August 15, 2011

Today was the first day of our last week. WOW I can't believe how incredibly and sadly fast time has gone. It is so weird thinking back to 10 weeks ago when we were first getting our instiliation passes on that first monday. Wow. It was an ok day. There were a lot of new kids, which as you know isn't my favorite. I like the kids that I know and love. Oh well. We just did normal stuff. One of the fun things we did was work on super hero costumes for tuesday. SOOOo excited for superhero day. Its going to be awesome! There were tons of kids, and like no staff. Idk where Corrie was all day. It was so lame. Good day overall though. Aiden started making me a friendship bracelet. He kept telling me all day how much he was going to miss me. He came up to me, and was like..."ms. Caryssa, I'm a little nervous." What I asked. "What if you forget about me?" I started tearing up. "I'm never ever going to forget about you, Aiden. Ever." then he said, "and I'm worried about something else too. What if I forget about you? My memory is usually only good for about a year." I was crying by this point. Also during snack, we were having a mix of fruit. And i was like, awesome! Ms. Corrie put everything amazing in it. he was like, "even you?" That kid man. I would do anything to be with him always. I love him to death.

August 14, 2011

Today....I took a personal day. I woke up pretty early, surprisingly, but I just ended up staying in the hotel room all day, and so did Rebecca. It was nice. We just packed and took rests. About ten minutes of packing per 30 minutes of resting and watching movies. I felt like it was quite a nice combo. And then...I went to bed at like eight pm. I am sooooo glad because for once in my life since being here I actually got some sleep. That was much much needed yay.

August 13, 2011

Today is Saturday! After getting back at 6am, I slept in until like eleven thirty pm, which was nice to sleep in, but it was still not me getting a lot of sleep. Then a bunch of us got ready to go downtown and go shopping. Downtown was really nice, and the weather was awesome. We only went a couple of places, but it was just right. We ate doner kebob's too, which was good because I think that's the last time I'll be able to do so before leaving the country. We went to the new yorker and h & m for shopping. H &M basically has the exact same stuff that they have had for the entire summer, so not that exciting. But....The New yorker was amazing! They had soooo many shirts on sale. I got nine shirts, a dress, and heels for about 40 euro. Not bad, even with the exchange rate I will say :) Good day. That night we got ready and went downtown at around ten. We went to the tequila bar first, just because it was the only place everyone knew how to find since it was right near the train station. We didn't stay there long, and then we headed out on the town. Only stayed out til like five this time, but really really fun night !

August 12, 2011

today was the second to last friday of camp.... so sad. The day went pretty smoothly. This was Kiara's actual last day. It was extremely sad. I did pretty good all day with this, and so did she. We had a heart to heart near the end of the day, and I told her about the plusses and minuses about going home and stuff. I think it helped her. At closing I almost had a breakdown and teared up a lot, but kept it pretty together. Mostly because Ms. Anna was being a jerk and was like really ragging on all of the people who were crying, which was quite a few of the kids. Sooooo sad. I don't know why she was being a jerk. As soon as we got back inside after going out for closing though, I had to step out of the room. I was crying really hard for a little bit and then a lot of the other kids who were crying got sent to the bathroom by Anna to clean up, and I saw them on their way. Kiara and I hugged and I told her that God was going to be with her on her journey in life. Then I was off work, and I got picked up by the Roys to go to dinner and then Planet of the Apes. It was a really really good movie, and I really enjoyed it for sure! Then came back, talked to mom for a bit and got ready to GO OUT! We had so much fun downtown. The girls from patch brought a dude from their work, Mr. Jacob, and Mr. Mike met up with us at like midnight. I guess he tried to find us at 11 when we said we would be at La'Oasis, the first place we went, but he didn't see us for some reason even though we were the only people there. Weird. But at least he met up with us. I didn't drink that much, but we all ended up staying out til like six or so dancing and stuff. It was for sure just awesome! The second place we went after La'Oasis was sooooo hot that I was literally completely drenched in sweat and I couldn't handle it so we left that place. The next place was called like Proton or something, and we ended up like dancing downstairs where the floor like lit up. It was pretty cool. Good good night

August 11, 2011

Today was our last real field trip day since next week will be opening ceremonies. It was to the zoo in Stuttgart, which was pretty cool. I was in a group with Mr. Eric again, which was really fun, and it was just awesome! We had a lot of the good kids. My favorite things were like the Elephants and stuff, but it sucked because a lot of the good cats weren't out. Oh well. Good day. Although it was weird not having Corrie there. She was on vacation. Ms. Margaret was not the same.

August 10, 2011

Today was a pretty good day, and I enjoyed it immensely. The kids were still nuts, but we had a lot of fun. It was crazy hair day and pajama day. Michael (the kids) showed up in like full on pajamas with a robe. Kiara had like intense ratted hair, and Devin. Omg… Devin. He like shaved his hair so that it was in an arrow like in avatar the last air bender. It was absolutely amazing. It was kind of nice to just wake up and change only a little so that I could go. And wearing sweatpants all day was absolutely the best. There weren’t very many of us today because Anna and Wesley had training, and so did Mike for part of the day. I had a good time though. After work Emily and I made the most likely awards for the kids. It was really good. But very sad at the same time. Now watching movies. Imma miss Germany for sure.

August 9, 2011

Today was kind of a rough day. The kids were nuts, and I was just having issues. I don’t exactly remember everything, but cooking club for example was a wreck. We made like pizza on tortillas, and it was like, the kids were going insane and crazy and I couldn’t even handle it. Kyiah at one point like knocked Z’kyiah’s pizza over even because they were so insane. I was really angry. Oh well. Things happen. Mike was kind of annoying too. I don’t know. The way he talks to the kids sometimes, he isn’t like mean but I just don’t like his tone. Even though I guess I can understand that the kids were nuts. Whatever. Day over. At the end of the day, some of us went to dinner at an Italian restaurant, and it was like really really good. Chris paid for drinks, and Cody bought most of the meals, which was really nice. Ok, night!

August 8, 2011

Today was the first day back after Berlin. I for sure missed it a lot, and I was so incredibly tired. It was a great day though. The beginning of the day was just kind of normal, but then the rest of the day was great. Surprisingly, after my nap everything was the best. I had to walk to the gym, which sucked cuz it is like a twenty minute walk and then right when I got there we had to walk back. The kids used this portable radio to sing to on the way there. I did that with them in the front and was like jamming with them. It is so much fun. The only thing that really really sucked was that Aidan isn’t there for the whole week. I am like so so sad. I went and hung out with Mike after work, and we just talked and stuff, and his parents made me dinner. But when we started talking about the kids I for sure teared up because I’m going to miss the kids so much, especially Aidan. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him. For dinner we had this like pasta and the sauce was made out of duck and they like got it in Venice or something. That’s just crazy. Bu5t it was soooooo good. I wasn’t expecting that at all. And I actually ate tomatoes with mozzarella. Still don’t like tomatoes, but I was being nice. Great night. Ok, bye!

