What is it? It's Big Ben!
I'm driving a bus, but I had to swerve quickly to avoid a cat in the road!
The theme of the city camps is the Olympic Games, so the kids learned words about London and the Olympics, made crafts like Olympic torches and olive wreaths for their heads, and played Olympic Games. The kids that week were all pretty sweet, except for one that was pretty spoiled and would cry about really dumb stuff. For the most part, he was actually quite funny, but he was also responsible for what I will deem "Worst Camp Moment" to date. Here is the moment:
It's Friday, the last day of camp. We have asked all the parents to come early so we can do a short presentation for them where the kids use the English they've learned during the week, etc. So all of the parents are watching. We do the short performance, and now we're passing out certificates. There are three teachers, and we all have something to give the kids - trouble is we didn't think about putting them all in the same order, so we have to rifle through piles of certificates and diplomas to find the right one as each kid comes through the line. So it's already a little chaotic. Then, Problem Child comes through the line.
We have prepared for the kids a diploma saying they completed the week of English camp, but we also prepared a certificate for each one with something special about them (sweetest smile, most helpful, etc). On PC's (Problem Child's) certificate, we wrote "Little Mr. Wolf". The reason we wrote that is that there is a game called Mr. Wolf, and he wanted to play it every 5 seconds. He loved this game. So this is his certificate. He's about 6 years old so he can't even read yet, but as he takes the certificate Marketa tells him what it's for. All of the sudden PC bursts into tears. So here we are, rifling through piles of certificates, sweating, children are backed up in line, and all of the sudden one of them is bawling crying. And the parents are sitting there watching it all. It was definitely not our best moment.
You may be wondering why the PC was crying about being Little Mr. Wolf. Well, it's obviously because he wanted to be a SAILOR. How could we have possibly made him a wolf when it is clear to all that he is a sailor? I don't know how we could have been so stupid. Maybe it's because we never played any games about boats or sailing? Or because he never mentioned his intense love for the high seas? Or the fact that he lives in a land-locked country? The fact is, people, that it was absolutely and completely random. The best part about the situation was that the father, who seemed to be guilty party number one in the spoiled-child department, threw up his hands as if he had never seen such behavior from his angelic son (highly unlikely as it happened on average 3-4 times a day). The child would not stop crying until Marketa actually marked out the part about Mr. Wolf and wrote in Sailor.
Despite a less-than-perfect finale, the week was good. The city camps are much less grueling than the residential camps, because at 5 o'clock we're out the door and back to our apartments - more about apartments later. For the field trip this week, we took the kids to the planetarium. It was nice, but the kids program we watched in the actual planetarium room was in Czech, so I didn't understand it and mostly used the time for napping (with intermittent awakenings to tell the kids to be quiet or put their feet down). Afterward we played games in Stromovka Park. I know I am not supposed to have favorites, but how can I help it? Kids are just little people, and you always bond with some people more quickly than others. My favorite camper this week was Ema, who is five years old. She got immediate points for simply having the same name as my niece. She was really shy on the first day, and didn't really want to talk to me. Over the week she started hanging out with me more, and during the field trip on Thursday she started this thing where she would tickle my neck - I would giggle, which she found hilarious, and it became a little game. It was so sweet. I will miss her.
Ema, on the left, coloring with Adelka
Bara, she is totally her own little person!
Bětka is showing me her rainbow
Playing a game on the last day
I know I said I would write about the apartment situation and more about my Italy plans, but it will have to wait until tomorrow as I have a nasty headache tonight. I've been a little stressed out lately about personal stuff. Tomorrow morning I'm giving a presentation to my own TEFL school about my job! Seven short months ago I was sitting in one of those chairs watching a presentation by two of my now co-workers. They totally made me want to work for my company, so hopefully I (along with Marissa, one of my fellow TEFL students and now co-workers) can do the same.
More to come...
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