Thursday Night at the Senior Center

Thursday night was by FAR the best night here in Reggio Emilia! After having some great conversation as an entire group and hearing some beautiful words by Carla Rinaldi, we headed over to dinner at the Orti Spallanzani Community Center. The community center is basically a hangout for the senior citizens in the town...and it was complete with live music entertainment...haha!

They took us on Coach busses over to the center. To the right are hundreds of little garden plots for the senior citizens in Reggio Emilia to have personal vegetable gardens.

The Orti Spallanzani center set up tables for us all around the tennis courts...the middle was left open purposely for dancing! ;) For dinner they served us cold cuts, fried bread (really good...of course I ate only that!), risotto with veggies, caprese salad and cantaloupe. LOTS of sparkling red wine too!

My new friend! hahahaha - Elizabeth went to Notre Dame St. Mary's, and is friends with some of my girlfriends back home who went to St. Mary's Grade School with me! :) She teaches Kindergarten up in Minnesota...she's hilarious! Love her!

Oh la la! Live music entertainment by the seniors! The singer (woman in purple) was awesome - got everyone up on their feet doing crazy dances and singing every Italian song in the book! Look how cute Mara Davoli is...she's holding Paola's baby! :)

Conga line...haha! I jumped in behind a woman who happens to be a head professor over at Colombia College in Chicago who runs Masters programs with a Reggio focus! Networking at it's best...in a conga line!

Doing the Italian "Chicken Dance", the "Gorilla".....and tons of other craaaazy dances while the woman in purple singing lead us with the movements. I haven't laughed this hard in forever! We had a ball!

Best money I spent in Italy was the one Euro for a Chinese fan! We were fanning our sweaty bodies off...haha! It was 95 degrees at 10pm and we were dancing like crazy women!

New friends :) Top: Elizabeth from Minnesota, Jen from Oregon Bottom: Me & Liz

I danced so much I broke my favorite flip flops. RIP flippy-floppies!

After these two long exhausting weeks, this was exactly what we all needed. It was fun to dance, sing and drink wine with all the new friends we made. What a great night!

Ciao!

Carly

More Funny Pictures

Looking through my iPhoto - and seeing all of the funny random pictures I took to show people...these make me laugh!

Hair yamaka on Hare Krishnas?

Ohhhhh dear.....the David souvenirs were absolutely ridiculous!

On the outside of the museum in Florence - what? lol

Look Dad - you can retire when you are 80-years-old, learn to play the saxophone, wear pink, and be a street performer in Italy! What a life!

Adam & Phil - isn't this the guy from those Indian YouTube videos?!?!? He's playing a concert in Reggio Emilia...be jealous.

Sillyyyyy ;)

Carly

Things I've learned in Italy...

I'm sitting in my hotel room...eating breadsticks and drinking Pellegrino...with an awful tummyache...and I figured now is a good time to type out my list of things I've learned about Italy while I've been here. (I've been keeping a list in my notebook for fun...haha!)

• It's completely normal for men to yell, "Ciao, bella!", "Buongiorno bellissima!", whistle, honk, stop and stare as you walk by, flick your ponytail, etc.
• I've become completely accustomed to stoping and looking for danger when hearing a bicycle bell ring. One is coming up - and fast...so move your behind.
• If you say 6 o'clock - you get a train ticket for 6am...so you better say 18:00. It's been a fast adjustment to learning military time.
• Lunch is from 1-3pm (13:00 to 15:00) and Dinner is anytime after 8pm (20:00). However, they start selling wine at 6am and it's completely acceptable to drink and eat tapas at anytime of the day.
• And as far as dinner goes - you sit, talk and drink for at least 3 hours. When you want the check, you have to go up to the counter because people think you're crazy for leaving already.
• Breakfast is espresso standing up at the same bar you bought wine at last night.
• I've realized I'm pretty good at getting around using an old-fashioned paper map! No Google Navigation needed for me here in Italy! :)
• Public transportation is essential - and I'm pretty good at figuring it out when I need to.
• Don't order anything that has "acciughe" in it. That's Italian for ANCHOVIES. Major food issues have come up from this mistake.
• I can live without a cell phone for 3 weeks...but not without my computer.
• Hygiene is different in Europe than the States. That's all I'm going to say.
• I'm trying lots of new foods and eating lots of fruit...very different for me. :)
• I look like the people here...haha! Everyone has dark features, I feel like I "belong". lol
• Everyone who is anyone is at Market Days in the Piazzas on Wednesday mornings and back again for drinks, dancing and music through the streets of the town after 9pm.
• Air conditioning is a luxury here - hard to find anywhere.
• Gelato is the most amazing food ever invented. Lemon & Straciatella (chocolate chip) are my favorites.
• Everything goes back to what is best for the COMMUNITY. Co-responsibility in all shapes, sizes and forms is key.
• I've gained an obsession with Nutella.
• "Bruto bescha!" - SO MANY MOSQUITOS that are killers! (Sorry Mom, I have no idea how to spell it in Italian!)
• Reconfirmed my feeling that wine is delicious.
• Women are dressed in heels and look like they came out of a Prada catalogue at all times of the day.
• You can find pizza to eat on every single restaurant menu.

Enjoying my last few days here and soaking up everything! :) Have loved this experience...but I'm ready to come home after 3 weeks.

Ciao!

Carly

Attempted to go to Church...

This morning I got up at 6am (after going to bed at midnight AND after being up for over 2 hours during the night with food poisoning...not fun.) to haul my behind to Mass because I've been talking about going the entire time I've been here. I walked the half hour to get to the central piazza - and what do you know, the doors are all locked. :/ So sad! The man at the front desk of our hotel said every morning they had 7:30am services - but I guess not...just looked it up and they only hold services Saturday and Sunday. Oh well...here is the website for the church.

