Adventure Buddies

5 Days in Italy

I have always enjoyed road trips and discovering new places and it is much more fun when you have someone to do it with!  Becca is my adventure buddy; we have been on a number of adventures from foiling pickpockets to tracking down where the number 7 tram goes. Over our week long Spring Break at the beginning of April my adventure buddy and I set out to explore Italy! So here are a few shots of our discoveries.
We began with 2 days in Milan
Travelling tip #1 It is better to fly really early in the morning and pay a little extra than fly in really late and have to pay for an extra nights stay and try and find transit at 1am

We began our first day in Milan with going to see some of Leonardo da Vinci's work inlcuding the Last Supper.

The Last Supper
Note these are not pictures of the actual masterpiece since no photos are allowed and it is under tight security. Rather these are shots of a replica in the hall before going in to see the actual piece. It is something to see. Painted by Leonardo DaVinci completed in 1498. It measures 15 ft × 29 ft and covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Jesus' feet were actually taken out when they chose to enlarge the door to the kitchen! (Hence why most replicas cut off the bottom of the table)

  Santa Maria delle Grazie

 Fanciest McDonalds I have ever seen

Duomo di Milano - Cathedral in Milan

The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the fourth largest cathedral in the world and the largest in the Italian state territory.

 
Duomo inside and out. We even went up on the roof!

 

 

 

 Castello Sforzesco - aka Sforza Castle


 Do you see what I see?
Found these faces grinning back at me in various places and had to take snap shots.

 

 

Yup got to see a Ferrari in Italy

 La Scala Opera house. We didn't get to go inside but maybe next time.

 

So that was Milan. We then took a train to Verona where we stayed for two days.
Will post about Verona next!

Computer is at the Doctors

Note****
My computer has fallen ill and is now being operated on by the computer doctors (for real this is the name of the company that is fixing my computer) As a result there has been a delay in the completion of newsletter writing, photo editing and blog posting. Stay tuned for more once computer is fixed and healthy again!

Catching Up

Springing Ahead

So much has happened in such a short amount of time, leaving very little time to write about it all. So a  recap of my Spring adventures thus far.

Picking out the Treasure from the Trash

At the end of March I was blessed to have my parents come visit. After a short term mission trip to Albania, Croatia, and Poland they came to visit for a few days before heading home. Although their visit was brief we managed to pack in a lot of excitement.

On their first day here the plan was to see the sights which included a trip up to Prague Castle. I invited along one of my friends who I often set out on adventures with and has been deemed my fellow adventure buddy. We ventured out early to catch the tram to the castle. Tram 22 is the tourist tram since it hits the main tourist attractions. For this reason it is also affectionately known to locals as the pick-pocket-tram since it is always quite packed and full of pick-pockets and tourists right for the picking.

With this in mind we squeezed onto the crowded tram and by the time we reached the castle my Father discovered his pocket had been picked and his wallet was gone!
Great sadness fell heavy upon me, all plans for showing my parents a wonderful time seemed to have slipped away. We returned to the hotel so Dad could call to cancel his credit card and I sat down rather defeated and disappointed that this is the memory my parents would take home with them about their visit to Prague. A city I have grown to love and my parents had unfortunately been exposed to its ugly underbelly. Mom in her wisdom shared with me the song that was running through her head "Praise God from whom all Blessings Flow". I looked at her in disbelief and stated I don't know how this could ever be called a blessing. In my head all I could see was a ruined day that seemed irreparable.

As I sat pondering ways to salvage our day I recalled a discussion I had previously with co-workers about the nature of Prague pick-pockets. Often their goal is quick cash so they will grab the cash and toss the rest. With this theory in mind I suggested to my adventure buddy that perhaps if we did a little dumpster diving we may be able to find the lost wallet. Tracing back through our trip we narrowed down the possible location where the picking may have occurred. When we had got on the tram, it was very crowded and there was this guy who kept pressing up against us, weaving around us, and acting very, very suspicious. He got off at the next stop. After that, Dad had sat down. So, we were pretty sure we knew Mr. Pick-Pocket had gotten off at the second stop. So, Adventure Buddy and I left Mom and Dad at the hotel to rest and pray for a miracle and we set out to do a little trash can excavating.

After searching every bin around the tram stop we headed down into the metro to check the bins down there. It was there in a bin next to an ATM we found a wallet! Not Dad's wallet but this got us thinking about where to look and so going above ground we proceeded to go down the street and check each can by the ATM's to no avail. Seemed that inevitably the wallet was lost and I declared surrender, it was time to give up and go back. So we headed to a tram stop across the street which happened to have two more trash cans. Well why not look since we were here.

