ParentSpace Blog

Staff Orientation

July 30, 2015Leave a Comment

Who knew staff orientation could actually be fun? The buses from all around arrived this afternoon and after lunch we had orientation. All the staff acquainted themselves with one another and then broke the floor with our crazy dancing! Ari Dembitzer, our head counselor, walked us through the upcoming weeks. This summer is going to be incredible! Shaindy Lowenthal, our program director, introduced us to this year’s theme. We’ll be going on the Simcha World Tour, where we will be traveling to a different country every day. It’s going to be awesome! Our wonderful medical staff gave us the run-down on everything we need to know in order to make our summer fun and especially safe.
Afterwards, we had our staff orientation ice-breaker. Slip n’ slide kickball, slippery tug-of-war, volleyball, and more, everyone is definitely ready for camp!
Your tour guide for the summer,
Moshe

Day Thirteen: China

July 28, 2015Leave a Comment

What an incredible final day! The ultimate bubble party, musical, banquet, video presentation in the social hall and, goodbyes, Simcha knows how to end a summer! Today we traveled to China and everyone was wearing their kimonos and straw hats. The dining room was set up with a Chinese hut and a giant gong. Plenty of tea was drunk throughout the day.
After breakfast, we had the ultimate bubble party in the canteen. The canteen was filled with bubbles and we had a non-stop epic rave!
All the workshops were open today, so campers could make the final adjustments to their projects.

After lunch, we headed to the social hall where we saw this year’s musical, and it was great! Aliens, an evil camp director, dancing, singing, plus the one and only Master Chef Reuven. Camp Simcha knows how to make an awesome musical!
After the musical, we had our end of the session banquet. The food was incredible! There were carving stations, franks n’ blanks, ‘taters, and tons more. A big thank you to our chef Binyamin!
Following the banquet, we went to the social hall for one last special presentation. We recapped everything that happened in camp this summer in our end of camp video. Thank you media crew, it was awesome! Then we performed our dance one more time and by now everyone is experts! Finally, we said our goodbyes to our counselor, rotator, friends, and everyone else.

Goodbye,
Moshe

Day Eleven & Twelve: Shabbat & Sunday

July 27, 2015Leave a Comment

Shabbat was a lot of fun. We had Simchanopoly where campers played a life-sized version of monopoly. Instead of the usual monopoly properties, we had places in camp including; the gym, the dining room, etc. Even the jail was life-sized! One lucky winner got to go home with an awesome, brand-new drone! Later we had ‘Comedy Sportz’ where our division heads and head counselor faced off in improv comedy. The campers got to vote for whoever they thought was funnier. It was hysterical! Dembi left as the comedy champion. After Shabbat, we had a bonfire where Rabbi Feiner told us some very inspiring stories. On Sunday, we had a mentalist show us some really cool tricks! He dazzled us with his illusions and magic. Campers got to go onstage and even they were lost in his illusions. All of our workshops were open on Sunday so that campers could finish their projects before they go home. Everyone was busy painting their pottery, molding their candles and sanding their wood projects. It sure was a busy day!

Have an awesome week,
Moshe

Day Ten: Iceland

July 24, 2015Leave a Comment

Brrr, it’s cold in Iceland. Winter was in full force in Simcha today! We had an ice fort with snow in the dining room and everyone had on their winter gear. After lunch we had a massive snow bubble fight around camp! Everyone was nice and clean afterwards. We also had a slip n’ slide kickball game which was awesome. The Chicago Boyz Acrobats came today and impressed us with their supreme acrobat skills. They were jumping, flipping, and flying all over the place. It was really cool.

Shabbat Shalom,
Moshe

Day Nine: USA

July 24, 2015Leave a Comment

Today was America day! We woke up hearing the national anthem and seeing red, white, and blue everywhere. The patriotism was in full force and the American flags where flying all around. There was even a massive liberty bell in the dining room. Craig Hodges (two time NBA Champion, formerly of the Chicago Bulls) came after breakfast and gave out autographs to everyone. Throughout the day he gave basketball clinics to the campers and now they’re ready to take on the NBA! By lunch we kicked-off deal day with t-shirts for everyone a warm welcome for the people from Deal. After lunch we headed outside where the most incredible carnival ever was set up! There were all kinds of carnival games, a plethora of rides, a face painter, and even a dunk tank!
After the carnival we went to the social hall where the people of Deal were set up inside with booths ready to hand out awesome free stuff to the campers! There were electronics, sneakers, remote controlled cars, t-shirts, and tons more. The campers got to walk around the room and take whatever they liked! After dinner we went to the front of camp where we preformed our song and dance a couple more times. The second time around we threw paint up into the air and it was super cool! Everyones white deal day shirts turned into colorful tie-dye shirts.
To end off America day we went to the middle of camp where we got to watch an epic fireworks show! Everyone got glow-sticks to wave during the show and it was awesome!

