Allora …. So …there we were …

We’re talking about another spectacular day in Sicilia.  Agrigento …ancient ruins… hiking…. photo-ops of epic proportions … crowds (for the first time) … huge, almost gargantuan temples, middle school adolescents, vivid imaginations, cameras on cell phones …..and…. “prone” modern sculptures (anatomically correct…. prone modern sculptures) woven into the fabric, the landscape of antiquity:  each,  in their own “special” way …. complimentary …like … a PetsMart chameleon is … to a 4 meter Nile Crocodile …. or like that initial sensation of complete and utter thirst-quenching when that first sip of ice cold fresh lemonade envelops each taste bud …. is …. to knocking back a warm can of Draino.  Are you working on that visual … yet.  And … get this …. the small little speed bump I’m not so delicately dancing around has absolutely nothing to do with “What could possibly go wrong?”

Look at what was happening … although this is a completely posed picture …not a single aspect being candid (other than the 2,500 year old column thingies in the background) … about 5 minutes before this pic was organized and taken… teams Alpha, Beta, and Gamma were stage left in the shade of a smyrlacius oblongata (bogus Romulan name for “tree” of any type) reviewing the timeline, the key players, and the pivotal moments in history that took place right beneath each Bulldog’s feet.  It was one of those hard to articulate moments when you are overtaken, perhaps overwhelmed, by the feeling …the sensation…. that God really wanted you to find your calling, your passion …and teach.  Look!  … I’ve never been known as Mr. Feelgood … these love-fest events are not my thing … but …having said that … it is truly a thing of “rare” and delicate beauty to watch the Mom & Pop team of Luchia and Dr. Donato ply her/his trade on your daughter/son.  Ok ! … I’ve had enough of this… let’s snap out of this funk … FOR THE RECORD! …  “I’ve carried both of them …on my back…for most of this so called Odyssey thing.”  Ok … now that the truth is out … I am set free from the bonds of guilt and I am finally able to move on to the focal point of this post (the statue/sculpture is just a warm-up … it is not really where this is going … but … ).  It Was just a tad humorous.

My immediate question is … why is the line of students not uniform.  “Gap !  Why?”   “Hat!  Why?”      “Picture!  Why?” (I did my best to initiate a conversation about the Rodin museum in Philly but mentioning Philadelphia only served to derail the moment further as the conversation quickly turned to Cheesesteaks and soft pretzels.)  BUT … let’s move on to the actual focal point of this post.  I like to call this next (above the fold) section … the Headmaster Hop (student derived name) …and the quaint “Year of _______” phrase they created as a companion.  I belive they settled on “The Year of Liability.”   I didn’t quite “get it.”  Until … I had about a nano second to observe the “lay of the land” and then it hit me like a jolt of 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power on the Back to the future” set.   The rest of the story will unfold in photo-essay format:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KEEP SCROLLING PLEASE … 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So … the classic Clint Eastwood question remains … “Do you feel lucky?”  … Did any of this actually happen ?  Or was it simply an attempt to garner a bit of attention (ya! …that’s jusssssst what I need.  I’ll close with that same Eastwood classic.  “Do you feel lucky!!  Do ya!

Ciao …. !   Alfredo

 

 

 

 

 

Allora … so there we were … enjoying (or in the case of Dr. David & Alfredo … presenting) reenactments of the debate between the older conservative Nicias (Athenian General) and the younger, more aggressive Alcibiades (wealthy celebrity who wants to take over the world)… presented to the Ecclesia (citizen voting assembly — represented by the Bulldog Ecclesia) while seated in the actual quarry where tens, and tens, and tens of thousands of slaves worked (and mostly perished …. after his/her bucket of oatmeal and one-gallon of water ran out) …. excavated the raw material that was used to construct the Temples, Theaters, and other edifices …. that have lasted for centuries.  And then…. there have been the lectures (by Davide …archaeologist) … and challenges (on the iPad) … some quite puzzling for each team of 5 Bulldogs (team Alpha, Beta, Gamma) … to solve first (and correctly of course) …in search of the ultimate award (still a closely held secret … you know … “if I told you I’d have to …. you!” kind-of-stuff).   And this might lead you to conclude that your Bulldog is “perhaps” … wishing they were still in bed at home watching reruns of “Pretty Little Liars”  or   “Deadliest Catch” …. while waiting for swim practice.  Uhhh ..I’ll let you decide:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CASE …..  OFFICIALLY  …

 

C L O S E D !!

