Camp Journal - Village Day Camp Geneva

Final week is arriving...

more fun to come before the "grand-finale"! 

Well it was a nice dry day to end the penultimate week of the summer! Where did the summer go?

It was a relatively quite day here on campus, there were quite a few excursions and the groups that were on campus were all preoccupied with preparations for special day and the Olympics! The special day performances are still a tightly-kept secret, but considering the theme I think its safe to say we are in for a very exciting and multi-cultural special day!

Today we had the boomerang man on campus again, and yet again it took the children a while to get used to throwing them, but by the end of the session the air was filled with bright, rotating discs of every colour imaginable, and the shrieks of the senior campers as they tried to catch them. One of the other senior groups went to the pool, and the others were up in Signal de Bougy on the ropes course.

The Seven year olds had the hardest day of all- they had the dreaded pool in the morning, bowling in the afternoon combination. Thankfully, even though it looked threatening at times, the weather held out and all the groups scheduled to go to the pool were able to go to Nyon and not be sent to the indoor pool in Geneva, so the sevens were on camp just for lunch, which today was roasted chicken legs, ratatouille, and mashed potatoes. Delicious!

Most of the mini campers stayed on campus today but the five year olds went on the boat this morning from Coppet to Nyon, thankfully the lake was calm and the weather cleared up, so they had a great time! All of our other groups were busy on campus, and everyone looked exhausted this afternoon, so have a nice relaxing weekend and we will see you all on Monday!

Marc has lived in Geneva his entire life, speaks English and French, and is currently studying Latin American poetry at the University of Bath.

He has only been working with us for this last session because he was working as the dance specialist at another day camp in the U.K. He is currently working with the senior groups.

When Marc is not with us at camp, he enjoys reading, movies and nature walks.   

Excursions schedules changes...

trying to keep Campers dry! 

Thursday again ... time flies! However no one seems to have let this sad fact affect them and today was another great day at Village Camps. True, the weather was not as cooperative as we would have liked, but we managed nonetheless! We did have to change our excursion timetable a little in order to prevent some groups from getting too wet or cold, but they all looked like they were enjoying themselves anyway.

The six year olds went to Signal in the Morning and stayed for most of the day, they went to the Patisserie in the morning and baked their own loafs of brioche bread, most of which turned out to be in the shape of wild animals, dinosaurs, or monsters.

The five’s were able to go to the outdoor pool at Nyon, despite the threat of rain, and had a great time, unfortunately the weather got worse in the afternoon, so the seven year olds went to the indoor pool at Varembe, in Geneva, its not as big as the Nyon facility, but good fun nonetheless.

The seniors spent the day making boomerangs on campus, they actually just decorate them and learn all the proper techniques for throwing them- it is very difficult and initially things went quite poorly, but after a couple of hours they all got the hang of it.

While all of this was going on the Nine year olds were bowling in Gland, they were the only group that went so they had the place to themselves which means more bowling for the Nine year olds!!

Hopefully the weather will clear up tomorrow and stay nice for next week, but honestly we have just as much fun when it rains! 

In both years Ben has been our music specialist.

He is American and speaks both English and French. 

Ben has come all the way from Washington D.C to work this summer, where he is currently studying theatre with a minor in psychology.

Obviously Ben loves music, he has studied classical piano for many years and recently has started voice training, he has been in many musicals and plays, and also likes rowing, biking and swimming.

Another Excursion day...

all groups have to try the some fun! 

Well it was another lovely great day at camp, not as warm as previous days, which was a bit of a relief, and quite a busy day for excursions- we had bus loads of campers coming and going all day.

The Five’s went to Signal de Bougy all day where they made lovely loaves of brioche bread in the shape of various monsters. In the afternoon they visited the visited the petting zoo to see the goats, horses, rabbits, and of course, the incredibly large pig and his equally overweight pig wife and mini-pigs. Apparently there was a successful sighting of the Signal Fairies- this is the first sighting all summer and I suspect it was the slightly cooler weather that tempted them to come out of their hiding places.

All of our senior groups were off campus at some point today- one group went with the fives up to Signal, but instead of bread making and visiting the animals, they went on the ropes course, which is one of our new activities this summer, and they had a great time. The other two groups were gone all day up in the Jura mountains, they take a picnic lunch and spend the day hiking up along la Dole, the weather was perfect for this excursion today- not too warm and not too sunny.

Two other senior groups went bowling this afternoon in Gland, and another one went sailing in the lake in Divonne- some went in small boats, and others went on windsurf boards, but they all had fun!

The Eights, Nines and Fours all went to the pool at some point during the day, thereby escaping the heat, and of course preparations for special day have started in our on-campus activities, the theme this session is the Olympics, so we should have a great time and the campers will have a great show to put on, so we hope to see you there!

This Alex’s first summer as a Senior Counselor but he worked with us many years ago as a junior,

He is currently helping out with the Senior Groups, at the moment with SA1. 

Alex is Swiss and grew up here and speaks English and French.

He currently attends the University of British Columbia, where he is majoring in political science.

Alex enjoys working with children, and in his spare time plays rugby and soccer, he also plays guitar and the drums.

Camp was unusually calm today...

It was Excursion day! 

Well it was another relatively quiet day here at camp, all of the Intermediates, some of the Minis and some of the Senior groups went on excursions, so at times during the day it felt like camp was deserted.

The Nines had a really tough day- they spent the afternoon bowling in Gland, and the morning at Nyon pool, tough life huh?

The Eight year olds went to Trelex Parcours Vita this afternoon, and the Seven year olds went in the morning, where they spent a few hours playing games in the Forest and building little huts for the Trelex fairies.

One of the Senior groups went sailing this afternoon in the Lac de Divonne, some of them went on surf boards and were towed behind boats around the lake, others went in actual boats to try their hands at nautical navigation!

The four year olds went on the boat from Coppet to Nyon this morning, which was followed by an hour or so in the playground by the Port de Nyon, after which they came back to campus for lunch.

On campus things were fairly quiet, Dance, Drama, and the Gyms were all busy with campers eager to be out of the sun, and there was also a group in our Pottery class today, decorating and painting their own dinner plates. They will have to be fired in the kiln in Versoix and the campers in those groups that did pottery today should have them back by Friday.

Paul has been working as one of the Sports Specialists here at Camp this summer.

He speaks English, French, and some Spanish. 

Paul is from England, where he works as a free-lance animator.

He enjoys football, tennis, snowboarding, mountain biking, and is an exceptional artist.

After camp he is hoping to travel to Italy before returning to the UK.