Week 10: Invitation to a World Celebration

Last week of camp!! It is hard to believe that this summer has flown by already. The kids have grown on my like mold on cheese and I am having a hard time parting with them. They are smart, funny, and sometimes a little outrageous; I can't get enough of them. We celebrated different countries this week and it was the perfect way to end our summer. 

This week I was adopted by a wonderful family!! Camp Adventure does an adopt a counselor program where a family takes a counselor under their wing and will take them to dinner or invite them over for dinner or anything they fill fit. This week Emily (another 5 - 6 year old counselor) where invited to go out to dinner by one of my little girl's family. They took us to this wonderful Brazilian dinner!! They had a huge buffet of black beans and rice, fritters, meat, cheese, bread, and numerous different kinds of salads. There was an area where you could watch them cook many different kinds of meat over an open flame. After we finished with the food from the buffet, they come around with the meat from the fire on a huge skewer and slice it directly onto your plate. We had probably 8 different kinds of meat - amazing! We then got a little dessert of pineapple that had been crusted with cinnamon and sugar and then warmed over the fire as well. It was a wonderful meal and the Kiersteads were a wonderful family to spend our evening with. THANK YOU!! 

Wednesdays are always a night we do family dinners with all the Camp Adventure people - Aquatics, Child Development Center workers, and Day Camp. This week we got to have a POOL PARTY!! This was by far the highlight of the week! For family dinners we usually come to gather and mingle and play games. This time we spent the evening in the swimming pool! It seems silly because I spend every day at the pool with my kids, however I am constantly on alert because there are a ton of kids and I have to be in 5 different directions at one time. This pool party gave me the opportunity to jump off the diving board, go down slides, and just relax and enjoy myself! We had a taco bar for dinner and played in the pool. It was an absolute perfect evening! We also did silly awards at our last family dinner. Everyone was given an award for "Mostly Likely To …" I had the pleasure of taking away Most Likely to Walky Talky Audrey. Audrey is our supervisor and I am constantly calling her over the our 5 - 6 year old tent for something. Whether I have something to ask her/tell her, having a situation with a kid, having a situation with anything. She spends a lot of time at our tent. This was the perfect way to end our summer with a good laugh for everyone!

Camp Adventure at the end of every summer program does a special celebration called Dessertfest. We also did a Dessertfest at WSU after we had completed all our training and we could invite our families to come and see what we were up to. On Thursday Camp Adventure Naples, Italy had the pleasure of presenting to the parents and anyone else who showed up what exactly we have been up to. Each age group prepared a song or skit to perform for dessertfest and  we sang God Bless the USA (a very special song to these people - you could probably imagine). All the parents were asked to bring some kind of dessert to share and after our performances we all got treats! It was pretty chaotic because there were a lot of people there, but it went fairly smoothly and we didn't lose any kids!! HOORAY! We did not have a lot of time because we had to stick with our usual bus schedule, therefore I did not get a lot of time to mingle with parents and that was pretty disappointing. I spent the whole time wandering around trying to keep track of all my kids!! It was definitely a relief when everyone was accounted for and we were sending our kids to their final destination.

The last day of camp we had a special "World Fair" the kids had a chance to travel different countries (or tents in this case) and play different games or do different activities that relate to the country. It was a very crazy last day, but we had a chance to say our good byes and spend a little time signing shirts and posters and taking pictures with our kids. However because of the chaos, by the end of the day I realized it was time send them on their way. They definitely will stick with me  for a long time. They were wonderful kids to spend my summer with and I will miss them!

This week I also had to get all my belongings together to get ready to head home! I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the summer and it is proving to be quite a task. I also have been living in Italy for 10 weeks now and I just have a lot of stuff period! 

Glorious yet Insane: Napoli!

This weekend we decided we were ready to have a relaxing weekend, do a little shopping and hopefully get rid of our crazy tan lines!!