 

Ciao…  Alfredo

Guilty as charged ….

The BWIIC is clearly behind schedule in keeping the Blog on track.  To rectify this completely unacceptable …. abysmal failure …to meet even the most minimum requirements of Blog currency …. The BWIIC has been authorized to employ space-time continuum warping and reassignment (don’t you simply adore that word “reassignment” …it’s  so …. so…..so…. sooooo … definitively,  indefinite ….. so000 specifically non-specific.)

The Caption you can mentally place under every single photo included in this post on the Blog is …  “My-Son/My-Daughter Building Memories in Perpetuity!” or …if you can handle it … “Just another Great Day to be a Bulldog!”

Day 2:  Segesta Temple and Theater (am) – Selinunte Temples (pm)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to Follow …Work in Progress … Improved Captions.

Incidentally …                                 YES!  Your daughter/son did in fact deliver an oration in a

Greek Amphitheater.  Film at  11

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alorra …. so there we were …. the evening of giorno uno …. after a thrilling ride up (waaaaay up) to …and a ride down (waaaay down) from Erice … we were seated in the courtyard of our accommodations, enjoying that wonderful meal you caught a glimpse of in the previous post …….when ….. out of no where … way past left field ….  almost  all the way “out” of here …. something akin to a “flash mob” happens … we’ll call it a “flash laugh”.

One minute, Angelina and Pippa were the typical duo of  8th graders participating in this “memories-for-life” event ….. soaking up the international experience, the cultural diversity…. the  “essence” …. no … the “fabric” of the inaugural Italian Odyssey …… (as well as a sip or thirty-two sips of Coca-Cola)…… and then …. the very next minute …… Angelina and Pippa just started laughing …. it was neither giggling, nor chuckling, nor a hearty guffaw for that matter …. it was something on the order of a thermonuclear laughing event… deep belly-laughing, replete with wincing and grimacing from iso-metric abdominal distress and “almost” involuntary zygomatic-major activation, but more importantly …. independent neuro-stimulation of orbicularis oculi.  And …. beyond this universally observable indication of some sort  of “quasi-euphoria… last-long-time-a-ca” (same affliction affecting The Joker in the highly acclaimed 2015 TMC/History Channel docu-drama Batman Meets Joker, Mothra, and Rodan)…Angelina and Pippa  were reacting to countless ultra-complex stimuli such as the words …. “the” …… “what’s” ….. or “an.”   A double-blind study is currently in phase two of FDA certification protocols with a target date of 20 June 15 for release in the BEUI  journal    (“Board of Evaluation of the Unimportant and Insignificant.)

Perhaps !!   Maybe just “perhaps” …… this will be one of those ….”you hadda be there” events … but… I’m trying the multiple-picture-solution again … and I fully anticipate that you will require little encouragement… to join-in laugh”ing” uncontrollably ….right along with” the dynamic duo of cachinnate.  Fasten your seat-belts Mom & Dad …let’s bake this cake!

 

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Ciao    🙂

BWIIC Note:  All photos were taken using single-shot “manual” shutter release.  Burst photography : both 5 fps (frames per sec) and 8 fps multi image capture functions were not used !   The duration of this episode can only be measured in LPM (laughs per minute) not fps (frames per second).  

 

Or … in my case … maybe ten-thousand … or an hundred-thousand words!

BWIIC Note:  Chronologically… this post actually belongs as “Day ONE” (Lunedi …Monday) of the timeline…. 

Allora … there we were … a bit jet-lagged  … and not so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed  …. climbing aboard the Salvatore’ Express (in front of the airport) and immediately heading out for a “full” day, at Erice (Err’-i’cha …. short”i”, long “a”),  lunch, and a castle for dessert.  Then … a drive to accommodations, a fabulous masterpiece of an evening meal (2100 for dinner) … followed by …. the first of our nightly AARP meetings( No …of course that’s not it! …don’t be ridiculous … EGO15 coined that acronym long before those wha’chamacallit  people did) !    AARP has always stood for …Awards And Recognition Program … hasn’t it!

