More Catch Up

Whew. This was my last day of getting up at the butt crack of dawn. Thank god.

This week has been pretty good, although I have to say that my group definitely were not at their best this Thursday and today (Friday). But it wasn't too bad. Next week is gonna be... interesting. I lose one problem kid, but I get an even worse one back. Ugh.

So, back to what I've been doing on the weekends, the second weekend after we arrived in Naples, we went to Sorrento and Capri. Sorrento is a very tourist-oriented city that sits right on the water. Capri is a very tourist-oriented island. Both are very gorgeous, and all we basically did was lay on the beach and take lots of pictures. We took the train there, and when we got to Sorrento, we went to check into our hostel only to find out that Alli had accidentally booked it for Sunday night instead of Saturday. She was really bummed, but everyone else didn't really care because that hostel found us another hostel to stay that was actually cheaper and probably a little nicer. The only difference was that it was pretty far from the center of the city- like a 30 minute walk up this winding little one lane street.

So, after we took a free shuttle to our new hostel and dropped our stuff off, we walked to the beach. The beach in Sorrento was interesting because the whole shoreline is made up of sheer cliff, so you have to take the stairs down to the tiny beach. Then after that, we walked through town a bit and did some shopping, then we tried to find this restaurant that Molly G.'s friend "Rick" recommended. (Rick as in Rick Steves). It was way off, through this sketch tunnel and down by this remote pier, but the food was delicious and we got free limoncello shots for showing them the Rick Steves guidebook. We hung out and walked around a little after that. And just saying, in Italy, there is no law against walking around on the street with an open container of alcohol... in case you were wondering.

The next day, we got on the bus that would take us to the docks at around 8am, and then we got on the boat that would take us around Capri. We had bought a tour the day before for about 50 euro (i think). The boat took us halfway around the island and dropped us off for four hours, then took us the rest of the way around and back. When we got dropped off, we took buses up to the top so we could go on the chair lift, then we ate lunch, and then we chilled at the beach. This is the beach where something mysterious bit my butt while I was in the water, but we don't really need to go into that or the rash that is now mostly gone....

Anyway, it was really gorgeous there. Definitely worth seeing. I wish we could have seen the Blue Grotto (this cave that is almost entirely blue), but it was closed because the tide was too high. =(

A little more about camp: The first week we got here, they kept us pretty busy, doing the typical orientation things and going over the rules of the center. We finished all the posters for the entire summer that first week (only to find out a few weeks later that we had done the wrong themes because apparently our POCs had already picked the themes for us and somehow forgot to inform us of this). Then that weekend was Pompei, and Monday was the first day of camp.

That first week of camp was interesting, as they always are. The kids here remind me a lot of my Yokosuka kids: a little wild, a little crazy, a little rude, and more than a little defiant. Sometimes I can't believe how mean these kids are to each other, calling each other names and arguing all the time. But the girls in my group are really great, and the boys have their moments. At least we have really nice facilities here, and at least I only have at the most 20 kids rather than the 50 from last summer.

The SAC (school age care) is really nice. It has four rooms (Boogie, Build a Dream, Preteen, and Creation), a gym, a playground, and a grass field. It's been nice to have a gym in the building, because I've never had that before.

My first day at work here, though, was the first time that I ever had to restrain a kid. I just see this boy- call him Joe- walking super angrily toward another boy- call him Bob. Joe all of a sudden just starts wailing on this poor kid (who I learned later may have actually deserved some of it) and would not stop no matter how much I yelled. I did the whole bear hug thing from behind Joe and pulled him off of Bob. So not okay. Luckily, Krystina (my PC) was right there to help me out. Joe went to talk to Miss Staci (the head of the center), but then like an hour later, she lets him come out onto the playground and he heads straight for Bob and starts beating him up all over again. Miss Staci's turn to do the bear hug.

So that was my first day. I was pretty much thinking I was back at Yokosuka. But, luckily, it's been getting a little bit better, now that I'm more used to the kids and they're more used to me. I am still working on figuring out how to deal with a few of my problem kids, but luckily I have an awesome MFLAC to help me. MFLAC stands for Military Family Life Advice Counselor (or something along those lines). I have never really worked with one before, so it's been really nice to have Miss Kim in my group. She has a lot of good insight on the kids, and I feel like we get along really well.

There's another MWR staff member that I don't quite get along with so well, though. Drives me nuts, actually. Every time he talks, he is lecturing me about something or other, and since he is super hard to understand, I usually have no idea what he is telling me. I guess he is kinda the same age as us, and he has been pushing us every week to invite him on a trip with us. The first week, we pretty much said he could go, but he never really gave us an answer. And now he is guilt tripping us non stop for going without him. Not gonna lie, it's really annoying. And the other week, he told me that the system I was using to discipline my kids wasn't working. I asked him if he had a better idea (in a nice way of course) and he said no. Kinda ticked me off. Just a little.

But I like all the Camp A staff I work with, which is really good. So far, no drama. But I don't want to jynx it. This weekend, almost everyone is going to Venice, but me and Krystina and Alli and her friend are going to the Amalfi Coast. Krystina and I are planning on doing the Path of the Gods, which is this hiking trail that is supposed to be really pretty. Unfortunately, my foot has been hurting me pretty bad this week, which is really bad timing, but I will go hiking anyway. When in Rome, right?