Good day all from London England.

I flew here overnight with my brother and mom for a family get together with some extended relatives for the weekend. Back in the winter office Cara is busy helping to organize our alumni reunion while Matt is finalizing the buses for trips, getting prices on promotional material, and holding down the fort while I am travelling!

We are all looking forward to Pam joining our team on Nov 2nd! Speaking of pam, the other night, she and another camp employee from a day camp on nj organized a young camp professional get together. About 7 of us met in a restaurant in Philly and talked about our common love for camp. We have another date picked already for a larger get together, which will hopefully become a monthly thing. There are so many young camp people in Philly, but we have never gotten to know one another very well! I am looking forward to sharing ideas, learning about other camps, and of course bragging a little about canadensis!

Well I am to meet the queen of England- just kidding, the queen of the Forti family whomever that may be!

What have I been up to?  Since leaving camp on September 22^nd I’ve been pretty busy.  I’ve seen a lot of friends that I haven’t seen since before camp, saw a few baseball games, saw my family, and RELAXED.  For those of you who don’t already know I am up very early everyday during the summer to either accept a food delivery, check on breakfast in the kitchen, or for one of million other things that I do.  During my vacation I went to a Mets game with my father and ran into a few Canadensis counselors.  I saw Alex Steele, Kaelah Gasperotti, and Lauren Berry.  Although I had just seen them a few days earlier it was nice to catch up.  I was really excited to hear they were having a great time traveling all over New York City with Shawn Bolton and Alex Dean.  Over my two week vacation I also happened to go to two Yankees games and a Blink 182 concert at Madison Square Garden.  I was expecting to see at least someone from camp there, but I didn’t.

The next week I spent a lot of time with my family and Kelly and moved into my new apartment in Lansdale PA.  My commute from my apartment to our winter office takes about 25 minutes.  I break up the drive by stopping at Wawa for a coffee.  The first two days I got a 20 oz coffee but have since decided a 16 oz is more then enough.

I started working again in the winter office last Monday and have been very busy ever since.  Actually, two minutes ago I was just on the phone with Werner, (one of the bus companies we use to bring everyone to camp) and booked the buses for June 26, 2010.  June 26 is also known as opening day.  I can’t believe that in just 8 months everyone will be back in their second home.  It seems like it was just yesterday that everyone was getting off the buses.

I can’t wait until its summer 2010.  One thing about working year round for camp is I get to breath camp every single day.  Shout out to Sam Ginsberg, J-Cal, and the entire support staff!  I’ve decided I like blogging.  I have no much to say but I don’t want to write about everything right now.  I’ll have to do this again one day.

And on a side note, although I now live in Philadelphia I am still from New York; let’s go Yankees!

Below is a picture of Sam and me with the entire support staff.  This photo was taken the last night of camp during the candle lighting ceremony.  I’m SO glad that a few support staff have already decided to return!

Me and our incredible Support Staff for Summer 2009!

Hey Camp Canadensis!

It’s Brooke Appelbaum blogging from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York where the weather is getting colder each day. People are saying they expect snow by the end of October! I hope it stays warm a little bit longer.

Anyway, midterms are coming up so I have so much studying and reading to do. Right after midterms we have fall break so I get to go home (well, my other home) for a long weekend, which will be nice. I get to see my puppy too, who loves camp almost as much as me!

Lewie

My major in school is television – radio so I get to take a lot of cool courses like Mass Media (we study the history of television, movies, books, and radio) and Media Production. The other day I even got to direct a commercial. At school I’m also a part of Habitat for Humanity and working on one of ICTV’s (Ithaca College’s television station).

Although things at school are good I miss camp so much! In fact, I was video chatting with Alyssa and Mini Max Kruman and JCal (who was so nice to let me blog today). We had so much fun singing color war songs together and talking about how great summer ’09 was and how much we can’t wait for summer 2010.  Summer seems so far away but luckily the reunion will be here before we know it. I can’t wait to see everyone!

Me, Alyssa and Max Kruman and JCal

Anyway, it’s time to get back to studying for midterms. Thanks again to JCal and Eric for letting me blog! Of course, I need to give a shout out to my bunk 9 gummy bears!

Can’t wait to see everyone at the reunion!

Brooke

Hey Canadensis!  I am so excited to be blogging here and I want to say thanks to JCal and Eric for allowing me to do this!  While Eric is away on vacation this week (lucky!), I am sweltering in South Florida with the 92 degree heat!  We are supposed to have a cool down this weekend, though, to about 83 degrees– brrr!!

So, I left camp the day after the campers left, and started setting up my classroom the very next day!  In fact, my first graders and I have already been in school for 36 days!   Oy!  Julie, from the office, teaches Kindergarten at my school, so I’m lucky that I get to see her every day.  She also lives right down the street from me, so we get together outside of school too (dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, going to the movies, etc.)!  We also had a chance to see Eric R., from the pools, recently.  He’s doing great, teaching middle school Language Arts and keeping busy!  We all talked about how much we missed camp and how we can’t wait to see everyone next summer!

