Reliving Summer School II

Even though Summer School only finished last week, I met up with some of 'The Gang' for a Brixton reunion. Inevitably there was talk of the fun we had, funny impressions of certain children, and a bit of drinking, culminating in several of us putting Summer School uniform on at Silja's house and dancing around a passed out friend of ours.

A clear case of summer school withdrawal, with the only remedy being to reminisce further:

Token Abberley shot, from the top of the clock tower. 
Oh yeah, there's a 161ft clock tower in the school, big whoop.

As well as the memorable things the students do at camp, there's also the stories they tell of home or the things that they say.

"My uncle owns a large part of the Amstel beer company" (You don't say?)

"I am number 3 tennis player for my age in my country" (Reeeeally? I am sceptical)

"I am not allowed to eat chicken because it will turn me into a woman faster" (WTF?)

Its fascinating because although what they say is interesting, we never really know what's true and what's not. Although in the case of the puberty-inducing-poultry I did tell her to shut up and put it in her mouth.

Chat snippets: Surprising relationships

Kid:   "Can my Dad ring early?"

Staff: "Not really. Parents are supposed to ring between 5 and 6. What's the reason?"

Kid:   "He can't ring then- he's is eating dinner with the King of Spain later today."

Staff: "Erm ok. Just this once then"

Then there are kids that stand out a mile just by their appearance. I remember the lanky kid, Polly; miniature, miniature Omar (who was only 6 years old); or the boys with mullets like Fedia and Kostya. Or that one with the wonky nose..? 

I'm not sure how the subject came up, but someone got told the story of how little Glasha got her nose broken and they recounted it as this: Her brother, who happened to be the notorious Kostya of Russia, was forever winding her up. During one day's torments, he took her teddy or something and retreated to the top bunk like a classic troublesome sibling. He teased her et cetera and she decided to stand up for herself/rise to the bait and get her toy. Apparently when she got up the bunk ladder, he gave her a straight punch to the face sending blood gushing and her sprawling.

Its shocking when you hear tales like this, and have to try and work out if they are true. Even more confusing is that meanwhile, at Summer School, Kosta dresses up in bin bags as a model during Fashion Night, sauntering down the catwalk. All the while, batting his eye lashes and cooing "I'm sexy and I know it". 

Odd kid.

Want a clock tower in the school?
Yeah, go on!
Completed 1884, cost £7980.

Chat snippets: Uncalled for behaviour
Once a child on his way to the showers shouted at me: "Do not look at my penis!" despite him being covered up and the fact I was not looking at him.
          It was the first night after all, I guess in his mind, he was just setting the ground rules.

In the Alps my staple for getting children to eat their food quietly and behave was the so called "Harry Potter chat", where we would exchange trivia questions about our favourite saga. They were wrapped. I had loads of fun being better at HP than them. It was a winner.

I tried this with my foreign buddies and soon realised that its a lot harder when they aren't native English speakers. Names are different, so are places and sometimes they just don't understand the question. While some children were great like Italian Giulia (a favourite of mine) and impressive staff member Kirstie, others had more difficulty:

Me: Next question- what's Harry Potter's wand made of?

E.J.(child): Is the answer Kryptonite?

Me: Not quite. I think you may be genre crossing... Well its wooden for one thing. A hint is that is has a girls name?

Libby (staff): Hollywood?

Me: *sigh* Close enough.

So clearly working a summer school is not only about the kids. The people you work with are also the ones you eat with, live around and relax with. You get close quick, like the start of uni. But at uni you aren't in the middle of the country with scarce transport to outside the grounds, so the effect at the school was multiplied.

So on my one day off a week, what to do? The pub is an expensive taxi ride away. Well, not expensive, but you know what I'm like.

Instead, we often decided to stay in a have a little party at the school. Away from the dorms we drank out under the sky and did a good spot of stargazing. Occasionally we would do 'Songs on the Spot', adlibbing lyrics on a random topic whilst Craig backed you up on the guitar, which was really fun. It was nice not to have the option of doing what we always would do, even if drinking did still play a leading role.

We had an adventure one night, wandering off in to the woods and making a large bonfire. Exactly what sort of thing drunk people should be doing, right? We're responsible..

Chat snippets: Winding children up

Whilst the kids are watching a film, a character proposes.

Jerry (house master): What did he just say?

Kostya: Er, "Will you marry me?"

Jerry: Well Kostya I am going to have to say no to that, because you are a child. 

          And also you are really ugly.

*Kostya hangs his head in shame*

Some things you have to learn on the fly. Eg., Regardless of the fact it is in the middle of nowhere, the school still gets locked at night. And that sometimes drunk people forget the door code and have to improvise.

         Locked out one night Silja and I were seriously considering sleeping on the front lawn- all the ground floor windows were shut and the door would not respond to the code we made up. As a last resort, we looked around the back of the school, in the Headmaster's garden. Usually this is where the school peacock lives- oh yeah there's a school peacock too. But that night we found a little fire escape where we could sneak past some kids' dorms and climb though my bedroom window to safety.

Luke tried to follow but ended up asleep in the woods. When he did catch up, hours after, he narrowly avoided entering into student's rooms via the same fire escape, in a drunken haze. Later he pulled the curtains off the wall, proving that he is a top lad and is definitely fit for service.

Chat snippets: Missed references
Me: So where are you from Kiki?
Kiki: I'm Lebanese.
Me: I feel that.
She clearly hasn't seen Mean Girls. Oh well, in time.

Remembering these happy times can only happen for so long. Instead I need to prepare for the next adventure, of farming with naturalists in Czech Republic.

After all no amount of words can encapture the whole feeling of living and breathing a job for a month, getting to know some excellent adults and kids alike and essentially mucking about and calling it 'work'.

I guess you just had to be there!


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