In America

Happy 4th of July everybody!

On Sunday, Dave (of Newfoundland), myself (also of Newfoundland), and Laura (of Ohio) celebrated a little bit of Canada day. We went to a national park near here and hiked 6 miles. It took us 4 hours. We got lost, but it was a hilarious good time. I'll probably get some pictures on facebook eventually once I get the pictures from Dave.

And now I'm here in the 'States for their national holiday. I thought that's pretty neat. I don't know all the words to the Star Spangled Banner, so I have trouble singing it. I do know the pledge of allegiance, but I don't say it ... because truthfully, I don't pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America ...

In other news, a few of the campers have offered to cut my hair. That should be good, except that the whole thing has evolved into a "let's give Josh a make-over." I'm going to get emo-hair, and on Sunday the camp is going to the mall, so Hot Topic will fix me up with some emo-clothes. I'm excited, I won't lie. These are some really cool kids.

I've been dealing with the fact that by the time I get back to Newfoundland, 3 months will have passed. I will have been off of the island for 1/4 a year, the longest I've ever been.

By the time I get to Corner Brook, it may be 6 months. Half a year without seeing my hometown. I was thinking about that stuff last week, and (along with some stuff going on here ... camp stuff, you know?) got pretty depressed. Everything is hip-hop-happy again now, but last week ... it was rough.

There's a group here at camp from South Africa called 13th Floor. They're into the preforming arts, and on Monday they had a little night program thing. There was some African-ish music played, while the people did a dance movement supposedly reminiscent of what would happen at night in an African tribe two hundred or so years ago. The day is over, and they gather around the fire. If there's work to be done, you continue the work while sitting around. The men tell the story of their hunt. The women chat.

Oh boy.

During the movement, the women danced. They prepared their maize. The men told their hunting story. There two men tried romancing the same woman. There was a fight. The woman ended it, and chose a husband. There was a marriage.

All without a word. All with dance.

There's an expressiveness in that I wish I could achieve. I've tried painting a few times in the last week. They've been turning out alright, but these art-sy things ... I hope I can get a chance to work on it this term.

Time to end this post. I miss Newfoundland, but I know it'll be there until I get back. If I'm thinking about doing an ESL certificate, I'm going to have to deal with a lot longer than three short months!