Some of my students have Hannah Montana backpacks and others have Jonas Brothers lunch boxes and these remind me of all of you at camp.  This morning, one of my students walked in singing the Black Eyed Peas song “I Gotta Feeling”.   I started singing along with her and she said, “Ms. Hasson, how do you know this song?”  I told her it was one of our favorite songs at camp this summer and that it was played at every dance!  Ah…reminders of camp every day!!

Well, that’s about it.  I’m picking Eric up from the Port of Miami on Sunday after his cruise and then sending him back to cold Philadelphia on Monday morning so he can work a little.  I’m looking forward to seeing a bunch of people at various Bat Mitzvahs in Philly in November and then I’ll see everyone at the reunion in January – I’m so excited!  Be well and study hard (sorry, it’s the teacher in me!) and I’ll see you soon!

Julie and Robin

What’s up, Canadensis!

It’s starting to turn cold in St. Louis, and that definitely has me missing Camp!  I can’t believe that it’s been over two months since I left Canadensis.  I guess that means that we only have eight months to go!

My life is pretty simple back in Missouri, it’s basically all about teaching.  My school year started in mid-August, so I’ve already been in school for eight weeks.  I teach a history class called “Global Issues,” that’s required for every Senior in the school.  It’s a really fun class to teach.  I also teach AP Government, which I really like.  In addition to teaching, my school has a small international resident program and I live on campus in the dorms with about fifty students.  It’s a huge time committment, but it’s been good to save some money.

I’m actually planning a pretty interesting event at my school at the moment.  We have a house system, very similar to what you read about in Harry Potter, and each semester we have big house competitions.  Well, this year I suggested doing a large, five-team Apache Relay.  The administration bought the idea, so with some of the Senior leaders I’ve been busy planning an Apache for 850 students.  We’re calling it the “Red Devil Relay” (Our school mascot), but it’s essentially designed after the Apache at Canadensis.  Instead of burning a rope at the end, we’re burning a fuse that’s going to light fireworks and smoke bombs.  It should be great!  And it’ll be interesting to see how it works with five teams instead of two.  It was supposed to be last week, but had to be postponed due to rain.  (It’s amazing how even here in Missouri, it seems to want to rain during the Apache!)

That’s basically what’s going on with me.  I’ve gotten out for a lot of hikes in Missouri lately.  Missouri is great, but it makes me miss the Appalachian Mountains, especially the hike I took with the Upper Seniors this summer.  I visited Pennsylvania about a month ago, which was really nice, and I’ll be back in Jersey for the Reunion in January.

I hope that everyone is doing well.  I miss you all and I already can’t wait to start the Summer of 2010.

Take care, and don’t hesitate to be in touch,

-Will

WOOOOOO… WHATS GOING ON CANADENSIS!?!?!?!?  This is Pete Tarnoff, guest blogging while Forti is on vacation, and I’m so excited to be able to be a guest blogger.  Thanks to Forti and J-Cal for letting me do this.  I love the blogs, and I read them almost daily so this is pretty cool.

So… you want to know what all us guest bloggers have in common?  We are all OBSESSED with Camp.  Yes that’s right… obsessed.  Seriously though, 90 percent of my shirts that I wear are Canadensis shirts, I never take off my Color War Wristbands (Tropical Gold 08 BABY!!!), and I think I’ve  annoyed my roommates a whole lot by how much I talk about my time in 18325.

Unfortunately though, I’m not at Camp (insert sad face here).  Right now I’m at the University of Kutztown studying Elementary Education.  Yes that’s right, Pete Tarnoff is going to be a teacher.  Weird, right?  Can you imagine how crazy my classroom would be? Can you imagine anyone calling me “Mr. Tarnoff,” or even “Mr. T?” (I PITY THE FOOL), HAHAHA.  I’m not going to lie though, school is starting to drain me.  I transferred from Ithaca College in New York, where I was studying Television and Radio, to Kutztown last year.  Considering that TV/Radio has almost nothing in common with Elementary Ed, I practically had to start my college career over again, so I’ll be in school for a little while longer.

However, not all is doom and gloom.  During the month of October, I have several chances to see a ton of Camp people when I attend the bar mitzvahs of some of my former campers.  Austin Pollack’s bar mitzvah was yesterday (I’m writing this post on the 4^th of October).  Austin was fantastic and his party was sick… especially after we got the DJ to play the crazy frog song.  Canadensis Freshman 2009 took over the dance floor at that point.  By the time this blog is posted the Weiss boys, James, Eric, and Eddie will have had their bar mitzvah as well, and I’m sure they’re going to do just great.  Congrats to all of them, and to everyone who has a bar or bat mitzvah this year.

