Orientation day

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to the sound of heavy rain. I know that it's been rainy here lately, but was not particularly looking forward to making my way to the school with an umbrella in hand. I didn't have to leave the apartment until 9 so I went back to sleep until 8:30 AM. Thankfully, the rain had stopped by then and it was pleasant outside for the walk to school.

I enjoyed the walk to school but was a little upset that my routine walk was interrupted by one fact...I can no longer buy Coca-Cola Light here in the vending machines! Last year, it was not well stocked in most vending machines. However, I knew which ones carried the Diet Coke I crave and I sought those machines out. This year, though, the Coca-Cola Light (in the machines on the road and at ASIJ) has now been replaced with Coke Zero (which I don't care for too much). I'm trying to decide if I'll keep drinking the Coke Zero or if I should use this as an opportunity to get off of the stuff that I know is not good for me anyway!? Maybe I should start drinking the iced coffee drinks to get my caffeine and stop soda. I'll get back to you on my decision about that...

I picked up my name badge and got my t-shirt for this year and had to giggle a bit. Last year's shirt color was a dark navy blue. I was hoping for a lighter color this year. I wasn't expecting that it was going to be none other than the "granny apple/lime green" color that my mom was trying to get us to buy for our family Christmas picture! I guess that's the color of the year! :) A couple of the teachers from last year were surprised to see me back because they thought that the sickness I had last year would have kept me from coming back again. It was pretty rough last year, but I'm determined to stay healthy this year!

Jo, the camp director, looked at me apologetically this morning when she saw me, asking me if I saw what I'd be teaching. Turns out that I will have a 3rd grade group (the Tigers) and a 4th grade group (the zebras). It means that I can't teach the same thing all morning, and will probably have to rethink a lot of my curriculum since the language abilities of both groups is the lowest (levels i and g--a being the highest language ability level). The groups are both co-ed, which I haven't experienced before in summer day camp, so we'll see how that goes. We went to the all-employee orientation in the theater room and we were told to use the 3 C's when it came to dress: Cool, Comfortable, and Covered. Then Jo said we should not show the 3 B's: Boobs, Belly, and Bottom. She said the kids WILL put their hands in your cleavage so DO NOT TEMPT THEM. Wow. So interesting!

I met with my counselors this afternoon and they seem good so far. Three have experience and were a big help to the guy who has not yet been a counselor. They seem to be flexible and we all agree that we should wait to see what the language abilities are before we plan too much. I am not going to use desks for this group and see how they do hanging out on the floor. That'll make it less like school and more like camp, maybe?!

I opted for a quiet night in at the apartment after the orientation. I made a ham and cheese sandwich and ate a yummy fruit salad and chips. Did I mention how much I love the fruit here? I ate golden kiwis (not sure if those are available in the States) with banana and then a peach for dessert. Yum. My allergies are acting up and my eyes are very itchy so I took an allergy pill and will call it a night!