Camp Fun

Yesterday I got back from the AUT prefects camp with our group of 21
'prefects' (as they want to be called now ;) ). So far it's the most
fun I've had in a while!

I know I was meant to get to school before 7.30am for the bus, and I
tried to get there earlier than everyone else, even promising to beat
Jacqueline there! It didn't work out I ended up coming to school the
second latest...to Toni! Fortunately our transportation hadn't arrived
yet so we were all waiting outside the gate. The night before I
remembered that we all had to sing at the Powhiri but our group had
nothing planned except for one suggestion that we sing Pokarereana so
the night before I printed off all these little cards of the first
verse and chorus to give to the other students so we'd be able to have
something to sing from at least!

The transport arrived and we got there in two vans. We had to wait
outside the gate before they let us into the marae where they would
welcome us. As part of tradition the girls had to sit in the back
while us guys sat in front. I had to speak so I sat up in front with
Mr Coughlan the deputy principal and Shannon the AUT guy who was going
to look after us for the first day. All the AUT staff members sat
opposite us. A man spoke first in Maori. After that Shannon gave a
little speech in Maori (he was speaking on behalf of us because our
school was supposed to have a Maori speaker but we didn't have one
prepared...they were a little annoyed about that!) Next it was my turn
to speak. I thanked them, then talked about how all of us student
leaders had one thing in common and that was to lead the school
effectively and to motivate and encourage our fellow students to
achieve greater things, that we felt welcomed by the powhiri and that
we would have a lot of fun and enjoy our time at camp. I turned to
look at all the other student leaders, who slooowly got up. I tried to
get them to start singing together with me but in the end just decided
to count 1..2..3.. and then I started singing. Even with cards we
mumbled our way through the song and then we all sat back down. I then
remembere I had to present to them the koha.

We spent the first hour doing a sort of Amazing Race competition
around town, looking for and doing certain things and then taking
photos of them as evidence. We had to go busking and make $2.50,
advertise AUT in some creative way (of course...we stood outside the
AUT building and made the letters AUT with our bodies), take photos
of symbols that represented leadership as well as try find someone
famous and have our photo taken with them (we just used a statue!)

When we got back to the marae we played various team-building games
and then had lunch. After lunch we did some sort of activity where we
had to identify how we thought the public saw us - the unhidden side
of us, the hidden side of us and our 'blind spot', what others thought
of us that we didn't know about. When it came time to share everyone
was so open and honest about it it was amazing!

We then had to decide on what we wanted for the meals coming up for
that day and the next. Once that was sorted Heather the head girl and
I were taken to Foodtown to do the shopping. I can't believe how much
we spent on food! We filled three trolleys with food, with the total
cost of it all amounting to...! That's the largest grocery bill I've
ever seen! Thankfully it was all charged to AUT!

When we got back we had to do an impromptu speech before having
dinner. At that point our dean Mrs Taylor and Mrs Reid the careers
advisor came over to stay the night with us. During dinner one of the
AUT teachers sat at our table with Lindsey, Evan, Jacqueline, Shen,
Hyun, Joon and me. They were asking her who she thought would be a
good match for each of them. I better not mention them here but the
most interesting was who she thought was Hyun's match! It must be so
obvious if she could figure that out after just one day of knowing us!
As for me all she could say was:

"Calum...I don't know about you. You're an open box. I think you're
gonna surprise us all!"

That was a lot of help! Anyway after dinner we discussed more about
escalation points etc. After that we had supper and went to bed, and
that's when things got interesting! I had my matris and sleeping bag
beside Joon and Sarena, Amy and Christine. We talked for a little
while about some...interesting...stuff before it was lights out. Joon
managed to take some photos of the girls that mysteriously got deleted
overnight...Amy...! Joon and I had planned on drawing on some people's
faces with a marker I brought, and so we stayed up till 1.30. Joon
crept up to Hyun but got snapped by Mrs Taylor! We decided to try
again at 3am. I couldn't get to sleep so I just sat up watching what
other people got up to, and boy did certain people get up to a lot!
Finally it was 3. I doubt most people were asleep, but Joon was and I
tried waking him but he wouldn't! I was thinking about just drawing on
him instead but...he's my friend how could I? ;)

It was only at 5 when I decided I'd finally try get some sleep but it
wasn't long before the girls came round at 6.30am waking us all up. We
did some tai chi at 7 and then had breakfast. Because I had a shower I
was once again late for breakfast (with everyone waiting for me!) so I
had to do the blessing for the food, short and sweet!

We all then walked down to AUT business school where we would do our
plans for the year. That was kinda boring. We did have a VIP guest
there with National MP Bill English making an appearance. When the AUT
teacher announced that the head girl and head boy were going to
welcome them everyone warned her about me having opposing political
views! But I was nice to him, just this once ;)

He left soon after taking a photo with us, and we finished at midday.
We were taken to the North Shore campus where we had Subway for lunch
and then played some more team-building games.

When it turned 4 it was all over and we returned back to school by
taxi. That's my mammoth post to make up for the last two days! The
camp was really great. It felt really weird coming back home to family
and back to the boring daily routine of going to school come home
going to school come home. I miss everyone already! I got to know a
lot more about them, and now I'm excited about what's to come this
year with this group!

P.S. For those of you who want the photos I can always burn them on a
CD for you or you can check them out at my MSN Space