Days 32 and 33 (Thursday and Friday)

My Thursday was very productive all around. After my run, I read all my art history before lunch. Then, in painting, I completely changed the content in one of my paintings by adding in some intensely large pieces of fruit overlapping some already painted and also intensely large legs and feet. Arms and hands, and legs and feet are my new favorite forms to paint, in gestural, large-scale, colorful ways. I added the fruit to liven up the composition and add a bit of naturalistic color. Immediately after painting, I went to the book making studio to finish my preparations for class the next day, and then immediately after that, I finally went to the gelato place, called La Dolce Vita. I would have gone after dinner, but it closes while we are eating in the restaurant because we eat dinner so late. I figured a little delicious gelato could not spoil my appetite. I actually ended up getting some amazing and refreshing tart frozen yogurt, which was delicious cold perfection. What makes me love this gelato place even more is that 1) You get a card that the gelato guy stamps each time you buy an ice cream. After nine stamps, you get a free gelato! 2) The gelato guy was making beautiful sculptures out of apples! Wow! After my first gelato (although technically frozen yogurt) experience in Cortona, I went to dinner and eventually went to bed. What a day!
Yay Friday! Although Friday is my longest day of the week, I was very excited to finally meet my Italian third graders! Today in art ed, we were going to the elementary school in Cortona to introduce ourselves to our class. I was extremely nervous because I was sure I was going to completely mess up all the Italian phrases I had rehearsed and the students were going to make fun of me. The school is located all the way down our hill and then down another hill, near where we eat dinner each night. Walking into the school, I could immediately tell that the school was a warm and nurturing environment. I could also tell that the classes were much louder and more rambunctious than any classroom in the states, simply from hearing students’ wild chatter through the walls from the school lobby. Rebecca, the print-making professor, warned us about this because her daughters are in the Italian school system. We each nervously made our way to our respective classrooms. When my co-teacher and I walked into the third grade classroom, I immediately fell in love with the cutest and liveliest faces looking back at me. There were only twelve students there and I immediately discovered that two of them are actually from England and are bilingual in Italian and English (Phew). We each introduced ourselves with the books we made and explained that we will be designing superheroes and comics based on the theme of community. We then took photographs of each student to help us learn their names, which include Romina, Sofia, Thomas, Francesca, Veronica, Samuele among others…I just LOVE their names. I am now pumped to teach them and have some serious motivation to study up on my Italian. Our meeting was brief; afterwards, all the art ed teachers and I met back up in the lobby and the school presented us with biscotti and meringues. I adore this school. In bookmaking later that afternoon, we are finally putting our books together. We are learning the steps of how to attach the book cloth onto the book board (kind of like wrapping a present), the decorative inner paper, and the optional inlay on the cover. I am attaching one of my vintage photographs as the inlay on my first book. I am very excited for the final product of this project. Later that night after dinner, many of us went to the local pub, Lion’s Well, where it happened to be Karioke Night. This pub reminds me of a hobit’s house in Lord of the Rings, not that I am a fan of that movie. But the pub is adorable with its super low arched ceiling lined with stone. I feel like I have to duck my head while walking though it. It was a lovely Friday, but once again, it was sad not to have Jews to celebrate Shabbat with. I hope someone out there is eating challah for me!