Saturday, Day Six, All Together

Today came the last full day that we would all be together, and we were determined to go out with a bang like a firecracker! Starting in the morning we got to help one of our campers, Getter, celebrate her birthday here at camp!

Happy Birthday to you!

And then we got the teachers to come out and play one of our favorite games with us, Capture the Flag! we told them how to play and then enjoyed some time with them before we went to the activities that they had prepared for us.

Teaching the teachers to play!

Then the teachers showed us how to make friendship bracelet, paint rocks, and do some other great activities!

Making Friendship Bracelets

Painting rocks together

Then we started to get ready for our final ceremonies and awards. And also we decorated the place for our dance party! We had to blow up so many balloons (with a lot of help from our friend Oleg!)

We were going to have a lot of decorations!

When the place was all decorated we were able to have a great awards ceremony and wrap-up the camp, talking about the importance of it and taking home what we learned: To make the world a better place through tolerance and acceptance! Everyone who came was a great important role in making this a success and helping one another to learn and grow!

What a great group we had!

And then we got to enjoy a wonderful barbeque dinner! everyone enjoyed the ribs that our host Arne made

Eating our last big dinner together!

After dinner everyone rushed to get ready for our pirate themed party! And what amazing costumes the campers had!

The Pirates with our camp coordinator Kati!

Look at all those awesome pirates!

The night went on with a treasure hunt, a yummy cake, and of course dancing the night away!

Dancing and enjoying cake at the same time!

What a fun dance party it was

We really did finish with a bang! it was a wonderful week, and ewe all made so many friends, learning some of the most important lessons in life about tolerance, acceptance, and friendship. No matter where the other campers came from, we all found great friends with each other. Hopefully we will all be great examples of tolerance in our home countries. Thank you all for a wonderful week, you are all so great!

Friday, Day Five, My Country

Today after our usual morning exercises and having a good breakfast we started learning about the countries that all of our new camp friends come from. Campers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia made posters and a presentation for the rest of the group about their own country.

Our friends from Lithuania

As the day went on we enjoyed lunch and then Aalia taught us some American square dances. We also had a presentation from our teachers in order to get ready for our exciting guest to come, Ambassador Jeffery Levine!

Enjoying lunch together

Aalia showing us how to square dance

Working on our square dance!

When Ambassador Levine arrived we were all very excited to shake hands with him and ask him some questions, and he even asked questions about each of us! We were excited to learn about his family, pets, work here in Estonia, and what tolerance means to him. He told us that an even more important word than tolerance is acceptance; accepting people no matter who they are and being their friend.

Shaking hands with Ambassador Levine

Ambassador Levine asking us some questions

We had a lot of questions for him!

We all took a picture together inside

Ambassador Levine thought it would be fun to go outside for pictures!

After Ambassador Levine left and we waved goodbye we had free time, where we played volleyball, went swinging, and played other games together before getting ready to go to the sauna and also have a camp fire and make an American treat: S'mores!

Everyone enjoys playing with the dog at camp

Getting ready to roast marshmallows for our s'mores!

First the cracker, then the chocolate, then smash it together with another cracker!

Yumm, so good and messy!

It was such a fun day at camp, and for the first day we had sunshine almost the entire day! So we all went to bed hoping that tomorrow would be just as nice and fun. How could it not be with so many awesome people at camp?!

Thursday, Day Four, Friendship

We were all very tired from the full day yesterday, and woke up to rainy weather outside. But it soon went away as we started the fourth day of cam. Today was a day focused on something that all of us have already done so well here at Tolerance camp: making friends! We met with the teachers in the morning to make a huge poster about what kinds of things make a good friend and why friendship is important.

Putting all our hands on a friendship poster

Everyone needs good friends

When we were done with activities with the teachers we ate a big lunch (meal time is always one of our favorites!) to get ready for our hike to the museum.

Everyone gathered for lunch

When we were done we started the long hike to the museum, which was about eight kilometers away. For most of the hike it was nice and sunny, but then it started to rain....

Enjoying the walk with Sassy

Our teachers leading the way there

Walking goes really fast with friends

But then it started raining cats and dogs!

Luckily our coordinators came and picked us up with the cars and took all the campers the rest of the way there. We almost got all the way there with no rain! But at least we made it there safe and warm. The C.R. Jakobson farm was so big and there was so much to see! We went around and saw the main home, the sauna, and the big sawmill and grain mill.

