Camp began Friday morning with registration, followed by our Opening Ceremony. As tradition dictates, we gave special recognition to those born in the Year of the Pig, and we enjoyed beautiful Chinese dance performances. This year, we were lucky to have a Province Parade with the children carrying our camp’s very own hand-crafted flags from each province in China. Then, it was on to the rest of camp!

Parents were trained in their volunteer duties while the kids got to know each other in their specific age group friendship circles. After eating lunch together we were off to our afternoon activities.

Friday afternoon was filled with workshops for all. For the adults, there were sessions on forming racial identity, biomedical psychology, Tai Ji, Chinese Music, and the evolution of adoptive parent identity. The Pre-K and Kindergarten kids had story and rest time, worked on calligraphy and made an abacus, and also enjoyed learning Chinese dance and jump rope.

1st thru 5th graders began learning Chinese dance from our most excellent dance teacher, Christina Yeh, creating props for their upcoming dance performances, making Chinese lanterns, and engaging in HeART Talks regarding adoption issues.

 

 

 

Our Middle Schoolers also had a great day where, among other things, they had a Amazing Race Chinese Cultural Workshop, did journal writing and talking circles. They ended with the now traditional “Girl’s Night” party at the camp hotel.

 

Friday evening activities included dinner, games and story-telling for the kids, and open-mike for counselors and lots of other fun activities.

Saturday just flew by! The day brought more workshops for the adults, including mahjong, Chinese cooking (with the ever-popular Scott Wong), Chinese Tea Tasting, presentations on Chinese Religious Traditions, and some more serious workshops addressing the challenges and joys of raising special needs children, helping our older kids deal with adolescence, how to respond to tough questions about adoption.

The kids had lots of chances to learn, grow and share with more dance classes, visits to the Village, fun games and crafts, some great instruction in Kung Fu, and for the older kids only, plans to create a community of connection that expands outside of camp.

Our lunch included an awesome Lion Dance and Kung Fu demo by Shifu Howie Solow and the Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu Association. We had a pool party in the afternoon at the hotel, then came back to camp for our cherished performances by our children and a hilarious performance by our “dancing pig” parents! We were honored to have Christine Chang of Channel 7 News emcee our Saturday Night Social!

This year, we did something very different, with our closing ceremony being held over dim sum at King’s Land Restaurant. This was our last time together as family and friends, and then we parted company until next year.

As camp closed, it was clear that our families had become part of something much bigger than just a summer camp. We have found parts of ourselves in each other and shared some of our most private thoughts and feelings. One look at these pictures in closing says it all……………..

To see pictures of China Camp Too 2007 click here

Though we have very strong support from the local Chinese community, we are always looking for more volunteers to work with the kids, teach workshops, cook meals, etc., and to be counselors at camp.

As a non-profit 501 C(3) organization, Chinese Heritage Camp is always seeking financial assistance to help keep camp costs reasonable for families, and still provide an outstanding program. If you'd like to help, please go to the Donations section of this web site, and thank you very much in advance.