The Prussia Periodicals

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...