Biberkor

The camps at Biberkor were much more action packed than Burg Schwaneck, for two main reasons. One, we introduced Capture the Flag (CTF) to the kids, and two, more kids got hurt. But we didn't started playing it with the kids in the first week, only the second week´s group had the pleasure of playing. During the first week my group of 10 to 13 year olds (The Crazy Digereedoos) became addicted to the Kicker machine and we played the normal games and our theatre piece was a classic performance Sleeping Beauty, since my group could speak relatively good English. Which reminds me to say, I spoke German more with the kids than I did English, which was not so good for them, since it was meant to be an English camp, but good for me, because I could practice my German each day, and it really improved in the five weeks. During that first week there were dramas in my group, not of the theatre variety. Instead I had girls having little bitch fights over trivial stuff, and boys nearly killing each other when the aluminum soccer goal frame came down on one kid´s head and nearly killed him. Luckily everyone was alright in the end. In the second week, after the usual introductionary games and orientation on the first day, we explained the rules of CTF, of which most of the time, I kept changing. The aim of CTF is to steal the other team´s flag and take it back to your own base. The playing field was around the entire school which included playing fields and forest. The kids loved it, although many complained it was unfair, usually because of the team selection. Anyway, throughout the week the game changed and became more and more part of the camp, rather than the normal stuff that we had planned. I won´t try to explain the rules in detail, since even I got confused with it, even when I was the one making them up. But generally, CTF was based on the version in Halo 2 (XBOX Game) but without assault rifles and greandes. Somehow I just don´t know how I could explain to the parents that their child had died from a game we were playing. In addition to that, I don´t think the game would have last very long with all these kids potentially dying. Furthermore, I don´t think we could have actually found the weapons even if we wanted them out here in what seemed like the middle of no where, the middle of Bavaria. So, weapons asside, there were two teams, Blue and Red. We painted a small line on each side of the child´s face to indicate which team they belonged to, of course the Counsellors played too, and I am not too sure who had more fun, the kids or us? Each day after the kids had gone home, I had two beers and watch Family Guy with Erin, Natalie and Judith (Katie only stayed a couple of nights, since she was just there to help for the first couple of days, much like Carmilla had at Burg Schwaneck, plus Katie was pregnant and didn´t really want to work at the camps because of that reason). Family Guy cracked me up and German beer really assisted with each night´s sleep, but not the digestion processes the next day. In the second week the other Counsellor´s and I agreed that we all had the group from hell, but they were the group that we started playing CTF with, so it was not so bad. I ended up doing a theatre piece with them called In the Restaurant, which is quite funny. It´s a play about a movie being made, set in a restaurant. The man and woman come in, order some food and drinks and the woman dies from eating the soup. The director cuts in and tells the actors to do it all again, each time a little differently, faster, slower, funnier, or in our case, Hip Hop. During the weekend we all went into Munich, I stayed at Katie´s place and was able to check my email and eat Doner Kebabs.

A happy Camper

Biberkor 1

Biberkor 2

Biberkor 3

Kids with the Kicker

My balcony view

Parachute Water Balloon game

Taking it easy after a hard days work

Teepee at Biberkor