G’day everyone! I am so excited to touch down on firm, solid ground and I am in Auckland, New Zealand! So all in all, I spent 30.5 hours physically in airplanes, plus layovers, connections, etc. made for two long days of travel. However, it is totally worth the flights to finally come to New Zealand. It’s an absolutely beautiful country- clean, friendly people, and just an amazing place. Also, being in the Southern hemisphere, it is now summer here (opposite seasons) and so I am looking forward to some WARMTH!

Flashback to Korea…the airport in Korea is truly like a museum. I believe it is either new or renovated, but it really was elegant and fancy. The shopping there looked to be pretty decent, but of course I wouldn’t know or care! My flight boarded on time and I was on the upper deck of a 747- which is my absolutely favorite place to sit. Unfortunately there were no personal TVs on this flight, but all I wanted to do is sleep anyway. Since it was Korean Air, the menu had a western choice or Korean. If you know me well enough, you would know I am not adventurous and went with the western food. I was so tired of airplane food though, and this would be like my fifth dinner in 2 days. All the flights kept serving dinners and suppers, so I think I missed a day or two of breakfasts, oh well. I was exhausted that as soon as I finished my beef, I skipped dessert (and it was Haagen Dazs ice cream!) and went to bed. All in all, I slept about 6 hours, which is pretty good and woke up to an omelet and croissant, finally a breakfast!

Just a note on my observations of the Koreans. They were so friendly and kind. I sat next to a high school student who was coming to New Zealand for a year of study. She was going to be linked up with a host family and spend a year in high school here in NZ. I thought that was really neat. Her English as fairly choppy, but we were able to converse nonetheless. The flights attendants were so attentive. They felt horrible when they couldn’t understand my English. Every time you would ask for something or they came to ask for your order, etc. they would bow to you. In addition, they cleaned the bathroom after EACH passenger went in. I was shocked and impressed at both the courteousness and cleanliness of Korean Air.

Once we arrived in the Auckland terminal, my bags arrived pretty quickly. I was nervous about them because I checked them in Philly all the way through to Auckland, and that was back on Tuesday! Luckily, they arrived and I was met by our agency representative. Of course she joked around that it wasn’t too hard to spot me because coming off of Korean Airlines, I definitely stuck out amongst the crowd! I came straight to the hotel, jumped in a quick shower and it was around 12:30PM.

Of course I could sleep the day away, but I forced myself to go downtown and explore Auckland a bit. I wound up going on a harbor sightseeing cruise, where we went to many of the different islands around Auckland. We stopped and walked around one of the volcanos here. It erupted from the ocean about 500 years ago and created the land mass. Now it’s inactive but an absolutely stunning place to visit. I walked around downtown a bit and then hiked back to the hotel. By hike I mean scale a mountain! Well, not quite but the city is extremely hilly (is that a word?) and it made for an interesting/intense walk back.

I am now at the hotel updating all of you and then headed out to a group dinner. There are about 10 other camps here in Auckland and we will be having a dinner tonight. Tomorrow is the staff recruiting fair and I will hopefully be meeting up with Euan McKee (from the wall) and possibly some other staff.

One final comment- I am so excited about all of the people emailing editor@canadensis.com with guesses as to where I am going! Jaycal has been receiving a lot of emails and its really great to know that so many of you are enjoying the challenge. By the way, if you haven’t joined in yet, that’s OK, there is still time. Keep up the good work and here is your next clue!

Click here to watch Clue 3 & Eric vlogs from Atlanta, GA

Clue 3: From my last city, Atlanta, GA, I hopped on a Delta flight, which took me approximately 17 hours and travelled over 7,000 miles to this country. For this clue, you simply have to guess which country I am in. At camp we have a rule that boys can’t be in girls camp and vice versa. Well these two countries are divided by the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone, which is a strip of land running across this peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between these two countries. The country that I am in is South of the DMZ.

Clue 2: Click here for Clue 2 & see where Eric is!

We apologize for the sound quality and future videos will be clearer.

