The Prussia Periodicals

May 21-24 Mont d'Olmes/ Perpignan/ Toulouse/ Foix/ Mont d'Olmes Today is actually the 24th but these are excerpts from my journal that I took with me: May 21: I'm sitting on a hill by Mont d'Olmes. I hear wind and water and the flutter of my paper and the scratch of my pencil. The sun is rising before me and the mountains including the one peak I conquered yesterday are to my right. I smell spring! The hills stretch out of the valley but only go so far- just like my vision as haze of a new day envelopes the French countryside. Will I be at the beach later today or tomorrow? It's roughly 6:30 am. I'm thinking of Psalm 18:1. The clouds are covering the rising sun except for one glorious burst of light that is blaring through the gray-blue clouds like a soloing trumpet over the rest of the orchestra. A warm breeze just passed over me but is now gone. I'm slightly chilled again. May 22: Oh joy upon joys! I'm sitting on a Mediterranean beach! Despite the fact...

May 20th Mont d'Olmes So I never posted that lost blog entry on time. I'll do it now. What a great week! The kids were super, the new counselors that got transferred to us were great, the weather was fantastic. The trees are green everywhere. There are some late bloomers but there is green were there was brown, gray, and white. This mountain site is turning into something beautiful. In an hour, I'm gonna go hike up the mountain again and see if anyone is interested in joining me. A car load already left for Perpignan- or however you spell it- and then tomorrow, Aladdin, Carebear, Doodle, and I are following. We will go the Mediterranean Sea, hang at the beach, maybe see a castle, see the town and chill. CJ, Grizz, Dotcom, Indy, and Brooklyn are doing there own thin tonight as we stay at this beautiful mountain. Two weeks ago, I do not think this place was beautiful. Majestic, maybe, as any mountain should be. But lovely to the eye? No. I'm sitting outside for the first ...

May 17th Mont d'Olmes Today is Sunday but Discover America Day. Usually that is Tuesday but since the kids came on Saturday and we got almost zero-weekend, the schedule is messed up. However, we do get a four day weekend starting Thursday. Tomorrow is Wild West Day, and following is Hollywood Day. And then it is Graduation/ Farewell Day and they are gone by Wednesday afternoon. Being on activities is more preference. I am certified to teach English but Activities is more fun and I feel like I get more free time. And my free time is during ESL classes, not the afternoon games and activities. So my job is to play rather than teach. I like it. I bought my plane ticket. Did I already write about that? Maybe. I have been entering blog entries on the camp computers as well as my laptop. More so the former as of late since my laptop is being held up by packaging tape on both sides. The monitor was iffy for a while but now it flops in the breeze like ... something that flops. My English is...

May 16th Mont d'Olmes This is my last Satuday at Mont d'Olmes. Because we have no weekend this weekend and the kids arrive in ten minutes, next weekend is a four day weekend. Brooklyn, Indy, and some others are talking about a bunch of us going to the beach. So yeah, I'll be going to a Meditteranean beach. Did I spell Mediteranean right? I don't have time to check. The children are coming! The children are coming! I thought I would have time to write more on this deserted mountain but apparently not. During the evenings, everyone plops down and we either go to sleep or stay up and talk for a while. In Prague, this blog was consistent; now I'm lucky to get two entries off in a week for you faitfhul friends, family, fans. But don't you worry, two more weeks and I'm back in the States!

May 12th Mont d'Olmes This week's kids seem nice. Of course the one rambunctious boy in the whole group is in my family but I am on Activities, not ESL, this week, so I will not have to deal with a classroom... just a parking lot of fifty-one children wanting to play baseball. Four counselors are on ESL and five on activities so I think it'll be great. Indy is here at Mont d'Olmes so that's cool too. Happy Birthday Mom!!

