Mum, last night, more pictures....The most explaining I will have to do for this round is about "La Befana"...the ugly witch character in front of me...or, me in front of...oh, nevermind. So, if you're a good kid in Italy, on the Epiphany, she brings you toys...if not, coal. Then, there is a picture from Florence. Enrico in front of the forum at night in Rome. OH and the top picture is of me, vogueing in Naples...there is video footage of this, and it is awesome! I was trying to teach Enrico and his friend Andrea what it meant to vogue, like Madonna. We all know I know about Madonna...my first concert ever, which you took me to...remember that...semi-naked women sliding down 50 foot poles in the skydome, then, exit Madonna....awesome first concert!!! Thanks Mum!
The last picture, Enrico and I standing on some crazing glass structure which is actually over top of some type of protected house-like ruins in the old part of Cosenza...wild!

Alright Mum, if I am correct, you are on nights tonight...soooo, if it isn't chaotic sink or swim mode there, allow me to entertain you!
The first picture is from the end of an evening with Enrico's coworkers...my chance to spend some quality time with them before I left. They're a great group of people...let me tell you about a few of them: (on the left) There's Pask, he speaks english, he's really sweet, seems quiet but he's fun, sharp and endearing. Next, (far right) Valeria (her husband, Pietro is beside her), she's kind, laid-back with good humour, lovely dark features, genuine. Emanuele is missing from the pic, that's Enrico's prof...what a riot that man, he's a natural linguist, sweet and bubbly with sharp wit! You can also see Barbara (right-ish), a cute woman from Turin, Carina (far left), a visiting Phd student from Brazil, Samuele (you can barely see his eyes), a talkative and fun Sicilian, Enrico's cousin Alessandra (beside Enrico), a fun and spicy little spark plug of a woman!

The following picture is of Enrico's great Aunt's and Uncle in Bologna. They are a lively bunch of elders! We Karaoked and ate and drank!! One of my favourite days was definitely spent with them.

After this I included two more pics. One of Enrico's Dad, Pietro, with Giovanni. Then Enrico's Mum, Anna, with Ludovica and Enrico peeking through the pic.

This was on Anna's birthday. We celebrated at Enrico's sister's place. Gabriella and her husband Nicola live in Catanzaro, about an hour away on the eastern coast.

I was very happy eating Anna's cuisine. I think her favourite thing to help me with was to make sure that I stopped talking at lunch and kept eating...ha ha ha... I would talk, as usual, and she would look at me and say "Mangia, mangia"...no, really. She seems stern (like you Mum!) but is fun and sweet (also like you Mum!), she'd help me with my Italian and laugh at the funny things I would try to say and then explain them to me. When Pietro would step in, she would shush him and tell him that he was confusing me. hehehe

Pietro on the other hand, is quiet and gives fun glances and shrugs when something's going on. On the way to Enrico's soccer game one day he said, I always drive, do you want to drive? I said, suuuure, why not, I love driving....so, we have to get on the highway and go through tunnels in the mountains with scary death cliffs beside us all the while Italians zip past me at 180 km/hr....did I mention that I am driving a panda (Panda- see smallest, cutest car ever in the dictionary).

Good times!

Since I've been away from Toronto for a month, apparently I didn't hear about the fact that the Toronto Education Board was voting on and has agreed to implement "Black Focus" Schools.

At first thought, I said to myself, ok, if the majority of Black students are dropping out of highschool, something has to be done...however, this isn't the United States...what will the curriculum consist of, how will it be advantageous, how will this address the root of the problem, large socio-economic gaps in Toronto communities?
Too many questions...will this produce other ethnic-focused schools and a strange, supposedly 'education' oriented, type of contemporary segregation.

What did the Toronto Education Board base their decisions on? Why aren't they recommending a revision to the ENTIRE public school curriculum and inclusion of more studies on Africa and the African Diaspora??

Wouldn't all students benefit from a more global curriculum?

I don't know enough yet to form my opinion, but I'm certainly interested, having been a teacher, to know more and see how this will affect students in the GTA.

