4 Wheels 4 Girls

Every day at camp, we would have classes with a certain counselor. That’s where we actually learned the Spanish vocabulary and such.

My teacher was Vero, and I really liked her. The other kids in my group were Bella, Christian, and Logan. In our classes, we played games, did activities, and learned a lot! Vero was great at making things really fun for us, and yet almost every activity was educational. I actually liked learning Spanish in classes for once; I wish Spanish was as fun at school! 🙂

In class learning... spanish!

August 30, we were starting a night activity. There were lots of activities that we had to do, but this was as a family. We had to try to race the other families, getting points for the more and better things we did. We did things like dancing, trying to keep a balloon off the ground by blowing, hula-hooping, painting each other’s faces, a three legged race, and stacking apples. We didn’t win, but it was still fun.

Dad was so proud when we had to try to stack apples because you only have to stack four, and Dad got four and managed to get another on top. Five apples! Just wanted to mention that for Dad.

That night was fun– read the next few posts to see the other night activities we did!

Trying to keep a balloon in the air without touching it

At El Lago Del Bosque, one of the classes I attended was a cooking class with a very nice counselor named Yamile.

For the first two days, my entire family was in the cooking class with me. There were about twelve people in the class altogether. On the first day, we made something called Arrolado de Papas, which was like a casserole from Argentina, where Yamile was from, full of potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, ham, eggs, and anything else you could find in your kitchen. Yamile said that the dish was good for using up leftovers. It was absolutely delicious, and knowing that my family, friends, and I had baked it made it taste all the better.

Chopping tomatoes for Arrolado de Papas

On the second day, we made a pastry called Pasta Frola, also from Argentina. It was made with mostly dough and strawberry jelly. I loved that, too. It tasted like some kind of tart.

On the third day, the only people in our family that were in the class were Stella and I. Dad, Jean, Ellie, and Ana picked another activity. So anyway, on the third day, we made another pastry or cake-ish thing, which I forget the name of. All I know is that it had lemon, cherries, and chocolate in it. Of course, this Argentinian dish was also extremely fabulous.

On the fourth and last day of cooking class, we made these little cheese balls from Argentina. They were basically just dough and two different kinds of cheese. They were simple, but phenomenal. Dad loved them so much that I shared some of mine with him.

I’m really glad I decided to sign up for cooking class. It was a great (and yummy!) experience!!!

August 30 was our fist full day at camp and it was cool but scary at the same time. Paola, Bruno, and Emilia all told us to come and play some games with them. So we went and we played this game were somebody yells out your name and throws a ball up in the air and you catch it and everyone runs and when you catch it you yell ALTO!!!!!!!!! And everyone freezes and then you can only take three steps toward the person who is the closest to you and then throw the ball at them and if it hit’s them then they throw the ball up and so on and so on.

Then we played the Frog game were someone is the detective and someone is the frog and the other people are flies. You make a circle and wait for the detective to come and when he or she is not looking the frog will stick out it’s tongue at you and you will have to fall down dead oh ya I forgot the detective gets only 3 guesses. We played that for a long time.

Then we played this game it so hard to explain it I will try. Ok so we all sit around and put one hand over the other persons hand and other one under the other persons hand. You slap their hand and then they slap the other person’s hand while the counselors sing a song and if the number that is how old one of the other people is and the last number lands on you you’re out. We played this for a long time and then we went to go to our cabin or something like that.

August 29th, the first dia of Espanol camp, we were brought down to the fire pit to learn some camp songs. The first one we learned was called “El Mamut”. It was about a mammoth who wanted to learn how to fly, so he asked a bird and the bird told him how to do it so he flew with his orejas. Then we learned “La Bamba” in Espanol. It was really cool and fun. We learned one more song. It was called “Maria Maria”. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about, but I caught a few words in the song like “sol” and “planeta”. Learning Spanish songs was pretty cool.

