I should start out by saying that this blog will not be nearly as descriptive as the original one I was writing when my computer crashed…well, I am still living on the assumption that the hard drive crashed. However, I will do my best to recreate my thoughts about the day!
This morning I started with my American ritual of eating breakfast in bed and I began searching for a suitable “replacement” for my American ritual of watching the Today Show. I stumbled across a few news casts, but settled on one that was showing the weather; the real reason I was looking for a news show. I of course understood very little of the news, but would catch bits and pieces. Small steps I suppose. However, I did see one strange news story that I wish I could have understood better. In some city, nevermind which one because I don’t know, they were protesting something (and they wonder why the students do the same). Why is this important? Why did it stand out to me…well, would you like to know what their form of protest was?? THROWING FISH…RAW FISH…onto the steps of whatever official looking building was the site of their protest. It was gross to watch! They had coolers full of frozen/thawing fish….like the big white coolers that you use for football, or we had them for marching band. It was really rather disturbing in a way that I cannot describe.
I ate my breakfast as I “watched” the news. Today was my day to go to the school here in Cosenza, and as I was not supposed to be there until 10, I had some time to read (yay!!). As I was reading, she comes to a time in her trip when a best friend of hers comes to visit. She says, “there’s nothing like relaxing into your own language with an old friend who knows you well and has seen you at your worst- and is willing to travel thousands of miles to hang out.” I love it. It made me long for my friends to be here with me; it made me long to have moments where I can truly relax into my own language. I am so grateful to be able to relax into English with the teachers, but it is not the same as speaking to someone who truly understands me and can speak it at my pace and with my vocabulary. Yes, I understand they probably feel the same way! I do long to think in and speak both languages.
After reading for a bit, I knew I had to take a shower; the most dreaded activity of my day! It is no where near the relaxing thing it can be at home with wonderful water pressure and hot water. So, I decided it was a day for a bath. After a ton of running water, and TWO large pans of boiling water, I sank into my lukewarm bath…. I was able to read a bit more, and then I had to get dressed and ready to go meet Valeria and the teachers from Fermi. From here on out I will stop referring to the schools as “the school” and “the other school”. The school with Virginia, Francesca, & Lilla is the school located in Castrolibero and will be referred to as “Valentini”. The school here in Cosenza, with Valeria will be referred to as “Fermi”. These are their respective names here in Cosenza (i.e. how they are referred to).
I started out my walk by stopping to buy some gum at a tabacchi along the way. Holy crap gum is expensive in Italy! Therefore, if anyone is wanting to send me a care package or small envelope, could you please include a pack of EXTRA Polar Ice gum!?!? I will also take this moment to say that I do not expect anyone to spend the money to ship stuff…but if you ever do…the gum is desired and will be greatly appreciated!! I was running a bit early for our 10 o’clock meeting time, so I stopped in the hotel, which is across the street from the school and I knew that Massimo would not be there, and I used their computer to check emails and such.
With a minute or two to spare, I signed off and walked across the street to the school. As I stood waiting at the foot of the steps for Valeria, I was noticing that I once again stood out like a sore thumb. First of all, I look uniquely American, and second of all I was standing their reading a book on my NOOK. It has been explained to me that young people, teens, and children in Italy do not read very much and certainly do not view it as a leisure activity. Thus, the few teens that passed me gave me strange looks, but so did the adults. While I was standing their reading and waiting, a couple of fighter jets flew over; slightly unnerving to be in a foreign country and see military jets flying over. However, it made me long for a football game! It made me think of a large crowd in Bryant-Denny stadium on a Saturday afternoon, waiting for the start of a big game. It made me long for home. So, I’ll take this moment to say, “Roll Tide!!!!!!!!”
