 3 years ago, when I was 19. Then again 2 summers ago. The city that never sleep is almost ho-hum. Although this time I'd be over 21 so that might be a different spin.

Final line:

Kenya: Risky! Adventure! Potentially life changing!
NYC: Safe! Fun times! Guaranteed fun times! But for real: Fun! Times!

Choose for me.

My summer plans: Phase 4 and 5

(Phases 1-3 here)

Phase 4: Go with what you know

I worked in NYC two summers ago at a fantastic office with fantastic people doing fantastic work. That summer was most certainly the best summer of my life. I love New York to the max, and this summer I'll finally be over 21. A million fantastic bloggers live there. I could re-sign up with my bike coach. I know the subway lines. I have friends there.

I emailed my boss from my job a week ago to see if they might be able to offer me a job for the summer. I got an email from him on Friday saying that yes, he got approval to hire me! This boss is the best boss in the world, and even if I was on a crappy project it would be a good learning time because he's just the best like that.

Easy peasy. Known quantities galore. Very safe choice. But also very fun choice!

Also, I could probably work it out so that I'm only working 3 months, and then take August off to travel (I have friends in Argentina now! And camp is in Vancouver). WOULD BE THE BEST.

Phase 5: More cards on the table

My hesitations in volunteering internationally are that the expensive, big program safe "voluntourist trips" are expensive, and seemingly for rich kids looking to pad resumes, and that the cheaper programs all seem really sketchy. Without knowing somebody who's done it, I can't feel certain about my safety and stuff, you know?

Then my mom remembered that some family friends are involved with a program in Africa. A bunch of Canadian authors came together and together, with a school board, they're sponsoring 7 orphans. They've visited the village but if I went this summer, I'd be the only North American there. Everybody speaks English but still. I still have to get more details to know what I could be doing. What can I even do? I can type fast and factor trinomials like nobody's business... but what do I even have to offer, you know?

So many unknowns. I'm going to email my mom's friend more, get a dialogue going, get some more answers. It'd be the riskier decision for sure. More adventurous definitely.

I'm just nervous about making the wrong decision.

Katoleary summed it up nicely today: "I always think the problem is that I don't like any of my options. It’s not. The problem is that I like too many of them, and I feel like opening one door has the effect of closing every other."

Yeah. Exactly.

My summer plans: phases 1-3 out of infinity phases

Phase 1: Default

In the default phase, I hadn't really given much thought to straying off the straight and narrow. I applied for a 10 summer jobs that sounded interesting. However, most of them got cancelled (thanks, recession) so I ended up only getting 2 interviews, and from there, 1 job offer.

So basically the plan was to take the job (even though it wasn't the best for me, nor did it even pay that well), and spend the summer saving as much money as possible as to avoid going into debt next school year as I finish up my degree.

Phase 2: Reckless

Then I called my mom, sort of like, "ah, I dunno" and she convinced me to turn down the job offer on the logic that if something doesn't make me happy, I shouldn't do it. She also said if I couldn't get a good job for the summer, or if I decided I wanted to not be employed this summer, that she would loan me money for 4th year.

So, suddenly free from the shackles of making ends meet, I started researching volunteer opportunities. Like international ones! I found this excellent looking one in Nepal where I'd volunteer for three months at a women's crisis shelter.

My criteria for a placement was something like this:

• 3-4 months
• doing something that couldn't be done by a local. For example, digging wells, or helping carry water. For the amount of money even just my plane trip costs, I should just stay home and send money. You know? Like why not pay somebody to dig that well, and the job gets done AND somebody can support his/her family.
• relatively safe country
• not teaching English. (90% of jobs are teaching English. I don't know... not up my alley so much I guess)

Phase 3: Let's be real here

So I've found that there are basically two types of organizations:

Type 1 is really expensive, and costs about 5000 for 3 months (plus airfare). The testimonials feature pictures of groups of volunteers playing beach volleyball, looking like they've all showered recently. Girls wear eyeliner. Sample itineraries boast weekend trips to nearby touristy cities.

Type 2 is less expensive; prices are about a quarter of type 1 organizations. But these Type 2 organizations have ugly websites with hotmail email addresses and animated gifs. Google searches for people who have blogged their experience with these organization turn up sketchy or no results.

So now I don't really know what to do this summer. I don't want to spend a lot of money to hang out with rich kids who are trying to buff up a CV. I also don't want to travel to a remote part of the world and be lonely and afraid.

Hello square one, nice to see you again.

Summer Camp

For three summers I attended improv camp. Improv camp is a regular summer camp (canoing, campfires, etc) but with improv workshops and lessons all day. It is the most fun place in the world. It is going on right now, and I am so sad to be missing it.

At what other camp do people start throwing around a frisbee and one person does a really sweet catch so you turn the game into "synchronized frisbee" and everybody starts dancing around? At what other camp are your campfire songs mostly improvised? At what other camp is there an excess of soap bars in the store room so you play a game called basebar (image on left)? At what other camp are so many people vegan or vegetarian that to make things easier for the cooks, everybody eats vegan? (I start the week hungry, hating tofu and dreaming of hamburgers; I end the week talking about quinoa and wondering where I can get some lentil soup. Well, that's an exaggeration but you know what I'm saying). The camp is housed at a Christian camp venue, so the cabins are named Faith and Hope and etc. The leaders program hangs out in the CIT cabin which has band names and former counselor names graffitied all over the walls. You see ABBA on one side of the window, Spinal Tap on the other. Christian badass at its best. Across the door is "DON'T HATE THE PLAYA. HATE THE GAME". Which of course became the password to get in. Because cabins ALWAYS have passwords, no?

At camp you put on great talent shows. Acts can be anywhere from contortionists to tongue tricks (me in orange). From stand up comedy, to reciting DUNE (happens more than I'd like), dressing up in 80's gear and dancing to Spice Girls (wait... weren't spice girls more like the later 90s?), or even reciting pi, poems about pi, and poems about pie all in one act (another of my own highlights).




You can make friendships in one week that are deeper than any friendship you could make in a year outside of camp. Brushing teeth and telling secrets become mutually inclusive. Inside jokes run amok. You write tv series pilots about a minstrel who comes out of a ninetendo game (two guys on left). You're ALWAYS cracking up. But the most magical part of camp is how into everybody is. Nobody is ever too cool. Every moment just feels so REAL. I've done clown workshops. That make me cry at the end. I've watched scenes about death that make me laugh till it hurts. Because improv is about commitment, acceptance, and trust and because you're doing so much improv, everybody at camp is so willing to embrace every body else's eccentricities. Some people say honestly that they've never felt so themselves anywhere else.

This American Life (radio program) has an incredible episode on summer camp. It's an hour long, so whenever you've got the time I highly highly recommend you have a listen, here. It's magically done.

Teen Girls Squad also has a pretty hilarious episode. The best part is when they have camp fire singing with counselor short shorts. Check it, here. Isn't that totally what all camp songs are like?

Have you ever watched Wet Hot American Summer? The talent show is the best part. It captures the "camp as a chance to reach first base" theme of every summer camp.

Some videos from improv camp. I don't think any of my improv friends are I:tg readers (known exceptions: Gemma and Mina), so these might seem like they'd be meaningless to you. However, they make me cry... so I thought I'd include them. They're from last summer's camp (the first year I didn't go)





Summer camp is just the best place ever.