Learning "El Mamut" on the plaza

The first day of Spanish camp we played 3 games. We played rob the cheese, hula-hoops, and races with a ball between our legs all in Spanish. At first I didn’t know what to do because the counselors were speaking in Spanish but I figured it out. I didn’t like playing rob the cheese with the older kids, especially the older boy who kept knocking me down. But I really liked playing hula-hoops. At first I didn’t know how to hula-hoop but I figured it out. It felt really fun to do it for a long time. In the game with the ball between our legs we had to race to the other side but my team didn’t win. It was still fun. It was fun to watch everyone try to run or hop without losing the ball.

Wiggling a hula hoop down a line of people

Mommy is passing the hula hoop to me

On Monday, August 29th, we arrived at our week-long Spanish immersion camp.

It was at a place called El Lago del Bosque, and when we arrived, I felt like I was in a Spanish country. The activity center, offices, classrooms, cafeteria, and all the other buildings looked Spanish, and there was a great big courtyard with a fountain. Then we stepped inside the activity center to get checked in, and we went to a table with a counselor named Mariano. He was very friendly and welcoming, and I immediately felt better about the camp. I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous about speaking almost all Spanish for almost an entire week. So Mariano introduced himself, and then sent us over to Ana’s table, who was another counselor. She was very nice, too.

Stella at the plaza fountain

We picked out our Spanish names for the week from a list. Greta, my name, was on the list, so I picked that so I wouldn’t have to change my name. Dad’s Spanish name was Conrado, his Spanish name from high school, Jean’s was Juanita, Stella’s was Estela, Ellie’s was Ester, and Ana’s was Lucy.

Then we went over by a counselor named Alejandro, and there we picked our activities for the first two days. I picked Cooking and Jewelry. Then we went outside to make, decorate, and paint our name tags. We met lots more counselors, all of which were very, very nice. Then we played some games with the other kids and a few counselors, and I felt like I was really getting into the lifestyle there. It was actually extremely fun! 😀

I really enjoyed first coming to Spanish camp. There will be plenty of posts to follow, to find out more about it!!!

August 28th, we were hanging out at Crissy’s lake house, and decided it was time for a game of Monopoly. Crissy got the game down for us and Greta set it up. She’s always the banker, because she’s the oldest, and just because she’s the only one that likes to be the banker. Emily is Jean’s friend, Amy’s, daughter. Emily, Ana, Ellie, and me were just normal players. So was Greta, but she was the banker, too. So we got ready and finally started. We played for what seemed like forever, and then when we finished, we counted up our money. Wow! I had 1,206 dollars! That was the most I had ever had! And usually, when I play Monopoly, I go in dept. But this time…
I WON!

We went to cresses cabin she hade a paddleboat. Me and jenenes were the first oues to go on the paddleboat. Then me and Ellie went on a boat ride together. Have you ever redenen In a paddleboat? You peddle like a bike. It was scere ween I went by my self because you culde see the bottom. I was scared in the ln the lelepades because it remides me of a swomp.

Paddling around the lake at Chrissie's cabin

[Editor’s translation:]
We went to Chrissie’s cabin. She hade a paddleboat. Me and Aunt Janice were the first ones to go on the paddleboat. Then me and Ellie went on a boat ride together. Have you ever ridden in a paddleboat? You peddle like a bike. It was scary when I went by myself because you could see the bottom [of the lake]. I was scared in the in the lily pads because it reminds me of a swamp.

We got an invitation to go to the cabin belonging to the sister of my mom’s friend Amy. We went on August 27th. When we got there Amy ‘s daughter, Emily, came and told us to come inside and say hello. When we got inside we were having hamburgers. They were so good. After a while me Ana and Emily all played horses. We were going to have s’mores but then it started pouring rain so we made mikeorwave s’mores. We played monopoly. We had a fun time at the cabin and thanks Chrissie!!!!!!:)

Hanging out on a nice day at Chrissie's cabin