Chocolate Adventures: Part 2

The whole reason I decided to make the chocolate spread, was so I could make Toasted Marshmallow and Nutella Cookies, so that was today's project.

Ingredients

Metric	Imperial
Chocolate Chip Cookies	Chocolate Chip Cookies
125g plain flour	4½ oz plain flour
70 g butter (softened)	2 ½ oz butter (softened)
1 egg	1 egg
50 g soft brown sugar (Demerara)	2 oz soft brown sugar (Demerara)
50 g superfine / caster sugar	2 oz superfine / caster sugar
110 g chocolate chips (see notes)	4 oz chocolate chips (see notes)
50 g chopped hazelnuts	2 oz chopped hazelnuts
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda	½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract	1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Those are the ingredients for cookies, and then all you'll need to add to that is marshmallows (or "marshrooms" as my sister says) and the chocolate spread of your choice.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and both sugars.  (I used self-raising flour, so didn't need the baking soda)

3. Cream the butter, and add to the mixture.

4. Crack the egg into a cup, add the vanilla, and beat.  Pour the egg/vanilla mixture into the mixing bowl.

5. Stir the mixture together.  You can use a mixer on a low speed, but it's quite easy without.

6. Fold in the chocolate chips.  I used chocolate buttons, and probably should have chopped them up, but it worked just fine in button form!

7. Take heaping tablespoons of the dough and place them on the greased cookie sheets a few inches apart to allow for spreading. Gently flatten the cookies with your fingers making an indentation in the middle of each one. Place a small dollop of chocolate spread in the center of each cookie, then top with a marshmallow that has been snipped in half with kitchen scissors (or cut with a knife, which is how I did it).

8. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. If you are baking more than one tray at a time, switch the top tray with the bottom tray halfway through so that they all bake evenly. They are done when the marshmallows are melted and golden brown and the bottoms of the cookies are slightly darker.

9. The cookies will be a bit soft when fresh out of the oven, use a spatula to carefully transfer them to a wire cooling rack until firm enough to serve.

They will keep in an airtight container at room temp for a week or two. Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Once again, I used "Pure" Dairy-Free Sunflower Spread and Dairy-Free Buttons (brown and white chocolate).  I also used my home-made dairy-free chocolate spread.

I only made 1 tray of marshmallow cookies, as I wasn't sure how they'd turn out.  My other tray was ordinary cookies, just in case!

Be warned, photos of the cookies follow.  Go ahead and laugh, I know I did!

The marshmallow cookies certainly won't win any beauty contests, but then again, neither will my normal cookies!

The woman on the blog I got the recipe had much prettier ones.  Not sure what happened, but it's the taste that counts, and they are quite nice.  They're not quite marshmallowy enough for me, so I'll have to try and fix that next time.  I'll update with the verdict from my fussy siblings soon!

All the best,
Charli

Chocolate Adventures: Part 1

As I have previously mentioned, my little sister is lactose intolerant.  Normally she takes this with good grace (as much as you can expect from a 4 year old who is being told "no"), but today she was feeling pretty down about the entire situation.  All she wanted was a strawberry rice pudding.  Such a simple wish, but one we couldn't grant.  After being told she couldn't have one because it had milk in, she just sighed and said "I wish I wasn't lactose intolereez".  Poor baby.

I wanted to make her something to cheer her up, something she normally wouldn't be allowed.  Yesterday, I'd been on Pinterest and saw a really tasty looking cookie recipe.  It was chocolate chip cookies, with a splodge of Nutella and a toasted marshmallow on top.  Basically, it was a cookie s'more.

Making lactose-free cookies is simple enough, but first I had to solve the challenge of how to make lactose-free chocolate spread.  My sister never liked Nutella, but she always loved nut-free chocolate spread.  Chocolate spread sandwiches were one of her very favourite foods.  It's like torturing a puppy to eat them in front of her now.  If I could pull this off, I'd be able to solve the problem for her.

It took a long time to find a suitable, nut-free recipe, but finally (around page 6 of Google) I found one here - http://lucysfriendlyfoods.wordpress.com/tag/chocolate-spread/

It was a straight-forward recipe (thankfully - I'm not the best at baking).  We even had a spare jam jar in the soon-to-be-collected recycling box.  I rescued it and dishwashed it.