The “drive” …UP (and I mean uppppa) to Erice was what one might describe as a “thrill seeker’s” …  “adrenaline junkie’s” …. walk in the park.   But …. Alas … poor Yorick (as well as Senora Lucia-Pollio) had not received the Joey Chitwood Thrill Driver’s  fam course prior to leaving the States.  Hence … the occasional “no…no…no….ohhhh…..noooo…. noooo…ohhh nooooo” whimper could be heard clearly above the whine of the Salvatore’s “little coach engine that said could” …as it labored up the “switchback-every-100-meters” journey up that “Highway to …..”  (as AC/DC so aptly put it in their 4 min 45 sec chartbuster in 1979) en route Erice.    In an effort to at least “try” to get caught up …. many photos will follow in this post … with many fewer words accompanying them.  Relax …. no cause for alarm! … I will most likely return to the land of the somewhat normalcy …tomorrow…and write the normal “terse” (only different)  blog post ….you’ve become so accustomed to reading.

“One” of the almost countless switchback, hair-pin, aye-yai-yai turns on …….The Road to Mandolay …where  the  flying  fishes  play,  and the sun comes up like  thunder out of China  cross the bay. ….. oops …. wrong Blog… sorry Dr. N …. no harm…no foul.  Ahem! …. cough…cough …. on the road to ERICE (air’-i-cha <– short “i” and long “a”)

 

BWIIC Note:  This post is not in pure chronological sequence … but worth looking back for a moment or two.

So … there we were… day one ( primo journo)!  After an **uneventful** passage through security at ORF for almost everyone, the EGO15 team boarded a Global Airlines affiliate-carrier turbo-prop commuter plane (maybe 60 seats ?), buckled up, pushed back, taxied, took the “duty,” cobbed the throttles, rolled, reached takeoff, rotated, and lifted off en route the City of Brotherly Love for a short 5.5 hr layover prior to boarding the Airbus for Rome.  Maybe a minute or two had passed before it became blatantly obvious that we had crossed paths with with the Dahli Lama (ok …Dahli Lama”ess”) of flight attendants.  Although she could not quite give us all “Total Consciousness” as Bill Murray described the Lama had done for him during the famous pitchfork-in-throat-of-Danny monologue scene in Caddy Shack (the late Harold Ramis’ production of the near cult-movie classic comedy …..also produced Ghostbuster’s, Groundhog Day, & Analyze This) …she was able to make us all feel like a “million bucks” by “genuinely” loving every minute of what she did aboard the aircraft.  All professional … but …ever so “real.”  No one had to ask for a helping hand when it was time to try and snap a couple of Odyssey Italy Team shots.  The camera sort-of just appeared in Flt Atdt Leslie V’s (actual name used with permission) hand and she captured the seldom attainable “entire team” photo.     The list could go on …. but it is irrelevant/insignificant …. the message, however,  was important … this could be nothing but an “Omen” of things to come …and …it was.    Thank you   Ms. V.      …  for setting the bar …. as well as the tone.  But,  it hardly seemed like we were headed for anything but a rendezvous with 5.5 hours of idle layover monotony.

Allora (so) …there we were …. staged in a conglomeration of rollaboards, backpacks, and Odyssey Adventurers at what is the equivalent of a cul-de-sac at “Gate 26”, in the International Departure Terminal.  Our chariot to adventure …. a sleek, glistening, Airbus 330 was already nuzzled against the jetway … resting up … before her transatlantic sprint at 5:40pm.  The decks of cards had yet to appear… nor had the always popular (although never …. e-v-e-r … desired) baggage cart rides shattered the calm of an otherwise sparsely inhabited terminal.  And then …. yes … and T-H-E-N !!! … Along comes Capt. Landry, cordially introducing himself, explaining that he was waiting to head back home to Baton Rouge …but while waiting for his flight south … (now get this) …. “Do you think any of the students would like to go aboard your A330 and I’ll give them a tour of first class and the cockpit?”  …aw c’mon …. really !   Oh for cryin’ out loud … no one just walks up out of nowhere and offers to find a supervisor …run it past TSA … get the keys to castle … and take as many of the students (and adults now pretending to be students) aboard for an up close and personal ….”ized” tour.  For goodness sake … this is 2015 ..post 9/11 … !  Alan Funt is about to appear out of nowhere and roll out the old “Candid Camera” line.  But …. “fact” was once again … “stranger than fiction!” 

The pics will do the talking …as well as spare you from more of my drivel. 

 Bottom line … Capt. Landry  

…Thank You so very much.  None of use will forget this start to our adventure.  Memories had been made!

