The Virtual Kamin Telps

Mezotne

Mezotne is like Kursa- fun, memorable, funny, basically the Time Of Your Life- bitesize. unlike Kursa, which goes 3 or 6 weeks, Mezotne is only one week, making it easier on the younger kids.

Mezotne is organized into age groups. Each year there is a theme (for instance this years was like Latvia during the Ice Age and whatnot, 2000 was like Riga's 100th anniversary or summin) and based on that theme there's a list of group names to chose from, like this year my group was the Vilni, the Waves. The groups are sorted by age as follows:

About The Age Groups

Mazputnini (literally Little Birds) These are our very young kids. Like toddlers to 4 or 5, they are accompanied by parents. As far as I can tell they don't participate in sports- probably because we don't wanna kill them, and have their own seperate swimming times while the rest of the camp is at sports or summin They're dang cute and have their own big table at meals, and are basically spoiled by the entire camp. ^_^ Not that we mind, they're just SO CUTE!!!!!

Pirmas Meitenes un Puisi (1st Girls and Guys): These are the 6-7/8 year olds. Adorable little girls and boys, they go to classes like the rest of us, but appropriate for their age level. They participate in sports, etc. with the older peoples. They, and the MPs (Mazputnin) don't have to go up to the bar-like thingy to get food- instead they have it already on the table. (note: for 1st-4th group, you stay in each group TWO YEARS. Just because. So you spend about 10 years at Mezotne. When you've gone to Mezotne 10 years you get a necklace with a Latvian symbol, also the symbol on the Mezotne shirts- an Auseklits.)

Otras Meitenes Un Puisi (2nd Girls and Guys): These are the 8-9/10 year olds. They have classes and participate in singing, sports, etc. They're ADORABLE and I have my own personal Honorary Sisters in this group ^_^.
(Note- between 2nd and 3rd groups a change occurs. Mazputnin go to bed LONG before the rest of the camp. 1st and 2nd go to bed BEFORE 3rd and 4th. 3rd and 4th have special privilages and stay up later playing traditional Latvian games.* ~see down to Night Games for more info~)

Tresas Meitenes Un Puisi (3rd Girls and Guys): These would be the 9-10/11 year olds. They learn more complex dances than the MP, 1st, and 2nd, and stay up later with the 4th group.

Ceturtas Meitenes Un Puisi (4th Girls and Guys): These are the 12-13 year olds. They stay up late with the 3rd group and play Night Games*. They have many more privilages then the younger kids, and can wander around camp unattended during breaks and such. They learn the most complex dances, sometimes accompanied by the 3rd group when more people are necessary. They're usually the ones who have dates for Glaunas Vakarins (Fancy Dinner lol) and at the dance(s) stay up late LATE with the 3rd group. Basically, all any MP or 1st year can wait for is to be in 4th group and- to put it simply- RULE THE PLACE. 4TH YEAR ROCKS!!!!!! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ MWAHAHAAAAAA.....


Sports

Mezotne has many sports games during the week, organized and predetermined and simply on the spur-of-the-moment. ^_^ These include HUGE camp-wide Capture-The-Flag games, soccer, basketball, "Herbavores, Omnivores, Carnivores," and- of course, the ever present- Water Balloon Wars!!!!! Which, of course, mainly consist of A) the 4th guys with too many water balloons B) the 3rd guys with too many water baloons C) all the girls shrieking like banshees and rushing inside and locking the doors D) the boys attacking each other with badly aimed water balloons, and, in conclusion E) one of the guys' counselors coming up behind them with a hose and drenching them all, whereas that counselor in turn is drenched by the large tub of water just poured on him by YET ANOTHER guys counselor. Basically, a whole lotta people get wet and yet nothing is accomplished as this is all repeated the next day..... ^_^
Soccer: Soccer is held round-robin to tournament-style, with the four camp sections (Vidzeme, Latgale, Zemgale, and Kurzeme) playing against each other in games all week. On Saturday the soccer finals are held. Last year's tournament came down to a teeth clenching double-overtime showdown between MY team, Kurzeme, and The Other Guys (lol im stupid i even forgot who it was.... think it was Vidzem...) EVEN AFTER DOUBLE OVERTIME it was STILL TIED and the WHOLE FRIGGIN CAMP wanted Lauris to make it a shoot-out but NOOOOO he ACTUALLY SAID NO. *glare* so it was just a tie.... *grump*
Also, throughout the week the teams collect points based on their performances in soccer, capture the flag, and other games played. Then on Saturday there are the Mezotne Olympics, again points for that, and um the Skerslu Gajiens on Friday/Saturday *cant remember*, which is basically like a camp-wide obstacle-course with different stations. Based on what you learned during the week you do bad or good at each station, giving you more points. Then at the end of the week your teams' points are totaled up- the collective Skerslu Gajiens, Soccer, Capture-The-Flag, *other game*, Olympics points are all totaled up and the team with the most wins. That team (this year it was MY TEAM thank you very much... GO KURSI!!!!!!!) gets their name engraved on this purty silver trophy. The trophy tradition was started last year.

