Yea we can call it that way or just torture :D

You and 9pm? Good joke :D
But I see you're not online anymore so maybe it did work :P ?
Sorry, I was watching a sad movie.

I was in bed by 11. Which isn't exactly late for me either. xD

Aaaargh all my muscles hurt and I can't keep my eyes open... And in two hours I'll have kids all over me again... We have a ridiculously large group...
I think my resume says "guiding a group of 8-10 kids" but I'm gonna have to change that into 12 now xD

Yea that's right ;D
I went to bed at around 11.30pm, normal time for me actually ;)

So what are you doing at the moment? Guiding kids on your airport or where ?
Really? I am always tired when I play with my brother's children.

Well this group ain't no fun at all!
This is my sixth year as 'adult' in this thing, and this is by far the most depressing group >>

It's called Het Vakantiespel, roughly translated it would be The Vacation Games. It's in the last week of the primary school's summer vacation, and usually contains around 2000 kids and 500 volunteers. Volunteers are divided in Group Leaders and Staff - Staff provide the organization, guide games, traffic control, all kinds of stuff to make it all go well, and tell the group leaders what to do. Group leaders are exactly what the name says. There are two or three group leaders and 8 to 12 kids per group. Then there are the color camps - Orange / Yellow, Green / Blue and White / Purple. They are the age categories of 6-8, 8-10, 10-12. Green / Blue is usually my favorite, and the color I'm in now, but I like White / Purple too. I never did Yellow / Orange because kids that age seem such a bother. I don't want to wipe butts and stuff. >>
The general idea is to take all these kids to do games and events all over the city. It's a really big event, and even though I used to hate it as a kid, it's got a special place in my heart and I hated not being able to volunteer for the last three years. But now I'm back for my fifth time as a group leader <3

But this group we've got! And how it's changed!
There are a lot of group leaders who need to do a social internship for school, and being a group leader counts for that. But to be a good group leader you need to have a heart for it, simple as that. You need the spirit and enthusiasm, and patience and a way with kids (or be willing to learn the latter qualities ^_^;;). And those hookers just lack that >>
Changing their shirts into a trashy looking mess, unwilling to understand that you need to get dirty, no singing (singing is probably the biggest requirement of them all), and unwilling to spare some enthusiasm. This also reflects on the kids; the ones we've got now have started with those bitches around and barely know a single song. Refuse to sit in the mud and those kind of things. I'm really old-fashioned and conservative as far as this event is concerned so I'm really bummed by that. My group hates everything. They don't like this, that is boring, when is it lunch, what's the time, I want to go home, when are we going home, what are we going to do next, oh that is stupid, I don't want to play that game, it's too hot, now it's raining, make it stop, I'm cold, I don't want to walk any further, I refuse to get up, you're too strict... And then there's the aggressive boy... The arrogant girl who yelled at me for telling her she was being rude to her friends... For the first time since my actual first time I was completely through with it.
Also it's a very big group this time so it's both emotionally and physically exhausting, for both me and my colleague. Luckily the Staff knows how difficult our group is (that's probably why we got it; we're experienced... they also put us at the front of the line and they need to be able to trust those people... so to a certain point I'm honored) so they're helping us from time to time. And it's a big help since the Yellowshirts (that's us) don't have any authority; I mean, they think they can easily defy us. But the Redshirts on the other hand... The Staff... they know that even we have to listen to them, so they're like gods there. If the Staff says something, they mean it. So they listen to them in no time. xD
And it doesn't ruin our image even if something goes wrong. God forbid.

Ah well only three days to go. :')

I won't blame you guys for not reading all of this, but I'm glad I could write it off. xD

So, lucky, huh? :p

* dies now *

Oh wow this event sounds like a lot of fun, adventure and experience gaining! Well, if the group would be nice.. What a pity you got such a difficult group :/ And the lazy group leaders.. I guess I know that. This is really shit. You should rant with them xD I hope the next few days will be better though <3

Well the adventure bit kind of disappeared due to the kids being such whiners these days. There was a terrific mudslide yesterday, both me and my colleague were pouncing to dive into it, but none of the children wanted to get dirty xD
What the hell, that's what it's all for! Children should play in the mud. End of story. If we encounter one again, I'll toss one in for sure, and hope the rest will follow.

I accidentally met a pair of them today. Well I met one of the ladies yesterday, too. She was on the middle of a game field, smoking. While the rules state clearly that if you really can't hold your breath, one at a time can find a place somewhere far out of sight of the children, and only during breaks. This is stressed a lot of times, at every volunteer meeting. I myself think that this is really mild. I mean, I'm a smoker alright, but I never smoke during 'working hours' there. I have one during the morning meeting and one after all children left. Never during the day.
Anyway I told the brat to move her butt and she reluctantly went halfway into the bushes, but everyone could still see her and the smell lingered everywhere >.<"
So we ran into them today and had a friendly talk. And man, both of them were quite stupid, and the smoking gal obviously hated the whole thing >>
So enough with the ranting with them, there's no way to get through to them. I think my vocabulary is too advanced :')

The problem with kicking them out is that, this year, they're short on volunteers. I don't think that ever happened before. I know about those two chicks that they're being watched though. I told one of the staff members about our encounter and she said she wasn't too fond of them already. Luckily they changed the system for schools and they only receive the certificate when they actually deserved it.

Yeah I feel sorry for them too, but we're trying our best here. If we can't give them a fun week, yes, I feel like we've failed. But in this case... it's mostly their own fault... It should come from both sides... and they're not co-operating.
I talked to the worst cases mom and she said she'd talk to him. I hope he'll get better. I mean, there's this other boy that really has the best intentions, but the 'bad' boy is dragging him down with him. I think that if he calms down things would be better. Not entirely, but it would help a lot. :')

It's difficult, but I'm gaining a lot of experience every year. Not only how to handle children, but also my own patience and endurance and the whole kaboodle. And socialwise too; you have to interact a lot with people you don't know. And also with every year I gain a little more confidence. If I hadn't been so experienced at this event I could have never told that brat that she couldn't smoke there. xD
And the whole thing with this huge group of difficult kids... I'm sure I am learning more about how to deal with them. Next time I'll probably be able to handle it more efficiently :)

When I was younger I used to love playing in the mud really. I did that almost everyday. I would do it, too nowadays :D This would be totally my thing.

Yea I can imagine that you experience a lot there and working together with a bunch of different personalities is very interesting, but also exhausting.
I hope the boy turns into better as I know how annoying those people can be.
And good you told that girl to stop smoking where she isn't allowed to! But sure still stupid of her to smoke somewhere where all the children may seem her -.- This is... ARGH, can't describe, really.
The idea with the 'limited' certificates is good. I would love to see their face if they didn't get one :P