Camp Blog - Page 61 of 125 - Camp Simcha & Camp Simcha Special

Reliving History

August 9, 2013Leave a Comment

In accordance with today’s theme – biblical times – the campers got to see, touch, and even try on antiques from 3000 years ago. Rabbi Deutch from The Living Torah Museum presented us with the personal jewelry of Ramses wife, the Queen of Egypt. Campers modeled the stunning royal necklaces and bracelets that were excavated from Ramses’ tomb. Then, we saw a selection of ancient coins. One was an ancient Greek coin with the king Antiochus’ picture engraved upon it. It was discovered on a sunken Greek boat on the Mediterranean Sea. He also passed around an original Machatzit Hashekel (half-shekel coin), as well as a coin that is almost 2000 years old, with the only picture of the Second Temple imprinted on it. Afterwards, campers were able to hold and stroke real stuffed animals: a lamb, a baby goat, a deer, a fox, and a full-size wolf. We were then presented with one of the catapulting stones that the Romans shot at Israel’s walls. There was a contest to see if any of the staff could hold it above their heads for 4 whole minutes. (It’s a lot harder than it sounds – trust me, I tried!) Then, at the end of his fascinating presentation, Rabbi Deutch presented every camper with a free copy of his new book! Thank you so much for the captivating journey back in history!

-T

Avraham Fried Stops By

August 9, 2013Leave a Comment

The one, the only, Avraham Fried (!!) and his band stopped by Camp Simcha for a stupendous, totally rocking concert. Green disco lights spun in circles and lit up the social hall, and we did what Camp Simcha does best – dance and just let loose. It was truly a treat to enjoy such an amazing live concert. Avraham Fried even wrote a song especially for Camp Simcha. “But everybody’s happy in Camp Simcha. The sun is always shining in Camp Simcha…”

-J

The Stars of Camp Simcha: Menucha

August 9, 2013Leave a Comment

“What’s your favorite kind of animal?”
“Little puppies.”
“Really, do you have one?”
“No, I have a big dog.” She holds up her hands to show me how big. “His name’s Farfel.”

-J

Traveling Back to the Biblical Times

August 9, 2013Leave a Comment

This morning we woke up to rain in Camp Simcha, but it didn’t dampen our spirits in the slightest. In fact, it’s only appropriate seeing as today we’re taking a trip back in time to… Biblical Times! (Now all we need is an ark and some animals to make this time travel legit!) Besides for the life-like props all around the dining hall, including pyramids, a sphinx, and Abraham’s tent, the campers and their counselors dressed up as well. Rivky dressed up as Eisav (Esau) while her counselor Tzivie dressed up as Yaakov (Jacob). Maya dressed up as a lion and her counselor Esti dressed up as a frog – inspired by the ten plagues in Egypt. In our staff we have a Vashti from the Purim story, a Pharaoh from the Jews’ time in Egypt, and even our very own Moses. Next, all kinds of prizes were raffled off, and among the winners are Cara, Sarala, and Or – congratulations guys! There’s a lot more fun planned for today’s biblical themed day…

-J

The Sky’s The Limit: Night Activity August 8th

August 8, 2013Leave a Comment

Performers at halftime for every team in the NBA, led by Ken Kovach – 3-time National Trampoline Champion, and current holder of a Guinness World Record for the most revolutions through a hula hoop while jumping and somersaulting on a trampoline – the Skyriders graced the Camp Simcha gym, clad in red, white, and blue. With a repertoire of complex sequences of forward and backward flips, twists, and somersaults, the acrobats elicited roaring cheers from the audience.

Then it got even better. One performer strapped on a bounce-board (like a flexible trampoline snowboard), and held poses in the air, flipping and spinning even higher. Next, they pulled out a pair of 150 cm snow skis. Then a wakeboard. Then a snowboard. Spinning, flipping, somersaulting, almost hitting the ceiling, the acrobats were unstoppable.

When Ken pulled out bouncy neon-green ball, he selected a few camper volunteers – our very own Mika L., Grace F., Jordana K. and Tallie E. – to participate in a stunt! Each threw the green ball at the precise moment that the acrobats somersaulted, and they had to try and catch the ball mid-flip.

Throughout the show, Simcha-spirit was exploding from the bleachers. The acrobats nearly hit the gym rafters a couple of times, but if was definitely the Simcha energy that raised the roof! Ken Kovach said it best himself after the show: “This is the best camp ever! It’s the best energy of any camp we’ve ever [been to]. We love coming here; Camp Simcha rocks!” Then he grinned. “Zai gezunt” (take care).

