June 30, 2011

So, Today was our first field trip, and we went to Tripsdrill. It was really really awesome, and great to get out and do stuff with the kids that didn't involve the same environment. It was also quite a perk that my kids are actually big enough this time that I was able to go on roller coasters and stuff with them yay! There were only like two kids who didn't go on many of the rides, and that was more due to lack of interest than because of the height limits. Although now I have a horrible headache as a result and am probably going to have to go to bed early because I feel like I am passing out :/. Regardless, I thought the first field trip went really well. We did our blitz off performance to Footloose, and the kids did the little skit and dance I taught them. I thought that it was really adorable. We put a lot of effort into it, and I wish I could put up pictures of my kids and I performing it, I guess I'll just have to save that for in person. That was at the very beginning of our field trip. It only took us like an hour to get there. We went to ones that were much further away on my base last year. But I got a lot of my new book read. I tried to finish my Tom Clancey one that I was reading, and I just gave up about half way through. It was just not my thing. I think, as my mom also does, that his books are more directed towards males. It just lost me. But I found some mystery books in the hotel bookshelf and started reading one. It is pretty good so far, so I'm definitely not complaining! I'm glad I found something, because I am now halfway through my fourth book and its only week 3! I honestly had kind of forgotten how much I enjoy reading. School sometimes sucks the life out of things. Thankfully that hasn't happened with music yet. Anyways, After blitz off, we went into the park and split into three groups. I was in a group with Mr. Ismet, Ms. Anna and Mr. Mike were in a group, and Mr. Eric and Ms. Emily were in a group. I was kind of like really, out of everyone I get the one person I'd least like to be in a group with. Don't get me wrong, Ismet is nice, but the kids kind of trampel over him and he lets them get away with too much in my opinion, so I feel they have more behavioral problems with him. Destiny and Angel were causing the most problems. Angel is a seven year old who looks and acts like she is five. According to her, she is just a little girl, not a big girl, so she can still pout and cry and stuff. She actually has said that. She must get babied so much at home. But Destiny just whines a lot. I'm not sure quite why. But she refused to go on a lot of rides, and then some of the ones she went on she complained the entire time. This sounds mean, but I couldn't help but let out an evil laugh as she got cranked up right before the drop on the log ride and was screaming bloody murder and saying "Why did you let me on this ride, I don't want to do this ahhhhhh!!!!!" That kid man. Hopefully some stability will start getting through to them. We had tacos for lunch. The tacos that I have smelt cooking for like two days. And they were warm still! This base is so much better with food than they were in Atsugi. I haven't had one meal that I couldn't stomach to eat let alone something I didn't like. Yay! And they let us have seconds, which was like thank goodness. But yes, it was good. Snack at the end of the day was good too. It was like strawberries and cool whip and the strawberries were in this waffle cone bowl. All in all, it was awesome. I love my kids. Franci and Aiden were in my group also, two of my favorites so yay! And Khiya, who is my favorite girl, so double yay! Franci is now insisting that my boyfriend will not mind if he is also my romantic friend. That kid. Paris in two days yay! Tomorrow night I think Emily and I are going to go out to dinner with Eric and Mike. It will be nice to get away from the camp atmosphere and kick it. So tired. Might go to bed at like eight.... bye!