Berlin! Aka August 6-7

Berlin, berlin, berlin…..the weekend that may never really be completely spoken of. I will say though that it was possibly one of the most epic and fun weekends of my entire life and I wish like crazy that I would have had like another week or two there. It is by far my favorite German city. We left on Friday night and had to take a taxi into downtown. There were like strikes on all of the regional trains for some reason, and so there were major issues getting downtown. And although those issues were resolved midday, there were still no U bahn trains running until the next morning. LAME! How can train people go on strike? That seems like wrong. Soooo many people here depend on the trains. Its like the metro is in new York. Just not able to get by without it. I’m wondering how many people had to like miss work and stuff because of it. Insane. I guess the issue was resolved by giving the train workers like a raise and 30 more vacation days. 30 more days????? What the heck. That seems so incredibly wrong. I mean that is an entire month extra. Germans already have all sorts of crazy holidays all of the time. Like sooo many. At least like four or five a month. I have no idea how this country is so productive. Although I guess I too might be more motivated in life if I had more days off to look forward to lol. Ok. So anyways, we took a taxi downtown with my group of five and then one of the new girls that camp had brought in. Oddly enough, she was telling us about how in Interlaken, Sam had gotten one of her best friends sent home. I can’t believe that the story he told us was true. He told us all about how he had saved some girl in Interlaken who had been like stalked by some guy. We had all thought that he just made it up to scare us, but it was real. Except completely exaggerated. Nothing was actually wrong, the girl wasn’t even really drunk, Sam just thought the guy she was dancing with was creepy and approached her about it. He then called her PC and our project director Kacey. So lame. I guess it was her mistake though for introducing herself as camp adventure to the PC she recognized from Iowa. Dumb dumb. Always deny deny deny…. Lol. Ok so we get downtown and find out our 11:05 train should still be working fine since it was a fast train. RJ66. Like rail jet or something like that. And anyways, We get this together and go shopping in a market for some stuff to take with us on the train. At like 9:55, we go up to the station and look for our gate. Oh awesome, the train is delayed by thirty minutes. How is that possible! We are going to miss our connection in Mannheim and not be on the night train to berlin! We were so upset, because we were at the station in time to catch the 9:50 train that had just left, we just didn’t know that we had needed to take it! So we run down to the office that is about to close, and we find out that there is not another train that could get us there leaving from Mannheim until three that morning and there would be three changes instead of a direct train that we could sleep on. BOO! So we were so pissed. Then we find out that Molly and Briggette, two people from our group, had taken the earlier train and not told anyone else! They had our reservations for the night train, what were we supposed to do! Why wouldn’t they tell us. Not happy at all, and we were like freaking out. So We each drank a mini bottle of champagne and started praying that the train was going to be on time or that our connecting train would also be delayed. We finally make it to Mannheim like half an hour after our train was supposed to have left, and there it was just sitting there! Joy af all joys! They had waited because so many people on the connection had reservations for that train! Hallelujiah! We were able to make it to our seats after running across the platform and sit down just as it was about to leave. Sigh of relief and I actually got a pretty good night sleep. Except for these two stupid boys who were just like making tons of noise and not caring about anyone else. They were so annoying and all of the like German people were telling them to shut up. So finally, peace and sleep. The next morning, we made it to Berlin at like 8am about, and we changed into clothes for the day and ate breakfast at the McDonalds. (and what we had packed). Then we headed off to see some of the sites in Berlin before checking into the hostel to get ready for beerfest and the night. Molly Briggette, and Rebecca had already been to berlin, so they didn’t want to see the same stuff as some of us. Mary Beth, Bre, Leah, and I ended up traveling together that day and it was for sure a complete blast. I can’t even say how much fun I had. We walked to all of the important buildings, like the bridge, this arch thing, and other great buildings. We saw the memorial of people who died in the war, and went to a german history museum. The german history museum was absolutely amazing. It had the history of Germany from like 100 ad to like present. By far the coolest stuff was the stuff about knights and castles with all of the armor displays, and all of the WWII stuff. SO much stuff, it was incredible. One of my favorite museums I’ve ever been to. Then we went and saw checkpoint Charlie, which is the point at which my camera died. We were going to try and go see the wall at this point, but we decided to do it the next day when there would be more time, and then we could go drop all of our stuff off at the hostel so that we could change and feel not so sweaty and gross. It was SOOOO much hotter that weekend than we all thought it was going to be. I like can’t belive how hot it was. We were all dripping sweat and in jeans and stuff. Bleh. When we got to the hostel and checked in, we all took off most of our clothes, opened the windows, and napped for like an hour. It was much needed. Then when we woke up we got ready to go out for the day. I dressed in my new shorts and a black shirt. Leah and Bre wore awesome dresses. And so did Mary beth! She doesn’t usually dress up, but we convinced her to wear a dress and do her hair. It was so great! She looked amazing. Then we met up with Briggette, Molly, and Rebecca to go to beerfest! The train ride there was ridiculous. It was so hot on the trains. I was like, if we don’t get off, I’m going to break these windows open! We were literally dripping sweat. It was insane. But when we finally got there, it was absolutely amazing! There was an entire alley called karl Marx Alley that was like massive, and the entire thing was one huge long outdoor beer thing. There were hundreds of breweries who set up outdoor beer booths and stuff. There were hundreds of thousands of people. So crazy. Hundreds of tables. We were like, wow. That’s amazing. Then…. Fricken Molly and Briggette started trying to find two of their friends who I had met at directors training. Their names were like Trevor and Jamie or something like that. I thought he was gay and she was a lesbian, but turns out that they are dating. Huh. I guess there is someone out there for everyone. Except for me yet. But someday! But when Molly and Briggette were trying to find them, they were being soooo horrible. They like were dragging us along with them when we just wanted to stop and get to know people and have fun. They were like, “and…we’re walking.” “one two three eyes on me.” Really? Are we children? I was sooo upset. Everyone was. The worst was that when we met up with their stupid friends, they were like apologizing for our behavior, and we weren’t even being crazy! Molly was like, “ I’m sorry. They aren’t usually like this….” What the hell. Absolutely ridiculous. So we left them. Finally! And then we just had a blast. Everything was great! We met tons of awesome people, took pictures with guys in lederhosen, drank a little, walked around a lot and talked. Then after hours had passed by, we went to an absinthe bar and tried that. Probably not the best idea. I had a drink of one that was like 80 % and it was bad news bears. It smelled like black licorice, but it was soooo incredibly strong, it literally burned the entire way down. Ah! I had to call it a night after that, even though I was sad I didn’t get to go dancing. Mary Beth and I took back the trains, and got there around like midnight. Full eight hours of sleep for me, yay! Woot woot! It was great. I woke up the next morning feeling amazing! Sadly, for the others, they didn’t get in until like six in the morning and they only got like two hours of sleep. We got up the next morning to go see the berlin wall before we went to beerfest to be part of the longest beer table. The Berlin wall was absolutely amazing. We went to the East Side Gallery. It had like different murals by different people and stuff. I thought it was great that it was painted like this, and a lot of them had like great messages. After that, we went to beerfest and got our stuff together for our table at beerfest! They were going for the world record of like the longest beergarden in the world. We reserved a spot a while ago, and so did another group. For some reason, Noheley was the only person who did not end up on the reservation. So we were like, don’t tell Molly and Briggette, but you five take that reservation, and then the four of us will take the other reservation. We didn’t even want to deal with meeting up with them and stuff. So lame. Ok. So we found our brewery and showed them our reservation, and then we were able to get our free beer, with the free mug, and then a free gift from the brewery. We got these like little tea light candle things. Pretty awesome. I wore my drindle, which is like the traditional german dress. It was awesome. I took a picture with these old guys who were dressed in like what I would think of as colonial wear, but it couldn’t be because Germany didn’t have colonies. Lol. All was a great success, I loved berlin, and will definitely always remember it. For forever and ever and ever.

August 5, 2011

So today was kind of a rough day. An absolutely great day, but for sure really really rough. I had to say goodbye to some of my amazing children. Franci was the one that was hardest to say goodbye to. For as creepy and odd he has been about being in love with me and stuff, I had an absolutely amazing summer with him, and I will miss him so much. He drew me this goodbye card and it was adorable. He said he loves and likes me at the same time. Asia, whose first week was this week, and I had to part also. She was adorable and we bonded this week. And then little Tom, who was such a jerk the first week he was here, and then he was one of my besties this week. I'm really going to miss him too. The kids during the day had a really rough day. We were playing steal the bacon and had to quit because three or four of the kids had like emotional breakdowns. So weird. But by the end of the day none of that mattered. I started to tear up when it came time to closing because I knew I was going to have to say goodbye. And then Franci started bawling, so I started bawling. And then a lot of the other kids did. Mike had to step away because he started to tear up too lol. Guys are so funny about showing their emotions lol. Well, i gotta go pack for berlin now. Peace.

August 4, 2011

Today was an absolutely amazing day with the kids <3 We went on a field trip to Schwaben park, which was like an amusement park that also had some like zoo animal cages. It was pretty cool, and I really liked it. I had an amazing group as well. Eric and I were the ones who led the group. Fricken Mike. He for sure slept in too late and missed the bus there. How lame! But oh well. Eric and I had a great time. We had a lot of the older kids who wanted to go on all of the rides. The four "main guys" as I am going to call them, Wesley, Tyrece, Tom, and Brandon. They are like the guys that are too cool for school and are too "guy" to want to really do much of anything, especially listen. But today for some reason, they really turned a corner. Especially with Tom, cuz he and I didn't really get along. But today he was like all talking to me, so much so that he like wouldn't shut up. And all the four boys were fighting over holding my hand and all were hanging on me and stuff. It even got to where they were all four sharing holding my hands at once. it was so adorable. I want to have a little boy so bad...Anyways, they were awesome. We had Destiny and Aaron in our group and were like....eh. that won't be so much fun. But Aaron was amazing. Usually he is the one who flails his arms and stuff, but he went on every single ride and didn't wine or anything at all. It was amazing. Destiny was awful for most of it, but that's only one out of like twleve! It was heavenly. I am going to miss my kids so much. Aidan is amazing and I love him with my whole heart.... more and more every day. Who knows. Maybe I'm meant to have an amazing curley haired little child like Nikolas or Aiden. Or at least adopt one. lol.

August 3, 2011

Today was a hard day I will say. I just kind of woke up on the wrong side of the bed after I had a dream about Dillon and during this dream I fell and effed up my mouth, and therefore had to go to the hospital to fix my mouth. Yes. Not a fun dream. My subconscious just doesn't leave me alone sometimes. Anyways, that was hard. My mustache and high class outfit for the high class mustache bash I will say was quite awesome. I had slacks and a nice shirt, and had my hair curled. I also popped out the lenses from my 3D glasses and drew on an amazing mustache with my mascara. It looked pretty real too. The best part was walking to the bus and then from the bus to the SAC center. The people were all for sure doing double takes and like what the heck looks. The best was probably when the CDC bus drove by since they were going on a field trip, and all of these little kids were like pointing out of the windows of the bus and staring. It was fun judging all of the kids and their mustaches and stuff. There were paper ones, and ones drawn on. So awesome. The rest of the day kind of went downhill from there. 17 of the kids went on a field trip to some ice caves or something. Hiking plus me = no fun, so Emily went on that one. And there were only like 13 kids left, and there were like five of us staff there. So Ms. B (and we still know what that stands for) and then Ms. Anna were working on rinsing out all of the tie die shirts. We all assumed they finished them. Def not. We find out like at the end of the day when Ms. B was leaving that they didn't finish them. So Mike and I took some of the kids over to finish rinsing and rerinsing the shirts. The ones they had done weren't really done well anyways sigh. They had set all the shirts they had done in a huge bin. Like the worst idea ever. the die got all crazy and mixed and stuff grrr..... and there were still SOOOO many shirts that they had not done at all. I ended up staying for two hours with Mary beth and Cody washing out all these shirts and placing them in separate bags so that they could not be mixed anymore before they were washed in the washing machine. Ms. Anna like chided me for using so many bags because they are so expensive and blah blah blah. Sorry I took so long of my day to do this. Geez. And its like what the heck. You could have finished this like we all thought you did or said something when there was enough staff and few enough kids that we could FINISH IT! I was soooo mad. And better, no one saved me a cookie from snack. So i ate snack at the Youth center, which i'm not really supposed to do. Corrie walked in on it, but at least she didn't say anything. Then afterwards Anna took all of the no name extra shirts I had put in separate bags and mixed them all together again. Not cool. SO MAD! At least after work Gaby and Juan's mom took Emily and I to Tobingen, which is a little town near Stuttgart. It looked like what I would picture an oldtime, old fashioned town in germany looking like. It was amazing. I wish my camera battery would have lasted longer. And she also took us to get dinner. We ended up having Doner Kebab, which is like shaved lamb in bread with sauce and cucumbers and stuff. It is like Turkish or something. We ended up being late coming back to our Manditory fun night thing. We did the thing like last year where all the directors contacted that families and tried to get packages sent for a secret christmas thing. Unfortunately Emily's family never got back, so I spent the last couple of days putting together a package for her. I got he kids to secretly sign a card for her and had a group photo. We did white elephant gifts too, and I got this like head massager. We are also now playing assassain with socks like we did last year at camp. Yes, most of these were my ideas. I feel like though I wasn't completely let in on all of the planning for this night, and that also pisses me off. Ok.....attitude check. I will get my person for sure. Ok. I am going to go to bed now since it is really really late and i have to be up so early for my field trip tomorrow!

