Sunday, June 27, 2010

When In Rome..



This weekend was easily one of the best of my life. It flew by, and I am exhausted. I do not have enough energy to even attempt to describe this weekend. I plan to post my best pictures after I do a little editing. Check back in the next few days for the full story!


I took almost 1000 pictures. Next "few" days.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

2010-06-18



I must must must make this quick!

I got moved to the 9 year old group. They are far more well behaved than the 10 year olds. They do have there share of trouble makers but they enjoy the songs more. I also bought my Eurail pass today. I have so happy to not have to worry about that anymore. Tomorrow is field trip day! We are going to the bowling alley at support site.

Rome this weekend with Allie, Emily, and Kristina. So So So So So So EXCITED! We are staying at a hostel called "Funny Palace". It looks pretty nice and it's close to a few of the sites we want to see

Click the lemons to see Pompei photos. I haven't labeled them yet, I will tomorrow, promise!

Ciao!

Monday, June 21, 2010

What A Day

Well, this was it, the very first day. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still pure chaos. It rained, and we had been told it never rains here. So last night we were supposed to have a meeting over Skype with all the day camp staff, well that didn't work. Then programming (the schedule) was being changed due to rain. There were all these ideas flying around about what was going to happen. So then it was decided that we would just get schedules late that night and read them in the morning so we would know what was going on. That never happened.

My group is pretty crazy. I know they know how to behave, but they were so cooped up today that they didn't listen at all. Although we were outside we were stuck under a tent most of the day because it was POURING. They aren't too into singing and dancing, which is about all we could do. The boys (majority) are more of the run around type, of course. When we started clubs it was sunny, thank goodness! I was at arts & crafts club with my favorite little girl. So was copying all my drawings and had me sign her name. I drew a bow next to my name she wanted one just like it, so cute! We put on a skit at the end of the day that was pretty successful, so I was proud of them for that.

Being here in Italy I've really been realizing how lucky I am. I've got so much back at home that I take for granted. Now I'm so far away from it, it just makes me see I worry too much. I hope while I am here working with these kids I can just walk away with a lighter spirit. I'm going home to a lot of changes and I want to just enjoy every aspect in my life.

I'd also like to say I am so very proud of my Mom. She's been saying that to me a lot lately, but I think she ought to hear it too. She just retired after being a teacher for 30 years! Way to go Mom! You kicked butt at being a teacher and you will kick butt for the next 30 years being a retiree. I can't wait to see you in Ames more often. Good luck on your retiring ventures, like redecorating, knitting, and taking over lawn duties.. I don't know about you but I think those things sound way better than school. I LOVE YOU! Can't wait to see you in 2 short months!

Here are a few extra photos from this weekend. I will post Pompei next!




Yes, that is Audrey Kitching on a shirt covered in sequins. I guess Myspace is still big in Napoli.




Ciao!

Sunday, June 20, 2010


Happy Fathers Day Pa! I love you and miss you very much! Hope you liked your card.

Camp Adventure 2010 - Naples Italy!

Saturday, June 19, 2010


Sad day; raining at Capri today and no Netflix. We are going shopping in Naples instead but I could use some entertainment until we leave.

Awkward









I've been getting some requests to post picture of me, so fine.

How To Stay Positive!

Dirty Feet

hello all. i've certainly been lacking in detailed posting on the blog. my apologizes, so here i am to make up for it.

lots of words mean i am not going to capitalize, if this drives you crazy, i'm sorry.

wednesday we went to carney park - which i am now calling crater because the word carney is gross and it's a giant crater so it makes sense. first we went on an "amazing race" around the park looking for places, getting held up at pit stops, etc. we had to get in the pool for like 10 seconds, i hate to get my hair wet! well that was terrible, nikki if you read this please send me a quick fix for when i have to get chlorine in my hair! my group did NOT win. oh well. then we ate lunch at the restaurant in the park. it's basically for the golfers but it is where we will be eating dinner when we live at crater (emily and i live there during week 4 of camp, 4th of july. over 10,000 people come to the park for the celebration!!!).

the crater is one of the most beautiful outdoor locations i've ever been to. it's just these massively high walls of beautiful green grass, tree's like i've never seen, small prairie flowers, the whole works. it's just gorgeous. naples' weather is also amazing. it can get VERY hot during the day, but thus far for us it's been really nice. sunny, blue skies, cool breeze, stereotypical perfect weather. it rarely rains here, and when it does it's just these random bursts of a downpour that feel so refreshing and then it's over in 3-5 minutes. if it ever does storm, they have flash floods that can cause a lot of damage.

after lunch we got the rundown of how a regular week would work. i will spare you all of the details of the day. i'm sure at some point you will piece it all together or i will give the full day if someone asks.

we eventually arrived back at the hotel and went to dinner at the pizza place (photos in previous post), and then had a big CA meeting. boring boring boring.

