Lovebox Weekender, End of session 1 party, 5 hours in Heathrow, Multi-activity counsellor

I have been neglecting my blog lately so I am going to fill you in on recent events up to one week ago. We were busy with the last few days of session one and then with the turn-over process. All the new campers have arrived so now I can relax and tell you about everything.

Lovebox Weekender - this was a Saturday/Sunday festival in London which featured many bands, comedy acts, dj's, etc. I attended the Sunday portion of the festival along with many many other people, 10,000, 20,000...I wasnt able to get a head count. Damn, I'm out of time...

Now i'm jumping in a day later. I had a half day yesterday so Carolina and I went to Brighton and had a good time as usual. I have to run again but I will post what I have so far and continue later...

A day in Gatwick

I spent 8 hours in Gatwick Airport yesterday getting kids set up for departures. It was kind of like flying and hoping you don't have any delays but times 20. I was back and forth from north and south terminal about 10 times. So...after the industrial strike in Barcelona, after the phone call that one of the girls i put through 6 hours ago was still in the airport, after waiting 2 hours with 3 cute spanish kids, one of whom can't wheel his own suitcase, until Brittish Airways actually decided to accompany the minor...when it was all said and done, I only came back with one child who wasn't able to leave until today. I have a meeting now so I will write more later...

1 week left of session one

This job is really starting to wear me out. 7 hours is about the maximum amount of sleep i've had in a night since i've been here. I think its true for everybody.

Yesterday was international night which was a big hit but a lot of work for the staff. We all attempted to cook authentic meals so the kitchen was roaring with the sounds of chopping onions, sizzling sausage, Italiano's yelling about the sauce and Espagnols yelling about having the wrong pan to cook a tortilla. The french cuisine was the best, but a french counsellor was allowed to do the shopping for them because the boss couldnt understand the list. She came out with a grocery cart full of £120 of food, including fois gras and about 9 different types of french cheese. The USA/Canada group was attempting to make Poutine with barbecue sauce. Needless to say it was nothing like real Poutine. We also had to fight with the French because they were trying to steal our Fromage Emental. The peanut butter chocolate chip cookies we made came out great even though I was eye-balling the ingredients because I didn't have any measuring equipment. Regardless of all the stress in a hot kitchen, there was £600 worth of authentic cuisine from all over the world. It was delicious.

A few nights ago was one of those nights that I will remember for the rest of my life. I was tired and had planned on going to bed early all day. I went to Willy's bar for a night cap after the kiddies went to bed. I was enjoying my Kronenburg when someone came into the bar to report a crazy shooting star that took several seconds to travel accross the sky. At her insistence about 7 or 8 of us all went out to the cricket field to have a look at the stars. We were laughing and having so much fun that we decided to go get that bottle of Cuervo Gold stashed away for a special occasion. We belly-laughed until early morning, tears streaming down our faces.

I think after this job is over I am going to find a quiet, inexpensive, English town and sleep for days. Any suggestions?

Color Day

For this afternoon and continuing on this evening after dinner the program is called Color Day. I just wanted to say that it is bringing back great memories of Field Day back in good 'ol Woodland. That doesn't mean anything to most of you but my mom, dad, and bro definately know what I'm talking about. Go White Team!!! Also, Tug of War is one of those games that you never get too old for.

London

It was exciting to visit one of those cities that you've been hearing about since you were little but had never really been to. L-o-n-d-o-n. I think I was aware of it even before I was aware of myself. Seeing Big Ben was like seeing time for the first time. I have only one complaint. This city eats money faster than I'm about to go eat my lunch, and i'm hungry. I'll elaborate on the subject later.

One more comment: Everyone in England is a New York Yankee fan, but they don't have any idea who Mariano Rivera is. I guess, its better that than Boston.

