The Sari Diaries- Monday 7/8/19

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Tonight’s TSD is a bit different. C-C camper, Emma E and I split the post. She wrote about our amazing start to UN Day and then she tagged me in to write the rest. I know you will love her recap of our spectacular day as her writing is fabulous and it is very cool to hear about today from her perspective. A big thank you to Emma for volunteering to write this- it is fantastic and I am confident that all of you at home will enjoy the below post from her!

From Emma:
“Today was no ordinary day here at #TheRanch2019. Today was a day that we have been celebrating here since 1979. Today was United Nations Day. This day is full of competition, happiness, bonding, love, and teamwork. The camp was split into four different teams- Iceland, Zimbabwe, Egypt, and Fiji. Lauren G and Rachel G, two incredible second year JCs, planned and led the entire day! And each team was led by camper captains and staff advisors who were chosen because they exemplify the characteristics of the Chippewa Compass every day. This year the captains from Iceland were Sydney L, Bryce S, and Sarah D. The captains for the team Zimbabwe were Lily G, Ariana S, and Rebecca V. For Egypt the captains were Raleigh D, Rachel B, and Sydney K. Finally the captains for the team Fiji were Sophie B, Sarah G, and Nicole G. These campers and staff did an amazing job of teaching each of their teams cheers, and keeping each camper happy all day.

The day began around 8:00am. The captains and advisors went on the loud speaker and woke each camper up with the United Nations song. This is when the excitement began. Each camper put on clothes in their team colors, then headed to the mess hall for breakfast. There, each camper received a schedule of the activities they would be participating in for the day. Campers had a quick cabin clean up and then reported to the North Field for a game that every member at camp would play- leg wrestling. Colt Villagers played against each other, Wrangler Villagers wrestled against each other and then the staff. For the Colt Village competition, Egypt came out on top! Lea W was the last woman standing. In the Wrangler Village match, Fiji won. Sam G did a great job carrying her team to that victory. And for the staff, Iceland won. A big shout-out to Olivia C and Josh from the staff games who both played so well.

After leg wrestling, each team headed to the Center Fire Circle for the first series to officially begin. Rachel and Lauren announced where each team was starting, and who they were playing against, and the teams dispersed excitedly! The big Wrangler Village game for the first series was softball. Every team played so well and Fiji came in first. Each camper came to lunch with a smile, excited for the rest of the day, but lunch was not like any other. We sat with our teams. This was so fun because you got the chance to bond with people that you would not normally sit with or hang out with. At the end of lunch Lauren G and Rachel G announced the order of scores to that point. The order was 4th place: Iceland, 3rd place: Zimbabwe, 2nd place: Egypt and 1st place: Fiji. Each team cheered when their place was called.

Okay, now it’s time for bed, so I am signing off. Sari will finish the rest. Thank you for reading this far. I hope you enjoy your evenings.”

Lunch was followed by tug of war and running relays. This part of the day is always nice because it brings the entire camp back together in the South Field to participate in all-team activities. After the South Field fun, we had both second and third series. Soph-Aloaf and I reffed the football games in the South Field. Football was my favorite UN Day activity as a camper and I absolutely love helping out with it on UN Day each year. There were some very impressive players on the field today…Lauren G was a rock star, Sara B had an interception for a touch down and Dani G had an incredible run for her team. But Samantha S was the real MVP of football today…she had interceptions, touchdowns and was pulling flags left and right…I think she was surprised by her talent and it was awesome to watch!

Before the delicious BBQ dinner, we all gathered at the waterfront for swim relays and a blob contest. There was some excellent entertainment out there…especially during the blobbing as Sam G blobbed Brooke R way up in the air! All of the swimmers were great but there were definitely some standouts including Amari S, Haylie W and Riley A- they literally glided through the water. And after dinner, we ran to the theater to learn the results of this incredible day. Teams were cheering and everyone was making predictions about the places each team had come in. Lauren and Rachel got everyone’s attention, we cheered for the captains & advisors, and then everyone went silent…it was time to find out the winners of UN Day at #TheRanch2019. “In fourth place, with 208 points is Iceland.” All members of Iceland went up for one last loud and proud cheering session. “In third place, with 234 points is Zimbabwe.” Zimbabwe team members ran up on stage and screamed their cheers loudly. At this point, hearts were racing…who were the winners going to be?! “In second place, with 248 points is Egypt.” Though a little bit disappointed that they didn’t get first place, Egypt got on stage, and with smiles on their faces, cheered their hearts out. “And in first place, with 260 points is Fiji.” And finally Fiji ran on stage to cheer one last time…as the UN Day winners!

At that point, I am pretty sure most everyone was focused on what was next…Cathy’s for the winners and canteen for everybody else! And that’s just what I love- campers and staff competed, and put their all into today in order to get the W…but at the end of the day, no love was lost…there were winners and there were those who didn’t win…and everyone did so gracefully…and moved on when it was over. That’s what we are trying to do here, and it seems to be that it’s working :).

So that was UN Day 2019- it was out of this world and I am in the process of decompressing from all of its amazingness. UN Day is typically one of my favorite days of camp, and today exceeded my expectations! From waking up to the United Nations song all the way until the last van of team Fiji returned from Cathy’s, this day was nothing short of incredible.

A huge THANK YOU to Emma E for co-writing tonight’s post…it was fun to work with her in the office as she shared her ideas about the importance of today. I so appreciate her hard work on this and am super-impressed with her thoughtful writing.

That’s all for now- sleep well!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari