well, after five days here i have finally figured out how to capitalize letters, however, it makes my pinky reach further than it is used to, giving me a pinky cramp. so i give up.
anyway, i just wanted to say that today, after this much time together, we have finally become one council. one group of people that has learned to live, work, create, celebrate, and be unified. our final work today was to listen to brother william speak to us about lasallian spirituality. he was able to explain in a very inclusive way the spirituality embedded within the lasallian tradition. i am sure that i could go on for quite a long time with more details, but i wont for now. i just know that things have finally been clarified for me in a way i really appreciate and i am just so excited to have brother william as our president. after he spoke both councils were able to articulate our next steps, our questions, and those things that we would like to leave behind us when we leave rome.
basically, this experience has shaped us and helped us to focus on those things that we share, and especially appreciate the relationships that we have cultivated.
as i say goodbye to rome, which will be in a few short hours, i say hello to many, many things that bring me hope.
before i go to dinner i must say, i will not miss the front desk clerks smoking in our hotel lobby, but i will miss taking coffee breaks for half an hour each day at ten thirty, which apparently all romans do. i will not miss having to read web pages in italian, but i will miss listening to people speak. i will not miss having to put on a jacket just to walk down the freezing cold hallways, but i will miss opening my window for some fresh air.
i dont want to be late for dinner at 8, but i will say that i have especially enjoyed writing to you all. i will miss this touchstone, dear friends of mine, especially since it is not everyday that i get to touch base with all of you at once. so goodnight dear winona, twin cities, and beyond, and hello to you all on monday.
sarah
venerdì 15 febbraio 2008
giovedì 14 febbraio 2008
More photos from our week.
Council Members testing the Limoncello just to make sure it's safe.
Ann and Val hard at work.
Brother John Cantwell who gave us a wonderful presentation on Lasallian Association.
a few things before bed.
my feet ache, my neck hurts, and i am agonizingly full of pizza. but it was a good day. we went to the vatican today. first, st. peters to see the statue of lasalle, which is second from the front in a line of statues leading up to the alter. it was really amazing. from way down below the statue looks to be only 6 feet tall, although it is actually at least twice that size. the sistine chapel was probably the most amazing thing i have ever seen, and my neck hurts to prove it. i am sure i looked like that stupid american, head back, mouth gaping wide open, looking above me in awe.
anyway, today, valentines day, was a great day for us to have our free day. of course absolutely every street vendor was shoving flowers at me, expecting me to pay him more money than should ever be spent on flowers, but it was still lovely.
i am exhausted and my feet hurt like nobodys business. so to wrap up this post i will put a few more things i have learned about rome.
roman drivers do not stop for anything, especially pedestrians. however, mary fox has a great way to make them stop. and if they dont, she shakes her fist and bangs on their car. good times to watch.
at night the colleseum is light from inside with neon blue lights. kind of interesting for something that is so incredibly old. oh well, i guess everything needs alittle pizazz...
roman drivers are horn happy. they will beep at everything.
italians say almost every word twice.
the guards in the sistine chapel are ruthless. we didnt know that you couldnt take pictures inside the chapel. mary took one when we got inside and out of nowhere leaped this chapel guard yelling no photo, no photo! then he snatched her camera and tried to delete it. the funny thing was, he looked all tough and mean, but it took him a good three minutes to figure out how to delete the one picture off her camera.
italians eat late. most restruants dont open for dinner until 8pm. i keep going to bed feeling full and wake up feeling fat.
anyway, speaking of bed.
i will actually sign my post this time, since my last late night entry is aparently without author.
sarah f.
anyway, today, valentines day, was a great day for us to have our free day. of course absolutely every street vendor was shoving flowers at me, expecting me to pay him more money than should ever be spent on flowers, but it was still lovely.
i am exhausted and my feet hurt like nobodys business. so to wrap up this post i will put a few more things i have learned about rome.