August 2, 2011

Today was a pretty great day. It was just pretty basic stuff that happened, but I really enjoyed it. Aiden has been really really cuddley again, but again. i absolutely love it. One really fun thing we did that was different but took up a lot of time was tie dying. We have been waiting the entire summer to tie dye our completely white field trip tee shirts. Thank goodness we finally get to do it. It will look a lot lot lot better with the colors on it. Most the kids did really good with putting the die on and stuff, but some kids like Franci just kept pouring and pouring on the die lol. We'll see how that one turns out. Tomorrow is the high class mustache bash where everyone will dress up and have a mustache. It is going to be amazing.

August 1, 2011

Can you even believe it is August. What in the world. I have less than three full weeks left now, which is crazy. I dont' want to leave anymore like I did a few weeks ago. It makes me really sad to think about. I do miss my family though, but now I really really don't want to go back to school. But today was just a great day. Probably one of the best since I've been here. Morning PT and stuff was hard, since the kids really wouldn't listen, but in all everything was amazing. We had like 28, so more than last week, but not insane, which was good. We also had Mike Wesley, Eric, and even Anna (who has been on Vacation) back since the majority of them finished last week's training. It was great to have them back, and the kids were so excited. We did just normal camp stuff with them. The gym was really fun. I ran around and played tag and stuff with the children. It was awesome. I don't run around with them all the time like that and stuff, so it was great. We had Izzy back this week, which is AWESOME because she is such a great dancer. Some of the time was spent trying to figure out the dance she was teaching everyone. I wish I could pick up some of her dancing skills. During the whole day, Kyhia and Sebastian were like whispering and they flirted and stuff. Apparently they started dating during gym and they were so happy and doing great. But by closing, Kyiah was sad and stuff. They had broken up for sure by closing. Oh child relationships. So cute. and Sad. And odd. After work Mr. Mike and I talked and had milkshakes at the PX and hung out. Then we took a walk and just talked and stuff. That was nice. Our meeting tonight with Sam was all about like end of summer evals and stuff. it is so very sad. I am going to miss my kids so so so much...

Camping in Frankfurt and Mainz! aka July 29-31

Ok, so this weekend for sure was amazing!!!!!!! So thursday night after everything, I called my mommy, cried for a couple of hours, fell asleep and had no dreams for once... and then I woke up strangely at peace. I think I knew being with Dillon deep down wasn't right. Because I'm oddly fine for everything that has happened. Which could also have something to do with the fact that I have still not returned to America, but regardless. Even last summer in Japan with the month prior to leaving and like the first month or so I was there, I was a complete emotional wreck and so incredibly hurt. But this time it was like two days, and I was doing ok. Or maybe I just was so used to him hurting me that I kind of became a little more hard hearted. Whatever the reason. I was fine, and I had SUCH an amazing day at the SAS with my kids. We watched All Dogs go to Heaven with them, which was a little bit sad and I was kind of depressed lol. But because the movie was sad. Emily and I and Ms. Mary Beth for sure teared up. Aiden comes up to me sometime during the day, and pointed his fingers like two guns, nodded his head at me and said, touche. Omg, it was one of the cutest things ever. I like died a little bit inside because it was so cute. So all day long, all of us were doing that. And I feel like in general I was just more grateful for my kids than I have been during this trip. I'm not going to like blame dillon for this, but he sure dictated a lot of my moods like when he wouldn't call or get on skype or answer his phone for days....maybe that should have been a sign. hmm. Anyways. After work, Mike took Emily and I to the Kelly hotel, and we changed and packed and got ready for Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, we went to this like techno club to dance and stuff. Before like a certain time it was free, so we did that and got a beer and danced for a long time. Germans dance really differently than Americans, which isn't exactly a bad thing. In America, everyone is like all up on eachother and it can get kind of awk and stuff, and Everyone dances with anyone. At this techno club, everyone was juts in their own little bubble bopping around. Like no one was touching unless there was like two people actually dancing together. It was kind of cool. Another different thing was that because all the music was techno, there was like no words to sing to. I guess I never really noticed that a lot of what I enjoy about going out and dancing with friends is that I get to sing along with it. But it was pretty easy to get used to and Emily Mike and I had a blast. That night we slept in the car in the parking lot right next to the club. It is probably one of the most questionable things I have ever done, but we had Mr. Mike, so it wasn't like super dangerous or anything. We woke up the next morning at like nine or so. Then we got ready for the day at a bathroom in a McDonalds in Downtown Frankfurt and explored Frankfurt. It is a pretty cool city. We found this odd little discount store, and then there was like this shop that had traditional German Dresses. SOOOO cool. Emily and I tried them on and fell in love so much that we couldn't help but buy them even though they were way expensive. We also ran into another Gay or Lesbian fest like what we saw in Munich. It was pretty funny, and a little awk. After all of this, we ended up driving to Mainz and finding where we were going that night. We were going to a foam party, which Emily and Mike surprised me with. So we found where that was going to be, and then sat in the car and played cars and watch Across the Universe. Just doing nothing like that was a lot of fun. Its the first time I've done that really since being in Germany. Then we changed into comfy clothes and got ready to go the party. OK. So Emily and I both put swimming suits under like comfortable clothes, Mike... and every other German there wore really nice clothes and the girls wore dresses and heels. Emily and I were like Eff that... we are going to get all nasty. Why would we want to be in really nice clothes! At the party, it was absolutely sik. Like the cooolest thing I've ever seen or done probably ever. The party was like in this ice rink where there was no ice, and then on the ceiling there was this like machine that let out foam , and it was like bubbles everywhere up to my shoulders most places, and in the middle up above my head. Its just crazy. We all danced for EVER in all the bubbles and everything. And at this party there was popular music that I was familiar with, so we were all singing along with it and like dancing. It was sooo so so so much fun. When we were done that night we like changed into dry clothes and were so tired we passed right out. Unfortunately, I had trouble sleeping. My arthritic hands can only go for so long with sleeping in the back of the car. Oh yes, we slept in the back of a car again that night right outside the building the party was in. But we ended up sleeping in until like noon, so it was all good. The next day we woke up, packed up, and headed back to Stuttgart. When we got there we went to Mike's house and went on a bike ride. I haven't ridden a bike for like years and years and years, so I was a little bit scared! but it was really fun. It was nice not to have to wear a helmet like I would in Washington. I don't enjoy hat hair. We brought Mike's dog Lucky along with us, and he is this like huge golden retriever. He got into the mud and ended up rubbing mud all over the back of my shirt bleh!!!! Then Mike, Emily, and I watched 2012 while we ate dinner and stuff. i love Mike's mom. She is so sweet. She is like Polish, so she has the coolest accent, and she kept offering us like water, tea, cake, etc. So so sweet. Well, that was the end of the trip. It was like exactly what I needed, and I had SUCH a blast.

July 28, 2011

Wow. So.Today started out with me getting up an hour late accidentally. And then I get on Skype to talk to my wonderful boyfriend. Who's laptop conveniently doesn't have video that particular morning. Come to find out...oh yes, I am being dumped while I am in an effing different country by the boy I thought I was going to marry. I sure know how to pick winners. The rest of the day consisted of me trying to hold it together while I was watching the kids at this random fun park place, and it was like super hard. I had to go off to the bathroom a couple of times to cry. I also cried literally the entire bus ride there. Mostly, I think I was in shock. I mean seriously who does the exact same thing to someone three times like that. But then again, who lets someone do that to them three times. Fail for sure on my part. I don't think I can ever give a second chance again, because I figure the guy I'm supposed to end up with won't need one. If you love someone you don't leave them for any reason (except like cheating or abuse) period. There is no....when its convenient for me crap. You fight for what you love, not push them away. And I deserve better than that. I think more than anything this time, I am just angry. So angry that he thinks he has the right to lead anyone on like this three times, angry that I let him lead me on, angry for not seeking what I deserved instead of what I wanted, and angry for how much time I have wasted on someone who was not even worth my time to begin with. And Not only did I lose the person I loved more than anyone I ever have before, I lost my best friend, and the potential future I had with him. And I know I'll find someone for me. Someone who would rather die than leave me, and someone who can say, "You are perfect for me" and "I won't live without you." That's what I want. I don't need all the cheesy fairy tale bull. I just want something real, and something that will last, and something that is blessed by God. My own version of a fairy tale. And I will, and I am going to wait for that. It is sad it took me three times with the same person to realize, but I loved him. And I loved who I knew he could be perhaps more than who he actually was. I took all the good times and made excuses for the bad things and the things that irked me. Because when you love someone, you love all of them, not just the pieces you want to. So I guess you could say I have been blinded by love for almost two years. But this time is already different, and that makes me hopeful. I'm not feeling the urge to be friends, and desperately seeking his approval. I'm not hoping one day he will change his mind and want me back. I'm not looking to my future as hopeless and not thinking I will ever love anyone the way I love him like I did last time. I know for sure, that what God has in store for me is going to be so much better. And if I loved Dillon that much, I can't even wait to feel what I will for the man I end up falling in love with and marrying, and starting a family with. And this time, he will feel that and more back for me too. Because that's what I deserve. Someone who will put in as much effort into a relationship as I did. Being in a relationship means you always give 100% of what you have. Of course sometimes you don't have that much to give due to hardships or whatever, but you still give 100% of what you do have. Its about give and take, not pushing away and hiding when things get hard. I really did love him more than I can even say, and each time he looked at me I thought how lucky I was to love someone as handsome as him. But i'd rather be able to say "how lucky am I to be able to love someone as handsome, selfless, and loving as he is." and someday I will.

Before we left for the field trip, when we first got to the center, I dazily walked up to the center and saw Aiden running towards me to cuddle with me and give me a hug. At that moment, i started to tear up, and all I could think is, Thank God for kids. Two summers in a row they have helped me deal with a breakup by just being there. I gave Aiden the biggest bear hug and thanked him for being so excited to see me. At the field trip, we were at another indoor fun park thing called Jump Inn. There was this huge blow up slide and trampolines, and everything else was basically like Fun Park. After lunch Emily and I sat at the top of the huge slide and watched kids go down it, and sometimes went ourselves. Juan kept stealing our walkie talkies. he is like a pick pocket in the making, it was soooo impressive.

