first real camp

Wow, so it has been a while since i have sent a blog, yeah? well.... it is because i didnt want to pay to use the internet to blog, so i have been waiting until i got to a family to use their internet. i am sitting in my bedroom here at my family's house.... just figured out today that they have wireless. ha.

i guess to catch you up.... we did our 4 day orientation camp in santa maria degli angeli. it was so fun.... they kids were great and turns out they were VERY well behaved. i made the mistake of telling the 12 and over kids that my name was bob one day, so for the rest of camp they called me bob instead of sammy. oh well. it was funny times. i miss those kids already and it has only been 3 days, AHH!!!! haha.

Nate drove us up here to Roma Frascati. I was hoping to work with Jenn and either Brian or Alastair for camp, but I am with Anna and Danielle. They are both awesome and very good with the kids so it all worked out. :) I am teaching the oldest class here in Frascati. Tomorrow my plan is to work on verbs- past tense, yeah?

My host family here is super nice. They all speak some English so it is pretty easy to carry a conversation with them. It is mom and dad, Angela and Enzo, Eduardo 18 and Beatrice 11. Beatrice (pronounced Bee-ah-tr-isha) goes to English Camp and is in my class. She is very sweet, and just a little sassy! When I got here saturday they picked me up from camp and we came home. I unpacked and did a little laundry then we walked around Frascate a bit. They actually live in Monte Comparti which is about 7 km from the school where camp is held. Their house is beautiful, and overlooks Roma. Sunday afternoon we went in to Roma to watch Bea's roller skating competition... Basically it was like olympic ice skating, only on roller skates instead. I met Angela's mother and she was very nice. She doesn't speak any English, but was very pleasant.

Camp started today and went okay. It is very different from orientation camp because the kids are at different levels of English. Also, this camp is the first one in this town so none of the kids are familiar with the structure. The nuns are very helpful and so sweet. I think that by wednesday or thursday the kids will settle down some and we will be able to hit the ground running.

I find it entertaining how my speech has changed in just one week. I now talk much slower and with more ums and uhs, even when talking to Americans.... I also talk in sentence fragments and very simple sentences. I can only imagine what it will be like in August when I return to Oregon. Haha!!

Oh, my host family loves the Simpsons, so when I told them that the creator is from Springfield OR they were very excited. Ha.

Better get going on lesson plans.... Will try to upload a few pictures. :)

It is taking too long to upload pictures right now.... Maybe tomorrow??? :)

Love and hugs from Italy!

CIAO!!!