Some opinions include:

http://orvillelloyddouglas.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/its-official-toronto-board-of-education-agrees-to-open-black-focus-school/

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/5/126581.html?1201721709

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080108/black_focused_school_080108/20080108hub=TorontoHome

http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/tvoparents/index.cfm?page_id=483&event_id=1265

Mum, here is your next installment of fotos: Enrico and I in his apartment in Cosenza looking fine! Then you have Rome, Piazza del popolo...Rommmmmaaaaaaa. Followed by Enrico's wild and crazy soccer team! Lastly, the forum in Rome...my favourite place in Rome tied with the Pantheon.

Hi Mum, These are Enrico's niece and nephew, Ludovica and Giovanni. So freaking adorable! Ludovica would accompany me, by the hand, to the washroom at her house whenever I needed to go. And as you can see, Giovanni is the happiest, calmest baby ever...with awesome hair! Then, there is a picture with Enrico's neighbours in Maratea and the last is of the Amalfian coast (southwest coast). The neighbours, Alessandro and Giulia, are sooooo funny...they have two girls, Martina and Gaia who I would visit often.

"The one good thing about not seeing you is that I can write you letters"
~Svetlana Alliluyeva

"What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call" ~Liz Carpenter


In Spain I learned to revive the handwritten letter. We used to send them between Murcia and Madrid like crazy because our parents wouldn't let us talk on the phone (too expensive)...friends from the beach we were missing who would fill us in on all the novedades! I even exchanged addresses one night in Salamanca on a school trip with a girl from Andalucia...I thought she would forget all about what she had said, but sure enough, I got a letter in the mail and continued to stay in contact with her for some time, even though we never met again.

This evening I opened the door and on the stairs was a letter waiting for me. My little eskimo eyes peeped open and I snatched it up off the stairs. I waited til I got upstairs, sat down (but with my coat on), and I opened it.

I like to imagine the voice of the writer, look at the penmanship for signs of emotion and re-read the sentences that strike me the most.

I loved this letter and I'll share a few reasons why:
...it was from Enrico and he writes in such a lovely and unique way. The beginning of his sentences cause intrigue and I find myself looking to the following words to discover where he is going with his thoughts and by the end of the sentence, I find myself surprised, laughing, happy!

I think it's a shame to discredit letters by never writing at least one...even in the same city...the least you can do is confuse one of your friends and that is worth a laugh, isn't it?!


"I consider it a good rule for letter-writing to leave unmentioned what the recipient already knows, and instead tell him something new"
~Sigmund Freud

"I have received no more than one or two letters in my life that were worth the postage"
~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Ok, I'm gonna admit the truth...I did not go inside the Vatican. The cue was longer than the one for heaven, I'm sure of it...and it was kind of cold...so, the Pope and I will play hide and seek another day.

Next, Enrico and Kate in Naples, pensive...who was that statue guy???? jajaja (picture to follow soon)

Not unlike the rest of the world, my family and my life experiences growing up largely shaped me into the person that I am now...of course I'm still growing, but the person that most people know me to be is a result of some key players and experiences in my life.
I remember at one point, when I was younger, reflecting on my parents' separation; my Dad moving all around the world, my Mum working so much and so hard at her job all the while trying to keep me in-line and I remember thinking, I don't feel that I ever lacked anything and that I wouldn't have changed any of it for my personal gain because everything that I experienced shaped me and prepared me to deal with life the way I do. Maybe I would have asked God to change it for my parents, but even they had their own roads to travel and learn from, no?

I'm still about 40 pages away from the end of Pirandello's novel One, No one and One hundred thousand. While reading it, I couldn't help but directly relate myself to Pirandello's dialogue...I thought of who I know myself to be, how other people perceive me and what I know to be true or false about both.

A little over a year ago, someone challenged one of my very serious flaws and it shook me. I've not been the same since...I think I've improved.
A short time after this imposed but welcomed realisation, one evening, I noticed a person in the conversational circle that I was partaking in, listening to me dialogue in Spanish, looking at me...even appearing to understand me regardless of the language I was using. I thought to myself, what lovely bright eyes and such a fantastic smile looking at me! But does this person have a clue as to what I am saying, I don't think they even understand Spanish!?!