The following recipe makes 1 jar.  As the recipe from the above website is all in cups (American measurement), I've added the equivalent grams and ounces below -

Ingredients

• Water: 1/4 cup; or 85g; or 3oz
• Caster Sugar: 1/2 cup; or 100g; or 3.55oz
• Cocoa Powder: 1tbsp
• Salt: Pinch
• Vanilla: 1tsp
• Dairy-free Chocolate: 2/3 cup; or 90g; or 3.2oz
• Dairy-free Spread: 2/3 cup; or 152g; or 5.36oz

1. In a saucepan, melt together the water, sugar, cocoa, and salt. 
2. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
3. Whisk in the vanilla, chocolate, and margarine/butter until silky and lump free.
4. Pour into a sterilised jar, and cover with cling film.  Make sure the cling-film touches the top of the chocolate mix, as this prevents a skin forming.
5. Leave to cool entirely, then remove the cling film.
6. Keep in the fridge and use within 2 weeks.

In terms of ingredients, I used -

• "Pure" Dairy-Free Sunflower Spread: Available at Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury's.
• Tesco's Own Cocoa Powder: Contains cocoa powder only (cocoa itself doesn't have milk in)
• Dairy-Free Buttons: Available from Tesco's Free From range.  I used 2 bags, and topped the rest up with Silver Spoon Cakecraft Dark Chocolate Chips.  These "may" contain milk, but we allow that.

I found it easiest to add all the dry goods (sugar, cocoa, and salt) together first, then pour it all into the water at once.  The mixture came to a simmer very quickly, which came as a surprise, so watch out for that!  I also found it easiest to melt the chocolate, and the butter, before adding it to the mixture in the saucepan.

The only issue I had was that my chocolate sauce was ready before the dishwasher finished cleaning my jam jar!  I filled a pyrex dish with warm water, and put the saucepan into that to keep the mixture from starting to solidify.  It worked really well, but I can't take credit for the suggestion, as it was my Mum's idea.

The chocolate spread (currently chocolate sauce) is now sitting on a high shelf in the utility room, out of the reach of little fingers.  I admit, I tried some of the bit left in the saucepan as I was cleaning up, and it tastes lovely!  I'll post an update when it's finished, as well as my Chocolate Adventure: Part 2 (making the cookies), and give my sister's verdict on the chocolate spread sandwiches.

All the best,

Charli

UPDATE: The chocolate spread sandwiches were announced to be "yummy", and we're almost halfway through the jar already. SUCCESS!

Nashville: Day 2

Today started out much the same as yesterday - I slept all morning!  Thankfully I felt much better after a good night's sleep, and no longer felt ill.  Yay!

After a hot shower, I felt positively human again, and I ventured out on the hunt for some breakfast.  The guy at the hostel reception recommended 417 Union, as they serve all day breakfast.  It was a fancy-ish looking cafe, and I certainly felt out of place since it had been raining and I turned up looking like a drowned rat.  I had pancakes, which were tasty, but seemed a little over-priced, especially since I explicitly said "no butter" and it was served..with butter.  Oh well!  I was very pleased that it had stopped raining by the time I left, so that made up for the whole "butter fiasco".  The place was only a few blocks away from the hostel, but that was still pretty far in the rain..!

I went back to the hostel to regroup, which basically meant updating my blog and check my Facebook, then went out into Broadway.  I wandered around the streets for a little bit, taking in the country vibe, then ended up in Honky Tonk Central.  I enjoyed it last night, and it was also the place that had the random 8 year old singing yesterday afternoon.  Basically, it seems like a good place!

I set myself up at the bar, and just enjoyed the atmosphere.  There was a group of drunk army guys (but "not the ass-hole kind") a couple of stools down, and I ended up chatting with them.  One of them, a guy from Georgia, opened the conversation with "I'll bet you're from the north, ain'tcha?".  I was slightly taken aback by such a random question, but told him that no, I'm from England.  This absolutely blew his mind!  "What, England? Really? NO F-ING WAY!".  I think he was impressed..?  Either way, he plonked down onto the stool next to me, and insisted I talk to him in my accent.  What other accent would I talk in..?!   He also insisted that he could talk to me all night, but quite quickly abandoned me (along with his friends) for a table full of drunk, pretty girls.  What can I say, I'm no match for an entire table, especially since they were willing to dance and I kept refusing!

I did later give in, and was taught how to "two-step", after a lot of insisting on his part.  I kept saying that I have no sense of rhythm, and two left feet, but he wouldn't take no for an answer.  I asked the bar-tender (Sue Bobby, from West By God Virginia, whose name was really Ashley. Weird place) to mind my purse, and "two-stepped" down the length of the bar.  It was a pretty simple dance, but I still frequently messed it up!  I escaped back to the safety of my bar stool quite quickly, and left him to try his luck with some of the other women.  It was more fun watching that!

