New Camp, New Kids, New Experiences

Well we are half way through the third week of camp and we have moved locations and switched kids. I was assigned to the Level 1 (beginners) again at this camp with one of the other girls. (I am hoping that meant they were happy with my performance in the first two weeks) There are some huge differences between the kids at this camp. Their vocabulary is about the same but their writing and spelling abilities are way lower. But in general they are much better and speaking and know a ton of phrases. We are at a elementary school and there is a playground there which makes productivity at this camp go way down, but the kids are having fun and that is what matters. My kids again love Duck, Duck, Goose and all day every day they ask "Ahhhhdrienne, play Duck?"

After we went over numbers and colors we decided to play Uno with the kids to see how they liked it. Turns out Uno is a pretty widespread game and most of our kids knew how to play, but the ones that didn't caught on quickly and we all have tons of fun. They say "Stopo" for Skip, and "Passo" when they pick up and card and still can't go. They also all conspired against me today and kept making me pick up cards. Luckily I got them back when I won picture Bingo later :-p

One thing I love about this group of kids is anytime we say the word Happy they burst into song. I had never heard of it before so I decided to research it today and I found what they have been singing. It's kind of catchy and I've had it stuck in my head all week because of them.

I am picking up more Italian words and can only slightly communicate to various people around town. I pretty much have the numbers, most of the colors, lots of fruits (because of gelato), and various greetings and common phrases. I wish I was learning more, but it's not as easy as I thought it would be.

Summer Plans

I was lucky enough to have lunch with my best college friend this weekend while he was in town. It was awesome to catch up as we are finding ourselves in similar life situations. At one point he said to me "It seems like all of our friends are either getting married and having kids or starting over." And all of a sudden it hit me, I am starting over, again. I started over when I graduated high school, I started over when I graduated college, I started over when my grandfather died, I started over when I moved to MA, I started over when my dad died, I started over when I moved to Texas, moved in with my ex and started a new career. And now I am starting over again. But here's the difference this time, I am only starting over for myself and because I want too. So when my relationship ended, and I moved out and moved on I sat down and thought about what I wanted to do next. But I couldn't think of anything. So I thought about all the things that I regretted not doing in my life. The one that stuck out the most was I reget not studying aboard. And I realized it wasn't necessarily too late for that. So I looked online and found an opportunity. After a short phone interview I was offered a position teaching at an English immersion summer camp in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Italy. It is a small coastal town on the Adriatic Sea.

I will be living here for about a month in an apartment provide by the camp along with 7 other counselors. We work Monday-Friday 9am-1pm and have the rest of the time free to ourselves. We have be provided with bikes to transport ourselves, a cleaning service for the apartment, groceries deliver to our door every other day, and a full kitchen to cook in. I also have booked a few extra days on each end of my trip to travel around Italy. My mom and sister are meeting me there in the last two weeks of my trip to travel themselves and meet up with me. I am actually excited about starting over here. I get to combine my two favorite things, traveling and working with kids.

It is going to be a challenge living in a foreign country where I don't really speak the language. It will be a challenge to teach English to students who don't know it at all. And it will a challenge to be away from everything familiar for 6 weeks. But I think it is just what I need. I need to do something for myself for a change. I have been trapped in someone else's life for way too long, walking on eggshells and only worrying about pleasing others and not taking care of myself.  So I am starting my own Eat, Pray, Love adventure. I want to cleanse my soul and remind myself of who I am.