KICKBALL! 1988 style... aaaand 20 years later

Mom and Dad had our old family videotapes turned into DVDs... and gave each of us kids a set for Christmas. AWESOME! I especially love watching these while I'm living abroad.

The photos below are screenshots taken from a video that is of one of the family picnics in Churchville, NY for Mom's side of the family... in 1988. I was four years old... Lenny was 8.   : )

Lenny, Me, and Grandma!

Grandma was captain of a team and chose Lenny and I - thanks Grandma!

Me with Dad   : )

Quite the kick! YEAH!

Three Maiorani's at the plate...

At this point in the video, someone asks who is actually kicking... it was Dad's turn... but I guess Lenny and I were giving him extra support! Ha 

...ready to kick... by standing on the plate  : P

20 years later... and Lenny and I were still playing kickball together! The photo below is from 2009. I began playing kickball in the DKBC (league in Denver) on Lenny's team in 2008... and played until I moved to Vietnam in the summer of 2011. Hilarious that our family tradition continued!

I don't have any screenshots with Sean or Mom... they were on the other team...!

ASM Story Time, vol. 2

After the first Story Time in March, I heard from a number of students and teachers that they loved it and wanted more! ...Some even asked we could have Story Time every week! Comments like these... and seeing people excited about stories, pretty much makes me love my job and what I do.

I set up Volume 2 of Story Time to take place after IB exams... end of May.

We had an incredible turnout of high school students!! ...Lacking more of the middle school students, who would rather play video games or run around outside during their free time... to which I understand but still want to work to change just for one day here and there... but overall... another successful event!

It seems that word had spread a bit from the first event and more students now understood that they didn't want to miss the fun.   ; )

Mr. Roper perfected his Southern drawl for reading aloud the book, Tailypo:

Appropriately... the Director of Technology is reading aloud from a tablet:

Mr. Marj reading an all-time favorite of mine and my family's -->

When the Wind Changed...

The Sneetches! - read aloud by Mr. Capello:

Mr. Reiach reading a short story from where he grew up in the Bahamas:

ASM Story Time, vol. 1

A main goal of mine in the school library is to have students want to come IN the library! I started an event in March, that I hope to continue every now and then... so far there have been two 'volumes' and I've received good feedback from students and teachers... and good participation! During the two upper school lunch periods, I've offered a 20-minute Story Time event... open to all... free and fun.
: )

I set up with some teachers to have them each read a fun/funny/interactive children's book aloud... I then created a cozy reading area in the library... scanned each book into the computer to project on the screen behind the readers... and... let the fun commence!

Pretty cool to see middle and high school students loving being read to.

One of my favorite moments happened before the event ever took place. I had the reading area set up... and as the students came into the library in the morning, they looked for their usual comfy seats but they weren't in the usual corner. ...Then they noticed the reading area. I had left some books out... and hilariously a group of about 15 or 20 high school students sat in the reading area and one of the boys began reading Shel Silverstein's book, The Giving Tree - saying that it used to be one of his favorites as a child! Love, love, love. ...Give them books and they shall read!

I had displayed posters advertising the event around school the week before... but then also printed some stickers about the event and some of the teachers that were reading. I then grabbed Ms. Gerken - a lovely language arts teacher... who was wearing a black wig over her gorgeous blonde hair, to be the wicked Ms. Viola Swamp from book, Miss Nelson is Missing!... and we walked through the halls handing out stickers. Hilariously, many people didn't even realize that this lady was Ms. Gerken!

Ms. Gerken reading, Miss Nelson is Missing!

Pretty good turnout of high schoolers for our first event!

Husband-wife duo, Mr. Wilson and Ms. Baldi - reading Mo Willems' book,

Leonardo the Terrible Monster...

This is from the middle schoolers' free lunch period:

Mr. Briner reading an excerpt from the book, The Alchemist:

Mr. Citrin in his grandpa's smoking jacket... reading Mo Willems' book, 

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!

...with incredibly cute co-star for the duckling...

a 4-year old early childhood student (and me, feeding her the lines)...

Porta Venezia, Milano

Yesterday, I went into the city to meet up with a couple friends.

I really like the Porta Venezia area in the city... and want to explore it more next year. There's great shopping, restaurants, a fun feel, and even a square filled with hearts!

Some other photos that I took while in the city:

Gorgeous day. Gorgeous duomo.

M for Milano.

the gown.

ASM's high school graduation ceremony is very nicely done. The students and families seem to have taken to this American tradition... wearing the caps and gowns and all.

I completely understand why a graduation ceremony is important to many people... but it just wasn't a big deal to me when I graduated. I did attend my high school graduation but did not for either my undergraduate or masters degrees. Instead of the ceremony, I enjoyed celebrating with close family and friends over dinner... (And, well, for my undergrad graduation, I was in a parking lot while the traditional song was hummed... after my dad's softball team, which also happens to be the college I attended, finished playing in their regional tournament. I'm still glad I went to the games instead of the ceremony!)

Anyway... the teachers at ASM wear the gown for their furthest degree... and even in their university colors. So... for the first time... I donned the gown for my Library and Information Science degree in the University of Denver colors... and I made sure to take a photo for Mom!

Ciao-ciao for now Milano!

Well... the school year has ended and I'm on summer vaaaacation!

I head home tomorrow to Upstate New York for a week at my parents' house... and then on to Denver, Colorado for a month at my brother's place (...my last 'home' station in the States). I'm very, very much looking forward to time in the States with family and friends. It feels good to know that I'll miss Milan as well though... my friends here, my apartment, and the everyday life happenings.

I've had the pleasure [dripping with sarcasm there...] of sitting through 15 hours of video training... about living in Italy. Yikes. 

The videos are hilariously bad for about the first hour... but then they are just BAD. The trainer didn't even notice the pop-up on the screen (shown below) for quite some time...

I saw my landlord in school this past week and she asked me to put my name on my mailbox.

...I have a mailbox?! Hahaha

Sure enough... I have a small key that I've never used and it works in one of the mailboxes outside my apartment building. Aaaaaand... I had a year's worth of fliers and things stuffed inside. ( --> straight into the recycling bin!)

I received this beautiful mug as an end-of-year present from a kindergarten class.

I love it! So cute and thoughtful.

Ciao-ciao for now Milano!

last day... and ...field day!

Tomorrow is the last day of the school year!!

The past couple weeks have been incredibly busy... and weird. I've been working on some major projects and changes in the library... and things are finally coming together! Still much to be done... but a work in progress and many things will just have to wait until late August... or another year.

Yesterday was the elementary school's Field Day. I ended up at the water/break station... but all of the students already had their own water and it wasn't super hot out... so since no one really needed or wanted a break, we played A LOT of Simon Says instead!

I decided to (of course) wear my tutu and tie-dye socks for Field Day.   : )

...But before the fun outside could begin, there was the last Technology Department meeting...

So... below is what a Technology Department meeting looks like in Italy! (Ha!... coffee on the laptop)

We also had some fun in the hallway before students arrived:

There is going to come a day when I cannot do some of the gymnastics that I think I can still do... but thankfully that day was not yesterday! I learned that I can still do a cartwheel back-handspring AND an aerial. Whoop! Whoop!