Last week when Liz and I were exploring town after classes, the doors were open and I got to sneak a few peeks...

Outside of the Basilica de San Prospero - named for the patron saint of Reggio Emilia.

Looking down the main aisle towards the altar.

The beautiful altar and candles - everything is so big and gorgeous.

The beautiful painted ceilings

In every "nook" on the sides of the church (there were about 6 on each side) - there was a different devotional area, WITH a tomb of someone historical from the town as well.

So pretty :)

Oh well - maybe Saturday morning! I've been walking around Reggio Emilia since 6:30am...it's 8:15am here now and I just got to the Loris Malaguzzi International Center. Class doesn't start until 9am, so it's quiet in here for me to sit and relax. Hoping my stomach feels better soon - food poisoning is not fun to have during your last few days in Italy!

Today's class lineup deals with topics regarding community and participation in the schools, and then tonight they are bussing all of the participants over to dinner and dancing at "Orti Spallanzani Community Centre". Should be a great day!

Buongiorno dall' Italia!

Carly

Reggio Schools Seen Throughout Community

With such a high emphasis of the community and schools being intertwined here in Reggio Emilia, the traces of children and their work are seen everywhere. The schools here place such an importance of making the children's learning visible for the city to see since they are such an important part of the children's school experience. An example of this is shown all throughout the underground walkway passes to the bus/train station.

Below are pictures of a project the children in the preschools did to make their own visual representations - using any media outlet of their choice - of bicycles. Bicycles are the main form of transportation here in Reggio Emilia (seriously!) so they are important to the children in their everyday life. Take a look at the pictures! They are all HUGE - they blew up the children's artwork...and each picture is literally bigger than me! It's fun seeing the different abilities of children from different ages, and how each child had a different view/creation...

Looking down one wall of pictures...just enormous!

"Bici Farfalla" - "Butterfly Bicycle"

"Bici Che Fare"

Springs!!!!! Just for Daddy Burd ;)

I loved this picture the most because it reminded me of my own students and their artwork...it's so great I think!

More pictures down the wall.

I love seeing kids artwork show up in everyday unexpected places throughout the city. Makes me so happy! :)

Carly

Funny Pictures

Learning lots of new things in Italy - and seeing lots of funny/neat things that remind me of people back home! Here are a few...

ZAMBONI! Mom - it's a men's clothing store...but I knew you'd appreciate this!

Too funny - expensive men's clothes...hilarious!

Look at this - a Jewish Star wine bottle cork...perfect for the newly "Mitzvahed" Adam! haha!

That's all for now with the pictures - I'll post more as I find them...they make me giggle!

xo-CTB

Family Involvement in Reggio Emilia

I'm just blown away after tonight's sessions! We learned in depth about the dialogue between families and schools in Reggio Emilia Infant-Toddler Centers and Preschools - and the co-responsibility, participation and sharing that goes on. Each and every parent (literally) is involved in their child's school in some way, shape or form. Parents build a sense of community among themselves and most importantly with the city, that embraces and welcomes new families and cultures into the schools. By being so involved with their children's schooling, they gain a sense of being an active citizen in Reggio Emilia, and enjoy this stance.

Reggio has a standard that their schools must be places where their families can share the culture they come from freely, done in an ethical way. This builds a sense of community and allows for diversity that is accepted and celebrated in the schools...which also translates into everyday life within the town.

A "Parent Panel" came in to speak about their experiences with having children in the Reggio Emilia Infant-Toddler Centers and Preschools, and it was so moving. Their appreciation and gratitude to the schools and teachers was unbelievable. From a mother from an Islamic heritage who left what she knew to come to Italy, and looked to the teachers as friends and for learning the Italian "Roman Catholic" culture, to a father with a child with Autism who moved to Reggio Emilia looking for a way to understand his son - the presentations were beautiful. The parents work together to welcome new families into the schools and help them feel the love and warmth they were received with.

From the presentations, I'm leaving with some great parent involvement ideas and new ways of thinking to bring back to school!

My favorite part of the entire presentation though was when the parents and teachers explained "Accoglienza". In Italian, this means more than just to welcome someone, but to embrace another person was you welcome them and credit that individual as important. This "accoglienza" is the process by which all children and families are greeted as they walk into school each day. Teachers, staff and other parents consider this the most important time of the day - to welcome each family that comes in and make them feel important.

I love this most because it is so drastically different from back home - where most of the kids come in on the bus early in the morning, where parents are honking at each other in the drop-off line, all in a rush to get the kids out of the car and move on with their day. It's a beautiful transition where trusting relationships with parents are built.

Such happy thoughts - such positive energy - exactly the type of session I needed to hear after all of these long hard days of class! I said this afternoon to Sue and Liz that I am SO HAPPY that I've sat through all of these presentations, even ones where I was exhausted and felt like the topics didn't apply to me and I just wanted to go back and sleep in my tiny hotel room....Why? Because I've had an epiphany, realization, great idea, etc. from every single lesson taught. It's all coming together and I'm growing as a person and as a teacher. Can't wait to get back into my classroom!

Another last happy thought for today...we walked past a peach tree on the way home! Made me think of Papa's peach tree in the backyard in River Grove!

Hard to see - but tiny little peaches are starting to grow! :)

Time is winding down over here - only 2 more days of class left! Tomorrow I'm taking myself to an EARLY 7:30am Mass in the Piazza San Prospero at the town's patron saint's basilica. Can't wait to blog about how Mass in Italian is! ;)

Buona Notte!

Carly