We are Sesto, Mighty Mighty Sesto!

I am currently working in Milan at an Alice in Citta English Summer Camp.

Oh my gosh, I am so incredibly lucky. The family I live with is so unbelievably sweet and helpful. They gave me the sons room, offer me EVERYTHING, and want me to do my own thing. The mom's only request was that I speak English with the kids, which of course I can do being that I speak english :P

The mom, Elisabetta, not only picked me up from the train in her car, but she waited 2 hours for me there because I messed up the times. I felt awful but she didn't care and just went window shopping or something. Then she told me about her epic life. She was a photographer for musical artists and music magazines. She has been to some amazing concerts. After she retired from that, she got super involved in her husband's law business (he is a lawyer...duh), runs a household with two kids, and literally does everything she can to make Sesto San Giovanni a better town, especially the schools. You should hear the things she and the other moms have accomplished. Seriously amazing.

The dad, Andrea, is a lawyer for building contracts, I think that's what it was although I don't really understand the kinds of lawyers so I could be completely off. Anyway, he also loves music. He has like 5 different guitars and plays SOOOO well. Also, he runs... and we went running in this massive park by the house and I got completely lost... so we ran an extra 15 minutes, me trying to find where we parked, and him trying to find me.... fail. I felt SO bad, but it was ok in the end.

Anita :)

The kids are too adorable for words I can't even express it. Anita, the one in my group for the camp, is 8 and such an artist in every way. From a creative mind and free spirit, to a spacey demeanor and hyperactive personality. I love her. She does drive me crazy at the camp though because she does her own thing and NEVER listens but kids are kids right? She is so talented, although she takes forever to finish any art project, she is really talented, which makes sense because her grandmother was a fashion designer, her aunt is a famous sculpture and apparently her dad can draw too. In regards to English, she is really good at it, when she wants to be. Otherwise, she can't understand a word. Again, that artsy side of her comes through :P

Francesco is the son and is only 6 so no English camp for him :( BUT he is tooo cute. I will definitely get a picture of him eventually. Woah that sounded not the way I meant it to... awkward. He doesn't know much English but he is so cute and loves to ask me how to say things and when in doubt he just says hello or makes faces. My italian continues to get better the more I listen to the kids in the house and in the camp but I am not allowed to act like I understand with the kids in the camp... although they suspect I know what they say, or at least mostly. Also, the building my family lives in has a bunch of the other kids from the camp as well as some extra kids and two of the other tutors live their as well. We tend to play soccer in the garden out back or just hang out and listen as Tom (another tutor) plays his ukulele. 

Now for the camp. I SURVIVED A WEEK! I have 9 kids I am in charge of and about two of them are really strong in English for their age, maybe not always speaking but they understand everything. Now I have learned that kids are kids everywhere, but the whole language barrier makes it a little more difficult to teach them. I mean they are so intelligent when they understand and I can really see a lot of talent in them. A quick rundown of the camp and the campers:

The day starts with a welcome of games and songs, then a lesson (story, art, games, whatever- the point is to teach some new words), then a break, then drama and "my kitchen" where they write and draw new words on these cards and put them in a box they made, the lunch, break (for us as well thank God), then art, sport and home for the kids, but meeting for the tutors.

Our group is called Pizza, because the camp theme is Sesto's Magical Kitchen.

We have all of these chants and motions to teach the kids some new words. It is actually really fun and randomly they start singing them which is fun :)  and sometimes annoying :P

Kids: (Mine)

Anita- host family's daughter. She is so talented. I wish I could show you some of the things she has done. She is wayyy better than me... awkwards

Filippo- he hosts one of the other tutors, Macy, and is solid in English. the other kids always ask him to translate stuff to me or from me. he is too sweet and has the best heart. Probably one of my favorite kids :)

Davide- he is a trouble maker but I can't help but adore him. he has a secret gift in art and i hope he continues because he is pretty good and enjoys painting a lot. the reason i say secret is because he is more of an athlete, and one of the "cool" kids. he never shuts up tho...

