Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Ringraziamento

We have been helping to teach English in the girls' classrooms, designing simple lessons that emphasize vocabulary and pronunciation. For the students, it's a chance to hear native English speakers, as well as a change of pace from formal lesson plans. For us, it's a chance to support the school and get to know the kids. And for the girls, it's a fun way to use their English, and also a time when they feel like experts!


In the 5th grade classroom we've been building on their studies of affirmative and negative forms (e.g., can and can't). But this month we also had some fun with a camp song. Well, as you'll see in the video clip, we actually just stood back and let C take over! (Her rendition of this call-and-response "Moose Drinking Juice" song is now enthusiastically requested to close out each English lesson.)






In the 2nd grade classroom we did our best to recount the Thanksgiving (Ringraziamento) story this week, since it is unfamiliar to Italians. Fortunately, we had T to help teach the parts of the meal, lead a song, and demonstrate the making of a hand-traced turkey -- which was a huge hit!


Even if Thanksgiving will be an afterthought for our family this year, it's nice to be reminded of the many things for which we celebrate ringraziamento. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Tesori di Torino

The girls are studying ancient civilizations as part of their school work, and we made the short train trip to Turin last weekend so we could visit the famous Egyptian Museum. (Okay, okay…Turin is also famous for a chocolate drink - the bicerin - that is layered with espresso then topped with heavy cream, which might have slightly influence our travel planning!) As it turned out, there were a number of other treasures (tesori) awaiting in Turin, making for a wonderful weekend.

The Egyptian Museum is remarkable, although – like many museums displaying foreign riches – it does require overlooking the way in which many of the items were likely acquired. In this case, those “acquisitions” number over 30,000 artifacts, with the fraction on display covering everything from talismans to temples. In fact, one room features an entire temple chamber that was carved into bedrock in Egypt, extracted in 1966 just prior to being submerged by the Aswan Damn project, and then relocated to Turin. Knowing that a trip to Cairo is unlikely due to the unrest there, this was the next best thing:



The experience also helped to further stretch the timeline in which we view our place in history. In the US, the timeline is relatively short. Here in Genoa, we have daily encounters with Roman-era artifacts, such as the aqueduct which spans an alleyway next to our apartment. Then in the Egyptian Museum, we could see and sense the continuity across more than 5,000 years, especially the commonalities of religious and spiritual traditions – noting that the stone Temple was later used as a Church. (In the photo collage above, you can see a Christian cross and star carved into the scene of King Thutmosi III, which adorns the Temple's walls.) 

All of that deep thinking made us thirsty, and we enjoyed the first of several rounds of hot chocolate and bicerin. In fact, the bowls of hot chocolate that arrived for the girls lead to hours of chocolate-fueled fun!
  

The next day we visited The Mole Antonelliana, and jumped forward several millennia from ancient Egypt to mid-1800’s Turin. The Mole is a major landmark building in Italy (it is the tallest brick building in the world and was used as the ‘06 Turin Winter Olympics’ emblem). It was originally designed as a synagogue and is now home to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema. In addition to providing amazing views of the city, the massive open atrium houses interactive film exhibits and projected displays. Plus, there’s a 10-story suspended elevator that is equal parts horror film and thriller!  




Yes, we needed to soothe our stomachs with hot chocolate after that experience!

Our last day in Turin was a day of walking and exploring, including jumping to contemporary history when visiting Santuario della Consolata (the Church of Our Lady of Consolation) and seeing the hundreds of framed drawings of incidents in which people were saved from harm by holy intervention. The depictions of the moments in which people miraculously survived are all marked with "G.R." -- "Grazia Ricevuta" or "Grace Received."
         

We expressed our gratitude with – you guessed it – hot chocolate! But this was no ordinary bicerin, since we went to The Caffè Al Bicerin.  
The Caffe was founded in 1763 and is thought to be the birthplace of the drink. While we’re not experts (yet), their bicerin was fabulous and ensured that we happily left Turin with a pleasantly persistent cocoa buzz!


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Cardiologist's Dream

We continue to have unique food experiences during this adventure, which will undoubtedly be the subject of a future blog post.  But this one might take the cake: in fact, it’s a “cake” made with layers of gorgonzola, mascarpone, and walnuts! (Just typing those ingredients is triggering angina…plus salivation.)  



The Italians could be paying down the national debt if they restricted, regulated and taxed this cheese-based crack!



Friday, November 8, 2013

Wormhole

Source: flickr, fede0253
Genoa’s Centro Storico (Historic Center) is the largest medieval district in Europe, and consists of a maze of narrow, pedestrian only, winding alleyways (caruggi in the local dialect) formed by interlocked ancient buildings and walls. In most places it is so dense that only a tiny band of sky is visible. 

This is the heart of Genoa, and is also our favorite place to go exploring. Turning a corner or entering a doorway often reveals a surprising discovery, some of which are so stunning that they earn the title "wormhole" from us (similar to the Sci-Fi notion of a wormhole connecting widely separated regions of space and time). Dramatic as that may sound, it’s the best way to describe moments like the one we had this week. 

Adjacent to a main walkway in the Centro Storico is a small, graffiti-stained alley - one of the many we use regularly. Next to some dumpsters there is a nondescript door we often pass by, connected to the 
modest exterior of an old church (among the dozens of churches in the area). On this particular afternoon we noticed that the door happened to be open and we wandered in. Or, more accurately, we wandered into a wormhole...

We had entered the 9th century Basilica of San Siro, rebuilt in the 12th century, and restored in the 20th century to the original, magnificent Romanesque style. We also further validated our wormhole concept, and we will continue to enter (nearly) every open doorway we find!



Monday, November 4, 2013

Verona and Venice

We have pledged to travel outside of Genoa at least once a month, and a long weekend meant we had time to visit the Northeast of Italy. Our Oregon friends and their boys are living in Verona for 6 months, making for added fun on this trip. And, more children also means more to "see", since kids always bring an expansive view of what deserves our attention.

On a day trip to Venice, postcard-perfect views were breathtaking around every corner.


But the kids were equally amazed by cats, birds, and lions (possibly setting a record for the most children gathered on a St Mark's Square lion).



And in Verona, we took in the grand wonders of the city, from castles to Juliet's "home".


Along the way, the kids appreciated the small wonders too: stone pathways containing embedded fossil shells, or grooves from Roman-era chariot traffic; 600 year-old graffiti etched into church frescoes (Mattea spotting a note from 1390); or even the simple pleasure of a Sicilian-style snack!



Heading home after this wonder-full trip is worthy of a Shakespeare quote: "parting is such sweet sorrow." Now, we have to decide where next month's adventure should take us...