The morning got off to a rough start when I was woken up by the men here to work on the elevator. It was definitely like 6:30 when I first heard them, and when I finally gave up on the idea of sleep, I got up to eat breakfast and check on my computer. While I ate, I started reading Emma inspired by my recent book I was reading. Thank goodness I downloaded that NOOK thing that had like 25 classics, including 5 of the Jane Austen books. Once I finished eating, I went over to try my computer. Of course, it did the same thing it did last night, and so I picked up the phone and called home! I was able to talk to my daddy and have him walk me through turning it back on and telling him what it was doing and what it had done last night. His best guess, without being able to look at it, was exactly as I had suspected…hard drive crash!!! Surprisingly, I was pretty calm while he was telling me this, and we hung up for me to get ready for school and begin problem solving.
After we hung up, and I was in the process of getting ready to go to the school to meet with Virginia, per our agreement yesterday evening, I shed about 10 tears out of frustration over the situation. I use my computer for everything; communication, music, writing, movies, etc. Thankfully, I backed everything up on my computer before I left the states, so there are TWO external hard drives containing all of my pictures and documents from the past 8-9 years or so!! Whew! The only thing I was sad about was the blog I had been in the middle of writing, but I was thankful that this was my only concern (I have since realized that all of my iTunes are once again lost…I HATE that about Apple/iTunes….they really need to fix that system!!! The amazing thing was that I shed the few tears, but then was overwhelmed with the voice of the Holy Spirit (Spirito Santo) saying, “I work all things together for you good!” The tears immediately stopped, and I went about my day with the attitude that everything IS worked for my good and what evidence do I have to the contrary? None!
I got dressed, walked to the bus stop, and headed to school. When I showed up at school I called Virginia and she told me where to find her! I sat at the desk while a student finished an oral presentation and read the new teaching plan that Virginia and Lilla came up with the night before. It was right on track with my purpose and ideas about being here; I was excited to see that we were now on the same page!! Once I was finished reading through the plan, I sat and listened to the student read her report about the Celtic population. I have such a hard time hearing in those classrooms because they are echoey, the students do not speak very loudly (until they want to be rowdy), and the noise in the hallway only makes it worse. I feel bad, but I cant understand half of what they are saying, and then I get worried when Virginia asks me to correct them; half the time I do not even know what they have said! I should have gotten my hearing checked before I left! :/ Once this girl was finished, Virginia gave them group work so that she and I could discuss the new plan and discuss what she was going to stand up and say in Rome.
We discussed some of the topics that she and Lilla outlined the night before; things like American families & Italian families; who I am; where I am from; American traditions/values/holidays/etc; social issues with teens (drinking, bullying, etc); and Alabama history (which Lilla reminded me is basically slavery, civil rights, & racism). **Let me just say, that I never thought I would move to Italy, only to find that they have the same stereotypes about Alabama, and people from there, that others have of us. I want to scream at the top of my lungs, “THAT’S NOT ALL WE ARE KNOWN FOR…THAT’S NOT OUR ONLY HISTORY!!!” Yes, I do understand that it is an important part of it, but it is not the only thing we should be known for!!! I seek to change this!!!**
I have also solved the mystery of the word “bullyism”. In Italian, the word for bullying is bullismo. If I am correct, I think –ismo translates into –ism, and thus, Lilla says bullyism! Lilla also through in there the stuff I had said about football and soccer, which I want to talk about soon because it IS football season; something we are known for that is POSITIVE…well, for the most part! Sorry to all of my Auburn readers…I love you…but we all know UA is the best!!! ;) Come on, it’s football season…give me a break! ;) Anyway, so I still hope to cover things like, “how The South is similar to Southern Italy”; I’d like to do something about NYC (geography, differences, lifestyle, tourism, etc); I’d like to do something with them about schools and see if I can get a handle on how some of these differences I am observing are viewed by the students themselves. I am excited to get to know them, and I want to do topics that they are engaged in, and we can all learn from!!
So, as Virginia prepared her notes, she turned to me and asked, “are you nervous about speaking in front of everyone?!?!?” Um, has she met me!?!?! ;) Juuuusstt kidding…she hasn’t known me that long! Anyway, I said that I am always a little nervous, but that it has gotten better over the years!! I told her that graduate school did a lot for helping me overcome some of those fears and anxieties! She turned to me and said something like this: I am nervous about these things too. It isn’t my strong point, but I always have to remind myself that I am there for a reason, and so are they, and that reason is not to judge me or be in competition with me. Unprompted, she said the words, “you have to remember that you are not being graded for this!” WOW…SHE DOES KNOW ME!!!! She continued to reassure me that it was going to be fine…her statements were so intuitive…reminding me of something I know and love who reminds me of these very same things (Maria). In that moment, I felt like I could have just as easily been sitting in a quiet office in the CDRC just before a presentation or something with Maria reassuring me that everything was going to be fine!! Funny how even thousands of miles away from home God gives you that voice of reason that speaks DIRECTLY to your needs!!! Virginia also shared a quote that she heard from someone; it goes like this, “If you walk alone, you go faster; If you walk with a friend you go further!” Love it…and so true! I often have to remind myself that I am not alone, and I am not expected to do things alone!
