I just attended a 7 day leaders’ in Hoi An and it was one of my favourite camps ever.
Before Camp:
I didn’t really look forward to this camp because it was sort of a bootcamp with lots of exercise and disciplining. Since this was also a camp for Vietnamese kids to improve their English, I figured they would speak a lot of Vietnamese and I would struggle to fit in.
Day 1:
When I got to the hotel to eat lunch after my flight, I spotted Kiet in the cafeteria and I was super happy. I was going to invite him but forgot and thought I would have to be with complete strangers. Now that my best friend was here, I thought this camp would be a lot more fun. Him and I requested to be in the same room and ended up also having Ken in our room. He went the previous session too so he was very experienced and also super funny. I was glad to have the 2 chillest people in my room.
Day 2:
Today was our first day waking up at 5:30am. It was horrible. What’s even worse was that we had to do a PT (physical training) test to see our overall strength and see if we improve over the camp. It was one of the hardest things ever. We were split into squads, with me in Delta. I performed quite well, consistently getting 1st or 2nd in my squad and I was proud of my results. After 2 hours of energy draining activity, we finally got breakfast. The food at this camp is seriously amazing and I’m glad it wasn’t prison food. We have time to clean our room after breakfast. We must try to clean our room the best to get a good score and hopefully a reward. My room had an experienced camper so he told us what to do to get perfect scores but we only got a 39. We have classes before and after lunch which are honestly not that interesting. However, there was one moment in class where QM (a stupid guy that is spoiled and dumb to the head and won’t shut up and insanely disrepsectful) said something useless in class and Mr. L got angry.
That afternoon we did orienteering with our squads. Orienteering is basically finding hidden objects around the island while navigating with a map. Delta had a head start but we got stuck on one and got 2nd. I got to know my squad better through this activity and I enjoyed working with them.
That evening, we played football (soccer) and it was a lot of fun because everyone was calling me Lewa and it was fun to play along.
Day 3:
We finished our PT Test with push ups and vertical jump where I did decent on both. When we had to clean our rooms, we didn’t really try that hard. All we did was leave a note, fold the toilet paper, and leave a plushie on the bed and we instantly got a 43 perfect score. It was incredible.
After a normal morning and lunch, we had a free choice afternoon, where I chose to play football. The weather was super hot and I got to experience how kids in Vietnam play street football. It was very hard to play but it was a lot of fun. We then joined pickleball and basketball and we chose board games for our evening activities.
I got to play Lies with Mr. L and my friend group and it was a very chill game. It was fun because there wasn’t a lot of people and because I got to spend time with amazing and funny people.
Day 4:
This morning we had PT training again which was just cirucuit training like going around and doing exercises. I only got a 41 for room inspection this time because there was a tiny sticker on one of the seats.
In the evening, we had Dodgeball which was one of the most fun activities throughout camp. We had to work in squads to compete in some relays first and a final game of dodgeball. Delta was great at sports and consistently won. We even beat the mentors team which is insane (probably because they couldn’t easily fit onto one mat for crossing the river). The dodgeball game was very entertaining and controversial at the same time. Once we got the final, after almost everyone was eliminated, Alpha and 2 players and Delta had 1. The one player was Chelsea who is a very annoying girl who was somehow squad leader (i should’ve been leader i am 1 trillion times better fr). She was not that good at the game and they probably canceled like 5 times she got hit to keep the game going. At one point she was sitting on the ground to rest and somehow caught Platoon Leader’s dodgeball with her armpit and eliminated him. After an even longer time, it was 2 squad leaders (ken and chelsea) playing when Chelsea asked for a break and I screamed out “SUBSTITUTION” and the mentors actually let us bring on our best player, fresh from the bench, against their tired squad leader. We beat them and it was super unfair but it was very fun to watch.
That night I played pool with Mr. Izzy and he taught us some very cool things. It was only my friend group and the vibes were very chill and fun. It was one of the times I enjoyed camp the most.
Day 5:
Today was beach day. The beach was a lot of fun for me. My friends and I pushed each other into the ocean and we all enjoyed swimming a lot. After swimming, our squads did some activities and we headed back.
In the afternoon, we had calligraphy class and it was kind of boring but relaxing at the same time. It was a very pointless class but I was glad we didn’t have normal class or any activity. We played football after that which was also only my friend group and Mr. Minh. We all get along really well and had great vibes while playing.
That night, instead of evening activities we had to watch a movie. I personally think it was the dumbest movie they could’ve chosen and basically everyone slept because they were too tired.
This was probably my second favourite day because we didn’t have many boring or tiring activities mostly just chilling and having fun.
Day 6:
Today was one of the “hardest” PT sessions ever. At least it should’ve been. We had to do the 500 rep challenge which involved doing 100 reps of 5 different exercises. Kiet and I definitely skipped a lot of reps but we still did lots of exercise.
