The past week has been extremely hot and miserable. It's been in the high 30's and 40s, which is not normal. It's definitely been a change because the first week we were here it was cooler and overcast. At first we were told it was going to rain for the next few weeks, but the beginning of our trip had maybe one day of real rain/cold and the rest has been good until the hot spell! We are all taking multiple showers each day and growing accustomed to feeling sweaty at all times. It's funny to think that it's so much hotter in Atlanta, but we are spoiled by AC in the states. Although there are some restaurants and places with AC here, fans and open windows are the way to go here. I previously posted a picture of our room from the outside of the hotel. If you remember there were lots of windows surrounding the entire front of the sitting area. Our wonderful sunshine seems to sit right outside of the windows and shine it's rays into our room. As a result our room is toasty by mid-morning. Half the time we don't even want to be in our room because it's hot. Since the mom's left last week, Krislynn decided she would leave her apartment and come to the hotel so another adult would be present if needed. She's in the room next door (where we were last year) and her room seems to have a little bit more shade which has become our guitar playing/singing/talking room now.
Today was the last day of camp. Every year on the last day of camp we announce the winners of camp and have a talent show. As I've just mentioned our hotel doesn't have AC in the rooms. There is AC in the restaurant and the meeting room however when you cram 200 people in a room with little AC units that turn on and off, it doesn't really ever get cool. After breakfast we prepared for the talent show in the meeting room and tried to get it cool. As the day drew on our students were out hanging out with their teams and practicing for the show while the room got warmer and warming. At the last minute we moved the talent show from Rozafa 1 to Rozafa 2 because there was no way we could have all been comfortable for an hour and a half. We have come to love Rozafa 2 for the food and beautiful ballroom. It was a much better venue for the talent show. All the teams sat together as they enjoyed the performances. The performances ranged from singing to dancing to performing. Every group had at least one performance and most of the campers were involved in something. We laughed, we cheered, and we teared up at the performances.
This year our camp days consisted of English classes, basketball, futbol, volleyball, hiking, swimming, family visits, team building, and a scavenger hunt. We kept points of who won different sports and games and the winners received a t-shirt and a water holder/bottle. After calculating the points, the winners were the white team. They were so excited when we announced them. We decided to have a separate winner for the talent show. One team, the rainbow team, sang in English and the American leaders sang in Albanian. They got a standing ovation. It was very special because they showed how much both cultures were respected Albanian and Kosovar.
At the end of the talent show (5:30), Berat told the students they were all eating as a team at Rozafa 2. He took us to Hotel Solid for dinner. At dinner, he told me and Jeremy that we were staying there and that he would pick us up in the morning. That meant that Krislynn, Sean, and Josh were in charge of enforcing curfew and they did great! The students spent some time with each other and with their Albanian friends and then they watched a movie before bed.
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