Let the Games Begin!

Hi all:
Well, I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!! Did you miss me? Our Hawaiian cruise adventure was really great and ended much too quickly. As previously advertised, I wore out a deck chair, destroyed multiple buffets and had a great time with the family. Although I've now been to Hawaii seven times, I did discover something new, different and definitely spectacular. We had been to the Kiluea volcano (world's most active) on the big island years ago with the girls, but, this time, we got a different view of it-- at night and from offshore. Kiluea is on the southwest coast of the big island. We cruised past it in the dark and the crater was lit up with bright yellow-orange lava flowing down the slopes and into the ocean where it sizzles and steams. It has to be one of the world's greatest sights. On Maui, while Ann and I wore out deck chairs, Kimberly and Diana took an excursion 10,00 feet up Mt Haleakaela (a dormant volcano) to see the sights and view a Pacific sunset from above the clouds. Ann and I had made this same trek on our first trip to Hawaii more than thirty years ago and we took the opportunity to let the girls have fun by themselves while we wore out some deck chairs we found in close proximity to a buffet. (Do you see a pattern emerging here?). All in all, it was a great time and we enjoyed being together.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Korea, the summer day camp program is now in full swing. The games I ordered (Candy Land and Chutes & Ladders) had arrived and I put the younger children to work on them as a vehicle for teaching them English color, number and directional words. Pretty clever of me, right? I thought so, too, right up to the point at which the Korean teachers became intrigued with these "wonderful" games they'd never seen and muscled the kids out of the way so they could play! Everything worked out fine, additional game sets have been ordered and everyone thanked me for bringing them these wonderful "new" games. The fifth and sixth graders continue to work diligently with their SCRABBLE games and are visibly unhappy, but respectfully silent when intrigued teachers try to muscle in on their games. The best part is that I only had to break up arguments and mediate disputes over SCRABBLE words twice although, sadly, one of the disputes was between two teachers. (Idle question: What did these people do for entertainment before I arrived?) For tomorrow, I've set up a scavenger hunt for English-named objects (manmade and natural) found around the camp area. Let's see the teachers horn in on that one!

Gotta go...my typing hand is giving out. Love to all. Y'all keep on playing and remember (as I'm trying to teach my very intense students)...IT'S ONLY A GAME!!

See ya,
Kamper Bill