That afternoon we did bridge building. This was supposed to be a fun activity where your squad works together, which did happen, just the result was super disappointing. Our entire squad except 2 or 3 people were not working at all and just sitting around. Even when the teachers tried to help us we got nowhere because absolutely nobody was helping. We ended up not realizing the most simple thing before we tied everything together and got last place.
That night, I played pool again but this time with Mr. Liam. He taught us even more facts and techniques. We all improved and had a ton of fun playing together.
Day 7:
This was my absolute favourite day of camp. My room had been saving our money together and we had collected a lot. The money came all the way from squad leader duties to behaving in class. As a matter of fact, we racked up 16 bucks, which is a very large amount, sufficient to buy 2 gold tier cards. We had calculated this already and decided to buy a free room inspection pass (no cleaning required), and a wild card (to change the eating order at meal times). We were aura farming so hard when our purchases were written on the board. At that point in time, no other room had saved even enough for 1 gold card, and here we were with 2 gold purchases.
Our day started with an insanely late wake up because we forgot our dorm mentor had his day off and we didn’t have an alarm clock. We were woken up when all the other rooms were waiting outside to head to line up. It was 5:55. Lineup was at 6:00. We rushed out of bed and ran out as fast as we could, and luckily made it on time. I guess we could’ve done that every day and gotten 25 extra minutes of sleep. The PT that morning was SUPER easy. It was basically circuit training but none of the teachers actually cared and everyone just slacked off. Once we got to breakfast, the boys finally got to eat before everyone else for the first time, and everyone was stoked (all the boys). The food was 10 times more delicious seeing the girls complain after one meal of not eating first. After breakfast, things got even better because we didn’t have to clean our room. We spent the entire rest time sleeping (watching kindle fr) and left our room like a mess.
After class, we also got to eat lunch first which boosted all of our moods even more and to top all that, we didn’t have afternoon class. Instead of classes, we had a camp quiz. The quiz basically had 4 categories mainly asking about about camp, mentors, the city, and general knowledge. Delta did pretty well but having fun during the process of working together was more important than the result.
That evening, we were supposed to have camp olympics but it got delayed 1 hour because of the story you can read below this. The olympics itself was absolute mid. All the activities were super far apart so I couldn’t socializie with other squads. I basically commanded my entire squad because our squad leader was so horrible at leading. We did fine and I don’t really know the results but I am proud of myself because I did more leading than the actual leader.
Tonight was the most special night. First of all, since it was my last night at camp, and second of all, because I got to watch the Hoi An Memories Show. It was a beautiful play with a crazy big set and beautiful lights, showcasing the history of Hoi An. Watching it was definitely worth it and I would certainly watch it again.
Side story:
Throughout the first week, Mr. Liam and QM (disrespectful kid) got in even more drama. Occasionally at lineups QM would be insanely disrespectful to him and chirp back without a second of thought about what Mr. Liam said. It sucked to watch and something even crazier happened on my last day. At lunch, QM was reported for bullying and being racist towards a kid. Since he was going to be picked up in a few hours by his mom, who was injured and had to bring herself all the way here to pick her spoiled son up, the mentors assigned him special PT for the time he had left at camp. He somehow thought it was a good idea to escape camp and run into the city alone with nothing but a backpack and wait for his mom to pick him up. All the mentors had to run around the island and Mr. Minh found him in some alleyway outside the island. Even worse, when he got back, Mr. Jacob (director) found him wearing a very inappropriate shirt so he absolutely exploded with rage, ripped the shirt up, and threw it away. He got in a crap ton of trouble, including being banned from Point Avenue forever, and he still had the audacity to flip Mr. Liam when leaving. Honestly a disgrace.
Last Day:
Today was my last day. I thought I would get a farewell at the morning lineup like some kids did last night, but I guess not. When people were leaving the lineup to go start the 5k run, the teachers pulled me back and told me to go pack my stuff. I didn’t a single goodbye or anything, not even my friends knew I left. I left a note for my friends in my room and solo cleaned everything since I had so much time.
Although there were many annoying, arrogant, irritating people at camp, I personally think that every camp needs people like that. They are part of the camp and experience and teach you many things. Without them, of course the camp would go a lot smoother but it wouldn’t be a roller coaster, just a boring place you got sent to.
The traveling with Mr. Minh was fun because he talked a lot and was also very funny. He spent his rest day in Hanoi.
Leaving camp made me feel 2 ways, relieved and nostalgic. Of course I wanted to go home, relax, and take a break from this hell. At the same time, meeting all these new people, getting to know them, hanging out with my friends, it gave me a break from my current life, and it was one of my favourite 7 days ever.
Reflection:
- What was my favourite memory, activity, or story from camp?
- What is something that challenged me or that I learned at camp?
- Who are the people you developed close friendships with?