Lilla came in to look things over with us and Lilla was going to be making a power point presentation for Virginia to use! So, Lilla whisked me away to her next class so that we could work together. Upon arriving in her class, the first time I’d been to class with Lilla, I discovered my first group of rowdy, and somewhat obnoxious, teenage boys. I would not call this culture shock because I am sure they exist all over the world…Ill call it…well, just shock! Lilla encouraged me to introduce myself to them and allow them to ask questions. They were very shy and so I offered up some information and they slowly started asking questions. I asked them a few questions in return and from there we had a steady stream of off and on conversation.
**Insert the details here:
1. Conversation was not easy thanks to the group of boys who were constantly disrespecting Lilla and their classmates. It was rather shocking actually, and I had a hard time hearing and concentrating on the students who did want to talk to me.
2. There were about 5 or 6 of them who truly wanted to talk, but as I am finding out, there is always a spokesperson; the one who has the best English and translates for the others. In this class it was a boy. Then some of the girls became more vocal and towards the end I pulled up a chair and we all huddled around some desks and talked about different things.
3. These students had little to know respect for Lilla and her authority. Lilla kept telling me that they are not always like this and that they were just being stupid.
4. Meanwhile, my group of girls were wanting to talk about all kinds of things. We talked about favorite movies; actors (they mentioned Will Smith); they love OneDirection and were excited that I knew who they were (thank you Gracie and Sarah Mason Avery!!); they said they like Twilight, bleh…but also love Harry Potter, so they were redeemed!!; they like Coldplay; they love Gossip Girl, but it airs one season behind here…they were shocked when I said I had read the books…they did not know there were any books!; the class informed me that they do not consider Cosenza a touristy place and few had ever met an American; the cities in America that they knew the most about were: NYC, LA, Miami, Vegas, Chicago, and they named a few others; I learned that when you say something at the same time as a friend (jinx to us), they touch their noses and laugh (I had to ask what it meant).
5. I asked them why they were protesting these past few days (and come to find out they are doing it all next week as well). They said that it was because next year they are going to have to pay so much more money to go to school and they think it is ridiculous; therefore, they aren’t going to class now. Hmm…
Once this class was over, Lilla took me back to Virginia to tell her what she had worked on and to see if I could use a computer somewhere. Virginia gave me a key to the computer lab. As she was trying to give it to me, while in the hallway, I was a bit shocked about how her students were acting, and even her reaction. The students are so different from my high school classes!! We would have been suspended so fast our heads would have spun around…think exorcist! Virginia gave me and Lilla hugs and said she was very pleased with our work and that we were going to make a great team! She’s so sweet, and I love people who are willing to hug and be affectionate!
Before I headed to the computer lab, I asked Lilla if we could go down to the bar to grab something to eat because I was starving. She went down with me and there was very little left to choose from, so I had this “sandwich” thing that was like a flaky pastry type bread with cheese and ham in the middle and a water. Lilla was so sweet to treat me to “lunch”, though I have a feeling it was just snack time for her…I just cannot get used to the Italian eating schedule yet! Then I went to the computer lab to send some emails, etc. I truly was quite calm about the entire computer situation, and it was so nice to be able to check email and send some emails letting some people know why I might not be able to blog, respond to emails, etc. Two teachers stopped in a gave me these two little hard candies. One was a cappuccino flavored candy and the other was this weird licorice thing that reminded me of some candy that April’s step-son Daniel had us try.
When Virginia was finished with class, she came to get me from the lab. She walked downstairs with me, and one of the other teachers offered to take me home! It was a weird ride home because this teacher doesn’t speak English, so it was a bit of a struggle for conversation, but I did the best I could! Once again my vocabulary fails me, especially when I feel pressured…not that she was pressuring me, I just felt pressure to be able to communicate with her! When I got home I ate some left over veggies to complete my lunch and sat down to read for a few minutes. I decided that instead of sulking over my computer or anything, I would use the time wisely and go explore and FINALLY take my big camera out and take some pictures!!
My first stop was the hotel where I checked facebook/emails before heading to the historical center. As I made my way to the historical center, I took a few pictures, and stopped at the oldest gelateria again for some gelato before I began my climb! I got a small cup of coffee & panna (basically cream) flavored gelato. It was amazing and gave me a quick sugar boost! I decided to take a different road into the historical center, which I’m not sure if where I ended up is technically the historical center, but it had wonderful views of it! My goal was this church that I have been seeing up on the hillside, and Lilla mentioned that it was beautiful! I climbed and climbed…took random roads (all populated) and saw some places that I want to go back to; a few eating places that looked rather authentic!! The views of the city from up here were spectacular! They are much different than the other Italian cities I have visited, but beautiful in its own right; in fact, I like that it is not just a bunch of umm…the word…terracotta?? Roofs. There is no tower (torre) to climb in Cosenza, at least not that I am aware of, so I imagine that where I was at the moment was one of the greatest places to view the city and the historical center. It was wonderful!!!