Of course there is the reunion in January as well, and I’m even more excited for this year’s reunion because it takes place on January 10^th… MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!   Best birthday present ever: CAMP REUNION!!!  HAHAHA, that news made my day when I saw it.

A couple of shout outs before I stop writing (I could go on forever).   First and foremost, to the Freshman Boys Division of 2009, Campers and Counselors.  Thank you for one of, if not the best, summers of my life.  I thought it was going to be impossible to beat the summer of 2008, but because I lived with you all for 7 weeks, Summer 2009 may have done that.  Special props to Jay Trumbower (spelling is definitely incorrect) for creating an awesome sign for Freshman Hill.

Thanks again to Forti and J-Cal for allowing me to be a guest blogger

Lastly, a shout out to a young man who I know reads these blogs: Noah Rubin.  Noah attends the same middle school that my mother works at as a social worker, so I wanted to say “hi” to Noah, and thank him for stopping by my mother’s office to say “hi” to her.  It makes her day.

Be safe and have fun Canadensis family.  We’ll be home sooner then we think… Is it June yet???

Hello Canadensis!
Its Mike Lindquist from the Great Pacific Northwest.  I am up at school at the University of Oregon finishing my last few classes before I graduate and have to find a real job.  I spend most of my time up here working on school work, hangin’ with the fiancé, or going to Duck sporting events. Speaking of Duck sports, they are the most underrated football team in the nation… that is just a side note.

Since the end of camp, I went home for about a month.  Home for me is 15 minutes north of San Francisco in a city called San Rafael.  It literally takes me 10 minutes to drive to the Golden Gate Bridge when going into the city.   At home I spent some quality time with my parents, helping my mom with house stuff and playing golf with my dad.  Then Alyssa came out in mid-September, in which we had an engagement BBQ in honor of our engagement.  It was great to see my family and friends, and helped the healing process of not being at camp.

Its funny that being 3000 miles away from camp, I’m still connected to camp almost every day.  Seeing Alyssa doesn’t count because I see her every day!  But for example, FRESHMAN GROUP LEADER KENZIE GAUTHIER lives in a house across the street from me!  It is easy for us to hang out when it takes 15 seconds to walk to each other’s homes.  Yesterday we took our monthly TCBY Canadensis run.  Alyssa, Kenzie, and I go to TCBY, having yummy treats, and talk about life… which normally means camp.  We would be talking and almost always, an old couple will look at us like we are crazy, which we are of course.

The TCBY runs aren’t the only camp connection in Eugene.  I text MARSHALL WIENSTIEN every other day, just to talk camp, text my old roommate Handsome Rob, ROB McRAE, and I’ll see KELLY PRICE or NORA DRUTZ around campus.  I even saw Nora at a Duck home football game.  It instantly reminds me of all those camp memories.  Also in late September, Oregon was blessed with a visit from LEVI SMATHERS, LUKE HOLTEN, and SAM LITTLE.  They were on a cross country road trip.  It was nice to see them and I enjoyed sharing those great memories.

Alyssa and I are doing great and I would like to announce that we have set a date!  October 15, 2011.  It is a long ways away, but we want to get settled, find “real” jobs before we get tie the knot.  We both say hi to everyone in Canadensis blogging land.  This site is definitely my favorite Homework distracter by far.  Thanks Forti and J-Cal for letting me say hi.  What up CIT’s 09 and future CIT’s 2010!  And too all the 5 years in 2010!!! I don’t know how, but the summer of 2010 will be even greater than 2009!

Hey everyone! If you don’t already know me, my name is Alex Ehrenthal . Last summer  was my 4^th summer at Canadensis and I was a Super Senior in girls bunk 20! FIRST OFF, I miss camp SO much! It’s sad looking back on the summer, and seeing how each and every day flew by! Summer 2009 left me with more than enough memories to get through the year! It was definitely the best summer yet and I’ve already started counting down the days until Summer 2010 (Shout out to all my CITS 2010!)

I’ve been in school for about a month now, and not one day passes by where I don’t miss being at camp! Sophomore year is a challenge and has hit me with lots of work L ! I’m playing tennis for my high school team and I love it! This past weekend, the girls from my bunk (G20) slept over! It was great catching up with my best friends in the entire world, and reminiscing on summer 2009. I think it’s safe to say, we all had an incredible summer!

In summer 2010, I am looking forward to all the great evening activities, special events like carnival, the amazing race, and especially COLOR WAR!

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion in January and next summer! Feel free to email me anytime at Alexx6124@aim.com.

Girls Bunk 20 and David Ehrenthal out for Hibachi Dinner

Hey Guys,

Yesterday I had to chance to go up to camp and check up on things. Here are some pictures of what camps look like! I promise a new blog post soon! Also be on the look out for more guest bloggers next week.

waves in the lake

The new roof on the main office is almost finished

Almost done...

road to senior side

soon the leaves will fall

the docks are out of the lake