Saturday we took the bus into Naples to do a little shopping and just check things out. We allowed the joy of sleeping in and a wonderful breakfast from the hotel - croissant with procutto, cheese, some nutella, and fruit. We attempted to catch the bus that took us to the usual metro stop, however our bus NEVER CAME. So we hopped on the next bus that came which hook us to Pozzuoli, this is fairly close to our hotel, however we needed to catch the metro or another bus and so we waited. We ended up just taking a taxi to the metro station because we were tired of waiting and ready to get somewhere! We finally made it into downtown Naples after about 3 hours of traveling and waiting. We spent the day wandering the streets of Naples for souvenirs and lots of retail therapy. It was the most wonderful day with some wonderful friends I have made here at Camp Adventure. We had such a great time and I came home with numerous excellent purchases :) 

On the way home it was another long journey! We took the metro to our usual bus stop, waited for an hour and decided we needed Plan B!! We ended up taking the same route we did going to Naples. We took the metro to Pozzouli and then we just took a taxi to our hotel. It again took us about 3 hours to get to our final destination. 

There are few things I desperately long for at home … my own transportation is very high on that list!! We are tired of waiting and waiting and waiting! 

Week 8: Wild Things and Warm and Fuzzies

Well camp is dwindling down and over all this week was pretty good. We had fewer kids this week (thank goodness!) and it was a pretty laid back week. Each week is just flying by and I just wish I could slow things down!! This week I participated in Outdoor Club and we had a great time! We had a chance to learn about being outdoors with Pete from the NOR Center (thanks Pete for doing all the work!) The kids got to rock climb on a rock wall the NOR Center has, and then we took them on a hike to the top of the crater. They had fun and it was a nice change of pace for camp. 

Definitely a Wild Thing

This week we did Cream the Counselor again. One of my girls, Angie, was drawn to cream a counselor. Well I was the lucky counselor chosen! This week we were creamed with apple sauce. I was not terribly impressed with the whole idea of applesauce, but then I decided it was significantly better than any kind of cream all over me! Especially in the blazing hot sun! Well Angie creamed me SSOO good!! It projectiles directly up my nose and splattered all over my shirt. I cleaned up the best I could, but I was a MESS! It was hilarious and the kids absolutely love it, therefore I love it too. 

Applesauce in my FACE!

Staying at Capo - where I am living now - makes traveling into Naples so easy! We went one night during the week and went out to dinner (pizza of course) and did a little shopping and just explored the city. This time we spend in Naples helps me to appreciate the city more and more. I am crushed that my time here is coming to an end. I have loved being in Italy with these wonderful people and great children. Life just could not get much better. 

Exploring Napoli!

We had the usual family dinner this week, the people in charge of cooking included a wonderful girl who is bound to be a gourmet chef! She made sure we were well fed! It was glorious!! We then had a talent show - not so glorious! However, it was a great time!

We have a WONDERFUL mom that makes us lunch occasionally!

Thank you Kristina!!

Rustic and Peaceful: Cinque Terre

Graffiti along the Via dell' Amore

I finally have made it to Cinque Terre, Italy!! For those of you who have missed this, I tried 3 times unsuccessfully to make it to Cinque Terre! The first time I was meeting my roommate from college (Alyson) but my buddies (we are obviously required to travel with buddies wherever we go) did not have Eurail passes and it was not worth the trip. The second time Audrey and I got to the train station and the trains were on strike and not running, then the third time half my group was downtown at the train station to make reservations, but the trains were all full! Fortunately I was persistent and unwilling to give up and let me tell you it was absolutely worth it!! 

Leaving my mark along the Via dell' Amore

Cinque Terre translates to "5 Lands". It is a group of 5 towns about 6 hours (very fast train (300 km/hr)) north of Napoli. We started and stayed in the town farthest south, Riomaggiore, then it is Manorola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. They are all a little different and incredibly picture perfect. A lot of people compare it to the Amalfi Coast and Positano, but I would have to say they do not compare!! The Amalfi Coast is extremely wealth. The rich and famous are known to vacation here and you can tell there is money there. However, the Cinque Terre is extremely rustic and quaint. They towns are extremely old and much of the history talks about how they were used as protection during wars. They are full of families that have lived here for generations and they are very small. They are known for their wine and pesto originated from this area, so there is vegetations on the sides of the mountains, it seems impossible, but when you look at the mountainside it is like giant steps. These have been built so the people are able to use the land for a living. It is pretty fascinating and incredible! 

