The Isle of Capri

A group of four of us took a day trip to the Isle of Capri on saturday and it was pretty phenomenal!! It was described as the place after you leave earth and before you get to heaven. I would strongly agree. 

We got up pretty early saturday to make the trek downtown to the port, the lines were crazy for the ferries, but we patiently waited!! We took a ferry to Capri, which was about an hour ferry ride. We rode on a ferry that had an open top and we got to sit and enjoy our surroundings. However the weather was not the best on this day and it was a little chilly during this ferry ride! 

When we got to Capri we were planning on renting our own boat to tour the island, but with this awful weather came a lot of wind and huge waves. The boat didn't end up working out, but we paid a little extra to take a personal tour of the island and this was incredible!! Antonio was our boat drivers name with his boat named "Feeling". He drove us around the island into some of the coolest caves and we were able to see the island up close and personal. He stopped off and anchored the boat for a little while and we were able jump off into the crystal clear water and swim, snorkel, and jump off some rocks. I however was not feeling very awesome this day for some reason (a few factors I am sure include motion sickness, exhaustion, and sun) so I slept on the boat and got an awesome tan while everyone else was snorkeling and jumping off rocks! This worked out perfect for me personally! As we were headed back to the main marina area there were the hugest waves EVER! Something you may see in movies I feel like! There was one that came directly over the top of our boat and DRENCHED us and all of things. We did make it back safely, but of course after a little sea sickness from yours truly! Of course by the end of this boat ride my camera was dead and I did not get nearly enough pictures of this wonderful trip!!

After this we wandered around for a bit and had a little bit to eat (we did not buy anything to eat except gelato because everything is extremely expensive on this island because it is so popular/touristy!) We then took the bus high on the island to Anacapri where we rode a CHAIR LIFT to the very tippy top of this island! It was the most incredible view of the whole world it seemed like! It was so interesting to me to ride a chair lift without any snow!! Then to top it off we rode back DOWN the chair lift, that I have never done!  Later in the evening we caught a ferry back into Naples to head home for the evening. We were in Naples around 7:30 - 8:00 and it was just the most incredible thing ever!! The city was coming alive with music and people and I was absolutely in heaven!! It made me a little more crazy for Naples, Italy! We slowly made our way back to the metro station where we caught the metro to our bus and back to the hotel for the night. It was a great day and I was very grateful for a good nights rest after that day!

Week 5: Leaping Through the Looking Glass

Another crazy week at Camp Adventure!! This week my roommate, Cheri, and I were in charge of programming and we had a fantastic week! It was absolutely blazing hot again, but we as usual survived. 

Overall the kids were pretty good this week, however there were a few CRAZY days! It seems there was something in the air because they just were a little out of control.

In all honesty the days and weeks are beginning to blur together! There was one day when our buses were very late because they were caught in traffic and I could not honestly tell you what day it was.

It was a great week but it was very busy and I am very tired! 

Flawless and Exquisite: Sorrento and Positano

Well this weekend I was SET to go to Cinque Terre, I was planning on traveling with 4 other girls from the day camp program and we were so excited! We got home from work pretty late and had enough time to shower and grab our stuff before the last bus of the evening came. There are two of us staying on the hotel and then 3 of the girls are living at Carney Park. The other 3 girls went downtown to make sure we could make reservations so everything would be ready when we got there. WELL … as we were waiting for the bus (and waiting, and waiting) the other 3 girls called and the trains to the Cinque Terre were all full and there were not any more leaving Friday night. NNNOOO!!! This is the third time i have tried to make it to the Cinque Terre and it has FAILED! Luckily those of us coming from the hotel did not even get onto the bus so we just came back to the hotel and spent the evening quickly working on Plan B. 

The girls I traveled with had not been to the Amalfi Coast - just south of Naples. So this quickly became Plan B. I LOVED the Amalfi coast so I was completely alright with making a second trip!! WOOHOO!! We were able to book a last minute hostel at the same place I stayed the first time I went so it worked perfectly!! We got up very early saturday morning to catch the bus from the hotel to the metro station, then from the metro station downtown to the central train station where we caught the train to Sorrento!! We spent a few hours just wandering around the city of Sorrento and just soaking in the beautiful surroundings! We did a little shopping and just enjoyed the town. We needed to get to Positano (about a 1 hour bus ride from Sorrento) for our hostel and the WONDERFUL beaches!! 

