Christmas...

Jesus was born today!! Yay!!!

Warning: this is a looooong blog, or it should be!

So, I did not go to bed until 4 am, but that was okay!  This morning my momma called to tell me Merry Christmas, and I still thought I was up way too early!  I think I woke up arund 9:45 or so!  Yay for 5 hours of sleep!  I read my Bible; I read in Luke about Jesus' birth!  I was desperately trying to make it feel like Christmas all day...which it never really did! After I read, I stretched my body out because all of the walking and such really tightens up my muscles.  So, that felt good, and was much needed!  Then I turned on WDJC online so that I could hear Christmas music.  Still did not feel like Christmas though!

Then it was time to get dressed...this was a hassle!  I was hating all of my clothes...not wanting to wear any of them...feeling yuck in all of them...and wishing I had new ones.  I used the elevator for a full-length mirror, and I think I changed clothes like 4 or 5 times.  It was miserable.  First world problems I suppose!  In the meantime, I was receiving more text messages from students, which made me smile!  Then Virginia called and said that Franco would be there at 1 o'clock instead of 12:30, which was perfect because it gave me more time to agonize over my outfit!  Woo hoo!

I eventually got over it, put something on, and went outside to wait for Franco!  I went down right at one, which I should have known better than to do!  However, it was nice outside, and I have internet on my phone...so waiting a bit was not too bad! When Franco came, I jumped in the car and we were off.  I actually found it easy to speak to him in Italian!  Here is the trick, I find it easier to speak Italian with someone who cannot correct me in English...I have this mental block!  I need to get over it, but there you are!  He told me about how when he was little his mom would always make him eat pasta, but he did not really like pasta!  Then he told me that when he was younger, the tradition for Christmas Eve was to eat 13 dishes!  My students had told me about this, but Franco said that it was sooo hard to eat that much!  Wow, if an Italian admits to not caring for pasta and finds it hard to eat 13 dishes...then I do not feel so bad! By the way, 13 is a LUCKY number in Italy, whereas it is UNLUCKY in the U.S.

Anyway, so we arrived at their house and went inside.  Paola, Virginia's youngest son was there to greet us!  Then I saw the "crib", or nativity, that Virginia had been raving about for months now!  HOLY COW....it was AMAZING!!  It was so detailed and just beautiful!  Franco builds everything, and Virginia does all of the internal stuff....which is AMAZINGLY detailed!  I cannot even begin to describe it to you!  I tried to take pictures of the insides of the houses, but I could not capture all of the details...however, I will let some of the pictures do the talking for me:

There is even a birds' nest on the corner of the church!

Then Virginia heard us upstairs and asked where I was.  Franco told her that I was looking at the crib and she came upstairs to see me! She warned me that she looked funny because she was frying things.  Haha...she had on a plastic shower cap, plastic gloves, and an apron!  I loved it...but it was very out of character for Virginia!  SO, she hugged me, pointed out the crib, and then went back downstairs to work on the food!  It's hard work being an Italian wife/mother/woman in general.  Virginia reminded me that today would be ALL in Italian...which I knew was coming.  So, then Paola, here youngest son who is very shy (I feel his pain), started showing me pictures around the house!  It was fun to see Virginia and Franco when they were younger, both as a couple and as children!  There were also pictures of Paola and Nicola as well.  My favorite of Virginia and Franco was this one:

Actually, there was another one, but I did not get to take a picture of it!  However, it appears that this is on their wedding day, so that makes me smile!

Not too long after this, Monica arrived.  Monica is Virginia's niece who speaks English very well, and Nick and I met her at the birthday party a few months ago!  I was happy that she was there!  I knew that today would be in Italian, but I also knew that Monica would help me out if I needed it!  She too reminded me that today would be in Italian though!  So, we hugged, looked at the crib, and discussed how sad it was that our plans for pizza never worked out; not yet at least.  After that, we headed downstairs to see what everyone else was doing.  We looked at the elaborate model ship that Franco built; that man is very talented.