-T

The Stars of Camp Simcha: Miriam

August 8, 2013Leave a Comment

Miriam dove straight for the red button when she got into the time machine.
“What would you do if you could travel back in time?”
“I would go back to the time when everything cost a nickel.”
“What would you buy?”
“I would buy a diamond necklace and then I would travel back to regular time, and I would buy so many things!”

-J

The Stone Age Life

August 8, 2013Leave a Comment

Era: Prehistoric/Stone Age

Campers and counselors walk the grounds as dinosaurs, cavewomen and, in particular, the Flintstones. In Stone Age fashion, campers made Stepping Stones; they took wet circular slabs of gray, red, or brown concrete and decorated them with stones, small colored pebbles, shiny bottle-caps, seashells, and colored glass. These beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces of stone-art now decorate the pathway of Erica’s Garden.

In addition, campers are now proud pet owners! Campers transformed small, black stones with metallic marker decorations and created their very own pet rocks.

In Caveman Storytelling, they rolled picture dice and wove together an original story with contributions related to the images. What does a kid playing baseball, a turtle in a fedora, prayer, medicine, Camp Simcha, dancing, and a megaphone have in common? One story went as follows: A man was driving when he ran over a turtle. Devastated, he rushed the turtle to the hospital to receive immediate care, but the terribly unlucky turtle was hit by a baseball. The man prayed intently for the welfare of the turtle. Soon after, the turtle was traveling past a stop-sign when he met his best friend: a caveman in a wheelchair. They went to Camp Simcha together, where they danced and had a huge celebration.

At the Archeological Dig, the campers once again displayed their creative flairs. They were presented with ancient artifacts recovered from an archeological dig right here at Camp Simcha: chess pieces, dinosaurs, pirates, and Silly Bands. From these relics, they pieced together history, and acted it out.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, Camp Simcha was just a barren wasteland where dinosaurs roamed freely, until a band of pirates arrived and plotted to capture and kill the dinosaurs with their arsenal of Silly Bands. The pirates were wildly successful, and they celebrated their skill until they realized that with no more land to plunder or dinosaurs to trap…they were actually quite bored. So one pirate mastermind invented a new pastime, a game he called chess, which the pirates soon grew quite fond of and played every waking moment. And that is the real history of Camp Simcha. And chess.

-T

Camp Simcha’s Very Own Time Machine

August 8, 20132 Comments

In Camp Simcha, just past the entrance in the dining hall, to your right you will find… a time machine. Constructed with astonishing stylistic detail, entering the dimly lit time machine is an experience all in itself. As the campers sit in the time machine chair, they face dozens of knobs and dials, and a screen that runs videos on a loop, a new one each day in conjunction with the theme. Today, while Camp Simcha is in the Stone Age, campers can watch the Flintstones, see cavemen invent the wheel, among other classic Stone Age scenes.

Oh, AND the time machine seat gives massages. Best. Time. Machine. Ever.
-J

Stone Age

August 8, 2013Leave a Comment

HUH? Did we mean to dial this far back in our time machines?? Well, the stone age has been awesome to us so far, so the unanimous decision has been to stay for the day. Following a good night’s sleep after yesterday’s excitement, the campers arrived in the dining hall for breakfast to a dining hall that had magically transformed overnight. Boulders, stone fire pits, bones (no humans or animals were harmed in the decorating of the dining room) and talking, walking, real life Flint Stones characters. Welcome to Camp Simcha! After a delicious breakfast, we all gathered by the fire pit and made introductions. We cheered, we sang, and made sure to provide each Camp Simcha camper with a warm, energized welcome. There are plenty of special activities scheduled for the day, so make sure to stay tuned for more updates throughout today! So far Camp Simcha is off to a fun, super energized, incredible, MAMMOTH start.

-J

Night Activity: August 7th, 2013

August 7, 2013Leave a Comment

Piercing whistle. Before us, in white and black stripes, is The Referee. He introduces his troupe: The Freestyle Repertory Theatre – improve actors. There are two teams: Beauty and the Beast (team red) and The Ugly Duckling (team blue), and they must complete their assigned challenges before the Referee blows his whistle.

