Camp Blog

In keeping with the crazy customs of Camp Simcha, the dining room today was decorated as a Roman palace, down to the last detail, including drapes, pillars and even a [realistic] flame. With settings like that, it felt only appropriate to dress in togas, helmets and shield, and march around the hall chanting, finishing up with a mock war!

“Oh yes we love DEAL DAY.” For the uninitiated, who don’t know what that means: you are missing out. I’ll try to describe it as best as I can: The community from Deal, NJ, come here every summer for one day, and we show them what camp is all about. We have great fun, and so do they! Part of that is the “Big Deal Gifts.” They bring along all sorts of cool stuff, and we get to take home one of each! There’s backpacks, headphones, crocs, crazy T-shirts and much more!

COLOR RUN kicked off the evening! We sprayed each other with paint powder and water, which turned us all into one big colorful mess!

If you thought the day was over by now, you obviously need to spend some time here to see the wild stuff we do. After some heavy dancing (while still very ‘colorful’) we had a FIREWORK SHOW! With themed music and glow stick glasses, we enjoyed every minute and cheered at every ‘POP’.

DANCE PRACTICE concluded the evening! Sorry I can’t let out any details yet, but tomorrow we’ll be in NYC, and there’s an incredible song and dance there. I’ll keep you posted!

After such a busy day and an early start for tomorrow, I bid you good night for now. Come back tomorrow to find out about the trip!!

I must say, the dining room is a very professional chameleon. Every morning it magically transforms based on the day’s theme.

Being that today’s theme is Planet of the Apes, when we walked in, the stage was filled with grown bushes and ivy. All the mike stands had inflatable monkeys hanging on.

After a full morning of activities, games, all-round fun, and a great lunch, we had a game of “Monkey Says, Monkey Do.” Steve Max, professional Simon Sez player and leader, had us rolling with laughter as he tricked us time and again. With his 5-second challenge for all the campers, and Josh singing his name, we thoroughly enjoyed the game.

After that, the fun continued, with more games and activities all around.

As we came into the dining room this morning, the room had been transformed into a prehistoric scene, with a full-fledged cave, complete with a bonfire for warmth, tree stump seats and a screen playing a documentary teaching us all about the cavemen. There was also a dinosaur hanging around, and a cart made from wooden logs. Did you know the cavemen had cars? I didn’t.

After breakfast, the workshops started. All around camp, projects were started, games were played and skills were learnt. We even had someone teaching us how to build a caveman-style fire.

Before lunch we had a serious dance. In keeping with the theme of the Stone Age, we sang and danced, and really ROCKED THE HOUSE.

After lunch, we continued with some more great activities. We had some more caveman-themed workshops, and the younger divisions had their own talent show!

Supper was just another excuse for us to dance. We continued going all the way through supper. Non-stop dancing, for an hour straight! We danced till the floor was wet with sweat, and we just continued going!

After supper (dancing) was over, we went to the social hall for night activity. The Twin from France came to amaze us with the crazy stunts he pulls. Between juggling knives while blindfolded on a table, driving a 7-foot-tall unicycle around and very nearly crashing into everyone around and jumping over 5 people lying down in one giant leap, he had us laughing and cheering the whole time.

When that was over, and we thought we were finished for the day, Meir and Moshe taught us the moves for a special dance. Details to follow…

What an exciting day in camp it was today!

The day went by without even a second to spare. We started the day with division meetings, where we got to know our division heads and everyone in our divisions. After that, boating, swimming, rock climbing and many more activities could be seen around camp.

Our night-activity was a pleasant surprise. Dancing Acrobats! We cheered them on as they did flips and preformed the limbo at a height where only an ant can fit, and even balanced on wooden chairs.

We can’t wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow!

Welcome to Camp Simcha 2013!!!

Wow! After all the months we sat and waited, the day has finally arrived!

All the counselors are dressed up crazy, with green noses, clown outfits and other crazy stuff! I even spotted Batman and Superman dancing together!

As each camper arrived, he was greeted with the famous Camp Simcha greeting dance, complete with a five piece band, the “Tunnel,” shoulder ride, announcement by Dembi and the world-renowned “Sandwich.”

Campers kept on coming all day, from Brooklyn, Baltimore, even England.

We then went to the dining room for our first great Simcha-style meal of the season. Just as supper was ending, we received news that the Israeli group would be arriving any minute. We all rushed out to greet them, and the dancing started all over again.

Straight after that, we rushed over to the Social Hall for an incredible night activity. Based on the above, it shouldn’t be hard to guess what the activity was… even more dancing! Though this time, we had an extremely talented group on stage showing us some great moves!

We finally headed to the bunkrooms to unpack, and get some much-needed sleep.

The rumors are, that tomorrow will be a packed and exciting day, and I don’t want to miss anything, so good night for now.

See you tomorrow!

Before the session begins, we would like to clarify some things about our Facebook galleries, public galleries on our website, and ParentSpace galleries.

First, if your child is photo-released “in camp only”, he or she will only appear in the ParentSpace gallery. Your child will not appear on Facebook, nor on the public side of the site. So if your child is a camper, go ahead and sign up for ParentSpace. Not only will you see more pictures (2x more pictures than on FB), but you will also be privy videos that are produced special for you every day, a special blog, the daily camp newsletter, camp schedule, and more exciting features.

Second, please follow the instructions below for the proper way to log in to your account. If you haven’t applied for an account, please go ahead and apply for an account. You should be verified within 48 hours.

To log into your ParentSpace account, go to campsimcha.org and click LOGIN in the top right corner.

Then type in your username and password.

You are now in ParentSpace!

From this page you can access a special blog just for parents, the daily schedule, and daily pictures and videos.

A COMMON PROBLEM: If you attempt to visit campsimcha.org/parentspace directly, and login there, you will be bounced to another login page. If you type in your username and password there you, will be granted access to ParentSpace. However, until we correct this glitch, we ask that you instead login by going to campsimcha.org and clicking login in the top right corner.

If you are still having trouble with ParentSpace, or if you have any questions, comments, requests, or suggestions for the blogs, please contact zahavah@campsimcha.org

Our campers love getting e-mail! To send your camper an e-mail, include his NAME and BUNK NUMBER in the subject line of the e-mail. Please send all e-mails to mail@campsimcha.org. Unfortunately, we cannot download any attachments so please include all content in the body of your e-mail.

Simcha Stories: Ayala and Henny