Our whole group in front of the main house

Playing outside of the mill

How many can we fit on the log?

Seeing the baby calves in the barn

There was so much to see at this farm/museum, and then we had a quiz on everything we saw. Everyone payed attention really well!

Lets see what we remember!

Then we went back to camp to spend the rest of the night playing games with the assistants and to have dinner before heading to bed to rest for the next day. Oh yea, and I almost forgot, we got two new helpers at camp! Aalia and Oleg, who are working at the U.S. Embassy for the summer camp to spend a few days with us!

Aalia, Tiiu and Oleg from the embassy

Wednesday, Day Three, Tolerance

Today was a day centered around the main theme of our camp: Tolerance. Like always, we were up bright and early to get in some morning exercise and breakfast before a day of more learning and playing.

Wake up for an early morning run

The teachers gathered us all together to talk about what that word, tolerance, means exactly. Things like accepting, caring, being patient, friendly, and kind. No matter how different people are, even if we don't always agree with them, these things are always important. We even learned a song about tolerance, and how it is not nice to judge someone because they wear glasses or are tall or fat. It was about the fact that we are all the same in the end and need to be cared for.

What does tolerance mean to you?

Singing together

And then we got to learn some dances! We practiced hip-hop and other kinds of dances. Some kids are so good at dancing! We were really glad that the teachers could teach us these dances

"I like to move it move it, You like to move it move it!"

 

After our activities with the teachers it was time to go out with the assistants. We split into three groups to do a few different activities and get some of our energy out :D

Making the groups

Trying to make it through the obstacle course

When it started raining we went to sing some songs

Today two guest speakers came too. They talked to us about judging, and how sometimes people don't include others. We watched some movies and talked about what usually happens at school or with friends when someone is small or slower or different. When we are playing games or anything it is important to include everyone

Watching some short films

We were glad to have guest speakers

And then at the end of the day it was time for a movie night! We watched a French movie called Intouchables. Everyone payed attention, laughed, and learned about how important it is to give everyone a chance, no matter how they look. And of course we all enjoyed popcorn!

Getting just a bit of popcorn for the movie!

Once again it was a long and great day, and we were all ready to go to bed and fall asleep fast until tomorrow!

Tuesday, Day Two, Unique World

Wow! So today was the first full day of camp, and there were so many things going on. We were all able to sleep pretty well, and then it was time to get up for our morning exercises. We went running for a while and then did some stretching together. By the time we finished that we were all very ready to eat some breakfast!

Bubbles leading the morning run

Once we finished breakfast it was time for the lessons and activities that all of our teachers spent time preparing so well. Today's theme was "Unique World" and we got to learn about different places all around the world. Of course there were some really fun games that the teachers thought of too.
We got to know the other people at the camp even better as we split into groups to make posters about the different parts of the world!

Playing some games as a big group

Our teachers are the best!

North America and Australia groups

Europe group

And Australia

Showing what we learned about Asia

Preparing to tell the others about a unique part of our world!

There were so many great thing going on today... and the biggest part was still on its way.... :D But everything was going so well, thanks to the camp coordinator Kati and all of her hard work!

Camp would not be possible without Kati! Thanks!!!

We all continued to learn about different countries, and talk about how great the differences are, something to celebrate and enjoy. It doesn't matter if someone is short, tall, white, black, fast, slow, or from Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia; Every person deserves respect and to have friends and kindness!
Our special guest coming soon, so we were busy getting ready to meet him :) some of the girls even gathered flowers.

Making a flower bouquet for a special someone....

Before our guest arrived we had a bit of free time, where we got to play games with other people, paint the big camp flag and just relax a little while as we waited

Painting the flag with Sassy and Bubbles

The flag is almost finished

playing guitar with Skipper

And then our special guest came..... Dave Benton!!! He told us some really great things about his life and childhood, and about what tolerance meant to him. One of the most important things he talked about is how terrible bullying is, or being mean to other people. And he talked about how important it is to have good friends, and be a good friend who helps others to be kind to everyone. Dave came with his daughters, and we gave Lisa flowers for her birthday and sang happy birthday in 4 different languages.

Dave Benton talking to us about tolerance

He even brought his two daughters with him

Lisa enjoyed the camp so much that she decided to stay here for a few days with us! We continued the night with some great science experiments put together by Sassy. And some of us went to the sauna by the river. It was a really great day, and by the end it was time again to get some sleep so we could have some fun again tomorrow!