(** uneventful**)  Explained in near nauseating detail below

—- read on “only” if you can handle/survive/digest/put-up-with….  X-Babble (sort of like the X-Games …only different)       ——       with the exception of Alfredo taking advantage of his recently acquired and “purchased” TSA pre-screened status …valid for a year or more … allowing you to bypass the super long line and go to the very short pre-screen line.   Allora (so) … With that … hey look at me zip past all you commoners … let em’ eat cake … glint in my eye …I sped past the Odyssey Bubbas and Bubbettes, didn’t have to place the laptop in a separate conveyance, didn’t have to etc., etc., and stepped up the “hands over your head,  Ron Popeil …Spin-o-Rama, Oxy-screen, Pocket X-ray device…. jousts as Tomasina TSA was saying in a flatline monotone …. “Passengers with joint implants may not use pre-screen security services.” …Uhhh Ma’am .. Miss … Your Most Eminent TSA-ness … does that mean I have to …… “Passengers with joint implants may not use pre-screen security services.” Hands akimbo …followed by a polite … but very informative and easily comprehended … finder-point … I dragged my sorry posterior back to the “commoner” line ..which now looked like the first day sale line for the KISS concert in Appalachicola.  A few (ok a lot more than a “few”) minutes later … I arrived at Check Point Deux …this time … laptop in separate conveyance … shoes, belt, liquids pouch…etc. … the whole enchilada (err uhh I mean focaccia).  I entered the Oxy-screen after reporting that I had bi-lateral knee replacements .. and … then felt my ears caressed by that very professional and all-business cacophony of words… “Please step this way…”  engendering those primal feelings of …. oh happy day!   I guess I had neglected to mention that I also had a left hip replacement and then by this time I had collected enough glistening precipitation on my back (politically correct for sweating my brains out) that it looked like I was walking through the Oxy-Screen with a piece of fontal armor from a WWII German Tiger Tank strapped to my back.  “Fred” (name changed of course) was very pleasant and shared a visual lesson on what he saw in the Oxy-screen image displayed to our left.    I had to agree … the image looked like  a cross between Iron Man and the slag crucible at a Pittsburg Steel Mill  in the peak of production in 1943.  There was “yellow” (yellow is “bad” …similar to “crossing the streams” in Ghostbusters) all over the place.  Fred snapped the proverbial “finger wave” latex glove, inserted his right hand into the protective sheath and I immediately had visions of an “are you kidding me” experience staring me straight between the running lights! …. You could easily hear the gasp of air expel from my lungs as a simple, albeit thorough, pat-down …. e-x-t-e-r-n-a-l  pat down…was all that followed.  On I went to quickly re-thread the belt, tie the shoes, and put my world back into my pockets.

  When I finally rejoined the Odyssey team …. Donato exclaimed …”Thought you were in front of all of us …what happened ?”   Simple question …or… so it seemed.   Not sure Donato has asked me any other …. “simple …. questions” since he innocently made that ill-fated query a couple of days ago.   Let me be frank!     “Wordy” in writing … “pales” in comparison to what can be unleashed when I’m spun-up … mano-y-mano … and in full-fledged “babble”  Sorry Donato.  It just wasn’t fair.  I just couldn’t help myself.

So! …. there we were …at 35,000 ft … over 6 miles in altitude …cruising at some airspeed in excess of 600 knots “over the ground” (jet stream tailwind adds to True airspeed through the “air”) and then it happened …. “it was as if Rod Serling had written a script”…….(Relax !  No one in window seat 26A looked like a young William Shatner … and was seeing a little furry gremlin perched atop the wing, opening an engine access panel, and yanking out wiring harnesses) …….. BUT …. B-U-T ! !  Way …waaaaaaaaay more critical than that ….. Donato (The professor formerly known as Dr. Pollio) was unable to plug an 1/8” headphone jack into the receptacle in the end of his arm-rest and hence was unable to listen to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins while he read a few pertinent chapters of the The Iliad and the …whatever that book name was.   But …get this ….It was as if World Air had just covered this type of emergency in last weeks mandatory crew training supplement Appendix B, to Tab A, of Supplement II-2 to Airbus 330 Flight Repair Manual Delta-Victor-4-Alpha.   Flight Attendant “Frank” (names have been changed for no particular reason) leapt into action.  Armed with nothing more than a Walgreens-“esque” nailfile, grit, determination, and a MacGyver sense of duct-tape überall…Frank disassembled the higlhy complex integrated armrest, seat recline, and in-flight audio routing assembly with the dexterity of a brain surgeon … right before Donato’s eyes.  Problem … solved!  A previous passenger on a leg from Katmandu to Hackensack had snapped off a similar 1/8″ plug while inserted into the fitting.  Talk about saving the day …. apparently the Captain was only minutes away from declaring an “integrated armrest, seat recline, and in-flight audio routing assembly” emergency with Halifax flight service center and diverting to Dudly Dowright International so that trained technicians could tackle the task.  Whew! … all’s well that ends well.   Remember … “The shortest distance between two points is a “crooked line” ……through the Twighlight Zone.”