The streets of Riomaggiore

It was just Audrey and me traveling and it was absolutely glorious! Audrey and I left Friday night (around 9:00) on a night train. It was about a 7 hour train ride to La Spezia (this is a main town just south of Cinque Terre where the big trains stop). I did not have many expectations or any ideas what exactly this train would be like, but it was AWFUL! The train has little rooms (just like Harry Potter) with 6 seats and the little sliding door. The seats fold out and you can lay down with the person across from you to sleep and relax. Well this is very inconvenient if you are right next to the door. The train was full and it stopped frequently. People were constantly getting on and off the train, there were people lined in the walk way of the train who were extremely loud and annoying. The best was when the train workers flung open the door and flicked on the lights to check out tickets. Mamma Mia!! I did not sleep hardly at all, all night. We made it to La Spezia at about 4:15 am, then another very short train ride to Riomaggiore. We officially arrived in Cinque Terre! (Riomaggiore is the southern most town in the Cinque Terre). However, it was 5 am and we were in a very quiet, sleepy town! We just dozed in the train station until about 6:30 until the town started to come alive. We grabbed some coffee and a pastry, checked out bags at the train station for the day, and we were ready for our hike by 7:30!

Via dell' Amore between Riomaggiore and Manarola

Cinque Terre is also a national park and there is a hiking trail that goes between all five towns. It is a 7 mile hike and it takes about 5 hours! The hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola is called the Via dell' Amore ("lovers walk"). It is a simple paved route with a long tunnel built to prevent landslides from closing the tunnel. This tunnel is full of grafitti that everyone signs on their way through, some of the art work is absolutely incredible and I definitely made sure to leave my mark :) The hike between Manarola and Corniglia was a little longer, but pretty simple. The trail leads you through beautiful gardens and groves of olives and grapes. You also have picture perfect moments to look back over the town. 

Manarola

The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza was again a little more challenging and long, but absolutely beautiful. You have beautiful views of the steep cliffs and the bluest water you could imagine. Absolutely breathtaking! We stopped at a supermarket in Vernazza for a little bit of lunch - this consisted of bread, meat, cheese, fruit, and tomatoes! This is my favorite lunch to get, because I love shopping at the little supermarkets. I especially love the cheap wine from these markets!

Corniglia

The hike between Vernazza and Monterosso is pretty intense! It is steep and the ground is very rough and uneven. There are rocks everywhere and they jab out of the ground making this a very tough hike. I did not take many pictures during this part because it takes a lot of work and concentration, and I was ready to be done and get to the beach!

By the time we finished the hike it took us about 5 hours! It was absolutely blazing hot and i was ready for the beach. When we got to Monterosso we decided the beach was the perfect way to finish off our afternoon. We found a spot of free beach and that is where we spent the rest of our afternoon - soaking it all in! 

Monterosso

After a few hours of relaxing we wandered around Monterosso, got a few souvenirs and some Focaccia bread!! This region is known for their Focaccia bread, and I will vouch it is absolutely incredible!! We then headed back to Riomaggiore for the evening. The towns that make up Cinque Terre are all very small so there are not big hostels and hotels to stay in like the larger cities. We did find a place that had some rooms they rented out just like a hostel. We stayed in a small "apartment" with a handful of other people and it was again an excellent experience. I have been extremely fortunate to come across wonderful people during my hostel stays. It really seems everyone is on the same mission we are and it just makes for a wonderful experience!  We relaxed for awhile and then headed out into Riomaggiore for the evening. We had dinner at a wonderful little restaurant (thank you Rick Steves) that over looked the town, It was excellent! I had homemade fresh pasta, with swordfish, capers, olives, and tomatoes! (YUM!) We had caprese salad with rosemary (it is usually with basil) and it was the best thing EVER! Then we headed back to our room full and tired for our extremely busy day! 

Audrey and I woke up pretty early and headed back to Naples, we grabbed some pastries from a little bakery and we were on our way home!

Week 7: Jungle Week!

Another incredible week at Camp Adventure! This week was again absolute chaos!! We had a huge influx of 5 - 6 year olds. We had between 30 and 40 of them all week! There were also about 10 new kids throughout the week. WOW! It not only was crazy getting that many kids, but then we also had to teach them what camp was all about. 

This week I also moved … again. The last three weeks in Naples I will live on one of the bases in an "apartment", actually just a large hotel room. The base is called Capodichino and it is where a majority of the military people work here in Naples. We live here because there is a group of kids that are dropped off and picked up from this base, we then are in charge of going to the Support Site to pick up ALL the kids and ride the buses with them. We then ride the buses out to Carney Park for camp. We then have to ride the bus back to Capo to make sure this group of kids gets home safely. We have a pretty early morning and we spend A LOT of time on the bus, but we also get off at 4:30 and the group of kids that go to Capo is very small and they are great kids! This is absolutely incredible, especially for the last three weeks. We are also extremely close to downtown Naples, with just a short (consistent and reliable) shuttle ride! So we will definitely spend a little time in Naples soaking it all in!

