It’s 10/11/12, but in Italy it is really 11/10/12;
NOT as cool!
Let me start this blog by saying that I appreciate
those of you who are reading this, following my adventures, and praying for
me! I know some of the blogs get
lengthy, and wordy I am sure, but writing is therapeutic for me. It has been helpful to reflect on each day,
but also to have a record of the many little things that happen throughout the
day. I fear that in 9 months I will
forget some of the little details of my life here, so I record them now! I want to have a record of the seemingly
insignificant things: the sights, the sounds, the feelings, the struggles, the
victories, the people, etc. etc.
This morning I woke up to an alarm, well really I
woke up 1 minute before my alarm. My
alarm was set because Massimo said we were meeting at 9, and I wanted to be
ready to run downstairs so that there was no need for him to want to come upstairs
(not happening). I ate breakfast in my
usual spot (my last yogurt and some tostate with peanut butter & one with
the last of my orange marmalade from the hotel). I got dressed, read for a little bit, and was
ready to go at 9. No Massimo; no Massimo
at like 15 after either, so I headed out for the day to get things done.
I headed towards the main area of town to check bank
hours so that I could call Francesca later.
As I made my way through the town, on a different street than before, I
started noting some of the uniquely
Italian things I am seeing. First, I
must tell you that I went into this shop and when the lady asked if I needed
help and I responded, she was on the phone and told the other person, “she is
NOT Italian”! Ma’am, I may not be, but I can understand some of what you are
saying!
Anyway, so one of the things that I have been
noticing is that men or women from bars will take a tray (most of the time it
is covered, but not always) with un caffe to shops a few doors down; I guess
someone couldn’t leave work to get their caffeine jolt, so the bar brings it to
them! They just put it on a tray, with
sugar choices and all, and take it to the person; they just walk it to their
workplace. How uniquely Italian? Can you
imagine calling a Starbucks and saying, “Hey, this is Elyse at jo-blow
store. I cannot leave work at the
moment, so could you bring me my morning coffee (insert your favorite
drink)?” I imagine a starbucks worker
getting a big kick out of this; and mocking you once they hang up.
As I was walking down Corso Mazzini (the main
street), which is like the Times Square of Cosenza, not because it is all lit
up, but rather it is where everyone gathers and takes their passeggiata in the
morning and evening, I started noticing some endearing sounds. In the mornings around 10ish, or afternoon
between 5 & 7, if I ever forget that I am in Italy, the sounds of the glass
(glasses, cappuccino cups/caffe cups against the saucers, etc) clanking
together will gently remind me of where I am.
That distinct sound is something I’ve only ever heard in Italy! It is the sound of people putting sugar in
their caffe (shot of espresso basically), or sitting their cup down on the
saucer, or the sound of the glass against the bar. It is so uniquely Italian.
My next stop, after jotting down the bank hours, was
a bookstore that Francesca recommended yesterday! There has always been
something about a bookstore that draws me in; I want to read all of the
books. Well, all of the good ones! I remember in high school, one of my all time
favorite teachers, Mrs. Frye, used to rave about this bookstore in Homewood
called The Little Professor. She would
talk about wanting to read all of the books and about the atmosphere. I’ve felt this way about a few bookstores:
Strand in NYC; a few Barnes & Nobles; and now the 2nd bookstore
I went to today, but I’ll get to that later.
I love these books, but there is something romantic almost
about them being in Italian. It makes me
crave the ability to be able to pick them up and read them, the way I would if
they were in English. I eventually found
a little seat and started flipping through The Great Gatsby. I spotted many other classics, but I’ll
address them later with the second bookstore.
As I was sitting there, this young guy approached me and started
speaking in somewhat rapid Italian. I
made it clear that I did not understand rapid Italian and needed him to slow
down. Then, through what I will begin to
refer to as “Englitaliano”, we were able to communicate. Through my broken Italian, and his broken
English, we talked for about 10 minutes.
