Italy, Robotics in Romania & Vienna

May 28th, 2011 -
Hey there folks....sorry it has been such a long time and i will try and get updates out this weekend as i am running out of time to get them done....school is ending in two weeks....yep...two weeks and i am so excited...of course i will miss all of the cool folks i have become friends with and i know a trip to croatian coast will not be so easy from china....but it is time to move on and see another continent....

at the moment i am trying to get all of the end of the year and moving stuff done...i have hired and moving company and am hoping to start the shipping process as of june 13th or 14th and then i hope to head south to see two final countries before leaving this area of the world...macedonia and montenegro....wish me luck....i am also now working on my chinese visa...incredible that i need to be there by the end of july....my time in the states will be very short....four weeks in total....so let me know if you want to try and get together this summer...east coast only...PA, NJ and maybe if i am very, very lucky NYC....will keep all of you posted....

the update you see below is from march & april...i did a bunch of traveling with my friend wendy in italy....she stopped by on her way back to the states from a summer season at the pole....i also got to go back to romania for a robotics competition...and i made it to vienna where i saw my friend carolyn from croatia and watched my friend dan finish his first ever marathon...woot!
on to the pictures....
wendy and i started our italian weekend in udine...a cute little town about three hours from croatia....i love all of the bikes you see in all italian towns....and they are always parked next to beautiful buildings....

this building was the town hall place and had some courts involved as well...i just really liked the clock on the top....just elegant....plus, it was a sunshiny day!

just about noon we had the roman cocktail as my friend bruno calls it....everyone was having one....i have to say i was not a huge fan....campari and soda i think...plus a free bowl of potato chips....it was great to sit in the piazza, in the sun watching the italian world go by....from the crazy dressed people to the kids in strollers and the kids getting out of school and of course the dogs and people on bikes.....just a great spot to people watch....

from udine we headed to padua...or as the italians call it padova....as we parked the car within the old city walls we saw this man playing his baby grand in front of one of the churches....definitely not something you see everyday...it was fun to have a gelatto cone and listen to him play....

as we were wandering the streets of padua....the birth town of saint anthony i might add, more on that later....we saw this incredible statue....i loved it...wendy was not a fan, but i just had to include the picture....reminds me of sinead o'connors really short haircut....and its probably some saint i just insulted.....sigh....
in padua's main part of town there were these two amazing markets....you could find anything in them from clothes to fruit to cheeses of all sizes and smells and of course meats and veggies....the markets were surrounded by these amazing towers and the italian flag was hanging from the buildings as you will see below...it was cool....

we walked into a random church....as there are always many in italian towns...and saw this one of a kind lectern...it was a really cool church that had a nature theme and trees and animals were incorporated into the church and the altar...i really liked it...this represented mother nature....

here is one of the buildings with the italian flag hanging along it....amazing....as you can see a part of the market is located in front of this....i loved this market and really liked this cobbled stone part of town....
and then we visited the church of saint anthony...his tomb is there and many pilgrims were stopping by to pray to him....you could also go visit the relics they had of him in the back of the church...most of which i could deal with....except for the vase/jar-thingy that contained his teeth....yep, i said teeth...and man, his teeth were not straight when he was alive...saint or no saint....it was interesting to see his robes and the church itself is incredible, both in size and beauty....it was a unexpected stop and experience....i never knew he was from padua....

this picture above is in vienna and is of me and my friend carolyn....we wandered around the nash market....we even found a turkish man selling burek and fresh oj....i got to spend two hours with carolyn and her mom, wandering the streets of one of the most perfect cities in the world....way too perfect for me....but a great visit with carolyn....

i had to include a shot from one of the veggie vendor's stalls....so many pretty colors and tasty food to try....the thing that was in at the moment in vienna was fresh wild garlic....i had some soup later with it...oh my goodness...YUMMY!!!!!

this picture is one of the robotics team....after they won the competition....WON I SAID!!!!! they were all rewarded with a round of laser tag....i love this shot because i told them to all aim at me....and as you can see, some of them took it really seriously...and they are the ones who are getting the best grades in my classes.....hmmmm....what does this say....maybe i really am a hard teacher.....hahahahahahaha....

and here i give you one of the winning robots of the winning team composed of sofia and us...our team was nicknamed the bearbots..it was an amazing competition and i hope i get to do it in china....we'll see....we had a blast and it was icing on the cake that the kids won and that i got to see some of my friends and past students at AISB in romania....some of my past kids even participated against our team....it rocked!!!!

this last shot is me with a large door knocker of a church in padua....actually the one the guy playing the piano was in front of....the church was huge, as were the door knockers...they didn't move, which is why you can see them holding me up....i know, i know...no beer in this shot, but i didn't really have beer on this trip....i was too busy having prosecco....sparkling wine in italy...it is the beginning of summer after all....

okay....that's all the news at the moment....i will be trying to get another update out this weekend... probably my last before the summer break and then the next update out will come from china....a NEW experience in total....hopefully all of you are well and i will get to see some of you over the summer in the states while i am in town....remember...get in touch if you would like to get together....sorry again for the slacker update schedule....hope to have the next out in a few days....scotland.....green, green, green....and don't forget the kilts....peace out....