A little later, their friend passed out at the bar, and they had to carry him to their truck outside.  This kind of depressed me, since all the other customers in the bar thought it was hilarious, and rather than offering to help, they just stood around laughing and videoing it.  Jerks.  It was a pretty sad taste of current humanity, and I left the bar in disgust.  To be fair to the staff, they all tried to help, including the female singer.

I hope you guys managed to get Hank home in one piece, and good luck to Dan on his 5 mile run tomorrow!

After this, I went back to the hostel, decided there was nothing to do there, and went back to Broadway.   I wandered around a little more, then I got myself some ice cream and wandered some more.

It's fun people-watching in Nashville, trying to spot the real locals from the tourists.  I think the locals are the one in the baseball caps, or the battered cowboy hats, not the pristine, new ones.  They're also the ones who aren't so keen on the "country-pop" songs like "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line, unlike the non-locals who go crazy whenever someone sings it.

I managed to spill ice cream all down my top, so I'm back in the hostel, trying to decide where to go next.  I wasn't a huge fan of the night-scene, but if I manage to find myself a stool somewhere it isn't too bad.  We'll see!

My room-mate gave me her ticket for the hop-on/hop-off bus tour, since it's valid for 24 hours and she won't need it that long.  I'll probably check that out tomorrow morning to see a little more of Nashville. It runs out at 2pm though, so I might actually have to get out of bed before noon.  Shocking!

(My laptop just scared me half to death, as it's set to British time, and therefore tells me it's 1.30am on the 12th.  I thought that meant that I leave tomorrow, but I thankfully I still have another full day..!).

It seemed strange to me that the guys at the bar were so shocked that I was travelling by myself.  They thought it was amazing, "bad ass", and drink-clinking worthy.  They also couldn't figure out why I was here in Nashville.  I don't think "because I like country music" seemed like a sufficient reason.  Maybe it's a culture thing, I don't know.  I just have the mentality of "hey, I want to do this thing, let's go do it!", whether it's "I want ice cream", "I want to go to Nashville", or even "I want to go to America"!  I think life is more fun that way.

All the best,
Charli
(aka "England")

Nashville, Tennessee: Day 1

I arrived at Nashville, Tennessee on Friday at 11pm, having previously been to Columbus, Ohio (where I totally failed at being a tourist).  By the time I got to my room, it was midnight local time, which meant it was 1am Indiana/Ohio time.  Needless to say, I went straight to bed.  I'm just so hard-core.

I then slept until lunchtime because, well, I just don't like mornings!  I finally crawled out of bed, and headed out into Nashville.  My hostel is the Downtown Nashville Hostel, and it really is right by downtown.  I couldn't ask for a better location (or better value for money!).  The staff are so helpful and friendly, and there's every amenity that a young traveller could want.  Basically...there's a beer fridge.  It's on the waterfront, which is pretty during the day, but a lot of vagabonds hang out in a park opposite, which is a little unnerving as it gets dark.  Maybe I'm just paranoid.  Anyway, I was able to leave the hostel, walk down the street...and be right onto Broadway.

Music was pouring from every doorway, there was people everywhere, more cowboy boots than I've ever seen in my life...it was amazing.  I grinned like a lunatic for about an hour.  But it was ok, everyone else was just the same!  I did notice that the women all seem very well dressed, which made me feel slightly out of place.  They all had perfectly coiffed hair, pretty dresses, or cute tops.  Then there was me in my shorts, tank top, loose pony-tail, and legs covered in bug-bites...!

I had lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville which was kind of expensive (by my standards), but nice all the same.  It was hard to tell where was serving food, as most places just looked like questionable bars where people were having 'liquid lunches'.  I have no issue with that, I just wanted some real food for myself!

After I ate, I wandered around Broadway and the nearby streets.  I just spent a few hours taking in the 'feel' of Nashville.  I also visited several bars, of varying levels of disrepute, and sat listening to live country music.  It was awesome.

Sadly I didn't catch the names of any of the live performers, otherwise I would happily share them.  They all rocked, though!  If you recognise any of them, please tell me and I'll credit them.  I'm pretty sure that the first two photos were taken at One 50 One, and the third photo was taken at Rippy's Bar and Grill.