I learned that his name is Luca (like my fave Italian city…Lucca). We exchanged Italian numbers; the Italians
like to exchange numbers rather quickly; I’ve experienced this with men AND women! **Later this evening April
pointed out that the internet isn’t valued here and so email/facebook are not
the most common forms of communicating, phones are. This made sense, and I accept this as why
they all want to exchange numbers so quickly; again, men AND women.** He asked if I
wanted to go out onto Corso Mazzini for a walk.
Sure, why not. He was very kind
and stayed his physical distance from me; making me much more willing to go
walk with him. He never once got
uncomfortably close to me; didn’t ask where I lived; NOTHING!! The only thing he asked of me was about where
I was from; why was I in Cosenza; what did I study in school; he told me that
this is unusually beautiful weather for October because it is usually so rainy
and colder (hmmm that was what everything said about Florence in November and
it wasn’t…perhaps I am a city’s good luck charm! ); and did I want to go out
for a passeggiata tonight. I said no to
tonight, but that I could go tomorrow night.
This did a few things for me: 1. Let me see if he was being a creeper,
or was truly just interested in a walk and ice cream (what he suggested) 2.
Allowed me time to sort out my feelings and gauge the situation 3. I had to
meet Francesca today around 3 and then I wanted to go to the hotel; so tomorrow
was better because I could do hotel earlier and meet him after. We only walked for about 20 minutes or so,
and then he had to go take a test (he graduated from the University and is now
taking some sort of test). Unfortunately
I lost some of the details because I had to concentrate so hard on everything
he was saying. So, assuming that he does call tomorrow, I have a passeggiata
date with Luca. As we parted ways, he did do the traditional
handshake with kisses on each cheek, but again, he never gave me a creeper
vibe; he kept his physical distance otherwise and was very kind.
**I read somewhere before I left,
that one of the problems with a second language is that you do not feel like
yourself; like you cannot be funny or 100% show your personality. I can appreciate this statement now.**
When we parted ways I headed to
another book store that Francesca pointed out.
This is my new place in the city.
I loved it! They had couches you
could sit on and read. They had travel
books; my heart skipped a beat when I walked into the room with the travel
books! Then I found an English section;
well, it was a section of books in their original language, which meant that
there were English, Spanish, and French books.
I had seen many of the classics in the two Italian bookstores, written
in Italian, but they also had some in English.
They had Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes (reminded me of April and Mark),
The Wizard of Oz, Jane Austen, The Awakening, etc. *Side story: in high school Mrs. Frye told us
that we should not read The Awakening until we were 30; she had this ongoing
list of books we made and she gave us suggestions about ages or stages of life
when we should read them. This one was
at age 30. Holly had to read it at UA,
and I am so glad I did not. I will read
it at 30, just as Mrs. Frye suggested.*
Anyway, there was a book called, La Bella Lingua, and it is about
a lady learning the Italian language and all her experiences that contributed
to it. There was a chapter called,
“Marcello and Me”. DONE! I must own the
book. However, I put it back down and
then picked it back up, sat in the window and flipped through it. I decided that since I had not treated myself
with gelato, or clothes lately (well, clothes at all), I would buy this book
because it had so many language lessons in it and history of Italy, in addition
to her personal stories. I walked through
more of the store (children’s section, etc) and looked at some cute bookmarks
with famous quotes in Italian (I am sure I will own some/mail some). Oh, while I was sitting in the window, I saw
this postman pull up to the house across the street…on a motorcycle…I’d never
seen it, so here is a picture.
On my way home, I made note of
some other Italian things: 1. When they double park, which they do often, and
someone is blocking them in, they stand there with their door open, LAYING ON THEIR HORN!!!! Oh my gosh…it
is WORSE than New York City! They also
do this in traffic; reminds me of NYC every time. Before I went home, I had to
stop and get some fruit or something to go with my bread, turkey, and
cheese. So, I went to my favorite
fruit/veggie place (YES, I have one already…I love it…so simple and yet it
brings a smile to my face!) and got a pink lady apple (yes, it was written in
English!!), some grapes, and two bananas.
