Hey Everyone! After dinner last night, we walked around the city as the sun was setting. Sunset due to daylight savings time and the fact that its summer is not until 9:00 PM! Here is a little known fact- in many foreign countries (including Australia and New Zealand) you can actually cross diagonally through an intersection. Essentially, traffic is stopped in all directions and you can just go diagonal, rather than one side and then the other! Of course dessert was to be had, and so we found a crepe stand and all enjoyed some Belgian crepes.

This morning it’s a bit overcast and gray, but we still made it to the botanical gardens. As I mentioned yesterday, they are ranked one of the top 10 gardens in the world and they really were beautiful. There was a special rose garden area, an indoor cactus farm, and tons of trees. The trees here are quite different than in the States, so it was interesting to see the different types. Here are a few pictures:

Well it’s time for the staff recruiting fair to start, so I am off to find the best counselors ever! Afterwards, we will have a group dinner and then I fly out early tomorrow to my next destination, which is somewhere in the country of Australia! I hope to be meeting up with Jim Price and his brother Kevin, Tamara, and a few other counselors from the past so stay tuned for pics and videos from them. 

Click here to view the next clue!

Well I am here in Christchurch, New Zealand, also known as the Garden City. I woke up this morning in Auckland, went to the gym, and then boarded a 1 hour flight to the South Island fo New Zealand, where Christchurch is located. Christchurch is a much smaller town than Auckland, with a very small town type of feel. The people here are extremely friendly as well and we had a bit of time to explore this city before heading out to dinner.

We went punting on the Avon River. Now you may ask, “What is punting?” Well, I am glad you asked! I made a special video just for you…take a look!

Click here to view Eric Punting

We had a blast going down the river and they even let me try! I sort of beached us on the shoreline by accident, but I must say that the Punting Man said I did a very good job for a beginner! Punting by the way is similar to a gondola ride in Venice.

After the punting experience we went to a small arts building, where they had tons and tons of shops. Of course the highlight for me was the fudge shop and waffle stand. Here is a pic of myself and Caroline (our Camp Counselors USA representative) enjoying a chocolate covered, whipped cream waffle!

As eating is clearly the theme of this and all of my around the world journeys, I am off to dinner now! Stay tuned though, because tomorrow I will be taking pictures at the botanical gardens and they are ranked in the top 10 worldwide…

Arrival in Auckland vlog!

Woke up this morning and went to the gym. After such a long flight the day before, it’s nice to move around a bit! I had about an hour before the fair so I took a quick visit to the pool and then got ready for our fair. I took a picture for all of you to see of what the Canadensis table looks like at our international staff recruiting fairs. Unfortunately I can’t travel with a lot, so it’s pretty bare looking, but it definitely does the trick.

At the Auckland fair, there were 12 camps and approximately 40 applicants. I hired 2 new counselors for us this summer and both are really excited about the new adventures. Chris Kemp (TK) from the Hondas program, who is coming back to camp in 2009, showed up to help me recruit the staff. Chris made a brief video for all of you to watch, enjoy!

Chris Kemp (TK) vlogs from the camp fair!

After the fair was over, Chris took me to his family’s house, which is just a few minutes walk from the beach at Mission Bay. His family was so nice, warm, and welcoming and I got to see his really large and intimidating motorcycle and the jumps that he built for biking. After we spent some time with his family, he drove me up Mt. Eden which overlooks Auckland and the surrounding towns. I had a true 360 view of the area and the islands surrounding Auckland, which are absolutely spectacular.

For dinner, we met up with Euan McKee (a counselor from the wall/ropes for 4 summers) and we had a great time in the Viaduct area, overlooking the marina where all of the superyachts are docked. We had a nice time catching up on camp and life in general in New Zealand. We sat around for hours and then it was bedtime for me.

Thanks so much to Chris “TK” for helping me out today and showing me all around Auckland.

Tomorrow is my next flight out…so you have a few more hours of guessing where I am headed next!

Hey Canadensis!

Quick update on Eric’s travels, Eric is still in Auckland, New Zealand but will be leaving for his next destination very soon! So if you haven’t seen the newest clue, check it out below. Also, Eric will be answering questions in his upcoming vlogs and blog posts! If you’ve got any questions for Eric, please email them to editor@canadensis.com. Below you’ll also find Eric vloging from Auckland with his next clue!

Click Here to View Clue 4 &  Eric vlogs from New Zealand!

Clue 4: Now for a relatively short flight! At camp, in front of the dining hall, Aunt Teri maintains a beautiful garden. This New Zealand city is known as The Garden City. I will have to let you know how this city pales in comparison to the beautiful Camp Canadensis grounds!

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.