Argh! May 8th Mont d'Olmes It this week finally over? What has been possibly the worst week at American Village for the team here at Les Monts d'Olmes and myself is at last finished. The kids came from a fancy private school and were spoiled rich. They did not respect us when we tried to get them to be quiet or do group activities. Eventually, after repetition and forced one-on-one reiteration of what we wanted (“Be quiet!” “Sit down!” “Sit up!” “Stop talking” “Away from the wall!” “Stop that!”) they would settle and listen for two minutes and continue talking. The worst is when they would listen and understand “stop talking” and then as soon as a counselor would turn away, they would continue talking. Granted, they are just kids, but every other group that we have had has been better behaved. And I say 'spoiled' because whenever we planned something or forced them to do something they didn't like, they would pout, groan, moan, and whine. These thirty-six 11 and 12 ...

May 5th Mont d'Olmes PLaying baseball and American football with French 10-12 year olds who have never thrown one before can be challenging. But lots of fun. If a ball rolls down a hill, we pray it doesn't go into the rushing river that emerges from the pipe system underneath the ski slopes. There are some grates I saw from Sunday around the ski lifts where I heard the sound of rushing water. The snow is melting finally in the merry month of May and we actually have grass! We walked through some mud to get to the parking lot where we play our rotation of baseball/football. As I type this on the camp computer, I see the reflection of the moniter of the window and the amazing view behind it. One of the many peaks stretches to the top of the French door/window and there is a close cloud that is creating a shadow along the top. Some pines and rock faces are still brightly lit up from the gorgeous sun which is out in full power today. I think it is probably 15 or 20 degrees today. C...

May 3rd Mont d'Olmes The snowy peaks called me up today. At 3 o'clock, I walked up to a peak of 1950 meters and looked down at the ski slopes and across at the flat clouds at my eye level. Before me across a valley were Pyrenees Mountains of France as well as possibly Spain and/or Andorra. It took only an hour and half from the American Village camp site including several breaks as I would sit on my coat and catch my breathe. After the first half hour, I took off my coat for I worked up enough body heat and I was walking in 5 degree celcius weather. At the base of the ski slopes and the snowy mountain, the snow was thin, icy, and easy to walk over. Sometimes I would hit an icy patch and I would walk goose-toed (is that the right term?) with my heels in to give me better traction. Half way up, the snow got thicker. My bad planning and lack of proper materials resulted in me soon wearing wet jeans over thermals and thick socks. The quickly melting snow on the top wetted my legs b...

May 2nd Mont d'Olmes To answer my own previous blog's questions: yes, American Village will pay for one night in a hotel in Paris when my contract is finished- which is May 31st. Triple R Ranch pre-camp does not start until June 3rd. So I can make. And Jeanette, the most awesomest summer camp director in the world, said I can take some RnR time before I return to RRR! Weekends can be boring when you're alone in a ski resort. I've reached the end of our camp's petite movie collection. I even started to watch Spy Kids 3 during lunch but quickly abandoned that foolish notion. How do you say 'cheesy' in French? So everyone went to Toullouse for the three day weekend, leaving me and my writing for some time to catch up with one another. It's a complicated relationship. Sometimes I want it to work out, sometimes I can't stand another thought of it. We have a special bond. This relationship takes a lot of work. I'm on chapter twelve already but am alway...

Je neh comprah pah francais April 30th/ May 1st Mont d'Olmes For more weeks. Not that I'm counting. Will I have a week or at least a weekend to hang out with my family before I go to Triple R Ranch and work for the summer? I don't know. I do know that I am in good enough terms with our wonderful summer camp director to possibly skip the two week long orientation and come a little late to ease back into the States; that is if I do not already miss it while in Europe. When does it start? I don't know. And after my contract is over, do I get to stay in Paris for a free night at a hotel by grace of the camp company? I don't know. As you can see, I do not know many things. But that's alright. I'm not worried. But that doesn't mean I should not plan ahead. This three day weekend should be relaxing. I hope to do some more writing, maybe a little sketching, and practice my juggling. Thirteen year old kids are better than me and our director here, CJ, can do tric...

April 29th 2009 Mont d'Olmes So I'm not exactly like Antonie Banderas in 13th Warrior, who just listened to a foreign language and picked up every grammar point, idiom and insult; but I am learning some French. Very little, but French nonetheless. My faithful readers may also be curious to know that I am starting to learn how to juggle. No bowling pins yet, however. The power outage last night may have forced the whole carnival to close down including my exciting and popular ring toss but instead, we had a great time that was the highlight of the day- at least for the staff. A shadow puppet show was conducted from back stage; a scary story was told; a song they learned in school was sung by the students; cheers were conducted; and all in all, people had a good time. I have no idea if they got to their beds safely but the counselors took a moment and stared up at the pristine starry sky not too far above us. Through our window into the valley- a mountainous pass opening up near ...