June 29, 2011

Today was quite a great day. I thought that the kids were kind of awesome and that everything was much better than yesterday, even if the kids were maybe just a little nuts still. There were two new summer hires that started today, both male. It will be nice to have some younger guys since the kids don't really relate well to the only other staff, Ismet. Their names are like Eric and Mike or something like that. Not to mention the fact that they are not hard on the eyes :p. Emily and I were like, well crap. Now we are going to have to start actually trying to look ok during the days lol. Still not completely worth it, sleep overrules everything here for me ha ha. Ironically, Eric is from the Seattle area. Another Washington person, yay! Always good to have another one of those around. It is also nice for Emily and I to have staff our age because it is kind of hard to relate the other ones. Ms. B is nice, but she is kind of bitchy because she is pregnant, Corey is nice, but she is in charge and busy a lot, Ms. Trish just left today, Ismet is an older guy but very nice, and Anna is nice, but kind of does her own thing. So it will be nice to have other people to talk to. Closing was probably our least successful part of the day today. The kids were not calming down or anything. I think it was because they were showing off for the new guys. But whatever. It is ok. Tomorrow is Tripsdrill field trip, which is some kind of amusement park. Should be fun. Oh yes, and may I mention that Francesco, Franci, (Pronounced Frenchy)has informed me that I am "his romantick friend" ha ha. It is so cute. He drew me this card telling me this. I will try to put it up if I remember. I tried to explain to him, No Franci we can be good friends, but I can't be your romantic friend. He hasn't listened yet, but he hasn't gotten weird or anything. He is just cute. I love little kids. Who puts it that way anyways, romantic friend ha ha.

June 28, 2011

So, today is what I will stay extremely, extremely crazy. I cannot believe how insane the kids were. The weather was kind of nuts as well. I think it was around like ninety degrees from what I heard. We would take the kids out, but then they would get hot so fast they would whine and we would go in. So they had all this pent up energy and were going absolutely insane. I did not even know what to do with them. All of us camp A staff and permanent staff were getting super fed up, and the kids wouldn't listen. I would equal it to something like cabin fever I would think. I love my kids, but today is one of those days where I was like, why am I doing camp again?! But I still love them regardless, and I am hoping tomorrow will be better. Oh yes, and our air conditioning was broken. I spent like thirty minutes cleaning off this nasty fan. Sigh, At least it got the air moving. They set up like eight or so fans all together until the air conditioning gets fixed. Hopefully soon. And I have quite a lovely watch tan line coming in. Lol. That's about all that is new with me. Til tomorrow!

June 27, 2011

Today was the first day back after a long weekend, and it was SOOOO hot! I can't even believe how hot it was. I felt like I was dying. My body needs time to adjust to these rapidly changing temperatures man, I can't handle it! But camp went well. Half of the kids went on a field trip, which was weird having only like ten kids. Its harder to keep fewer kids entertained than a lot. lol. Also, this field trip was a tour of the local opera house. sigh. I should have been proactiv and asked Emily to switch shifts with me so I could go on that tour. Boo. I didn't think of it until it was too late. Sigh. Oh well. The kids were cute, and everything seemed to go pretty well. Aiden is definitely becoming my favorite kid, and I hope he stays all summer. On our like half an hour walk to and from the gym, he was telling me all about Call of Duty black ops or whatever and how he plays it, exactly. It was super cute, and it reminded me of when Jayquin and Nikolas would hold my hand last summer and tell me about their lives lol. Aiden is just adorable. He always sits by me and lays his head on my shoulder or knee, and he wants to hold hands, but it is like linked fingers holding hands. He cracks me up. I think he is Ms. Trish's, one of the full time staff, favorite too. My favorite today was when he told me that I should show up to work early next time so that I could go on the field trip with them. Then he patted me on the back and said, its always good to show up early for work. I about died it was so adorable. Kids like him make me remember why I do camp :)

