Don't worry Ari & Ad, a response video is currently being made to the insulting one below, but until that rolls of the production line, here's an update of what Zachariah & myself have been up to lately.

We had an awesome few days in NYC which included Phantom of the Opera and Old Jews Telling Jokes, both phenomenal in their awesome ways. One day for breakfast we made a bagel with 7 different types of peanut butter. I can't remember the full list right now but I'm sure there'll be a photo on the internet soon. They were just a few of the highlights of NYC but that's not what this update's about- we're at camp now!!!!!!!!

We arrived at the beautiful Sprout Lake campsite in the afternoon. It's exactly like the movies- they have archery, swimming, a rock climbing wall, mini-golf, a petting zoo (2 Llamas!!), jewellery making, arts & crafts, horseback riding...the list goes on. Zac & I arrived at the end of the first session of the Summer. There are two 4-week blocks of camp and most kids only stay for 1, so we'll start properly leading next week when new kids arrive. For now though, we're still helping out with the activities and getting to know the kids for now. We instantly gained 50 new girlfriends, all 12-year-olds who are head over heels in love with our accents (sorry Bec if Zac doesn't call for a while).

As soon as we arrived, we got up on stage at that night's talent show and led a good old 'Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy' to introduce ourselves, wearing cork hats and waving Aussie flags. Walking back through the crowd felt like being one of those preachers on TV- everyone wanted to give us hi-5's or just touch us because we were Australian.

The next day was a massive carnival day called Maccabia where the kids competed in teams in sports, dancing, songs, cake decorating and relay races. Unfortunately neither Zac's nor my team won but it was still and insanely fun day and really helped us get in the spirit of everything. The madrichim body is about 70 strong and camp is a lot more professionalised with adults running the day-to-day logistics and behind the scenes stuff (good and bad in a way), but everyone's super friendly.

Tonight is Shabbat so I have to run off now, sorry it's so short but hopefully will have more time in the next update. We're not allowed to take photos or videos of the kids (legal shtuff) but will ask the camp if I can chuck some stuff on the blog.

Shabbat shalom,

Mark