July 27, 2011

So, today was an ok day. Just meh altogether. Another average day. I guess it has kind of been an average week. Maybe I need to do an attitude check tonight. So again we had like kids in the low twenties, so there weren't so many. But again, they were nuts. It wasn't that bad though I guess. I was just kind of exhausted. But I don't know why the kids wouldn't listen. It was really rainy, so the kids didn't get to go outside that much. This was disappointing because the kids needed to go outside and run out their energy and they couldn't. It caused a lot of problems. Ok. So today Franci, he made me this card during the day. It was a very creepy card. He made a maze on the outside of it, and then he drew a heart in the middle. He said, this is my heart, and this is the maze you have to go through to get to it. Then he drew stick figures of us in the middle. He said it was his kingdom, and he was the king and I was the queen. Then he said that the little thing that I saw in my hand of the stick figure was a little baby. Oh joy of all joys, Franci drew our baby. I was like...oh.....thanks franci.....thats just awesome. soooooo creepy. Another kid, Aaron, came up to Ms. Emily, and he said.... "Ms. Emily, look at my eyes, now look at my feet. You just checked me out." Ms. Emily was like. wtf. That is so weird. Our kids have such odd personalities. The rest of the day was pretty blah. I am really tired. We had the bbq for the new camp A people. they seem really nice, and it was good to get grilled food. woo.

July 26, 2011

So, there were only about 20 kids again, but they were monsters! I have no idea what has been going on with them this week, but it has been crazy. lol. We only got 1/2 hour lunch breaks today, which kind of sucked because I am way behind on reading my book. My reading has slowed down a lot in the last two weeks because I have been a lot busier. But regardless, it was a pretty good day. The highlight was probably taking a mini field trip to the PX. We walked there and they gave us pizza while we listened to a presentation on theft. Who knew that would be a problem on a military base. I guess alot of it is like the teens and stuff though. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever that there were cameras all over the PX. lol. it was cute. I thought it was soo cool that I got a free slice of pizza. woo! Especially since it was pizza hut and that is my favorite. The low point of the day was probably doing cooking club. Which sounds fun in itself, but it in reality was certainly not. It was like.....not cooking. It was a lesson about fad diets. What kind of child care worker thought that this was a good idea. The children were whining, why aren't we done yet...this is so boring...and Ms. Emily and I were like, we know, lets just get through it fast so that we can do something else! Gr. Of course it was Ms. B who came up with this lesson. I don't know why we can't just do more of our own. Oh well. After work, Emily and I went to the PX to buy food for the welcome dinner for the camp A people that are coming tomorrow. It was a lot of food. I hope that everyone pays me back because I put a lot of my own money into this. If not, I'm sure that Sam will. Then Mr. Mike picked us up and took us to his house to hang out. We made pasta and rice crispy treats and ate outside. Then we watched a movie called Red Baron and just talked. it was a movie about planes. i'm not quite sure what went on because we were talking and I fell asleep lol. But it seemed like it would be good. Overall, pretty good day.

July 25, 2011

So today is the first day of the seventh week. Wow. I can't believe I have been here for this long. The day was ok. The kids were medium good, and there were only 22 of them. Which is way lower in numbers than there were last week. Mike, Eric and Wesley are in training this entire week, so the center brought in staff from elsewhere. Cody from the teen center and Clay from sports Camp A are helping out. They are great, but it kind of threw off Emily and my groove and I'm just not fond of change in general. I want our boys back! Well....not much more to say for today. average day, good times

AMSTERDAM AND BRUSSELS aka: July 23-24, 2011

This weekend was amazing to say the least. I had such a blast the entire way through. I will say that Amsterdam did beat Brussels, but I enjoyed both of them immensely. So after getting to bed Friday night around 12:30 am, I went to sleep for three hours and then got up to get ready for Amsterdam. I had to get up so early because we had to leave for the train station at 4:40, and I had to run to the ATM to get money first as well sigh. To say the least, I was extremely tired lol. But everything got off without a hitch, and it was all great. We got to the train station, and then ended up finding two of the only open seats we could see on the train going to Koln, which was where we were supposed to transfer. It was nice sitting in an awesome seat. The ICE trains are way nicer than most of the other ones. They have like head pillows attached to the seats. How amazing is that. I slept the whole way to our transfer. We ended up having to run to our next train, but we made it in good time. The trains when we were actually in Holland were way better. Like so incredibly nice. And all the people were WAY nicer too. German people in general seem more cold, while Dutch people were way friendly and awesome. We got there, and we started walking around town. I love Amsterdam. It was so....quaint. I think that is a perfect word to describe it. I loved seeing everything there. The houses were really tall and thin or different colors. Then there were canals everywhere. It kind of reminded me of venice, except that the canals are far less winding, and they make more sense. There are tons of floating houses on the canals that look like motor homes that float. it is quite hilarious and adorable. A lot of them have like gardens and/or tables and chairs on top. Some of the houses were odd because it looked like they were leaning into the house next to them. Like they were falling over and got caught by the other houses. The first thing Mary Beth and I did (we were the only two) was make our way to the Anne Frank House. While we made our way there, we stopped at little shops and just looked around the town. I loved all the blue and white china that they sold everywhere. In the first shop we were in, I of course knocked down a stupid glass thing and broke it. So lame. This is the first time I've had to pay for something I broke though, so I guess I had it coming. I bought lots of stuff though. The Anne Frank house line only took us like an hour or so to get through, so it wasn't that bad. It was like really sad, and emotional to go through that house. I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't furnished, but her father in the 60's didn't want it to be furnished. I think it may have something to do with that it wouldn't be the authentic furniture since that was taken. But it had models of the rooms and what they would have looked like. In each of the rooms of the house, they had quotes from Anne Frank's diary and what each of the rooms was used for. It was really sad. I read Anne Frank's diary when I was very very young, but I had forgotten like that she wanted to be a famous journalist and that she was rewriting pages in her diary with the purpose of future publication. I think it is crazy. I guess her sister Margo wrote a diary too, and they just never found it. i think it would have been interesting if at the end of it all both of their diaries would have been found. it would have been interesting to see the two different perspectives. The coolest part of the Anne Frank house was probably the bookcase that kept the entrance to their annex secret. The bookcase was like not completely covering the entrance of the door, and so the wallpaper was put over the front of the door. It was so cool. I cried at the end, when it showed pictures of them and then what concentration camp they were taken to. I was so sad when I looked at the pictures of Otto Frank and Edith Frank. They were in love, and they were separated at the end of her life. Can you imagine what that would be like? It would be so hopeless and alone. No wonder so many of them died, not just the horrible conditions, but being so completely alone. It would be hard to find something to live for. After the Anne Frank house, we needed something lighter, so we walked along one of the canals and went to the IAmsterdam sign. You know the tourism places are always marked with an i for the information. Well, IAmsterdam is amsterdam's like special slogan for their tourism stuff.The sign is pretty cool. On the way there we saw lots of Coffee shops. Coffee shops in Amsterdam are a lot different than they are in America. Coffee shops in Amsterdam are the only place where weed can be sold really. It is very interesting. They are all decked out in this like hippie stuff, and walking by them, all you could smell was weed. bleh. We even peaked our heads inside of one, and then saw that on the tables they have paper to roll joints with. So interesting that it is allowed like that. The final big thing we did in Amsterdam was go to the Red Light District. Yes, this is kind of weird, but Amsterdam is famous for it so we had to check it out. It wasn't quite dark yet, so it wasn't as gross I guess as it could be, although the street didn't look quite as cool without it being as lit up. There were so many sex shops on the street. Along with this, there were tons of buildings that had women dancing in the windows. If they were occupied, a curtain was pulled over the windows. If not, then the women were dancing with not a lot of clothing so they could attract a male. I can't believe something like that is legal anywhere. Goodness. By the end of this, we were super tired, so we went on our three hour train to Brussels. I slept a lot on the train, although when we got there I figured out that our check in date on our reservation for the hostel wasn't correct. Um.....we were like. wtf. I really hope this print out is wrong. We walked to the hostel when we got there, and right away we walked into the middle of this like huge fair with rides and everything. It took us a while, but we finally got there. It was true sadly. We did book the hostel for the wrong day. Thank goodness they had room, but we had to pay like 10 more euro than we would have, and we lost our 6 euro deposit. I guess all things considering it could have been a lot worse. like not having a place to stay. And this place was really nice. It was called Hotel Van Belle. And best of all.....it included BREAKFAST! And not just any breakfast, this was like the motherload of breakfasts. There was cereal, juice, coffee, bread, cheese, fruit, etc. So many things. I was so excited. I ate quite a bit. Then it was time to explore Brussels! I loved brussels a lot, but Amsterdam was better. Brussels didn't have people that were as nice, and they spoke French which was interesting. We went around the main square, which had all these really old buildings that had gold on them. It was really cool. We also went to like the gardens and the king's living place. Also, the parliament building. The best part of Belgium though by far.....was the Waffles! Omg. I can't even describe how absolutely amazing the waffles were. I had a waffle with strawberries adn chocolate drizzled on top. Amazing. I wasn't aware though that Belgium was such a large place for fine chocolate. But there were basically as many chocolate shops as there were places to get waffles. Which, trust me. I was not complaining. Amsterdam was also more unique than Brussels. A lot of the buildings reminded me of lots of other places in Europe. But still cool. We didn't stay in Brussels long, and then we took a trip back to our lovely home in Stuttgart. It was really nice to get home finally (yes, i have started referring to this as home). We got here in Stuttgart around 8pm, and then we were able to relax for a while before our manditory meeting. At this meeting, we found out that we are getting four new camp adventure staff from somewhere in Germany. They are going to be working at the CDC. They are going to find out withing 48 hours of leaving their site that they are coming. I would be so pissed if I had done camp the first year and been moved so close to the end especially. I don't see why they are moving people who will only be here for three and a half weeks. It seems utterly pointless. But whatever. Had an amazing weekend, got to know Ms. Mary Beth better, and had an amazing time.