June 25-26 aka SALZBURG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Salzburg is one of the most amazing places I have ever been!!!! So we set off early Saturday morning at like 5:40 so that we could get to the train station by 6:07 when the train left. Rebecca and I were running a little late because we both suck at getting up in the morning and because I had forgotten to print our hostel information. So we hurried to the train station, but not a problem. We made it in plenty of time. Then we took the train from the station by the base to the main train station in Stuttgart, which in German is Hautbonhof. At the Hbf, (That's the initials for it) we went to the platform where our train was supposed to leave. Of course we were excited, and of course we were extremely tired still from getting up so early and being out so late, so we failed to notice that there were no other people waiting at our platform, or that there was a message in German appearing on the platform sign, or that the train still wasn't there five minutes before it left, (which long trains always are if not with more time). That is to say that we didn't know our train had switched platforms and we totally missed it. This sucked immensely because we might as well have slept in another hour, but on the same hand, at least this didn't happen when we had purchased a reservation for a train (which is a reserved seat. Austria isnt' as popular as some places so we didn't need one. We will have one for places like Paris and Prague, and all the ICE trains, which are the fastest ones). That would have been bad because we would lose the money for the reservation. So at least lesson learned early. We eventually made it on the train and it was a peaceful four hour ride. Slept a little, read a little, ate a little, overall peaceful. Of course I forgot my cheese and sandwiches I made so all I had was less nourishing food like snacks. Oh well, still was definitely better than nothing, or paying an arm and a leg for food on the train. When we got there at around twelve thirty, it was really grey skies, but at least it wasn't raining. We walked to all of the main places, Mozart's residence, statue and square, Mirabell gardens and palace, The fortress, the fountains, etc. The hike to the fortress was absolutely amazing. It is like at the very top of Salzburg, and it can be seen from anywhere in the city because it basically looks down upon it. Brigette, Leah, and I went on a tour of the fortress, and it had like all these amazing rooms (including a torture room) and from the top you had a view of the entire city. I thought it was absolutely incredible. Molly and I also booked a spot on the 9:30 sound of music tour the next day! All was great! When we had seen basically everything that needed to be seen, we went to one of the beer gardens to eat some food. Not the biggest fan of beer in general, so i got a coke light (their diet coke) instead. This is the point where Briggette realized that she did not have her wallet. She has one of the longer like hard wallets that are popular. We figure it probably got left when we were at the fortress. She had it out when we payed to get in, and then we don't think she put it back before we were taking pictures by the walls and stuff. At those points we were all just throwing our stuff down and taking tons of pictures. It could have fallen or simply been left, or taken. I'm not sure which. I don't think she found it, but while Molly and I went on our tour today, the other four went to look for it again and do other stuff. We ate at the beer garden and luckily found a table. There were quite a few food places and then you got a beer and filled it and tried to find a table in one of three big rooms. I tired to get a baguette from this bakery there, and this rude German woman snubbed and waved off both Molly and I when we tried to order because we weren't German. Molly ended up ordering from the other worker there, but I was too angry. I ended up getting this potato salad and fries from another place. I should have gotten the pasta salad that Rebecca got, because it was much better. I didn't like my potato salad at all. Fries were ok though. After all of this, we walked to our hostel. I would like to mention that by this point it was raining. Dark, raining, gross. Under normal circumstances, it would probably still have been light since the sun sets so late, but because literally the entire sky was covered with dark clouds, it looked like night. Thankfully, it was really easy to get to the hostel and it was only like a fifteen minute walk. I had booked the hostel for five, and then Leah joined our group, so we had to sneak her in. Thankfully this place was huge, so it wasn't a big deal at all. Along with this, our room had six beds. The sixth one wasn't made, since we were only booked for five, but Leah just refolded everything in the morning, so yay! That was lucky that no one had to share beds. This place was called the Meninger Hotel, and it was super cute and clean and awesome. Definitely one of the nicest hostels I've stayed at. Went to bed at like eleven thirty, and got up at one thirty to check in with Sam. (One of the draw backs of being a director is that I have to wait for my counselor to check in with me and then I have to check in with Sam. Meaning I have to get up or stay up to do so unless she texts early. So lame). None of our counselors for us directors, who happened to be traveling together, checked in with us. Emily checked in with Molly, some of Molly's people checked in with Briggette. There was just confusion, and it was not fun. We were not happy. They know to check in with us, this is why we all have cell phones. Yes, they are traveling with eachother, but they still have to check in right. Spend the fifteen euro cents on a text man! Not that big of a deal. And then three of the girls, Emily, Mary Beth, and Allison, couldn't get into their hostel. They waited until one thirty in the morning to check into their hostel, and there weren't beds left. I'm not sure if they booked it wrong, missed check in (which for most hostels ends at midnight) or what, but they were like freaking out and chaos ensued. Thankfully they ended up finding a place nearby and all was solved, but still. Sigh. Got back to sleep, and woke up around seven thirty. Sadly to grey skies still. The sun was definitely being smothered by all of the clouds. Getting ready was pretty pleasant although the weather was terrible. We checked out without issue, and Molly and I left Briggetter, Leah, Erin, and Rebecca to go to the salt mines while we went on the Sound of Music Tour!!!!!!!!!!! We had to run because we were running late, but we made it in plenty of time! Despite the fact that the weather was awful, I had so much fun seeing where everything was filmed, and learning about how much special effects and cutting and pasting there was in the movie. Singing along was probably my favorite part though, I'm not going to lie. Ironically, our tour guide was from Washington. How coincidental is that. Auburn, Washington. But she was a great tour guide. We saw the house they lived in, the Gazebo of 16 going on 17, the lakes, the church they got married in, and about everything else you could think of. We learned the real story about the Von Trapp Family too and stuff. Like that Marta was actually named Maria too, but they changed her name for clarification. And that their Yodeling was a type that sounds more like a chant. And that Maria was really a good nun, and a bad nanny and stuff. It was really interesting stuff. We found out that the group of four who we had left missed the salt mine tour or something so were either going to go home or to Munich for the rest of the day. I felt kind of bad, but I'm so glad we went on the tour. I am really wanting to watch the movie again and like watch for the places I have been!!!!! Now I am back home. On part of the train ride home I sat across from an older couple from Spokane Washington. small world right? And Molly and I got back around nine. Poor group of four are still on a train. There was a suicide or something on the track of the train they took and they were stopped for a long while from what I have heard. At least they didn't see it from what I understand. And then 10 people who had been in Munich this weekend like got on the wrong train or something and went the wrong direction for a long while, so they won't even be back until midnight. I'm thinking with all the chaos that happened with like checking in and being responsible and stuff that there are going to be some people written up this weekend, which is deserved. Oh. Forgot to mention that from the moment we stepped on the train and the entire train ride home that the sky was perfectly clear, maybe like two clouds, blue skies, scorching sun. Of course lol. Oh well. Paris next weekend! Hoping for sun!

