From: "Leo Natani" <leo_natani@hotmail.com> To: <bruce@coastalwebweaver.com> Subject: Italy Workshop & Tour, by Tah Ni' Bah Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 16:46:05 -0600 Dear Family and Friends, A week ago, Mom and I (Sarah and TahNibaa) began our journey to teach a group of European and Asian weavers how to weave the Navajo Way. With our luggage packed and two sea bags full of wool, weaving supplies, combs, battens and plant dyes we left the Four Sacred Mountains. A week has passed and we have seen a lot and met many people, not to mention, got caught up riding the underground subway and trains during rush hour. The Italian, German, Swedish and one Japanese weaver, all fourteen of them learned how to weave in a quick fashion. Many of them had woven on a floor loom and did other crafts as well. This class was interesting because none of them, but one spoke English. We did have an interpreter but many times we had to teach them by "showing" them, instead of telling them and/or explaining. We are happy to annouce that one weaver completed her weaving an hour before the class ended. Now, that the class is over, we are exploring the architectural history of Rome. We have toured the Colliseum, Saint Peterýs Basilica, The Pantheon, The Three Fountains, Stores, Outdoor Night Shops, Pasta Restaurants, Coffee Bars, etc. These words explain what we saw: Impressive, overwhelming, very interesting, WOW!, too much sculptures among many other words. We have learned that Rome needs at least one full week to totally explore. The many coffee bars, the Italian fashion, the narrow streets with small, tiny cars zipping by and the everlasting aroma of some Italian Pasta dish make us feel kind of homesick. So, we ventured outside of Rome, to a small country town called Manziana, where we have been staying for the past 4 days. We enjoy our morning walk in the country where we see cows, sheep, horses and birds chirping away. And we also found a beautiful color plant dye, called Turkish Berries. Mom has experienced with this dye before (Missouri).  We also visit the Meditarrean Sea. The beach had black sand, a first ever for us. We never saw a black beach sand before. We picked shells and sand as we walked the beach. Tomorrow we are headed to Rome by train. We will shop throughout the day. We have on our agenda to stop by the Bead Shops, Fabric Shops and outdoor market. We will also have for lunch our favorite Italian sandwich, Eggplant Mozarellaa Cheese sandwich.  Then we will sleep our last night in Rome and prepare for our trip home. We are happy to be returning home to our ancestral homeland and we are also happy that we met new friends here.  We have made many memories and shared many laughs with our friends. These memories we will cherish. Hagoonee, TahNibaa doo Sarah ani