God Bless America,
Moshe

Day Eight: Hershey Park

July 23, 2015Leave a Comment

We just got back to camp from Hershey Park and it was awesome! Everyone’s exhausted from running around the park all day, going on all the rides, and performing our song. Following that was an amazing concert by the famous Lipa Schmeltzer! We got on the busses early this morning, which was exciting by itself. We spent the ride getting pumped up for the day and taking selfies with all the sleeping counselors. We had danishes for brunch and plenty of candy. It was like a portable canteen on each bus!
Camp Simcha took Hershey Park by storm. We made sure everyone knew who we were with our cheers and we ruled the place!
From the carousel to the roller coasters we had the greatest time. Turns out we’re really good at winning prizes and now camp is going to need a new division just for minions. There was a seal show in middle of the day that we got to enjoy, but the real treat was Chocolate World. We learned how chocolates are made and then got to taste some afterwards.
We headed back into the park for dinner and then got together for the moment everybody’s been waiting for. Tzvi Haber and Meir Kalmanson got on stage and led our entire crew in a farbrangen dance to remember. We performed our song and dance twice, it was absolutely fantastic! Lipa Schmeltzer joined in and then gave us an awesome concert. He sang his newest song just for us (which hasn’t even come out yet). After the concert we got back on the busses and headed back to camp.
Tomorrow is deal day which is going to be crazy, so stay tuned.

Happiness heals,
Moshe

Day Seven: Jamaica

July 22, 2015Leave a Comment

Hello from Jamaica mon! Today we traveled to Jamaica where we ate by a beachside hut and danced to reggae. Everyone was wearing their rastas and dreadlocks. It was awesome.
In the afternoon we learned the dance to this years Camp Simcha song and it’s incredible! We’re going to be preforming the song and dance on our trip tomorrow to Hershey Park! The busses are going to be rolling out early tomorrow morning so that we can spend the whole day there. Everyone is really excited.
For night activity tonight we had zorb-ball soccer! Campers went into inflatable balls called zorb-balls, teamed up, and then ran around in a inflated soccer field trying to score goals. Much rolling and bouncing ensued.

Chocolicious,
Moshe

Days 4-6 Recap Video

July 21, 2015Leave a Comment

Day Six: Europe

July 21, 2015Leave a Comment

Wow! Today was seriously jam-packed. We traveled across Europe to Italy, France, and more. The dining room was set up to look like Venice, with an actual gondola floating on the stage. After breakfast we had preparazione della pizza (pizza making) in the dining room. The campers rolled their own pizza dough, put on tomato sauce, cheese, and whichever spices they like. The older bunks went on a special trip to the shooting range where they got to try out a bunch of different guns. By pranzo (lunch), the campers got to eat their yummy pizzas that they made earlier. It was delicious!

“Water Wars: Camp Simcha vs. Dr. Lenny: The Battle Rages On.”
This afternoon we had our annual camp water fight where we all attacked the evil Dr. Lenny. He was nearly unstoppable with his trusty, humongous super soaker, but in the end we prevailed! After that, the whole camp erupted into water fight chaos. Water guns, water balloons, buckets, and hoses. There wasn’t a single dry soul at the end of it.
The Twin From France came to entertain us tonight with his cool circus tricks. He juggled balls, rings, knives and even fire while riding a unicycle. Campers got to show off their unicycle riding skills in front of everyone. Turns out Bruce is pretty good. The Twin ended off our night by breathing fire like a dragon. It was hot!

Arrivederci,
Moshe

Day Five: Mexico

July 19, 2015Leave a Comment

Hola from Mexico! Today was a non-stop fiesta. Everyone was wearing their ponchos and sombreros. The dining room was set up with a matador ring with a bull that campers could sit on. There was a piñata hanging in the middle of the room that a lucky camper got to break open and make candy rain on everyone. It was sweet. We had Mexican Slice, where campers got to make some yummy Mexican foods.

By dinner we all learned this years Camp Simcha song. It’s incredible! Later this week we’re going to learn the dance that goes along with it. Get psyched to see it!

The world famous magician and illusionist Eric Wilzig gave us a fantastic show tonight. He escaped out of a heavily locked box like a modern day Houdini. He accidentally smashed a counselor’s iPhone after taking a selfie with it. Don’t worry though, he magically made it appear completely intact!

Buenas noches,
Moshe