September 2, 2008: Viaţa, Day Three – Boom-Chicka-Boom!

Dear Friend,

So the plan was, once again, for all of us to get up, scale the mountain, and have devotions. Chelsea woke up to tell Andrew and me that she and the other girls were going to sleep in. No matter! Guys’ time! Andrew and I bundled up and made our way up to the cross.

I am once again so very thankful for Andrew. During our conversations he’s proven himself to be very thoughtful and considerate. He’s very passionate about his faith and very passionate about life. He’s also, as I’ve mentioned before, very good at asking questions and getting to know people. He began by asking me what I thought of our visit to the church last night, which led into a conversation about the saints. The Orthodox Church and Catholic Church share many similarities. After this we went into our devotion time. Andrew pulled out a copy of St. Francis’ prayer. He told me I should “do a sonnet on it.” I’ll have to tell him later that a sonnet is a poem, not necessarily a performance. I think I may take him up on it, though. We then had a discussion about the prayer, which led us on several happy bunny trails (I say happy because I was very enthralled with our conversation and where it was taking us.) We spoke about the other members of the group, how we’re growing as a team, our separate Viaţa groups, high school, college, our families, our trials. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, which we ended in prayers of surrender and thanksgiving.

Breakfast was no more animated on my part than it was the day before. Anne was not feeling well at all this morning, so she too was reserved.

After breakfast we returned to the cabană and had devotions with the rest of the team. Andrew repeated the prayer of St. Francis and I read from 1 Corinthians 13 and juxtaposed it with 2 Thessalonians 1:11. I explained that the love spoken about in 1 Corinthians 13 is the act prompted by our faith in 2 Thessalonians 1:11. We then had a discussion about how our faith prompts us to act, that love is the action, and how God works things through our actions. It was a neat little web of biblical study, proving once again how wonderfully interconnected the Bible is.

Anne stayed behind for the morning to sleep and recoup. I went out with the group to the ropes course. Our first element was the High Mohawk, which is the Low Mohawk just several feet up in the air. Some equipment had to be replaced, though, so while we waited Ana suggested I lead the group in a game. The day before we heard Chelsea leading her group in Boom-Chicka-Boom[1] and Ana got really excited and wanted to try it herself. I led them through the game, with a little trepidation. I’ve tried doing this game before (with third graders, I think) and it didn’t go over too well. Now I was doing it with people who probably wouldn’t know what I was talking about. However, as we got into it I realized people were enjoying it. After we were done, in fact, members from my group would chant “boom-chicka-boom” every so often, and even do some of the styles. The game, it seems, was a success.

Finally the High Mohawk was ready for us. Two people go on this element and the goal is to go from one tree to the other on a wire tied between the two trees. There are four ropes hanging above the wire at different intervals between the two trees. These are meant to help you move along the wire, as you’re not supposed to hold onto the rope that you’re belayed (suspended) by. I did this one with Alex, a member of the team I had slowly been getting to know. Alex could be considered the definition of introvert and maybe even recluse, but he’s been slowly warming up to people. He’s a really great guy and was great to work with. Being up that high, one could easily lose their head. Alex and I managed to keep our cool, though.

The High Mohawk took a couple of hours for everyone to get through. When Anne showed up she gave it a try. I helped Jelena, another leader introduced to us by Janelle and Daniel, on the ground, as she was belaying people on the wire. She asked me about my major and we discussed the differences between American and German theatre programs (she’s from Germany and speaks very good English.) She told me (at least, this is what I think she told me) that there are no programs that specialize specifically in acting. There are theatre history and technical programs, acting touched on only in relation to these, but no acting schools. People wouldn’t go to Germany to pursue acting, apparently. During all this I wondered if Jelena actually understood what I meant by “theatre,” if she thought what I’ve discovered many people think when they here the word theatre: acting.

Lunch was similar to yesterday, only the bread was spread with pate, which I remember having been on the sandwich I had eaten a couple days ago. I remember not liking it at all, so I resigned myself to cucumbers and sausage. The cheese was goat cheese, which is really, really dry and salty. I felt a little bad not eating any of it, because I knew it was only camp food and not a meal at Perkins.

The next two elements took up the rest of the day. Each was very high up in the air and therefore very scary. Some participants took a very long time in doing them. The first is called the Platform Jump. You have to jump from a platform on one tree over to a platform on another tree. These platforms are around twenty feet up in the air, not that terribly large, and a little askew in relation to each other. When I did it I could understand the anxiety others were going through. It’s really high up! I managed to do it, though, be Indiana Jones and jump from one crazy place to the next.

