Italy: October 12, Florence - Evening

This evening we got a special treat. Sarah had arranged for us to get a tour of an olive oil press and olive grove, followed by a delicious, homemade, authentic Tuscan dinner. She has connections with an American woman living in Tuscany named Janet, and her Italian husband, Stefano.  They picked us up in Florence and took us out to their house in the countryside.  This is a picture of an old chapel nearby.

It was a beautiful area. Janet showed us how the olive oil business works. It was very interesting, and unfortunately we learned that it is a very bad year for olive oil. Most olive trees have been infested with olive flies, which makes the olives unusable for oil.  There may not be any olive oil at all from this region this year.

Stefano cooked us a delicious dinner, partly in the outside wood-fired oven.  I don't have any pictures of the dinner, because I was too busy eating it! There were dishes like rabbit liver crostini, freshly baked bread drizzled with their olive oil, white bean salad, and pear with peccorino cheese for desert. It was an amazing meal!

Mom and me in the Tuscan countryside

Italy: October 12, Florence - Morning

This morning we did a bit of exploring around Florence. We started with a breakfast of coffee and croissants at a nearby cafe.  I never drink coffee, but I thought I would try some this morning. I decided it was gross.

Wandering around Florence we saw this cool sculpture in the Piazza della Santissima Annuziata.

 We had also been noticing lots of traffic signs that had been creatively modified. There were lots of good ones in the city, this is the only one I got a picture of.

Then we found Via Laura!

 We also went back to the cathedral and visited the Baptistry, which has interesting and beautiful mural work on the ceiling.

Italy: October 11, Florence

We began our sightseeing adventures today. We started by walking along the Arno river and visited the Galileo museum. It was a lovely day, sunny and warm, not too hot. The Galileo museum had lots of neat artifacts in it from science research through the centuries.

I also discovered the National Library!

 After lunch, we went to the Cathedral. It is called the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, but it is known as the Duomo, because of the historic and massive dome on the top. The cathedral was built in the late 1200's, but the dome wasn't completed until 1436. Constructing a dome like this was a scientific achievement at that time, and was managed by Filippo Brunelleschi, amid artistic rivalries, secrecy and technical challenges. National Geographic has a short and interesting article about the Dome.

Some of us climbed to the top of the Duomo, a tiring but rewarding exercise. Looking out over Florence, you can also see the Campanile, the cathedral's bell tower. Visitors can climb that, too, but we had done quite enough climbing for one day.

Italy: October 10, Florence

We arrived in Florence, Italy! There are eight of us on this trip: Mom and Dad, Paul and Sarah, Brian, me, Phoebe, and Cliff.  We rented an apartment in Florence from Air BnB. It is great! Here we are in the living room just after we arrived. 

Paul and Sarah got a room with a round bed and worked out the best way to share it. 

Our first night in Florence, we went out for a lovely, delicious Italian dinner at a small restaurant near our apartment. 

Then we strolled around Florence. This statue is near the Palazzo Vecchio, and there were lots people looking at the statues, street musicians playing, vendors, and folks just walking around enjoying the warm evening.

Year 2!

Well, classes start tomorrow for my second (and final) year of grad school. I've been back in Tucson just over a week. In that time,  I've moved into a new apartment, (email me if you'd like the address!)  I've gone to the orientation for the new cohort of Peace Corps Fellows and talked to them about doing class talks in area schools as part of our Fellowship commitment. This year, I'm in charge of organizing the class talks, I'm an officer in the Peace Corps Club on campus.  I have seen lots of friends, which is of course, the best part about coming back to Arizona. Here is my friend Ben and I, taking our picture on our first day of 19th grade! : ) I think I'm ready for this year!

One Down, One to Go!

Wow, my first year of grad school just finished! I turned in my last paper, went to my last class, and said goodbye to friends for the summer. It has really been an adventure this year! Here are some memories from the year:

 My parents came to visit over President's Day weekend, and we saw lots of sights and ate AMAZING crepes.

I went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum TWICE, and learned to identify a lot of the crazy plants that grow here.

 I interned at Manzo elementary, doing all kinds of projects - this one is doing a big mural with some of the kids and a professional artist.

 I made new friends! And gave them prizes!

 Went on some cool outdoor adventures, like this hike at Tanque Verde falls.

 I bought a car!! I love my car! I also ate a LOT of Froyo! I love froyo!

 Got a free trip to Biosphere2 for me and my friends! We had a fun time.

 I learned a lot in my classes.

 Seriously, though, I did learn a lot.

I did lots of Peace Corps stuff, like doing a table about the Philippines at the Peace Corps Fair.

One year down, one to go!!

Scooter Adventures

Perhaps you recall, or maybe you never knew, that early last summer I bought a little Honda scooter when my Honda Civic that I had owned for 12 years passed away. (I can say a car passed away if I want to.) Here is a picture of me on the day I bought that scooter. 

Then I moved to Tucson, and brought the scoot with me. It was very handy to have. I live far enough from campus that I don't want to bike there. I also have an internship, and like to buy groceries and things like that. So having a scooter was the next best thing to having a car. 

One day, not long after returning from Christmas break, I got hit by a car! It's true! I was on my scooter, stopped at a red light. The light turned green, and I zoomed off. Well, someone ran a red light right into me! Fortunately, the car next to me, waiting to turn left, saw them coming, honked, and gave me enough warning to slam on my brakes. The car nicked the front of my scooter and drove off. My scooter fell over, though I was still standing up, and thankfully, completely okay. 

