Oldest Daughter went away to camp about two years ago with Concordia Language Villages to study Arabic in an immersion environment. It's stuck with her. She learned the Arabic alphabet while she was there, learned a few songs and chants that she immediately taught to her little sister when she got back from camp, and started taking classes in Arabic once she got to college.
Concordia has its language villages in a remote part of Minnesota called Bemidji, around a small and irregularly shaped body of water called Turtle River Lake. The idea is that students can attend the camp for two weeks or for four, during which time they can receive formal instruction in the target language. They share cabins with other campers, and during the daily activities they're expected to complete the learning experience by speaking only in the target language, which again, in her case was Arabic.
Because they're away from home for so long, the campers bring things to keep themselves from getting homesick: favorite foods, some pictures, games to play, an age-appropriate toy or two, just nothing that violates the spirit of language immersion.
One of the campers, a 16-year-old named Marcie, brought a doll.
It wasn't a Barbie doll or something made of cheap plastic. It was made with moving parts: arms and legs that swiveled and bent at their middle joints, a head that turned, and hands and feet that moved at the wrist and ankles. It represented an impressive amount of engineering for a cheap toy, but a lot of the kids thought it bordered on the creepy side. The eyes, instead of being painted on the surface of the face, were recessed into the face a little, the way real eyes actually are a little farther back than the front of the forehead. The effect was that, if you moved across the room, it looked as though the doll was following you with its eyes. That, combined with the sly Mona Lisa smile that had been painted on its face, was enough to creep a few people out. It was like the doll not only was watching you, it was smirking at you the entire time.
This one poor girl named Alexi was really bothered, and she made the mistake on the third day of camp of telling the other girls in her cabin how much she hated that doll. They started taking the doll with them to the mess hall,where they would place it on the table facing her; and every time she looked at it, they would wave its arm and have it say "Marhaba!" They made camp miserable for this poor girl. Alexi would go to class, and find the doll seated at the desk next to hers, its head turned toward her with those creepy eyes and that hollow smile. I'm sure she tried to be a good sport about it, but when something bothers you and everyone knows it but keeps on rubbing it in, it's going to get to you after awhile.
Around Day 10, Alexi went to the staff counselors to complain that the other girls in her cabin were bullying her. I'm sure she felt stupid when she explained how they were bullying her, but the staff handled it professionally. They talked to Marcie, who owned the doll; and they talked to every other girl in the cabin individually, and that night around the evening campfire, they reminded everyone without naming any names the sort of behavior and community spirit that campers were expected to uphold.
Oldest Daughter woke up that night to a contained riot in the other cabin. One of the other girls had thought it would be hilarious to take the doll out and put it in Alexi's bunk, next to her. Alexi had woken up when she rolled over and got its limbs tangled in her hair like the doll was trying to attack her.
There was a big to-do, and when no one would own to the prank, especially after the staff had just addressed the bullying that afternoon, the entire cabin was given disciplinary kitchen duty. Staff took the doll away, locked it up with all the cell phones and personal electronics, and told Marcie she could get it back when it came time to leave camp. Alexi got to sleep in the medical cabin the rest of the night, and was allowed to sleep in past breakfast, usually a big no-no, but I guess they considered this to be special circumstances.
Camp the next day was rough. The staff weren't putting up with anyone's crap, and everyone was trying to figure out who had it in for Alexi so bad. A few of the kids who shared the cabin with her thought they had an idea, but they couldn't prove it. For her part, Alexi stayed off by herself, crying and miserable and even the kids who weren't from her cabin weren't able to get her to do things with them. Marcie tried during dinner, when Alexi was sitting off by herself, to make it up to her by sitting with her and trying to apologize that things had got so out of hand. A couple people saw that as proof that Marcie was behind the hole thing, but she denied that, and it just stayed ugly. My daughter told me that that if everyone weren't on edge about the bullying and how upset Alexi was, it was the sort of prank with a doll that everyone would have thought hilarious.
They went to bed around ten, and then there was a new outburst. Someone actually had got into the lockbox. They hadn't stolen any phones, but Alexi was screaming at everyone when she started to get into bed and found that freaking doll waiting there for her with a knife taped to its hand, like it was waiting to stab her.
Alexi snatched the doll up, walked over to the dock at the edge of Turtle River Lake and threw the doll in, as far as she could.
Another big fight ensued. Marcie cried; the doll had been a gift from her grandmother. Alexi screamed; Marcie had it in for her and had been tormenting her for almost two weeks. The head counselor was yelling because someone actually had broken into the lock box. This was the worst group of campers they'd ever had. Everyone was at everyone else's throat. It was impossible to avoid taking sides in this fight.
The next day the campers who were there only for the first two weeks packed their bags and left. Talk was pretty subdued, but there were dozens of angry looks exchanged.
The day after Marcie came home from camp, a package arrived. Figuring it was something she had forgotten to pack, she took it to her room and put it on the bed then went to grab a snack.
