I can't believe it is already March.  At school we celebrated carnevale with a big party food, games, and costumes. 

We had two days off in February so I took advantage of the break and met my friend Patti from Minneapolis in Rome. Rome was incredible. We saw a lot in those 3 days.  We went to Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. We were in St. Peter's square for the Pope's blessing.  We toured the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. The tour of the Colosseum included the Forum and Palantine Hill. We walked all over the city. We saw the paintings and statues at the Pantheon. Our hotel was a block away from St. Mary Maggiore.  

The following weekend I took my second trip to Venice with a group of teachers from TASIS. We had a wonderful time. I felt like I was on the set of a movie. Cassanova actually since it was Carnevale and people were dressed in costume all over the city. San Marco Square was crowded.  The weather was lovely and the streets that were flooded in December were dry. 

Just want to share more photos.  Perhaps before the school year is out I will take time to learn how to keep a blog decently. Hey it could be one of my resolutions. Still here are some pictures from the Christmas Show and the weekend here in Lugano.

 I want to share some pictures and write a short note. Since adding last I have traveled to Nice, France for the ECIS conference, a conference for international educators. It was interesting I went to several break out sessions and also had some time to walk to the beach and see some of Nice. 

The weekend after that was Thanksgiving. I had both Thursday and Friday off. I went to Zurich and then flew to Vienna with three women I teach with. They were great to travel with. They are able to grab trains, planes and subways with ease. We cooked a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner at Blair's brothers apartment just outside of Zurich. It was an amazing trip. We toured palaces and museums and in the evenings enjoyed the Christmas Markets. Oh and a highlight for me was that I waltzed in the palace ballroom, with an Austrian. It was fantastico!

This weekend the weather was beautiful so I took my camera with me on a long walk down to Lugano, and then later up the mountain to the percosavita, which is my favorite hike here. Today I went to a market in Italy with Perri the 4th grade teacher. We took a ferry across the lake. The sun glowing on the snowy mountains is breathtaking. 

Our students put on their Christmas program on Friday night. It was wonderful. Today the middle and high school students sang and performed at St. Abbondio for a Christmas Service. It was beautiful and I got to hear the gospel read in English. I will be home in just about 10 days. I am so looking forward to seeing everyone.

Hello, I want to share a few pictures with all of you. I have traveled to Venice and to Cinque Terre since I have updated photos. I am not certain how to put captions with individual photos but I will give it a try. 

My class has been studying the solar system and doing some readers theater activities that I have taken some pictures of. With the help of the technology specialist here we have a 3rd grade blog that my class is keeping up as part of being pen pals with the Blake 3rd grade. 

The weather has been very rainy here over the past ten days or so. The big rubber boots that I brought with me have gotten a lot of use. It does look like the sun may be out today. It will be great to take a long walk or run outside. 

If I ever get better at blogging I will share pictures more often. The photos I am sharing should give you a pretty good idea of my wonderful excursions.  

Catching Up

Hello Everyone,

It has been a couple of weeks since I have taken the time to update this blog with pictures and a note. I have been on some spectacular hikes and trips. Just this past weekend on Saturday I was in Milan. I saw all of the main sites including the Duomo, which is the 3rd largest church in either Italy or Europe. I also strolled down the avenues that have the stores of the famous designers. It was great window shopping. You'll be shocked I am sure to learn I didn't buy anything. I did however by a lovely scarf from a vender in the Market. On Sunday I took a gondola ride up to the top of Mount Tamero. It is a giant playground. We went on a zip line and an alpine slide. Then we hiked down the mountain. It took about 3 hours. It was a beautiful day. Friends were taking pictures I will add them when I get them. 

Yes, I am teaching. I have a marvelous class. We just started book clubs they are so excited to share their thought and ideas. Our penpals from Cindy's class at Blake just sent us our first letters. I have a few pictures from school that I am attaching. I started Italian class so hopefully I will be able to be more helpful to my Italian speaking students.  All in all my experience is fantastico!