My last week of camp with ACLE took me to the beautiful beach town of Marotta, in the east-central region of Marche on the Adriatic Sea. With a completely new crew of coworkers, the sea a brief walk from our school, and activities planned each and every evening; it was an exciting way to end my time with ACLE.
The beautiful beach at Marotta
Because my host family lived a bit further away from the sea than the other families, we were able to enjoy both the bustle of the beaches and the tranquility of the countryside. At first, I worried that I would feel isolated amongst the fields and small hills around their house, but it proved to be exactly the haven I needed to decompress after work and connect with my host family before our daily excursions with the others.
My host grandfather and I playing soccer after camp.
Due to the timing of Marotta’s camp, I was fortunate enough to be at the house when my host-grandparents were visiting from the northern region of Aosta-Valley. With little to no English between the two of them, we had a lovely time speaking to one another in Italian and trading different Italian, English, and dialect words across the table during breakfast or dinner. My eleven-year-old host brother Marco and I also began a routine of playing soccer with his grandfather nearly every day after camp (at which time I learned the hard way that the eighty-year-old grandfather had been a gifted soccer-player in his youth and still maintained an incredible amount of skill and agility with the sport). By the end of each scrimmage, we were always thoroughly drenched in sweat and exhausted but somehow managed to freshen up and recharge within the short hour between dinner and evening activities.
This being my first and only one week camp of the summer, I wondered if we would have time to complete a diverse-enough mix of activities with our campers due to the time constraint—but oh did I quickly realize just how much we could do. In our short week of camp, we managed to fit in a scavenger hunt, two days of water games, habitat games, orienteering, the camp song, a camp craft, and camp safari (a game in which the counselors paint themselves to resemble animals and the campers must chase them and bring them to the designated “zookeeper” to receive points—all while answering questions in English and asking questions in turn).
Me painted for the zookeeper activity.
After each of these packed days, we did various exciting post-camp excursions including visits to two nearby towns: Senegalia and Fano. At both places, we strolled through the city streets, ate gelato, and learned some of the local history that our host families and director knew about the main squares, old gates, restored churches, and other beautiful, hidden corners. In Fano after we had finished our gelato and walked a bit further into the city center, we stumbled upon a pop-up salsa event that a friend of our camp director happened to be leading. After a few brief minutes of encouragement, our director Sara convinced all of my coworkers and our teenage helpers, as well as me to take part in the free lesson and “show off our moves.” The sheer energy and joy emanating from our group was invigorating; by the end of the first song, we were all stepping, spinning, and shimmying without a care in the world.
Celebrating at the Festa Dei Desideri.
We ended this whirlwind week at the Festa Dei Desideri. The festival comprised of various pop-up market stalls along the beach, a live DJ and dance pit, a firework show, and many, many balloons. People were encouraged to purchase white balloons from various vendors and write a wish or desire on the paper attached to the balloon. After the fireworks show, everyone flocked to the shoreline and after a moment, hundreds of white balloons were suddenly floating in unison from the beach, from the street, from apartments, from every direction all toward the sea. Each balloon carried its owner’s wish higher and higher over the waves until we could only faintly make out their white dots along the horizon. It was a truly lovely way to end my time with ACLE.
We let go of white balloons at the beach.
I’m so grateful for all of the host families I’ve had, friends I’ve made, people I’ve met, places I’ve seen, things I’ve tried, and lessons I’ve learned (most often from the children). For all of the nearly missed train connections, the long days, the late nights, the short breaks, and the difficult times, there were also many spontaneous adventures, engaging dinners, new friends, inside jokes, and many more wonderful things. Through all of the difficulties that this summer has brought me, I’ve grown to love the work I’m doing that much more. This experience has taught me to always say yes to new things, to be curious, to be silly, that gelato is always necessary, that sleep can happen anywhere, and above all: there is no such thing as too much bug spray.
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