Fly Over States and Pizza Parties (Catch-up for the neglected friends)

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I am trying to convince myself that updating my wayward friends on the goings-on of my life is less offensive in the blog form than as a mass email. You are visiting of your own interest, boredom or tendency to procrastinate via internet. And I am without the painful thought of my babblings ending up in the electronic trashcan in pieces with the million dollar international bank transfers and male member enlargements. Here is a little background for those that I am not in close contact with and then I’ll get on to the part that you might actually read…

For those whom I have seriously neglected, you might not know that I have spent the last two years in Oklahoma, despite the impassioned urgings of many “coastal” friends. I seem to boomerang back to the fly-over states! For the academic year 2004-2005, I taught Advanced Placement Chemistry and Physics at Del City High School in Oklahoma City. Though the students could be really entertaining, getting them to learn anything was about as hard as getting a Chianti stain out of a white linen skirt. They gave me an award at the end of the year congratulating me for “unending effort to teach something essentially interesting to people uninterested.” Clever, yes, inspired, no. However, they apparently understood my dilemma. Physics at 7:35 in the morning was pretty grim, so I opted for a change.

The next summer and following year, I taught beginning and intermediate Italian at the University of Oklahoma, my alma mater. I was gratified by the freedom and reduced working hours and especially thankful to rid my office of high-maintenance parents. However, I discovered the difficulty involved in giving a C to someone who paid hundreds of dollars for what they essentially considered torture. The college students asked to have a pizza party or class on the lawn, surprisingly, more than the high school students. There were several complaints to my superiors that I was mean and heartless. So, I am in the market for a new profession since I obviously don’t have the patience for teaching. I open the floor to suggestions!

On to the part of the discourse that qualifies this posting as a travel blog… I left Oklahoma after two hard years in the work world for seven months of roaming. I have spent the last two months in Florence, my old stomping ground, with my former Fulbright colleague Allie. I was then to spend August in Israel and Jordan, which has been cancelled due to the escalation of violence. Instead, I will go to Morocco for a month and then end up in Spain by the first week of September. As a brief reprise from the pocketbook draining, I will spend three weeks as a private tour guide for a couple from Oklahoma City in Paris and Northern Italy. Finally, October-December I will be in Cairo studying Arabic and belly-dancing and maybe teaching English.

Right now, I am two months into my saga and find myself in the south of Italy (Gioia del Colle, provincia di Bari) with an old college friend, Gretchen. Before I left, I started circulating these ridiculous business cards printed with this website so I have been barraged with emails chastising me for not posting. Sorry! The novelty has worn off a bit from Italy, but I will add some of the highlights….

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Photos

Cena da Mary
Dinner party with the Florentine girls.

Noi con Giorgio
Emily, Allie and Emily Miller, a cookbook and guidebook author with a dear friend that has a great pad at Lake Como.

Napoli - il porto
Emily, Allie, and Valentina, recent candidate for Parliament for the Rifondazione Comunista, at the Naples Port.