Being Canadian ... and Thankful

Monday, October 18, 2010

As any ex-patriot well knows, there is nothing like being absent from one’s country during a festive season to prompt a longing for home and desire to return there. While it the harvest season for grapes and other fruit here, the leaves remain green and the day temperatures relatively warm; albeit the evenings and nights are getting longer and cooler. Over the past two weeks, those of us who are Canadian had lots to remind us of home, which we shared with others.   

October 6 is a marked by the annual Martyr’s Day Parade in Lanciano. On that day, the town honours their war dead and in particular, eleven young men from Lanciano who in 1945, led an unsuccessful revolt against the Nazis and were publicly executed. School children from the town were joined by our students and Faculty at the gathering point at the top of the Corso.

We then joined the march down the corso to the monument to the war dead adjacent to the Piazza Plebiscito. Our three Italian students carried and marched with their country’s flag beside those bearing our Canadian flag. It was a proud day for us and for our Italian hosts.

Thanksgiving Weekend was beautiful. Mt. Majella, which dominates Lanciano’s western horizon was magnificent on a bright Saturday morning and then equally so but more sombre at dawn on Sunday morning.

Our Sunday dinner was a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner, prepared by our own Mr. C. Pumpkin pie and brownies were served for dessert and had been prepared by our own Mrs. C! As is the custom, everybody was stuffed. Unlike being in Canada though, it was back to the books and classes on Monday! 

Our third and final chapter in this Canadian experience, CCI faculty and students participated in the official open ceremony of a new student centre in L’Aquila. Readers may recall that this town was suddenly rocked by a devastating earthquake on April 6 last year. Of the 308 victims, 55 were university students. Their deaths were marked in the ceremony by the planting of a red maple tree for each student and the release of balloons by our students.

Two of our students agreed to participate in the flag raising ceremony.

When Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper attended last year’s G8 Conference he promised that the Canadian government would fund the construction  il Centro Polifunzionale per gli Studenti dell’Universita di L’Aquila. It is a new student centre located on the university campus. Our Canadian Ambassador to Italy, Mr. James A. Fox was in attendance. Minister Denis Lebel participated in the ceremony and was effusive in his thanks for CCI’s participation.

For our part, CCI had a more humble if not uplifting role in the ceremony as we performed ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, a song that speaks of hope and dreams, which was a fitting end to the event.        

Following the ceremony and reception, we had a tour of the area affected by the earthquake. It was not possible to get into much of the town due to the inherent risk, but what we did see certainly caused us to remember just how powerful natural forces can be.

The buildings in the old town are now behind fences and reinforced with exterior braces and scaffolding.

Note the bar running through the window to either an interior wall or more often to the far exterior wall and another brace on the outside.

Along some of the fences were poignant reminders of lives and livelihoods lost – ribbons in L’Aquila’s colours, keys to doors of empty homes and businesses and signs reminding onlookers of what once was and may very well be restored in time.      

The military is a constant presence to ensure security.

Finally it was time to return to Lanciano.

The Adventure Continues....

October 6, 2010

As we neared the end of September, our students were taken on a tour of a local winery here in Abruzzo named Madonna Del Carmine. Mrs. D’Alessandro arranged the tour on our behalf and arranged for the wine maker to give an instructional tour of the winery. We witnessed the various stages from the grapes being brought in on trucks and wagons; to them being weighed; measured for sugar content; then dropped into a hopper that separated the stems and crushed the grapes; and then seeing how the juice is extracted, fermented and stored. At the end of the tour we were treated to a wine tasting which everyone enjoyed. It was a wonderful way to end the day on a Friday.

Now that is how to fill a wine bottle!



 Last Sunday afternoon, about a third of the students visited the Rutherford’s apartment to watch “The Blind Side” together.

An arm wrestling contest was held on Wednesday after school. Suffice to say that the teachers did not walk away with any of the hardware!

We have just returned from a two day trip that included Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Amalfi.

Built in the 17^th C for the Bourbon King Charles III, the Palace Reale in Caserta (Naples) is Italy’s largest royal palace and the last example of Baroque architecture built on such a scale in all of Italy. After entering the massive entrance hall, the students were given a guided tour of the actual building looking in the throne room, the king’s private bedroom as well as other estate rooms. There are 1200 rooms here, not all of which are open for public viewing. Then we spent time in the massive gardens. There is water course from the mountains above that feeds chain of water works, fountains and statues that depict stories from mythology. All in all, the entire estate was impressive - just the objective that the architects and designers were seeking to achieve.

Equally impressive was Pompeii which was a leading cultural and trading town populated by wealthy Romans. It was destroyed in 79 A.D. after Mt. Vesuvius erupted in a series of explosions. The unfortunate citizens were either buried by collapsing buildings or suffocated where they were by poisonous gases. The town was encased in some 6 m of ash that soon hardened and preserved them until the town was discovered a few hundred years ago. It is a jewel that provides archaeologists and historians with a clear insight into the life and times of these ancient people.



We had two wonderful guides that taught us about how the people of Pompeii lived, how they designed their houses, how they designed their city, and what activities they were engaged in when they all suddenly died.



Admiring wall frescos in a Patrician's home





Leaving Pompeii behind, we then drove down to Sorrento, a beautiful town that sits perched on cliffs above the sea. It is from this port that we boarded our chartered boat that took us down the rugged coastline past Positano to Amalfi.

On the way to Amalfi.

Positano

Many of us remained in Amalfi – some to swim, some to shop, some to simply walk and take in the sites. A few others travelled by cab to the top to the small town of Ravello, a much quieter town that offered magnificent views of the Adriatic.



The View from Ravello



We were all sad to leave these gorgeous towns that certainly live up to their reputation for beauty.