On the last day of that same year, I found myself stepping off a plane. Not unusual yet. Wait for it, wait for it....in Rome (ITALY), where I would spend 3 weeks with that same bright-eyed, curious, attentive, intuitive, mildly crazy individual. With hindsight, I can recount moments that surely affected the transition of my feelings but are in no way a product of simple addittion...from that of surprise from noticing the vibrant yet kind of crazy person smiling at me in a busy, barely lit room, to that of nervous laughter as we spoke and slow-danced-a-little-too-close (consequently causing me to sweat profusely) in a busy american airport, to the relaxed saunter directly into my birthday party together despite fatigue from the transatlantic flight/lack of luggage and months of waiting to be within whispering distance, and finally, to the strangely comfortable feeling of rolling my many suitcases, accompanied by a newly acquired friend/complete stranger from the plane (who's father had just passed away and needed a ride to the train station in Rome)toward this person who has so much to offer and exchange...who was waiting for me (!) in the early morning hours of the last day of the year(!).

Lastly, and what is more, when we met...I can recall thinking that something strong was happening...and in fact, it is...


JOVANOTTI
DOVE HO VISTO TE
E le mie gambe han camminato tanto
E la mia faccia ha preso tanto vento
E coi mie occhi ho visto tanta vita
E le mie orecchie tanta ne han sentita
E le mie mani hanno applaudito il mondo
Perchè il mondo è il posto dove ho visto te
Dove ho visto te
E le mie ossa han preso tante botte
E ho vinto e perso dentro tante lotte
Mi sono steso su tante lenzuola
Cercando il fuoco dentro a una parola
E le mie mani hanno applaudito il mondo
Perchè il mondo è il posto dove ho visto te
Dove ho visto te
E c'è una parte dell' america
Che assomiglia a te
Quei grandi cieli senza nuvole
Con le farfalle e con le aquile
E c'è una parte dentro all' africa
Che assomiglia a te
Una leonessa coi suoi cuccioli
Che lotta sola per difenderli
E le mie braccia hanno afferrato armi
E tanta stoffa addosso a riscaldarmi
E nel mio petto c'è un motore acceso
Fatto per dare più di quel che ha preso
E le mie mani hanno applaudito il mondo
Perchè il mondo è il posto dove ho visto te
Dove ho visto te
E c'è una parte della mia città
Che assomiglia a te
Quella dei bar con fuori i tevolini
E del silenzio di certi giardini
E c'è una parte della luna
Che assomiglia a te
Quella dove si specchia il sole
Che ispira musica e parole
Baciami
Mangiami
Lasciami
Prendimi
Scusami
Usami
Credimi
Salvami
Sentimi
E c'è una parte della vita mia
Che assomiglia a te
Quella che supera la logica
Quella che aspetta un'onda anomala
E c'è una parte in amazzonia
Che assomiglia a te
Quelle acque calde e misteriose
Le piante medicamentose

Unas fotikos mas....

The Pantheon blows my mind. punto final.

e poi....la chiamaremo "ROOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooma"

Sunday. Bobby and Krista make it to Toronto. We're all stuck inside...what to do? Put on 20 shirts, LJ's, toque and gloves and WALK TO GET MOVIES/PIZZA etc etc...essentials for a snow day!

...I think it's almost my favourite song...Neil Young 'Harvest Moon'.
I don't know exactly what it is that I love about this song so much...maybe the ebb and flow of the rhythm. I heard it first as a teenager and I've never stopped loving it...

With Christmas fast approaching, so are many exciting things...
I get to see my Dad. I haven't seen him in well over a year!! Not only that, I get to spend Christmas with him, Marie, Val and Keisha!
I also get to see the scemo, in Italia, que felicidad! Looking forward to meeting his family and friends, andando por la calle con el and even hearing his karaoke. I must be crazy (!). My Aunt Marina seems to be on to what my friends are thinking as in a recent email she posed the question....you didn't give me the return date from your time in Italy....you are coming back, aren't you? jajajaja

I'm going to miss my Mum this year, but we are gonna have our own Toronto post-Christmas celebration which will be great!!