Again, the details were astonishing.  I looked at all of the pictures/poster things hanging on the walls as you came down the steps.  They were of theatres and costumes.  It was really neat, and I really enjoyed looking at them!  Virginia had some cool things to look at around the house!  Virginia was cooking the whole time, and others were slowly arriving.  Monica's mom was happy to see me, which made me happy!  I got kisses from everyone as they arrived, and that made me feel welcomed; which is always a wonderful feeling.  When I went upstairs to get my camera, they were all smoking (YUCK! ), which meant I headed IMMEDIATELY back downstairs, but first all of the ladies had to pet me and tell me how beautiful they thought I was.  Monica's mom was doing the most petting!  It is so strange to be the foreign one, and so strange to be told almost every day that you are so beautiful.  It is sweet of course, but strange.  Nicola, Virginia's more outgoing son arrived at this point.  He gave me kisses, and I was sad to see that his girlfriend, Sabrina, was not with him!  He was speaking to me in English, which I appreciated, but was not necessary!  He was really kind, and went downstairs with me!

Downstairs I saw Virginia's mom and gave her kisses and such!  The lady that helps with her mother was there.  The lady that helps and Virginia's mother looked very sad; it was kind of hard to watch!  I felt sure that the lady was wishing she was with her family on Christmas; I know the feeling.  Eventually Virginia's mom moved to the table, and when I returned from upstairs she was trying to drink a bunch of wine and arguing with Virginia over why she could not do so.  Then Virginia was a little angry about the lady letting her mom have it.  It was really, really sad to watch!

Next up was lunch.   The table setting was really pretty and everything smelled wonderful! 

The napkins had "Merry Christmas" in different languages...

I think mine was a "Merry Christmas" one...dont remember!

 I was given a seat next to Monica and Nicola was on my other side.  All of Franco's sisters and brother were there, and there was even this sweet little girl, who I found out later is Franco's brother's daughter.  Her name is Olga, and I think she is 7 years old.  Anyway, so lunch started with pastas of course, and the two choices were lasagne and this other pasta with some sort of oil on it.   I tried a little bit of both and they were both DELICIOUS; however, the lasagne was probably the best I have ever had in my life. 

After the first course comes the meat and veggies.  There were so many different meats to choose from, and veggies too.  I tried the turkey (or chicken maybe???) that looked like something Nonna used to make (this was also the thing that Virginia was frying).  It is reeeeeeally really thin and fried.  I also tried this pork that was HANDS DOWN the best pork I have ever had in my life...delicious...I could have just eaten that!  However, the potatoes (not mashed...hard to describe them) were amazing as well!
 
There were some other meats, but I did not even dare ask what they were because by the looks of them, I did not want to know!  I was also asked to try the Calabrese "broccoli", and again i stress that this is NOT broccoli....and as usual, I did not like it, and they gave me a huge portion.  I was only able to to force down one bite.  We had some good wine, and later dessert was amazing.  A few different things, but all good! 

Conversation during lunch was great.  It was a constant transition between English and Italian because Nicola was wanting to speak in English with me, but Monica was trying desperately to hold on to Italian, and Virginia interrupted a few times with, "nooo, only in Italian today!!"  Some of the Uncles insisted on Italian too because they do not understand English, which is totally fair!  Virginia even announced to the whole table at one point that I understood Italian perfectly...umm Virginia...no.  Anyway, I had fun on my end of the table.  Nicola suggested that we use both languages in the same sentence, which I explained that Nick and I already do that all of the time!  Haha.  We talked about how he also knows some Spanish, which I think is cool that he can converse in 3 different languages.  We looked at googleearth/maps so that he could see where I live; he said his dream is to go to Miami; We talked about NYC; he insisted that I go out with them sometime.  At some point I will HAVE to explain that I am not a "going out" person, but that seems to be what most of the Italians do for fun.  I just do not care for that atmosphere...I do not want to drink...I do not dance to the music that I have heard described...I really am okay with being somewhat of an introvert...if it means that I am not doing something that I really do not want to do, then I am okay with that!  Let's do dinner...have a glass of wine...go out for a walk...go to the movies...but why does it have to be until 2 am when I would rather be asleep?!?!?  I cannot understand these things!  However, that being said, I will go with them at least once if they want me to!  I do want to experience life in Italy to the fullest, and I want to spend time with the nice people that I have met.  I am just not, and never have been, a "going out" person.  We joked about how if you ask for 2 portions of something, 3 will come, so best to just ask for 1.  Ahh, how well he knows his people.  Monica also explained the family dynamics to me!  Franco's older brother has 20 names....that's right...20.  So apparently he has two older sister (one being Monica's mom), and so when they had their first son, they were SO excited that they gave him 20 names.  At the time, and even as recently as Nicola's birth (well, he is my age), you could give a child as many names as you wanted and whatever names you put before a comma were their name that you used.  So Nicola has two names and then a comma.  Franco's brother has like 3 names and then a comma with 17 other names behind it!  Franco has like 8 names.  HOLY COW!!! This is so foreign to me; and we Americans thought double names were big.  Lunch went on for a while, but it was fun, and good as usual. Nicola also informed me that some people in Cosenza call it, "Cosangles" because they so desperately want it to be like Los Angeles.  Haha...my students have told me this before too...made me laugh!

