Summer Camp: Week One Down...

It has been a crazy first week of camp! I hardly know where to begin. Being sleep deprived and out of sorts, I think I will start from the beginning.

view from my room at camp

The week before last, we had orientation week for the counselors. I met a lot of very cool world travelers (my colleagues) and this week am meeting a group of very international kids (my campers)! Some of these 12-year-olds have been to more places than I have! Many of the kids are bilingual or trilingual and have parents who are diplomats, in international business, or some other such amazing professions. It's a complete 180 from the summer camp I taught at last year, which catered to scholarship kids and focused on creative writing, French language and math & science*...

This year I will be teaching German (which was quite a surprise to me - I came to the orientation convinced I would be teaching English). It's been fine so far - none of the campers are native German speakers. There are a lot of Russian kids, Lebanese and Saudi/UAE kids, Franco-Swiss kids, French kids, some Americans, some British, and several from other European countries. I'm amazed at the level of English most of the kids have - they all go to international schools, though, so perhaps that's normal.

I was also appointed airport manager for the Munich airport. The kids get to camp one of three ways: they fly in to Munich or Salzburg, or their parents drive them to camp. Those are the two closest airports, Salzburg being 1 1/2 hours away, Munich being 3 hours. My job as airport manager is to pick up the kids, sign their Unaccompanied Minor forms and escort them back to camp. Having never before been to the Munich airport before last Sunday, and having to pick up roughly 40 kids, it was more than a bit stressful. But, there was no lost luggage and no missing kids! Go me.

The kids also get to do some amazing things, like hike through a gorge, a waterfall, go to a mountain hut 2,000 m in elevation and do all sorts of sports, like tennis, football, mountain biking, rugby, basketball, sailing, swimming, etc. I got to do some of these things during orientation week, but unfortunately I'm confined to the classroom most mornings.

Despite all this activity, the kids have an incredible level of energy, and, unfortunately, I feel pooped already! One week down, three to go!

*Upward Bound, for those who are familiar.

Summer Camp Austria: the Beginning

Starting on the 26th of July, I have been hired to teach German at an international sleep away summer camp in Zell am See. After a week of orientation with all of the staff members, the campers arrived yesterday. It's been pretty hectic getting all of the kids situated and dealing with parents, regulations, etc. I'm a bit afraid the kids are going to be spoiled brats from what I've heard about the socioeconomic standing of some of them...

The kids come from all over, but mostly Russia, the Middle East, Switzerland and other parts of Europe. I was on airport duty picking up the kids from Munich, which was incredibly stressful. I never realized how hard it can be to try to wrangle 60+ kids around an airport!!

All of my co-workers seem pretty cool, though. I met two on the train ride from Salzburg to Zell am See and the rest when I got to the camp. They've traveled all over the place, and many of them are from New Zeeland, though there are also a number of Americans, a couple of Canadians, an Australian, and various Europeans. Our orientation was a bit less hands-on than I had imagined, but I guess it did the trick.

I will stop here, being absolutely pooped. Hopefully more news will pop up soon...and pictures, too!

Venezia: Leg One of Italia

Venice, known to some as the Floating City, the City of Water, Queen of the Adriatic, and the former seat of the Venetian Republic, was an important stop on my Easter tour of Italy for a number of reasons:

1. I've always wanted to go to Venice.

2. There is a night train leaving from Amstetten to Venice often (more than once a week) - one of the few international trains that makes a stop in Amstetten! The others I know about go to Budapest and Hamburg.

3. Not only an important part of Italian history and tourism, the city of Venice is important part of Austrian history as well, having been bought off Napoleon by the Habsburgs circa 1797... 

4. Venetian masks have intrigued me for some time. Also, what Grand Tour of Europe is complete without a stopover in Venice?

Callie in front of canal

Other Italian destinations included: Genoa and the Cinque Terre. In Genoa, we met up with our Lawrence buddy Sarah and made our way down to the Cinque Terre (five villages on the Italian Riviera...also a national park) to enjoy some hiking and sunshine and great food!

Our B&B: founded in 1288!!!

But, I will try my best to keep to Venice for this post. While in Venice, we took it easy - leisurely breakfasts in the morning at our amazing (and Rick Steves recommended) B & B; long walks around the lagoon and through the winding streets of Venice; indulging in aperitivi at overpriced canal-side bars...