Night Games: Night Games are played by the 3rd and 4th groups. They are Vai Tu Mani Mili (Do You Love Me) played in either of 2 ways, Acid Mirkstinasana (The Winking Game), which is my personal favorite, but then there's also Night Capture-The-Flag, Night Soccer, and Night Swimming (rarely). You learn how to play these games in camp so I won't bother explaining them. They're really fun and Do You Love Me and The Winking Game are boy/girl oriented, they're really great and fun and so on and so forth! ^_^


Now, onto the learning. LOL yeah it's not all fun and games. Well it kinda is because the classes are REALLY FUN!!!! OK the classes are as follows:

Classes:

Valodas Klase (Language Class): This class is really fun. You learn Latvian, and there are different classes depending on how well you know Latvian. You also learn Latvian history, traditions, etc. New words, religions, and more. You play Latvian bingo, color in stuff, and you always get this folder into which you put the stuff you learned about during the week. It's REALLY KOOL.

Makslas Klase (Arts & Crafts) This class is awesome too. One year we made T-Shirts with our group name on them, this year we made instruments for the end-of-the-week-presentation (see down). It's really fun and you always get to take home the stuff you make. ^_^

Dziedasana (Singing): This class is really fun. We learn songs for the end-of-the-week presentation, and our instructor, Lolita, is awesome. She like won an oskar or summin for the Batman soundtrack ^_^ Her husband Mark runs K-MEZ, the radio station (see down for more on this too) and plays the music for our dances.

Dancosana (Dancing): This class is self-explanatory. You learn polka dances- traditional Latvian dances- for the end-of-the-week-performance. The older you are, the harder the dances get. The counselors learned THEIR dance OVERNIGHT. O_O" yeah... 'twas a bit scary to tell the truth.....

Parrunas (Debate): This class doesn't exist anymore because the guy that taught it left, but it's worth mentioning. It's basically the best class ever. Our teacher might start you off on a topic, which could originally be something like- abortion- and turn the conversation could turn to Veggie Tales and he wouldn't care. You get into debates which last the entire class and spill over into the next day and have the time of your life. It RULED, especially as it was in the Kamin Telps, THE BEST place on the entire grounds. But more about that later.....



This part's about places on the grounds and other activities, traditions, and just generally stuffs we do.

Places:

Kamin Telps: THE BEST place in all of the grounds. It's basically this big living-room type room with logs for walls, a fireplace, 2 couches, 2 armchairs, several assorted rolling chairs, 1 coffee table that's always moving about, a fuzzy green carpet that doesnt cover the whole of the floor, a piano, a TV, VCR, bookshelves with books no one ever reads, and windows in the back tall and low enough to climb out of easily. It's the hanging out place forme and my friends- last year we watched Zoolander in little installments during our break. It's awesome, this year all the 4th group would always hang out there- we all had our assigned seats. ^_^ It's the best, I have so many memories there....

Edam Zal (The Eating Hall): Yeap. This is where we eat. Also where the presentation is held, where dancing classes are held, where (later in the week) we practice the performance, where the dances are, where the Talent Show is (scroll down for more about this). Infront of the building is the flag area, where we gather every morning for flag raising, every evening for flag lowering. The flag area is where announcements are made, where we have our morning stretches, etc. etc. Inside the building there's also the nurse's office, the main office, the kitchen, also where past years' yearbooks are on display along with several games and some benches. There're two rows of long tables, like those you'd see in school. Then there's one big-ass oak table for the MPs, perpindicular to those, and a table for the staff, again perp. to the other tables and parallel to the MPs table. There's also a big space behind the tables for dance classes, two big screen thingies, two back exits, and a piano (for dance class).

The Lake It's a lake. Thats about it. It's really shallow. Muddy bottom. Leeches inhabit it. *shudder* There's a dock somewhere. A boat too. A path going around it that's been walked for generations. Many paths leading off of that one. Yeap.