The second element was the Catwalk, which looks nothing like the cramped spaces above a theatre space. This is a tree, each end of which is cabled horizontally and tightly to two other trees like a tight rope. You walk across it like a tight rope. This was by far the most difficult element I’ve done since being here. The spiritual parallels were not lost on me. I had to maintain concentration on what I was doing the whole time, and I could tell when my concentration was breaking. Praise God, I didn’t fall, but it was really difficult not to do.

In between these last two elements I led the group in another round of “Boom-Chicka-Boom.” People were taking much longer on the Catwalk and the others were getting restless. This time I added some new styles I made up. The beauty, I believe, of “Boom-Chicka-Boom” is how creative you can get with it. It’s just as much a physical game as it is a vocal, so you can throw yourself into it as much as you want. You can also make up styles. One new style I made up I call “Godfather style." In true Marlon Brando impression you say the following: “I said a-boom-chicka-boom! I said a-boom-chicka-boom! I said a-boom-chicka-family-chicka-family-chicka-boom!” Everyone had a lot of fun with that one.

Following the Catwalk, we were all told to look for some bonfire sticks. All the Viaţa groups were going to cook their own suppers over a bonfire. I managed to find a thin stick that I thought would work for cooking sausages. I discovered later that I should’ve found one with more strength to it. The two sausages, tomato, and pepper were rather heavy for my poor, flimsy stick. However, it worked for what I was using it for. The sausages were very fatty, and I’m not sure I got rid of as much of it as I would’ve preferred. The meal overall was really messy, but very enjoyable to make. People got creative with their shish kabobing and even found ways of toasting bread. One person from another group found a stick that branched out in two at the end. He would lay pieces of bread on the point where it forked, toast one side, and then flip it over to toast the other side.

The night ended with some campfire songs and prize giving to the best camper in each group, all of which was done in Romanian, so I couldn’t tell you what happened.

As we went to leave the camp, Ana told us to walk the trail without the use of lights, which meant no using cell phones. This was to help us get our eyes used to the dark, and bright objects would keep our eyes from recovering. On the way back to the cabană, Alex asked me about my interests in music and movies. His favorite music artists are Justin Timberlake and Kelly Clarkson. He told me he likes artists who express themselves well through music. His favorite movies are Sweet Home Alabama and Clueless. He said he likes romantic movies because he likes seeing good, romantic couples. He also likes Baywatch because of its atmosphere. Further along the subject changed to school. Alex wants to study foreign languages but his mother wants him to become a doctor. He has one year of high school left, after which he says he’ll probably go to college or a university.

Anne and I finally went our separate ways from the group when our cabană came in sight. We said good night to Ana, who thanked us once again for our participation and apologized for not be able to spend more time with us. We assured her she was doing just fine, that she had a group to lead and that she was doing a good job. Then we headed to the cabană and got ready for bed.

I was thinking about my conversation with Alex as I was getting ready for bed. I felt a little sorry for him, primarily because most of his entertainment interests were American products and not Romanian. He’d mention a foreign film here and there, but his main interests were in American things (and bad American things, in my opinion.) I wondered just how much influence American products and entertainment had on Romanians. Entertainment is, after all, one of the easiest forms of globalization. I heard very little about Romanian entertainment, or Romanian entertainment that wasn’t influenced by America. Then I wondered if I would know purely Romanian entertainment if I saw it.

Blessings.
Kailen

[1] For those of you who don’t know, "Boom-Chicka-Boom" is a call-and-response game, usually used for building energy within a group and just having fun. Everyone forms a circle, and the leader begins the chant: “I said a-boom-chicka-boom! I said a-boom-chicka-boom! I said a-booma-chicka-rocka-chicka-rocka-chicka-boom! Uh hu! Oh yeah! One more time!” After each sentence everyone else in the circle repeats, etc. and then after saying “One more time!” the leader picks a new “style” with which to say the chant. After each style the same “Uh hu! Oh yeah! One more time!” is said before the next style. Here are some of the styles I use:
Pirate style: “I said an arg-chicka-arg! I said an arg-chicka-arg! I said an arg-chicka-matey-chicka-matey-chicka-arg!
Volcano style: “I said a-boom-chicka-boom! I said a-boom-chicka-boom! I said a-booma-chick-eruption-chick-eruption-chicka-boom!
Valley Girl style: “I said like boom-chicka-boom! I said like boom-chicka-boom! I said like boom-like-chick-like-rock-like-chick-like-rock-like-chick-like-boom.”
When you’re done choosing styles, you end with “Uh hu! Oh yeah! One more time! That’s the end!” or some variation thereof.