April 25th Mont d'Olmes If those reading this know me, you know I tend to be quiet, not always the engager of conversation, and perhaps at times seclusive if not independently comfortable. So a job as a camp counselor in which I must talk all day and do nothing but teach English and start conversations at the dinner table is unusual, fun, different, challenging, and sometimes difficult. I'm definitely getting used to it but as a back up plan, if the students are talking amongst themselves at lunch and laughing, I'll butt in and ask, “How do you say that in English?” to which they hesitate, shake their head, chuckle, and then comment on how crazy their friend is. They say this only of course as a back up plan for themselves. I like to imagine sometimes that my life is a play or a tv show with a live audience. I wish I could add a laugh track to moments that are absurd or awkward. You ever see a scene in a movie that is so awkwardly uncomfortable that you're really glad t...

Mont d'Olmes April 23rd Time flies. I thought I would have time to write a little of this blog every now and then but the camp life is busy, busy, busy. At Petit Bois- which I do miss but Mont d'Olmes is good too- there was a little more staff so everyone got a little more time off. This week, I have received time for myself twice. That is, during the day. Night time is when the others here come alive and hang out as I carry my tired, sniffing self to bed. Yep, the mountain and the act of traveling to a different climate has struck up my cold again but it should be gone in a couple of days. I can eat an orange every breakfast, vitamins, lots of water as I have wandered away from coffee these past couple of weeks. I think I had one cup last week and that was in a little European cup. Prague was the only place where they had large drinks. In Spain, France, Germany, and Italy, everyone drank out of small cups. It wasn't that bad, but it means more refills at the dinner table. ...

Les Monts d'Olmes April 19th, 2009 Two days ago, I walked around in shorts. Yesterday, I stood in a hail storm for the first time. Today, I am in a building right next to a ski lift, staring up at a white mountain shrouded in a cloud. It snowed this morning for a little while but the afternoon sun that reflects so brightly off of the sun is melting it. Now that I can see the difference between two different camp sites, it is almost easier to talk about Petit Bois. The team had gotten to know each other fairly well, but the group here - isolated on a mountain with out-of-season closed ski slopes- has bonded strongly. Bree and I from Petit Bois are not at all isolated as they welcomed us and showed us around. But after the late night party on Friday night and then waking up at 7 am to catch a train at 8 am in Montlucon and then two other trains to take us to the town of Foix and then an hour long car ride up the winding road up to where snow was just on the side of the road to where...

Cosne d'Allier April 16th 2009 Spring is here. White and pink trees of which origin I could not say. Most of the grander trees are late in catching up with the smaller in the race of leaves and blossoms. Tulips and dandelions have already sprouted. We had our first April shower with lightning the other day. Another quickly approaches. In one direction, the sky is an ominous dark gray but white and blue on the other horizon. Even now, in my room with music, I can hear the thunder growing louder and more frequent. The fifty seven kids are in the chateau and I am off for a few hours. The day goes by so fast and they are so complicated. Every morning, the counselors eat breakfast at their own table while the kids throw things at the others. After brushing their teeth, their English class starts. This is where us ESL teachers come in. For an hour we teach, they have a fifteen minute recess, and then we teach for another hour before the pinnacle of the morning: Congress. My class felt so...

Cosne d'Allier April 11th, 2009 Next week, I will be moving to the Pyrenees to a camp site called Les Monts d'Olmes. I was informed of this in the second floor of a French club where a two man band bluesed the night away in French, English, and scat. Indy was asking about the inevitable movement of the counselors and Oreo, our camp director, said that the new schedule was printed and upstairs at the chateau. I asked if I could also see it with Indy when we got back that night and she remembered that I was one of the few moving. So, that's that. I have little say in the matter but the mountains should be beautiful. Veggie and I will be going, so at least I'm not alone going to a strange new place. But I'm kinda used to the whole get-up-and-go thing. I have one more week of camp here with these great people and then I'm off to another site with other great people. During my assigned week off, I did a lot of writing and walking. One day, I even walked in a creek. I...

