Parco Botanico Villa Rocca

Here are several photos from our little visit to Parco Botanico Villa Rocca (Botanical Gardens) here in Chiavari. It only costs 1 euro to get in, so we walked around and had a picnic lunch. Set on a beautiful hill, with plants from North America (how exotic), a view of the sea, waterfalls, and steps. Joanna will follow up with some of her flower shots.

ESL: Bowling and Pizza

A few weeks ago, we went bowling in Sestri with a few of our ESL students. Here are several pics from Jo's camera:

L-R: Jacob, Hannah, Rachel, Aziz

Jeannette and Alessandro (and Hannah)

That's the way she bowls...

Abby, Jeannette, Lee, Elijah, Jacob, and Aziz

Joanna and Hannah

Jacob

And this past Tuesday, after our Base and Intermedio classes, some of the students stayed for pizza at O Sole Mio Ristorante (where our classes are held.)

L-R: Mario, Elijah, Rachel, Jacob, Hannah, Aziz, Christian

Ordering

Joanna and Mario

Waiting for pizza

Luce

The whole group

Rachel, Hannah, and Abby

L-R: Rachel, Hannah, Abby, Alessandro, Aziz

Jacob

We plan to go bowling again on Tuesday with a few English students. We've also begun to meet with some of the students for coffee, where we just talk about life, and help them with their English while they they help us with our Italian.
Tomorrow we're heading to Milan for the day, and on Sunday, we're having a couple families over for lunch. :)
I'll end with an Italian phrase that, although not the best for ending a blog post, we use all the time when saying bye: Ci vediamo! (Chee ved-YAH-mo) It basically means, "We'll see you (later)!"

Ci scusate, amici! (Sorry, friends!)

Ciao tutti!

We are pathetically behind on posting! Our next posts are about ESL, upcoming outreach opportunities, and local and extralocal spots such as Parco Botanico Villa Rocca (the botanical gardens here), Santa Margherita and Portofino, Canelli (in the Piedmont region) where Lee Walti preached on a Sunday, Pisa, Viareggio where we went for Carnevale, and Moneglia.
While you wait for the aforementioned posts, here is a video of the family pet for your viewing pleasure :)

Lily, Abby's Italian gerbil:

Living in Italy - the 411

• Three words: No sales tax.
• Italians will observe and point out your lack of socks or any other wardrobe taboo: dress accordingly.
  
• Pay for your coffee after you drink it.
• Don't try to buy anything between 1-3 pm - nothing's open.
• Chocolate chocolate chocolate
  
• #1 gesture to learn: the no no finger wag (using no wrist motion)
• Wear a parka until the Spring equinox
• Plan your showers.
• The hello-goodbye baci (kisses): left cheek, right cheek
  
• motorino motorino motorino
  

To: Dad

Thank you for helping us with all the details of this trip and for helping us keep track of our taxes and scholarships and everything else while we are away. And thank you for your love and prayers. You're the best.

We miss you!

Love,
Joanna

a few of mine.

(from Monaco)

love,

joanna

I see Monaco, I see France

Good morning American friends!
On Feb. 18th, we drove up the Italian riviera into the small country of Monaco, then up the French riviera into Nice. Both are SO very beautiful; here are a "few" pics:

On the way to Monaco and Nice

Monaco

Steps to the theater and gardens

A great lunch spot :)

The Monocan coastline

Melodie

Hermes

St. Nicholas Cathedral (where Grace Kelly got married)

The palace

Nice, France

Opera theatre

____________

We also started our Base, Intermedio, and Avanzato ESL classes this past week. We've been busy prepping lessons and teaching, and so far it's going very well! The students who attend are quite friendly and open, and some of them are pretty funny.
Here are a couple pics from our Base and Intermedio classes:

Days of the week

Some of the Intermedio class

View of the upper and lower levels of the restaurant

____________

Since these pictures, we went to the Parco Botanico Villa Rocca here in Chiavari, and on Saturday, Santa Margherita and Portofino.
We are also starting our second week of ESL classes.
More posts up and coming!

ESL Classes

Hey everyone!
So after distributing well over 1000 fliers around town, on Tuesday and Wednesday we held sign-up for ESL at O' Sole Mio Ristorate. I believe there were around 32-35 people who called us or personally came in to fill out the form. Our students range from pre-teens to people in their 50s and 60s, from Moroccans to Sicilians, from quiet to the most talkative people I have ever met. Can't wait. Classes start on Tuesday, and all of tomorrow we will be preparing for teaching by going over the lessons, etc.

Today we took advantage of our last weekend before classes start and drove to the little country of Monaco and then to Nice, France. Both were really beautiful. We will post some pictures later. It's nice to get around and travel some, it keeps things interesting.

Hope y'all are doing well!

Love,
joanna

p.s. Not a huge fan of wine so far, but I'll try a few more before I say "guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". (pertaining to you, mother.)