Big Bear, California

Fifteen Americans. Fourty eight Kiwis and Aussies. A Swede, a Canadian, and a total of sixty flamboyant extroverts, placed in a summer camp and instructed to mingle and scream our heads off for nine hours a day. Welcome to ISV recruiter training - two days in, and it's already one of the most exciting, unpredictable, and challenging experiences of my life.

Our study sesh, night one

In the last 48 hours, we've memorized about six pages worth of material, performed it while jumping, sprinting, doing over-the-top hand gestures, and in front of an audience of seventy, who are instruced to yell "F*** YEAH!" everytime we do it well and make them excited. We've run around with balloons tied to our ankles, played "never have I ever" musical chairs, bonded over cafeteria-style meals, and slept in camp-style bunk beds, laughing ourselves to sleep after exhausting fourteen-hour days full of activity.

This is going to be an insane next few months. Maybe even more than I predicted. We have an eighty page binder full of information (about 40 of the pages we need to have memorized) and we won't find out until mid-next week where we're going, who we're traveling with, or what exactly we should expect from the next three to four months with this job. And yet, after stumbling over the words to my announcement and being hugged and applauded  by a crowd of my new international friends, the future has never felt so optimistic.

I'll keep you updated asthe week continues, but for now - a couple "little ditties":

Shaun (from New Zealand) doing "the shuffle" over our lunch break

Words and Phrases from Aussies and Kiwis (the list will continue to grow)

• "Sweet as": not to be confused with "sweet ass" as I interpreted it when my cabinmate Rhys said "sweet as" and walked out of the room. (He later clarified that it means "awesome, cool." or "great." Not that he was complimenting my ass.)
• "Puffed" as in "man, I just went on this run and I'm puffed!" (meaning out of breath, really tired.)
• "Frothing" as in "I'm frothing about these concert tickets" (meaning soooo excited about)
• "Heaps" as in "this is HEAPS of fun!" (which they say constantly)

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