Written by: Rob van Oosten Hondsdrafstraat 1 1441 PB Purmerend The Netherlands E – Mail :
[email protected] © R. van Oosten 1 Introduction. When I was in training to become a teacher ( In the Netherlands that’s the Teachers Training College ) there was an advertisement for Counselors in the United States. Together with my friend Raymond we applied and after a sollicitation talk and the approval of our college we were allowed to go . Working in a summer camp for about 9 weeks and a round trip for 4 weeks. At that time I was 19 years old and did not spend such a long time away from home. I went to several European countries with my parents and was on a holiday in France with another friend ( for a month) the year before. My parents and girl friend ( Gerda to whom I ‘m married ) did not really like the idea but did not stop me. The experience of working in Camp Hurley is one I will never forget. It was a long and hard summer and I lost beside the sweat also a lot of weight. It was a period in which I foumd out that working together is not as easy as it seems to be, working with children can be difficult and it means that you have to invest in yourself and others. So to work in Camp Hurley with these difficult kids has been fundamental in my life. Every year, maybe every month I think about that period and I tried to go back there 6 years ago.