giving gifts & giving back :: 2010 edition

In the past years, I've posted lists of holiday gift ideas that are a bit different than the average choices - gifts that give back in some way. Luckily, I happen to be surrounded by organizations and friends that are very involved in making a difference in the world. So, if you'd like some ideas for some unique gifts this year, here are my picks for this 2010 holiday season:

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JEDIDIAH HOLIDAY COLLECTION

This season at Jedidiah, we've partnered together with the humanitarian organization, Invisible Children, in a commitment to promote the well-being of children in Uganda through the 'Schools for Schools' program, helping to rebuild the standards of education in northern Uganda.

Proceeds from the sales of the Holiday 2010 collection will go to support Invisible Children and their mission of long-term change in Africa.

Check out this video about the Schools for Schools program from Invisible Children *email readers must click online to watch*



JedidiahUSA.com • InvisibleChildren.com

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REEF UGANDAL SANDAL

Yes, a sandal in winter! Several reasons for this: 1) it's still 90º here in Florida. 2) if it's snowing where you are, you can save them for spring. 3) they're awesome in any season.

A good friend of ours is a designer for the surf brand Reef and worked on this humanitarian collaboration project where Reef partnered with 31bits, an organization that aids the entrepreneurial spirit of displaced women in Uganda refugee camps. Working together, they created the Ugandal sandal. "Through the practice of fair trade, Reef has pre-purchased the women’s’ handcrafted beads made of recycled magazine paper to adorn the sandal. '31bits is centered around using the creative art and entrepreneurship already present in the women to help get them out of poverty. Partnering with Reef is another opportunity to give the women an international voice and to share their story.' In addition, one percent of the proceeds from this sandal will benefit the Reef Redemption fund – Reef’s own humanitarian and environmental organization."

Here's a video about the project *email readers must click online to watch*



Reef Ugandal Sandal • 31bits.com

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EMPOWER DAUGHTERS YOGA BAGS

For any fellow yogis out there, check out these amazing EmpowerDaugters Yoga Bags that my friend sells. The sale of every yoga bag helps young cambodian girls leave the brothels of Phnom Penh in conjunction with the NGO DaughersCambodia.org. This organization "operates a day-centre in an area of brothels, where activities and programmes are designed to empower victims of sexual exploitation through employment opportunities and a wide range of social and psychological services." Each bag is made of 'up-cycled' rice bag material and helps keep it from the land fill!

EmpowerDaughters Etsy Shop • DaughersCambodia.org

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PASSPORTS WITH PURPOSE

Our friend, Sara writes about travel on her blog from Milan, Italy and is always active in various blogger-based humanitarian efforts each year. This year she wrote about her involvement in the "Passports with Purpose" travel blogger program. Through PWP, you can donate or buy raffle tickets for a huge list of prizes offered from bloggers around the world.

This year, PWP is "supporting LAFTI, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the Dalit (untouchable) population in India. Raising $50,000, PWP will build a village in India, providing homes for those that had never hoped to have a roof over their heads!"

PassportsWithPurpose.com • LAFTI.net

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Hopefully you'll check some of these out...and definitely share with me any other ideas you have! Happy Christmas + Merry Holidays.

day in rome 2

a look over the ruins of the Forum
My last day in Italy was spent in Rome awaiting my morning flight out the next day from Fiumicino Aeroporto. This is the usual schedule for me, as I like to take my time in the morning of departure and not have to add another long train ride to the already long travel day ahead of me.

When I arrived, I dropped my bags off at the hotel, and decided to grab a coffee and then head to a yoga class at the astanga studio where I'd visited a few weeks before for a workshop. It was nice just being able to pop in and practice a bit, as even after just one day away from the studio in Florence, my body was ready to work again.

Caesar and his flowers
As the Rome studio is near the Colosseum, I took my time walking the long way around the ancient structure as I headed towards the other side of the Forum. As I strolled on the sidewalk along Via dei Fori Imperiali, looking down to the ruins which sit well below modern street level, I passed the old victorious statues of Caesar. One of these looming images held a wilting bouquet of roses in his hands. I sat for a few minutes on a bench close-by and just stared at it. Wondering how someone got all the way up there to place them, but decided to stop wondering and act like it was just Caesar's way of welcoming me to the city.

Constantine in pieces
I continued on my way, and just past the massive monument building to Victor Emmanuel II in Piazza Venezia, I arrived at the Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums). I've tried twice before to visit, but always ended up going on the day they're closed. This time I checked ahead of time and was in luck. Aperti.

This collection of three museum buildings sit over some of the most ancient ruins of the city on Capitoline Hill. They house an amazing variety of masterpieces, monumental works, and historic articles. The front courtyard welcomes you in with the pieces of a colossal broken statue of Constantine. Head, feet, hands, elbows, a calf...all spread out on display along the stone walls.

my French map • amazing chandeliers that I couldn't stop admiring
Inside Marcus Aurelius sits on a huge bronze horse in a victorious ride among thousands of other pieces to view. I really enjoyed the collection and visit....although I was given a French guide by the guy at the ticket counter (with no words exchanged at all). I think I get French as the guess to my nationality more than any other country...oh well, at least I could still follow the grid and color key to know where I was going. I thought it was funny, so I just kept it instead of exchanging it.

view from the terrace at the museum
Before I left, I went to the panoramic terrace to get a view out over the city. I took a bit of time to say goodbye (or more like, 'see you soon') before I decided to have a nice long restful evening in the hotel preparing for the return trip the next day. So although it was a pretty early evening, I turned in for the night and reflected on my wonderful time in Italy.

day in rome 1

sunlight coming through the dome in St. Peter's, Vatican
During the entire time I was in Italy this past trip, I didn't really leave Florence as many times as I thought I would. I really was just so captured by the energy of the Renaissance city this time, the people I met, and stayed busy with what I was studying, that the time flew by without my previously-planned mini trips.

