Eating has ramped up since we arrived in our next stop:  Tuscany. Do you blame us? A typical eating cycle for Lynnie and I has been cookies for breakfast, pasta twice a day (with bread for scarpetta), an aperitivo squeezed in between the pasta and home made cakes for dessert. It’s excessive. It’s awesome. And apparently it’s not going to make us fat because ALL the Tuscan women I’ve seen are unusually lean. But if our pancias (italian for protruding paunch, a.k.a. belly) do decide to take things to another level, we’re tracked down a book that can help.

Easier said than done in Italy

Courtney and Lynne headed off to Tuscany this morning (jealous? Yes.) for their next ACLE post.  Perrin and I are teaching in Roccafranca for another week and since the town’s pig to bar ratio is 10:1 we opted to spend our weekend in Venice, a two and a half hour train ride away.  We immediately got our hands on some Venetian masks.  The Indian man in the background immediately yelled at us for playing with the exquisite handmade porcelain crafts.  Apparently it’s obvious Perrin and I have no money.

Hiding behind Venetian masks

We’ve been reading about Quito’s crazy mishaps, thefts, and creepster followers and we’re getting a little worried about our sister cast. Jasmine and Sacajawea seem like good protection, but you can never have enough so, we’re sending reinforcements…meet Land-O-Lakes and Henrietta.

Jasmine's Italian Cousins

We came, we sweat, we learned, we conquered.  A grueling week of ACLE teacher orientation in Sanremo officially finished today with this photo and a resounding sigh of relief.  At 150 20-somethings strong, this week’s orientation was the largest in ACLE history.  We were a team of many hidden talents and nationalities:  Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, Canadians, Scottish, English, Americans, and Irish.  From here we’ll each embark on our own Italian journey…some to Bari, some to Rome, Veneto Tuscany, Lombardia and beyond.  Stay tuned for the exact coordinates of team Jet Set Zero!  Here’s a clue:  we’re 4.5 hours away from Sanremo by train…

The United Nations of ACLE