Down to the last month.. and finishing strong!

Jessi, after we finished Mt. biking
and a little map reading class.
I suggested he pose like that.

The last couple months have continued to go well.  There seems to have been at least one school/federal/religious vacation for each of the last 3 months, and so we've been busy with field trips and planning activities to keep the kids occupied.  The Valdocco keeps getting bigger!  We've grown to about 35 kids, 4 full-time and 2 part-time tudorers, and we've almost run out of room in our building. Carnival, Lent, and Easter have all come and gone.  The CCD classes are still going well, and we're expecting 6 kids to celebrate their first communion this Sunday.  And the Alter Server team's gotten bigger and more confident!  Right now we have 3 who are pretty experienced and capable and we've just added 3 new, young recruits who're still in training. Ultimately I'm confident that they'll have no problems carrying on once I leave.

This last month I've been pretty lucky in that I've gotten to take two trips to Italy.  One was with a group of 12 kids from the Don Bosco and Nazareth (the other Salesian school in Nice, run by the Sisters) high schools to visit the Colle Don Bosco, the birth place of Don Bosco, right outside of Turin.  And the second trip was when my Parents came to visit.  I was able to take a week off to meet them in Rome and to spend a couple days with them when they came here to Nice, it's been a great month!

For the last week in February and the first in March the school had a two week vacation, and so the Valdocco put some activities together for the first week.  Since it was during Carnival we prepared an arts and craft workshop to make our own masks for wearing to

Enjoying the snow before it
melts, in the Mt's outside Nice.

one of the many city parades that were going on. Unfortunately, it rained that day so none of the kids showed up, but since we were already there we decided to make our own 4 to 5 masks, and they turned out pretty good.  The second day we had a better turn out and took the kids up to the Mountains, about an hour drive away, to do some sledding.  The snow was still nice and it wasn't too cold so it turned out to be the perfect time to go.  On the last day of camp we took a handful out to a park that had a little fitness trail. Ismael showed them the importance of having proper form and I taught them a couple military chants for running, and they surprising really liked them...


For Holy Week the Dioceses of Nice chose to
celebrate the Chrism Mass at our church, Notre
Dame Auxiliatrice.  It really turned out to be an incredible event.  Almost all the priests from the Dioceses, the brothers, the sisters, and a lot of the parishioners came to watch the bishop bless this year's sacramental oils.  And the turnout was pretty impressive, the church was packed.  We ended up having to leave the doors open so that people could see and hear from outside.

After Easter the school had its Easter/Spring break for two weeks, and the Valdocco had another week of field trips and games.  Since we're also working with the kids to renovate our garden area in front of our building, we thought it'd be a good idea to take them out to park that had a huge exotic/indoor garden to get some ideas and inspiration.  It also had a mini zoo and an inflatable obstacle course so it was easy to make a day out of it.

It's an urchin and not a crack in the glass.

On the last day of camp we took a day trip to an island off the coast of Cannes to visit an old fort and to play some games.  The island turned out to be really pretty, and had a lot of good spots to play Capture the Flag and then to have a nice picnic on the shore.  In the afternoon we visited the old fort and the kids got to see where the "Man in the Iron Mask" was imprisoned and to learn about his interesting story.



















Two weeks ago Manu, myself, and another animator from the Nazareth High School took a group of 12 kids to Turin, Italy for a 3 days visit of The Colle Don Bosco.  For the kids, the purpose of the trip was to have a great time in meeting other kids from all over France (more than 300 kids showed up) and to learn a little about their faith.  As for the 75+ volunteers that participated, the camp served as a dry run for the larger and upcoming Campo Bosco (in August) and the celebration of the Bi-Centennial of Don Bosco's Birthday (in February), which will both be held at The Colle Don Bosco.  In the end, the trip went really well, we stayed busy the entire time playing games, learning about Salesian History, and participating in prayer and Mass.  It was especially interesting to have been able to see the original homes of St. Don Bosco and St. Dominic Savio, The Basilica of Don Bosco, and then to have taken a trip into town to see the original Valdocco and all the things that Don Bosco was able to establish.

On top of Colle/Hill Don Bosco

Homes of St. Don Bosco (above)
and St. Dominic Savio (below)

Signs of a good trip!

An incredible church design by
Don Bosco at the original
Valdocco in Turin, Italy.

This last month was uniquely special in that my parents were able to come visit.  We met in Rome and spent a couple days seeing the sites there, and then they came to Nice with me to see and meet everyone at the community.  It was a great time, they really seemed to enjoyed Nice, we ate some really good pasta and French food, and by the time they left we were all exhausted.

The Vatican Gardens

In the courtyard of the Don Bosco high school

And so it's finally come down to my last month here in Nice.  It's been an incredible adventure, and I'm grateful for every minute of it.  Once I've returned home in June I'll be sure to write my last blog post to sum up all my experiences, thoughts, and to give the details of my going away.  Until then!