June 24, 2011

Today was the first Friday of Camp!!!! I thought that it was really fun. Although the weather was quite cold. They had to cancel splash day, which is basically just like a water thing they do every friday because of the weather. I was secretly really glad because I didn't bring clothes to change into. Things were a little weird because we skipped blitz, which is like unheard of in normal camp. But here, they did pt, which is like physical training or something, for like an hour and a half again, and then there just wasn't time. They also mixed all the clubs up during the day and didn't follow the schedule. But whatever, I can't really complain. I got to be in two clubs that ate food. The cooking club made fruit kebobs and then this like butter rum from harry potter, which is just cream soda with butterscotch ice cream syrup in it. It was pretty good I thought. Then later I was in the science club, which made ice cream in this giant round ball looking thing. It was really good vanilla ice cream actually. I was quite surprised. Then later on in the day, the dance club that has been practicing all week performed their dance. The kids are so darn cute, I about die each time they practice the dance, although after a whole week of hearing the same two songs over and over, I'm about ready to be done with these and have them move on to new ones. The girls made up a dance, and the boys made up a dance. Both of them were surprisingly good for being self led, and some of the kids are very talented dancers. The boys did a serious version of their dance and a funny version. omg. The funny version Juan was like riding on a toy horse carrying a baby doll on his shoulders, and then they would like come down into the audience and throw puppets at eachother. The best was when Juan had on a puppet of a beaver on one hand and a raccoon on the other, and he had them attacking him on the stage. We laughed so hard. Then now I am home packing for the weekend. It is going to be a really long night. My right foot is pretty sore, but at least I got to take my shot today, so tomorrow should be better. Night! Talk again after Salzburg! Train leaves at 6:00 :/

