The Importance of Being Earnest

Not only is the title one of the most brilliant plays by an Irish author (Oscar Wilde!), but it's a great tagline to remember as a community worker. If you cannot be earnest, if you cannot be sincere, if you cannot take what you are doing and really relate it to those who are affected by it, then you cannot be successful. The ability to be earnest, is really the ability to relate to and communicate with those around you.

So, I return to you, you amazing person, with a wondrous summer of European adventures and shenanigans behind me. I taught Italian 9-11 year olds the fine art of speaking English and having fun while doing so in June, and then nannied for two brilliant Swiss/German/American tots in Zurich, Switzerland while floundering to speak Swiss German. In between I visited with family, met my grandfather's cousins in Calabria, sipped fine European wines, swam in the beautiful, salty Mediterranean, wandered the streets of Paris in heels for several days, saw a giant fork in the lake of Geneva, hugged Charlie Chaplin (OK, it was a statue!), visited my [future] office at the UN, basked in the Barcelonian sun, sipped OJ over a fine Spanish meal with Ashley Ambirge, danced salsa with Moroccans in Spain, enjoyed gelato e brioche in Palermo, ate just regular il gelato in un cono in Firenze, shopped for Italian jeans in Milano, rode a gondola in Venezia, met Colombianos on a crazy Italian train ride, met a Caribbean Canadian resident of Switzerland in a train station after a crazy train ride from France and before making it back to Zurich... so not very busy.

I returned to Detroit only to leave again on a cross country road to Seattle - which I accomplished in 50 hours switching driving shifts with my good friend and taking in some amazing scenery in the plains and Black Hills of Western America. We even stopped at Mt. Rushmore for a quick peek! All in all, the summer was eventful, and taught me a lot about myself and the languages of the world. The following is a quick photo summation of my summer:

Gelato in Brioche

Firenze: birthplace of gelato

Sunset over the Mediterranean

Chateau de Versailles

Tour Eiffel at night

Sacre Couer - what a climb!

My future office

Yes, I took all the photos myself. I will be coming back more often to write a little about happenings in D-town and community+public arts: DETROIT!