No second week in Montecchio. I learned on Wednesday that ACLE intended to transfer me to another camp because the Montecchio camp would only need two tutors for the second week. They chose to move me because there’s a one weaker with 40 kids that needed a male tutor – the other three scheduled to go were female. So here I am, leaving a great camp with great kids, great directors, great co-tutors, and a great family, about to meet new kids, new directors, and a new family. But so goes the ACLE life.
Most of the pictures in this post are from my last-minute trip to Venice after camp on Thursday (it was supposed to be today) with my host mom and brother. It may be my favorite Italian city… not sure.
A recap of 2011 Camp #1:
I worked with the middle school group, 11-14, the oldest group at the camp. The younger classes were 13 combined and my class was 13, but I didn’t mind.
I had my first repeat camper. He was one of my five campers at the camp 10 minutes away two years ago, and it was great to have him again. He’s the brightest kid I’ve ever had, years ahead English-wise, and he soaks up everything I say like a sponge. Sadly, he did not remember all of the words to “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” which he memorized in a day last time, but he did remember the melody.
On Day 2, I showed them some pictures of family/friends/cities, including one of a deep dish (or stuffed, sorry I’m not sure which, Dad) Chicago pizza. I asked them what they thought it was. “Cake? Cheesecake?” This is all they could come up with for about a minute until someone guessed pizza. My English expert (and firearms expert) James, whose name is Giacomo but prefers James in English class and really looks way more like a James than a Giacomo, said “If that is pizza, then I am a princess.” When I split the class up for a gamer in the week and asked for team names, we had the Chicago Pizza vs. The Hamburgers. I forget who won.
I ate lunch with most of my boy campers every day, the girls sat with the younger kids. On Thursday one of them told me he had relatives in Hollywood. I was impressed, and then he told me they’re actors. “Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, you know them?” He said they’re distant relatives and his parents haven’t met them, but the kid’s last name is Fonda. I taught (and directed) a Fonda. He was terrific as Mr. Burns in the final show.
The camp was about 75% boys, which is way more than I’ve ever had. And for the first time I felt like “that boy camp counselor,” the one all the boys look up to. I’m still trying to figure out exactly how it happened but some combination of having so many of them in my class, being the only boy tutor at camp, sitting with them and playing with them occasionally during breaks. It was fun.
I like to name my camps, it makes them easier to remember, and this one was “Break Camp.” Morning and afternoon breaks were the longest I’ve had, and at lunch the kids had an hour to eat and at least a half hour more to play afterward. We played games with them during this time, and the helpers sang English songs with them, so it wasn’t time wasted. During the playtime after lunch we tutors would go to a bar (which is more like a café in Italy) across the piazza and get delicious coffee milkshake type things in martini glasses.
Which brings me to my co-tutors! They were both great. Polly and Emma, both British girls, both worked last year, too. We got along really well and I’m hoping that we’ll somehow be placed together for the third week of camp.
The final show went surprisingly smoothly yesterday. My group (The Dragons) came up with the entire plot, I wrote the script. I’d only used an entire camper plot once before, and that show was terrible. But this was much better. And for the first time, one of the actors explained the show to the audience in Italian first, a brilliant idea from the directors.
It started with Michael Jackson dancing to “Billie Jean,” then he’s walking with his bodyguards when someone shoots his bodyguards and another kid stabs/kills Jacko. At the last minute I nixed the 3 foot long fake sniper in favor of fake smaller guns, but still probably shouldn’t have let them use fake guns. Homer Simpson comes across the body and alerts Mr. Burns, who wants to sell it. But Homer begs him to let his family have a chance to resurrect him. The Simpsons + Crusty come on stage but fail to resurrect him until Bart suggests they play a Michael Jackson song. As “Thriller” begins, the whole cast (except the killer duo) rises from the ground, the last being Jackson. They do a little dance but the killers return and kill him again. The rest of the cast screams “D’oh!” and…… scene.
At the end of the show the directors and Polly and Emma gave me a big Thank You card, which was really nice, and then my class stood up. I thought maybe they prepared a song for me or something, and then one of them counted to three and they all ran at me. I woulda fallen over if there hadn’t been a table behind me. But I was stunned and elated to be the middle of a giant hug, it really was a good group.
Last night was my host parents’ anniversary, and they generously invited me to join their family for dinner in Juliet’s castle. As in Romeo and Juliet. The story Shakespeare supposedly based it on was about rival families in the two medieval castles in Montecchio (Romeo Montecchi… Montecchio…). I saw Romeo’s castle on Friday night. They use it as a summer cinema, and Precious was ending as we entered. It may have been the strangest juxtaposition (is that the right word?) I’ve experienced, narrowly topping construction workers blasting Hillary Duff atop the Milan Duomo. But anyway, dinner was incredible.
Afterward my host bro and I met up with Polly and Emma and the helpers in the piazza across from the school, where there was a Beatles night. It was Beatles cover band after Beatles cover band, and there was a double-decker bus with a bar in it. I guess they knew the British were coming. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
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