July 22, 2011

So today was friday already. Crazy crazy crazy. I can't believe that this week went by so fast! I am glad though at the same time. It was a good friday. The amount of kids went down substantially, and it is back to more of our normal numbers. Which is good. There were about 24 today or something like that. It was amazing. The kids were acting up a little, but nothing too bad. The worst were Anaja and Sebastian, which was surprising, cuz they have been awful this week and they are usually the best. Oh well. I guess all kids have the right to have bad weeks. At least a lot of the new kids Ms. Emily and I don't really like weren't there. Yay! The kids were really good trying to earn last minute tickets for pie the counselor. Also, There was like a fashion show with stuff the kids made this week, and we did our blitz off performance that the cd didn't work for last year. That was really interesting. Cute kids. Oliver has the best robot dance of everyone. Cream the counselor was intense. Mike was lame and didn't wanna be creamed. (would mess up his hair or something...lol....so vain) But Ms. Emily, I, and Eric were creamed. Out of the original 8 creamings.....I recieved six.... Really really.....SIX! I was laughing. At least it is all in good fun and I know it is out of love. The kids always cream someone they like ya know. Then we got ready and dressed in normal people clothes and waited to get off work. Cameron took us to HARRY POTTER! SO now i've seen it twice yay! It was really good the second time too. Cameron's parents are so nice. They bought us each a slice of pizza, small popcorn, candy, and water...plus more candy to share, and they paid for the ticket. We were like, you guys are the best ever! Way after I got back, I realized that I left my camera at the center. That was not fun at all. I was kind of angry because like really...I've only had the thing for a couple of weeks and i already left it somewhere. So thankfully ms. Emily is really nice and she accompanied me to Panzer where Ms. B let us into the building. Unfortunately it took a total of three hours to get there and back, and about 14 euro. SO LAME! I felt awful too that it took so long. Oh well. Now i have it for AMSTERDAM!

July 21, 2011

So...today was basically the exact opposite of yesterday to say the least. The kids were monsters. I mean CRAZYYYYYYYY. But we went of a field trip to Sensapolis, which is a HUGE indoor play place, kind of like Funpark, but way bigger. So I thought, this will be way more fun! Not really. There were some cool slides to be sure. This one was like five stories and went straight down. You are supposed to have your hands crossed across your chest, but this one girl, Z'kiah of course, didn't and she had burns on her arms from where it touched the slide. Yeesh. But this one slide in the middle I thought was going to be slow like shot around a corner and flung me off the end of the padded landing. I screamed bloody murder on the way down and thought I was going to die. OMG. I was done after that lol. Blitz off was disappointing because the cd kept skipping. Which is sad because the dance for it is soooo darn cute. And basically no matter what we did we would look better than Kelly day camp lol. They don't do that much. So it was a bummer, but I think we are doing it for the center tomorrow. Cream the counselor is tomorrow....have to remember to bring everything. Ok. So after work, Anaja's mom and she adopted Emily and I to go to dinner at a Greek restaurant. Yay! Except....duh duh dun! Autumn the evil mouse girl's mom did not come to pick her up because she was stuck in traffic so guess who got to go with us. Emily and I were thinking, you have got to be kidding me. It cannot be possible that we seriously have THIS bad of luck. But sadly it was entirely true. We did have that bad of luck. boo! And so alas we were stuck at dinner with this odd little girl who is extremely rude, makes blatantly obvious statements and does baby talk....for hours. Luckily we came to realize that Anaja's mom did not really care for Autumn either. Autumn would say something, and Anaja's mom would make a very sarcastic comment back that went over her head. Emily and I looked at eachother a lot. This lady said everything we were thinking and sometimes did say at the center. Autumn wanted me to go moniter her outside so she could play tag....while we were all eating dinner. Gosh. I was like, I'm not your babysitter Autumn. And we are all eating. And she would interrupt whenever anyone talked with stupid random comments like "look I can cross my eyes". What are you talking about crazy child! She is one of my two least favorites at camp for sure. Her voice is as bad as nails on a chalkboard to me. grrrrrr. Oh well. It gave Emily and I quite a few more inside jokes. Greek food isn't my favorite I discovered. At all. But Greek dessert wasn't bad I will say,. Night!

July 20, 2011

So today was probably the best day of camp possible that there ever will be. I am so happy it happened. First of all, it was just a really good day with the kids and the were significantly less crazy than the previous two days. Second, I got to go to RITTER SPORT chocolate factory and make chocolate! This was a mini field trip, and since Emily has been on two and me none, it was my turn yay!!!!!!!!!! So we took 14 kids, Ms. B and I. She was a lot nicer when it was just us two, and had a good attitude for her until about the very end. So it wasn't like it could have been, for sure. On this tour, we learned how chocolate was made and then they had us mix our own ingredients in the chocolate sauce and pour it into a chocolate mold. I put stuff in mine that you don't normally put in chocolate like gummy bears, fruit snacks, etc....just because I can never buy an actual candy bar with that kind of stuff in it. Regardless. I poured that chocolate and then made my bars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We then got to make like a case for them, it was so cool. I made one for dillon and decorated it all cute, although he won't like the chocolate much lol. The extra that we snapped off the bars after we took it out of the mold we got to eat. We also got to eat the leftovers in the bowl after we poured it into the mold. So....I had a tooooon of chocolate that day. At the end we went back to the center and had pretzels for snack. Then Elijah's parents, the Roy's picked me up and we went to HARRY POTTER! It started at 7:30, so we went to ice cream first and that was good. The theater was an English theater in Germany and it was so cute. There are trays in front of you, which is like genius so you don't spill. And then I tried this cola mix called Mezzo, which is like coke and orange fanta mixed together. It was super good. What a great day!

July 19, 2011

Today was SOOOO NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Omg. There were 40 kids, which is ten more than we normally have. And...we were short staffed because they were all late sign ups and it wasn't expected. I was like omg.....this is absolutely CRAZY! Even more new kids. We only got half hour breaks instead of hour also because they couldn't afford to let the staff off for that long. Which I didn't really mind, because I got to eat the kids lunch before I was off. It was like penne pasta and garlic bread and stuff. It was sooo good. I also got to finish my book, which was sooo good! I love reading. I am behind schedule, so I will have to catch up in the next couple of days. Today even with more kids though was not as bad as yesterday by any means. It was a good day. We made robot costumes with the kids for blitz off to Mr. Roboto. All the dance moves I can think to teach the kids for it though are from Dance Central lol, even though that is not one of the Dance Central songs. Ms. B told us yesterday we couldn't use the paper bags because they are so hard to find...um...they are in the stinking craft closet. Why in the world would they have them if not to use. Gosh Ms. B pisses us all off so much. So we waited until she left and then told Corrie we needed them, so she of course was like, oh yeah! That's awesome! Of course you can. After we were done we hid the painted bags. Then today after Ms. B left we took them out and put tin foil buttons and bows and stuff on them. And hid them again lol. At least she doesn't go on field trips with us. Today after work Juan and Gabby's family adopted Ms. Emily and I and made us dinner. The burritos were really really good and their family is hilarious. The mom is Colombian, and then the dad was raised in Puerto Rico. Cool. Gabby at one point meant to say, "you scared the bejezus (sp?) out of me." But she thought it was "you scared the baby jesus out of me!" Omg. We all laughed sooo hard. It was so funny. And then Juan. He was like amazed at my burrito wrapping skills. It was like the funniest thing ever. He looked at me with his jaw dropped and was like, "I have never seen a burrito that big wrapped so perfectly. nothing is going to fall out at all. How did you do that?" We were like what!? Then he was like, "So you must have done this before right? It is so international." We all busted up... what the heck. It was so cute. He was literally seroius and amazed at how I wrapped my burrito in a tortilla. I guess I am like destined to work at Chipotle or something. Tomorrow I might be doing something with the Roys. Hopefully that works out! Til tomorrow!!!!!

July 18, 2011

So today was the first day back since my amazing weekend in Interlaken. Wow, I miss that place so much already. Having tons of trouble uploading my video...hopefully facebook will work better than my blog. Either way, I won't rest until it is up! So....today was absolutely insane. Not a bad day by any means, but the kids were off the wall and it was the first day since being here I was like...ok....when is my break, when is my break! There were a lot more kids than normal, and the new ones weren't the best behaved. Franci....grrr....that kid. He was so adorable at first, and I feel like he keeps getting worse. Definitely not my favorite anymore or anywhere close. Aiden is still my top. I love that kid to death. He kept clinging to me and was like, I love hanging on you. Can I be attached to you? I was like awe, no sweetie, but thanks. So cute. And a hectic day. Til tomorrow then!

INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND aka: July 15-17

So Friday at camp went by really really fast. I wish I would have had time before I left that day to write a blog so that everything would have been all caught up. Regardless, I'm going to try and write down what I remember. It was my favorite kid, Aiden's, birthday. He is sooooo cute. He has been telling me about his birthday for weeks, and I told him I would let him hang on me more on his birthday than normal. He is so cuddley and always just wants to hang all over me. So all day long we had like our normal programming stuff. But it was really cold, so we watched a movie instead of playing outside. We watched Labrynth, which I haven't seen since the choir trip to the lake cabin my senior year of high school. It was for sure amazing. Although sitting for that long when I was super tired was not the best thing ever. I was so like out of it. I dozed off a couple of times. Aiden of course sat next to me and had me put my arm around him the whole time. lol....that kid. And then during the day we also did cream the counselor. I made the decision that we are using shaving cream instead of whipped cream this year because whipped cream ends up smelling so so so gross. I don't like smelling rotting milk while on the weekends traveling. So...shaving cream it was. And it smelled really good. Eight kids got to cream us. They were kind of out of control though, and it was really hard for them to stay like in line and paying attention. Which is weird. Kids best be behavin'. But they had a good time creaming ms. Emily and I. Mr. James, the family counselor also let them cream him, which was really nice of him. I don't know if I would if not for camp. Eric leaves before that, and Mike was gone this friday, so It was just the three of us the kids had to choose from. Eight plus pies on people, and we only went through one and a half cans of shaving cream. That stuff just like keeps going....I was seriously impressed. We also had a cake that day for Aiden's birthday. It was a massive cake and the kids were like super bummed they had to wait for him to eat the first bite. The cake was so good, but it had this like black frosting on it. My piece didn't have this, but a lot of them did. So many people's mouths were like completely black from it. It was pretty intense. I laughed super hard at like Aiden, Emily, and Oliver. After work (I had taken the earlier shift so I could get home early), and went to my room to change, grab my stuff, and go to the train station. It was crazy fast I had to get ready. Then we went to the train, had our list of transfers planned out, and were on our way. The ride was long....I got some of my book read, but then I ended up sleeping for quite a bit on the way there. We had two transfers, but we made it without a hitch. We slightly started to freak out when the train we were on stopped at a station and then started heading the way we had just come, but it was just taking a different route. It did that on the way back too. We finally arrived in Switzerland at like one in the morning at Interlaken and had to walk and try to find our hostel. After asking for help from two guys, since there was absolutely nothing helpful in the directions I printed, We made our way there. It was kind of a long walk, but part of that could have just been because we were so tired. We checked in at the main hostel, and then had to walk a bit further to the tents,which is what we were staying in. It is like this permanent tent village with little tents that have like three bunk beds each, and then a common shower, bathroom, and sink area. It was so quaint, and I absolutely loved it. I just remember that walking on the way there, I already knew that i was going to love Switzerland so so much. It was freezing that night, so at least the blankets were good. The canyoning stuff opened early, so we were going to try and leave by like seven the next morning. now almost two, I for sure didn't get that much sleep that night. But oddly enough. Saturday morning, I woke up feeling like I had a ton of sleep and it was super awesome. I got up at about six to take a shower and then got ready. I was ready to leave, but cuz of some people in our group we didn't end up leaving til like seven. Then we get to the main hostel to book stuff at like seven twenty. And we waited in line behind these like two guys for ever. They were booking stuff for the whole week so it was taking forever....then they started to book stuff for their friends. It was like really? Why. But then the main adventure office thing opened so we bailed on the line we were in and went there. It is like five to eight at this point. So Sam and I, who were the only ones wanting to do the longer, more adventurous canyoning trip went first so we could get our spot. Luckily we got in, since the one we wanted left at eight. We rushed over two buildings after we paid so that we could go! The trip was like 159 CHF and Euro is slightly lower than that in the exchange. I mean worth more. But they are close. So Expensive. But worth it. So Sam and I got to this building and our leader guy comes up and there are six other people who are from a group studying abroad in Germany for the semester. The eight of us followed the main guy and this other leader guy to get our wetsuits, helmets, etc. The helmets all had names on them so everyone could be identified inthe videos and while out in the canyon. I was Pusscat, Sam was Goofy, then there was like Rambo, and some others...lol... It was a lot of stuff. And then we piled everything into a van and started to drive. We drove for like ever, but the views on the way to where we were going were breathtaking. I can't even describe how in awe I was of absolutely everything I saw. Everything looked like it was straight out of a photoshopped post card. Wow wow wow. So... We stop on the way up at this bakery and grab some stuff for afterwards. Finally we stop and change into our wetsuits in the middle of a field (we had our swimsuits on so nbd) and then we drove a little bit to our final destination. It was pretty intense. We arrive and step out, and there is just this huge ledge with a guard rail. Our instructors step out of the van and attach ropes to this ledge. I was thinking, oh my gosh oh my gosh i'm going to die, I didn't know I had to repel down something! So they hooked us up and we had to like lean all the way back. Basically we were standing up straight, but it was sideways! and press our legs backwards. We could let go of the rope, but i just couldn't do it! At least I got up on my feet. But at one part, this huge side of a cliff like dipped inward and I lost my footing. Of course I would be the only one in the group that this would happen to...... of course. But then I kept going and one dude at the bottom from the study abroad group helped talk me through standing up again. I made it down in one piece yay! The way to describe what repelling felt like is running backwards through the air. When we were all at the bottom we started on our journey. We had a bunch of slides down these like rocks, and then we had to jump from rocks into the water. It was basically one huge continuous winding waterfall that we were walking down. It was unreal. The scariest slide was this one where the rock cut off and we were like launched into the water. Another one we had to like jump on to another rock sideways and they like shoved us onto the slide. It was crazy. The scariest jump (all of which were recommended we do in a cannon ball style) was this one where you could either jump from 15 feet or 30 feet. To get to the 30 ft I had to like climb up this side of a rock wall with nothing strapped to me. We were just holding a fricken rope. It was so scary! And then standing at the top looking down from that thing. Was just nuts. I thought I was going to die. I was shaking soooooo much. But I did it. I felt sooo accomplished afterwards. I have for sure never jumped from anything that high. That was probably the most scary thing out of everything for me. The next scariest besides the repelling was when we kind of zip lined down this one part of the mountain we were looped through our hook with this rope, but it wasn't tied. We had to hold onto it and let go when they said as this thing is like whizzing downwards. Omg. So scary. My hands were so cold from the frigid water. i've honestly never felt anything like that. I was like....what if my hands let go, what if my arthritis makes me not strong enough to hold it! I was freaking out. But I did it. I did everything. I am so proud of myself for that day. After we were all finished they drove us back to the field we changed and they had bread, cheese, and tomatoes, and beer for us. I had so much cheese and bread. the cheese was some of the best I have had. And the bread everywhere in Europe is just unbelievably amazing. I had such a blast. When we got back, the other group who did the less intense one was back and getting ready to go to the lake. The lake wasn't my favorite to be honest. We didn't end up at a part with a beach, and it took us like an hour to find it. We should have just taken the bus. But the lake with the mountains in the background was amazing, and it was nice to just lay out in the sun for a while. Did for a while on the ground....too rocky...field....too buggy....bench? Perfect! That was nice. Then we walked back and got ready to celebrate Sam's birthday!!!! We went to a market and bought stuff to make pasta and bread and salad! It was awesome. The hostel we are staying at, in the main place, has like a kitchen and cooking stuff you could use. I unfortunately dropped one of the cans of sauce on the way there, but it all ended up working out. The pasta was sooo good, and I think Sam felt nice that we had made something for him. During dinner too, all of us but Sam (since the PC isn't really supposed to drink with us) went down during happy hour, which was during our dinner, and got drinks. We all ended up getting cider which was super cheap because everything was buy one get one free. It was nice because Rebecca and I each paid like two fifty frank for our cider! Woo! After eating we all went down into the bar area to just hang and dance and stuff. The bar is literally the hostel's bar. Crazy part was.....We saw the group from Sam and my canyoning at the hostel!!!!! It was really cool! They were like, where is Goofy! And we had a lot of fun. One of the guys ended up buying me a drink, yay free stuff, because I am soooo poor. We danced for a while and then Molly and I headed back to sleep, and soon everyone else followed. I was so tired. I didn't even hear everyone else come back, even though they weren't far behind us. There were five of us in one tent and I think four or five in the other we had booked. (Also six more camp A's from our camp were in a different hostel in interlaken that weekend and we saw tons of people from other camps. Crazy small town for how much there is to do for reals). The sleep I got that night was like the best I have gotten in so long. I slept til eight, so I got like seven or so hours. Perfect! I got up and just adjusted my hair rather than get ready. Saturday's weather was so perfect and sunny and gorgeous. Sunday not so much. It was really rainy and gross. But oh well. These kind of things happen. We mostly just chilled around and got some souveniers. Our train left at one to go home. So we were back by like seven. That was nice. I sat by Mary Beth on the way back, and it was just nice to talk, although I didn't get my book read at all. Then Mary Beth, Bre and I changed super fast and headed to Patch to watch the Women's world cup final. So glad I went even though we didn't get back til like midnight. I was soooo tired by the end, but the game was soooo intense! It is a bummer we lost. Mary beth and Bre were apart of the group that came Sat from Stuttgart to Interlaken that were staying in a different hostel. I feel like we are kind of clicking, which is nice. They are cool girls. So Mary Beth and Bre, in interlaken, came up with this creature called BerMyth, which is a mix between a Mammoth and a Bear. I think it is hilarious, and they kind of got me into it too. So I came up with the side kick, HornYcorn (Pronounced horn-ih-corn) that is a mix between a hornet and a unicorn. Best thing ever. Its slogan is back it up, bring it forward. We were creating backstories, and arch nemesis (which turned out to be Basel). It was great times. I am soooo tired....I need to sleep. more later!

July 14, 2011

Woo! Another field trip day down and conquered! So... We went to FunPark, since Trampoline land was burned to the ground. But there were still trampolines, yay! But......FunPark wasn't actually that fun at all. Well it for sure was, for maybe like half an hour....and then not so much. It was a lot like a little bit smaller of a kids play. (You spokane people know what that is..) Or maybe it is just that kids play looked a lot bigger when I was really small lol. But the kids were just having a blast and playing and everything. The funnest parts for me were the double slide, which was two yellow slides right next to eachother, and I went so fast down it I got air over the bumps. The trampolines were also quite awesome. They were way way way springy, and there were ten of them all together. That was crazy fun. i had forgotten how much fun those were. It hurt my back after a while while jumping though lol. I guess I'm getting too old for that sort of thing. I had to warn Emily and Mike, who are both 19, that they would probably have as many issues as me when they got to be over the hill as well. lol. The trampoline watching position was definitely the best too because you could jump sometimes and then just sit and talk until telling the kids to switch after five minutes. (only one kid was allowed on each trampoline at a time) So I spent quite a bit of the day there. After like an hour and a half of crawling through the different levels of the indoor play place, I remembered how big and old I am ha ha. I felt like I had been running for miles and miles. And it sure is a lot harder to fit up into those things when you are really big I will say for the record. There were quite a few injuries that occurred. Mostly it was just like a hit face or hurt ankle that a kid cried about for like five minutes, and then was fine after a while. But this one girl from the SAC program on the Kelly base, she was like running on the play place and then ran into a girl. She then lost her balance and went backwards, and this hanging ball thing smashed into her face. So all I see is this sobbing little girl coming down the slanted plush ladder of the play place holding her mouth and crying. When I asked her what happened, she then held out her hand and there was this tooth in it. OMG! That would suck so much! And it was an adult tooth as well.....one of her two front teeth! Sucks so bad. I hope they were able to like keep it and put it back in or something. I will have to find out and keep you posted. The day went by super slow though altogether. Like....the whole day felt like it had gone by and it was not even lunch time yet. So darn slow. All of us were like at first....This is so cool! and then were like.......This was entertaining for one hour, this sucks hard core! But at least the kids were having fun. I was so tired that by the end of the day I was passing out on the bus ride home. And I have been so good about not sleeping on them too. And even Emily fell asleep. I literally like couldn't focus because my eyes were so blurry and stuff. When we got back we did closing, and the kids weren't that excited. They were actually pretty rude to me, so I had a super not fun chat with three of them afterwards. Jalen cried. He is like the big tough guy. But its not like I was yelling at them by any means. I told them that they had hurt my feelings by being disrespectful during closing. I told them that closing was Ms. Emily and my favorite part of the day. We were respectful during their favorite parts of the day to them, so we would want them to be respectful during their favorite parts of the day to us. Jalen doesn't really get in trouble though, so i think he was really embarrassed that he had gotten in trouble, especially since he was pulled out from the group during closing. I felt horrible that he was crying afterwards, but when I looked back at it I really wasn't even like a little harsh in a way that could have invoked that kind of response. Emily and Mike agreed when we talked later. The only explanation could have been embarrassment that I can think of. Tomorrow we are doing cream the counselor! Shaving cream, not whipped cream, so I don't smell rotting milk for days. It is the most unpleasant thing in the world lol. And.....tomorrow night I leave for SWITZERLAND!!!!!!!! Canyoning, Hiking, Swimming, and everything else possibly awesome, here I come!!!!!!!!