As I saw Valeria approaching, I turned off my NOOK and tried to mentally prepare for the rush of Italian and Englitaliano and greetings and kisses and handshakes that was about to ensue. As expected, as we entered the school everyone stopped to stare at me (though they had been doing that while I was outside…and really every day since I stepped foot on Italian soil) and came over to greet Valeria and to see who was the foreign creature she had with her. It was a lot of “lei è Elisa; è una Americana” and other information such as the fact that I was going to be working in the English classes through a program called Fulbright and that I was going to be there until June. Valeria’s speech (the same one given by Virginia, Lilla, & Francesca all of the time) was followed up with strings of “che bella”s and “lei è bella”s and “sei bellissima”s and other random phrases that I do not always catch because they are in rapid-fire Italian. There is also the occasional, “parli italiano?” or “conosci italiano?” (Do you speak Italian? Do you understand Italian?”) One of the first people I met said something to me about the teacher at Valentini, the gym teacher (Marcello) and how he wanted to “set me” with his son. Now, the word up is purposefully left out here, because she too left it out. She said something about learning the languages and when I acknowledged that I had met Marcello, but not his son, she seemed satisfied with the situation and moved on; leaving me with no clue as to when or if this would happen. I do need a tutor though.
After the crowd of welcomes and handshakes, I received a quick look in the teachers’ room where the “lockers” are; they really are just a bunch of small square boxes with keys to them so that you can lock your stuff in them. Valeria then whisked me into another room to do some “planning”. I was greeted by another teacher and then a student who just walked up to me and had this blank stare on her face and said, “rubber??” I knew right away that she must be asking me for an eraser because the Italian word for eraser translates to the British word for rubber. She just stood there staring at me expectantly and Valeria was trying to get her to respond in Italian, but she just kept saying “rubber” at me…and I do mean at me. It was so awkward and eventually the other teacher came to my rescue, taking the girl back to her seat for more tutoring and provided her with an eraser; this was after Valeria’s best attempts to get the girl to speak with what English she does know….not just the word “rubber”. So, awkward moment aside, we sat down to do some planning.
Halleluiah, Valeria GETS IT!!! We talked about how my purpose is to provide oral interaction for the students; to offer the opportunity for them to speak with a native speaker and hear a different accent and pronunciation than the British ones. She said that students don’t understand American slang such as, “gonna” or “wanna”, and she wants them to hear things from a real American. She agreed that we should stick to a cross cultural pool of topics, focusing on American history, traditions, issues, and how they relate to the students lives or the Italian culture; thus, learning from each other about our respective cultures! YES!!! She scoffed at the idea of me using anything out of the textbook because they could, “get that anytime. It is rare to have a native speaker and especially a young American girl in our classes!” I was doing a happy dance on the inside! I really felt like with Valeria we would do fun things about The South & Southern Italy, Football vs. Soccer, American holidays, American holidays and how they compare to their Italian counterparts, etc. etc. When we first sat down she said that we would plan for a bit, and then go get a coffee, because after all “we are in Italy!” As we were winding down our “planning time”, she told me that they do not feel as though they have to adhere strictly to the curriculums as long as the students get what is needed for the end of the year exams, and she wanted to take full advantage of my time here! Me too my friend, me too! She also told me that she would fall asleep during the thing in Rome if it was boring; I said, “but we are in Italy…there will certainly be a coffee break and you’ll be rejuvenated!” She said, “for a few minutes…and then I’ll be back asleep!” She was so funny and sweet! I think I am going to love her! She is just adorable! Valeria also explained to me that there are 13 3rd level English classes in their school and they wanted to put me in 8, but they also wanted the other 5 classes to have time with me. She asked if they could sign a separate contract with me to do 5 extra hours at the schools. Unsure of how I would actually fit 5 other crazy class schedules into the class schedule that is already not working and has not been fully resolved, I explained that I was not sure if I could do it; per the rules of Fulbright, my visa, and of course the crazy schedule. I told her that if we did find some sort of solution (like a girl last year did “tutoring” for extra cash; or the students that were truly interested could meet with me one day after school or something), they would have to “pay me under the table.” I prefaced that phrase by saying, “we have a say, ‘under the table’!” She laughed and said, “we Italians know ‘under the table’…hahaha!” She was so funny, and this story will be important for an interaction with their headmistress later! So, with a basic understanding of our goals, we set out to go have a coffee; of course I had already explained that I had to have something more like a cappuccino because just the strait “caffè”, or espresso for us Americans, was too strong for me. She laughed and gladly accepted my explanation!