This was the ultimate goal so we took the terrifying (life flashing before my eyes) bus ride to Positano. We checked into our hostel and headed for the beach!! It was absolutely BLAZING hot so it was such a relief to make it down the 600 steps to the beach. We rented a beach chair and spent the whole afternoon soaking up the hot sun next to the beautiful ocean. For some reason there was a little bit of a jellyfish invasion so we were not really able to go in the water (at least I wasn't swimming with the jellyfish), but we sat on the edge of the water and let it splash on us if we needed to cool down (or just go rinse off in the outdoor showers they provide). It was critical to rinse off a number of times during our sunning session because I was laying in my chair doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and I was sweating out of every pore of my body. It was wonderful to be releasing the toxins, but Mamma Mia!! Then we headed back up the 600 steps (again sweating like I never imagined possible) to clean up and relax. Then of course we headed out for a little bit of dinner and wine (unfortunately not the best dinner, I really wish we would have gone to this little family business we passed by, but unfortunately everyone else missed the memo!) Then we headed back to the hostel to just relax and enjoy the company of our fellow hostel friends (with a few drinks of course). 

Sunday we did not want to be stuck on the train when they shut the power off like the last time I travelled to Positano, so we headed out pretty early, wandered around Sorrento for a little while longer (along with 2 cruise ships full of crazy tourists!!) and then caught the train back to Napoli. Thank goodness the traveling was very uneventful and it was a perfect relaxing weekend!!!

Part of me wishes I could stay here forever, the Amalfi Coast is just the absolute most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life! There is endless lemon groves as you wind through the towns and these incredible towns chiseled into the side of the mountains, and little houses tucked away where you could never imagine. It is just priceless and breath taking. I definitely feel blessed after spending my weekend in paradise. 

Week 4: Sports Week

(7/12 - 7/16)

Another week has passed SO quickly!! This week was sports themed week and we all had a great time with it. Our clubs were fun this week! We had jump rope club, recreation from other nations (sports games from other countries), nutrition club, and arts and crafts club. I had cooking club this week and we made some delicious snacks! The kids really seemed to enjoy it and I loved talked about food with the kids. 

Kids enjoying Nutrition Club

This week was absolutely blazing hot. They do a flag color system to tell about the weather - yellow flag is about 85 - 88 degrees, red is 88 - 89.9, and then 90 and up is black flag. With a black flag we have to quit all strenuous activity because it is so incredible hot. It was pretty much a red flag all week; thank goodness for lots of pool time in the afternoon! However Friday was a black flag day (by 11:00) - it was hot and exhausting. Luckily we still went to the pool and we just worked to keep the kids busy, but still doing low active activities. During this hot weather the past few weeks I did not fully realize I could sweat while standing still doing nothing, but I do. 

For our field trip this week we went to the movie (by far my favorite part of camp :) We watch Shrek 4 and it was such a great movie!! My kids do great during this time! They all get popcorn and a sprite, as well as a bathroom break before the movie starts, and they do great! Watching the 2 movies we have seen has really put me in a movie kick! I really wish I could just relax and watch a movie these days. I may have to get one to watch on my computer during the evenings. 

For our field trip this week we went to the movie (by far my favorite part of camp :) We watch Shrek 4 and it was such a great movie!! My kids do great during this time! They all get popcorn and a sprite, as well as a bathroom break before the movie starts, and they do great! Watching the 2 movies we have seen has really put me in a movie kick! I really wish I could just relax and watch a movie these days. I may have to get one to watch on my computer during the evenings. 