This week our theme was Jungle Theme! We had wonderful clubs and programming for the kids this week and the kids were a lot of fun! I participated with games club and the kids had a great time playing many different games known to Camp Adventure. On friday we also had a Health Fair. People from the military hospital came out to Carney Park, set up booths, and each group got to go around to the different booths and learn tons of wonderful information. The rotations were quick and the kids really seemed to enjoy all the different booths. This also of course means it was a pretty simple friday with very few accident reports (YES!) This of course leads to me tell you who wonderful my kids are ...

I do feeling very grateful that our group is absolutely wonderful! We definitely have to enforce serious routines and structure to be successful and sane! Our kids all know exactly the routine we will have throughout the day and for the most part (especially my 1/4 of the group) know exactly what is expected of them when they come to camp. I have really grown attached to my kids and I definitely realized it this week! Because we have 3 counselors (4 this week) we split the kids into smaller groups so they are more manageable. I have a group of about 9 kids and a lot of them have been with me all summer, so they really understand exactly what I expect of them and they understand who is in charge. 

I also have been fighting my flight change plans! My mom and grandbarb are coming to Italy on August 21st and I am extending my ticket to August 28th. Well it has never been an issue with Camp Adventure. People change their tickets all the time for personal travel and it is never an issue - that is until I come into the mix! My mom has been fighting this ticket change for weeks, she has probably spent endless hours on the phone with this person who tells her to call this person then this person and this person … WELL FINALLY she got through to the right people and was able to change my ticket! WAHOO!! So it looks like I am staying an extra week to travel around with my mom and Grandbarb and I am absolutely thrilled! 

Pictures will be on their way :)

Adventurous White Water Rafting

This weekend Audrey and I took a trip with the NOR Center (Navy Outdoor Recreation) it was absolutely the most incredible weekend ever!! It was very refreshing to do something different and outdoors. We went to Rafting Adventure Lao in Calabria. It is located in the Parco Nazionale del Pollino. Calabria is about 3-4 hours south of Naples. 

View from the camp ground

We left first thing Saturday morning and it was suppose to be about 3 - 4 hours of driving, however there was construction on the highway and they detoured us an extra 2 hours! A positive note about this detour is that we saw some of the most beautiful scenery and beautiful beaches!! So it ended up taking us 6 hours to get where we needed to go! As I struggle with motion sickness this also includes car sickness. So I took motion sickness medicine and slept the whole entire time. This was perfect for me because I was exhausted and I didn't get sick :) We got to our final destination around 230 and we got all of our gear on - this includes wetsuit, booties, a jacket, lifejacket, and helmet. At this time I am thinking - oh shoot what did I get myself into? They loaded us up in a bus as we sweat to death in our wetsuits and took us to our drop in point. There were about 15 of us including the NOR Center staff. We took 3 boats and each boat had a guide (it was absolutely amazing to watch the level of talent and understanding of the river!) When we got there they briefed us on all the things we would need to know, such as paddling and what to do incase you fall out (this came in handy later on!).  Facebook photo was taken during this time - hilarious. We then hoped into our boats and off we went. It was really exciting and a little intense. We all got to paddle and there were some really exciting rapids! FYI - This is nothing like "floating" the Kettle River - haha. 

My boat!

Calabria was the most beautiful area I could ever imagine (yes another place). There were mountains and trees and I felt like I was home!  The water was FREEZING cold, but it was such a clear green color and we probably could have drank it right from the river! It was beautiful! The whole river was lined with steep rock walls and there was water running right off the growth hanging over from the forest. There were beautiful waterfalls everywhere and one we got to stop and walk into! It was freezing, but so so cool! Because of the steep rock walls there was not much sun that creeped down to us! I was a very chilly girl by the end of our trip! 

RAPIDS!