Perhaps these next few photos will allow you to “join your daughter or son” “figuratively on the Philly to Rome leg of EGO15.

Airborne … Airbus 330 …PHL

 

 

The “Team” … looking forward to the 8 to 9 hr flight!  (Little did they know )

 

 

 

Our sumptuous repast …Chicken …or of all things …pasta !  Go figure!

 

Our official “Team” pasta evaluator gave it two thumbs up.  ——–>

 

 

 

The effects of combining pasta, Dramamine, and water can clearly be seen in the photo to the left.

 

Our two little Bulldog stowaways …Nunzio & Luigi (Italian Bulldogs) looked a bit forlorn  as they caught the first glimpse of “what they thought was their beloved Italy” …only to find out that they were passing over  Corsica.  (seen below)

 

In minutes your daughter/son will be wrapping up breakfast, climbing aboard the absolutely (no levity at all here) fantastic coach …with our driver Salvatore … and heading out for Segesta (Google that ..for a pre-peek) … photos to follow in a later post.  Time 0730 Sicilia time.  Martedi, 9 June 2015.  Ciao.

 

 So …there we were … 0900 …. Jun 7th …Giorno Numero Uno of the inaugural  8th grade “Odessia Italiana” waiting to check in at Norfolk International Airport.  All present and accounted for.  You could cut the anticipation in the air with a knife (an OSHA approved safety simulated dull knife … safety is paramount … of course).  What you’re seeing above is a lot of extremely happy campers.  Rachele exclaimed, “Hey, Where’s the gelato … you said there would be gelato … where’s the dog gone gelato ?”    “Hey, Uncle Alfredo, is it true we have a six hour layover in Philadelphia?” asked Alessandra.  “I don’t know if I can handle six-hours thinking about gelato,” she continued to say.  The rest of the campers busied themselves brushing up on Italian and discussing their favorite types of pasta….. which many have decided to adopt as their new surname.  So … Alessandra has become Alessandra Orzo-Riggatoni and Rachele is now Rachele Linguini.  Bravo!

Since Blog posts are listed “most recent” first …the best way to get started (and up to speed) is to scroll back to the first post and take it from there.

Buona Fortuna !

In a small, poorly attended ceremony, atop the newly established “King of the Hill” training facility (former site of the home field for the current VISAA State Champion NA Varsity Field Hockey team) the BWIIC was appointed CSO (Chief Security Officer)  for this inaugural EGO.  Power corrupts … But …Absolute Power …is …. pretty cool.

The first and foremost security measure will be to formally announce the new names for each student and activity leader.   Each EGO participant has been assigned …and will assume…. a new name for the adventure.  Blog posts will refer to each student and activity leader using his/her EGO name.  Hence …your “program” is provided below:

NA Name               Italian Name       Meaning of Name

• Robbie                   Roberto                  Bright with Fame
• Nathan                   Mario                      Most Excellent (Just had to have a “Mario”)
• Daniel                    Dante                       Enduring
• Cole                        Carlo                        Strong, Manly
• Brian                      Bernardo               Brave as Bear
• Alastair                  Alonzo                     Eager for Battle

• Abigail                   Angelina                Little Angel
• Callie                      Calandra               Free as a Bird
• Carson                   Carina                     Beloved
• Elle                         Allesandra            Defender of mankind
• Gabrielle               Gabriella                God is my Strength
• Kate (no K )          Caterina                 Pure
• Reagan                   Regina                    Regal
• Reilly                      Rachele                  Innocence of a Lamb
• Peyton                    Pippa                       Lover of Horses

• Mrs.Heidi Pollio      Senora Lucia           Bringer of Light
• Dr. Dave Pollio         Senore Donato       Gift of God
• Mr. Woody Poole     Senore Alfredo       Counselor of the Elves ( Are you kidding me!  How about Counselor of the Heroic or the Victorious or even just Counselor …but Counselor of the Elves …. Good Grief !)

BWIIC Note:  Blog Posts are organized “most recent” first.  If you are experiencing any difficulty deciphering any (or all) of the recurring acronyms…simply scroll back through an earlier post where it has been expanded and/or defined.