Since i fell in love with the original CISV program,
Village, last year in China i again drown myself for another camp this summer.
It was my 3rd Village since last year and this time i tried to restore my faith
in CISV camp after what happened last year. Flashnews, i wasn’t so content the
last time. I was so surprised as well, since i always happy and gain my
knowledge everytime i’ve done CISV program locally and internationally. Not
only knowledge, but also my confidence in general and gain the experience of
educational content itself. Last year was sucks, not only some friction in
between camp but also my personal life. But, hell yeah, i get over it and move
on. Hence, it wasn’t about the organization or the way of living the
experience. Maybe it was a bad timing, in the bad situation with several bad
luck-ness. Anyway, as i said, Let’s move on!
In April i got a confirmation that i will be staff in Kiel
for Village. Wait, where the hell on earth Kiel is? Oh, it’s the Northern part
Germany near the border with Denmark. Never thought i will be staffing that far
away. Then, i met the staffies, all girls. Woohoo! I had a feeling of having
these catfight with them later. LOL. But thank God it never happed. Our
campdirector is from US and two others are Germans, none from Kiel chapter. We
finally a complete stuff when two male junior staffs come along. One of very
shy Mexican boy who live in the US-yeah he was shy, trapped in the middle of
four loud girls who talk a lot during 20 minutes of Skype meeting. And another
one who ACTUALLY live (nearby) and belong to Kiel Chapter.
And it comes July! Flying across Asia to Europe with one
huge luggage contains most of CISV t-shirt for 7 weeks– but apparently not big
enough for some people- and landed in Berlin. Then, we have to take 4hrs train
ride to Kiel. I met Mariann, the CISV virgin, who picked me up somewhere in
front Starbucks. We hugged! Yes, WE HUGGED. We never met but we DID hug each
other. Feels like i know her for years. Then rushing to the platform and catch
our breath as the train start moving. With our huge luggage and Mariann’s
guitar, we have to switch train in Hamburg and meet the other two girls. Then Nora
comes along. Then WE HUGGED again! Three of us finally got in to the train,
which BTW was the silent car- i dont know how people in Germany can stay quiet
for that long, LOL.
When we prepare ourselves for quite a short one hour train
ride, i slightly take a look on other people. Then i saw this blue shirt with
CISV logo on it. Wait, dont you have like a week later for delegation to
arrive? Because we arrived a week earlier to prepare stuffs. So, it can’t be
leader, it can’t be JC and of course there’s some random people from the
chapter nearby roamingg around with CISV t-shirt for no reason at all. Then she
turn her back around, and...there’s Kathleen, our director! And we SCREAMED, oh
yeaah, in the silent car.
We spent three days just the for of us, cooking, talking,
eating, working until Alex, the Mexican who just finished his Europe trip join
us calmly – and still very shy. Then we canoeing, swimming, working, ‘til we
have to move to campsite in Kronshagen, Kiel. The day of preparing the whole
campsite was one hell of craziest things for us. We saw huge truck carried tons
of beds and other stuff for 70-ish people. All those people from chapter hand
in hand helped each other. What so crazy about that? They just asked the staff
to point which to go where, while they – mostly parents, mom, dad, grandpa,
grandma, and ofcourse, their kids – working their ass off to make sure
everything were in the right place. At noon, 90% of work almost done!!
Two and half day left before all adults group arrive, and it
was only four of us in the HUGE building. We prepare dinner, and finally, Arvid
arrived!! He has long hair!!! and i wasn’t prepare for that. Then we HUGGED
again. That was whole fun week of getting to know each other. We did it through
trainings, chatting, serious chatting-sometimes, and mostly cooking. So, when
we welcome leaders and JCs, we hope we were all well prepared. The rest is
history. Well, not really a history for whom wasn’t part of the camp itself.
That was a slight behind the scene story about us, the staffs.
Eventhough i was a staff before, this one completely
different stories and challenges as well. What i enjoy the most when i was
staffing in my own country, i could share EVERYTHING about my own country and
even the cities itself. I like to show them around, tell them a very local
perspective as citizen or as CISVer. Also, i know most of everything around so
we are the right people to ask for. It could be about your day off, custom,
food or anything else if you want to know more about the culture. BUTTE..here’s
the deal, you are in Germany and don’t speak German. At all. Oh no, its a lie,
i can say Danke Schoen. Oh well.
The way we support each other and make each
other’s tasks easier also challenging part. At the end of the day, what’s our
goal and my personal goal mostly achieved. No one dies. And for me, no clash
between adults group. We support each other and no gap between Staff, Leaders
and JCs. So, it doesn’t matter whether you came from the local chapter or not,
it’s all about team work and hard work.
As much as culture gap always arise, i think that one also the big part of being in CISV as well. And, the learning process is still going on...