After we were finished, everyone started making their way upstairs or anywhere but the table.  I ran upstairs and grabbed my phone, only to see that I had missed calls from my momma.  Then, I sat with Virginia, her sister-in-laws, and some one else, and we were just talking.  Virginia asked me when I was leaving for Rome, and was I meeting Nick there.  I explained that I was leaving for ROme on Sunday and then we were going to Gubbio for the night, and then back to Rome for New Year's Eve.  She got so excited, and even more so when I told her that we were going to be seeing Anna Paola.  She got so excited and said that Anna Paola sent her a sweet text message this morning, and then she lit up and said, "ooh I'll call her now and you can talk to her too!!" So, she called Anna Paola, talked to her for a few minutes, and then handed the phone over to me!  Nick and I are in so much trouble with these two...in a good way though!  So I talked to her for a few minutes, and she was so sweet!  I just KNOW that I am going to love her!  So then the ladies around us wanted to know what we were talking about, and then they realized that they had all met Nick.  They met him at the birthday party that first night he was in Cosenza.  They were so excited to hear that we were together.  Monica's mom said, "I asked you first, I knew it first!!!" She was referring to the fact that when we met outside of the party she said, "are you two a couple??"  These ladies were so excited, and so Virginia started telling the story of how in Rome she saw it right away when Nick stood up to present.  THat was when Virginia turned to me and said, "he's cute!" I politely agreed, and she immediately turned back and said, "you like him!?!?!?"  I immediately turned bright red.  **This was all in Rome on the last day that was just the Fulbright ETAs**  She was so excited to be telling this story to her family; about how she knew it first and how I asked her if it was really obvious, and how she just had an eye for these things!  She told them about me pulling her out of the room to ask her if it was obvious...which I did...I literally pulled her by her arm that day.  **No, none of this is in a previous blog because I did not want to write about it on the off chance that Nick ever read those blogs** So, then she told them about how she has been encouraging us all along and how her friend Anna Paola is Nick's teacher.  They were all so excited and kept saying how they could see it that night at the party in Cosenza.  They all said that they really liked Nick, which made me happy! I like him too! So, it was fun to see Virginia so excited. 

Then Monica and Nicola wanted to play a card game with the Napoletane cards.  I had never heard of the game, and thank goodness sweet Olga wanted to play too, which meant that the explanation would be simpler and easier to understand.  They still had to explain some of it in English, but that was because the object of the game did not make sense to me; even in English at some points!  I would try to explain it here, but I am afraid that I would NOT do a very good job of it!  However, I had fun playing!!  Olga was sitting next to me, and she is so adorable.  It was fun to see that there are some things that are just universal about children; 1. Her frustration when she did not win 2. THe cute pouty face 3. When she quit the third and final game because she was not going to win.  UNIVERSAL!!  She really was very sweet and hung in a lot longer than most children her age who were learning a card game!  Sweet thing, I could not understand half of what she said to me!  However, we managed!  She was singing "Away in a Manger" earlier...and was so excited to do so!  She also counted to 100 in English for me, which Monica said I deserved the "Nobel Patience Prize" for listening.   I explained that I was just so excited to be with a child, and that children are what I enjoy the most.  She said, "yeah, you definitely deserve that patience prize!" Haha...if she only knew.  I do miss hanging out with children though; I am SO  excited for Reggio where I will at least get to spend a week talking about them and observing them (AT REGGIO EMILIA....which makes it like 1000 times better!!!!).  Anyway, so the game was fun, but I could definitely see how it would have been much more fun with 1. A lot of people 2. People who know each other really well 3. people who fully understand the game.  Also, the Italians usually play for money; which they seem to do with every game.  I do not understand this, but I guess it is a cultural thing.  Monica also told me during this game that she thought I was so afraid to make a mistake in Italian, that I just did not say anything at all...oooh how right she is...