July 13, 2011

Can't believe it is like the middle of July. Time is moving so fast! So today was a really cold and pretty rainy day, so I wore long sleeves all day long. It wasn't that bad though. I really am not sure what all went on all day. Days are starting to blur together lol, so its a good thing I keep this blog so I can keep everything straight even for myself lol. Probably my favorite part of the day was making props for blitz off. I feel like every week is consumed with blitz off, and I wish we just didn't have it, but have to make the best of it. Actually, take that back. I do wish we had it, I just wish we did camp songs and skits like they used to do. But anyways, the song this week is We Built this City. And we painted this massive mural of a city (that Emily designed of course) and today the kids make guitars. It was super cute. Shoot. Just remembered I never cut them out today. Darnit! I am going to have to spend all morning finishing these stupid guitars! At least they look really cool. Especially mine :). And then we did normal stuff all day like crafts and games, etc. I took a nap on my lunch break and when I woke up I was more tired. Probably won't do that again. lol. After work today, I went with Emily, Mary Beth, and some other people over to Patch to watch the Semi Finals of the women's world cup with USA versus France. USA WON! I didn't see the end cuz I caught the bus, but we beat them 3 to 1 yeah! How exciting. Well, field trip day tomorrow. I am not sure what we are doing. The schedule says Trampoline land....but I found out from the kids today that Trampoline land burned down..... Just picture my shocked face. And crushed dreams.... ok i'm kidding on that part. But I have no idea where we are going tomorrow now. I guess we will see. Until tomorrow!

July 12, 2011.

I can't believe that one month ago from today is the day that my plane landed in Germany! Crazy crazy. It has gone by really fast at some times and really slow at others. I am hoping that I have made it over the biggest hump and that the rest of it is just going to be smooth sailing. Of course if my moods would stabilize this would be alot easier. As I am writing this, I'm watching the latest shrek on TV. Its way cuter than I thought it would be. Anyways, getting to today. After much more sleep last night I am feeling way way better. This is good because now I can function like a normal person. The entire day was awesome, and it turned out really really well. I am glad that I was able to have a great day. Aiden showed up today and his hair was a curly mess. It was nuts. So darn cute. During PT this morning we did yoga and did relaxation. it was great. I was able to basically fall asleep and relax a lot of my muscles and stuff. I have been so sore since being here. I think all the travel and stuff is wearing on me. It is crazy. I will need a major massage or something when I get back. lol. The rest of the day was fun too. We did splash day today, since it was supposed to be the hottest day of the week. It was nice because it actually was really hot and we didn't have to worry about the kids complaining on friday if it got canceled due to weather. That's about all I can think of about my day, except that the stupid bus took two hours to go home. I can't believe that it took so long to get home. I was so bored. But at least I had my book to read. That was really really nice. Two hours! I have never seen traffic that bad in my ENTIRE life!

July 11, 2011

So today was the first day back since the weekend. I was having trouble sleeping on Sunday night, and for some reason I was just not feeling so good. Because of that, I was just grumpy and not doing too good. I slept for maybe thirty minutes (when I had had plenty of time to get sleep, probably nine hours and was excited to catch up) and then I woke up and was having a ton of trouble actually getting back to sleep. My wrists were hurting really really bad. And then after having some personal issues, I couldn't get back to sleep until like three thirty am. And I got up at six thirty. All that being said, I was definitely very very tired. I got on the bus and instead of reading a book like normal, I slept. And then I felt sick to my stomach all morning. Either from being so tired or because there is some sort of sickness going around amongst the camp A staff. I threw up like three times right before camp. I probably should have gone home, but it wasn't like I was actually like dying sick. I just wasn't doing good. So I ate lunch right after that, and then I was more ok. On my actual lunch break, not the kids break, I took an hour nap. That was the best possible thing that could have happened. Also, one of the girls noticed that I wasn't doing so good, Z'kiah. She made me a card. On the front it says 'hope you feel better ms. Caryssa.' On the inside it says, 'I really hop that you get better Ms. Caryssa and you are so nice to everyone in sas. I hope you get better every day of your life. Love Z'kiah.' I teared up and wanted to start bawling. It was the sweetest thing. I was so glad that she did that. I felt like God was reaching out to me through her. The rest of the day was just kind of normal. After work, Mike had Ms. Emily and I over for dinner, which was really nice. We went to the Patch Commissary and got stuff to make pizza, cinnamon rolls, rootbeer, and ice cream. In all it was pretty much an awesome night. I was able to get my mind off of things, and both Mike and Emily are very humorous, so I laughed a lot. We decided that we are going to make this a weekly thing. And... Mr. Eric should be coming back from his trip soon, so he will be able to join us next time yay! I need to get to bed, so til tomorrow.

Munich and Heidelberg aka July 9-10!

So, this weekend was pretty awesome. Thankfully also, it was a lot more relaxing than last weekend. I feel like this weekend we experienced more of the cultural things in Germany rather than merely sight seeing, which was really good. I also feel it is good that this weekend was more laid back because we only had four days to recover from traveling in Paris, which by the way is still number one on my list of favorite places I have been ever ever ever. So to begin this weekend off, we started out Saturday morning at like seven or so at the Landhaus, Stuttgart station by the base and got on an 8am ec train to go to Munich. Everything was great, the lady checked our "happy weekend" ticket (I'm not sure what the German spelling is, but it is a ticked for 39 euro that up to five people can use on the regional trains for the entire day throughout the entire country, which is really nice. This is way way way cheaper than paying for individual tickets by far, and we were good. So we got into Munich around like ten thirty, which is still pretty early, so there was plenty of time to do everything. The first thing we did was go to Dachau, which is a city right next to Munich that had a concentration camp. That was probably the first and last concentration camp I will go to while I'm here. I mean, it is really cool, but it is so in a super depressing, creepy, not fun to think about too much way. We walked from the train stop near Dachau to the actual concentration camp, which was really interesting because there is a footpath that takes the same path that the captive people who were on their way to the concentration camp took. There were signs every so often that like explained what was happening to the prisoners along the way and everything. It was extremely sad. We didn't take any photos of us with anything, because that just didn't feel right at all. It was awk enough at Hiroshima when we did that, cuz we didn't smile and stuff. hm...But it was really interesting. The most interesting part of it was the quarters that they had to stay in. They had torn most of the original buildings down, but the ones in the front were preserved. They had like their beds, which were just rows and rows of these tiny wooden bunk beds stacked, and the bathrooms were just open urinals with no doors or anything. It was so sad. I wouldn't have wanted to live there for sure, and I think its horrible that people could put another human being through that. Anyways, we only stayed there for like an hour, because one can only take so much of that, and then we took the bus back to the station we had originally walked from. Then we took another train and went to the exact opposite part of Germany's culture, and that was a huge beer house! When we got off at the stop like two from the main station to try and find where we wanted to go, we turn around, and there is this massive building with a huge like clock on it and thousands and thousands of people standing everywhere and a massive stage. And....rainbows? It was a massive lesbian festival. More on that later. This one is a really famous beer house called the Hofbrauhaus is the one we went to first. It is like a huge restaurant where the waiters and waitresses are dressed in traditional garb with traditional food and stuff. There was also live music playing when we were there (traditional of course) and sometimes there are dancers and huge performances. We all got a beer (mine small and the others large. I am not cut out for Germany man) and sat and drank and ate. It was really relaxing and fun. There were these like Beer maids who would come by and sell pretzels too (called bretzels). At the end of it, we very stealthfully and very illegally all took our glasses. Yes, we are very awful people, but we didn't get caught. Plus, karma came back and slapped us in the face later. After we did a little souvenier shopping, we went to the Augustiener, which is another beer house thing. I just got fries there though, cuz I was still feeling the first beer. After we were done with all of this, we went back to the huge lesbian festival, because it is part of the culture here. There were tons of people in drag, and it was really interesting. There were also lots of booths everywhere and stuff. We got lots of free candy like suckers and gummy bears in rainbow colors at the booths (all in closed packages of course), and we also saw a lot of very inappropriate stickers. We didn't know what they meant, because they were in German, but it was a definite teenage giggle moment when a guy who spoke great English tried to explain them all to us. After we were done with this, we were ready to head to Heidelberg for the night to stay with my friend Madeleine, who was an exchange student at Shadle like my sophomore year of high school or so. She lives in a town right next to Heidelberg called Mannheim, where she also goes to college. So we get on the same EC train going to Heidelberg, and we are on our merry way. It is not until we are like an hour from Mannheim that the ticket guy comes to check our ticket. Apparently the lady on our train there didn't know what the heck she was doing and didn't tell us that the EC trains do not count as the regional trains and that we were on it illegally. Thank goodness he did not fine us, I don't think I could have handled that after losing my camera last weekend, and then already not being legal here. Thankfully he just kicked us off at the next stop and told us a regional train to take there. So we make it to the regional stop, and...... the train switched tracks due to maintenance.....and did not show up at the track we were told it switched to....and there was not another train to Mannheim that got us there before one in the morning......and it was only seven pm. No thanks. We took the next train back to Stuttgart and told Madeleine we would be there in the morning. Stuttgart was only like an hour away. It was kind of nice sleeping in my own bed I will say, although I'm sad we missed the free concert that was going on at her college where we were supposed to be staying. Regardless, Molly and I got up in the morning, (Kristina and Lindsay had been with us in Munich, but decided they were too tired to go out to Heidelberg) and made our way to Heidelberg to meet up with Madeleine. We got there at like 10 am, and since it was Sunday, we were literally the only people on the streets for like two hours. It is so interesting to me that Germany completely shuts down on Sundays. Basically everything is closed, and not many people go out. I would say probably 90 % of the people were tourists. Heidelberg is this gorgeous little town that is in the middle of a valley, so each side has a beautiful mountain side covered in green trees. The castle, like the one in Salzburg, was up a little ways and we had to climb to it. The buildings on the way there were amazing, and just beautiful to look at. The steps on the way up were numbered, which I thought was almost worse because at the beginning Madeleine told us there were three hundred and sixty something stairs. We were panting when we made it to the top, partly because at least speaking for myself I am out of shape, and partly because Molly and I had thought that it was going to rain, which the forecast had said, so we had long sleeves, pants, jackets, etc. Whoops. Super sunny and nice. But the castle was really pretty and had a beautiful view of all of the old part of town from the top. There was also this museum of like pharmacy there, which had tons of old jars and stuff in the rooms that they used to use. There was also the largest wine barrel in either Germany or the world, I don't remember. It was massive to say the least. Madeleine said that because of its size the King at the time never had to worry about the wine running low or empty. After we were done with the amazing castle, we headed back down the stair path and went to get food. Starving! I ate pizza, which was nice. While we ate, we just talked and stuff. It was really interesting to hear Madeleine's perspective about certain things. Like their universities are about 500 euro each semester. Even with the exchange rate that is so much better than in America. I guess they are like really big on education. And we talked about cultural differences, like how they rarely pay with credit cards and always pay cash, and how German people don't smile at strangers or ask them how they are. It is too personal to do to a stranger. Americans do this all the time and expect a certain answer. For example, when you are at the store and you ask they clerk, 'hey how are you today?' you don't actually care what the answer is. The correct response it 'fine, how are you?' with a similar answer anticipated. Germans think this is impersonal and superficial, which I guess it kind of is, but its just part of the culture. They can always pick out who the tourists are based on who smiles at strangers and who doesn't. Interesting. Then after we finished eating we went to the most famous bridge that overlooked the castle, and there was this monkey statue that had space for you to put your head in it. Aubrey would have loved it, although it smelled like metal. There was also this shop that sold this like lovers chocolate. It was super cute. We saw one asian couple that was getting married and their limo driver gave them the gift of this special chocolate that is native to Heidelberg that we kept seeing everywhere. Then we just walked around through town and made our way back to the train station. We walked through this like festival type thing for kids where there was like a mechanical bull, blow up obstacles, ponies, etc. It was cute, and very opposite of the lesbian festival the day before. We then sat with Madeleine's friends for a bit on the grass next to the lake until we headed back to the train station to call it a day. I am so glad that we went, and it was awesome seeing Madeleine again! It was also nice getting home rather early. On the train ride home I finished my 8th book, and was bored for like 40 minutes. I should have brought another one. I will start number nine tomorrow. Tomorrow Dr. Edgington, who is like the original founder of camp adventure, is coming to Stuttgart on his annual tour he does of camp where he makes appearances and checks out different sites. Basically because he started it, he gets a free trip to Europe. Could have used that money to send us to director's training in Iowa! (yes, still bitter) Suffice it to say, everything must go perfect tomorrow.

