Cinciarella!

I really like some of the Italian names for birds...

"Cinciarella" is the Italian name for the Blue Tit (a common bird here in Duino).  In Italian you pronounce "ci" as "chee".  Try it, the name really roles off your tongue nicely.

Ci vediamo doppo,
Tom

i Dolomiti

Last weekend we decided to rent a car and escape Duino for a little adventure...we ended up in the famous Dolomites in the Italian Alps!  Our destination was a small, out of the way bed-and-breakfast that Kristen found in the area near Belluno where the Dolomites start to rise up from the Adriatic coastal plain.  Our plan...to go hiking in some real mountains and get a much needed peaceful night away from our small town.

On our way we stopped in the mountain town of Belluno, an authentic alpine city in the foothills of the Dolomites with jagged peaks forming a beautiful backdrop around every corner.  A quick stop for some cappuccino and a walk around the Saturday market in the piazza and we were back on our way up into the mountains.  Our destination: Alla Cassetta, our B&B tucked into the hills above the small town of Cesiomaggiore.

We reached Alla Cassetta in the early afternoon on Saturday and were really pleased with what we found.  The B&B, we came to find out, was a restored farm house originally built by the current owner's great-grandfather.  The owner, Christian, was an incredibly nice and knowledgeable guy from the area who gave us great information on everything from hiking to birds to trees to wild mushrooms...anything you wanted to know about the region. The house was warm and cozy with a wood-burning stove in the big eat-in kitchen where we sat and ate and talked with our gracious host.  And that wood stove came in handy because it was a lot colder up in the mountains than it was down at the sea!

Saturday afternoon we had just enough light to do a short but strenuous hike up into the mountains to get a closer look at those pink and green rock faces of the Dolomites.  We hiked up into the mountains via the Val Canzoi on a trail that starts near a milky white-green river flowing down from the Parco Nazionale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi high above.

The late-afternoon sun provided some nice lighting for the colorful peaks. We didn't get up very high or go very far, just enough to wet our appetites for future trips back to the Dolomites to hike further in (and farther up).  Can't you just tell that Kristen is dreaming about those future trips when we can hike to the top of those glowing peaks in the distance?  I know that I can't wait to go back!

Teachable Moments

Today I spent about half of my math class with my first year students explaining the results of the election.  There are no Americans in that class, but they all knew about our presidential election and most knew the winner.  We talked about the Electoral College vs. the popular vote, and why the system is the way it is (I think “Why Tuesday?” even came up).  I explained why we knew the winner even though the Florida results weren’t in yet, and how

Then I asked them about their systems of government.  The girl from Japan said they don’t elect their leader, they just vote for a party.  The Italian student said the same thing, but explained that there are so many parties in Italy that they end up with coalitions between groups who then have to try to work together.  The Chinese student just laughed at the idea of being able to vote at all.  The Turkish student explained the King just chooses the next King.  But that’s ok, she said, because she likes the King.

I feel lucky today to be a citizen of a country where I can vote, and, despite the Electoral College, I feel like my vote matters.  I am also lucky to be in a place where I can explain our system to students from other countries, not as a “right” way, but as a different way.  A system that allows us to disagree respectfully and learn to be tolerant of other people’s views to move our country forward.  I am glad I was here during an election and could take advantage of this teachable moment.  I don’t think I expected the non-American students here to care much about our election, and I learned as much from them as they learned from me.  

il Vento

It's been a week since Hurricane Sandy devastated our home state.  Even though this is a blog about our life in Italy, I felt like saying something about the storm.  Since Sandy hit, Kristen and I have been thinking a lot about home and all of our friends who were affected by the storm.  So often Americans (maybe humans) tend to forget about big events like this very quickly moving on to the newest, most exciting topic of the day.  For many of our family and friends living in other parts of the country I'll bet you're seeing this already on your local news?  Further, I suspect that most news is about NYC, which was severely impacted by Sandy don't get me wrong, but ground zero here was definitely NJ.  If you haven't done so already, look at images of the NJ coast especially...here are a couple of links worth seeing:

Images of Manasquan, the town where Kristen and I used to live:  http://www.manasquan-nj.com/Sandy-1012/index.html

Images of the NJ coast:  https://www.facebook.com/JerseyShoreHurricaneNews/photos_stream

That image I placed on this blog post shows you the size of Sandy as it slammed into NJ last week.  Notice that almost the entire northern Atlantic Ocean is rotating (from several large storms).  Clouds were fanning out all the way to Italy!  The energy in the atmosphere at this time was absolutely amazing.  Unfortunately for NJ a lot of this energy was released on our coast.

To tie this back into our life here in Italy...at the exact same time that Sandy was slamming into the NJ coast, we had an unrelated weather event that affected us: called a "bora"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bora_(wind).

It was our first bora since moving to Duino.  While many of our friends were experiencing hurricane conditions in NJ, we had similar conditions right here in Italy.  At first, it made me feel really connected with our old home.  Wind was howling at gale force, the sky was dark with storm clouds, and flooding rains made our streets flow like rivers.  I actually felt a little homesick wishing I was there for the hurricane.  (You know, the surfer in me likes a good hurricane).  But then I saw the images of our old home after the storm hit.  Our bora was a weak comparison.

Now, Kristen and I both feel a little homesick wishing we were there to help our friends and the community where we spent our first 5 years of marriage together.  Our house was fine, and our friends safe.  But many of our friends and neighbors had severe damage to their homes.  Some were told yesterday that their towns will be unlivable for at least the next 6-8 months!  Many of the barrier islands were cut unto pieces, power is gone, gas lines broken (the main cause for evacuations).  It is a very strange feeling being so far away and not being able to help, even though we know there really isn't much we could do even if we were home.

But on a positive note...

We hear that lots of our friends are taking stock in the positive things that came from this disaster.  Neighbors are having long talks around fires, many who probably only wave hello from time to time, and people are helping strangers.  Friends are re-connecting "in person" (not by email or on Facebook).  Those who have not lost everything are opening their doors for those who have.  It's comforting to know people are helping each other instead of turning their backs and thinking about themselves.

I hope you didn't mind a blog post about NJ.  But this is a part of living abroad that I felt like sharing...thinking about home.  For our friends and family affected directly by the storm our thoughts are with you.  For those in other parts of the country, keep thinking about the east coast and do what you can to help.

Il vento ci collega tutti.

Ciao,
Tom