She came back to her room just in time to see the package open from the inside, and to see a small doll step out.
Copyright © 2018 by David Learn. Used with permission.
Concordia has its language villages in a remote part of Minnesota called Bemidji, around a small and irregularly shaped body of water called Turtle River Lake. The idea is that students can attend the camp for two weeks or for four, during which time they can receive formal instruction in the target language. They share cabins with other campers, and during the daily activities they're expected to complete the learning experience by speaking only in the target language, which again, in her case was Arabic.
Because they're away from home for so long, the campers bring things to keep themselves from getting homesick: favorite foods, some pictures, games to play, an age-appropriate toy or two, just nothing that violates the spirit of language immersion.
One of the campers, a 16-year-old named Marcie, brought a doll.
It wasn't a Barbie doll or something made of cheap plastic. It was made with moving parts: arms and legs that swiveled and bent at their middle joints, a head that turned, and hands and feet that moved at the wrist and ankles. It represented an impressive amount of engineering for a cheap toy, but a lot of the kids thought it bordered on the creepy side. The eyes, instead of being painted on the surface of the face, were recessed into the face a little, the way real eyes actually are a little farther back than the front of the forehead. The effect was that, if you moved across the room, it looked as though the doll was following you with its eyes. That, combined with the sly Mona Lisa smile that had been painted on its face, was enough to creep a few people out. It was like the doll not only was watching you, it was smirking at you the entire time.
This one poor girl named Alexi was really bothered, and she made the mistake on the third day of camp of telling the other girls in her cabin how much she hated that doll. They started taking the doll with them to the mess hall,where they would place it on the table facing her; and every time she looked at it, they would wave its arm and have it say "Marhaba!" They made camp miserable for this poor girl. Alexi would go to class, and find the doll seated at the desk next to hers, its head turned toward her with those creepy eyes and that hollow smile. I'm sure she tried to be a good sport about it, but when something bothers you and everyone knows it but keeps on rubbing it in, it's going to get to you after awhile.
Around Day 10, Alexi went to the staff counselors to complain that the other girls in her cabin were bullying her. I'm sure she felt stupid when she explained how they were bullying her, but the staff handled it professionally. They talked to Marcie, who owned the doll; and they talked to every other girl in the cabin individually, and that night around the evening campfire, they reminded everyone without naming any names the sort of behavior and community spirit that campers were expected to uphold.
Oldest Daughter woke up that night to a contained riot in the other cabin. One of the other girls had thought it would be hilarious to take the doll out and put it in Alexi's bunk, next to her. Alexi had woken up when she rolled over and got its limbs tangled in her hair like the doll was trying to attack her.
There was a big to-do, and when no one would own to the prank, especially after the staff had just addressed the bullying that afternoon, the entire cabin was given disciplinary kitchen duty. Staff took the doll away, locked it up with all the cell phones and personal electronics, and told Marcie she could get it back when it came time to leave camp. Alexi got to sleep in the medical cabin the rest of the night, and was allowed to sleep in past breakfast, usually a big no-no, but I guess they considered this to be special circumstances.
Camp the next day was rough. The staff weren't putting up with anyone's crap, and everyone was trying to figure out who had it in for Alexi so bad. A few of the kids who shared the cabin with her thought they had an idea, but they couldn't prove it. For her part, Alexi stayed off by herself, crying and miserable and even the kids who weren't from her cabin weren't able to get her to do things with them. Marcie tried during dinner, when Alexi was sitting off by herself, to make it up to her by sitting with her and trying to apologize that things had got so out of hand. A couple people saw that as proof that Marcie was behind the hole thing, but she denied that, and it just stayed ugly. My daughter told me that that if everyone weren't on edge about the bullying and how upset Alexi was, it was the sort of prank with a doll that everyone would have thought hilarious.
They went to bed around ten, and then there was a new outburst. Someone actually had got into the lockbox. They hadn't stolen any phones, but Alexi was screaming at everyone when she started to get into bed and found that freaking doll waiting there for her with a knife taped to its hand, like it was waiting to stab her.
Alexi snatched the doll up, walked over to the dock at the edge of Turtle River Lake and threw the doll in, as far as she could.
Another big fight ensued. Marcie cried; the doll had been a gift from her grandmother. Alexi screamed; Marcie had it in for her and had been tormenting her for almost two weeks. The head counselor was yelling because someone actually had broken into the lock box. This was the worst group of campers they'd ever had. Everyone was at everyone else's throat. It was impossible to avoid taking sides in this fight.
The next day the campers who were there only for the first two weeks packed their bags and left. Talk was pretty subdued, but there were dozens of angry looks exchanged.
The day after Marcie came home from camp, a package arrived. Figuring it was something she had forgotten to pack, she took it to her room and put it on the bed then went to grab a snack.
She came back to her room just in time to see the package open from the inside, and to see a small doll step out.
Copyright © 2018 by David Learn. Used with permission.
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