Montlucon April 8th, 2009 The three of us who have the week off have been wondering what to do. I could relax and maybe recover a little longer from my cold which is all but gone, but Nadine and Jess (aka Foxy and Click) are ready to see a big town. So for five euro, we bought a round trip ticket on a bus. But it ended up not being a bus but a taxi. But it was still only five euro so hey, whatever. We even shared it with a couple that sat in the back who had some body odor issues but nothing that an open window on a spring day can't solve. The sun was shining and we were on our way. A twenty minute ride through the pretty French countryside brought us to the populous small city with a chateau, train station, and a cool system of fountains that squirt simultaneously then sporadically. The girls spent most of the time shopping but we did stop for some coffee at the beginning and I thought about buying some new shoes. The hiking shoes I have used since Prague, Spain, Italy, and German...

Cosne d'Allier April 7th, 2009 We had an April shower today in central France. The pebbled ground around the chateau was starting to get some puddles and the sky still spat all day. I was sitting around and finally decided to go for a walk after checking Facebook and seeing a movie quote quiz phenomenon that was raging around the world (aka DJ and David Pierce). I wanted to join in so I started to contemplate what movies to select for the idea was to pick your favorite movies but its hard for me to select my favorite anything. Maybe I'm just not firm in my convictions concerning pop culture stuff. So I went for a walk and mailed some things at the post office, passing the town's market. I saw four carts of fruit, clothes, meats, and poisson. That was actually my first walk. In my second walk, I did not go into town but around our chateau's grounds and an adjacent neighborhood. Behind the neighborhood is a pasture, always with a couple dozen cows. Always eating and chew...

Cosne d'Alliet... or something like that April 5th I took a stroll at night through the tiny village next to the chateau we are staying at. At times, all I could hear were my own steps and the distant traffic passing by on the road that barely touches this little town. Picturesque shingles and ill-lit streets would have made for prime photography but alas, my trusty camera is in the hands of someone else, probably in Paris or Frankfurt. Ronnie, a co-working counselor at the camp, pestered me by reminding me that I did not call the train station. If I was not busy at the time of the pestering during a skype call with my parents, I might have reminded him that I do not speak French. Which reminds me - with the party details aside - last night, Ronnie and Lucas (also known as Ace and Naz) started my crash course in French. I would venture to say it was very productive, considering it was at four thirty in the morning. The following day consisted of me doing laundry and nearly everyone...

Chateau de Petit Bois March 29th- April 3rdt, 2009 How does one sum up a week of camp, and even then, a week of camp based in France? Of course as soon as the kids get here, I get a cold. You have heard it said 'your heath is your wealth.' So I guess I am in the middle class now. But that did not stop me from playing soccer with ten French kids. I mean come on! When else in my life am I going to have that kind of opportunity? Also if anyone misinterpreted my closing statements from my last blog, I apologize for it is hard to be facetious in basic written text. I love children as long as they don't cross me like that one boy tried to do. Even then, he did it in such butchered English it was cute. The first day of camp was called 'Ellis Island Day' as all 55 kids came through 'immigration,' 'passport check,' 'customs.' It was easy enough for me who worked as a porter, taking nervous kids and their bag up to their room. I tried to strike up a co...

Chateau de Petit Bois March 25- 28, 2009 After two straight days of planning for this English immersion camp, we still have a lot more work to do. It's Saturday morning and decorations are up, posters have been made, directions have been dictated, and in general, this camp sounds like it is going to be great. After my touristy time in Paris, I moved from hostel to paid-for hotel. Unlike Prague, the metro stops are not everywhere you look. So a quick taxi got my luggage and I safely to the small hotel with a pleasant old lady receptionist. She spoke enough English to tell me that there was water in my room and I was to go to another hotel just down the road. So my luggage - which I am immensely weary of dragging around – rolled around the corner and I came to the designated hotel. Another friendly receptionist welcomed me and showed me the lift (aka elevator) and gave me the key. I put my stuff down and immediately left. I had been emailing a fellow co-worked who I only knew as Nadi...