Then I found the church!! It was beautiful! I was in awe once again of the detail in these churches!! There were depictions of Jesus carrying the cross, being nailed to it, and then being wrapped in the white linen to be laid in the grave! No need for a depiction of anything else because He lives! The church was spectacular…small by Italian standards I am sure, but I was able to go under the alter, in a back room where priests’ robes were hanging, into the courtyard area, etc. The room with the robes felt so sacred and like I was not supposed to be there, but no one stopped me! It was quiet and reverent inside! I will just have to let some pictures do the rest of the talking for me! It was a wonderful opportunity to stop and pray and thank Jesus for what He did for me! So, here are some of my favorite pictures:
I wandered around some more, climbing random hills, taking a few random hills, trying to reach a higher point that appeared to have an even better view than what I had already been privy to a bit earlier. While I was climbing, Virginia called! She called to tell me that the headmistress was offering one of the school’s laptops for me to use and they would see if someone could look at mine! WHAAAAA???? Immediately, even while she was talking, I started thanking God for taking care of even the smallest things; the thing that might seem insignificant to some, a computer. She said that I could come to school tomorrow, because YES they have school on Saturday (THIS is a real reason to protest….), and pick up the laptop! I was so so so so so so excited!! She asked where I was and when I said that I was in the historical center, she told me NOT to wander off the main road (oops…did that last week). She said that she was born in the historical center (so was Lilla), and one day she would take me, but she didn’t feel that it was okay for me to wander around by myself (oops)! So, after thanking her as much as I possibly could for this amazingly kind gesture, I hung up and was in awe of the building I had come upon!
It was a museum. I could see that it was just open for free wandering. There were men sitting in the courtyard area, and since no one stopped me, I started looking around. Museums are usually wasted on me, but I found some cool stuff here. My favorite is this one:
It had no name, but I want to call it: stereotype. I say this because it looks like a depiction of a stereotypical Italian woman. Then, as I went through one door, there was a man working to restore a piece of art! He began speaking to me, half in Italian and half in English once he discovered I was from the U.S. He then took me to the men outside and told them to give me a tour of the other section of the museum; he explained that I was American, but I still understood my guide’s Italian…well, not ALL of it, but a good bit!! I was able to see art by a famous Calabrian artist (Calabria is the region of Italy that I live in…I live in…I live in Italy…weird…). The name was Mattia Preti. I’ll just post some of the pictures I took and see the captions for more info.
One thing I found myself thinking about while looking at this artwork was how people place the opening in Jesus’ side, from the spear, in slightly different locations! I have never thought about it before, but these paintings had it a bit higher than I feel like it is normally depicted. This was almost up by his, well, for lack of a better way to describe it, his nipple. I feel like I usually see it much lower; perhaps just below the ribs. Not that this is important in the grand scheme of life or anything, just an observation. One day I’ll see for myself!
Once we walked through everything, we took the elevator back down! I took a picture of the page I signed when I first came in because I didn’t see any Americans. I had a private tour of the museum and we saw a party being set up in the ballroom of the museum! I wanted to go; looked fancy and fun!
After the museum, I started making my way back to the center of town. I made my way through town taking pictures of everyone out for their passeggiata.
Pictures:
I stopped in some stores, and even found a place that sells black-eyed peas (literally “peas eyes” here). I walked up to the front of the movie theatre to see what was showing and stuff, and omg the familiar smell of movie theatre popcorn is clearly NOT an American thing; not that I expected it to be, but it was such a familiar and wonderful smell! I found out that Nemo 3D does not come out here until next week, which made me really happy because I missed it in the U.S. I will DEFINITELY be going to see this; maybe Luca will go with me…yes, I am a dork and would go to Nemo 3D for a grown up date…judge me if you’d like! I stopped in the hotel and used the computer once more.
For dinner I made some pasta and a side of broccoli. The broccoli ROCKED MY WORLD!! All I did was put olive oil in the pan and cut up the fresh broccoli. I sprinkled a bit of salt (which I found out later was a bit too much) and some pepper. It was amazing…made me want to run back and make the rest of it and throw out the pasta…it was that good!! As I sat in the balcony room eating, I thought of how I love knowing that it is almost 8 o’clock because the stores on the corners start closing down! I just love living in a city center…it is not NYC by any means, but some things are similar, but on a smaller scale of course! I read my book, stretched my muscles some, and watched Gilmore Girls. It was one of my FAVORITE/least favorite at the same time, episodes of GG. It is the episode where the grandparents renew their vows, and Emily causes Luke to leave Lorelai! Anyway, I understood a good bit of the Italian…I was pretty excited! It was weird to not be able to type my blog, but I spent some time writing and then I went to sleep!
**Cultural note: The Italian hand gestures are so fascinating. I will have to make a video of some of my favorite (of me recreating them). They really do add so much to the conversation! I LOVE to watch random groups of people talking because they are so expressive and when they begin adding gestures to it, I just become engrossed in what they are doing! I want to know everything they are saying. I’ve learned a few, and find myself stopping to observe someone using a lot of exaggerated gestures.
**Will add pictures later!! SOrry, slow computer = frustrated me!
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