One of the most amazing performances came completely by surprise.  I was walking past a bar, Honky Tonk Central, and saw that there was a HUGE crowd, waving cameras and iPhones.  Being a curious person, I tried to see what was going on.  I supposed it was a surprise performance by someone famous.  I could hear that the singer was incredible, and had a big voice.  Yup.  Probably some famous person.  When I could finally see the stage...well, I wasn't expecting what I saw.

It was a little girl!  A tiny scrap of a thing (no offence, kid), who seemed no more than 8 years old.  It was hard to believe that a voice that big could come out of a child that small.  I did video some of her performance, but the quality is terrible and doesn't do her justice at all.  I'll upload it when my internet can handle it..!  Her name is Marissa McKay (sorry if I spelled it wrong), and she is absolutely a name to watch.

After a while, I headed back to the hostel to catch up with my e-mails etc, and to generally recover from the fact I'd spent my day drinking endless glasses of coke.  I'm pretty sure that if you shook me up and down, you'd have heard me fizzing!

I had dinner at the National Underground, which I had previously been told had "the best burgers in town", and I'm not one to turn down such an enthusiastic recommendation.

Truth be told, I was a little disappointed.  My cheeseburger had that horrible square, plastic cheese, and it came with crisps.  What kind of burger comes with crisps?!  I suppose I should have expected it, when the menu said "kettle chips", but it didn't compute that it didn't mean fries.  It wasn't a bad burger, but I've had better from Steak'N'Shake...

It wasn't a complete loss, though, as the live music was great.  The lighting was a weird pink colour, which meant that my photo is terrible.  Sorry!

The male singer was James McNair, but I didn't catch the name of the woman.  She had a powerful voice, so I think her mic was adjusted to accommodate that, which meant that I couldn't hear a word she said when she was just talking!

My favourite thing about their performance was that they actually sang some of their own songs.  Now, I might be being naive, but...that's what I expected from Nashville.  I thought this was a place filled with singer-songwriters pouring out their souls, waiting to be snatched up and thrown into a world of fame.  I thought it'd be a place of originals, not a place of tribute acts.

I understand that the bars need to be business minded, and that Nashville is full of Americans from Northern suburbia who want to come down south to dress up in over-priced cowboy boots and pretend they know "what country is".  They want to sit in bars, drinking themselves silly, and be able to sing (and sometimes dance) to their "OMG FAVOURITE SONG".  They can't do that if the performers are singing their own, original songs.  I really do get that.  But...can't they sing a few?

I'm not one to judge, not really.  I'm English, what do I know about "country" in America?!  Sure, I'd love to buy myself a pair of cowboy boots (if I can find some that won't require me to sell a few kidneys in order to afford them).  I get excited when my favourite country songs come on, and I'm less enthusiastic when it's one I don't recognise.  I do genuinely love the vibrancy and fun of Nashville, and how the whole city (or the part I've seen, anyway) seems to be dancing to a country beat.  I just really hoped I'd be able to taste a little music history in the making.  I wanted to be able to come to America in a few years, turn on the radio, and be able to say "I know this song, I heard it before it was famous".

Yup.  Definitely naive of me.

Moving swiftly on!

Last night I went out with a few people from the hostel (two Irish, one English, one American I think, and one Czech).  We bounced from bar to bar, listening to various live performances.

The first photo was taken in Honky Tonk Central, and the second in the Legend's Corner.

Before I went out, I asked one of my room-mates in the hostel what a night out in Nashville was like.  She said it was like "one big hen-night".  She wasn't kidding!  Every other group of women was on a hen-night, and I even saw a wedding reception!  I was slightly taken aback by the sight of an entire wedding party, and all their beautifully dressed guests, in a dirty, sweaty bar, but each to their own!

By the time we reached the third or fourth sweltering, claustrophobic bar, I was done.  I'd heard the same five songs sung over and over again, I've been struggling with a queasy stomach (I think my body is rejecting all the greasy burgers and fizzy pop), and I decided I needed to go to bed!  So, despite being the only sober person in the party, I was back in the hostel feeling decidedly unwell by 1am.

So rock and roll...!

All the best,

Charli

Columbus, Ohio

I only had one full day in Columbus, so obviously the entire morning of that day was spent sleeping!  It's been a long month at camp, though, so I definitely needed the rest.

