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Volunteers for Peace Workcamp, Sept. 26th- Oct. 8th

Our first group photo, in the spot where Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. We took a tour around Lake Como before the camp. Here is Lecco, on a lovely morning The town center of Lecco Touring Varenna Varenna's waterfront Enjoying the Italian sunshine Visiting Varenna's monastery The grand hall of Varenna's monastery A view of the gardens of Varenna's monastery A medieval monastery bathroom! July from Czech and me on the monastery's staircase The back gardens Laura from Italy and Aless from Slovakia in the gardens July from Czech and Laura from Germany in Varenna We visited Bellagio... And had lunch at Punto Gusto... Then crashed a wedding! And now, off to real work. The workcamp begins! The Fiera di Osnago convention center in Monza, Italy- future home of the Immagimundo festival. The van we drove in as one big happy workcamp family September 29th, Day 1: The convention center is a mess. We had 4 days to make it ready for the festival. Laura of Italy, Elena of Spain, and Dafne from Italy hold up the festival's promo poster Laura of Germany, July of Czech, and Laura of Italy make signs for the festival... Which was excruiatingly boring work. Sang-Ki of Korea, Ivan of Slovakia, and Aless of Russia start work Taking a break and playing on the Fiera's playground. We broke it 4 days later. :) October 3rd: The fair begins. July, Laura, and me in our dorky T-shirts. The internet cafe at the fair! July and Laura play hooky from work to send email. Ivan of Slovakia tending bar at the fair. The Japan Culture booth makes a souvenir for my Matt!! July, working hard in our cafeteria location. We attended the fair's concert, featuring African drummers. The drummers gettin' jiggy wit' it. Me with the 2 Russian men who are in the Guinness Book for most miles hitchhiked. Those are official hitchhiker uniforms! Saturday night, October 4th: it rained so hard the festival's roof caved in. This is the cafeteria flooding... So instead of helping, I grab my camera... After work on Tuesday, September 30th, we all took an evening trip to Milan, 1 hour by train from our monastery. But we jumped the turnstiles in Milan and got caught by the cops. We commiserate inside Milan's Duomo after paying 100 Euro... July and Laura pose outside the Duomo Inside Milan's beautiful shopping arcade More shopping arcade Me, July, Laura, and Ivan do our little turn on the catwalk (we're too sexy for Milan) Shoppin' in Milan The whole group poses outside And in front of Milan's castle Elena, Dafne, and Laura enjoy a beer before we board the last train... Which we missed. Laura, Dafne, and Sang-Ki contemplate sleeping in the train station (we finally got home at 2am) The monastery in Monza where all 10 of us lived, in 1 room. Another monastery shot Laura of Italy, Laura of Germany, July of Czech, and Dafne of Italy pose outside Enjoying the sunshine on the patio The gardens, with our garbage-eating goat The dining hall where we ate all our meals Our bedroom (my bunk is in the foreground) Sang-Ki makes himself at home July at home! Laura, reading and drying laundry Dinnertime! Dafne shows off her panties... And Ivan finally gets his chance! Sang-Ki, July, and Ivan July and I pose for the self-timer Laura outside with the resident cat Laura, our amazing Italian cook in the monastery's kitchen Laura prepares her wonderful tiramisu The night I cooked! How you pass the time in a monastery Another popular way... Ivan proves that Slovaks do make the best beer drinkers. We sneak away to the public library to access the internet October 7th: Our final night together. Us with all our awards! Dafne with the infamous stolen Chupa-Chups Laura, Dafne, and Elena pose with Chupa-Chups Ivan and Laura celebrate with a vat of sangria July, Laura, and I enjoy the festivities Me with Crazy Andrea, a local Italian volunteer Laura, Dafne, and Elena Dafne with Handsome Michele and Alberto, Immagimundo directors One final group photo :) Laura, Laura, and Aless