Clue 2: In camp when you go to the canteen, some nights you are given a sugared, carbonated beverage. There are two major companies that make these drinks. One of these companies has their headquarters in this major US city.

More after the jump…

Continue reading →

UPDATE: Due to the upcoming snow storm that will be hitting the East Coast on Wednesday, Eric will be leaving tomorrow for his first destination.

Clue 1: Click Here to watch the first video clue!

E-mail all guesses to editor@canadensis.com

There will be a special prize awarded to the camper or staff member that gets the most answers correct!

Check back often for new posts and videos from Eric’s travels!

 

What a reunion! Today was an absolute blast. The day started with a brunch for all of our head staff with a brief meeting, followed by the reunion! We had an amazing turnout and it was great to see so many campers from last summer. It’s always weird for me to see our campers in jeans, sweatshirts, and with long hair! A lot of parents stayed and it seemed like many are enjoying the blog, which is always nice to hear. Shutout to Max Vorcheimer, Noah and Ben Rubin, and all of the other “regulars” on the blog!

The attitude and energy was so exciting during the reunion. Everyone was smiling and simply having FUN! The younger campers loved bowling, complete with bumpers, as well as enjoyed eating pizza and drinking soda. The older campers clearly wanted to just hang out with their friends. Some have had smaller, informal reunions, while many have not seen their friends since last August. It was definitely an absolutely amazing day.

Special thanks (it seems like I always have people to thank) goes out to many staff members today. Thanks to all of the staff members who came to help out today. A special award goes to group leader Kenzie Gauthier who flew all the way in from OREGON Saturday morning, after buying her ticket just one day earlier. Also, Sam Ginsburg for coming up from DC and giving us a hand, and all of the head staff that gave up their weekend to talk about our passion- CAMP! Special thanks to Groundhog and Jaycal for taking every picture/video we could ever ask for and doing it with such a positive and excited attitude. And most importantly, THANKS to all of the camp parents who gave up their Sunday’s to drive their kids to the reunion!

I am back in my apartment now and the packing must begin for Wednesday’s flights to halfway around the world…destination still unknown. Remember, stay tuned starting soon for “Where in the World is Eric Forti”. We have many of the clues already set and are looking forward to a friendly challenge amongst our campers, staff, and alumni!

Pictures from the reunion and some special 411 videos will be posted on the media room of www.canadensis.com within a few days.

Hello from New Brunswick, NJ, at an undisclosed location where the leadership team of 2009 got together for a day full of meetings. It is 5:30PM and we are headed to dinner in a nearby restaurant, but before we go I wanted to check in and say hello. Today’s meeting was so exciting and energizing. It’s great to get together with all of the head staff and talk “camp”. Some new ideas were exchanged, ways to enhance our programs were discussed, and overall it was a really fun time! Now a first for my blog- a guest blogger! Welcome Will Armon, Programming Coordinator to the blog…

What’s up, Canadensis!  Thanks for reading.  I’m sitting here with Forti in the hotel and he’s asked me to blog.  So, I’ve never done it before, but what the heck, here goes…

I had a great flight in from St. Louis on Friday night.  The plane was pretty empty so I had a row to myself.  Forti and Robin picked me up from the airport in Philly and we drove to the hotel in Newark.  We stopped along the way for a slice of pizza.  Eric was worried that it had been a whole three hours since I had eaten.  Let’s face it, sometimes he’s like a big Jewish mother!  So, in order to make Forti feel better, I forced down a slice of pie, and we were on our way.

After hanging out in the hotel last night and heading to our rooms around midnight, Forti and I met for a workout this morning.  Let me tell you something, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Eric Forti on an elliptical machine at eight in the morning!  He was, of course, wearing a Camp shirt, for easy identification.

