B-3 Long Distance Champs

B-3 campers set a long distance record this year with campers coming from the other side of the Atlantic and the other side of the Pacific. Joe Oakden came from Darby near Nottingham, England, and Rennie Marozza flew up from Brisbane, Australia. These two campers live over 12,000 miles apart with Camp McKenzie in the middle!

B-3 asked Joe and Rennie their impressions of the U.S. and what it was like to live in England and Australia. Joe said football (soccer to us here in the U.S.) is the favorite sport in England where every soccer team in the nation, no matter what size, competes in the F.A. Cup (Football Association Cup). Tennis is also popular in England, especially the tournament at Wimbledon.

Joe earned his own money to pay his way to Camp McKenzie, which included the plane ticket from England to the U.S.  Living in England is expensive.  It has some of the highest taxes in the world and gas cost over $4.00 a gallon. Teens in England have to wait until they are 18 to get a driver’s license and the cars are usually smaller that they are here in the U.S. Many people in England travel on high-speed trains that go over 125mph.

Joe said Oregon was quite different than England. Here there is a lot of open country between cities with very little population in between. In England there is little unpopulated area and cities are hundred of years old. In many places houses and shops have been continuously occupied since the 1500 and 1600’s. Joe found the people in the U.S. very open and friendly and he is glad to be at Camp McKenzie this year.

Renato (Ren) Marozza comes from as far away from England as possible.  He traveled almost 7,000 miles from home to get to Camp McKenzie. Ren said this is his first time in the U.S. and he found the people here to be nice and they don’t put you down. Ren said that everything is bigger in the U.S. than in his home country of Australia–cars, cereal boxes, you name it.

Ren’s home in Brisbane has a climate similar to southern Florida. It never snows or freezes and there are palm trees and other tropical plants. Like in England, they drive on “the other side of the road” than we do in America and they have round-abouts instead of four way stops. Their cars are usually a little smaller than ours. When asked if Aussies eat kangaroo, emu and crocodile meat, Ren said they are on the menu in a few restaurants, but it isn’t common.

For sports, Aussies enjoy soccer, rugby, tennis and  surfing, which is one of Ren’s favorite sports. A trait that is common in Australia is that they shorten many words they use: sunnies for sunglasses and barbie for barbecue are just a couple of examples.

Joe and Ren, we are glad to have you in B-3 this year.