roman drivers do not stop for anything, especially pedestrians. however, mary fox has a great way to make them stop. and if they dont, she shakes her fist and bangs on their car. good times to watch.
at night the colleseum is light from inside with neon blue lights. kind of interesting for something that is so incredibly old. oh well, i guess everything needs alittle pizazz...
roman drivers are horn happy. they will beep at everything.
italians say almost every word twice.
the guards in the sistine chapel are ruthless. we didnt know that you couldnt take pictures inside the chapel. mary took one when we got inside and out of nowhere leaped this chapel guard yelling no photo, no photo! then he snatched her camera and tried to delete it. the funny thing was, he looked all tough and mean, but it took him a good three minutes to figure out how to delete the one picture off her camera.
italians eat late. most restruants dont open for dinner until 8pm. i keep going to bed feeling full and wake up feeling fat.
anyway, speaking of bed.
i will actually sign my post this time, since my last late night entry is aparently without author.
sarah f.
mercoledì 13 febbraio 2008
Another post, Wed. evening
I will add to what Mary said. We have attended several educational sessions about the history of Lasallian education, the structure of the Lasallian brotherhood and schools, and learned a great deal about how this structure works. We visited the archives, where we saw LaSalle's own handwritten words, ca. 1700, as well as some of the preserved works of 14-15 year old scholars. In the museum we saw a chair which is featured in one of the well-known paintings of LaSalle, his hat...I can't remember everything, but I know people took photos so we will share those eventually. The Generalate, outside the museum, is also full of paintings of brothers who figure in Lasallian history.
In our discussions, we have all gotten to know each other in a way that would never happen by attending Convocation once a year. It's a great experience. Brother William's involvement makes it all the richer.
Well, some young men have been waiting for the one computer here at the Generalate for some time, so I will sign off for now. I haven't forgotten: 7 am on Tuesday morning! Buona cerra,
Val Fitzgerald
In our discussions, we have all gotten to know each other in a way that would never happen by attending Convocation once a year. It's a great experience. Brother William's involvement makes it all the richer.
Well, some young men have been waiting for the one computer here at the Generalate for some time, so I will sign off for now. I haven't forgotten: 7 am on Tuesday morning! Buona cerra,
Val Fitzgerald
Wed. Eve., Feb. 13, 2008
Chow!
its not only the roman keys that are not working but my picture disk as well. trying to upload my pictures of fabulous sites, however, the computer is not cooperating. A quick note to mike montgomery sent TC Campus it into action all the way to rome. I ll give his suggestions a try and hopefully youll be seeing sarahs hand in the mouth of truth and valeries showing you the way to rome, mary louise talking italian with the bus guy, dead guys in tombs and jerry smiling brightly on our 2nd of travel with zero sleep.
Well, a few were wondering if i would get lost jogging in rome as i did in austria. that is not happening. we have been navigating around rome every day and skipping meals to do it. When Br. Mike told me we missed eating cat and squirrel for lunch today, i felt i made the right choice.
So far we have seen abc, abc, abc. in other words, another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral. just kidding, it has been a real eye opener. when we say our old towns date back to the 1800s in the twin cities, the romans show visitors their temples dated 2 bc. no kidding!! what a charming town.
The experience has been nothing short of incredible, eye opening and a wonder of the world. The experience connecting with our winona and nairobi campuses has been just as incredible. the lasallian spirit is truly working in rome with our three campuses. Br. Wm. made a link that will last a lifetime at liturgy tonight answering much of what we questioned up until this point and connecting people, thoughts, spirits and truth in just a couple minutes time. You cant imagine how fortunate we are to have this important man as our leader. You have a treasurer that is about to unfold for the entire university community in a few months time, so get ready!! We have fantastic coworkers south of us and in asking each campus what is looming under Casa Lasalles roof this week, we would all agree the lasallian spirit is alive and kicking! Cant wait to to return to share this experience with all. Mary T.
its not only the roman keys that are not working but my picture disk as well. trying to upload my pictures of fabulous sites, however, the computer is not cooperating. A quick note to mike montgomery sent TC Campus it into action all the way to rome. I ll give his suggestions a try and hopefully youll be seeing sarahs hand in the mouth of truth and valeries showing you the way to rome, mary louise talking italian with the bus guy, dead guys in tombs and jerry smiling brightly on our 2nd of travel with zero sleep.
