Lucky woman was I to travel to Turkey on the coattails of students and teachers from Central Asia to attend the first few days of an international youth summer camp in
Uludag. Normally a mountain ski resort, the hotels and town are converted into a summer camp paradise called
Camp Future Stars. The few days I spent in Turkey this August were memorable for the great cross-cultural experiences of the campers as well as the pretty environment in Uludag and nearby Bursa. Taken out of their home environments, these kids and their chaperones took part in two weeks of solidarity-building, leadership training, sports, nature activities, and English learning. I have few doubts that given 15-20 years, these amazing young people will be the ones leading all of us forward.
I remember as a kid that when I would return from Girl Scout camp or band camp or school programs like Girls State, I would feel a kind of empty homesickness-like aching for those new friends and times we spent together. My departure from this camp has left me with similar feelings of nostalgia for our time together, knowing that an assembly of the same persons in the same place at the same time is nearly impossible.
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| Camp |
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| Baseball in Uludag |
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| Bursa city trip |
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| Scrumptious Bursa peaches are famous and were in season |
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| Iskander kabob |
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