Raimond's Parks: A campfire place on a sort of peninsula, its got a few benches, a few stumps to sit on, a campfire thingy, and there's one canoe perpetually chained to a tree that's always there. The site of many a Kursa ritual and haunting, and always the place to go if you're gonna get drunk at Jani.

Mitnes (The Dorms): MWAHAHAHAAAa Love these things. They're basically shaped like a capital I. The girls side, with two wings, and the bathrooms in the middle, and then the guys side, bathrooms in the middle and 2 wings. The back walls of the bathrooms touch, but there're spaces between the wing. On one side, the space just has like clothes-hanging lines. On the other, there's a play structure that was put in a few years back. There's really not supposed to be food in your room, but if you're a 3rd year you can have it as long as no one sees, and if you're 4th you can have food in there and no one gives a damn. ^_^ Mwaha SO MANY MEMORIES we have from the Mitnes....

The Dock: Yeap. It's a dock. An old, floating, slightly rotted, rather dippy, dock. We took our piccies there one yr. Mhm.

The Campfire Place: Can't remember what it's official name is. It's this big clearing, with this concrete stage in front of these like ledges. The ledges are defined by logs at the end of every ledge, and it's on these that we sit. This is where (usually) the evening group performances are held. (scroll down for more on this)

The Church:Um yeahp its a church, and even though I'm not Christian I think it's the prettiest of all the buildings. It's shaped like an Octagon, and has big ol' windows for all the walls. There're rows of benches inside, along with the place where the priest-person stands, two organs (that no one ever uses as far as my knowladge, though they do work) and a table with like a cross and candles, etc. In past year's we've had church every day but this year we only had it once the entire week (for which I was glad.) It's also where we have our Dziedasana (singing) so there's a keyboard for Lolita in there (which moves around the camp and basically follows her ^_^)


Activities (Aside From Classes):

Peldesana (Swimming): Mwaha yes yes we do have a pool.... a very nice pool.... ^_^ After sports the 3rd and 4th get swimming times so we can all cool off and whatnot... mwaha yeap swimming isn't a class or anything its just- u swim. Of course, it's staggered, different times so there aren't too many people in the pool at once..... ^_^ ok yeap that's about it....

Evening Campfire Hee hee ok every evening we have campfires. They have different themes every night. You're group makes up a little skit or whatever, sometimes different groups will connect for more options or whatever. It's really fun. We have lots of costumes in these costume boxes- they're all whacked and tweaky roflol and rarely fit! ^_^ But if you have enough imagination it's really awesome you can be anything. ^_^

End-of-the-Week Performance: OMG this is SO FUN! You practice all week for it. In Valoda (language) you memorize lines in Latvian, poems, etc., and like say them at the performance. There's always a few people chosen for the really big long parts. In Dancosana (dancing) you learn dances for the performance, ditto the songs learned in singing, and then usually the stuff you make in Arts and Crafts is used in the performance as well.
Everyone stops swimming early and stuff for this. Why? Because (at least for girls) it takes infinity + forever to get their TAUTAS TERPS ON!!!!!!!!!!!
Ah yes, the Tautas Terps. If you're Latvian you better know what this is. It's basically the traditional Latvian outfit, for girls, comprising of a wool skirt, belt, white linen shirt, nieburs (vest), saktini (pins), and a vainags (Like- crown. but usually beaded. Or made from flowers.) The guys have it easier- they just need dark colored pants/khaki colored pants, dark shoes, a belt, woolen socks with Latvian patterns if possible, a white long-sleeved shirt, and some saktins (PINS REMEMBER?!?!?! THESE ARE IMPORTANT AND DISTINCTLY LATVIAN! SO NO PINK KITTY PINS THANKYOUVERYMUCH!!!!!! >:O) ANYWAYS, all of this has to be put on in the proper order. Then you put on your dancing shoes (black, girls- heels are ok but you have to be able to dance in them. And I mean SERIOUSLY dance. So no strappy sandal things. Sheez. It's not that hard...)
After everyone has gotten themselves ready, we all line up by groups, get our pictures taken, and set off in a grand parade to the Edam Zal, where our parents are waiting (after being fed with a fancier dinner than we ever got ^.--). After a repitoire of songs, dances, poems, and assorted small dialects referring to that year's theme, we all rush back to our rooms, change out of those hot tautas terps and into dance clothes, and rush back to the Edam Zal- which has been transformed into a dance hall for the last dance of the week! But more about that later...

The Other Specialized Days: I'm not going to tell you about these because they're supposed to be surprises- so you can use ur creativity!!!