The insurance company has totaled the scooter, but since it is still driveable, I kept it and took a salvage title on it. But I was pretty freaked out and fed up with driving this tiny thing that nobody can see me on. So my dad helped me buy a car in February. I bought a 2005 Honda CR-V. (Yes, Honda's got my loyalty.) Here is a picture of me with my new car at the Frozen Yogurt place in Tucson owned by the mom of the guy who I bought the car from. (The reason this is picture-worthy is that the guy actually is from Tucson, but now lives in Denver. We bought the car from him in Denver, and I drove it right back to its home in Tucson. Small world, eh?)

So now I have a car, and it is wonderful. I have a lot more freedom. I can eat a lot more frozen yogurt. So I almost never ride my scooter anymore, because I don't really need to. It mostly sits chained up in the carport space that a lady who worked in the apartment complex office when I moved in said I could use. I share the space with another guy's scooter.

It is, however, very convenient to have a scooter when I need to go to campus during a big high-traffic event. Parking that scooter is a breeeeeeze. Way easier (and cheaper - free) than parking a car. Just such an event took place this past Friday. I was meeting one of the teachers and some of the students from my internship at campus, so we could work a booth promoting our school. It was a big carnival and UA expo, and I thought it would make sense to ride the scooter. 

When I got down to where my scooter is parked, there was a huge orange sticker stuck to the handlebars that said something like, "YOU ARE PARKED ILLEGALLY". Well shoot, I thought, I didn't know. That lady who told me I could park here doesn't work here anymore, and I almost never use the scooter, and nobody would have known how to tell me to move it. I realized I would have to find another place to park when I came back, and I geared up, and backed out. As I was checking down the parking lot for cars, a tow truck was driving towards me. He stopped a few spaces away, and I backed out, and he looked at his clipboard and watched me pull away, and I thought, "woah! That tow truck is coming to bolt-cut my chain and tow away my scooter!! What incredibly fortuitous timing!" 

I don't know for a fact that that's what was happening. But I'm the only one who was parked illegally there, and nobody looked like they were waiting for a dead car to be towed. So I zoomed off before he could ask my name or where I lived or anything. Close call!

Publicity at my internship school, Manzo Elementary

Here's an Arizona Public Media video piece (7min) about the school I work at. The Kinder, 3rd, and 5th graders they interview are the kids I'm with every day. And see if you can spot my cameos! 

The video is here, I can't seem to be able to embed it. 

And here's me working with some of the 5th graders in farm club, cause I don't want to give you a blog post with no pictures!

KinderGarden!

At my elementary school internship, I've spent some time working with 3 kindergarteners on literacy in the garden. We read 'The Carrot Seed', planted carrots and watched them grow, watered them, and kept journals. So here are some pictures of adorable kindergarteners doing stuff.

I also am sharing a shot of another kindergartener that just wanted me to take her picture, and I accidentally had some vintaging filter on, but it is the PERFECT look for her in this shot. I just love this picture and think it's hilarious, so it's going in too.

Craft Day for Kids!

The Peace Corps Fellows group does a number of service projects throughout the year - the food bank post from earlier in the year was my first one. This Saturday, we did another, which was right up my alley, a craft day for refugee kids!

It was held in an apartment complex where only refugee families live. I've been there a few times, and I knew lots of the kids, because they are clients of the IRC, where I am an intern. So that was fun.  There were lots of crafts; painting, clay, yarn crafts, paper crafts, and glitter, glitter, GLITTER.

Lots of PC Fellows showed up, so there were lots of helping hands. If we can judge by the mess they made, I would say the kids had fun. They made lots of cute crafts to take home.It was also a crazy, exhausting, morning.

Cat Lady!

Yes! I finally have a cat! Since I could write, I've been putting on my Christmas list, "CAT" and never got one. My dad always said I could have a cat when I have my own place. Since 'having my own place' has been a difficult condition for me to meet for the last few decades, I have not gotten a cat. But the stars aligned, and I am now cat-sitting for the next two years!

My great friends the Youngs are living in China for two years, and couldn't bring their cat, Luna Lovegood. Meanwhile, I have my own place for the next two years! Works out perfectly! So yesterday, Brian Young's sister and dad flew the cat down from Seattle and brought her to my apartment. Since then, she's been exploring like crazy, and finding her favorite spots. She's very well-behaved, and very quiet. Last night I was watching a movie, and kept forgetting there was a cat in the apartment, and she would jump on the couch, or just walk across the room, and startle the heck out of me. 

By the way, she is a polydactl cat, like Hemingway had!

A bit of Tucson culture

Today is All Soul's Day, and there is a big Tucson community event that takes place every year, the All Soul's Day Procession. I don't have pictures. I took some, but they are all just blurry night shots of movement. Anyone can walk in the procession, and it's meant to be a remembrance for those who have passed away. Lots of people walk in it, most of them are wearing Dia de los Muertos face paint. Like this for example, which I just found on the internet:
Some people are walking with groups. The groups I actually met people walking with were some teachers from the school I work with, a Japanese drumming group, and the local AIDS awareness organization. Some high school bands were there, as well as other music groups. Some groups carried pictures of loved ones who have died, some carried other types of displays, like paper mache skulls, or bikes adorned with lights, or signs, just all kinds of things.

The teacher I work with at the elementary school invited me to walk with his group, but I just wanted to watch this year, so I went with another Peace Corps fellow and a guy I work with at my other internship and we watched from a really good spot, not too crowded, we could see everything. The teachers were dressed up as the 'Santa Cruz River' which is, sadly, dead. It's now a big sandy ditch that runs around town. They were also dressed as animals that live around the river.

It's a really neat event, and anyone can participate; old folks, babies, any religion, any race. Some parts were somber, but mostly it was pretty fun.