June 23, 2011

So, Today was another great day with my kids, yay! They are so incredibly cute and I adore them. I didn't start the day by going to the Panzer SAS like I normally would. Instead, I went to Patch field to help them set up for the events for opening ceremony. The funny thing is that even though I was there, with a bunch of other people, from like seven forty five in the morning, there was nothing for us to set up. The people in charge said they were set to have the stuff mostly delivered at eight, stuff being the bouncy castle, jousting blow up thing, and tables along with the tents to put over the eating area. So we just sat around talking and stuff for basically like an hour and a half until people started showing up. It didn't technically start until ten. Then we had all these games and stuff, like all the stuff I mentioned that got delivered, and then we had like relay races, kickball, face painting, bubbles and art, frisbee, etc. etc. etc. It was really really fun. The sun was out, which was nice because we didn't have to haul all hundred something kids into a little gym. I can't even imagine the noise level that would have been. The face painting was one of my favorite things to do. The kids were really into it, and there was a line the entire time. They ended up having the kids sign up for the times that they wanted and stuff. I made like skulls, rainbows, flags, peace signs, more things than I can even think of. one of the cutest things during the day was the blitz-off, which was our weekly competition with all the four different bases and their programs. This week the song was let's Get it Started by the Black Eyed Peas. The dance we ended up doing was really cute I thought. We were wearing hooded sweatshirts and hats and had this paper bling that we made and stuff. it was really cute. The pictures of it turned out good, and I actually look surprisingly like I pull it off in the dance part of it at least. I got sunburned because of the sun a little bit on my head just in a line, and on half of my right arm. i do not know how I manage to accomplish things like this. i feel like I am always making myself look ridiculous. But such is life I guess. Tomorrow is the last day before the weekend! Woo! Salzburg here I come! In one day!!!!!

June 22, 2011

Well, Today was the third day with my amazing kids! We were way off schedule for the most part of the day, but it seemed to go ok still. They did like fitness stuff in the morning to promote like a healthy summer, and the kids were whining and complaining and being all mopey after like two laps around this little basketball court. I thought it was a great idea. They did great during the day after that for one, since they were able to let off a lot of their extra energy. Along with this, I think it is good to teach kids about being healthy and being in shape. And goodness knows I was there panting along with the kids. I hope that we do it more, for them, but also for me ha ha. So one of the things we did today is prepare for what they call a Blitz-off, which is like a song competition between all the different camps here, which is a lot since there are four bases, all with cdc and cys. (young kids and older kids). The song they chose for us this week is Lets Get it Started by Black Eyed Peas. Which in myt opinion is really stupid for a song competition song, but then again so are all of the other ones that they have given us for the summer. Not sure who came up with those. When we were learning the dance I made up on the spot, and I told them to act gangster. One of the girls was like, how do I do that. And then this little girl named Sydney was like, all gangsters do is drink weed and kill people. Ha ha ha. I laughed so hard. Well, tomorrow is our big Opening Ceremony in Patch field. Hopefully it doesn't Rain. Today was super sunny and hot all day.......until like four o clock. and then there was the fastest hugest thunder storm I have ever seen in my entire life. It was insane!