The Grand Canal 

On Monday, we visited the Palazzo Ducale (doge's palace), former home to il doge, i.e. the duke of Venice - the last being Ludovico Manin, abdicated in 1797. The palazzo is amazing, a great 14th century structure with facades facing the lagoon and St. Mark's Square. AND, if you go exactly at noon, the line is six times shorter than at any other time of day (presumably because this is when all the tourists decide to take their lunch breaks). Admission is  14 euro, but considering the size of the place and all of the restoration work they have to do, it's worth it, in my opinion.

Callie pointing to a map of Venice

Here are some photos of St. Mark's Square:

And even gondolas in the lagoon!

Very romantic.







Considering one of Venice's most famous sons is Casanova, it's no wonder there's a certain "romance" to the city...this may not bode well for honeymooning couples, however...and we saw quite a few! It seems Venice is the "it" place to honeymoon?


And here are pictures of the Palazzo:

the Bridge of Sighs - unfortunately under repair

columns in the palazzo

facade of palazzo

 

 A funny story about the palazzo/ducal prison: Casanova, imprisoned for licentiousness or some such other offense, purportedly escaped the prison by digging a hole through the ceiling...with a file. He then escaped to Paris.

Perhaps the ducal prison didn't have the security of Alcatraz. But it does have the Bridge of Sighs!

photo in piazza of Doge's palace

Tuesday and Wednesday we took it easy, visiting St. Mark's Basilica (Chiesa d'Oro) and the Frari church (which has painitngs by Titian - most famously the Assumption - placed in their original, appropriate spots in the church/sanctum). We also went shopping, and looked at all the beautiful Murano glass jewlery - and other things - and realized how incredibly expensive Venice really is (having previously been warned). Great for a few days, but living here and not being a millionaire would be impossible!

Another interesting fact: the tap water in Venice is superb, mostly because it is sourced directly from run-off from the Alps. Neat, eh?

ceiling in Doge's palace

view from the Bridge of Sighs

Other fun things we did in Venice:

1. Visit mask and costume shops

2. Drool in the windows of all of the pastry shops getting ready for Easter

3. Get "lost" in the narrow, winding streets of Venice (we were never actually lost)

4. Take the Vaparetto all the way down the Grand Canal instead of paying for a gondola ride

 

5. Have REAL Bellinis at Hotel Metropole (and fooling the bartender into thinking we were guests at the hotel)

Click here or here for more information on our sojourn in Venice :)

Famous Austrians II: Franz Klammer

Franz Klamemer at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck

Austria is known for its skiing - and its skiers. One of the most famous is Franz Klammer (or, as one of my students called him, "Hans" Klammer...even if they are Austrian, it doesn't mean they worship the skiing world) ;)

Klammer grew up in Mooswald, Carinthia, which is uncommon for an Austrian skier (most grow up in Salzburg or Tyrol where the "real" mountains are) and won gold in 1976 in Innsbruck, skiing down hill 1/3 of a second faster than some other guy. He participated in the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo as well, where he did not do so hot. He later had a career as a touring car racer. In certain ways, he shares a likeness to American Olympic skier Bode Miller. Aside from the skiing and car racing, however, this is not exactly complimentary...

Some consider him the reason Austrian skiing is known worldwide. He is currently a TV sports commentator, not an uncommon career path for many a sports legend.

Was für ein Unter – schi – ed

These posts are a bit out of order, but I'll try my best...

In mid-March, the 2nd form of the HAK took a ski trip to Saalbach/Hinterglemm. I accompanied them. It was my first time ever skiing. Of all the people I talked to about going to Austria, each of them said (with little variation), "You must go skiing!" So I did.  

Here you see the big lift up to the ski area -->

<-- And here you see the little town of Hinterglemm. Saalbach is about 3km from Hinterglemm, and if you need such things as medical assistance, you'll have to go to Saalbach. If you want to drink away the pain, you can stay in Hinterglemm. It has plenty of Après-Ski opportunities...

I must admit, the ski week seemed like one of the rare times during my stay in Austria where I could actually speak German, because I was not surrounded by Austrians wanting to improve their English (like at school), but Austrians in their natural *habitat* for not just several hours but days at a time! I think I spoke more German in that week than I have the entire rest of the time I've been here. Perhaps this means I am self-segregating while in Amstetten - and I should be more outgoing, or whatever - but I maintain that the Austrians confident in their English abilities will still try to sneak English into conversations regardless.


The whole school trip experience was really amazing, and more like what I had expected my time here to be like. By that, I mean the speaking German all the time part. As reluctant as I am to admit, I must say that Austrian German (and various dialects) and Standard German are different enough in a spoken context to be confusing to me. The longer I'm here, the better I get at understanding what people are saying.