THURSDAY! we went downtown naples. as i've mentioned naples is dirty dirty, but that's okay because there is still so much history to be discovered, good food, good drink, cheap shopping! just lots to explore. we took the bus to the metro, to the main train station. it was pretty fun. jerry, the director of crater, is a homegrown italian who speaks perfect english. he showed us around, along with michael, the teen center director. it was a great time. i went picture crazy and i can't wait to continue to be picture crazy! naples is BEAUTIFUL despite the nasties all over. "it's like a beautiful woman with dirty feet, just don't look down" or so i've been told.. i have terribly dirty feet right now! oh my! call me miss naples.

after touring downtown, we headed back to the hotel to pack. emily, allie, kristina, and myself are lucky enough to be chosen to go to capodinchino, the main navy base, first! we were thrilled. all of us had been hoping to get a chance to go (some will not be able to).

friday morning all day camp got on the bus to crater, along with our luggage. we began programming (little details, theme stuff) for the week. audrey programmed week one so we just decided who was leading songs, in charge of clubs (i'm at arts & crafts, surprised?), and painted posters. the four of us had to leave early to go to capo with kathy, our poc. capo is a-frigging-mazing. as i said yesterday. after we got all our stuff settled in we headed over to subway, then ate outside at a picnic table. let me tell you, living on a military base, is weird. camp adventure has a sort of reputation, .. tramp adventure .. so everyone, EVERYONE takes it upon themselves to really look you over. it's honestly one of the most awkward things ever. people just walk by and blatantly stare at you. check you out. look you up and down. literally walk past and turn their head to keep looking at you. thankfully all four of us have boyfriends that we have made a commitment too and plan to keep it. so we all think this is hilarious. well last night while eating dinner two guys walk by, dressed in civilian clothes, and start up a conversation with us. it was a nice change from the awkward stares. so they invite us out to watch the world cup game at the restaurant not far form the base. there was another girl going as well so we decided it couldn't be too dangerous. there was four of us going, and it was close to base. we ended up having a not too bad time. they paid for everything so we tried the wine and appetizers. i spent most of the evening talking to this guy from florida, he was.. a douche. but oh well. free is free. it was a good experience and hopefully now the base will know we aren't tramp adventure, just boring camp adventure.

today the day camp counselors went to pompei! what a cool place. we took the metro and it only took about half an hour to get there. oh my gosh. going to des moines is a bigger hassle than going to pompei? are you serious? it was awesome! i don't even have enough describing words to tell you about this place, similar to downtown naples. it's just so beautiful. i can only hope my pictures will speak for themselves. to be someplace so old is just mind blowing. i am now a little more thankful i took that classical studies class because i knew a lot about what certain architecture words were, what rooms were for, who god/goddess were, other random things. it was really dusty there and i am just covered in dirt. i need to take a shower before i head over to allie's room to watch alice in wonderland with the girls.

tomorrow a group of us are going to the isle of capri. we are taking a boat around the isle. rumor has it that the driver lets you jump off the boat into the green grotto. i am SO excited.

in other news, i bought a watch today for 3€ and a backpack for 5€. both things i needed for camp.

also at camp i will be working with 10 year olds when in small groups.

things have been going so well. i hope that i can keep the good times rollin'! i am ready to start working with the kids and have a blast at camp!

pictures to come after i edit them! there are a lot so it won't be for a while. how is picasa working for my readers? opinions.. basically anna.. what do you think? since no one else comments. you know you don't have to have a blog to leave a comment. just click the comment link and it will pretty much step by step guide you to posting.

miss you all!
have a good weekend.

Friday, June 18, 2010

2010-06-17

I am finding it's much easier to make albums of photos using Picasa so just click the photo to see the whole album.

Interesting Italy facts; every night there are fireworks going on off someplace in the city. You can almost always hear them, and last night we could see them. I found out that it could be several things, either a celebration of a Saint from one of the churches. Or pertaining to the mafia, either massive fun fire, or where a drug deal could take place. I love the mafia.

Yesterday (Friday) myself, Emily, Allie, and Kristina, all moved to Capodichino, which is the main military base in Naples. All of the Day Camp staff will be rotating between here, the hotel, and the park that we work at. We are the first group to stay here and it is AMAZING. Our rooms are HUGE. We have the either space to ourselves, including; kitchen, living room, bathroom (with tub!), queen size bed, and massive closet! It's really super nice. Also we live right about the Liberty Center, which is where you can play pool, watch movies on a projector, play xbox, eat candy, among other things. It's really awesome that we've been granted access to it, as well as all the other things offered. There is a full gym, movie theater, huge minimart,and a library.