The most eventful part of the rafting trip hands down was a very rough patch of rapids. There was a lot of chatter about this patch before we even got on the trip, but it got a little intense when we finally got there!! There were ropes lining the rock walls in this area where we pull off to the side of the river and hook up our boats. The guides make everyone get out of the boats so they can get out and check out the situation and decide what exactly needs to be done!! So we stood and kind of waited it out to see what would happen! So the decided we were good to go and everyone loaded back up in to their boats. They told us to be prepared to move if it was needed! So the first boat goes and everything goes pretty smoothly, they did not have any problems. Then it was our boats turn … It apparently was the first time our guide had gone through these rapids and it unfortunately was not a success! We got wedged up against a rock and he shouted for us to get over to the left and it somehow got lost in translation. The first lady was gone instantly, she flipped right over the edge, then it all happened so quickly. All I knew was that I was headed in, face first, directly into these raging rapids!! AHH!!! It was definitely a little terrifying. I could not tell you what exactly happen, I am pretty sure I was under the boat at one point!! Luckily, I quickly came up with my helmet wrapped around my face, with probably the most traumatized look on my face. Luckily the first boat was there to quickly rescue my whole boat crew. Audrey was the only person who stayed in the boat, and it was quite an entertaining story to relive! One of the guys in my boat said he wished he had a camera to capture the look on my face as I was going in the water because he said I had the fear of God in my face. I would have paid money to see that!! That ultimately is the part you fear the most, falling in. Luckily I got it out of the way and it wasn't really all that horrible. The rest of the afternoon luckily was fairly uneventful, it was pretty smooth through the rest of the trip and we really took the opportunity to soak up the beautiful surroundings and enjoy the great company. 

Beautiful beach I spent the afternoon on!

The people in my boat where just the kindest people ever! They were friendly and they just made the rafting trip and the whole weekend even more enjoyable! We finished up early evening and it was just awesome! We got back to the main area where we set up our camp and got all cleaned up. They then prepared us some incredible dinner, pork steaks, spicy sausage, pasta salad, and some kind of bruschetta and of course some wine. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of this day I enjoyed my dinner a s'more and I headed off to bed fairly early :) 

Funny side note about s'mores - there was a group of Italians there camping and we had all the Italians eating s'mores!! It was so funny and they loved them!

Short hike over this ridge to more beautiful beaches!

The next morning we all got up pretty early to get the day started. We got up and cleaned up camp, Pete (one of the NOR staff who has been incredibly awesome to the whole Camp A staff - including BBQ-ing for us and just being super awesome) made us all steak and potato breakfast in a dutch oven (YUM!) We then loaded up and we headed home. On our long detour we passed by some of the most beautiful beaches and we decided we needed to head back and experience these beaches!! We spent the day laying around on the beach, swimming, and doing a little hiking. It was just the perfect afternoon! We stopped off at a little random restaurant for some DELICIOUS lunch after the beach and then headed back home to Naples. 

The weekend was absolutely perfect. It was something very unique that people visiting Italy may not necessarily get to experience. It was a amazing and just another reason why I am absolutely loving Italy. 

Week 6: Space Raiders and Cosmic Invaders

For week 6 I got to live at Carney Park! We live in little 2 bedroom cabins with a little kitchen, and dining room table. It is a public bathroom, but it was AMAZING having an opportunity to COOK! I definitely am getting a little tired of eating from the microwave so this was awesome. There were four of us and we all cooked out together and had excellent food! It was also incredibly peaceful out in our cabins!! There is not many people during the week and it was just incredibly quiet and serene. I absolutely loved waking up to fresh air, sunshine, and birds! I actually had a hard time waking up because it was so incredibly quiet and peaceful! Luckily I was not late for work! 

Campers performing a skit for us!

The weeks continue to get crazier and crazier!! This week I spent Monday in bed sick :( I woke up feeling very awful and went to work, but then just went back to my cabin and went to sleep all day long. It was well needed, but I still spent a few days recuperating. We had a lot of kids this week, between 25 and 30 and we were all very tired at the end of the week!! 

I participated in water club this week and the kids LOVE getting wet! It is hot outside and any excuse to cool down is excellent. However, this week there were a few cool days :( but it was kind of a relief! 

Cream the Counselor with cream cheese!!

Friday is always dress up and this week I dressed up as the Camp A super hero to save the Earth from the aliens! It was quite entertaining. Each week we also do "Cream the Counselor" we keep track of good behavior and we draw a name for a child to get to cream the counselor of their choice in the face. Well this week was my turn, but instead of being creamed with whip cream I was cream with cream cheese. Oh wow - kind of yucky!! The positive note was that it did not melt and run all over my face and get in my hair like whip cream does :)