The idea of a summer camp occurred to me last year, while thinking of how much I'd love to see my students in flesh and bones :) The internet is a great mean of meeting people but the more you chat with others, the more curious you get to check if the image you've got about them is right.
I've had more than 60 students in the past 3 years, out of which about 30 became regular, so it was not easy to decide on the number of people to attend this summer camp. It means not only playing, teaching, but also going out, arranging their transfer, accommodation and so on... Eventually, I decided that 10 is about the right number of people, even if they come with families. So, in December 2003 I made the announcement and, to my surprise, the 10 places were almost immediately booked! The location was a nice mountain resort, Sinaia, not too far from the Bucharest airport (about 140km) and this was the main reason for choosing it (the people meant to come were from 8 countries). On this occasion, we've made some t-shirts and cups, with the emblem of our Go school, Tsurukame (meaning "crane and turtle") made by Gabriel.
I'll go straight to August 2004 now, and the first to be here was Chris from UK (aka holosys on KGS), on Friday 13th :) The forecast for the second half of the August was really bad, telling about heavy rain and low temperatures, so I advice everybody to bring warm cloths and rain coats. Luckily, Friday 13 was a sunny day and Chris was picked up from the airport by my brother and spent a night in his house, in Bucharest. They drove a bit through the city and the many pictures Chris took are recomposing their route. On the next day we went to Sinaia and checked in the villa Spendid. It was raining and the road was quite crowded (many people are going to the mountains in the weekend, seeking fresh air, away from the crowded cities...) but we arrived safely.
On Sunday 15th 2 people had to come, at about the same time: Pawel from Poland (aka Shinbou on KGS) and Jimmy from Florida, USA (aka seek on KGS) but the latter was delayed 24hrs by the hurricane Charlie, so on Sunday evening only Chris, Pawel and me were at the villa.
Monday everybody else was meant to come: Gabriel from Romania (aka seelancer), Urban from Sweden (aka Kalas on KGS), Dirk from Germany (aka Toskana on KGS), and a big group from Spain, Joan (aka Joanco), Rafael (aka Magicspain), Pep (aka LittleBird) and his wife Sonia, followed by their non go family :) Rosa (wife of Joan), Neus and Martha (their twin daughters), Lulu (wife of Rafael). Waiting for them at the airport were meant to be my assistant Tir Danut (aka byheart on KGS) and my cousin Catalin with his wife Maria (guides for the families). A total of 18 people. I had initially a minibus arranged for them, but something happened to the engine and, by miracle, I've found somebody else just Sunday night, willing to do the job instead. It's worth to mention that the driver and minibus were free for the days we had planned some longer trips, so our holiday was safe again... If I add the fact that the whole 10 days the weather was perfect, we have a clear proof of the existence of Go's God, who took care of us all. Which means "kami no te" (God's move) also exists, so we started to look for it...
The program for the players was: a lecture in the morning, of about 2 hours, held by me on a big magnetic board, and free or simultaneous games in the afternoon, followed by our comments: my assistant and mine's. We had 12 Go sets and a small room just for lectures and play, which eventually was a bit too small for 12 people playing, so we had to use the restaurant as well. However, the villa has just a very few other guests, so we were not disturbed. We put the most of the comments on tapes and some are available to download too. Each participant had received the whole lectures' diagrams on papers, so they could make their own notes during the explanations. It was a bit too much Go, given the perfect weather... but we did some nice trips too, visiting the most important places in the area: Peles Castle, Dracula's castle, Babele (The old ladies) and "The Sphinx" stones (we went by cable car up to 2000m for that) and many nice restaurants and pubs :)
On Wednesday was Lulu's birthday, and the rest of her group arranged a surprise party, with birthday cake, candles, champagne, presents and dancing :) Lulu was so sure that everybody forgot about her birthday, that she had a text ready for this occasion, but... we were all forgiven in the end :)
The non Go players and their guides had a bit different schedule and the pictures they took are telling the story... However, we were together every evening (dinner, disco, pool) and we've visited Bran castle (also known as Dracula's castle) together as well, so the we all got along very well, as expected :)
On Friday evening Catalin Taranu came, and 1 more student of mine: Dragos from Italy (aka Goku) with a friend. Catalin stayed with us till Sunday evening, lecturing and playing simultaneous games, which were caught on tapes as well. He didn't win all the games he played, and this showed how seriously everybody took their games.
On Sunday my wife Nico came to say hello, bringing our 4 months old son Radu along. We live in Pitesti, at about 160Km away, so she only came on this day. I wish they could stay with us longer, but even though he is so small, he needs so many things, which we decided are too difficult to carry. Next year they will surely join us for the whole period :)
Monday 23rd and Wednesday 25th we had a tournament, 6 rounds Swiss system, with even games. In between, on Tuesday, the most of us went to Sighisoara, at 180km away, to visit Dracula's home city, an old, small and nice one.
Wednesday was the last day together, on the following morning Dirk and Urban were already supposed to leave, so we had a farewell party in the backyard, at the light of torches. Some prizes were given to the participants in the tournament and it was a night hard to forget... The summer camp was about to end.
Thursday, after so many sunny days, it started to rain... Urban and Dirk left, and the rest went back to the usual schedule: lecture in the morning and games in the afternoon and ... we got close to the end. Friday morning we only packed, cleaned the lecture room and headed for the airport, at about 2PM. Chris and Pawel left a bit earlier. Nobody took pictures at the airport, we were all too much filled with emotion, or we simply forgot. The Spanish group left and only Jimmy had to stay one more night in Bucharest, at my brother's place. We drove through the city then had a nice dinner at a traditional restaurant.
The pictures are showing some happy faces but I'm sure all of us, 20 people who were there, are feeling much more. Even though we only met online before this, we all felt like very old friends, sharing a beautiful passion: the game of Go.
P.S. The complete collection of pictures can be found at: http://www.greenpez.com/gocamp/albums.php
The videos are downloadable, but only available for my students. Please email me for the password if interested.