Round 1

Contender: The Ugly Duckling (red)

Occupation: Nurse

Challenge: Try. To. Tell. A. Story. Switching. Off. Between. The. Two. Actors. One. Word. At. A. Time.

A nurse is studying her charts and looking at blood when suddenly, she discovers…talking blood! This magical blood begins to sing and its melodious sounds engulf the entire hospital with its beautiful voice.

Contender: Beauty and the Beast (blue)

Action: Taking blood

Challenge: Tell a story with your hands behind your back while your hand motions are performed by a hidden camper behind your back.

Volunteers: Grace F. & Rochel Leah’le

In a creative twist on the action, lady meets vampire, with hilarious hand-motions.

Round 2

Contender: The Ugly Duckling (red)

Challenge: Act out a skit interspersed with camper-provided similes – the crazier, the better!

Volunteers: Morgan D. and Anny S.

A girl comes with her father to a camp that is like a crab. She is nervous about making friends, and her stomach feels like a wave, and she frets like a bouncing ball, until her father reassures her that she will make friends in no time, like a movie star.

Contender: Beauty and the Beast (blue)

Occupations: 2 farmers

Challenge: Act out a scene, switching from English to Gibberish and back every time The Referee rings a bell.

The farmers assess their measly flower crop:

“Look at this. Uckenblesh kiferonsehg blabbindod oh no we are dirt poor and fiddle blop diklywaddle I think we have to sell the horse!”

“But widdleplumtinluckerd flobberquderontip we can’t! I don’t want to part with him, safidjohdiskl sherdfaukhk! At least let me be the one to go to market.”

And thus began the story of the farmers and thlosdlenigx gerdenshnopper.

Round 3 (Tell a story about summer)

Contender: The Ugly Duckling (red)

Scenario: Girl walks into a bakery

Challenge: 2 camper volunteers act out a story as one improv actor narrates.

Volunteers: Chani R. & Sienna W.

Chani walks into a bakery, ordering cookies and cake. Sienna, behind the bakery counter, goes to fill the order when she runs into “Eddie,” the crazy, wild-eyed, baker, who threatens to stick Chani in the oven (named Summer). Appalled, Sienna springs into action, slapping Eddie across the face, magically turning him into jelly. Now, the one kind of cookie that chain and Sienna had never tasted was jelly cookies, so they throw jelly Eddie into Summer… and they had the best summer ever.

Contender: Beauty and the Beast (blue)

Scenario: Mother helps her daughter pack for summer camp

Challenge: The Barbie Doll – the actors can talk all they like, but cannot move any part of their bodies until is tapped by a camper volunteer.

Volunteers: Chaya S. & Chani K.

Bodies held in strange positions, mother and daughter move across the stage rusty-Tin-Man style, as they comically attempt to coordinate the task of packing a suitcase.

Round 4

Contender: Beauty and the Beast (blue)

Challenge: Tell a one-minute collaborative story, contributing when The Referee points to you.

Volunteers: Chavy P., Sarah H. & Trany K.

Melinda desperately wants to win the pie-throwing contest, practicing nonstop in her room throwing pies at her mirror. Disheartened, she cries and cries, sobbing until her tears fill the soil, creating a flower that smells like… pie perfume! With this unique olfactory advantage, Melinda has no problem winning the pie-throwing contest.

Contender: The Ugly Duckling

Challenge: Create a one-minute scene about sleeping

A counselor comes into a bunkhouse to make sure that everyone is sleeping. “Hey you! Stop yawning and sleep! Wait. Where do you think you’re going young lady? Gina! Get back here!” She orders everyone out of bed and…March! We’ll get her! A counselor-in-training drags Gina back, and commands Jenny to take Gina’s hat as punishment. The counselor is complimented on his developing strictness.

Whistle! Time’s up. No…wait. It seems The Referee forgot to look at the time. Do-over. Same scene, this time in 30 seconds.

The actors comply… Whistle. Ahh whoops. The Referee forgot again. Do-over. This time in 15 seconds.

Like someone had hit the fast-forward button, the actors speed through the scene, and – Oh my gosh! The actor fell off the stage.

The referee shakes his head. “I told you to do the scne the same way, and last time nobody fell. Now you have to do the scene this way, but in 5 seconds.

The actors were a fuzzy blur as they whipped across the stage: Don’t yawn!Oh no!March!Take her hat!falls off stage. And..whew! That was fast.

A huge round of applause for the amazing Freestyle Repertory Theatre actors and our Referee!!

-T