Life in Bonim
From the newsletter, by Renah and Keith Wolzinger
It's August 22, 2005, and the families of Bonim return once again, arriving by plane and by car, loaded with luggage, instruments, and of course snacks for the kids. Klez Kanada has become an annual reunion of families that come from across the U.S. For the past 6 years, the children have grown from toddlers to tweens and teens, and many have even become scholarship recipients. Technology being a big part of our kids lives, they keep in touch by email and instant messaging.
The parents of Bonim have become a close-knit group as well. Upon arrival at camp, we burst into the office with fingers crossed hoping to be reassigned to Bonim, our annual home together. We swap stories of our lives during the year, and are always amazed on how the kids have grown. We love to find out what everyone is doing with their music, and how playing Klezmer has changed our lives. Some families see each other during the year, but since we come from both the West Coast and the East Coast, and have many activities all year with our kids, meeting seems difficult to arrange.
So now we're all back, and it's almost as if we never left. We've never skipped a beat (so to speak). The kids are not seen much, except at bedtime. They are constantly kept busy with the kids program and their friends. It's a wondrous thing to watch them spend time with their camp friends. The friends come by our cabin in the morning to walk to breakfast; they swim, learn songs, take lessons, and talk the night away.
Same with us parents. We spend a lot of time together, play our music, attend classes and activities, and share the day's events at mealtimes. The evenings are filled with music late into the night as well as visiting and enjoying the camp culture. We always make new friends and spend a lot of time getting to know them. It seems we always make new friends on the last day and have to pick up again with them the next year. We have certainly become KlezKanadians!