Click Below & Watch My Slide Show - It's All About the Students!

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-049c-8b1e-4a47?lm

Enjoy Some Music and Good Times We Had

Our Last Day in Monopoli

TOM, MARLENE & ADULTS

OUR FINAL PM - TOUR OF CITY

 “If you have an apple, and I have an apple and we exchange apples, we each have one apple. 

But if you have an idea, and I have an idea, and we exchange ideas, we each have two ideas.”

Each day the Global Volunteer team focuses on a reflection or what we call our ‘thought for the day’. The above George Bernard Shaw quote exemplifies our mission here in Monopoli. Each day, we acquire new thoughts and ideas from our students and in turn we impart our philosophies, viewpoints and knowledge. We now have hundreds of bushels of ideas. Who learns the most? Whose bushels are filled to brim and whose are only half full?

Suffice it to say that our bushel is overflowing.

Knowledge is knowing that something is hot - wisdom is remembering the feel of the blister

 This is another one of our thoughts for the day that leaves one pondering.

STUDENTS - A SNACK IN THE COURTYARD

On this final day, the volunteers seem pensive and somewhat preoccupied. I can still remember the first time I volunteered and my ‘last day’ mood. The final day is one of emotion – feelings that are comprised of this emotion, gratitude, and lasting impressions of the difference one has made. These feelings also include a twinge of guilt, because we always tend to think we take more than we give. I believe this is untrue – just remember the bushels of ideas – it is definitely a win win for us, teachers and most of all, the students.

Enough of the philosophical bantering, just what did we do our last day?
• A full morning at school, complete with lessons in the courtyard. It was a warm sunny day. We continued to help the students translate the Monopoli guidebook they are writing.
• Lunch at a piazza bar – bar food is great. The menu is varied and you can pick and choose. One of us had pasta with pesto sauce, another munched on a panino made with mozzarella, tomato and prosciutto and I had a variety of appetizers. All this was polished down with water, green olives, peanuts and corn nuts. Alas, there was no room for gelato. It is just as well because Rino, our chef at the Hotel Clio is serving chocolate mousse tonight.
• We had no afternoon adult tutoring session on Friday – we wished our adult students a tearful good bye yesterday. They wanted more conversations and so did we. We need to remember to watch Italy’s Got Talent this fall to see the Brothers & Sisters sing their gospel music. Sylvia, one of our students, sings with the group. If they win, they receive no money, contract, etc. Instead money goes to the charity of their choice.
• In the afternoon, the principal took us for a three hour tour of the ‘centro storico’. High school students and teachers also joined the group. We had a perfect ending to our day – a beautiful sunset from an ancient castle overlooking the Adriatic Sea, watching the fishing boats dock and unload.
• For cena, Rino prepared our favorite dishes and Rita, our Italian teacher and dear friend stopped in to say goodbye. Then it was off to bed, because two of us have a 4 AM pickup, while one remains behind to see the sights for most of the day.

I know of only one way to close

 BELLISSIMO