Concise Thoughts: Ciao Italia!

Yesterday I started a blog post about Italy, in which I started to list off everything we did every day. I didn't finish it because I was getting tired of typing it, which is probably a good sign that it wouldn't have been that interesting to read. The thing is, I had a fantastic time in Italy and I want to tell you all about it, but that would be a rather long blog post, because I was gone for one week and each day was pretty filled with a lot of pretty excellent things. So I'll try to keep this concise.

First things first: Where was I and why? I was in Italy for one week on the SalZH vacation, which is where teachers and their families and students and their families are all invited to spend a week together at a camping resort in Italy. It's a pretty unique thing I'd say, and I was apprehensive about spending a week 24/7 with some of the students and being on a more "friend" level with them than "teacher." Would I lose authority and respect when we got back to school? What really worried me, was that the students were allowed to call me by my first name and allowed to use the informal word for you (du) instead of the formal word for you (Sie) that they usually have to use. The students were extremely excited to call me Jessica and use du with me, and it actually ended up being pretty great. Being back in school today, the students have had no problem switching back to Sie (except for sharing with their friends that they could call me Jessica/du in the break), aside from one student who gets to call me and two other teachers by our first names and use du for the next two weeks as a reward for planning an event successfully. (And yes, he is using my first name at every chance he gets. I think he's said "hello, Jessica" about seven times to me this morning, and I haven't even been in any of his classes!)

Technically, this was my "work week" because as an intern, we always have to work for one of the two weeks in vacations (except Christmas), but I'd say it's the best work week I could have asked for. Sun, beach, laughter, and relaxation, mixed with some work--not bad at all!

Our journey started out on Saturday morning, bright and early, at six am. I drove to Italy with one student and her mother, and was able to see a whole lot of Switzerland (so many mountains and beautiful sceneries) and Italy (which was surprisingly flat and semi-uninteresting, except for when I found out that we drove through the town where George Clooney lives and the town where Romeo & Juliet takes place). After a seven hour drive, we arrived at Garden Paradiso, near Venice, Italy.

Every day of the break, we had a meeting with all of the families (it wasn't required for everyone to come, but all were invited). The theme of the trip was "Strong families", because of our school's motto of the year, "Zäme simmer starch", which translates to "Together we are strong". Each evening, different parents would present something about different parts of having a strong family and everyone exchanged tips with one another.

One highlight of the week was a treasure hunt with the younger kids, where Raphael (another teacher), Dorina, and I dressed up like pirates and led the kids on a treasure hunt. They had to complete different tasks, like learn to save their sinking boat by running water from one bucket to another--but with a plastic cup with holes in it--and unscramble letters to find the next pirate with a hint. In the end, the kids uncovered a treasure chest filled with 40 pieces of Gold (40 Euros) and we all got ice cream as a treat.

We dressed like pirates

And tried to read the treasure map

Learning to save our sinking boats

And discovering new clues

Treasure found!

We pirates have some pretty big muscles--Arrr, matey!

Pirates love ice cream, of course.

A lot!

Happy pirates we arrrrr! ;-)

Another highlight was going to Burano with the older kids for the day. Burano is an island near Italy and is known not only for its narrow streets and canals, but also for its colorful houses. Each house is painted a different color and different shade than the others. It might sound weird to have a forest green house or a bubblegum pink house, but here, it fits perfectly together. The kids were busy with a scavenger hunt type activity we planned for them--they had to accomplish silly tasks, like filming themselves falling in love with a street lantern or crawling through a street acting like a seal for fifteen seconds. Dorina and Raphael and I wandered the streets, ate real Italian pizzas, and sat on a bench to enjoy the sun and scenery. It was truly a beautiful island.

The final highlight, for me, was going to Venice on Thursday with Dorina and Alexandra (a private nanny-like intern for a family with five kids). It was sunny in the morning/early afternoon and rainy after that, but with the narrow allies and endless number of people pushing through with umbrellas, we didn't really get that wet, so it was definitely still enjoyable. We took a gondola ride through the canals in the beginning, which was perfect because it rained later, and we ate pizza before wandering the streets and doing some shopping. I didn't take nearly enough pictures (let's blame wanting to protect my camera from the rain...), but it was really beautiful. Not as colorful as Burano, but still beautiful.