I normally don't write in this space but today
is a very special day. It started out like almost any day, I managed
to get my silly ass out of bed about the normal time, maybe a few minutes
early. I went down to the store and managed to get some milk and
more Muslix before I ate my breakfast. After breakfast I dove back
into reading Moby Dick. Most of the reading went well, with the exception
when the music was blaring or people were talking loud next to me.
I was thinking today that I may need to re-read Moby Dick because there
are so many spots of lost concentration in the book. I read until
about 4:00pm and then decided to head into town for some food. My
favorite take-away place happened to be open, which was way cool since
I've been wanting to try the spinach calzone, which was excellent!
After eating my snack I decided to head over to the Internet Cafe to
check e-mail. I'm glad I did since there was an urgent matter with
one of the volunteer projects. It looks like, somehow, through the
scramble of getting an alternative workcamp from the canceled Belgium workcamp,
there was some sort of mix-up with the Italians as to which workcamp I
was supposed to be assigned. We had gone through so many workcamps,
and I was denied probably three Italian opportunities, no wonder there's
some confusion! These poor bastards out in Verona had waited for
me for 10 hours, I guess, for me to show up. This was a workcamp
I had originally wanted, which lasted for the month of July, but VFP had
informed me that it was full. I guess as an act of desperation they
phoned my parents to find out where I was, so they could arrange an alternative
meeting place. Well, got this e-mail from Dad basically forwarding
the info and a phone number for me to call. Well since my dates had
been so screwed up lately I nearly had a panic attack. After carefully
reviewing my conformation info and other e-mails I felt pretty sure I didn't
blow it. I had tried a few times to call the number, but without
success since it was always busy. So I made my way back to the Internet
Cafe to e-mail VFP and let them help me figure this out. Afterwards
I walked back down to the bus station to try the number again, and got
through. At first there was some confusion as to what native language
they thought I spoke, and they handed me off to thus guys who spoke French, woa! I talked to that guy for a few minutes before they handed me
back to the original guy, I think, who spoke some English, but mostly Italian...
so here I am in a noisy bus/train terminal trying to talk this guy.
It was incredible he could understand anything I was saying! From
the conversation, I gather they thought I was supposed to be there, but
I think they understand that I was denied into their camp and have already
been placed into another camp that conflicts. When I got back from
the phone call to the Internet Cafe, VFP had already replied that, yes
indeed the Earth is round and there is an issue with the Italian organization,
and they will e-mail me when they fix the issue. I have a lot of
confidence in VFP, I'm sure they will fix the problem. But it would
be funny if I had the opportunity to go to Verona... that might be an interesting
dilemma... but realistically I think that won't be presented to me as an
option since I've already been accepted into the Zonca workcamp.
After dealing with the small problem I paid some bills and then headed
back here to camp where I've been cooling down from the climb back up the
hill and chilling out here on the patio. I will probably check e-mail
tomorrow to make sure VFP took care of everything. I'm thinking about
getting some wine, or possibly doing some more light reading, not sure
yet.