Extreme tiredness has started to settle in. I am up late playing on my computer, or trying to plan our next weekend trip, and outside going 100 miles a minute all day it could be catching up to me. This week I also had a number of things to take care of for camp, we do family dinners and it was my groups turn to cook (then the commissary was closed because of strikes), my roommate and I were in charge of programming for week 5 of camp, and we are doing a team building activity during our family dinners so I have another group/team that I am working with for this. So extremely busy and lacking sleep. I better get some rest otherwise these last 5 weeks may do me in! Well overall another great week! Still loving Italy, but I thought a lot about my family this week because it was Addelynn's 1st birthday on the 16th! Happy Birthday Addelynn! Such a big girl :)

Gelato I had for Adde's brithday

 I wish I could post more pictures of me with my kids at camp, however I do not feel comfortable posting their pictures on the internet, just for their privacy. So I will make sure to share LOTS of pictures of them when I get home :)

Ciao!!  

Week 3: Rangers, Robots, and Toy Box Treasures

(7/5 - 7/9)

I am sorry I got a little behind on my blogs, but I finally have a little spare time and here I am!!

This week our theme was related to the Toy Story, which was absolutely perfect because the week before we took our weekly field trip and went and saw Toy Story 3. We take field trips every Thursday, but because Italy is a little crazy we only go to 2 places, the bowling alley and the movie theater on base. At other Camp Adventure sights they take incredible field trips and that is how they see a lot of wonderful sights at their location. However, we make due and getting to go to the movies every other week is awesome!! We get popcorn and soda for free and it is a great time! 

Camp this week was a little crazy! We did not have camp monday for the 4th of July holiday so I spent the day in Naples exploring a little bit more. It was really fun and each time I do this I learn to like Naples a little more. It is a very insane place (a little rough around the edges), but it is also incredible and has so much to offer as well (some people would raise an eyebrow at this, but I am sticking to it.) 

The kids making "Toy Castles" 

After the busy weekend we headed back to camp on Tuesday and there was no water at Carney Park (the recreation sight where we have camp). Carney Park is a dormant volcano crater and it is a wonderful recreation sight, but the water is a little challenging. The water is only irrigation water so we cannot drink it or cook with it and the plumbing system is definitely not superb. However Camp Adventure does not usually have the privilege of being outside all day long, camp is usually just held in a youth center. For this I am extremely grateful. However, no water for camp could be extremely challenging, however it ended up working out just fine. 

Cheri, Me, Emily (5-6 year old counselors)

Then Wednesday was even more interesting!! The Italian civilian workers for the military were scheduled to strike all day on Wednesday. The main base where military personnel work is where the strike was and the base was going to be on lock down all day, nobody on, nobody off. This was a problem because we have 4 Camp A people living on this base and that meant we did not get our counselors for the day. We had fewer kids so that made it a little easier, but we were also missing 4 counselors!! Luckily, as usual we all pulled through and the day went on. Also I was a little disappointed because I did not actually see anyone on strike! 

Obviously the rest of the week went much smoother. We did get to go bowling this week for our field trip and it was again a crazy, wonderful week!! Another little highlight was a wonderful mom who saw me having a serious talk with one of my little guys who gets frustrated and then reacts by pushing or hitting, basically he just does not know how to solve his problems so he reacts in a negative way.  This mom was so kind and told me I was doing a great job, and she could tell I was a teacher because I was on top of my game with the kids. It really made me feel good :) I know I can be stern sometimes, but I have some EXTREMELY challenging kids and I know it helps keep them in line and me sane! 

The Camp A Superhero!

Another great week FLYING by!! Ciao!