June 21, 2011

Well, Today was my second day with the kids, and I would like to think that it was definitely a success. The kids are just adorable. We had a new kid today who was named Francesco. He is like half Italian or something, which I know because he told me and counted to a hundred in Italian. Yes, all hundred numbers, in a row, and made me listen. It was extremely cute. I think we have such a great group of kids. If Francesco stays, he might be my favorite. I don't think i will ever have a kid like Nikolas again though. Two of the oldest girls, Baily, and one that starts with a Z, are really cute, but they think they are too cool for a lot of the stuff. They don't like a lot of the games, but they like sitting and talking with the other counselor Emily and I. I think it is good for them to talk with good influences and stuff. They asked Emily and I about our boyfriends. So funny. Younger kids are so fascinated by that kind of thing. Some of the kids, even though they are adorable, are definitely a little odd just in the fact that they are obsessed with horror movies. This little girl about 10 years old, Izzy, while we were drawing, was like, Have you ever seen Jennifer's Body or the Other's. Those are some of my favorite movies. And then today they were talking about Anaconda and people getting like ripped apart. I was like, Woah, not camp appropriate. Interesting. The game so far that they like the best is Mophia, which again seems like a game for older like teen children, but w/e. They keep asking for it. This one girl Emily, is the bossiest person in the world. (Not counselor Emily lol). We do what looks like a handsign for rain trickling down for sign language applause at the end of each song during our closing time. And this little girl when I said that, raised her hand and was like, nuh uh. Its like this, and brattily waved her hands in what looked like jazz hands. Counselor emily and I looked at eachother like wtf. It was so funny. And then today she told us she knew the real sign language to a song called World's Greatest and that she could show us how to do it right. So I had to explain to her the story behind why we do it the way we do and make her be quiet. This girl is going to be a battle I feel. I came home today and my bed was actually made, so that is good news ha ha. Maybe the maid war of floor three is over. Did I tell you that Molly got her bed peed on? At least that didn't happen to me. We came home from Downtown Stuttgart, and Molly had a fresh urine stain on her bed that soaked through all the blankets and sheets, and even her personal blanket. The front desk like had to file an incident report. Crazy crazy stuff.

June 20, 2011

So, today was our first day with kids! I think it was incredible. Of course everything didn't go perfectly. The people who are working over at the SAC center seemed to not really be on top of their stuff. They were upset that we didn't have the schedule that had not only the stuff we had to plan, but what they had to plan as well. How am I supposed to know what their activities are. If they didn't put them in our schedule, why would I have them. Idk why they don't have their own schedule printed out. But w/e. There are about 24 kids that were in the center yesterday, which is basically the size of my single room last year, and about 130 or so in the entire center. So, it is really different just having that amount of kids. Also, the kids always have three different activities that they can choose from, and then they can leave or go join another activity when they want to. This significantly cut back on the behavioral issues, which really makes sense since they are able to do more of what they want to do rather than being kind of forced into an activity. The kids are adorable. They are all older than I expected, which is kind of a bummer since I have officially figured out that preschool and kinders are my very favorite, but I still love them. There is this little kid named Aiden who has a poofy light brown afro and really reminds me of Nikolas, but an older version. No studdering either, lol. But he is adorable. This other little red headed kid named Oliver is very unique and quirky. I like him too. This one little girl named Mikayla I also really like. We played foozeball for like an hour almost yesterday during their free choice time. That was really nice, although this is her only week here sadly. I guess a lot of the kids here only come for a few of the weeks. I hope I will have some regulars that I am really able to bond with during my time here. One good thing about working, which I guess could seem like a bad thing if you have a different perspective, is the time that I have inbetween working and being here at the hotel to just read and stuff. I have a 45 min bus ride there, 1/2 hour wait til I work, then 1 hr lunch, 1/2 hour wait to catch the bus home, and then 45 min bus ride home. That is a lot of time altogether. So I got through like 140 pages of a book. I haven't been able to read recreationally in Lord knows how long, so it is really cool. I brought quite a few books, but I am going to have to find more I am thinking. I will have time on our weekend train rides too. Ok, so I get home today after yesterday when the maid had asked me to basically make my own bed. I mean, its not like my sheet, blanket, and cover aren't on top of eachother still in order on my bed. Its not like I threw them all over the room and separately put them all in a pile on the floor. So I walk in to my hotel room, and Rebecca's bed is perfectly made and looks beautiful. The maid didn't even touch mine. I laughed out loud. So, since I didn't lay them out like she wanted, she refused to make it because it takes too much time. I can't believe that! Isn't that her job? Doesn't she get paid to do this? Sorry I'm in a hurry in the morning and don't have time to lay my bed out perfectly so that I am able to have her finish making it for me. If I do that, I might as well make it myself. I'm not angry in the least bit, I just thought it was really funny. Well, that's all I have for today, hopefully tomorrow at day camp goes really well!