"Rome impressions"
Besides a couple trips up the hill outside Florence to visit a friend in the village of Fiesole, I just made it to Rome a couple times. The first was for a spontaneous day trip with my yoga teacher to participate in a workshop being offered by a well-known Ashtanga teacher in Rome. So after catching the super early morning train, and arriving in Rome just in time to rush to the class, the afternoon was free to roam and see a few sites before the return train to Florence.

sunlight beam over choir during Sunday mass
We met up with my friend Arlene for lunch and (of course) gelato, then headed to the Vatican. It was actually a lovely time to go as the Sunday mass was in session. Because St. Peter's is so enormous, people were still walking everywhere, and just a small area at the front was filled with those actually attending mass. I stood for a while just taking in the etherial choir voices and watching the sunlight stream in through the dome and window openings. One milky beam was actually illuminating the choir area, as if it was a spotlight. For a few minutes I closed my eyes, just took it in, and forgot where I was.

Piazza della Rotunda (in front of Pantheon)
Next was a walk through my favorite areas of the center...past Piazza Navona and through the Pantheon square (even taking a quick stop to look inside). This structure, everytime, is my favorite in Rome. Then after squeezing through the always-packed Fountain of Trevi and a few more cobblestone alleyways, we were back among the ancient ruins of the Forum and Colosseum...and finally the Termini once again for the return train.

flag over Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II
I know I've said this before, but Rome never ceases to fill me with a sense of awe each and every time I visit. This time was no exception. And I still had one more day in the Eternal City before heading back to the States...

flood of florence :: 44 years later

view of river from above Florence ('66 photo via)
Besides today being my mom's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!), it's also the 44th anniversary of the tragic 1966 "Alluvione di Firenze " (Flood of Florence).

I've read about the details of this day throughout the past few years, and also watched a documentary on that day's events. It's always interesting to see the photos from that day...so I've included some from 1966 and paired them from some of our photos through the years.

Ponte Vecchio ('66 photo via)
This flood from the waters of the Arno River came quickly and unexpectedly throughout the day of November 4, 1966, and by nightfall had killed a few dozen people, destroyed countless art pieces, and damaged thousands of historic buildings in the city center. Still today, around the city you can find plaques on street corners marking how high the water line reached.

Piazza Santa Croce ('66 photo via)
In fact, in the magnificent church of Santa Croce (which holds many famous art masterpieces, and where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried among others) the stone plastered walls still bear the marks of a muddy water line. The area around this church received the highest water amounts reaching over 22 feet.

Piazza Signoria ('66 photo via)
One of the most interesting parts of this story to me is how many people (mostly younger people) from around the city, region, and world, came together to help clean up the city and recover the lost and restore the damaged pieces of priceless art that laid in ruins in the historic buildings and museums. This group of people became known as the "Angeli del Fango" (Mud Angels).

So many times in situations of crisis around the world, is when one can see a banding together of people. Helping. Loving. And working together. Mario Primicerio, a past mayor of Florence, was a professor during the '66 flood who became a part of the Mud Angels. In an interview, he gave three reasons for why volunteers felt the sense to help: a concern for future generations, a feeling of international unity and a pervasive sense of solidarity.

"What we were doing was dictated by the desire to give back the traces of the history of the past to future generations, so that it could be used for the spiritual growth of people who perhaps had yet to be born...it was the international community that worked to try to save Florence, this unique patrimony which belonged to the whole world."

Here's a clip of a more modern documentary-style film which talks about the Mud Angels and also incorporates real footage from the '66 devastation and clean-up.*email readers must click through to watch online

sono ritornata

perfect dusk lighting in Piazza Signoria, Firenze
I've been back from Italy for almost two weeks now. Bittersweet. Everytime I leave, I always know I'll be back, but always hope it's a bit sooner than later. And all my stories about this trip has made the urgency even greater...for both of us.

The experience overall was a much different one from my past times in Italy. Part of it was because of the reason I was there (to study yoga), part of it was my daily routine (mainly practicing at the studio and breaking to go out to eat), part was the unique group of people I met (mostly through the studio which is full of Italians, expats, and visitors), and part of it was the neighborhood in which I lived (the Oltrarno).


Piazza Signoria panoramic
I met more people, gained more new friends, felt more "at home" and part of a community in these short 5 weeks than I did the entire year we lived here before. Anytime we've talked about moving back to Italy, it hasn't really been with Florence in mind for the long-term...but this trip has made us reconsider. After having lived in the Oltrarno area, I know this is where we'd have to be in a return. So very close in proximity to the main tourist sites- just a few minutes walk over a bridge - but so far away in terms of the feeling of community that I felt.

sitting on the Ponte Vecchio
It got to the point where almost every single outing I'd see someone I knew, or visit a restaurant or cafe where I could count on seeing a few familiar faces. Even bumping into people on the street became common...but only when I was on the Oltrarno side of the city. One morning I crossed over the bridge to the main section of town to meet someone for coffee. I was walking back and was excited to get back to the neighborhood...and just as (literally) my foot stepped onto the bridge I heard my name as someone I knew was walking towards me asking me why I was still in town (as originally I'd planned to leave the day before but stayed in Florence for a few more days until I had to fly back home).

Arno river at sunset
One of the things I loved was the schedule shift...everything is a bit later there. Getting up. Going to bed. Meals. Most days I'd have dinner out after the final class at the studio and not even make it to the restaurant until about 10:30. There's just something about that pace that suits me so well.

I haven't even begun to talk about the yoga part of the experience - which was huge. So that will be coming. As will the recap of a couple trips to Rome!

-a presto!