I stayed at the Wayfaring Buckeye Hostel, which is really nice.  The staff are lovely, and they absolutely bend over backwards to help you out.  There isn't a free shuttle service, but they recommend a taxi driver, who is contactable by email (useful for me, since I don't have a USA phone), and charges a flat rate of $15.  The rooms are clean, cosy, and the beds are so comfy (or I've just spent too long in camp bunkbeds...).  There is a free breakfast, but I missed that so I can't comment on it!  The bathrooms are also very clean, and the shower was really nice too.  I heard there's even a hot tub on the back porch!

I spent a lovely evening getting to know some of the other guests, which is always my favourite thing about hostels.

The area outside the hostel leaves a little to be desired.  I didn't have any interactions with the local people, so I can't comment on that, but the buildings and streets are run down and basically quite sketchy looking.  After I (finally) got out of bed, I asked one of the hostel staff where they recommend I grab some lunch. They recommended a taco truck, which is parked on the forecourt of a nearby gas station.  He said they all love it, and it's the best.  I chose to take them at their word, and decided to give it a miss.

Instead, I walked down to High Street, which "has everything" (the staff's words, not mine).  It was about 5 blocks away, so wasn't a long walk.  It was a weirdly damp, muggy heat outside though, so even though I didn't feel too hot, I was dripping with sweat quite quickly!  Gross, I know.

High Street wasn't a big improvement on the rest of the area.  It had Taco Bell, Goodwill, and a few other chains that I recognised, but that wasn't what I wanted.  I wandered up and down the street a bit, and mostly found dodgy-looking tattoo parlours, bars, and liquor stores.  Hmm.

I ended up in a place called Jack & Benny's, which I loved.  It serves all-day breakfast, which is always a good thing!  The food was quick, cheap, and very tasty (even if the portions seemed a little on the small side).  The service was friendly and attentive, and it was lovely chatting to the servers.  I may have accidentally given the impression that I will be going to Nashville to perform country music, but I did mean that I was going to enjoy country music.  Sorry for the mix-up, Dante!  He even told me that he had friends from the UK, and one such friend (who was here just recently, apparently) is from Doncaster.  My response was "No, really?! Actual Doncaster?!", which I think confused him a bit (his expression was just like '...what is her problem?!') but I did eventually explain that I'm from Doncaster. Small world!  So, a big shout-out to the staff at Jack & Benny's, I had a really nice time.  It seemed 'authentically American', just what TV tells me a diner should be like!  I even sat at the breakfast bar on a stool, with them all cooking the food on the other side.

I headed back to the hostel after this to 're-group' and decide where to go next.  My impression of Columbus hadn't been great, and I felt I should venture further afield so I don't leave with the idea that the whole place is really quite dodgy and run-down.

Unfortunately, I first decided that I was super tired and needed a nap.  While I was sleeping, the heavens opened.  I'm so glad I wasn't out in it!  I was meant to meet up with a friend who was at camp last year, and lives in Columbus, but her whole neighbourhood flooded!  Crazy.  So, I stayed in the hostel all evening, since everywhere I wanted to go was really far away and I didn't feel like getting soaked.

The next morning I was up at 5am to get my bus, and spent a couple of hours in the Columbus Greyhound station.  Not the most fun way to spend time, but I had some cheap pancakes and instant hot chocolate.

The bus back to Indianapolis was nice.  It had wifi and leather seats - can't complain!  It was 30 minutes late, though, which threw my plans off a little.

I was due to meet 3 of my camp friends (one of which was the friend from Columbus) at noon.  I didn't get there until closer to 1pm.  It was nice to hang out and catch up for a little while before they had to rush off, though.  I had until 6pm in Indianapolis, so I chilled at Claddagh's Irish Pub (where I met my friends) for a while, eating delicious brownies, and drinking my weight in coca-cola.  Many thanks to Matt for keeping my drink topped up!

I then wandered around, sat in the Indianapolis ArtsGarden (which I thought would be a nice little outdoor park with little bits of art scattered around).  Turns out it's a glass-domed area, with trees and a small, local art exhibition, in the middle of the Circle Center Mall.  It had wifi, and was above a busy street, so I had fun watching the world go by.

I went for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.  I found my way to the megabus stop without much problem, and sat there for a reaaaally long time.  My megabus was about 40 minutes late, which was frustrating, and then the wifi didn't work for the entire 5 (?) hour journey to Nashville.  Not my most favourite trip ever.  What can you expect from cheap travel, though, really?  I arrived in Nashville at 11pm, and was absolutely frantic because I hadn't been able to pre-book a taxi, but some turned up at the bus stop (well, parking lot on a street someplace) and I was able to get to my hostel without any issue. Yay!

