English Camp (so Stephanie could learn to speak slower) and work (yeah right!) in Ibiza

So after vaguely mentioning to a friend that I might volunteer for an English camp a few months ago, she promptly marched me up to one of the Czech girls to sign me up… I’ll admit that I very nearly got terribly ill and couldn’t go… But I’m so glad I did!
It was located at a hotel (a term I’m using loosely… it was more like school camp facilities - including shared rooms and communal toilets) in the Czech mountains (complete with sheep grazing under the currently defunct ski lifts) and was organised by a Czech church here in Prague. There were about 30 kids aged 15-25, Czech leaders, plus the “native speakers” who all sign up to come for a week out of their summer holidays. Most of the kids were Czech, and the leaders were mostly American but there was also one from England/France, one from Jamaica, and me.

As you might realise I’m not usually into this kind of thing so I was surprised to absolutely love it! Once I got over the talking to strangers part (with the additional snag that even the ones who spoke English couldn’t understand my accent!!) it was so much fun! I love outdoorsy things so I was totally in my element doing the ropes course, playing Frisbee, running around the forest, hiking and doing Survivor style mental and physical challenges. I also had to teach English for 3 hours each day which was interesting . I’m hoping that they learnt something but at the very least by the end of the week they understood a bit more “Australian” and could sing “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree” in rounds. They seemed to enjoy it though and I figured that was the main point seeing as it was holidays after all...

Other than that, we sang songs, had discussions about "life", played cards (anyone heard of "dutch blitz" or know where to buy cards?) and tried to make it to the shop in the 2 hours it was open each day to restock on necessities such as chocolate, coke and "disko" biscuits. And believe it or not, I participated in not one, but two skits!!!! I absolutely hate acting or anything that vaguely resembles it so I even surprised myself! One of the parts was as the "clever daughter of the poor farmer" which involved reading out my part in Czech - quite amusing for the Czech students listening to us. One of the other guys continually tried to pronounce the "ch" sound which sounds a bit like a grolly and had the kids almost wetting their pants!
Anyway, so I've got a few photos from a friend (thanks Pavel!) because Anthony had the camera in Spain (see below) but had strict instructions on how to use them so hope this is ok...

Steph


Thank you for your rude introduction Stephanie Allen (note the deliberate use of the maiden name). Infer what you like, but Ibiza WAS work. The fact of the matter is we needed to find a venue for a conference with people coming from lots of different countries in Europe - so it is just as cheap for everyone to fly to Ibiza as it is for them to fly to somewhere boring like Brussels (and a whole let cheaper for accomodation than London!) And besides, after countless trips to dreary Warsaw, Moscow and Bucharest I deserved some sun and beach!!!

The 'conference' took up most of Wednesday, but since I flew in Tuesday lunch, and out late Thursday morning I had 2 half days of beach and pool chilling (we also made the most of Wednesday's lunch break and 5pm finish for some more time in the water!) One of the things that I miss about Australia is the ability to get wet when it is hot - there are no nearby beaches or relatives with pools in Prague - so it actually made me a bit homesick to go for a swim in the hot weather ;)

Since dinner in Spain doesn't really start until 10:30, both nights were kinda late. The theme for Wednesday night was the 'Sexy Photos Contest' (see my entry below ). The idea was the brainchild of my Brazilian colleague Ana, whose grasp of English is fantastic...however occasionally something is lost in translation. There was a perfect example of this as she went from table to table demanding everyone pose for a 'sex picture' for her collection. Hmmm...

After dinner we headed to this cool bar called Blue Marlin, that consists of beds along a strip of beach, before heading out to a nightclub. It was upon discovering the cover charge was 60 Euros each for guys that I decided to call it a night! I should mention entrance was free for girls (although all things considered I'd still rather be a boy and be able to pee standing up, rather than get into the odd club free...)

Anth

PS For those who are interested in the main purpose of the trip, the conference was to share with all the countries in Europe our 2008 campaigns.

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