Upon our exit, it was another rush of greetings and introductions. This one man that I met, an older man, came running over to greet “the American girl”. Let me just take this opportunity to say that it is very odd to be constantly labeled at “the American girl”! Not bad, just strange because well, it’s never been that way. I’ve been labeled as “from Alabama” or “from the South”, but never consistently labeled as “American”…not even in Florence; but then again Florence sees more tourists and the school I was at sees a steady flow of Americans. So, when he ran over to meet me he thrust his hand out and then said, “kiss me!!” He meant on the cheeks of course and so I obliged. I met a few others; all teachers, but only some English teachers. We made our way around the corner to the little bar there. I was instantly overwhelmed with excited teachers who were EAGER to meet me! They were all English teachers and began pulling my attention in 3 or 4 different directions! They all had warm greetings for me and stories to tell. The strangest was one of the teachers, Patricia (Tricia), said that as soon as she found out I was coming, she googled me. She explained that they were “on project” in London when she found out and so she googled me to find out more about me. Instantly my brain went into a rush of “what is on google about me…what could it say…thank goodness my facebook is private..what all did she read…?!?!?” After I did a quick scan of my brain for the last time I googled myself (if you haven’t done this, you should), I quickly realized that the only information there are articles from The University (Fulbright stuff, S.P.I.R.I.T First in Family scholarship info, etc). She told me to wait one minute while she looked for something, and the others engulfed me in a wave of “you’re from Alabama? How long will you be here? Will you be in my class?” Patricia then caught my attention again with a notebook that had a page with my name (Full name) written in all caps and a paragraph or two of information she had written down about me. She began telling the others that I worked with young children and was a great student.
Coffees were ordered, and as I was pouring my sugar into mine (yes, real sugar because sometimes at the bars the fake stuff isn’t available…), the headmistress came in (which in Italian sounds like the word President). I had been warned by the teachers at Valentini that the headmistress of Fermi was nothing like theirs. They were soo right. She was dressed much younger and appeared to like fashion and had on fun aviator sunglasses. She immediately embraced me and shook my hand and began expressing how excited she was to meet me; also unlike the headmistress of Valentini, she speaks English. She began asking if I had a place to live and where was it and how was I feeling about Cosenza, etc. etc. She was wonderful! Then we all enjoyed our coffee, some quicker than others; I was of course the slow one because mine was bigger. Then Patricia came over to talk to me while the others were having a rapid-fire Italian conversation (a impromptu planning session I later found out…but about what…well, that is still a mystery). Patricia started asking me things about home and about working with children. She said that we needed to find some opportunities to work in or observe at some elementary schools and preschools. She said that she thought it would be VERY valuable to me! UM, I LOVE YOU!! She mentioned it to Valeria, and we both explained that I could not use my hours to work there, but that I could go and observe and maybe spend some time with the children! OH MY GOSH….this is EXACTLY what I wanted out of my time here in Italy! So, I was feeling giddy with excitement because not only did they seem to understand my purpose in their classrooms, but they were beginning to facilitate the exact thing that I wanted to do with some of my free time! Patricia then settled back in to random conversation. She was telling me about how she wanted to arrange a cookout at her house; and again cookout meant making pizza in an outdoor brick oven!! YES PLEASE!! Then she started telling me about her dogs. She has 3 German Shepards; first person I’ve come across that even knows what a German Shepard is….so she immediately whipped out her phone (what I would have normally done, but I’ve been reduced to old school) and looked for pictures!! I was so excited to share, so I got out my camera and found a picture of my Chili Pup!! I was so excited to be sharing this and she understood how much I miss my dog!! She was so amazing! I also loved that all of the workers at the bar seemed to know all of them, including the headmistress! Oh, the story about her! She had stepped outside with some of the teachers, but then came running in to find me and grabbed my arm, laughing and saying, “yes, under the table…hahahaha!” It was so funny and she was so animated and friendly! I felt like she was respected by the others, but yet still on their level!
