Adendum 6/13

1.) I finally got my luggage on Wednesday night around dinner time. Just in time for the first skirt Thursday of this Italian adventure. :) Oh man, I was missing my Chacos!

2.) For my first free weekend, I am headed back to Cinque Terre. It is the one place in Europe that I plan on revisiting this time around and I am so excited. I will take the train there early Sat morning, spend all day hiking between the 5 cities, spend the night in one of them (looking online for a hostal as I write this), and then probably hike all 5 towns again on Sunday before catching a train back here. I can't wait! It will be a great way to have my first solo adventure of the summer, by returning to a place I already know and love deeply.

3.) I got to eat lunch today with Camilla, Laura (the mom), Nonno Tezziano (grandpa), Nonna Grazia (grandma), and Tio Matteo. They have a family business (Effe 2) where they make the clothes for some of the top designers out of Milano... the fashion capital of the world. I am sitting in Grazia's office now, next to 2 racks of Gucci clothing awaiting their big premiere show on June 20 in Firenze. Oooh la la! :) Gucci is their biggest client. "Effe 2" makes all of their t-shirts, polos, and skirts. (Alicia, I'm thinking of you hard core while I'm here... you would go nuts!)

4.) Fragola e cioccolata gelato = a winning combo! (strawberry & chocolate... Italians put the various kinds next to each other on the same cone so you can eat both at the same time.) Stracciatella (choc chip) with Nutella is also a good one.

5.) Hope all is well with you wherever you are. Keep those e-mails coming, I love it! Ciao ciao!

Italian Update 6/12

Well, I made it! After a wonderful weekend with my family in Seattle for Ross and Katie (Coleman) McClelland's wedding, I headed to Italia. It was a 9.5 hour flight to Amsterdam; add the Netherlands to my list of visited countries! Then I flew to Milano and everything went rather well... except for the fact that they lost my biggest piece of luggage. Yes, you read that right. I was picked up at the airport by Marco (the dad) and 9 yr old Camilla. (7 yr old Filippo is away for 2 weeks at soccer camp.) On our ride home to Invorio, I was told that I would NOT be living with the family at their house. I would be staying at a nearby hotel. NB: European hotels are very simple and I basically have a bed, closet, and small bathroom. But, it is nice and very close. I am actually very glad to have the blessing of my own defined space separate from the family.

Later on during the day on Monday, I went with the two of them to the grandparents' house in Stesa, on Lake Magiorre to show me the house, give me the key, and to pick up "my" car. It turned out to be a little Mercedes A140... I emphasize the little. It's a classic, black, European "smart" style car.

The two of us have been playing more volleyball than you can possibly imagine, which is funny because I really don't like playing volleyball all that much (little to her knowledge). By the end of my time here, I'll either love it, or dislike it even more. The two of us also ended up doing about a 4 - 5 mile hike (all straight up or down hill) with a gelato break in the middle. She was a trooper! Needless to say, those two things combined with getting over jet lag, adjusting to 12 hr work days, and a whole new schedule have worn me out! :) It's great though.

I have been thinking of you all constantly. I'm finally getting more used to driving here, but it is nuts! :) Some of you would particularly enjoy this part of my job. We got lost briefly for the first time today, but for having a 9 yr old navigator, I would say that's not too bad! Trying to interpret traffic signs and estimate speed are both interesting aspects of that. At least they drive on the same side of the road as the USA!

Be sure to check out my first video update on YouTube and my pictures on Flickr. More updates to come! Feel free to shoot me an e-mail... I love it. I just can't promise responses since my internet access is limited, but I'll see what I can do. Ciao!

End of my First Year of Teaching

So, here I am, at the end of my last day of school. I don't know how it happened, but I do know that I continued to thrive throughout the craziness because of our gracious Father in Heaven. I have realized a few times this year how much I love teaching the Latino community. Last year in El Paso, I could see Mexico from my apartment, and it was a huge part of my life down there. Here's my 4th grade class:

This year, I was hired by a bilingual charter school in Minneapolis. For the first half of the year, I kept my abilities in Spanish under wraps from the kids because I wanted to challenge them. I have predominately used my Spanish in communication with the parents of my school. I had a great conversation with one of the staff members here who recently left the police force in Monte Rey, Mexico and came here. It's amazing what lives some of my young ones have led. Here's a picture of this year's 8th grade class, who graduated this past Saturday. (They're just a little bit bigger than last time.):I am so blessed to have known these young people. Come, Lord, and bless their futures in return, those I will and won't see again. Prepare those whom I will be serving next year. Let Your Name be glorified in all things!

P.S. If you haven't heard already, I am leaving for Italy later on this week. I will be living and working in NW Italia for 6 weeks as a live-in nanny for an Italian family. I will probably be using this blog as a way of regularly posting updates for people to read. Come, Holy Spirit!

updates

I am finally getting caught up on my Flickr posts, got one video up on YouTube, and another one that will hopefully soon follow. :) Check it out.

