16 July 2010

confusion is part of the process. . .

We call it fun but you may call it madness
So stay here with us, and you'll forget your sadness
Happy campers are we, having fun beneath the trees
And when we are gone, you'll remember our song. . .
-Unknown, Camp Song

What a week. There's so much to mention, I can't even remember it all. Let me try to start where I left off.

Firstly, that bug bite in the last post ended up not being fatal. But it did get worse before it got better. The ring disappeared a few days later and now the swelling's gone way down. I know a lot of you probably thought it was Lyme's disease, and that had crossed my mind as well, but I ruled it out for a few reasons.
  1. I read on webmd.com or somewhere that the tick usually has to stay attached for 36 hours before it can transmit the disease. I like to think I would have noticed a tick on my hip somewhere during those 36 hours.
  2. I had three other bites with rings around them on my thigh. The odds that four ticks with Lyme's would bite me and infect me at the same time were in my favour (in my opinion).
  3. The bites were very swollen, and very itchy. From what I've read, Lyme's bites don't itch or swell up.
So the mystery of the massive bug bites may never be solved. It's old news, really. Let me tell you about Lurago d'Erba.

I said goodbye to the Bellagamba family Saturday morning (translation: Beautiful leg family), and Mara drove me to the train station. On the way, she picked me up some hydrocortisone/antibiotic cream for my bites, which I credit with my recovery.

My route to Lurago d'Erba took me through Milan. There was a little transfer via subway, which was fun, but I had it all figured out because of my day with Josephine. I arrived in Inverigo right on time, and I was met by my camp director and family. There's Marco, my host dad, Fabiola, my host mom, and Camilla and Gaia, my sisters. The first night, they took me to Como, which was beautiful, but frustrating due to lack of George Clooney sightings.

The next day I was basically worthless the entire day. What can I say, it's really hot here. Then Monday was the first day of camp, and I met my class. 11 students, using the white and yellow books. Those are the lowest books there are. And this was one week after teaching purple, which is one of the very highest. I like to think of myself as versatile.

We started the Olympic games, and my team named themselves 'Team Obama's Blue Dogs.' Classic. We also started planning for the final show, and I decided to go with a basic 'English zoo' format. It's simple, easy to follow, and the parents love it. Money in the bank. To prepare, I asked the children to draw their favorite animal during arts and crafts time. Just a few of the things they came up with: zebra, squirrel, dog, T-Rex, lion cub, anklyosaurus, mermaid, and SPIDERMAN. It was shaping up to be a solid show. Later, we made invites for the parents, and Mattia's just tugged at my heart strings. He's such a sweet kid, but I think he might have Asberger's or something, because he communicates very strangely and sometimes shuts down when there's too much noise around him. On his card he wrote 'Mamma, I love you so much.' It reminded me that I actually love my mother so much as well.

Fun fact about my host sis Gaia: she's nine years old and her least favorite things are (in no particular order): vegetables, rain, mountains, pears, fish, and Switzerland. How about that.

I had my class divide into two groups on Tuesday and trace someone, then label their body parts and color it all in. Rebecca, who cries all the time, was traced and subsequently turned into an alien. Homegirl could not handle it and went to hide under my desk.

On Wednesday, our director took us out to dinner in Erba, the next town over. There was a big brewery with a view of the mountains, and we took pics with our hot waiter. What else. . . on Thursday, the fam took me out to the lake (the clean part), and today was the show (it was fabu). The English Zoo went swimmingly.

Okay so now for my plans: I was told I'd be on hold this next week in the same place as JOSEPHINE!!! So I made plans to meet her there on Sunday so we can up our odds of rooming together. Even booked a hostel in Milan for Saturday night. But earlier tonight when I got on the internet, I found a message from my boss telling me he'd found a camp for me, and I should get in touch with him immediately. So I called him straightaway, and all he said was that he wasn't near the information and he'll call me tomorrow morning. To tell me where I'm going tomorrow morning. Hectic. I may or may not go to Milan, and I may or may not pay 25 euros for a bed in a hostel. Well, I'll almost certainly pay those 25 euros, whether or not I stay there. And I may or may not be seeing Josephine in about 38 hours. But that's typical of this summer gig and to be honest, I was sort of missing that hecticness.

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