Fa caldo!

Our trip to Firenze was amazing, but also very tiring. Thankfully we were allowed to go to the schools from 2:30-4:30 P.M. instead of 8:30-12:30 on Monday morning, which gave us lots of time to catch up on much-needed rest.

Today was by far the best day I've had in the schools thus far. When I arrived at Galilei Angela immediately came to steal me away to help with classe 4C, which is Matteo (my host brother)'s class. The students get to pick a new song in English to learn each month and for May the classes voted and chose Kid Rock's 'All Summer Long.' Angela changed the lyrics so that the kids weren't singing about 'smoking funny things,' but she didn't change the part where Kid Rock sings about 'sipping whiskey from the bottle.' The kids didn't know what it meant so it wasn't too big of a deal that she didn't change the words, but I couldn't help but laugh when twenty fourth graders sang about sipping a bottle of whiskey. (By the way, Matteo is in the other room singing about sipping whiskey out of a bottle as I type this...) After a while the kids caught on when I couldn't stop laughing so they encouraged my laughter by making hand gestures that suggested they were drinking alcohol. It was hysterical for a while, but Angela got a little irritated and had to tell the children to stop making the gestures while I videotaped their performance on my camera because she didn't want Americans to think badly of Italian schoolkids.

I've been videotaping the kids a lot at school and they absolutely love it... so do the teachers because the kids behave and perform better when they know they're being filmed! During the class's performance of 'All Summer Long' Angela let Matteo and his friend Giacomo dance and it was incredible! I had no idea that Matteo was such a good dancer and I'm so glad I have it on tape to show everyone once I get home. I'm also going to plug my camera into the Ferrari's tv tonight and let the entire family see Matteo dance. Should be fun!

After we finished with classe 4C I went back to 1A and began my activity with the students. We bought canvas bags in the US and brought them to Italy for our kids to decorate, so today I worked with groups of 5 kids at a time and let them color their bags. It was a really fun activity and I was thankful to have Maestra Manuela there to help me translate instructions for the students. The kids also signed four bags for the four teachers (me, Pina, Paola, and Manuela) and I gave all of them their bags after all of the students signed them. They were very happy, as were the kids, and I'm glad that I was able to do an activity with the students in Italian!

After school and lunch I headed back to Calvino (the middle school) for a tour of the school. In middle school the kids only go for half a day, six days a week, but I was amazed at the number of kids that came to perform for the American teachers after school hours! As we were guided around the school by the administrators, we made stops in the art room, the library, and two music rooms. In the first music room we were given an incredible piano performance of several pieces by Bach. In the second music room there were about twenty kids singing and playing guitar for us. Mom, I thought of you because they sang 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'Imagine.' The most surprising part was how good the students sounded-- it was incredible and so much fun!! Afterwards we had a question and answer session with the middle schoolers and then we were treated to a huge buffet of pastries, fruit tarts, and other snacks. The Italians will not stop feeding us... and they think it's rude to not accept their food. We're all getting bread babies over here from all the sweets and pasta and bread we're eating 24\7!

This is our last full week in Modena and it's crazy to think that the trip is winding down. Everything here is going great, except for the HEAT. Air conditioning is so expensive here that it is definitely a luxury for Europeans. There is no air conditioning in any of the homes, businesses, stores, or schools, so it's been tough adjusting to the temperature. Unfortunately for our group of spoiled Americans, this May is the hottest May on record since 1945! We're doing our best to make the most of it, but it's really hard when you open a window and the air inside is the same temperature as the outside (and it's been about 90° all week... ugh!). Thankfully it's supposed to get cooler later in the week, but it's also supposed to rain the entire time we're in Venice. I hope that we at least get one good day in Venice next Monday and Tuesday!

I'm off to help Simona with dinner and set up my camera on the tv, but I'll write back soon! Arrivederci!

P.S. Happy Birthday Callan!