Monica and Nicola kept telling me that I would have to go out with them.  Nicola told me about hte gym that he goes to, and suggested that I go!  He said that they have classes, dance, regular workout, etc.  I would LOVE to do something like this!  That sounds amazing!!  So, the end of the game came when Olga quit, and then some of the cousins started showing me magic tricks with the cards; also a popular thing.  A few of my boy students did the very same thing for me.  I am amazed at how they pull some of then off, but of course I know there must be some trick to it!  Olga kept asking for chocolate at this point too!  Nicola went and found some, and Virginia also brought a few.  I had 2 little chocolates and boy were they good!  Olga's mom returned at this point, she had left her there for a while, and she sat down with us.  She scolded Olga for the 4 or so chocolates she had eaten, because of the stomach ache she would have later, which I would agree with!  Then we started playing with this iPhone app that Nicola had.  It was this game where you answer questions about a person/fictional character you are thinking of, and it guesses.  I went first and thought of Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice.  I was SHOCKED when it was able to come up with it!  I was super impressed.  We did some other people, and it was able to get them!  HOLY COW!! Impressive! The last one I did was Meredith Grey, and it guessed Dr. Quinn first, but then got it.  Then we quit.  However, this was a cool game!!  Then Monica was playing with an iPhone app that makes you dance in a Santa outfit to that Gangham style thing...NO clue how to write that...do not judge. 

Then, Nicola offered to take me home.  The helper lady had been sitting at the end of the table while we played, and she looked so sad!  It was breaking my heart!  So, before we left, I made sure to speak to her, smile at her, and be kind to her.  I felt terrible for her; I just know that shew as wanting to be with her family!  We went upstairs, and they were smoking..well, Virginia wasn't, but the other women were!  I heard Virgina tell them earlier to smoke inside because it was tooo cold to smoke outside! I do not understand the Italians willingness to inhale this...it is SO bad for you! Virginia got up to give me hugs, and she gave a very long and strong hug; my favorite kind!  She was petting me, and even touched the underside of my chin.  I swear, one day my natural reflex is going to set in and I will hit her hand.  It will be unintentional, but it will happen!  However, I know that she does not mean anything bad by it....and to be fair, she has NO idea that it bothers me!  She even gave me a kiss on my forehead.  SHe said that she would organize something for my mom, and that made me happy!  I said bye to the others, and we were off.

Nicola and Monica took me home.  We dropped Monica off first, and Monica lives really close to me; she lives right by Piazza Bilotti!  Good to know she is so close!  They talked to me about going skiing, playing Tombola, and going to the bars.  We'll see.  Nicola was shocked that the people I've spent time with are so much younger than me, and insisted that I needed older friends. 

I came home, and the first thing I did was call Erin on skype! I was SO excited when she was able to answer!  What a wonderful Christmas gift; talking to my best friend!  We were able to talk for about 30 minutes, and I was SO excited!  I set up my new laptop so that I could use the good webcam on it.  Then I talked to Nick on skype, my momma on skype, talked to Mrs. Malissa on facebook for a few minutes, and then talked to April on skype, and then Nick again on skype!  WOW...it was amazing to talk to so many people that I love and cherish, and to do so on Christmas  was even more special!  It was a great way to end the day. 

For "dinner" I had an apple and some yogurt...I just needed a little something!

The thing about Christmas this year was that it never really felt like Christmas!  I thanked God for his Christmas gift, and I felt that, but otherwise, it never felt like Christmas.  Truly, it just felt like any other day of the year.  The beauty in this was that I did not feel sad, and have yet to cry or anything.  So...it was a little sad, but it is what it is.  The book I read when I first got here about the lady who traveled through South America doing the Jane Austen book clubs hit close to home today.  She said that she spent Christmas with another family, and she was so grateful for their kindness and hospitality, but she swore to be at home for Christmas next year!  I NOW KNOW EXACTLY HOW SHE FELT!! It was amazing for these teachers to open up their home, hearts, and families to me, but it was just not the same as being at home.  While we may not have a lot of concrete traditions and such, it is still Christmas at home.