Declaration of Humanhood

Here is another piece of writing from one of my students. She is a very bright, outspoken, always-going-to-speak-her-mind young woman at age 13. Here's a glimpse:

Declaration of Humanhood

I hereby declare that I am human.
I am human in my joy and laughter, and I am human in my pain and tears. I am human in my need to love and help others, and in my need to be loved and helped by others. I am human in my dreams and accomplishments, but most of all I am human in my flaws and mistakes.

Being human, I am entitled to the following rights:

1. I have the right to be imperfect.
2. I have the right to make many (sometimes huge) mistakes.
3. I have the right to learn from my mistakes and then move on with my life.
4. I have the right to forgive myself.
5. I have the right to feel what I feel.
6. I have the right to laugh until it hurts, and cry until it stops hurting.
7. I have the right to live as I choose.
8. I have the right to happiness.
9. I have the right to my own beliefs.
10. I have the right to true friends and true love.
11. I have the right to be loved by others.
12. I have the right to be loved by me.
13. I have the right to be who I want to be, not what others expect me or want me to be.

She still has a lot of things to figure out, and she needs to work out her rebellious streak. But all in all, she has a good head on her shoulders. Catholicism is a part of her culture, but not of her individual life or choosing. Sometimes I am blown away by her, and I can't help but wonder about her future. She could go off and do so many things after graduating from AMS this spring. We shall see.

Staff Sargent John Henry Bell

I had the opportunity to interview a man by the name of John Bell after Christmas of 2007. We exchanged stories for a while and talked about how life had been recently. At the time, he was 87 years old, living in an assisted living apartment. Over the past few years, his eyesight has dimmed, but not his wit or his intellect. Once he became comfortable talking to us, I started asking stories about the war, for he is a veteran of World War II. Slowly, but surely, the stories once again began to come out.

The year was 1941, and John had recently enlisted in the United States Army. He was 21 years old. The war effort was underway, but the United States was not yet directly involved.
John was stationed near San Francisco, California. One day there was a Navy pilot flying above the city and decided to push the boundaries. So, he took the Navy plane, took a dive, and flew it under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was quite the dangerous stunt to pull off and could have gone disastrously wrong. The cost of this stunt? That pilot forever lost his wings. "Son of a buck!"

One Saturday night, he went to a football game with some buddies. They went out and had a good time, partying away. They received an order early Sunday morning to report back to base immediately: Pearl Harbor had just been attacked.

Their job soon evolved to include many new positions. One job was to "clear out the coast", so in following with orders, they moved all people of Japanese decent off of the coastline. It was a known fact that there were two little submarines patrolling in the bay. They may have been similar to two one-man Japanese subs that were found off of the coast of Australia. These were kamasaki submarines: the pilot climbed in, they clamped the door down, and "that was your casket".
(American B-25)

One day, John received an order to join a small grouping of soldiers on a mission. They were issued warm weather clothes, but no further details. They headed to their little B-25 plane with a group of 13 soldiers: an engineer, pilot, co-pilot, and 10 soldiers. They began to fly and headed into the night and began to island hop as they flew west. As they were flying, they headed straight into a huge thunderstorm with lighting shooting on either side of them. However, they were never struck by lightning because the plane itself was not grounded. This continued with close calls and constant lightning flashes for another half an hour. Then suddenly, the clouds opened, you could see the stars reflecting on the ocean, and they flew out into clear moonlight. (Japanese Zero)
"The Japs had planes called Zeros. They could take out B-25s right and left. But then we got P41s & P47 ad those could do something!"




(American P-41 & P-47)

"McArthur and Patton were tough SoBs. They were mean, but with good educations. There's smart people, and then there's intelligent people. Those two were intelligent." And speaking of education, John also mentioned that he had taken the pilot's test for the Air Force with no training to speak of. But, despite the fact that he passed, he was not accepted because he did not hold a high school diploma. John Bell served his country from 1941 - 1946. He was on his way to the Philippines when the war ended. Overall, there were 16 million soldiers who were drafted into the service.

Thanks, Grandpa.

Published Poem by a Student

A got a letter this fall at school informing me of a poetry contest that my students were invited to enter. I recently got a letter informing me that one of my 6th graders has been selected to be published in the book of all the best poems from the contest! I don't think I can quite describe the feeling of having one of my students (my students!) published.. heck, I'm not even published. So, here is the poem, enjoy!

Love
My dove in the clefts of the rock
In the hiding places on the mountainside,
Show me your face,
Let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is lovely.

Each time he yelled about his spirit,
A part of his soul came out of him
And it was so painful.
It felt like a bird was eating
A little part of his heart every night.

When I see a smile as beautiful as yours,
I can go to space
And bring you every single star
Just to see a smile on your face.
And our love was so beautiful
That we can invent images of it.


Addendum August, 2008.
I am outraged. I was at a wedding and I heard the first stanza of this poem being read as one of the readings. It is Song of Solomon 2:14. The other 2 stanzas are original, but now I must figure out what to do about this. No wonder he wasn't very excited when I told him he was going to be published! He knew what he had done. I will see him in one week, now I must think about how to handle this situation. Argh...