Then I went to the “home store” to get a new pan because the one getting
black stuff on my food is just NOT cutting it for me. I also got a spatula and some cleaning
stuff. I got great prices, and I was
excited to go home.
Lunch consisted of that amazing
bread Francesca helped me buy, turkey, cheese, a little bit of Ernesto’s olive
oil on a piece of my bread, and Peach drink.
I started my new book and fell in love immediately! I laid down to read
a bit of it, and ended up falling asleep for a bit after I put it down; I’m so
Italian already!
Here is my napping view:
Haha! When I woke up I called Francesca. Then Lila called and said that Ernesto and
the phone guy were coming this afternoon; I didn’t understand if they were
installing internet or not. She said I
didn’t have to be here. Then my momma
called!!! That was a great surprise. I
also started working on my blog and listening to worship music!! Another one of my favorite songs that got me
through a lot of hard times came on, and I was reminded of how much that song
means to me. The final lines say it all:
“What if trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights, are Your
mercies in disguise?” They usually are!
Francesca was here a few minutes
early and I ran down to meet her. When I
got down there she was talking to Ernesto, who had come to meet the internet
people. We talked for a few minutes and
then Francesca and I were off to the bank.
When we arrived at the bank, we went through another teleporter thingy
again, but this one didn’t look as much like a teleporter (by the way we were
at the other bank…the one other Fulbright ETAs were using). We were waited on almost immediately. I definitely made the right choice by going there;
this girl was so helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable. This account will be cheaper and better than
the other bank. We sat there for over an
hour, but it will be worth it I think.
They were a bit unsure of what to do with me though; they never deal
with foreigners (Francesca’s words, not mine)!
Ughh there is that word again…some hours I HATE being the outsider;
others it’s okay! Anyway, I was so grateful
to Francesca for being so patient and going with me because I truly could NOT
have done it without her! I am so very
grateful for these wonderful people that have been here to help me; I truly
believe that it is a direct reflection of my prayers before coming and prayers
since I have arrived. When we left, I
was told to come back tomorrow at noon to sign another paper and receive my
“bancomat”, or debit card. I will say, I
did understand some of what was said, but I tend to catch words and pieces, but
have trouble putting it all together to understand the conversation.
Maria (H-R) is the voice in my
head saying, “stop trying to translate everything and just think in Italian,
and it will come!” Maria, your words are
always so wise, but I am having difficulty once again not translating. It is like
I do not trust myself to just listen and understand; mainly because I don’t
[understand]. I have to focus SO much on
what is being said, and I get lost in it; the words I DO know and the words I
do not!
So when we left the bank,
Francesca asked if I would walk with her to this place to get some
tomatoes. I said sure, and we began
strolling down Corso Mazzini. It was a
bit early for all of the people to be out, so we had a quiet, leisurely
stroll. Conversation comes and goes, but
it is nice to be with Francesca. She is
a very sweet lady. The place was closed,
so we went to these other offices for her to pick up some materials (some stuff
to do with something she is organizing at the school on Tuesday for something
called “European Day of Languages”…I’ll explain more next week after I
experience it). We also walked to a
jewelry store, which has my new favorite necklace (has a stone that is Tiffany
Blue in it…and I’ll NEVER be able to afford it)! Then we went to the smaller train station
here to see if I could take a train from there to the main station, and then to
Paola this weekend to go to the BEACH!!!! I wanted to do this instead of
attempting a bus, and good news: I can take a train from that train station to
the main station and then to Paola. All
together it should take about 30 minutes, maybe a bit more depending. I am so excited; given that the weather is
good! By the time we got back to the
little stand place, it was open and she bought tomatoes. Then we strolled back to my apartment. More people were out, but it was still
nice.
OOOHHH…when we left the bank I
had a missed call from Luca, but to avoid difficulty talking, I texted
him. He texted back and then as we were
making our way back to my apartment, he called.
After a bit of a struggle, we understood that we were meeting in front
of the bookstore where we met today, at 1 o’clock tomorrow. Francesca could tell I was struggling to talk
to “whoever it was I was talking to”. I
didn’t tell her who it was though, I was a bit embarrassed. :/
When we got back to my apartment,
Ernesto was pulling out of the gate. The
phone guy never showed…somehow, I am NOT surprised! **Note that I did not stress about it either!
