"Can you get them to say: GESUNDHEIT!"
What a different week compared to week one. For one thing, the weather was more bearable, with less humidity and an overall fresher atmosphere. You could actually do more than just sit at a picnic table without losing your body weight in sweat.
This week I got to work with a bonfied expert. He's an expert on ALL things logos, in particular those created for television and movie production companies (e.g. Disney Pixar, FOX Search Lights Productions, 20th Century Fox, MTM). He's also got a verbatim memory of essentially every Thomas the Tank Engine episode or book. THIS year, he came to camp with an obsessive fascination with The Three Stooges. My whole week, from 9am Monday morning to 4pm Friday afternoon, revolved around reenacting (for anyone and everyone around us at the moment... by the way, thanks for putting up with us everyone) the "1962 NBC Peacock Severe Sneezing Fit" (as seen on YouTube), and another scene from The Three Stooges called "NIAGARA FALLS! Slowly I turn....".
Anyway, right from Monday morning when I greeted him with "Ne Hao" (because mom told me he was really into a show called "Kai Lan" and was trying to learn Chinese from it and I thought I'd spark a fun, quirky thing we could say each morning... p.s. I failed at that...), Nate dove into his NBC spiel. "And Christine, have you seen the YouTube video titled 'The NBC Peacock's Severe Sneezing Fit'? Well, you could be the subtitles and I'll be the peacock. Let's perform it for everyone right here right now". NOTE: Nate LOVES being the star of the show and will gladly perform for you anytime, anywhere, so long as you are willing to shower him with praise, applause, and participate where demanded. The only problem with his early Monday morning request was that I was not yet familiar with this skit and had some studying to do (when you work with Nate, YouTube becomes your best "guide" to understanding him. Everything Nate talks about originates from something he saw on there). I knew my lines by Tuesday morning. By Wednesday's senior flagpole in the afternoon, we were Camp Chippewa celebrities because Katie so graciously granted his wish of being able to perform the skit... for EVERYONE. Script in hand, I took the stage with Nate as the peacock (sans costumes... that's for next week) and me as spoken subtitles, and we did the whole thing, WITH audience participation at the right spots ("Can you get them to say gesundheit? Ok, when I explode, get them all to say 'WISE GUY!'"). We got a roaring applause, which Nate loved! I suspect an encore presentation next week with his new counsellor. The theme next week is "Animal Antics", and he's planning on dressing up as the actual NBC Peacock.
I mentioned the Three Stooges skit. This one was a bit more over the top. At the mention of the words "Niagara Falls" (which thankfully don't come up in conversation very often), Nate transformed himself into Moe and "went into this sort of RAGE. What ever you do, DON'T say Niagara Falls, got it?!". And of course anyone who found out about it would say those words, and thus a frenzy.
"NIAGARA FALLS. Sloooooooowly I turn, and STEP by step, INCH by inch... Wh-Wh..."..
I have worked with Nate the past two summers at camp, as well. In the past, getting to our group had been a challenge... Once he's engrossed in something he really digs, there can be no separating from it. This year, I got him to spend more time with his group than in the past two years, and that made me pretty happy. He made quite a few friends, which is the best note of all.
His birthday is on Monday, so on Friday we had a celebration for him. Everyone brought treats and also a cake. I made him a special surprise... a REAL NBC peacock! But I hid it and had him find it though clues. The clues were hidden around the main area of camp, sometimes in trees, sometimes with particular people, sometimes under cars. The clues were written on coloured feathers, one on each colour in the NBC logo. Finally, he found the last clue, which lead him to a special package under the canoes. The package held inside the peacock I successfully constructed (and I'm not going to deny it... it was good!). Nate LOVED the peacock, and that's all I wanted. He "fed" it cake, chips, and popcorn, and had it meet some of the friends at the party. To me, the perfect conclusion to a really wonderful, albeit tiring, week.
Kudos' of the week:
1. To Kim for being a super amazing boss.
2. To Kylie for surviving the crocodile scare with Nate, Sean, and myself in the canoe yesterday.
3. To Alicia, the human punching bag
4. To Alicia again, for smoking the entire HH team at bowling on Wednesday
5. To Katherine for being ok with different sized shoes
6. To EVERYONE for pleasing Nate and saying GESUNDHEIT every single time he sneezed!
Next week: Hayley
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