spring broke, solitafo, spring break

Spring broke about three weeks ago in a burst of light, fragrance and colors, and all jaded nonsense disintegrated into deep breaths and second looks amid the chaos of this place. Horst's garden that surrounds this lovely cottage began to merge into the most gorgeous shades of green, and me the lucky girl with it just outside my window! Hermann Hesse wrote about spring in Montagnola in numerous books, and I can see why he was so enamored with this place. The tulip trees (above) are my favorite, in this stunning shade of magenta, and some of them in the area are still clinging to their precious buds.

Luckily I had some visitors to show the place off - Matt's sister Jeni came for a few days, then Matt came up for St. Paddy's weekend (more rugby, this time in Mennagio), then my cousin came (bearing iPods, bless her) for nearly a week. I am trying to take full advantage of this place, its amazing location, and the ease of daytrips to Como and Milan. It will all be over far too quickly.

(I'm teaching my kids transitions so theoretically this should seguay into my next topic, SoLiTaFo...)

Spearheaded by the Scariest Man at Tasis (according to the kids), Kaba, SoLiTaFo is a group of about half our faculty members whose sole ambition during the duration of the school year is the following (taken from the SoLiTaFo Creed):

"WHEREAS pesky students and prying parents have heretofore stifled social freedoms, and WHEREAS many good people will be departing on their own private boats in a mere 9 school weeks, and WHEREAS good times with good company has been limited, and BE IT that all 39 of us subscribe to said newfound social urgency, WE HEREBY PROCLAIM the impending arrival of the Social Life Task Force (henceforth iL SoLiTaFo) for the betterment of the under-served and over-worked small cogs and big wheels of the TASIS machinery."

We've planned a Teacher Appreciation Day for April 20, which will include a "No Dress Code Day" sticker the kids can buy for 5 francs. We will all be strictly enforcing dress code on the day, however, and will charge kids 10 francs on the spot. This will go toward SoLiTaFo events, like a bus to drive us around Italian wineries and BBQ necessities. Echoing our college frat party days, t-shirts have been made and will be worn with pride. With many of us leaving next year, this is a great way to help us get through the last stretch.

Which begins after 16 blissful days of no classes, kids, or Tasis-esque madness. I will be galavanting off to Prague with my girlfriend Andrea, then will fly up to Glasgow for the remainder of the time. Prague will be a shock. I lived there in 2001-2, and went back briefly in 2003 for a long weekend, but haven't been back since. Some colleagues have been this year and frequently mentioned the commercialism of the city, the Chloe and Chanel boutiques (gasp! And we were stuck with M&S!), the numerous (!!) BoBags, and the overload of Pinnochios and puppets. I hope the hole-in-the-wall places I used to haunt are still where I remember them. That place changed me in ways I'll probably never fully understand, and it will always be so special as the first place I lived outside my own country. The fun will be interrupted by pangs of nostalgia, I'm sure, especially since our hotel is just a few streets from where I used to live and across from one of the favorite cafes. Sigh.

RIP 2006-7 Jayhawks. At least we made it to the round of 8. And UNC is out, too.

Below, the view from Kaba's garden of the sunset over the Alps.

old skool

Finally invested in a new iPod. I bought my first one in 2003, which is ancient history for iPod people - it's not only black and white, it uses the old Mac font from the IIE days. Yikes. First song? Nightswimming. It seemed suitable for some reason. The kids at school used to make fun of me for my 'brick' iPod. Now i can be competitive. Rock on. Why is it that I think this sounds better than my old one? It doesn't sound any different. The question is, would I have bought one if I wasn't working at a boarding school with young punks who think they know more about music than I do? things to ponder...

san siro

AC Milan: 1. Glasgow Celtic: 0.

Seeing Champion's League matches is so fabulous - everyone totally into it, screaming, on their feet the whole time, singing and lighting fireworks and screaming and general rabble-rousing. Last night's match went into extra time, which got us back after 1am, but so worth it! (Would love to write more about this experience, but I am exhausted and can't make the words come out.)

Current obsessions: Music: Paolo Nunti, Tim Blane. Tea: Nettle. Indulgement: 50-franc massages. Reading: My new story!!! And Tim and Tuan and Dave's stories.

false spring

I awoke Sunday still buzzed from Saturday evening's festivities, thrilled to see a clear blue sky and warm sunshine. This 'winter' in Lugano has been silly, really. We had one morning with a dusting of snow, and I've worn a hat once. We've had chilly days, but nothing like the five months of harsh Ljubljana winter - I figure it's karma after last year. My girlfriend Tamara and I went to Ponte Teresa, a town on the western tip of Lake Lugano, for a coffee. I will miss the ability to dash over to Italy for a proper espresso. Sigh. It was a glorious day, and Tamara and I had a wonderful walk along the lake. Watching Italians at play on Sundays is so charming - old ladies tottering in high heels and head-to-toe fur coats, kids with scoops of gelato bigger than their heads, and twentysomethings in tight jeans, stiletto boots and huge sunglasses smoking cigarettes and text-messaging whilst conversing with clones of themselves. Not even a fifteen-minute drive from my flat, and life is so different.

Below, the western part of Lake Lugano, looking back toward Monte Bre. We live on the hill in the middle of the picture.

felicitations to the scribblers

We did it!
Tim, me, David, Tuan...over 120,000 words between us...we are the coolest people ever. Saturday night was our Pretentious Writer's Evening when we all took part in our very first readings! The evening started off fantastically, with a call from my mom and a KU win against Texas, David's alma mater, and a dinner that didn't kill anyone on the spot. We all nervously gulped a drink or two before carefully choosing a few pages to read one another, then a few more, then a few more, then moving outside to watch the lunar eclipse wrapped in blankets, reading our words by porchlight. I'm not sure how much this meant to the guys, but to me it felt so liberating, so cathartic to babble to my fellow wannabes, feeling that somehow we graduated to writer status, if only in our own minds.

Congratulations, guys. I'm so proud of us!