More when we return from Pompeii

P.S. Most of the photos posted are from downtown Naples.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Photos from our first night at the pizza place next door. We had margarita and 4 cheese (quatro formaggzio). Yum!


No that is not a marshmallow, it's a burnt puff of cheese. haha.






Here are photos from yesterday. I didn't take any today as we only went to a place that I will be living at. However I will take some photos tonight as we have our first taste of Napoli pizza!

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Pool at Hotel Premiere

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Allie and Emily before our first day of training

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I had been dreaming of a huge market to buy fresh fruit and veggies, but this is as big as they come.

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This is at the cafe at our hotel. I'd take gelato over fruit and veggies anyday!


Sorry my photos are huge right now. Our internet is really slow so I had to upload them to photobucket and use html. I will make them smaller later tonight. My internet sharing time has been up for a while now! Oops, sorry Emily!


Ciao!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I Have Arrived

Here I am, sitting on my bed in Naples. I am going to try and give you a semi short rundown because if I told you everything you'd be sitting and reading for hours.

I had a window seat from Munich to Naples which was wonderful. Both places were beautiful from the air. We got to Naples around 6PM (( Naples time, that's 11AM Iowa time )) Our PD (project direction) Jessica picked us up. She excitedly yelled "HI! WELCOME TO NAPLES! IT'S SO GOOD TO HAVE YOU HERE!" and then she hugged us.. our hands were too full to hug her. It was a wonderful welcome and nice to see a Camp face and not a random military person. Along with her was Staci. She is the youth director here in Naples. She's worked with Camp A as a counselor and then worked on a traveling Navel ship for 7 years. Basically she knows all the military ins and outs, and will be at the Carney with us every week to help out. Which will be great. Oh hey, did I mention we have over 150 kids? Holy Crap. There are 18 counselors. This is going to be CRAZAY.

After we got picked up we headed over to Hotel PremiƩre. I am sharing a room with my friend Emily, who I meant at refresher training. She is going to be a sophomore this fall at UNI. Our friend Allie is right next to us, who is also from UNI. The first night (and probably the first week) I felt a little grouchy. I am just worn out from being awake for 31 hours. So I apologize if the rest of this entry is a bit on the negative side. Don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED to be here, it's just a little different than I expected.

Last night my internet wouldn't work. I am not sure what it is, but I'm hoping one of you is an internet buff and can fix it from 3000 miles away. If you know anything about Mac's and WiFi please please please email me or leave me a comment so I can tell you deetz. Thanks!
I am now using an ethernet cord, so that works, but I'd love to just have WiFi so Emily and I don't have to share.

Today we had training over at the Support Site, which is where most of the kids live. Only families live at the support site, which is where the school is located. We will be helping with aftercare for the campers that live on the site. You work aftercare 4 - 6 when you live at Hotel PremiƩre. We toured the site, heard from several permanent staff members, ate lunch, went grocery shopping, and got cellphones. I have free incoming calls and texts, my number is 348-388-7266. Remember I am 7 hours ahead! I don't know if I can text back, but as soon as I figure that out I will let you know.

Some other bummer news, for those of you that know camp stuff, we don't have nicknames here in Naples. Seriously, bummer. Also because of the next item of business, we only take field trips to the bowling alley or movie theater on support site.

The biggest surprise thus far is how friggin dirty, gross, and GHETTO Naples is. Seriously. When I went to New York I was disgusted, and this is just about the same, only with stucco roofs. I guess the garbage removal is run by the mafia, and they suck at it. They collect money for the removal and then basically do with the trash as they please (leaving it all over the road) because then they can make money. I have seen more prostitutes than actual Napoleons (I guess they are Napoleons too.. ). There is unfinished construction all over. It's just not that beautiful. It's so strange to see Mount Vesuvius looming on the horizon and then a hill of trash on the side of the road. According to PC Audrey Naples is the worst so it can only get better as we travel.

This weekend all of the counselors are going to Pompeii. It's going to be a blast!

I miss everyone and I will post pictures later tonight (today for you).