One fun cultural experience was games. The teachers taught me how to play Lügen, or "lying," which is similar to the card game Cheat (otherwise known as Baloney, or its saltier name, Bullshit) where players try to get rid of all of their cards by placing them in a pile face-down in the middle of the table. The player doing this makes a claim as to what the cards are, i.e. two Jacks, three Queens, etc. The cards are laid in sequential order, 2 through Ace (or Ace through King). If you don't believe the person who put down the cards, you can call "Cheat!" or "Bullshit!" and have the other person turn the cards face-up. If they're wrong, they take the whole pile of cards. If you're wrong, you take the pile!*


Lügen is played with dice rather than cards, and something akin to a Yahtzee cup is used to obscure the number on the dice from the rest of the players. The numbers go from 31 through 65, with doubles (11, 22, 33, 44, 55 and 66) being the next sequence. The trump number is 21 (Mäxchen). Again, order is important. However, only the person next to you can call you out on whether you're lying. for example, if one player rolls  a 4 and a 3 (43) but needs to roll a 65 or higher, they can say whatever they want. If the next person doesn't think they can roll higher, they can call the person out. If they're right, the person who just rolled loses a chip, but if they're wrong, they lose two chips!*

I also watched the teachers play a sort of Bridge that was too complicated for me to actually figure out and play with. First, there were seven of us, and only four at a time can play. Second, although I have subsequently learned the names in German for the cards, I didn't know them at the time. The deck we played with was very ornately decorated with designs that, to me, looked almost like Tarot cards. They were very cool, but confusing.


The names of the face cards and suits in Austrian (A) German and Germany (D) German are:

Jack - Bube (Knave)

Queen - Dame (Lady)

King - König (King)

Ace - Aß (Ace) 
Hearts - Herz (heart)
Diamonds - Schelle (A) or Karo (D) (bell, or square)
Clubs - Eichel (A) or Kreuz (D) (acorn, or cross)
Spades - Blatt (A) or Pik (D) (peak, or leaf)

The Germany German names are derived from the French deck of cards (what we use in the USA). The Tarot card-type cards are the traditional Bavarian cards. Photo below (from Wikipedia):

The top parts of the cards are Bavarian, the bottom parts are French  

Also, of course, on the skiing trip, I went skiing. That was a brand new experience for me, and I really enjoyed it - once I go used to the skis. I didn't make it past the bunny hills all week, but I felt really proud by the end to be able to ski down the hill and directly to the lift (rather than skiing past it and having to climb back up the hill) five times in a row...yes, I know that sounds pathetic. But, please. Give me my joy! I was also surprised to find that Alpine skiing is hardly an aerobic sport, but mostly about muscle control. I don't exactly know what I expected, but I guess I expected more cross-country skiing...for whatever reason. Delusion? By the end of the week, I had a major Muskelkater (Charley horse) but this is all an expected part of the sport. Plus, once I got home I could totally ice it with the vodka I bought in Poland ;) You might ask why this has not been drunk yet? I'm not actually a fan of vodka...

Speaking of vodka, the students (though they were all 16) were not allowed to drink on the trip. Since it was a week intended to promote exercise and physical well-being. Which excludes alcohol. However, this does not mean that no students went drinking. They were given free time to wander about the sprawling metropolis of Hinterglemm, and, according to some very candid students, it was no trouble to grab a few beers away from the watchful eyes of their chaperons...

We stayed at a Jugendheim, sort of like a youth hostel that caters especially to school groups and young people, which was very nice. We received full board - and ate excellently - although because I and the biology teacher, Hermann, are both vegetarian, we got a lot of guff from the owner. He was a character! Quite outgoing, and, once it was revealed that I was American (no riddle there once I open my mouth), he refused to call me by my name, preferring instead the moniker "America."

Other news? Oh! The students did a competition one night, which was HILARIOUS!!!! It was the basic camp-style team stuff, where one team tries to beat the other at refilling glasses with straws, making paper airplanes and doing goofy dances with Coke bottles on their heads (by the way, Coke still actually comes in bottles in Austria! And is made with real sugar, not corn syrup!) and the like. I was incredibly amused. And, the best part, I think, was when the teachers all sang "Once and Austrian Went Yodeling" as a sing-a-long. I hadn't heard that song for ten years! It tickled me that Austrians would know it.

view from inside the lift "box"

*NB: Regional differences apply. I use the rules I am familiar with... :)