Happy to be Home Again

All travelling TLs and friends are home now and, despite exhaustion and, in my case, a marked limping, we have been flung back into the fray of the work of schools (and accounting). It was a wonderful excursion. In addition to feet unequal to the task of walking all day long, I have learned that one or more of us suffered from Stendhal Syndrome -- that was the day Frances ran in distress through the Uffizi Gallery muttering about it being all too much, Jan went to look for her, Chris and Joanne were nowhere to be seen, and I wandered off into Florence in a fog, wondering if I would ever find them again. Stendahl Syndrome is also called Florentine Syndrome and is a common reaction to too much beauty, particularly evident in people who go to the Uffizi. Why didn't we know this before we went in!

News of the conference, you ask? Highlights will follow when jet lag and work-related shock have abated. I miss my daily gelati, pizza to die for, wine with lunch, and waking up laughing because my roommates were so much fun. It's hard to believe: five days in an apartemente in medieval Trastevere, above a bar, five days on an agriturismo (an olive farm) near Florence with drivers Beppe and Lorenzo to cart us off to unimaginable sights and shopping, three days in Venice in a five-star hotel where the room overlooked Venice and the pool on the roof looked out on the Adriatic and forever and vaporettos took us to unimaginable sights and shopping, and a conference that put our world of school libraries into the international context.

Life here in BC pales beside the Italian reality of walking daily through grade 8 history, of hot hot days and balmy evenings out in the piazzas and the narrow streets and steep hills, of shop windows each a tribute to Italian instincts for design and beauty, of the many Santa Marias de Tutti, of galleries and of days spent shopping for the ones we left behind. But my feet and my psyche, damaged by Stendhal Syndrome, are in need of the rest that sees me walk to the car, from the car to the elevator, from the elevator to my new little cubicle with a view of the intersection of Broadway and Granville where I can ponder all that I have seen and learned. I haven't had time to think ... only to remember a truly amazing experience with some dear dear teacher-librarians and an accountant with stamina.

Thanks, all, for the company and adventures you created. We are going to get together soon to compile the photo account and divvy up the writing about the conference.

Dispersing the Frenzy of Travellers

I got up with Frances this morning at 3:30 to see her off to the airport. Here's the proof she's coming home ... we will miss her terribly, not only here but in the days that follow. This wouldn't have been the remarkable and hilarious event without her and her wonderful expertise in all things Italian (except animals). We thank her family for enabling her to be part of this, both the travelling and the conference.

Here are Frances and Mary hanging out with Ray Doiron. Canadians were a strong presence at the conference.

Here are Chris and Frances, with our new TL friend Karen from Sweden, hanging out with Aidan Chambers.

Word has been received that Jan has arrived home exhausted after a wonderful day in Paris. Joanne has checked in, or is that old news ... back to work in next to no time, as we will be by Tuesday next week.

Mary has left to meet up again with her friend Lindsay. She'll be back on Monday. Chris and I had intended to head off to Verona or Vicenza today (it's Saturday) BUT have opted instead to spend the day enjoying Abano Teme. This is a small but lovely town, unlike any other Italian place we have been. It is a spa town, with many hotels that sit atop the geothermal waters of the region, a town that is always full of older German tourists as it is a well-known health destination. The menus are in Italian and sometimes have German translations. As with every Italian town, the streets are full of strolling people ... these are seniors and the language is often German.

Just one day of relaxing ... after a busy but indescribably beautiful "learning" holiday in this wonderful country of Italy. I for one will be signing up for Italian classes. Guess I shouldn't have had that espresso with Frances before she left. It's 5:50 am now and I think I will be running out of steam today. This may be a good thing so I can get to sleep early as tomorrow is the day Chris and I have to get up at 3:30 am.

This is me "graduating" from the University of Padua. Did I mention we studied in the same room Galileo taught mathematics in? See you all soon.

Here in Padua and Abano Terme

Darn! I posted this to the wrong blog. Only if you check the TLSpecial blog would you know that we arrived, some left, others came, to Padua and Abano Terme ... and I have only just discovered the problem. Given the internet costs and time constraints, I thought I had a least kept you up to date on where we were and who was with us. Anyway, I am relocated the blog entry from several days ago now ...

I have finally decided I can't live without paying for the internet which is mercifully just a little bit cheaper here at the conference at 17 euros for 24 hours. Joanne left us, and Jan too. Joanne, we understand, is now safely home and Jan will be in Paris. Mary has now joined us.

Yesterday we were taken for our day-long pre-c0nference event at the University of Padua where, amongst other speakers, and in the room where Galileo lectured, we heard Aidan Chambers and all became fans. Find out more about him by searching online ... or read my summary from the Fall Bookmark because he was at UBC last summer.

David DiGregorio, attending the IASL Conference from Tenafly, NJ, has just posted this to the LM_Net: AIDEN CHAMBERS speaks to IASL at the Palazzo del Bol - in the same hall that Galileo lectured his students in the 1590s! Click here to see it "on demand."

David also filmed Frances interpreting for an interview with an artist whose best friend influenced his work and who is Frances's favourite children's writer. That link will follow, I am sure.

Just wanted to let you know we are alive and well and all pressed to find even a few moments to get caught up on email, blogging, or keeping our affairs in order. I have absolutely got no time to insert photos so this will have to wait. I have to run to find everyone before they discover my absence from the conference venues. Fortunately, my feet will undergo less stress and should shortly be returned to their normal appearance.