Luca- Davide's partner in crime when it comes to trouble making. i want to slap him so often... but he is a good kid. He lives in my building and hosts Maira (an Irish girl who is a tutor) and is a total soccer freak. which means we get along in that respect. the thing is he doesn't know a lot of english... or understand much. but as the week has gone on he has seriously learned a lot. he even tries to speak in English to me now! :)

the kids! minus valerio

Norah- this girl is too cute. She is so little and always sits a certain way. her dad is from New Zealand so she understands a lot, but she is super shy and quiet so she doesn't speak a lot, but she loves to be first in line and hold my hand. She makes me smile.

Noa- Also a cutie, she is best friends with Olivia (soon to be mentioned) and always has Olivia's shoes on, sometimes only one... they like to switch. her english is really good as well and she is just one of those kids you wish you were friends with... if that makes sense being that I am much older... i don't know she is just great. Always smiling.

Olivia- curly hair and the cutest head bands in the world. This one makes me laugh SO much. Her english is also the next best after Filippo. I guess I associate Olivia and Noa as those girls always jumping around, hugging, jump roping, skipping, etc. I can't really capture them in words which is sad, but I adore them so much.

Valerio- so quiet. He is adorable with his glasses and fashionable, but nerdy clothing. It's so great. I think he has a crush on Anita :P He is either super involved in the activities or kind of reserved. Another shy one but super smart. I think he needs more confidence but when he tries he is so great in English. Not the most athletic or artistic, maybe a musician? who knows.

Maria Sofia- I don't know how to explain her. Kind of loud but also quiet sometimes. She has a little bit of an attitude when she is unhappy but honestly who doesn't? She apparently has a thing with this kid Lorenzo... which i learned today in a park during lunch after a visit to the museum of natural history in milan.

The kids are so cute. They always show me their plate when they are done eating to make sure it is ok they didn't eat everything or to show that they ate it all. They get two course and a desert, as do i, and it's pretty good. Also, they love art. I don't know what it is, but painting and collaging, and coloring, are all things they can't resist. 

As for my other tutors, Tom is from outside London, Maira is from Ireland, Tania if from NYC/Dickinson (weird I know), and Macy is from Houston, Texas. With only five of us we have spent a ton of time together and gotten pretty close. :) We are also guided by two Italians, our Coordinator Federica and our assistant Francesca. They literally rock. So helpful and creative. Federica is super strong in Drama and Francesca in games/sports. Which is perfect because it helps us in the two areas we struggle in. 

Anyway, this is super long... so I will leave it at that. They have started to show that they are learning which is encouraging and we only have one more week! WOOO

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was surprisingly cool. Maybe it was because I went with a friend who knows the city (Wouter, yeah I know I saw him AGAIN?! crazy.) or maybe it is because Amsterdam is just an awesome place to go. It's beautiful even in the rain and has several canals. I don't know. I just liked it a lot.

So, after Bologna ended (sad) I headed to Belgium to stay with Andrej until I had to go to Milan for training for the English Camp I am currently working at. I had decided earlier to see if Wouter wanted to go to Amsterdam with me (otherwise I wasn't going to go because it wasn't one of my top choices) and when he (surprisingly) said he wanted to go I got super excited! The first day we were there we just walked around the city and it was absolutely beautiful out. I couldn't believe it.

Beautiful right?

We hung out in a park, took some pictures, saw some famous woman and her daughter, ate fish and chips (which rocked), saw the famous sign, went to the famous grocery store, and Wouter showed me all the fun facts about Amsterdam. Then we went to his friends house where we were staying and I met some of her friends. And I also got to see some old familiar faces :) Jeroen and Frank were there too! It was so nice to see them, to meet Jeroen's girlfriend (our host) and his cousin as well as some other Dutch people :) Oh and I do NOT speak any Dutch so, as I have come accustomed to doing, just read the way people said things when they weren't speaking English and tried my best to keep up. I actually like Dutch. (I say this about every language now I think...) When spoken "normally" it can be kind of beautiful. Not in the typical way, but in its own way. I want to learn it... ugh I want to learn every language.

The next morning we headed out to the Red Light District because we totally skipped it the night before, and at 10 am it's not too raunchy... although one guy said something very awkward to me... anyway, after that I said goodbye to Wouter and headed to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijk's Museum both of which had really amazing collections. Then I went back to Belgium.

This post is terrible. I am sorry about that, but what made this trip great was the conversations and the atmosphere/city itself. That can't be captured in a post. If you want to hear more about it, ask :)