A sunset The bells are hanging in suspense to my left. A great spire standing by. Behind me is an obelisk surrounded by a roundabout filled with people going and coming. Ironically or figuratively they are going around in circles. Spiked towers are across the Siene; aged brown stone in beautiful contrast with the gray. A mystery to me is almost every building, ever word heard, everything. What holds the most captive audience - of at least those unused to it- is the sunset. Slowly falling, the sun lights up the sky, usually blue. And as I look up, it still is. Darker blue clouds are clumped around except to the west. There, they are purple, pink and orange. The Tower is proudly silhouetted but a large dome (another mystery) shines gold. The entire landscape is set off with a hushed blue hue- even my hands as I write this leaning on a street light pole. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people have walked by, most at least turning to the sun. A bridge lights up small bulbs underneath its raili...

Paris continued.... The trip up the Eiffel Tower was incredible. And then add on three fun-loving drunk Canadians and you got an adventure. I took pictures as they released their pastel open umbrellas from the top of the Tower. The green one floated the farthest to everyone on the tops delight. The wind was really strong on the north side of the walkway at 300 meters straight up. The Canadians continued their escapades by moving a VW from the line of parked cars onto the sidewalk. And I mean completely, not just sitting on the curb but actually moved it all the way. I again only took pictures, and thankfully because we thought we saw a police car parked at the corner so we headed back to the hostel.

March 22 Day 81 Riding a train to Paris from Frankfurt, I find the cloudy farmlands of Germany obtrusively flat. And yet behind them rise hills filled with trees, blocked momentarily by a community of houses or a mesh of commercialized buildings. The train ride is supposed to last four hours and the guy who checks tickets is coming my way. Excuse me for a moment. As I abstain for a time from my fictional work, I reckon this train ride is perfect to update my blog that was sorely missed by you dedicated readers. If there are any any more. Italy was great as I said before and I imagined as I opened my laptop that I would write all about the family I stayed with and the villages we visited and all of the stuff that went on those two weeks. I feel a hint of hesitancy in critiquing or even commentating on a lack of familiar family values in the family that I stayed with. Well, everyone is different as they say but I am disturbed when young children drop the F bomb. I suppose my blog is more...

Paris! Its been said before that a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is true, then what is a camera worth? A million? A gagoogleplex? After exiting the train from Frankfurt, I stupidly left my camera, a water bottle, and my train ticket in what I thought was a convenient pouch in the back of the seat before me. It was only half way through my taxi ride to the hostel, just as the Eiffel Tower came in view, that I realized it instantaneously. Sorry Mom and Dad for misplacing a supremely great Christmas gift. It will be sorely missed by no one more than I. That said, after walking around the epic city of Paris for a day and a half, I have yet to find a camera store. In Manhattan, electronic stores are found one every corner, just across from the Starbuck's. But not so here. My five hostel roommates are young world travelers, similar to myself. The two girls are American students abroad in Florence and three Canadian guys are using up their two month Eurorail tickets. We visit...

March 21 Near Frankfurt After two extraordinary weeks in rural Italy, digging holes, chopping wood, and planting vines, I have arrived in Germany. I am with Chris who worked at Triple R last summer and he and I have anxiously wrote to each other back and forth trying to figure out a good time for me to visit. The time has come and so here I am. Today we visited Frankfurt and went up Mein Tower, walked across the river and did all of the touristy things that neither he nor Rita had done before. That's right, I almost forgot I met up Rita, Laura and Stella yesterday all who were at Triple R. How did I meet up with these folks? I went with Christian to their school! In Germany. Yeah, I'm that cool. But not that cool. All but the English class was in German and I did not understand much to say the least. But it was worth the visit to get to see them and paint in art class. To explain rural Italy on this blog would be very taxing. It was a great experience and I would gladly do som...

