On Thursday, the four HDFS students (including me) went to do our practicum at James Joyce Lyceum, a language high school in Ariccia. Ginny and I were partners and we went to 4 different classes, each for an hour. 3 of our classes were seniors and the last one was sophomores. If you know me, you know how much I LOVED this! Our job was to present a discussion to the students about the life of an American teenager. Then we asked them about their lives as Italian teens. We also had time at the end to let them ask questions. They love American music. They go to Rome on the weekends to go out. The drinking and smoking ages are not enforced. At all. And yet it they seem much less concerned about drinking than American teens do. They all smoke, though. I loved every second of it. I think we get to go back sometime in March, so I'm excited.
Yesterday we visited Deruta in the morning. Deruta is known for its ceramics, which are exported worldwide. We visited all of the little ceramic shops, all of which the owners hand painted their products. Some of the shops were sending ceramics to Williams-Sonoma, Neiman Marcus, and even John Grisham personally. One sweet man was happy to barter with us and I got some neat hand painted ceramics! Afterward, we visited the oldest ceramic manufacturer and got to watch how they make everything. It was so cool and had such beautiful things! (Check the pictures for my favorites.)
Next we made our way to Assisi. We had lunch in the adorable town and then had a guided tour (by a Franciscan monk) of the church dedicated to St. Frances, where his tomb is. It was such a beautiful church (sorry, I could only take pictures outside.) The tour was really interesting and the church is filled with amazing frescoes by Giotto that tell the story of Francesco's life.
It felt a little strange to me though, not being Catholic. It was just kind of weird that so much beauty in a church was dedicated to St. Frances. I did feel like it still acknowledged Christ as supreme, it just portrayed St. Frances as very holy. For example, when Frances died he was found to have the "stigmata," which is the wounds of the crucifixion (holes in palms, feet, wound in side). I couldn't decide how I felt about the whole thing. On one side, I think it's important to recognize people who live lives that are very Christ-like (Mother Teresa, etc.) and on the other hand it felt like maybe they were going a little overboard. I don't know... just my thoughts.
On the way home we had a special surprise. Dr. B. said we were going to have a tour of the church across from the Chigi palace. However, we all knew the real reason for our detour was to meet Ginny's boyfriend, Rob, in front of the church to propose. She was SO surprised when we got off the bus and walked toward the church. He proposed and then they went to dinner. So special.
Today I have been working on some homework and tonight we are going into Rome! Still having a blast, in case you hadn't noticed.
1 comment:
Hi Honey, Sounds like you enjoyed your time with the students and I am sure they enjoyed having you there just as well!! Boy those are some really cool ceramics I bet the shop owners where neat to try to talk to. I miss all the Mom and Pop places that I knew growing up in NJ.Have you ever read the prayer of Saint Frances it is one of my favorites and used in AA.Your great grandmother worked at Saint Frances Hospital for years [Grandmom Gerdis Mom Pauline].Loved the pics looked like some awesome pastries! CHOW LOVE YA
Post a Comment