Another incredible adventure … Florence

Piazzale Michelangelo - Overlooking the city of Florence

Well another weekend has come to my time in Italy and of course we are off and running! My supervisor Audrey and I decided we were going to travel to the Cinque Terre - we got back to our hotel after work around 7:40 Friday evening, and we needed to catch the last bus at 8:40 to make it downtown to the train station. We managed to make it all the way to the central train station without any issues. This is where it gets good … when you ride the big fast trains you usually need to buy your ticket and reserve a seat for yourself. Well I have a Eurail pass so we only needed to reserve a seat and we would be on our way. Well the ticket office was closed and the Self-Service machine was not giving us an option to just reserve a seat, so we were just going to wait and get on the train because it was a 10:50 train so we were not too worried about getting a seat. We were just waiting when a very nice Italian man asked if we were alright and said he saw us wandering and wanted to make sure we were doing okay. We told him we were fine but we were having a hard time reserving a seat for ourself on the train. So he kind of helped us out with the machine and was the nicest guy ever! He spoke great English, was traveling for business, and was from the Naples area. Then he explained to us that there was kind of a situation with the trains, the trains were on strike, so the train we were waiting for was going to be 85 minutes late, then we would miss our connection train in Selerno. So he told us it was not a good idea to travel tonight and we would not make it anywhere. OH JEEZ! So we obviously were in an interesting situation. Also the buses were done running because by now it was 10:00. Luckily we have some Camp A girls staying on one of the military base sites very close to the downtown area so we caught a taxi to their place and stayed there. 

The Duomo

Of course we needed to find a new place to go because the Cinque Terre is a 6 hour train ride and you have to leave Friday night in order to get a full day Saturday otherwise it is not worth the long trip. So we chose Florence!! We were able to book 2 beds at a hostel and we were on our way first thing saturday morning (this time without any issues). It is a 3 hour train ride and we made in their around 11 and spent the whole day shopping and just enjoying the city. It is extremely different than Naples. It is clean and small, with open piazzas everywhere (kind of like little parks) and just beautiful!! We did not do any of the popular museums because Audrey did them all 2 years ago when she was here, and because my mom and Grandbarb are coming I figured I would be fine waiting. Florence is known for their leather and it is just the most incredible thing ever! There is leather stores everywhere, bags, jackets, gloves, bracelets, and of course more bags (as I believe you all know I am a crazy bag lady and I LOVE BAGS!) I could have bought a dozen of them. There is a huge central market where all the stores come and set up stands and it is just incredible to wander around and see all the souvenirs, scarves, jewelry, and of course leather. Most importantly there is also the food and gelato. Rick Steves (incredible author/traveling genius) told us about a kind of hidden market within the central market where we could buy a cheap delicious lunch of bread, cheese, fruit, and olives from the many different people in this market. So I bought cheese, bread, fruit, and tomatoes. It was delicious and I had the best experience there!! Then of course we found a little gelato shop and had our serving of gelato for the day. i had mango and strawberry! YUM!

Mercato Centrale

After an incredibly sticky hot afternoon we headed to our hostel to check in and get cleaned up. We showered and relaxed for a little while and then we were off again.There is a little piazza that over looks all of Florence, Michaelanglo Piazza. We dropped by a little super market where we bought a delicious bottle of wine (where the wonderful wine man opened it for us before we left the store!!) some plastic cups and some crackers. We hiked to this piazza and sat on the steps over looking the city as the sun went down. It was absolutely beautiful and it was a perfect spot to spend the evening. On our way down the hill we stopped at a little Pizzeria to share a Gorgonzola pizza (mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese - heavenly!!) As we finished this up we slowly wandered through the city as we made our way back to our hostel. We had talked about heading out for a drink or something, but we were both exhausted so instead we went to bed :) 

Incredible Market

We started Sunday with the perfect chocolate filled pastry and cappuccino and spent a few more hours shopping. We had a kebab for lunch (absolutely amazing! Like a gyro in a pita) as we waited for our train and then headed back to the great city of Napoli. WOW - what a weekend, but so far I have enjoyed every city I have visited. They are all so unique and I could not feel more blessed and fortunate to have this opportunity! Now if only I had more money to buy all those bags!!

Ciao from the most incredibly adventure so far!

Lots of people ride bikes and ring the little bells! I love it! 

The Duomo at Night

Ponte Vecchio

Sun, Fun, and Happy Birthday USA!

