Momo & Nido e Scuola d'Infanzia

Today was a very, very long and exhausting day. I left for school this morning at 8 and just returned home!

Angela came to get me early this morning and I spent the whole day working with a class of 4th graders in English class. Matteo (my host brother) was in the class, so it was a lot of fun to be able to speak English with him today. He's a very funny and outgoing little boy, but he's very shy when it comes to speaking English around me. I have yet to really have the chance to talk to him, so it was nice that Angela could translate for us today!

When 12:30 came and it was time to leave the school I realized that I had made a huge mistake-- I accidentally threw away a bag during snack time that had the key to my bicycle inside... oops! Unfortunately, the trash had been thrown out already so I immediately tracked down Patrizia (the teacher I worked with yesterday who speaks English) and told her the problem. After we found the custodian, Patrizia helped me dig through 4 huge trashbags. Even though I felt horrible for making such a dumb mistake, Patrizia was hilarious. She kept finding random things in the trash and would hand them to me and say stuff like, 'Would you like some proscuitto?' in a ridiculous American accent. It took about 45 minutes to dig through the bags and we didn't end up finding the keys, sadly.

My friends had already left the school at that point, so I walked from Galilei to a nearby pizzeria called Notte e Di (Night and Day) to meet the rest of the group. Our intention was to meet to talk about our plans for the end of the trip party, but we just ended up eating and talking the entire time. There were 18 of us in all, including the 14 girls, Dr. Butchart, Dr. Tolley, Roberta, and Matteo from VLC, and we ordered 6 half meters of pizza. It was ridiculous at the amount of food that we ate, but everything was so delicious that we felt bad leaving anything on our plates!

After lunch we drove to Momo, which is a center for families in Piazza Matteoti downtown. Momo is essentially a learning center funded by the city of Modena that allows kids and their parents to come and do art projects, cooking lessons, theater performances, etc., for a very low fee (only €3 for special activities; most activities are free!). It's crazy to think that a place like that can be beneficial for all children in the community because of the low cost; it's almost guaranteed that any center like Momo in America would charge a ridiculous entrance fee for children to be able to attend. The center is also very environmentally friendly; all of the tables, chairs, and materials were made from recyclable materials and many supplies are donated by families. The facility was beautiful and all of the people there were so nice and very interested in sharing their center with us, so it was great to experience it! If only they had a similar place for children to learn in America...

When we finished at Momo we went to Nido e Scuola d'Infanzia, which is a new infant school in Modena. The facility was, once again, amazing and the level of student work at that age was unbelievable. I think every girl took about 100 pictures of the students' projects and artwork, which lined the walls, ceilings, and even the floors! It was great to get some ideas for teaching kids in the future. After seeing the school we continued brainstorming our plans for the Italian school we're going to start in America. We have decided that Dr. Butchart and Dr. Tolley will be the deans (well, 'deaness' for Dr. Tolley, upon her request) and there are already 14 qualified teachers ready for hire straight out of college!

After visiting the infant school we drove back to the pizzeria where we had lunch to meet our families. Since my intention earlier in the morning was to ride my bike home, I had to catch a ride with Matteo. We first went to the school to try and retrieve my bike, but unfortunately the school gates were already locked for the night. I talked to Simona and she wasn't angry (thankfully) and she reassured me that tomorrow I can go to school with Fillippo and Matteo (my host brother) and cut the chain on the bike. I bought a new chain and lock today to replace the others and I will definitely be more careful with the keys this time around!!

Other than digging through garbage and coming home with no bike, today went fairly smoothly. It has been another long day with children and lots of tours, so as always I am looking forward to bedtime. I've got to run and help Simona with dinner, but I will write back again tomorrow. Buonanotte!

Update: Tomorrow I'm riding to school with Fillippo and Matteo on Fillippo's motorcycle. He's bringing a saw to the school and cutting off the chain so I can retrieve my bike from the rack. I can't imagine what someone would do if a man rolled up to the school with a saw to cut off a bike chain in America. Some things only happen in Italia...