A Lithuanian Summer In Italy I

Sunrise on Miramare di Rimini beach

After an extended, but necessary, blogging break . . . I'm back.

This is the first of, G-d willing, several posts packed with interesting anecdotes, amazing pictures, and that special Letters of Thought touch.
Click on the link to follow the journey . . . Our story begins where we last left our intrepid Mottel . . . .


As I mentioned in my last normal post, I've spent the last two weeks doing Gan Yisroel Lithuania -Italy.
The flight on British Airways landed without trouble in London's Heathrow airport, where I promptly spent my next few hours doing close to nothing on a bench.





From London I connected to to Milan Malpensa Airport, took the the Five Euro bus to the Central Train Station and took the the three hour train to Rimini -home of Camp Gan Yisroel Lithuania!



Essential Rimini Facts and Numbers at a Glance:
Rimini . . .

• was founded in approx 268 C.E. as the Roman town of Ariminum
  
• Piazza Tre Martiri (formerly Piazza Giulio Cesare) is by tradition the place where Julius Caesar famously made his decision to march on Rome, having crossed the nearby Rubicon
• was the birthplace of famous film director Federico Fellini
• has aprox. 40,000 Sun Umbrellas on its beachfront
• has an all year round population of 100,000 - which, during the summer months, rises to aprox. one million!
• was visited by Mottel summer of 5764/2004 to meet the Russian Jewish campers from Germany in the camp run by Israeli counselors in Italy (Almost as complicated as this year's camp: Jewish campers from Lithuania with American and Ukrainian counselors (from Israel) in Italy)
• Italian food is about 1000 times better then Russian-Lithuanian food (This doesn't have much to do with Rimini, nor is it a really a fact . . . but it had to be said)
  

After fighting with the Taxi driver who insisted that one adult and three children with a total of six bags plus carry-on bags would require two taxis to get to our hotel and threatening to take public transportation instead, I arrived via two taxis with three children and six bags, plus carry-on at our hotel.

By this hour (around 1:30 a.m. local time) I was thoroughly exhausted. I went to my room to take a shower, only to discover that our camp hotel was big on multi tasking -the bathroom was approximately the size of a coach airplane seat, and consisted of a sink, facillities, bidet (the extra European 'sink' that we Americans can not make heads or tales of), mirror and shower head . . . all located in one place -there was a drain in the middle of the floor -but, as I was soon to find out, wasn't neccasery, as all the water from the shower drained into my room giving me my own private Italian beach . . .

But we shall not dwell on unpleasantnesses.

The next day, Eruv Shabbos, the forty camp kids arrived with the remaining counselors . . . and camp began.


The start of camp . . .


Little Boruch


Tzitzis are handed out.

Shabbos came and went, and Motzei Shabbos we went to a nearby park for Kiddush Levana (the sanctification of the moon)
and a marshmallow roast.




Vaxtang vs. Pasha


Vaxtang vs. Mottel

The next day camp ran as it would for the next two weeks: line up, davening, breakfast, learning class (which was named by the department of redundancy department), sports, lunch, tichi chas (rest hour) , activity, sports, mincha, dinner, sports . . .






The first Sunday night we went to a well illuminated Soccer field, only to find it already used by several Italian youths - decked out in proper soccer uniforms and doing all kinds of fancy tricks. We asked them to leave, but they wanted to play against us . . . We agreed, but it took some coaxing to get our campers, who lacked uniforms and fancy moves, to play. Vaxtang ran to get some of the bigger campers (the seventeen/eighteen year olds), but in the end it proved to be unnecessary -our Jewboys could hold more then their own against the locals!



A paper clip hunt in the park.




Soccer


Kickball -none of the kids new the rules of baseball, so it was not until after much confusion that they learned how to play.


Two of my Campers -Richardas and Arturas


Big Boruch


Joe having a heart to heart talk with two of the older campers, 25 year old Yerachmiel (one of my long time Lithuanian friends) and Sergei, 22.


A Letters of Thought cloud classic (stay tuned for many more)


The beach at night.

Stay tuned for much more!


Technorati Tags: Camp, Italy, Rimini, Lithuania, Beaches, Sports, Chabad, Travel, Photography