Hello faithful readers, Due to a lack of internet usage, I will be not updating my blog as much as you may expect or prefer. However, I am alive and well, living wonderfully in rural beautiful Italy, shoveling, raking, chopping, planting, painting, playing, sleeping, and eating. Pictures will come in time, dear friends. Patience is after all a virtue. For me now, it is not just a virtue but a way of life. It is very easy going here as I exchange five or so hours of work in the morning to great food and a warm hospitable family. I'll write more when I can

Goodbye Prague! I go for a warmer sunnier place!

Day 62, Monday, March 2, 2009 Whew, I'm in my third month in Europe! Yet the more I think about it, the more I'm sure I want to go home after my France job. I will have spent a good amount of time here and my bank will agree. The problem of course is (is that line in a musical? It sounds familiar...) what to do once I arrive in the States. I emailed the amazing Triple R summer camp and they will gladly open their door to me. So I got that but then what? Maybe there will be ESL jobs for the new school year! Do I want to come back to Europe? I dunno. Asia? South Korea? I could always get a job there, but I hear its not the best working environment. So I won't worry about 'tomorrow' but let God, who keeps His eye on the sparrow, take care of me, too. I scheduled an appointment at a hair place for a haircut tomorrow. I no longer have long hair thankfully but its more of a medium length I guess by today's standards. But even this is getting tiresome. So I'll get ...

A candle City

Day 59: Friday, February 27, 2009 Well, I have sent all of my paperwork to The American Village in France. So this time next month, I will have traveled to my job site (still unknown) and start work there! But in the meantime, I will be going to a farm in Italy in exchange for food and a bed. It is near Lucca, which is near Pisa. I don't know if I will be able to see the Leaning Tower though... After I spend two whole weeks of the advertised “planting vines and clearing forests,” I will go to Germany and see a fellow Triple R Ranch worker named Christian. He offered me his hospitality and we are finally going to make it work! So after a weekend near Frankfurt, I will have only three more nights till I go to Paris and start my English immersion camp adventure. Maybe I can hop down to Rome for quick hostel takeover. I mean, a hostel sleep over. I mean, I would sleep at a hostel. All in all, with the aid of inexpensive flight ticket searches, my flight to Italy from Prague, by way of ...

Day 57 My how the days pass when you are doing nothing. Don't worry, I'm still alive! But indeed, I have been doing next to nothing. I have slept, eaten, watched movies, walked around the city, and visited friends. Besides that, I have done nothing but sit around and think of doing something. Not true, I have been looking for a good volunteering gig for me this coming month. As you may know, my job in France does not start till late March. So what am I to do until then? Continue this nothingness? Hardly. Most likely, I will go to France, Spain, or Italy where most of the volunteer jobs seem to be. There are a couple in England but not as many as France.

Day 54: Sunday, Feb 22, 2009 I had at one point in my blog tried to start having a 'thought for the day.' Yeah, you can see that lasted for a long time. Anyway, I have found that when I have nothing to do, I don't do anything. But when I have a lot to do, I do a lot. Why is this? Am I put into a mindset of production or of laziness depending on my agenda? Today, I did little more than go to church, eat lunch, browse facebook, and watch videos online. However, I did get a call from my landlord. He's a good landlord who is very particular about the legality of what he is doing. Which is a good thing. But it is not always a good thing for people like me. He asked for a security deposit. Even though I am only going to be here in this spacious perfect room for two weeks. Its a good room. I have a desk, an armchair, a couch, and a coffee table. There is also a double bed, currently split into two. The window looks out into a classic Praguian yard in the middle of the building...

Day 53: I woke up again to snow this morning. Now to my fellow Virginian residents, that may sound amazing. But the impossible has almost happened. I am getting tired of snow. Snow means that its cold. Snow means clouds. Snow means winter. And even though I just left Spain two days ago, I desperately miss the sun already. I miss warm weather. Thankfully, I can just stay inside today except for one thing. Yesterday, when grocery shopping, I bought milk. But not just any milk. Butter milk. You can't blame a guy who can't read Czech labels. So how do I know its butter milk? When I poured it on a big bowl of cereal and smelled it, I immediately knew something changed. I looked at the box and there in small print, in English, it read “butter milk.” I looked for an expiration date... couldn't find one. Please understand, oh faithful reader, that I have never encountered butter milk before. But from this first time experience, I instantly judge it as a vile, despicable, merciless,...