So, starting this morning at around ten, a group of head staff met to discuss the upcoming summer.  While I can’t share all, or really any, of the details, I can assure you that we have some great things planned for the Summer of 2009.  It’s very interesting to sit at a table with so many people that love Canadensis and do nothing but discuss what a good summer should be.  There was plenty of laughter and many serious moments.  There were memorable stories and fascinating ideas.  (There was even an M&M or two thrown at Forti!) There was plenty of agreement, but disagreement as well.  There were even those moments when we raised our voices in that disagreement.  From an outsider looking in, those moments would look like the result of anger.  But they weren’t.  Instead they were the result of passion.  We all have such a passion for making Canadensis the greatest place to spend a summer.  And sure, when we have visions that aren’t the same at first, passion can erupt as we work out the differences.  But that’s what makes Canadensis so wonderful!  We have so many people that care so much.  And reaching the right balance is what makes Camp so perfect.  We’ll get it right.  We have amazing people that are so talented, and I can promise you all, we’ll create another magical summer in 2009!  So rest easy over the next five months, 2009 is going to be another perfect summer on top of the Poconos!

I’ll see you many of you tomorrow at the reunion.  I’m looking forward to a taste of Camp before I head back to St. Louis to continue counting down the days as I finish up the semester.  Take care, and I hope to write again soon.

Phew! A busy day, with so much to do, and so little time! First, I forgot to tell you yesterday that Jim Boyle (our contractor up at camp) called with a question for me regarding vents for the new canteen. I can’t spoil the surprise too much, so I will leave it at that, but it’s so exciting that they are getting a lot done up at camp.

Robin’s flight came in early last night, so we had time for dinner before watching Grey’s and ER! Commercials were spent checking in with Jaycal on our exciting video updates and a brief phone call regarding videos that we will be taking at the reunion.

Today the office is so busy. We are making last minute arrangements for the reunion (there is a lot that goes into planning these events) as well as finalizing our leadership meeting for the weekend.

Matt Unger and I are in my office and in between updating this blog, we are calling amusement parks, booking hotel rooms, restaurants, etc. for the Freshman/Senior trips. How does a trip to a pretzel factory in PA sound where each camper gets their own ball of dough and learns how to twist their own pretzel! One lucky division (can’t say which yet), will get to go there. The only clue for you is that the entire trip revolves around CHOCOLATE! I am sure you can figure out which division I am talking about.

Speaking of clues, I am gearing up for my around the world trip. Less than a week away, I have so much to do before then. I guess it will get done on Monday/Tuesday because for now, Forti OUT! I have to go pickup Will at the airport and then drive to the hotel in Jersey that we will be meeting at.

See many of you this weekend at the reunion. Keep the emails/comments coming.

Beginning January 28th, Eric Forti blogs from his adventures around the world!

Throughout the month of February expect to see different video’s from the many different locations Eric visits, along with pictures and messages from Eric! Eric will be providing video clues from each stop on his tour around the world and we are going to ask you to guess where the next stop is. There will be a very special prize for the staff member or camper who guesses the most number of stops correctly. All guesses must be emailed to editor@canadensis.com. Check back next week for more details.

It’s a beautiful Thursday here in Wyncote. It’s freezing, but the sun is shining and it’s been a real productive day. Phone rang at 9:02 AM and much to my delight it was Will Armon. Will was calling to check in, arrange his pickup tomorrow at Philly Airport (for our winter meeting- more on that below), and talk about a few camp related things, including a number of Color War team names he came up with. I can’t share any with you in case we use them, but if we decide not to, I will try to post a few on here.

The next few hours were boring, replying to emails, paying bills, etc. but B101 Radio saved the day with some Ace of Base “I Saw the Sign”. Aunt Terri, Brian, and I had a conference call to finalize our plans for the winter leadership retreat and reunion. This Saturday, our leadership team (Head Counselors, Programming, and Operations) will be getting together in a hotel for a day full of meetings, food, and of course fun. We will discuss the feedback that Brian and I received through the Senior Summit meetings we held, some new and exciting changes for the coming summer, and overall areas that we can improve. At night, we will be having a nice dinner and then it’s off to the reunion on Sunday morning. Cara and I will try to take some pictures for all of you to enjoy!

Eddie, our camp head chef stopped by the office for a meeting with myself, Matt, and Aunt Terri. We spoke about the kitchen staff for next summer and will be interviewing an additional cook next week. Don’t worry, Silas and Eddie will of course both be back!

