Day #8

Yesterday at camp we played games and had lunch like usual. 

I still can’t get over how lunch is set up. I’m used to picnic tables, bees all over the place and gross sandwiches. 

I let a few of the kids listen to my iPod, which was a big deal to them. It’s funny what songs they know. They were all crowded around it trying to hear what was playing. 

After lunch we took a field trip to a pool in Torino where we got to meet a gold medal Olympic winning swimmer, Massimilano Rosolino. 

He kind of reminded me of Bradley Cooper a little bit. 

I could tell it was a big deal for the kids and staff to be meeting him. There were photographers there taking so many pictures. 

Eventually all of the kids got into the water and Massimilano helped them all swim.

 After camp, Marie and I went into town and got dinner at Da Michelle’s. The food was really good. I got gnocchi again and we had lots of wine. I was also able to buy my Italia hat that I wanted in the Italian flag colors. Last night was the first night where I was able to fall asleep the minute I got into bed. These days are so long. We work from 8-6. For today we spent the morning swimming at the pool. It’s funny because everyone wears a bathing cap when they go in the water. Also, a lot of the boys wear speedos and some of the girls don’t wear tops. This is for the girls that are usually 6 and under but still it’s kind of weird to me. We worked on the show Beauty and the Beast today. The dance is coming along nicely. Marie and I worked on scenery. Each day more and more of the kids are talking to us.  They don’t know a lot of English but they try. They are friendlier than the camp counselors. You can tell they don’t want to be bothered trying to speak English. You can tell they hate when you ask them something in English. Some are nice and answer while some just say I don’t know. They make little comments that Marie and I pick up on about being American. A few of them are really sweet but some you can tell look down on us because were not from Italy. A part of me wishes that would come over to America and spend a day at Hackett Middle School. We’ll see how that treats you. These kids are great though. They are very polite, self-sufficient and respectful. I met a girl today who is part French and part Japanese. She speaks French, Italian, Japanese and English. She is all of 9 years old. Tonight we ate dinner at the restaurant hotel. Again it was delicious with lots of white wine.