"Bring what has made you who you are and bring it, neither in pride nor in embarassment, but in order to offer it as a gift. It's possible to say to God, 'Use what my experience and my mistakes and false starts have made me in order to let your transfiguring love show through' ".
-Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

As a kid, when my Dad was home from work, he loved to prepare breakfast for me in the mornings (I used to be a morning person, and my mood still cooperates with the morning...my body, not so much!). He would ask me what I wanted for breakfast...and before I could even respond, he would say, Oatmeal? Of course, I love oatmeal...so the answer was often, YES!
We would get the packets of brown sugar oatmeal, incidentally my favourite, and read the quote on the package...sort of like a fortune cookie experience, but at 8:00 am.

When no one was around to see me doing it, I would often empty out the box of oatmeal packets and read all of the quotes then, shove them back in the box and wait to see what i would get when I next had oatmeal.

Why am I writing about oatmeal??? This morning, I had oatmeal. It was disappointing. THERE WAS NO QUOTE ON MY OATMEAL PACKET. Hmmph. I will be certain to tell my Dad this in a week and I am sure that he will also be astonished.

I'd be putting a comment in the oatmeal comment box if I knew where it were or that it existed.

But enough about that, I like oatmeal...boiling water, mix, splash of milk and brown sugar drizzled on top!!

yo recibi un
soneto de ti en el
alba mi amor

...que gusto sentirte y descubrirte al despertar...

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS FERNANDO!!!!!!

Querido Padre Espanol,

En mi cuarto tengo una foto de la familia en frente de los piramides, pero en el salon tengo una foto de ti con Iris y yo en el balcon de la casa de Santa Cruz del Retamar...nosotras vestidas con la ropa de Belinda de cuando era joven y tu, con tus ojos brillantes, riendote de nosotras.

Ojala vuelva a verte prontisimo, con esta sonrisa tuya tan contagiosa, para decirte yo misma cuan feliz haces a todos a tu alrededor.

Me encanta recordar como nos harias a cada uno un vaso de zumo de naranja fresco cada manana. Yo me decia, cuanta suerte pueda tener un hijo en esta vida como para tener un padre que se le cuida a la familia con tanto carino. Vaya.

Felicitaciones Fernando y gracias.

Te queremos todos.

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.
-Swami Sivananda

Leave it to Woody Allen...the man has talent.

"If Jesus came back and saw what's going on in his name, he'd never stop throwing up"
Woody Allen, Hannah and Her Sisters

"Let you alone! That's all very well, but how can I leave myself alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?"

Fahrenheit 451...I remember reading it for the first time, turning every page with fervor...

Yesterday, during an interview, a woman told me about how she posted for community prayer that people pray for those who want to pray but aren't able to. Later she was approached by someone who thanked her and said that it meant a lot to him because one of his parent's had alzheimer's and probably wasn't able to pray anymore alone given the mental status taken by the disease.

Tears were filling my eyes as she told me this. My Mum lost her Dad to Alzheimer's and my last memory of my Grandpa was from a time when we visited him in the hospital. He had such a sweet, gentle smile. I remember my Mum saying, Dad, it's me, Diana.

I later thought about my Grandmother's funeral service. It was held at the Lutheran Church in Norquay, just down the street from my Grandma's house. Everyone came. The Church was filled and I felt so much love and concern for her. She was so soft and lovely. I was happy thinking about how she'd finally see my Grandpa again after so long without him.

Once, on the phone, she said to me...Kate, all of my grandchildren are talented and beautiful but you are the only graceful one. I'll never forget hearing her compliment that because I always felt that it was a quality passed from her to my Mother and from my Mother to me.

It's simple what this woman asked of the congregation and at the same time it is extremely thoughtful...those people who would like to pray but perhaps aren't able to, given circumstances, that we pray for them, that their thoughts, voices and prayers are heard.

I really appreciated that this woman shared this story with me.