This year and next for that matter, we promised the kids that we would return to Minneapolis so they could attend, it was a non-negotiable item in the move details. The camp is held each Summer during the first week of August and it takes place at Minnehaha Academy. There were 600 people in camp this year and let me tell you it was a blast!
Tom is one of the head cooks in the kitchen and the amount of food they go through is crazy. The serve over 500 pounds of rice, 540 pounds of meat, 100 watermelons, countless carrots and the mondu, well lets just say there is never enough! There were several great kitchen drama moments, the best being on day one the helpers made the rice the wrong way, that's like saying you could burn soup, but really it happened. The first group of kids comes through for lunch at 11:15 and at 10:45 they ask me for help with the rice, what could you need help with? There were several people with large pots of wet rice trying to dry them out on the stove tops, really? The best advice I could give was " stop making rice mush and just make new rice". There are 600 critics of the food in camp and all of them voiced their opinion about the rice, Day two each of them came through the line and asked " Hey Tom, did you get the rice right today?" Cute aren't they.... (remember, they are Korean and they KNOW rice:))
Jimmy was in a group with his gal pal ShinBee, and fellow eating machine Joey. The three of them had a blast and are besties. Jimmy enjoys camp and even pays attention to what they are teaching him. He was very proud that he won a question and answer contest regarding Korea, that and he can say several Korean sayings! Camp to Jimmy is very important and he loves being there. When asked why, he said "cuz everyone is just like me". wow....
Kay was in her own little world and totally into the arts and crafts portion of the program along with the Korean Dance. She was able to see our friend Lesia everyday and the two of them went swimming every afternoon after camp. Kay enjoys the camp and loves learning about Korean history.
Billy met some new kids however we don't know the names, just "kids in my class". (from previous posts, this shouldnt be surprising, Billy has a hard time with names:) but not a hard time making friends!) He always has a smile on his face and this year the kids were into Pokeman Cards, really! Bill likes the playground activities and creating different Korean Masterpieces out of colored paper and markers, to cute. (Plus he got a new haircut:))
The camp ends everyday with what is know in certain circles as " The Snack Time". There is a space where the camp sets up tables, coolers, signs and sells Korean Snacks for a dollar. The kids go nuts, it is quite the site seeing 400+ Korean kids all mingling, sharing stories, laughing and having a great time, heartwarming. It literally can bring tears of happiness to your eyes (back to Jimmys reason for loving camp)
This year in camp for the first time there were to many teen helpers and some of them were not able to come to camp, which is a problem. Many of the kids see each other only at camp and what happened was kids came anyway, it cause a bit of an issue in the food lines however we just let it go. Where else can you spend quality time with like minded people and people going through the same life experiences as you? For these kids, its really true... no where else can they get this experience and it is quite amazing, enough said,
See you next year to all our KCC family!
