You saw in our brand new teaser a place we’ve dubbed Magic Mountain (Bajardo).  Part of Bajardo’s magic comes from the old people who have endured a lifetime here.  I’ve written about 100-year-old Yolanda who smiled at us every day from her chair beside the restaurant she used to own. I’m happy she made a cameo in the teaser.

Yolanda's Office

But there was also this woman with the scarf on her head, who I became fixated on as I marched in an ancient procession in my final hours on the mountain top.  She was somber and pensive and as I walked with her, I wondered what she was thinking.

Lady of the procession

Video after the jump: (more…)

We tried and failed at coordinating an intro for our first bucket list video.  

So instead, some banjo instrumental for your listening pleasure.

I teach the oldest group at camp (12-year-olds), which is great because they know enough English that I can whip out my US Weekly and play games like, “Who Wore It Better?” (and my spin-off, “Whose Bottom is Bigger?”, Beyonce or Kim Kardashian?) and then challenge my class to competitive dodgeball.  I have no reservations about pegging a pre-teen boy and yelling, “You’re out!  Yes, your shirtsleeve counts as part of your body.  Get off the court.”

But outside of my group most of the kids are so young that our job is markedly similar to herding sheep — picking up stray members of the flock by their shirts and placing them back in line is commonplace.

The ONLY time I can get the 5-year-old “maternas” to sit still for minutes at a time is when we are playing “Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky”.  Here is a quick rendition.  My voice is similar to a boy’s during the late stages of puberty, but luckily for the youngins my self confidence is so high that I belt out tunes anyway.

Down by the Banks

Let 70 of us loose at an open mic tavern and this is the result. (@ La Cave in Sanremo, Italy)

Lynne and I are part of the ACLE teacher training staff this week and Perrin and Sarah are two of the 140 trainees from the around the world who have come to Sanremo to learn how to be an ACLE tutor in Italy. Next week we join forces to work together as tutors in an English immersion camp. Tomorrow is D-Day when our fate will be decided. Where in Italy would you like to see us go?

The medieval mountain village of Bajardo, Italy has less than 200 permanent residences, but enough soul to feed the entire population of New York City.  Most of Bajardo’s inhabitants are over the age of 60 and have never ventured more than a few kilometers from the main piazza. Many work a craftsman and all take great pride in their trades.  Our teaching program’s founder has spent years tirelessly restoring the crumbling stone homes at the pinnacle of the mountain and he now offers tutors the opportunity to stay in Bajardo before or after work.  We jumped at the chance.

You don’t need a guidebook here.  You can learn everything you need to know about Bajardo by sitting down on a stoop next to a local like 1oo-year-old Yolanda.  We listened to her stories, read the untold tales tucked away in her wrinkled faces.  Touched her soft but feeble hands.  She might not have understood why we were there or what our large black alien camera was,  but she helped us understand our purpose for being there.  For being here.  In Italy.   La vera Italia.

Yolanda...still laughing at 100 years old

Courts, Lynne and Big Bog

Magic Mountain, Bajardo

Some stuff you won’t see in the episodes:

Dinner with the BF's Bro

Via Piero della Francesca

The Best Terrace in Milan