Well, a few were wondering if i would get lost jogging in rome as i did in austria. that is not happening. we have been navigating around rome every day and skipping meals to do it. When Br. Mike told me we missed eating cat and squirrel for lunch today, i felt i made the right choice.
So far we have seen abc, abc, abc. in other words, another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral. just kidding, it has been a real eye opener. when we say our old towns date back to the 1800s in the twin cities, the romans show visitors their temples dated 2 bc. no kidding!! what a charming town.
The experience has been nothing short of incredible, eye opening and a wonder of the world. The experience connecting with our winona and nairobi campuses has been just as incredible. the lasallian spirit is truly working in rome with our three campuses. Br. Wm. made a link that will last a lifetime at liturgy tonight answering much of what we questioned up until this point and connecting people, thoughts, spirits and truth in just a couple minutes time. You cant imagine how fortunate we are to have this important man as our leader. You have a treasurer that is about to unfold for the entire university community in a few months time, so get ready!! We have fantastic coworkers south of us and in asking each campus what is looming under Casa Lasalles roof this week, we would all agree the lasallian spirit is alive and kicking! Cant wait to to return to share this experience with all. Mary T.
martedì 12 febbraio 2008
late night confessions
well, i will be the first to recognize that i am the youngest person on our trip to rome and i think it shows in the fact that at 1am i am still up, blogging, while everyone else has been able to fall into bed. i cannot get rome out of my head and will give you all another quick update on what is going on here. it may not be as colorful as my first post, but just as heartfelt.
as you can see, the roman keyboards are a bit too much for me to understand and i have not been able to find the shift key for the life of me. hence, no capital letters. we have all found that none of the keys actually are what they say they are. it took until today for me to realize that the @ sign can only be found by holding down a key that reads maiusc and pressing the number 2. i will not even attempt to find the quotation marks or apostrophes or i will be up all night.
anyway, so today was full of both physical and emotional activity. i say that in a wonderful way, because through each and every speaker that we hear, all of us find new ways to connect, discover new hurdles to jump, and discover the blessing of the work we have been asked to do. not everything has been easy to digest, not every speaker perfect, but in the wise words of sister judy, each day we are given the words we need to hear. the goodness of this journey shines brighter all the time.
our speakers today focused on association within the lasallian tradition, the structure of the institute of the christian brothers, and catholic social teaching. our speakers were all incredibly dynamic, each in their own way. the brothers we have met are especially wonderful and have provided guidance that we could not have found elsewhere. yesterday we were given a tour of the archives and the joy and knowledge that we felt in that room was unbelievable. we held saw actual letters that lasalle wrote and amazing pictures drawn by boys from a christian brothers school in the early 1800s.
might i add here that a couple of the pictures that were posted are of the bones of saint john baptist de lasalle which are located in the chapel here. there are also pictures of us in that space. the stained glass window you see was actually donated by us, saint marys university, and you can see that our name is in the second picture of the window.
some of the other pictures are val fitzgeralds bathroom, the view of the chapel from her bedroom window, and the first pictures are of us in the amsterdam airport. we also posted a few from our social with the brothers the first night. you may notice simon, the representative from our nairobi campus. he has been wonderful to work with and has provided me with a much better understanding of our nairobi campus. without him i probably never would have known that boiled bananas are a delicacy for our kenyan students! simon says that boiling them in water without having them turn to must is practically an art.
well, although i am not tired, i am sure i have bored you enough. i will end with a few things i have learned in rome so far, beyond the scope of our readings, meetings, discussions, presentations, speakers, services, tours, and socials. and yes, we have done all of those things, many, many times, within these first two days!
