Well, out flight from Chicago across the Atlantic was uneventful... Food, sleep, food, arrival in Rome. We crossed paths with the delegation from Detroit right away at the baggage carousels and soon met our Delegation Manager (DM), Christina. Our coach was waiting and we were off to the Colosseum.
Day 4 - Assisi
This morning we had to be flexible with our schedule. Apparently our bus suffered a minor break down when we were in the process of parking last night. There were mechanics on the scene by midnight, but the part we needed was hours away and we would be delayed by two hours.
So, instead of staying in the boring hotel, we walked a short distance to a park and practiced for our upcoming performance at a school for developmentally disabled students.
Our whole afternoon was to be centered around a visit to a nunnery in Assisi to visit with their group of children. We decided to sing them the song, Don't stop believing, so this was a perfect opportunity to write down all the words and practice. We stayed at the park and perfected, well I don't know about perfected, but we made it pretty darn good. We walked back to the hotel, had a little while to hang out, and (just as promised) we departed at 11 a.m.
We had a nice 2 hour ride into Assisi. The scenery was beautiful. It was mostly countryside with hills on one side, and flat land on the other. There were small towns on either side... So different from the states.
We arrived in the hill side town of Assisi and hopped of the bus, ready for lunch. We had a short time until lunch and had the rare opportunity to visit the Basillica de San Francisco that houses the crypt of Saint Francisco of Assisi.
Now, I don't know if you have searched the Internet for pictures of the places we are in, but I have to say... If there ever was a town that could be labeled a "hillside" town, Assisi is IT!
We walked up hill to our cute restaurant and had pasta, pork, and gelato for desert. After lunch, we walked downhill to the nunnery for our visit with the children. All of the children housed there had been basically abandoned by their families. Many were severely retarded and others were deaf, blind, mute or a combination of the three. One precious little girl had a dramatic cleft palate.
We sang our song, handed out sparkly red, white, and blue necklaces, and spent the next 2 hours interacting with the children. None of them could carry on a conversation so delegates held their hands, walked around with them, clapped their hands together, pushed the on a large tire swing, and some legates just sat and sang songs to them. There was one little boy who was very affectionate and loved the attention from the girls. He had them dancing, twirling him around, and hugging. He had a dramatically deformed face and was blind, but he became very friendly after his comfort level increased.
You should all be very proud of you children. They all participated in this activity in their own way. It was nice to see how everyone reacted so positively in an unusual and potentially uncomfortable situation. Many of them didn't want to leave. But, the children had to rest, so we made our way out of the nunnery.
After we left the convent it was free time! Our dinner reservations were still about 45 minutes away, so we had time to make our way back up to the city center and spend time shopping or getting gelato or snacks, or whatever. It was a strait shot (yes, uphill) and we stayed in groups of three or more.
Wow! What a trek it was from the city center to our dinner restaurant. Did I mention that Assisi is a bunch of hills? Holy cats! Your children are not gaining weight on this trip, that's for sure! Even though we are eating large meals throughout the day, we are doing tons of walking!
After diner we walked down to our starting point and hopped on the bus to get to our hotel. We checked in and had some free time before a group meeting (with the entire delegation) where we talked about how things are going so far. There is a lot of fun, and a lot of learning as well. Bed checks were at 10:30 (the latest we've been able to stay up) and Day 4 was complete!
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