June 19, 2011

So today was my last day before camp! Woo! We woke up late again and then went Strawberry picking. The strawberry place is absolutely adorable. It was really cheap though. It was only about one euro and thirty cents to pick a tub full. How neat. Then I went back for a while and we set out to hike up to this palace called shlauss-solitude. I guess some king made it a long time ago because he wanted somewhere away from the city or something like that. Germany is very very big about the whole nature thing, and so they have trees everywhere, and even on your own land you have to like ask the government permission to build, which is very interesting. Anyways, we didn't end up hiking to this place like we planned, but we rode the train and bus to get there, which was nice because it dropped us off right at the front. It was pretty cool. Not as awesome as the palaces we will visit other places, but definitely worth going to. Oh, so the maid yesterday inbetween strawberry picking and going to the palace was in our room cleaning. She came up to me and asked me to pick up my bed in the morning so it wasn't so hard for her to make. Really? I'm pretty sure that she gets paid to do that. W/e. Another thing that I forgot to say yesterday is that we saw a ton of Bachelorette parties in downtown Stuttgart. Like tons. I was talking to this german black dude and mentioned that. He didn't know what I meant, so I said... when girls go out right before they get married with all their friends. He was like oh, virgin celebrations. I think it is funny that's what they call them ha ha. Ok, that's all, night!

June 18, 2011

So today was our first weekend day of the summer yay! We slept in, which was probably good, and then went around exploring downtown Stuttgart. It is really pretty there, except that there are also more stores than I have ever seen in one place at one time. Even more than the shopping street in Japan, Harajuku. There were literally six H&M's in one strip of stores. Too bad all of them basically had the exact same stuff. I got this really cute dress thing and a necklace, so I think it was pretty successful. So we did that for like four or five hours and then we went back to the hotel to rest for a little bit. Then we got all dressed up and went around downtown at night. We weren't able to do that much, because most stuff doesn't get going until like one am, which is after we have to leave to be back by our one thirty curfew. So, we still had fun and went to this like semi dancish hangout spot for a bit. I really enjoyed it. And, we were back in plenty of time for curfew. Woo!

June 17, 2011

Well, thank goodness, Today was finally our last day of training!!!!!!!!!!!! Which is really one of the most amazing things possible. The time at our actual sites was nice because we got to see where we will be working and stuff. I finally got foundation, yay! But boo on spending more money. Our facility is pretty small, and there aren't that many kids, but it seems like it will turn out to be really good I would think. One girl I met is named Melissa, and she thought it was cool that our names rhymed. When I showed her how my name was spelled on my nametag, she was like, "No one spells their name with a Y, it is better with an I like mine." and then she said, "And who uses two ss's these days anyways." It was just so adorable. She kept coming up and hugging me, even though we weren't even interacting with the kids at all, but just making posters and doing programming. I was sad to find out she is doing camp on Patch base though, since that is where her dad works or something like that. Oh well. There will be more adorable kids who are just as friendly and welcoming on Monday! I am so excited to finally be with the kids. Tonight all of us counselors just went out and hung out off base, which was really fun. It is only like eleven thirty now, and I am so incredibly tired. I don't know how I am going to last with these long hours all summer :/. I might have to get used to caffeine or something ha ha. It is official! We are going to Austria next weekend to go to Salzberg. And also possibly spend one day in this other city close by that has parasailing or something like that. We will see. Whatever happens, it is gunna be super fun!!!!!!

