I'm sure y'all are wondering what in tarnation our theme for winter English camp is going to be. Well, THERE'S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS! And now I'll stop. But it is the truth, the theme of Route 66 Winter English Camp 2014 is "Gold Rush"!
As a native Western Montanan, a place that saw it's fair share of gold fever, I'm familiar with the gold rush period of American history and am excited to share a little piece of "back home" with my friends over here in Russia. At our first camp meeting on Friday, I found myself gleefully explaining what the word "posse" meant, and what a "claim jumper" does.
Our basic plan is to split the camp territory into claims, give the kids some start-up capital plus opportunity to earn more throughout the week (in the winter, the floor in the conference hall always needs moping!) and let them loose to pan for gold and make their fortunes in Boomtown, our camp. There will be panning for gold, a tavern, an auction, and as likely as not bandits.
I feel like a kid at Christmas with this theme! I love Montana and the West, I love history, and I love theatrics, so this is right up my alley. I'm excited to be back in Russia doing the work that I love, and I'm also excited that this year at winter camp I'll be able to say "howdy" and "y'all" with reckless abandon. Yeehaw!
Пока ребята,
Russian Jane
PS Andree and Natasha, our camp directors and my dear friends, thought of this theme last month while driving back from our home MT on their way to visit Natasha's parents in Portland. They passed a semi that had a big mural painted on the side that said "Gold Rush" and had some kind of Western scene painted on it, and began to think to themselves, "now there's an idea...".
As a native Western Montanan, a place that saw it's fair share of gold fever, I'm familiar with the gold rush period of American history and am excited to share a little piece of "back home" with my friends over here in Russia. At our first camp meeting on Friday, I found myself gleefully explaining what the word "posse" meant, and what a "claim jumper" does.
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| A picture from Bannack, MT, during the gold rush of the 1860s |
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| From boom town to ghost town, we plan to go through it all at camp |
I feel like a kid at Christmas with this theme! I love Montana and the West, I love history, and I love theatrics, so this is right up my alley. I'm excited to be back in Russia doing the work that I love, and I'm also excited that this year at winter camp I'll be able to say "howdy" and "y'all" with reckless abandon. Yeehaw!
Пока ребята,
Russian Jane
PS Andree and Natasha, our camp directors and my dear friends, thought of this theme last month while driving back from our home MT on their way to visit Natasha's parents in Portland. They passed a semi that had a big mural painted on the side that said "Gold Rush" and had some kind of Western scene painted on it, and began to think to themselves, "now there's an idea...".
