School Days, Poetry and Wine

Nature's gift to mankind.

The day at The Angels elementary school started at 8 AM and ended at 1 PM.  School was strictly reading, writing, math, science and history.  Art, music and gym were not included in the curriculum.  Community afternoon programs provided soccer practice and classes in the arts.

I dropped Marie-Juliette and Charles off at the school shortly before 8.  Once the students had arrived the door was locked and there was no admittance.  At the time, there was a rash of kidnappings in Italy.  Several of the students arrived in armored cars.  Big, burly bodyguards ushered the children into the school, their guns drawn.

Burly guys, but not so big.

Christopher and I would head to the cafe for my cappuccino.  We made friends with the people who frequented the establishment at that hour.  Chris was spoiled by all the attention and sweets.  Then we went shopping at the local shops.  By the time I got home, cleaned up and made lunch; it was time to pick up the children from school.  

The good thing about this schedule was that the children came home starving.  We ate our main meal then: meat, vegetables, pasta, yogurt and fruit.  Afterwards the boys took a nap and Marie-Juliette and I did her homework.  In the first week Marie-Juliette had a poem to memorize for the following Friday.  What a nightmare that first poem was; we both worked on it.  There was a lot of crying and foot stamping but eventually she got it down pat.(And so did I).  The memorization of poetry went on all year, but eventually she could sit down and master a poem by herself.  I wonder about that form of learning?  We certainly don’t believe in memorization today. Did it provide useful neurological gymnastics?

This little poem says: When you get in trouble you feel really bad.  So say you're sorry and you'll feel much better!

One of Marie-Juliette's first homework assignments was a reading about how to make wine:  Come si fa il vino. 

Picking the grapes!

Pressing the grapes.

Bottling the wine.

Vineyards in Veneto!

Imagine teaching wine-making in an American first grade!  There would be all sorts of parental histrionics.  But in Verona, in the heart of Soave,Valpolicella and Bardolino country, children needed to know about grapes and wine.  One day in the fall we saw a parade of horse-drawn wagons piled high with grapes going down Corso Porta Nuova.  It was glorious.

In vino veritas.