anyway, in conclusion, my list of revelations
tip the gelato woman. it is the only way to get her to smile when you attempt to say the flavor names.
coffee is meant to be thick and practically eaten with a spoon. i now have thick coffee love.
there a 100 and 1 ways to use nutella which is kind of a chocolate and hazelnut concoction.
most roman roads are what americans would call scary dark back alleys.
the smart car would make my parallel parking life much, much easier.
webpages are all in italian which was fun at first, until trying to post pictures.
and finally, i have gasped in awe more in the past two days than i have in years, but not only when looking at the bones of lasalle or out my bedroom window. my heart has literally leapt when looking into the faces and listening to the words of my colleagues. again and again i have found connections and heard words spoken that have given me actual, honest joy. i feel hopeful for saint marys. i have faith in what we are doing. i am eager to keep going.
as you can see, the roman keyboards are a bit too much for me to understand and i have not been able to find the shift key for the life of me. hence, no capital letters. we have all found that none of the keys actually are what they say they are. it took until today for me to realize that the @ sign can only be found by holding down a key that reads maiusc and pressing the number 2. i will not even attempt to find the quotation marks or apostrophes or i will be up all night.
anyway, so today was full of both physical and emotional activity. i say that in a wonderful way, because through each and every speaker that we hear, all of us find new ways to connect, discover new hurdles to jump, and discover the blessing of the work we have been asked to do. not everything has been easy to digest, not every speaker perfect, but in the wise words of sister judy, each day we are given the words we need to hear. the goodness of this journey shines brighter all the time.
our speakers today focused on association within the lasallian tradition, the structure of the institute of the christian brothers, and catholic social teaching. our speakers were all incredibly dynamic, each in their own way. the brothers we have met are especially wonderful and have provided guidance that we could not have found elsewhere. yesterday we were given a tour of the archives and the joy and knowledge that we felt in that room was unbelievable. we held saw actual letters that lasalle wrote and amazing pictures drawn by boys from a christian brothers school in the early 1800s.
might i add here that a couple of the pictures that were posted are of the bones of saint john baptist de lasalle which are located in the chapel here. there are also pictures of us in that space. the stained glass window you see was actually donated by us, saint marys university, and you can see that our name is in the second picture of the window.
some of the other pictures are val fitzgeralds bathroom, the view of the chapel from her bedroom window, and the first pictures are of us in the amsterdam airport. we also posted a few from our social with the brothers the first night. you may notice simon, the representative from our nairobi campus. he has been wonderful to work with and has provided me with a much better understanding of our nairobi campus. without him i probably never would have known that boiled bananas are a delicacy for our kenyan students! simon says that boiling them in water without having them turn to must is practically an art.
well, although i am not tired, i am sure i have bored you enough. i will end with a few things i have learned in rome so far, beyond the scope of our readings, meetings, discussions, presentations, speakers, services, tours, and socials. and yes, we have done all of those things, many, many times, within these first two days!
anyway, in conclusion, my list of revelations
tip the gelato woman. it is the only way to get her to smile when you attempt to say the flavor names.
coffee is meant to be thick and practically eaten with a spoon. i now have thick coffee love.
there a 100 and 1 ways to use nutella which is kind of a chocolate and hazelnut concoction.
most roman roads are what americans would call scary dark back alleys.
the smart car would make my parallel parking life much, much easier.
webpages are all in italian which was fun at first, until trying to post pictures.
and finally, i have gasped in awe more in the past two days than i have in years, but not only when looking at the bones of lasalle or out my bedroom window. my heart has literally leapt when looking into the faces and listening to the words of my colleagues. again and again i have found connections and heard words spoken that have given me actual, honest joy. i feel hopeful for saint marys. i have faith in what we are doing. i am eager to keep going.
First Day's Photos
Here are a few photos compiled by Sarah Fisher, Valerie Fitzgerald and Mary Thole in Windows Media Player movie.
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