Yay Kamp the Sequel, Week Two...

After a couple of days of relaxing and recovery from Week One, it was quickly time to get our game faces on and start Week Two - Sports and Games. We planned a combination of indoor and outdoor games for the kids to play this week. The one absolute rule - no football(soccer)! That's one of the only sports they play here, and it is something the boys always dominate.

My school director arranged for us to go to the sport school for our outdoor days. That was incredible. Instead of being crammed on a tiny grassy area filled with nettles in my school yard, we had a big field to play on and do activities on. It was great! The one down side was that there was very little shade. We all ended up with some pretty intense tan lines from the day!

Our first day was Wiffle Ball and Kick Ball. We explained the rules in the classroom, then headed over to the field to start playing. I had expectations of it being a big bust. I thought the girls would just sit and complain and let the boys dominate everything. Not so. Everyone got really into it. And there was some serious team spirit! All of the kids played hard and had a great day!

The second day was inside for games. In my mind, this was a really important day. There is so little here for kids - especially girls - to do, a lot of their free time is spent just sitting at home watching TV. Knowing that these kids will spend a big chunk of their lives sitting at home, I wanted to teach them games and activities they could do there. So we taught them Yahtzee and cards games like Uno and Go Fish and Spoons. The kids loved it! A couple of my student took home Yahtzee score cards to play at home. Success!

Day three was Tag and more indoor games. We played English Word Tag (like TV tag, but with English words instead of TV shows) and Snake Tag and Freeze Tag and more. We played Simon Says and Red Light Green Light. Inside, we played classics like Heads Up Seven Up and new games like Wink Murder and a really cool counting/hand slapping game. One group even did an egg parachute drop. The team to build a parachute that keeps their egg from breaking when dropped out of the window wins. That was a big hit - for the kids participating AND the kids watching!

One of my favorite things of the week was teaching the students Boom-Chicka-Boom. a lot of the teachers at school came out front to watch us do the chant with the kids and make general fools of ourselves. I still have the song stuck in my head, though!

The last day of the week was Relay Day - a lot like elementary school field days. We were at the sport school again, so we got to really spread out and go to town! We started with the Three-Legged Race and moved on to the Wheelbarrow Race. I love how enthused the students were! I expected them to freak out at the idea of putting their hands on the ground for the wheelbarrow race, and a few did, but most dived in with a vengence! On girl even complained about the fact that she couldn't be the "wheelbarrow" because she was wearing a skirt. After the Wheelbarrow Race, we did the Bean bag hop - you have to hop on one foot down the line, around your teacher and back to the starting point while balancing a bean bag on you head. It was grand! We took a little bit of time to rest, then had the kids run a blindfolded obstacle course - guided by one of their teammates telling them where to go. We rounded out the relays with a water balloon toss. Which then turned into a giant water balloon fight. I think for a lot of the kids - and PCVs - that was the highlight of Sports and Games week!

All in all, Week two was awesome! Of course it couldn't have been done without the help of PCVs Ryan Schaffer, Katie Preston, Emma Jackson, Mathias Jackson, Amy Eilts, Alison Reggio, Johanna Klees, Jake Larson, Loki Tobin, and Joe Valles. Their enthusiasm and energy and intensely hard work was incredible and made this week absolutely amazing!

Hard to believe, but there is only one week of Yay Kamp left. I'm really looking forward to Arts and Crafts Week, but I'm already a little sad that camp is coming to an end so soon. It has been just wonderful for the kids, student leaders, and me!