"You know who you are"

3.24.2012

Saturday. This weekend went to Jervis Bay! We had to be at school bright and early (7am). Michelle drove us thankfully. We got to school by 7:15. We waited in the Student center for a while until the charter bus came. I sat next to Ronnie on the bus. We chatted and slept most of the way down. We stopped at view point for a bathroom break. Then the second half of the ride the entire back of the bus played riddle games. Like, in "the land of odd there are trees but no leaves". And the riddle is you have to figure out why there are trees but not leaves. Or beef but no cows. Or football but no golf. There were several other games like that too.

Once we got there, we broke up into tent groups of three. We set up the tents. They were army style canvas tents. I tented with Alina and Elise.  Once we were done setting up we ate lunch and sat around for a while waiting for the next thing. Three Aboriginal men met up with us and were our guides. Paul, Bernie, Joe.  They took us to an indigenous botanical gardens that they run. Joe played the didgeridoo. They showed us real boomerangs and how they made knives and spears. We learned about aboriginal beliefs. We learned a lot about plants and animals. They showed us a lemon scented tea tree. The leaves, when crushed up, smell like citrus. It can be used to help sore throats and as bug repellent. I took quite a bit and rubbed it all over me. Anything I can do to not be eaten alive! (not that it really worked). After that we walked around and saw lots of things. There are lots of plants that are only there in that particular garden, which makes me nervous. We would walk by a tree and Joe would say, “that is the last tree of it’s kind,”.

Then we went back to camp. Michelle (director michelle) asked for volunteers to hep set up dinner. I didn’t volunteer but when she counted out as many as she needed, she was about to go to write down their names, but then she said “Okay, you know who you are. Just come find me when you get off the bus,”. I had a rather long existential conversation in my head about her use of the phrase ‘You know who you are,’

Do I? Do I really know who I am? Does anyone know who they are?

That didn’t last too long, because I wanted to get down to the beach! It was beautiful! I took at least 200 pictures. Here is a sample:

 Later, we went back to the campsite for dinner. Dinner wasn’t quite ready, so we had to wait a while. We ha  burgers that were actually sausage. Overall, not the best dinner I’ve had. But hey, it’s camping. I survived.

After dinner, Joe, Paul and Bernie came back with some of their family and they showed us a traditional dance ceremony. They were all painted up and everything. They showed us several dances and sung lots of songs.

Afterward, had “s’mores”.  That’s in quotes because it wasn’t real s’mores. They don’t really have the right fixings here. They have very strange marshmallows and they only have crackers that resemble graham crackers.

Then I played several card games with Sarah, Megan M. Ronnie, Carly and Elise. It was super fun. I learned a few new games from Megan and Sarah. Megan is a master at card games. She says it’s because she lives with her grandma. I believe her.

Finally, it started to rain so we decided it was time to go to bed. I ended up staying up for another hour or so chatting with my tent mates. When I did go to sleep I slept like a rock. Until I woke up and found my feet to be soaking wet…