Chamonix/Courmayeur

Ever since I read somewhere that there are a set of cable cars that you can take from France into Italy, it's been on my bucket list.  This past weekend, I organized the trip with a flight to Geneva and then a drive to Chamonix in France to take the cable car up the Aiguille du Midi, which is right below the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest point in western Europe.

The Aiguille du Midi (not my picture) but it really is a "needle" at the top of a rock.

The first of two cable cars leaves from Chamonix at 1035 Meters Above Sea Level.

The Chamonix valley looking west

The Chamonix valley looking east into Switzerland

Chamonix is an extreme sports center.  Here at Plan de Aiguille is the take off spot for parasailers.

Ascending from Plan de Aiguille, we started entering the clouds, but the scenery got even better.

Here at the top is the Aiguille complex with many viewing platforms.

And a stunning view of Mont Blanc.  Yes, if you are looking closely, you'll see some ice climbers in the picture.  There were a large number of climbers with crampons who would all of a sudden appear from nowhere.

I was there!

Brian and myself (in the famous yellow fleece) during naptime.

 

That valley in the distance is the Aosta Valley of Italy.  The point in the distance at the end of the ice field is Point Helbronner, on the Italian side.  There is a cable car that runs from Aiguille du Midi to Point Helbronner, but it opens only in the height of summer.  We arrived two weeks too early.  I so wanted to take the cable car across into Italy....

Pre-dinner lounging

When in the mountains of France.....

.....eat Fondue

Aosta is one of the two regions of Italy that I had yet to visit.  It was a simple drive through the Mont Blanc Tunnel to get there.  48.60 Euro round trip.

The entrance on the Italian side (and French side) is rather bland, but it's a 11km long tunnel underneath a 4810 meter mountain.  What a feat of engineering!

What's this? As we exited the tunnel, we got stopped and I was speeding in the tunnel.  There is a STRICT 70 km/hr limit.  I didn't pay much attention to it....

....and got nailed with a ticket.  45 Euros.

Ticket paid.  And proud to have done it in Italian.

Here right at the exit of the tunnel, looking east down the Aosta valley.  The first town is Courmayeur.

Proof that I've now visited Val D'Aosta.  Region number 19 or 20.

We all were joking back in France during breakfast that our coffee was terrible and so here we are back on Italian soil having coffee.  This is probably THE MOST EXPENSIVE coffee I've ever had.

The river that comes off of the Italian side.

One final highlight of the trip was meeting up with former HRS colleague Sonia G. and her husband.  They recently moved to Geneva and we had an hour to catch up on our lives.

Arrivederci Viterbo

This past weekend, I went up to Viterbo for the last time.  I got a chance to say goodbye to friends and family.  People who I probably won't see for years.  This post is a "who's who" of my Viterbo life.

 

 

The Giuliano's.  Raf and Giusy (with "il principe Luciano"), Vittoria and Giulia down front

Gigi

Myself and Alessandro

Everyone who ever visited knows this guy....Massimiliano of Cafe Bagalino's.  I had one last morning coffee before saying goodbye!

Of course, I had to go and say goodbye to Anna.

And my "niece" Giorgia

Anna thought this was a more fitting last photo....I agree.  This is the way I like to remember her.

A sunny day and I got a last trip to my favorite beach on the west side of Lago di Bolsena.

J and I got to hang out one last time.

Goodbye to Pat S and his family

Elisabeth E.

A last dinner with Yvonne, J and Mario

I'll miss seeing the "VT" on the license plates.  Now that I live in Rome, whenever I see at VT, I know it's someone from Viterbo.  Goodbye Viterbo, I already miss you and the people there that I love.

AOSR Graduation 2012

Right underneath my classroom window, the graduates lining up before they process into the gym.

47 students graduated in what was a 2.5 hour ceremony.

Throughout this year, I've been so nose to the grindstone about work and doing my job, that I didn't truly appreciate the fact I work at an INTERNATIONAL school.  The 47 graduates represented 18 nationalities.

Dr. Beth P., our headmaster getting this started.

The graduation speaker was the US Ambassador to Italy, who himself once attended AOSR.

The valedictorian, Dominic M. (Germany/Japan) and also a student in my BC Calculus class.

Of the 47 seniors, I taught 13 of them in either BC Calculus, IB Math HL or Precalculus. I snapped as many as I could as a memory.  Maddie C. (USA) is shown here.

Filippo C. (Italy)

Levi F. (USA) and on the right, Bebe D. (Brazil/Italy)

Josh D. (USA)

Yuval O. (Israel)

I also had seniors that were from Canada and India for which the photos didn't turn out.  As I reflect on this year, I can't believe it's over.  I was asked today how I feel about leaving.  That's a pretty good question and one that I've pondered.  I am excited for the change, but in the past few months (after a rough start where I was subject to school culture shock) I've grown attached to the school.  However, fundamentally, there are structural issues in the way things work that would, over time, wear at my desire to do a good job and I would settle into mediocrity.

One thing that I know drove me crazy was the schedule.  Teaching math to students every other day (we had 8 periods, but only 4 a day) meant that getting rhythm and continuity was impossible.  Then if a students missed a day of class, I didn't see them for four or five days.  Math needs to be done bit by bit....every day.

The culture of the school, where cheating is rampant, drove me crazy.  I fought it hard, but it was like playing whack-a-mole. There were times when I simply would suspect cheating and was so tired, that I didn't do anything about that.  I could see myself eventually being complacent and letting kids get away with it.  It's SO MUCH WORK to try and police it all the time.

I also have never come across students who cared SO LITTLE about their learning.  I realized sometime in the middle of the year that the range of abilities and perseverance is greater than I've ever had.  I taught some of the top students in my career this year, in fact three of my Calculus students make my top 5 ever.  But the students at the bottom.....are lower in ability and work ethic than I've ever had.  And...it's unfortunate to generalize, but those students at the bottom were predominantly Italian.  Whether or not its the culture or the fact that these are students from wealthy Italian families and thereby the kids know there lives are set for them that allows them to care so little, I don't know, but it's what I experienced.  What I will, in time, remember are all the kids that I loved and found to be interested in their learning and spirited in the way they lived their lives....such as the seniors I pictured above.

I know that were I to come back for a second year, I would have to start with a class policies sheet that would be three pages long.  The "general" guidelines I started with this year was eaten alive by the students.  I simply couldn't keep up with all the ways they would violate the spirit of my "rules" and find ways to get around them.  But, maybe that's just kids and I need to suck it up and accept that it's the way it is to be.

So, the seniors are gone, and I've got a few more weeks of finals and award ceremonies, etc.  I'll certainly continue to reflect on this year and probably leave with some positive feelings.  But this year has been the closest I've ever had to a "job" where I got up and really, at times, didn't want to go to work.  That's never happened before and probably significant in my decision to leave and head to China.