July 8, 2011

Today was a day that made me glad it was Friday lol. But I seem to remember our shorter week after fourth of July in Atsugi being an unusually long one as well. I wonder why that is. I am exhausted to say the least. I'm not sure why. I got nine hours of sleep. I guess it might just be all the travel and work and everything. Each year is making me older and needing more sleep. i've got to snap out of this so I don't turn into an old person. Well, The first half of the day I just wanted to go home. Not like home to the hotel, but home home. I miss my family, Dillon, friends, especially Danilee. I don't know why I am so homesick this time around. I guess if you think about it though, over winter break this would have been it and I'd be on my way home tomorrow. And last summer, I didn't have as much to come back to in my mind I guess. Camp Adventure had kind of been my escape, and I had needed the kids to help mend my broken heart. But this summer I don't have that need for them. I mean, I absolutely love them and enjoy spending time with the kids, but it isn't what is holding me together, and I'm much more capable of standing on my own this time. So anyways, maybe that's why I am a bit homesick. Regardless, the time before lunch was a struggle. A lot of it probably had to do also with the fact that we had a nature walk/savanger hunt this morning. Omg. The forest thing we went to was so gross and we were supposed to like look at leaves and bugs and crap. There was a slug no joke the size of the palm of my hand,and then the spiders were all over the ground. I just felt all crawly after that and wanted to leave, alas the activity continued for like a stinking hour and a half sigh. I was just not in the best of moods. Which was not made any better by the fact that Emily came back early from lunch, and I ended up going on lunch right as the kids were getting theirs, which was spaghetti and meatballs, and garlic bread and smelled soooo good. I was kind of pissed that that happened, which wasn't really even Emily's fault, because she came back to what should have been like 20 minutes into the kid's lunch, and ended up being the beginning because they were so late getting it out. The rules are so dumb compared to last year that Corie is so strict about the food stuff and it being "government property" even though all the uneaten stuff just gets thrown away. So when Corie left for a little bit I got back from my break I went and got food, since the kids had already had thirds and there were mounds left. i'm so glad I did because it made me feel a lot better, and the meatballs were actually good. It was probably also good to get protein from the meat. So after I ate, the kids hung out for a bit and then we did splash day, for the first time since being with the kids, since the weather was actually pretty nice outside. The kids were like nuts about it. Only a few didn't want to go out. Of course they sent all of us younger ones, Mike, Emily, and I outside, while they stayed in, but w/e lol. It was nice to be out in the sun even though I don't particularly like being wet. So we were water fighting with the kids and I snuck up and dumped a bucket of water over all of them while Mike distracted them. I ran back to the "safe zone" (the pavement on the side of the grass area), and then they were all waiting for me, like a massive line of little evil children. They were waiting with loaded water guns, just waiting for me to make a wrong move and step off the safe zone. I couldn't move anywhere! So Emily, Mike, and I sprinted to the other side of the field. I was soaked to the bone by the time I reached the fence. of course I forgot flip flops so I was barefoot. And no towel, but at least the sun was out so I could dry. I was over splash day in like 30 minutes though and it was scheduled for like two hours. I was like ugh. This sucks! Why can't there be no kids like last friday since I put in a 11 hour day yesterday! Then I could be let off early. But whatever. Maybe that's another reason I wasn't in the best of moods in the early morning. Yesterday sure was a loooong day. So after a while I just sat out in the sun and watched the rest of spalsh day. The rest of the day at least went by faster, since we had some awesome lemon bar things for snack and then just played outside. So despite the kids that are a complete pain...cough Josh (who lacks respect for female authority figures. He literally like screams at me sometimes. At least Mike is like uber the macho type who hates the not respecting women thing and goes and puts this kid in his place. And Ms. Corie is definitely not past dealing with him either. I just can't really stand him.) and Destiny (who screams about everything and has a horrible/ creepy attitude) and Angel (who still claims its ok to pout and whine since she still looks little. What in the world does her no older than 20 year old mother tell this kid.).....yes, despite all of this, today was pretty ok. Oh, and Mike saved me some BBQ chips for the bus ride. Yay chips. Munich tomorrow yay! Heidelberg Sunday yay!

July 7, 2011

Today was our LEGOLAND field trip. I will say that it was pretty much amazing, and I loved it tons and tons. Legoland is definitely really cool. It had sculptures made out of legos absolutely everywhere! Which I guess isn't really that surprising since it is called.....legoland! Alright, so I got there this morning at seven and we left around eight thirty. It was super hard to stay awake during the bus ride for some reason this weekend. I am not sure why, that's just the way it was. And then we finally get there yay! It is super rainy in Stuttgart today, but it was super sunny in wherever legoland is (about an hour and a half away). I was in a group with Mr. Mike (yay!) and we had awesome kids, like Z'kiah, Autumn M., Kiara, Jaylen, Anaja (pronounced anasha), Gabby, Juan, Sebastian, Ian, Logan, and Bryce. It was a really fun group, and they are mostly the older kids so they wanted to go on all the rides. Plus Mr. Mike and I get along really well, so it was a pretty good time. We went on this bionicle ride, where you like put in what you want it to do while you're sitting in this arm thing and it does it. Well, I had my nametag on, my walkie talkie attached to my nametag, and my watch also(which Mike convinced me to put on there since I was joking about my awful watch tan line). So.....forgot to take it off on the ride, and it like flies off around my neck when this thing flips me upside down. It felt like slow motion, because I could feel it coming off and I tried to grab it, but then right as I reached for it, the stupid thing slipped out of my grasp. Kind of dramatic, but it actually happened like that. I was like crap! The center's walkie and my watch! I have another nametag, but I need those! So Mike, who conveniently speaks German and like three other languages, asked the lady working the machine what we should do. She said we could file a missing thing and probably get it by the end of the day. We were like, uh that isn't going to work so...., Mike talked to the photo booth guy, and he told us he could get it in like 10 minutes. Good. That was a much more reasonable time. Then I realized that I forgot my backpack on the previous ride. So I took the kids to some lego making video while Mike went and got the backpack and then we all went to get the walkie talkie/nametag/watch combo. All was fine, except I lost the waterproof top to my watch, but hey at least it still works lol. It was a great day overall, and the kids were really sad to see the day end as was I. Although we hit traffic on the way home so we didn't get there til like 6, and we almost missed the bus to take us to the hotel. At least it worked out. I'm exhausted after a 11 hour day though (although I got some reading done on the bus) and I'm off to bed!