For the 4th of July of course the military has a HUGE celebration!! The park where we do camp becomes a great place to celebrate with food vendors, craft vendors, rides, softball tournament, and of course adult beverages included. Camp Adventure was in charge of the family booth where we did face painting, firework hats, hair wraps, beaded bracelets, and balloon tosses. We spent Saturday or Sunday afternoon working at the tent (they split us up so we only worked one day), then we had a few hours afterwards to just enjoy the events of the celebration! They had wonderful music artists and bands come in and lots of excellent entertainment. Natalie Stovell a country artist, and Bowling for Soup came to perform and they were great. There were of course fireworks and it was just a wonderful environment to spend a great weekend! So there was lots of sun, fun, and a very happy 4th of July!

Week 2: Happy Birthday USA!!

(6/28-7/2)


The second week of camp was again a success. This week was definitely a little different but still good and very exhausting. The weather was very hot all week, this left me an icky sticky mess - which I am quickly getting used to!! We of course had tons of songs, games, and a lot of the swimming pool! I was still with the 5-6 year olds this week, luckily our numbers were down to only 24 so that really makes a huge difference! However, we get new kids each week so you have some who are really are getting the hang of how things work, but then you have to still spend a few days teaching the new kids how things work! 

Mummy Relay Races

This week for our field trip we went to see a movie at the theater on base and we saw Toy Story 3!! It was a GREAT movie! I loved it. Another realization I came to this week was the extreme difference between being a summer camp counselor and being a teacher! I am not usually used to being a kids friend, I am used to being their teacher, so I definitely need to try and relax a bit and enjoy "summer camp" because it is suppose to be fun and not "strictly business" (this is how I refer to myself very often - "strictly business"). So it is a little bit of an adjustment I need to make. So I survived another week of camp, including exhaustion, long work days, and lots of hot sun. However I am absolutely loving Italy and just the fact that I am here!!! Ciao 


Little people skit - another person is feeding the person sitting - hilarious. I wish I could post more pictures, but for the privacy of the kids at camp I can't. Just know it is amazing. 

Week 1: Fintastic Ocean Week

Week 1 of camp was a wonderful success!! The first day of camp is POURED DOWN RAIN! Our head camp lady, Jessica said in all her years with Camp Adventure it has NEVER rained on the first day of camp! So this made it a little chaotic. We ended up taking the kids back to the main base so they could all stay dry because our camp is all outdoors. We spend the day under tents, running around the endless fields, and in the swimming pool - rain is definitely a problem! Day 2 started to get better, it was a little chilly but it did not rain :) The theme for the week was Fintastic Ocean, with the themes we change up some games to incorporate the theme, make fun art projects, and on fridays everyone dresses up. Day 3 continued to look better, it was warm at the pool and everything was looking up. On thursday - day 4 - we took a field trip. Because Italy can be kind of crazy and the transpiration can be unreliable the only field trips we take are to the support site to bowling and a movie. This week we went bowling and it was really an awesome time! The kids had fun and so did I! Friday - day 5 - was by far the best day, so far. The weather was hot and we were all getting the hang of the routine of camp. We did a great skit for the kids and had an excellent day! All of the counselors dressed up with silly ocean theme outfits and we had a lot of fun.

The kids at camp are divided by age groups, 5-6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11+. I started the week assigned to 8 year olds and we only had about 15 kids. I was with one other counselor Brittany and we had things running so smoothly by day 2! The kids were great and we were setting high expectations for our kids to succeed at. However Wednesday evening we had a quick meeting and I was informed I would be switched to the 5-6 year old group. They had 32 kids registered for camp in this group!! AAHHH!!! I love kids, and this age is so fun, but Mamma Mia that is a lot of kids! This group was just a little out of control and because our group was running so smoothly they figured I could step up and help get things under control. Luckily by Friday things were running a little smoother. So far week 2 is going even better (and with lower numbers this week it is also incredibly helpful!) Already I have really enjoyed a number of the children in our camp!! They are a very diverse group of students and I love everything they are teaching me.

The whole purpose of Camp Adventure is to create magic and exceed expectations for the kids. We sing endless songs that are crazy and so much fun, we play loads of games, some high active sports games, but some low active relaxing games, we help to build a community within the groups of kids. Sometimes these kids do not come from the best home situations and camp may be the best thing these kids have. Therefore it is a perfect place for me! There have already been a few kids that really touch my heart and I can't wait to see how many more will.