After a few more minutes of Italian planning, we were being corralled out of the bar and into the nearby street/sidewalk! The teachers began telling me again how excited they were to meet me and we ran into more teachers, most of them are just learning English, and they were all friendly and welcoming. With a promise of contacting me, via cell phone or email, Patricia and the others were off to work (though the students aren’t in classes, the teachers still have things to do). So, Valeria and I made our way to the other part of the school; the part where the students were! We met a few students as we walked through the gates, and they were very shy upon meeting me! Valeria expressed that she thought they were wasting their time, but they insisted that they had their reasons! We then went into the school, where I met many other women and shook many other hands. Then this one teacher kind of stuck with us! She was so excited for me to be there and for me to do cultural activities with the students! She began talking about how I should talk about American holidays, traditions, etc. She was not liking the idea of any sort of textbook; she wanted it to all be based on things that the students were interested in knowing, things that were from my area of the US, and other topics that I was well versed on or could prepare for the students! YES, YES, YES!!! She was very, very sweet and accompanied us around the school for a bit! Then, Virginia showed me the headmistresses office, and the conference room, and then I was free to leave.
When I left, I decided that since I only had an hour until I was supposed to meet Luca before he took the bus home, I would just read while watching people on Corso Mazzini. I sat and read while enjoying the fact that the places to sit are these “benches” that perfect fit the curve of your back and make it so comfortable to sit there; despite the fact that they are metal!
I was in the sun the whole time, so I stayed warm and just enjoyed the time reading. One girl walked by that I had seen the day before. I remembered her because yesterday she had on tights and a cute dress, but with these Italian tennis shoes…somehow it worked! Today she had on a different dress with tights and tennis shoes, and again…it worked! I want to do that…I love my tights and dresses, but my tennis shoes are so much more comfortable than other shoes!! I also found it strange that it was the same girl! However, it was around the same time of day and in roughly the same location; I assume she must work around there or something!
Luca and I met up and he had to run something back to his office and then we just sat on one of the benches and talked! I did my best to initiate some conversation and he was once again, patient an understanding of my difficulties. I did finally understand that he is sort of an accountant; I think he is still taking some of the necessary post-graduation tests! He said he studied economy in school. We had a nice 30 minutes, and then he walked to the bus station.
I headed home to eat because by this time I was STARVING…I was living on Italian time, so this was just after 1 o’clock. I had lunch and read for a while! It was nice to just sit and read, as always! Then I went to the hotel to use the internet.
I got another cappuccino, but this time there was a tiny rose on the saucer with it; sweet bartender guy…NOT Massimo!! I talked to my mom and April; I wanted to beat the guy smoking the cigar with a stick! Cigars last WAYYYYY too long…absurd. Virginia called while I was talking to April and started talking me in circles about coming to school Friday to plan our stuff for Rome. I of course agreed, but hung up a bit confused about what we were actually doing.
I eventually wrapped it up and came home to eat dinner!
I am understanding more and more of Gilmore Girls; granted I know the story lines like the back of my hand, but I am understanding the Italian words! Woo hoo!!
THEN…disaster struck! I was laying on my bed typing this original blog and my computer started making a funny clicking noise! I clicked save a dozen times on the document and then everything froze. I turned the computer off, but upon trying to turn it back on, nothing really happened! IT would not go past the HP warm up screen! Instead of panicking (no really, I know it is SHOCKING…but I didn’t panic). I set the computer aside and thought, “ill give it some time and come back to it!” I pulled out my bible study and started doing that. I tried the computer again later, but then decided to leave it until the morning!
**Side notes: it is so strange to feel like a spectacle. It is also terrible that when they all say that they teach English, but have never been to America, my first thought is (or has been), “how can you teach English, but NOT have been to America?!?!?” HOW INSANELY SNOBBY/IGNORANT/STEREOTYPICAL uniquely American can I be?!?! First, obviously the English language DID NOT originate in the states, but if I recall correctly, English is not even our “national”/official language! They study British history and literature; we do too, but not as extensively as they do! I have since corrected my thought process, but I have no problem admitting my blunders and ignorance. However, I am glad that these are all just thoughts in my head and not something I have actually expressed out loud!
Impara con me:
Presto- soon
Appena- as soon as
Ci vediamo lì- see you there soon
Sorry no pictures...for now
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