Daily Positive #3

Well, as this post shows, yesterday was a little frustrating, but it wasn't all bad!

- I had a nice day at work, without too much frustration.

- I got to watch a Disney film with my siblings.

- I got to go on a random trip to KFC with my work colleagues.

- Tasty take out for dinner! (I do usually eat healthily - honest!)

Confession #4

I'm also rather addicted to checking my blog Stats...

I'm fascinated by imagining who is reading this blog, where they're from, why they're reading, and how they found me.

So if you're reading this, make sure you stop by and say Hello :) I promise I'll keep the frying pans in the cupboard!

Confession #3

I'm a little obsessed with stalking camp counsellors online...

Twitter...Pintrest...Blog...If you're out there, I've probably found you and I've probably read your whole online presence, start to finish, in one sitting! I love hearing about their experiences, their suggestions, what they thought about it all, what problems they had, what games they played etc.

What can I say, I like to be prepared!

Taking the Initiative : Problem #1

So a few days ago I contacted a few camps directly, as advised to do by a Camp Director. He said he has people do that every year, and it's not an issue. I took this as gospel truth and started hunting out camps. I'm now in discussion with a camp who are very interested in my application. I contacted CCUSA to express my interest in the camp and requested they forward my details to the camp. Today I received this reply -

I am afraid that we will not be able to send your application to [CAMP] as we advise against contact camps. This is mentioned in the Interview Checklist which you signed:

Please note that CCUSA is now responsible for finding you a camp. Do not contact camps directly.

Our US Office are fantastic at finding great camps for all of our counselors, and once you are accepted onto the program, we are not able to send your application to camps that you have been in contact with. I am extremely confident that our US Office will find an amazing camp for you!

Honestly I'm quite frustrated by this reply. How was this any different to going to a Camp Fair and talking to a director there? How is this different to the FAQ question on the CCUSA website which says -

A camp in the USA has agreed to hire me - do I still have to go through the application process?

Yes, please follow the normal application procedure and include a letter of invitation or an email from the camp that is offering you a position. You must make sure your camp is currently an active camp with CCUSA. If not, please have your Camp Director call our head office in the U.S. at 1-800-999-2267. If or when your camp becomes active, we'll make sure the camp receives your completed application form so they can hire you. As your visa sponsor, CCUSA is required to thoroughly screen all applicants, even if they have a job already arranged.

I've now emailed what I hope is the USA Office for some clarification. Are they now refusing to allow me to work with this camp? Am I being punished? I'm very frustrated and quite disappointed.

I'll keep you all posted *sighs*

Confession #2

I watch too many American films and TV programmes. I've spent enough time in America to know the truth about most of the stereotypes, but I've never been to a Summer Camp before.

So I have a confession...

Part of me kind of thinks the Summer Camp will be like Parent Trap!

Or maybe Camp Rock...

(Though according to this post at the Secret Diary of a Camp Counselor...it's not that much like Camp Rock...but there are similarities!)

Daily Positive #2

Hello and welcome to #2 in my Daily Positives series!

Today is Sunday, and it's been a pretty quiet day. Me and Mum were supposed to take my two youngest siblings out, but it was such a lovely day it seemed a shame to drag them in from the garden to drive to an indoor play area! It's unusual for us to get such nice weather in March here in the UK, so we should let them enjoy it while it lasts! I've heard there's snow in the forecast soon, so there's plenty of time for playing indoors.

Today's positives -

- Getting to watch Disney DVDs with my siblings (when they weren't playing outside)

- My 3 year old sister making us all laugh with her "Rock Star" air guitar moves

- Knowing that my 3 year old sister has enough stickers on her sticker chart to earn herself a trip to the indoor play area (she has trouble sleeping, and my parents are trying to wean her into her own bed, so she gets a sticker each night she falls asleep in her bed. Baby steps, but it's proving quite effective!)

- Getting up to date on my application journey so far on this blog

- Having a very tasty, and relatively healthy, lunch of tomatoey, garlicky, cheesey pasta

- My eye is so much better I might even be able to put my lenses back in soon! This is VERY exciting since I don't wear glasses usually, and my prescription has changed a lot since I last got new glasses (about 10 years ago!). Let me tell you, it is NOT fun trying to use a computer at work all day when you don't have the right prescription glasses...!

- Being an eBay bidding machine! I successfully, manually sniped something I wanted as part of a White Rabbit costume for my friend's upcoming Alice In Wonderland Tea Party.

- Finding lots of camp games and activities on Pintrest

I think that's enough for today, like I said, it was a pretty quiet day :)

Hope you've had a lovely day, and that you find at least one good thing that happened today :)

Application : Pre-existing Medical Condition

There is a question on the exhaustive, initial application which asks "Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions?". I was aware at this point that I would have to complete a Medical Form.

Now I had recently been told I had some "potential kidney scarring". This doesn't cause me any trouble at all, other than the confusion of not knowing why I have said scarring. I had an appointment with the Urologist coming up, but that wouldn't be for a few weeks after I was filling out the application.

I originally said "No", I did not have any pre-existing medical conditions. Then I found out about this Medical Form. Would this scarring be mentioned on the form? If I said "No" originally, and then my doctor answered "Yes", would I look like I had lied? Would that then be detrimental to my application?

I eventually decided to be better safe than sorry, and be honest. So I said "Yes" but explained that I had no trouble, no medication, and it was almost unremarkable.

Turned out to be more trouble than it was worth!

CCUSA still accepted my application, but now require that I complete a "pre-existing medical condition" form, to be signed off by my doctor. I explained that my referral appointment wasn't for a few weeks, and I wasn't even sure what would happen at that point. But they insisted.

So I went to my appointment, knowing that camps might not want me, or I might be put on hold, until I can prove that I'm not on dialysis, and won't to die on them.

And my doctor wouldn't sign the form.

He's sending me for some more tests (but admits they probably won't show anything, and will confirm that really...it's nothing!) and won't complete it until then. Argh! Mostly I think it's just because the department was running over an hour behind on their appointments and he was in a rush...

So, much to my irritation, I'm still perfectly fit and healthy, but still don't have one daft piece of paper confirming that.

The most frustrating thing?

It didn't even get mentioned on my Medical Form.