That’s about it. I will be leaving in a little bit to pick up Robin Hasson from the airport. Will Armon will be flying in tomorrow night, and then off to NJ for our weekend of camp fun.

Hello Canadensis!

Well since this is the middle of the week, I feel like it would be wrong to just pick today (Wednesday) to begin this blog. So I will begin with Monday. For most of our campers, Monday was a day off from school, Martin Luther King Jr. day, so the phones were busy with families calling with questions, etc. This is definitely one of the best parts of my job, because even though it “interrupts” my work, I am happy to have a chance to speak to parents and campers on the phone and help prepare them for the upcoming summer. Jaycal actually was in the area for a party he went to on Sunday, and so he stopped by the winter office for a brief tour and to produce a few 411s for us. It was his first time to the office and while it’s not that exciting of a place (to me), he was so excited to be there! We held a production meeting in the war room, aka “my office” where we discussed my upcoming Where in the World is Eric Forti segments. We started creating some clues for each of the locations as well as planned the logistics for how all of this would go down. I wish I took a pic of our meeting to share with you, but I forgot, sorry! Otherwise on Monday, I interviewed a candidate for a staff position, paid some bills, and then had a meeting in the late afternoon to discuss the possibility of moving our office. There is a chance that we will be moving to a different area within the Philly suburbs and so Matt Unger (Operations Manager) and I went to discuss the options. More on that another time.

Tuesday was busy with mail, meetings with Brian (he works from the NJ office, but visits us in Wyncote, PA weekly), and then a full winter staff meeting (Aunt Terri, Brian, Matt, Cara, and myself) to discuss our SENIOR TRIPS! We are of course going to the same cities as last year, but we are going to try and add additional new and fun things to each trip. I can’t give away too much just yet, but one trip will now be including a stop at a beach to see a nighttime fireworks show over the Atlantic- how cool is that! The other topics of our meeting included T-SHIRTS (a favorite of our campers) and we even mentioned the topic of COLOR WAR TEAM NAMES. We haven’t yet come up with them, but how cool would the Eric Forti Blue Blog vs. the Cara Corradetti Gold Blog be? Of course we know who would win, right? Matt was busy working on our laundry room. On the last day of postcamp (in late September) we actually had a small fire in our commercial laundry room. Thankfully nobody was in the building at the time so there were no injuries, but we caught it in time and Phoebe (shout out!) came to the rescue with an extinguisher. Anyway, 1 hour and 2 fire trucks later, the fire was out (it was small, I promise- its just that in the Poconos all the firemen respond for “fun”) and now we have to replace a few dryers in the laundry room! Matt is charged with the mission of finding energy efficient commercial dryers that will handle the amount of laundry we do on a daily basis. Below are three photos of the laundry room fire back in September. Never before seen by camp families…I hope I don’t get into too much trouble for posting these!

 

 

Today is Wednesday and I actually took the morning off. I own my condo in Center City Philadelphia and with interest rates on the decline I decided to refinance my home. My closing went well this morning and then it was off to the office. I arrived in time for lunch (phew- what would I do if I had to miss lunch!) and then met with our accountant. This part of the job is boring for most camp directors, but I love dealing with the books. As a graduate from the Binghamton University School of Management and my experience at Ernst & Young, I enjoy being the controller and working on year-end journal entries with our accountant. I know, sounds boring, but the world of credits, debits, T-Accounts, and journal entries can actually be fun when they happen to “tick and tie” properly. I also spoke to Jim Price (Lake Director last summer) on the phone in Australia and he is doing well. Finally, one of my “Wall/Ropes” staff applicants accepted the job. His name is Andrew and he is from Pennsylvania and attends Penn State! A surprise phone call from Sam Ginsburg (the 3rd member of our Operations Team) rounded out the day and was a pleasant surprise! It’s always great to catch up with friends. Now I am home, eating dinner (Chinese is my favorite), and watching TV.

Tomorrow promises to be an exciting day as we are finalizing our winter head staff meeting (more on that tomorrow) as well as the upcoming Summer 2008 reunion!