Camp Journal - Village Day Camp Geneva

Second Week of Starts Off Wet

Unfortunately the second week of Village Camps started off a bit wetter than last week, in fact like all of Geneva it was absolutely soaking for most of the morning, but did clear up in the afternoon.

Thankfully our program wasn’t too disturbed by the rain, most of the groups who were supposed to go swimming were able to go to the indoor pool at Varembet, in Geneva.

SB1 and 2, went instead to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, which has been one of our rainy-day schedule activities for many years, and like always the campers found it very enjoyable. Unfortunately we had to cancel the trip to Signal de Bougy, so instead the 8 year olds spent the morning on campus and went bowling in the afternoon.

The weather meant that all morning our indoor activities were full of campers, and all the specialists; dance, drama, arts and crafts, music, as well as the two gym specialists, really had their hands full, it was quite the start to the week for them! In arts and crafts preparations for the special day costumes are well under way, the theme this session is The Circus, and groups of all ages are busy preparing their clown feet and animal masks.

In dance and drama they are going over the rehearsals for the performance that the campers do for the parents- judging by what I have seen so far it really is going to be fantastic, and we urge as many parents as possible to come along and spend the afternoon at camp.

The weather for Friday, as well as the rest of the week, is supposed to be fine, so we hope to see you then!

He has come from Ireland to work with us this summer, he speaks French, English and Gaelic, and got married just before camp started. 

Robbie enjoys snowboarding, kayaking, climbing and traveling, and prior to coming to camp had worked as a sea kayak guide in New Zealand, Alaska, and California.

This session he is working with the older campers as group leader for SB2. 

Half way through Session 1

Well it is Friday and the end of the first week here at Village Camps, it is hard to believe that the first session is half over...

but I suppose that is what happens when you are enjoying yourself as much as all our counselors and campers are.

The forecast this morning was for showers in the afternoon, which had us slightly worried, but thankfully the rain stayed away and it was another day full of excursions as well as activities here on campus. A few groups were able to do the pottery activity today- they design, decorate and paint their own plates, which then get fired at the pottery kiln in Versoix, and the children are able to bring them home at the end of the session.

The Seven year olds had a great day- they spent the morning at the pool in Nyon and the afternoon bowling in Gland. What a tough life! The nine year olds and SA1 spent the day up in Signal de bougy, the seniors were able to try the Rope Obstacle course, it is a new activity that we have this year and judging from the pictures, it was a huge success.

The mini campers were also busy today- the sound of them practicing their elephant and lion impressions in the drama room was floating through the office all day, and we were actually quite worried at first!

In short, it was a great day and great end to our first week, hopefully next week will be just as fun!

He is the Senior Counselor for one of our groups of Five year olds.

Paul is South African, he moved to Switzerland at a young age and has lived in Zurich and Geneva, and speaks French and English fluently.

His favourite sports are rugby, kayaking and snowboarding, but he also enjoys tennis, squash and football, he studied sports development in the UK and hopes to come back to Village Camps next year as he enjoys meeting new people and working with children.  

Day four, and as we approach the half-way point of the first session the lovely weather meant that it was another very enjoyable day at Village Camps. The Five year olds and one of the Senior groups spent the morning relaxing at the pool in Nyon, swimming and sunbathing, and earning the envy of all the other groups.

The younger Senior groups, SA1 and 2, spent the day making and testing boomerangs on the basketball pitch, and the fact that many of the boomerangs failed to return to the throwers was more than compensated for by the original and colourful designs that the campers had painted on them- racing stripes, leopard spots,

The nine year olds went to Gland in the afternoon for a few hours of Bowling, they enjoyed themselves immensely and, like every year, they proved themselves to be more talented than their counselors by convincingly outscoring them. SA3 went on one of the more popular excursions to the Lac de Divonne, where they spent the afternoon windsurfing on the lake, today was the first time this session that we had a group go to Divonne and, like last year, it seems to have been a great success, we only have to hope that the weather holds for the next six weeks and none of the other groups have to cancel.

Even with all the field trips that happened today the Village Camps campus was also very busy today, thankfully the weather stayed nice all day and so all of our sports fields were bustling with activity, and as usual Drama, Dance, Arts and Crafts and the various other indoor activities. The only downside of these fantastic sunny days is that the danger of sunburn and dehydration increases, and although all our groups take regular water breaks it is still a good idea for parents to make sure their children have their own bottle of water and sun cream.

She has come all the way from New Orleans, Louisiana to join us this summer, and she is doing a fantastic job as senior counselor for group 4A.

Jessica is currently a senior at Louisiana State University studying Communications and Journalism.

She enjoys running and hiking, cooking, and traveling and spent a few weeks traveling around Europe before camp started.

The sunny weather meant that all our outdoor sports grounds were hives of activity all day, as the shouts of jumping, racing, running children reverberated throughout the camp. It was so nice that Katie, our dance specialist this year, decided to hold her class outside, and all morning there were children square-dancing, pirouetting, and jiving their way across the basketball courts. The senior campers had another busy day, SA1 and 2 spent all day in the Jura mountains, hiking and picnicking, while SA3 spent the day in Signal de Bougy, a fantastic nature park with playgrounds, obstacle courses, and a small zoo where the largest pig in the entire world lives! The 4 year olds, 9 year olds, and 8 year olds were at Nyon pool today, enjoying the sun and the water, while SB1 and SB2 spent the afternoon bowling in Gland. It was another great day here at camp and hopefully the next six weeks will be just as fun.