June 16, 2011

So today again was a pretty boring day of training. It was lots and lots of things that I already know being said over and over again. The funnest thing I did was play with playdough. Which, not gunna lie, always makes everything awesome. Since training has been over I have just been doing stuff for camp. Until everything gets going, there is so much stuff that is due like paperwork, programming, etc. Now we have all day tomorrow to do all that kind of stuff. Like making posters, finishing programming, and everything else. I hope that it all goes well. I'm not exactly sure. The lamest part of the day will be going to the like three hour meeting with Heidi. Bleh. That is going to be probably the lamest thing that could possibly happen ever in the whole world. On a brighter note, might be going to Salzberg, Austria the weekend after this one. I really really hope that this works out because I have been wanting to go there for forever. The sound of music tour would be the most amazing thing in the world. We will see though. Night!

June 15,2011

So today was training again. It was so much less boring than yesterday because of the speakers. The speakers. The first speaker like gave us like prizes and stuff and was really entertaining. The second speaker too was pretty entertaining. That makes all the difference in the world as far as paying attention goes for me. The day was kind of blah, but w/e. I did find out however that the awesome/not trainer from director's training, Heidi is coming this friday to Stuttgart to basically retrain all of us directors here, and eventually in the rest of Germany about topics that may not have been covered in director's training since we weren't in Iowa. They are the ones who fricken didn't send us to Iowa and now we have to listen to more presentations????? Dumb. Not only that, but the things that we are going to be "retraining" on, which is safety and risk management, is something that we actually have done during not only director's training, but regular training as well, which I have been through twice. Also, we have just done risk management and safety in the stupid week of orientation we have just had.......I guess I am just not too happy with the way things are going to turn out in that department. But..... yeah......unhappy. Have to see Heidi, have to train and retrain again.... boo. Our group for the first time kind of went out to dinner tonight. It was nice to get off base, and I didn't end up spending that much money, so I was glad. So many people ended up finding out about it though that it was just an annoyance and hard to get anywhere. It took us like two hours finally get to dinner from initially saying we were going to go. But at least we all got off base and actually got to get away and have some fun outside of camp. Looking forward to tomorrow, hoping I have a better outlook than today, and thinking of how to mentally prepare myself for Friday ha ha. Til Tomorrow!

June 14, 2011

Well, today was SOOOO boring during training. I am really glad that it is done, but it wasn’t like horrible or anything. I am in Germany after all ;). But I feel like all of the people who are in charge are talking sooo slow. It is also all information we have all already heard before. Which is even more boring, but again…. Not a terrible price to pay for being in Germany. The more we go through orientation here, the more I realize just how awful the base I was at in Japan was. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved every second of it, but the organization, preparation, and absolutely everything else about this base makes me realize how bad it was last year. My PC and Director were very like blessed people for being able to deal with everything last year. I am really grateful that the experience I think will be a lot more pleasant this year to deal with than it would be if I was a director somewhere else. I am really excited to finally get my kids next week. It is different than last year too in that we aren’t doing all of the programming. And instead of having one activity all of the kids do together at a time, we have like three or four activities happening at the same time and the kids freely choose what they wanna do and when they leave and everything. So it will be weird that even though I have the same kids basically every week, I won’t be necessarily working with them unless that is what they choose. They are way all about free choice and stuff. It is almost too much for my taste, but it will be good to see how things work and stuff. Well, now some of us are hanging and trying to figure out what is going on ha ha. This is definitely an adventure!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 13, 2011

Well, I am in Germany, and after one day of delay I have my luggage. My arthritis, which was acting up the week before I came but got better is bothering me again. I don't know why it is being like this. It is mainly in my right hand which sucks a lot. Orientation was really long, but it was good. I am getting more and more excited to start camp. I found out that Panzer base in Stuttgart, where I will be used to be the place where Hitler's stables were. I guess on some buildings you can even kind of see the swastikas that have been painted over. I am dying I am so tired. I am really glad that someone took us to the commissary so that we could get food since we don't have privileges on base. I will write more tomorrow when I am not so tired.