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!