Feeling Hot Hot Hot...
Time for the blog. With the new discovery of
facebook, I have spent most of my time working on that rather than the blog – so it already has photos etc on that, but I should not forget this, as it is an excellent chronological report and diary of my time overseas.
Since the last blog, a lot has happened, and not much depending on how you look at it. I am still living in Firenze, and there have been many 
visitors to these parts. That has been absolutely super, and as I have the time now, it’s been great spending some time with friends and family. Naming a few of our visitors: Rick & Sophie, Fidelma and Donal, Sam, Charlie, Tanguy, Gabby & Anna, and Jamie & Natalie. Leana arrives in Firenze this coming Monday, and unfortunately I miss Anna Gibson’s visit as I will be in Germany. When I get back, Rick and Melissa arrive, so still some fun times ahead.
So other than meeting people, what have I been up to? Well, I spent a month working for the American Institute of Language in two different types of summer camps. One week on ‘day-camp’ where I had my first
exposure to the Italian children and a hint of what I would be in for over the next few weeks.
The 2nd - 4th week I was away on week-long camps with more Italian kids, and acting as a ‘counsellor’ plus an English teacher. The age-group was 7-14yr olds, mostly aged 11-12. It was magical being in amongst the Tuscan hills, out in the sun, swimming entertaining the kids every day. The language barrier you hardly noticed 
except for on occasion. With a couple of English lessons daily it also gave me a little experience with some teaching, and it is something that is so useful to travel with around Europe. As you can see we involved ourselves with many games, music, and I even taught them the Haka for a performance for their parents the last day.
Sleep was hard to come by, but all in all it was a fantastic experience, one which I would recommend for anyone else should they ever want to journey over here in the summer. Even a little yellow bird that
came from nowhere to land on my shoulder became known as "Kiwi Jnr.", we kept it and bought a bird cage for him, and his song will be heard from his new home at the camp from now on. 
Free board and food, plus cash in the hand. Kristin was recruited for the last week, so I was lucky enough to have her experience it with me. I am still haunted now with dreams about children 
screaming “Kiwi! Kiwi!” (My adopted nickname for the camp). Other nicknames were Coco, Candy, Dodger, Nina, Kris and Nick for the counsellors. On a very nice note, one of the lovely children (Benedetta) had her father working 
in the Pizzeria near us which we frequent. He gave us a lovely meal (the best pasta of my life) with all the extras and a lovely lemon liquor. He did not accept full price for the meal either – we left a large tip though! Since then we have had a few of the camp children visit us which has been a really nice touch.
Now we head to Germany for two weeks to meet her friends and family. I am very much looking forward to that, and the wonderful German delicacies Kristin has been telling me about. Once we return I will be then looking for more work, and
I have a good lead already, so hopefully I can keep my head above the water! 
The Budapest half marathon is also sneaking up on me (2nd Sept). I always thought it was so far away, and now I realise its only roughly 7 weeks away. So it’s time to start training. I want to meet up with some of 
my Irish friends there too, so hopefully it all comes together well. 
Kristin is even looking at giving it a go! So again life is in full swing and we are already planning our next steps around the globe – more will follow on this later… Right now we are too busy enjoying the good weather and the endless opportunities life has presented. 
facebook, I have spent most of my time working on that rather than the blog – so it already has photos etc on that, but I should not forget this, as it is an excellent chronological report and diary of my time overseas.
Since the last blog, a lot has happened, and not much depending on how you look at it. I am still living in Firenze, and there have been many 
visitors to these parts. That has been absolutely super, and as I have the time now, it’s been great spending some time with friends and family. Naming a few of our visitors: Rick & Sophie, Fidelma and Donal, Sam, Charlie, Tanguy, Gabby & Anna, and Jamie & Natalie. Leana arrives in Firenze this coming Monday, and unfortunately I miss Anna Gibson’s visit as I will be in Germany. When I get back, Rick and Melissa arrive, so still some fun times ahead.So other than meeting people, what have I been up to? Well, I spent a month working for the American Institute of Language in two different types of summer camps. One week on ‘day-camp’ where I had my first
exposure to the Italian children and a hint of what I would be in for over the next few weeks.
The 2nd - 4th week I was away on week-long camps with more Italian kids, and acting as a ‘counsellor’ plus an English teacher. The age-group was 7-14yr olds, mostly aged 11-12. It was magical being in amongst the Tuscan hills, out in the sun, swimming entertaining the kids every day. The language barrier you hardly noticed 
except for on occasion. With a couple of English lessons daily it also gave me a little experience with some teaching, and it is something that is so useful to travel with around Europe. As you can see we involved ourselves with many games, music, and I even taught them the Haka for a performance for their parents the last day.
Sleep was hard to come by, but all in all it was a fantastic experience, one which I would recommend for anyone else should they ever want to journey over here in the summer. Even a little yellow bird that
came from nowhere to land on my shoulder became known as "Kiwi Jnr.", we kept it and bought a bird cage for him, and his song will be heard from his new home at the camp from now on. 
Free board and food, plus cash in the hand. Kristin was recruited for the last week, so I was lucky enough to have her experience it with me. I am still haunted now with dreams about children 
screaming “Kiwi! Kiwi!” (My adopted nickname for the camp). Other nicknames were Coco, Candy, Dodger, Nina, Kris and Nick for the counsellors. On a very nice note, one of the lovely children (Benedetta) had her father working 
in the Pizzeria near us which we frequent. He gave us a lovely meal (the best pasta of my life) with all the extras and a lovely lemon liquor. He did not accept full price for the meal either – we left a large tip though! Since then we have had a few of the camp children visit us which has been a really nice touch.
Now we head to Germany for two weeks to meet her friends and family. I am very much looking forward to that, and the wonderful German delicacies Kristin has been telling me about. Once we return I will be then looking for more work, and
I have a good lead already, so hopefully I can keep my head above the water! 
The Budapest half marathon is also sneaking up on me (2nd Sept). I always thought it was so far away, and now I realise its only roughly 7 weeks away. So it’s time to start training. I want to meet up with some of 
my Irish friends there too, so hopefully it all comes together well. 
Kristin is even looking at giving it a go! So again life is in full swing and we are already planning our next steps around the globe – more will follow on this later… Right now we are too busy enjoying the good weather and the endless opportunities life has presented. 
posted by Marty & Rick @ 1:05 AM
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