While I look forward to having the convenience of internet whenever I want, it
has been nice to walk to the hotel…and to get the occasional cappuccino (on the
house!)** Ernesto gave me something and at first I was confused; upon closer
examination it was a little New York City placemat with a coaster! HOW SWEET
AND THOUGHTFUL of him and Lila. SO BLESSED!
When I got upstairs I quickly threw the
rest of my stuff in my computer bag and left immediately for the hotel. This was much later than I normally go there,
so I wanted to get there as fast as possible.
I practically ran to the hotel! I
did stop and get a “Kinder Cereali” bar, which is like a cereal covered in
Kinder Chocolate; it really isn’t that unhealthy, so it was a good and quick
snack so that I would hold over until a late (Italian time) dinner (given that
I did not get to the hotel until a bit before 6, I knew I would eat late). When I got there, my favorite bartender,
whose name I think Massimo said is Rosario, but that sounds like a woman’s name
to me), let me have a cappuccino. I
started with this while my computer turned on and updated. It was amazing; though later I had a bit of
the caffeine jitters. When I finished, I
went to sit outside and talked to my people!
Today was a GREAT internet
day!! First, I was able to skype with my
love April! It was great to see her face
and connect with the familiar! Then I was able to talk to my other love Erin on
facebook for a few minutes; I miss you so much!
I sent emails, dealt with some skype difficulties, updated my blog, and
put some pictures on facebook! I got an
extra special treat when I saw Meagan sign on skype just as I was winding
things down! It was so good to see her
beautiful face and catch up for a minute!! YAY! Then I was able to talk to my
daddy! YAY!!!!! I had some sweet
messages on facebook, including a wonderfully encouraging one from Kelly; much
needed! I am so grateful for the support
I am receiving!! Please know that each comment, message, email, etc. does NOT
go unnoticed!! I am so grateful to have
such wonderful people in my life; both here in Cosenza and OF COURSE at home in
the U.S.!!! What a lucky girl I
am!!! By 8 o’clock I was very hungry, so
I said goodbye to everyone and packed it up!
When I got back to the apartment
I began making dinner immediately,
and because it was so late, I was within the cheapest time to do so. How very Italian of me!?!? ;) I made
spaghetti so that I could use that sauce they gave me and I opened the other
night; I did not want it to ruin. I
cooked the last of my meat, again I did not want it to ruin. However, to add something special to it, I
cut up some of the small tomatoes and cooked it with the meat; it added a good
flavor and was something healthy and fresh added to the dish. I also put a bit of Ernesto’s fresh oregano
on top. It was a wonderful dinner, and I
purposefully made enough to have for lunch tomorrow! I love cooking! I do need some good Italian recipes; I
expressed this desire to Francesca tonight, so I am hoping to get some
soon! Don’t worry, when I do, I will
pass them along.
After I ate, which I did while
watching Gilmore Girls, I started writing some and then took care of some
necessities: washing sheets, towels, clothes, etc. I hand-washed my clothes for this time; the
sheets and stuff took priority in the forever long washing machine cycle! Plus, there are no dryers…so whatever I wash
now has more time to dry (airdry) before I want to wear it again! I made sure I had enough to wear of course
before I let so much time go by without washing. I did ask Francesca yesterday about what to
wear to work; I’m thinking that I will skip t-shirts (though she suggested
it…more like fitted t’s I think, but I picture like Roll Tide t-shirts!)! They
dress so casually, which I appreciate, but I’m thinking t-shirts are a no go in
this setting! So, dresses, skirts, and
eventually jeans with nicer tops are going to be PERFECT; thank goodness!
The rest of my night was pretty
regular; writing, shower, etc.
I think I’ve discovered the trick
to warmer water…not standing up, but rather sitting down. However, I am still somewhat purple when I
get out!! ICK!!
Pictures of teleporter from yesterday:
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