Another Train Delay, Another Adventure

We just completed week nine of the summer and with only two weeks left, emotions are all over the place. I am sad about leaving the kids and my friends but I am eager to return home and return to normal life.

This week challenged me at work more than any week yet. I came into the summer with the goal of improving my behavioral management skills and I am definitely working at that. Despite the behavioral incidents, it was another great week with the kids. I was originally placed in DIY Home & Body camp but got swapped into basketball camp instead. Even though basketball was an all age camp, I spent most of my time with the younger kids this week. Wednesday we took our field trip to Gelato University where the kids got to make their own gelato and learn about the history of gelato over time. This wasn’t the kids favorite field trip but I thought it was super cool. Gelato University is a real university that you can attend to learn everything there is to know about making gelato, so if teaching doesn’t work I guess I can go back to Italy and open a gelato shop! I also got to spend time with the little kids at the pool on Friday. Instead of having the kids pie us on Friday, we got to pie the kids! We didn’t tell the kids beforehand but instead told them that we were just going to switch around our format. Normally, we sit in a chair and the kids just walk up and pie us but this time we had the kids sit in the chair and we squatted in front of them, telling them we wanted them to be able to get a “nice full pie”. Once the first girl was sitting down, we slipped goggles on her and slid a pie over to our counselor. She was definitely surprised and the kids went crazy! Thankfully, she was a great sport about and all the other kids who went after her had a lot of fun with it. I know I enjoyed pie-ing the kids instead this week!

My week outside of work was just as eventful as my week at work. Last Friday we found mold underneath the pullout couch so we were given temporary housing for the weekend. Unfortunately, the problem was only slightly resolved so we were given a new permanent room that we moved into Tuesday night. Moving rooms and having to pack up all of our stuff was definitely a pain but I’m glad it’s mostly done now so I don’t have to do it all before I leave. Before moving on Tuesday we got our weekly free tacos and were able to get to know the Military Family Life Consultant (MFLC) that is in SAC with us everyday. Wednesday night we also did our weekly bowling but two of the staff members who normally bowl with us were with the MST kids in Croatia so it just didn’t feel the same. The rest of the week was spent attempting to work on homework and enjoy time with my friends before we have to leave each other.

Since the week was so eventful, it only makes sense that the weekend would be the same way. Friday was one of our favorite coworkers last day so we spent Friday night hanging out with him and some of our other coworkers. Saturday morning we got up in hopes of heading out to Switzerland for the weekend. We tried to buy our tickets beforehand but the website we normally use was giving us trouble so we were just going to follow the same train route and buy individual tickets along the way. However, a late start in the morning threw our schedule off track. We could’ve still gone to Switzerland but would’ve gotten in at 17:00 instead of 13:30 and figured it wasn’t worth our time to visit Switzerland for 18 hours. Luckily for us, our first stop on the path to Interlaken took us to Milan which is where we spent our Saturday. We visited the Starbucks Reserve where coffee is both roasted and brewed. This is the first ever Starbucks in Italy! It was super cool and my coffee was delicious. We spent the rest of the day exploring Milan by visiting the Duomo, shopping, and having a fantastic lunch. Sunday was a much needed day of relaxation where we visited a spa in Verona. Hanging out in the pools and hot tubs was exactly what I needed after a crazy week! The weekend didn’t turn out exactly how we planned but we still had a blast exploring a new city. AND, we officially booked our tickets to Switzerland for next weekend so we will be spending our last weekend there!

It’s crazy to think how fast time has gone by and how quickly it’ll all be over but I’m trying to take in every moment possible. I can’t wait to see what the week ahead has in store for me!