First can nothing... second can I reached in to retrieve a black, nasty gum covered wallet. I was sure Dad's wallet was brown or burgundy so didn't have high hopes, but I opened it up to discover indeed this was Dad's wallet!!!! "Praise God from whom all Blessings Flow!" I declared rather loudly. All credit cards, driver license and important pieces of id were still intact. The only thing missing was the wad of receipts Dad had kept from their trip. We assume that the thief had just grabbed the receipts thinking there had to be cash in the wad and tossed the wallet at the next convenient tram stop. Unfortunately for the thief Dad was not carrying any cash for this leg of their trip and Mr. Pick-pocket ended up with nothing.Many praises were lifted up to the Lord for this small miracle. Somewhat like searching for a needle in a haystack God blessed us with showing us how much he cares even about the little things. We managed to salvage our day with some good food and going to the less touristy places of Prague. This little experience reminded me about how Great a God we serve and that nothing is too little or insignificant to bring to God in prayer. 

 

 

We went to Aneta's place of work for coffee. Aneta is from Prague but spent a summer working at Davison's Orchard in Vernon with my parents. She also was our tour guide on Monday when we returned to see the castle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom and Dad even got to come to school for a little bit and meet my students. The kids were very excited to have Mr. and Mrs. Robinson come visit.



It was great to be able to share my world with my family.

Becoming Writers

I think one of the many joys of being a first grade teacher is getting to watch the kids develop their writing skills. While two of my students are in English Language Classes learning to speak English I have two students who are more advanced in their English speaking and now are learning to write. Here is a shot of the creativity that comes out of young minds :)

Lily the cow came from a lesson where we were learning about the /ow/ sound and all the words that make that sound: now how, down, town, brown, cow... Somehow it came about that we should name the cow in the poster and then write a story about her. So now I give you Lily the cow.

 

The fat cat sat on the mat

The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat

When first grade children are learning how to read many of the books they begin with use rhyming and pattern words, which make decoding a sentence easier. By following a pattern students are able to develop confidence in their reading. Many of these books contain three letter words that have short vowel sounds, such as can, fan, cat and sat. A common pattern in many primary primer books contains the -at family including cat, rat, sat, mat and fat. Many of the beginner books in my class contain phrases such as "The fat cat sat on the mat."
  I have been a primary teacher for the past 4 years and have never thought twice about the impact the word fat may have on my students. Indeed the pictures portray a plump cat that is sitting on a mat. However this past week I encountered a potential problem with teaching this phrase.
Currently our class is learning about our school community and who works at our school. When visiting the high school my class got to meet Mr. B. a man of large size and stature. Upon returning to class we reviewed the people we had met that day; when we got to Mr. B's name on the list one of my little girls stated matter-of-factly, "He is fat." I quickly reacted to this statement by agreeing that Mr. B. is a big man but that it is impolite to call someone fat. We had a wonderful teaching moment about how God has created us all to look differently and to be different shapes and different sizes.
  When I shared this with some of my colleagues at the end of the day it got me thinking about the terms we use to describe different things.Now in North American culture there is no harm in pointing out the obvious obesity of a cat; although in our politically correct era you would never dare point out the size of another person.
The joy of teaching small children is that they call things the way that they see them. Just that now I feel a little more for that fat cat on the mat.

Confessions of a First Grade Teacher

I often tip my hat to middle school teachers and sing their praises as I believe it takes a special person to pour into the lives of pre-teens. However, each year that I continue to teach primary I recognize it too takes a special person to delight in caring for the small children. I seem to look past the runny noses and dependence on needing coats zipped and not being able to write a paragraph. Rather than seeing all the things they can't do I see all the things they are learning to do. Successes in sounding out letters to decode words, learning how to put letters together to write sentences and tell stories. SO much to discover and learn about their world.

Everything that is commonplace to us adults is new and fascinating to a young child. Perhaps it is somewhat like being a parent and watching their child grow and become aware of the world around them. Some days I do get tired of the runny noses and that they can't remember what comes after 29. Yet for all those moments there are many more wonderful ones where you get to watch them delight in how a fan can make a pin-wheel spin and how air pressure can make a syringe stopper fly across the room. Those moments where they are working on a colouring sheet and singing how they have hidden God's word in their heart. Those moments where if I don't write them down I am afraid I may forget them. It is in those moments that I smile and remember this is why I love my job and how God has made me special to be a primary teacher :)

Winter Is Finally Here

Although I was born on "The Island" and grew up with a number of green Christmas, for me, the winter season has always been equated with a good snowfall. This week the prayers of my students were answered with a days worth of snow, which stayed for more than a few hours. Enough to play with and to blanket the city in a refreshing layer of white. I think the songs that sing about being whiter than snow are striking when you think how white and how clean a fresh snowfall can be.

After a steady days worth of snow I ventured out into the city to capture the beauty of my first Prague Winter (even if it was a few months late in coming).