1.5 days off!!!

i am headed to London after lunch today with four other girls. it will be great to get away from all these brats and have some peace and quiet (that probably wont be the case since london is one of the biggest cities in the world) but at least i will be able to swear and drink openly, just kidding mom. we dont really have a plan, other than a place to rest our heads but there will probably be a pub a club and a market involved at some point.

i want to tell you a story about two nights ago...

so i stayed up too late at Willy's Bar (which is not a real bar, but more like a refridgerator with a book beside it to record what you took). it is a place the counsellors can go after hours and swear and drink openly. we had a lot of fun laughing and partying until david (one of the bosses) kicked us out. i went back to my house hung out there for a while and then went to bed. at 4:30 in the morning the fire alarm started screaming bloody murder. as some of you know i have a history of sleeping through fire alarms and im not sure how long this one was going off before i actually started slapping at my alarm clock, very confused and disoriented. by the time i got out of my room all the campers had already left so i took my time by going to the bathroom and then dressing warm for the trip outside. i was one of the last people out of the building. my campers, god bless them, were all accounted for and lined up in just the way that i was supposed to have them. it is painfully obvious now that no one should ever rely on me to make sure they are out of a building during a fire. the truth was a faulty alarm and 30 minutes in the cold, and 30 minutes in the activity hall before we were allowed to go back to bed. as you can imagine, considering my state of mind the whole experience was like a bad dream that brought back ugly memories of harris-millis. anyway, im going to try and look busy before i go to london. ciao.

p.s. Happy Birthday Jason!!!! it was yesterday

the kids have arrived...

The game was crazy. there were so many italians and french watching it because it was the day all the kids arrived. i was sad france lost. i hate penalty kicks, you might as well flip a coin. zidane lo0st his cool and ended his career in a crappy way, but i guess emotions are just so high.

its been really hectic and disorganized around here since the kids arrived but it will get smoother. i live with the older kids and they are too cool about everything, they just want to sit and chill. most of the kids come from very very wealthy families and have lived all over the place. there are so many of them that i am still just getting to know them. also, some of them speak very little english so its hard to communicate. they mostly group with the kids who speak their language. its a very strange situation, as you can imagine. anyway, i'll fill you in on more stuff soon. tonight is water games night which i'm planning so i have to go fill up like 200 water balloons .

also here is a link to the site where pics are posted for parents and stuff:

http://www.villagecamps.org/

this is from when france beat portugal. we watched the game in Brighton.

one and a half days until the campers spoil our party...

well...i got knocked out of the ping-pong tournament early by an unlikely player, my cute, silly, french friend Carole who reminds me of my friend Alice. she is not as silly as Carolina who is spanish and has a very dirty and hilarious sense of humor. we were both playing defensively and i was maybe one beer too many in the belly.

i got my keys to the pool today, i'll be the Aquatics Director which sounds special and is a little bit but really it just means im stuck inside the pool for half the day. the dorm where im staying is where the older campers live, 14-17 year olds. it will be interesting to meet them and hopefully they dont have too much trouble with my mumbles, slang, and other lack of enunciation and academia regarding the english language. i've been getting decent practice speaking french with all the cute french staff but they are trying to work on their english so i often let them win so i can hear their accents. thats all for now...

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!

oh, i forgot to mention all the ping-pong. i've been holding my own with the best of them.

im in bloody england...

im having a great time! the people are amazing and from all over the globe. there are opportunities to practice my french, but also learn phrases in italian, spanish, russian, czeck, greek, and more too that i can't think of right now. and of course im learning new brittish phrases like "lets go for a wee one" which means lets have a drink and i think you can also call a drink a "tipple" but i will have to verify that. we are busy doing stuff or listening to talks about the camp during the day and boozing at night. the campers dont arrive until saturday and i guess last night was the last time the beers were on the camps tab. tonight we are going to brighton to watch france beat portugal in the world cup semis. the whole camp will be watching the final in a theater. it is very exciting for a lot of the staff, particularly the french and the one italian girl here. a lot of the staff here are teachers and there are two guys that teach english in prague and claim that getting a job there would be very easy. sweet!

funny things ive learned so far:

1. old brittish men are delightful people.

2. fanny packs are not called fanny packs in england. they are called bum-bags. it is important not to call them fanny packs because in england, fanny means vagina and you dont want people to think you are talking about your vagina pack.

3. there is possibly an entire village in ireland where all the tully's come from (i plan on finding it if it does exist).

4. the italian national soccer team plays dirty.

thats all for now. i'll be back with more soon. peace...

t-23 hours and counting...

i'm a little nervous, but mostly ready to get the hell on the road. my moms been crying at various moments all day.