All the best,
Charlotte

End of camp, start of a new adventure

My month at summer camp has finally ended.  It feels like I've been there forever, yet at the same time it's gone by in the blink of an eye.

I had an amazing time, even if it was generally exhausting!  I slept on a tarp under the stars...

I made s'mores on a camp-fire...

I rode a yellow school bus...

I got crazy tan-lines...

I walked in a creek...

I ate funnel cake the State Fair...

I was kept up all night by kids who talk in their sleep...I got bitten by bugs...I (repeatedly) tried to get into the wrong side of the car...I learned what 'twerking' is...I got sunburned...I laughed...I cried...and I met some of the most incredible campers, youth leaders, and staff.

Now I'm going on to my next adventure of the summer!  I'm currently in Columbus, Ohio - I arrived an hour or so ago on the Greyhound bus.  I'll be here until Friday, at which point I'll head back to Indy for the afternoon (meeting a friend for lunch), then going to Nashville, Tennessee for a few days before flying home.

My arrival in Columbus wasn't fantastic, I have to admit. I stepped out of the bus station and was immediately accosted by a mentally challenged lady asking for a quarter. I declined, saying I didn't have any change, and she absolutely flipped out. She started yelling and swearing, thankfully not directly at me, but near me. It was a little scary! I decided to ignore her and keep walking to the taxi rank. While I waited for my pre-booked taxi to arrive, I spotted someone I recognised from the bus. I'd helped him get his bag off the overhead storage, so I figured that made it socially acceptable to stand near him in the hopes that the lady would leave me alone!

I chatted away with him about travelling, American health care, and other random topics, and his presence did seem to discourage the woman. She came over and asked us both for a quarter again, but she didn't freak out when we both said no. Big improvement! He laughed when I said she'd flipped when she asked me before, and said he wondered why she'd been yelling.  So, I'd like to say THANK YOU to the friendly young man from Bloomington, who was going to the very Christian (and therefore tee-total) wedding in Columbus! You kept this big wuss from getting too nervous, and it was nice to have someone to talk to while I waited.

My hostel is quite nice, it looks like a normal house from the outside which was a little worrying (my nerves were already a little rattled), but inside it's set up really well. It's an odd mixture of looking run down in places, and really modern in others. My bed is a single bed, but it looks huge compared to camp bunk-beds! The staff are lovely, and they have a small yappy dog, whose bark is worse than its bite. I've not ventured outside just yet, but I've been told that Columbus is a pretty decent place. Despite how I was greeted, I feel optimistic about my couple of days here.

Looking forward to my next adventure :)

Charli

Summer Camp: Crazy Things My Kids Have Said

And by "my kids" I do of course mean "other people's kids who I have the pleasure of looking after for a week".  I don't actually have kids of my own, even though 24 is "old" according to my girls this week.  I suppose it is quite old when you're only 10...

I'll add to this through the next couple of weeks, but here is some of the things the kids have said -

• "Are you kind of British?"
• "Is it true you have a prince over there? Do you get invited to balls?" (I love that they think England is like living in a Disney film)
• "Would you like some sunscreen?  You're too light to be dark"
• "College kids are smart.  We play with Legos and talk about how we hate things" (Said by a visiting college student)
• "Are you a regular person, or are you ghetto?"
• "What's your favourite disease?" - "Anything, so long as it's not an STD"
• "What's your religion?" - "I'm atheist" - "Oh. That's bad"
• "You have a smart car. It has two seats. There's you, your most trustworthy friend, the love of your life, and a pregnant woman. What do you do? ... You go home and rethink your life because you bought a Smart Car!"
• "When they put the jelly [jam] on my sandwich.  It fell off."  (My co-counsellor was just like...um...ok?)
• "Are you from British?" (Not only was this an incorrect use of the term, it was also said to an American counsellor!)
• "It's like having a headache in my legs"
• "What language do you speak in England?"
• "Don't bring weapons to camp" (When asked what the most important rule was at camp)
• "Do you wear hats in England?"
• "Is this what the jungle looks like? We'll have to kill all the innocent bunnies!"
• "No killing people" (When asked what a rule was for archery)
• "What's your weakness?" - "Pepper spray!"
• "I want to move to Africa to build homes and help people" (Can we get a big 'awwww'?)
• "I had a dream that a CIT was The Lorax. We were all the animals, and we all died.  He wasn't a very good Lorax" (Said by one of the counsellors)
• "You can't be eighteen. Teenagers are eighteen, not adults!" (Said to the above counsellor)