1 2 3 - Eyes on Me

My first two shows this summer were pretty typical. This last one was extremely memorable, for better, and for worse. I wrote this post over the weekend, but haven't had sufficient internet access to post it til now (I'm with my last host fam from last year, in Fontanella 45 min east of Milan).

Warning: The story that is most of this post is really, really long, and perhaps makes a huge deal out of something that wasn't really a huge deal, but it certainly felt like a huge deal at the time. I mostly wanted to write it out so I would remember it, but feel free to read the whole thing. To skip it, scroll down to the bold “The rest of the night began with tears.” That's the beginning of the happy part.

It all began on Thursday, when I figured out how to have iTunes start playing a song at a certain point in the middle, not at the beginning. This is SO useful for a show, because usually the kids only sing the chorus, not from the beginning.

I shared the discovery with my co-tutors, and Lynne wanted me to use the feature for her two songs, “Waving Flag” by Wash U WILD veteran K’naan, and Shakira’s “Waka Waka,” the indisputable song of the summer, at least in Italy. Both are songs of this year’s World Cup. We chose the starting points for both songs, although I went back to double check the starting time for “Waving Flag” because the lyrics were a bit off from what Lynne’s group was singing, but it was fine.

Fastforward to Friday night – the final show. Since the show was at 7 and not at 5 (when most of my shows are), the place was packed because almost all of the parents could actually make it. Everything was going fine, and then it was Lynne’s show. Her group was doing an international beauty pageant, with like 6 or 7 songs (usually groups do 1 or 2, but this group was amazing and Lynne had a lot of song ideas). I was the music man, and also the Loch Ness monster, when Miss Scotland’s turn came.

The show began smoothly, and then it came time for “Waving Flag.” I clicked the song, and it started at the beginning, not at the designated start time we had set. I looked up at the group and at Lynne, who were all staring at me, confused. I quickly remembered that we had set it to exactly 1:00 in, so I fast forwarded and everything was fine after a few seconds of hesitation.

I couldn’t figure out why the start time hadn’t worked (I later remembered that when double checking the start time earlier, I had unchecked the box that said “Start time: 1:00” in order to listen to the whole song, and had forgotten to re-check it). So I urgently checked “Waka Waka,” to make sure that one would start on time. That one was fine, but while checking I had forgotten to stop “Waving Flag,” which had gone on for a few seconds too long, and Lynne and her group were again staring at me.

Sufficiently embarrassed, I decided to again double check “Waka Waka.” While doing this, I missed my cue to jump in as the Loch Ness Monster, but caught the word “monster” a second later and jumped in, and I’m sure no one aside from Lynne and her group noticed. Still, my humiliation deepened.

I spent the next minute concentrating only on when “Waka Waka” would begin. The time came and I clicked the song. What came out of the speakers was a vague unrecognizable instrumental, with no vocals. Lynne looked at me and said, “That’s not Waka Waka.” Roberto, the camp director, picked up the mic and started talking a bit to ease the awkwardness, while the girl in Lynne’s class who was going to dance to the song just stared at me (pictured, leading kids and tutors in a lunchtime practice), and Lynne had her head in her hands.

Completely confused and nearing traumatization with everyone in the room waiting for me and Lynne and her group wondering why I kept messing everything up, I remembered that the cd with the two World Cup songs should be nearby, and thankfully it was on top of the pile beneath the AV desk. I put it in and before I knew it “Waka Waka” was resonating throughout the room, albeit from the beginning of the song.

Thus ended my role in Lynne’s show, and when it finished, her group was still standing somewhat paralyzed in front of the crowd, in disbelief that so much had gone wrong.

My co-tutors later helped me realize that the vague instrumental had indeed been “Waka Waka,” but our director had tweaked the sound levels for the previous song, and apparently he lowered the vocals way too much. This made me feel a bit better, but to the girl who was waiting to dance it really didn’t matter.

I had to collect myself because my group’s show was next, and it went smoothly, with no real blips. But I’m pretty sure I was only somewhat conscious after what had just happened, so I don’t remember it too well. Thankfully, all the music for my show was fine, but that only added to my guilt. It took me a full hour after the show to realize I'd forgotten to give my camera to another tutor during my show, so I have no pictures of the actual show, but we did take pictures before and after.

There are technical difficulties with every show, usually with the music. But I think this was so intense for me because the kids had been so amazing and worked so hard. I had told Lynne earlier that I thought my script was fine, but these kids deserved more than a fine script, and I really wanted my show to express how great the group was. Additionally, it was not even my group that suffered from all these problems, so I was causing another tutor to experience painful disappointment. Everything that was my responsibility in the show went wrong.

The rest of the night began with tears. I somehow managed to lead the crowd of parents and the campers in a final rendition of “The Jellyfish,” and when the show finished most of the girls in my class and Lynne’s class broke down. Not because of the technical problems (thank god) but because they were so sad that camp was over.

I think the show finished around 8 pm, and all five of my campers (as well as about 10-15 others) were still there at 10 pm. This is highly unusual. While explaining to some of the kids in my group how much I appreciated them and how because they were enthusiastic, all the little kids were enthusiastic. They asked me if I was coming back next year and I told them not for camp, but the next time I was in Italy I would certainly visit Casteldaccia because I would have so many people to see. This made the one girl who hadn’t yet cried begin. I was on the verge of tears, so I had to stop talking for a little while.

Lynne and I (whose groups had worked together throughout the two weeks) took pictures with our students in dozen of permutations, and the problems from the show didn’t seem to matter. I was hugging my campers (often to console them while crying), which I was especially happy to do because I much prefer the American style of hugging to the Italian style of kissing on the cheek.

The parents provided a tasty buffet outside, and then our kids initiated what is most certainly the indicator of a great camp: a closing warm-up circle (pictured). They sang one song from each tutor (at this camp we each had 2-4 songs that we would occasionally sing in the opening and closing circles, they chose “Baby Shark” from my repertoire), and the energy was unbelievable. The parents formed a circle around our circle, which was also exciting (but they didn’t sing along).

One thing that’s been new, at least for me, this year, is Facebook friend requests from campers. Before this camp, I’d rejected all of them, sending each a message with my email address if they wanted to keep in touch. It just didn’t feel right to be Facebook friends with 10-12 year-olds. But with this group? I was excited to get their friend requests. So far, I’m friends with 10/11 of my class and Lynne's class, her smallest boy who probably doesn't have Facebook being the exception.

Again, I apologize for the length of this post (literally 4.5 pages in Word), but I didn’t want to forget anything when I try to remember the end of Casteldaccia, and I’m sure I did anyway.