On My Way

Why does everything cost money? The only internet access costs 18 cents a minute. Sorry beloved blog readers but it is not worth publishing a post sky high when I have to spend 15 minutes signing up for my credit card to be charged 36 cents. Here I sit in the Munich airport typing this out on text edit to be posted later. My Mom and Dad drove me to Des Moines this morning around 9. It wasn't a tearful goodbye, but it wasn't fun. There were 8 of us on the plane to Chicago (all going to Naples). When we left Chicago for Munich however only 6 of us were on that flight. Most of us had to sit by ourselves. The flight was 8 hours long. I would recommend not riding a plane for that long. It's not that great. If I were made of money I'd have spend the extra $90 but for the leg room. Oh well. As for entertainment I bought 3 magazines and a book. From DSM to Chicago I watched The Office. From Chicago to Munich I watched Parks and Rec, The Wolfman, Nurse Jackie, and Valentines Day. Sorry this post is so scatter-brained. I am currently sitting in the Munich airport. We have a 5 hour layover. It's currently 12:28PM here, that's 5:28AM at home. I didn't hardly sleep on the plane, and I don't think I could sleep in this awkward chair either. Hmm.. What else to tell you about? All over this airport there are these little green signs with a man running. It seems to be pointing towards stairs but they are a few random ones as well. Any clue as to what these signs mean? There are also glass rooms (they look like the glass elevator in Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory), called smoking lounges/zones. If I didn't have a passionate hate for smelling like smoke I might sneak inside just to say I'd been in one. However I have no idea when my next shower will be so it's NOT worth it.

We had to wait for people to get boarding passes for our next flight so we just waited after we got through security for them. Thus far that has been the most fun thing I have done. There were several fashionable women and men coming through. It was fun to see what they were wearing. Miss Anna at Small Town Fashion would fit right in. Lots of black skinny jeans, long tunic tops, and wedges. Oh so Anna's entire wardrobe? Yes. Spot on girlfran, great work! Speaking of you Anna, THANK YOU so very much for the fashion message. My mom so kindly paid the extra fee so I could bring two suitcases. I am going to be lugging around almost 100lbs of luggage, but I am going to look great. One of the girls I am with told me that there is a place in Naples that makes custom shoes to your feet. I think I might just do this if they've got the perfect style for the right price. Speaking of Naples, it's the birthplace of pizza. Pizza is my favorite food. Sorry to everyone who has to look at me on a regular basis, I'm about to gain some serious weight. Haha.

Thank you so very much to everyone who sent me sweet messages via Facebook/Twitter/Texts. It was so nice to leave home knowing there are people that support me and will miss me while I am gone.

Okay back to my book.
More when I get settled in, in NAPLES! EEP!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Last Day

Today is my very last day in Iowa for the next 10 weeks. Whoa. My time back in Cedar Falls has flown by! It has been such a blast and I couldn't have asked for more. Tonight as I spend my last night with my family and say goodbye to Matt I'm sure I will turn into a whinny little baby, but it's great to know I've got so much support here at home.

If this is your first time reading please check out my first few entries to find out a little more about where I will be heading tomorrow.

Well, next time I blog I might be flying high above the Atlantic!

Hannah

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Why can I no longer make fancy layouts like I could in 8th grade? I am pretty sure my brain capabilities have increased significantly, yet this is proving impossible. I used to be able to go straight to "View Page Source", look at any layout I liked, and recreate it on my own page. Blogspot uses the same html as Myspace so why is this so difficult?! AH! I am truly frustrated. I also am horrible with Photoshop which is how I'd make a header, layout boxes, etc. It's beginning to look like I am just going to have to download a template off the internet and forget about tweaking it. Disappointed.

2 more days in Iowa.
2 more days with my family and friends.
2 more days with my 1st car - being sold.
2 more days with my cat of 13 years - getting put to sleep :[ :[

I still am so very excited, but today is gloomy outside and it is clearly affecting my attitude. Things are going to be so different in my life when I return to Iowa. No more Iowa State, no more Bee the Infamous Devil Cat, no more Cavalier.. I guess there are far more positive things to look forward too. I will be getting much better grades and stressing a lot less, have a nicer (and newer) car, 2 kittens living with me, a WONDERFUL roommate in a perfect house, and various other things - hopefully a fun job! Alright, alright, tude has been turned around.

Until next time,
Hannah

Monday, June 7, 2010

Counting Down

Hi All. The countdown has officially begun. I am a little more than 5 days away from my departure. I got all my ticket info (and stipend!) in the mail a few days ago. I leave from Des Moines at 1:22PM on Sunday June 13th. I couldn't be more excited.

I just wanted to say a special Thank You to my sweet friend Jordan Glacer. She has taken part in Camp for the last 3 summers. She just graduated and is spending the summer in Chicago with her family before she moves to Portland to student teach in the fall. Tonight she let me in a few Camp secrets and I am now even more excited, I can hardly sit still to type this! Here are a few pictures from Jordan's adventures during Camp Adventure!







More updates to come soon!
Counselor Hannah

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Nothing To Do With Anything

Okay, okay, I confess, I am a die hard Mary-Kate Olsen fan. If this movie is not showing in English while I am in Italy, I will cry.



Hannah