It's the end of the....

World.

Nooo, non ci credo!   Secondo i Maya, il mondo dovrebbe finire oggi.  Ma, non ci credo perchè solo Dio può dire quando il mondo dovrà finire.  Comunque, i miei studenti erano molto felice a proposito del fine del mondo.  Non so perchè.  

Nooo, I do not believe it.  According to the Mayans, the world should end today.  But, I do not believe it because only God can say when the world will end.  However, my students were very happy about the end of the world.  I do not know why.

Well, I woke up today; first sign that the Mayans were WRONG.  I then ate breakfast, checked facebook, etc. etc.  I accidently left for school at 8...oops!  However, I was still "on time".  Of course by "own time" I mean that I was there before the teacher and some of the students.  First up was Patrizia's class.  We did the Christmas crossword I found online.  I let the students work together of course, and they were really good at the crossword.  Chimney was hard for them, so I had to draw one; I am NOT an artist.  It was a small class because half of the class did not come to school today.  They were super cooperative in reviewing the lesson from yesterday.

When this class was over, I waited for what felt like forever to make some more copies of the crossword for one of my next classes.  It was an Italian experience for sure because I kept getting jumped in line.  Finally, I was able to get my copies, and I was on my way.  I spent my break at the other building reading Harry Potter for the most part.

When I went back to the other building for my class with Linda, I waited by the radiator so that I could get warm.  I was standing there reading Harry Potter (in Italian) when a few of my students came out and were SHOCKED that I was reading in Italian.  They were so excited!!  They went back in the room for a few minutes before they came out for our class to start.

Linda's class was so much fun today!  When I first went in they were drawing on the white board.  They were making "end of the world" art.  They made a Maya cake, temple, etc. etc. It was weird..and they were so excited and acting crazy about this whole thing.

They were jumping around and acting crazy!!  It was pretty funny though.  The sweet computer lab guy kept trying to get us to come there today, but I did not need it.  I finally settled them down and we started on the crossword.  I could see their bags of food and stuff under their desks, but I did not want to give away their "surprise".  So, we did the review questions about yesterdays lesson, and then started working on the crossword.  I had so much fun with this class while they worked on the crossword.  It gave me an opportunity to go around to the groups working together, and I was able to answer questions and show them that I really do care.  I hope that I was able to communicate to them, through my actions, that I am there to help them learn, not to judge or anything.  I felt like it went really well, and they were really responsive to the activity and to me.  This made me sooo happy!  I had to draw a chimney for them too!  They knew exactly what it was in Italian, but did not know the English word; thank goodness that drawing a chimney does not requre a lot of artistic talent!  Haha!  Also, for bell I kept having to pretend to ring a bell, but it helped them understand...so yay!  So, we finished with about 10ish minutes to spare of class time, and this  class falls just before their break, so we really had more time than that.  Linda had been in and out the whole time, but came back in around this time!  THe students then told me that they had a surprise for me, and they started pulling all of the food out!  One girl brought a bag of peanut M & M's because my fave Christmas commercial was the M&M one; so sweet.  One girl brought homemade treats that her mom made!  Then there was panettone, pandoro, cake, pretzels, and other small things.  It was a wonderful "feast".  THis group of students is awesome; they were so excited to share the food, and for me to try it all. They of course brought Coke and Fanta, the only two drinks any class has brought!  They were also excited to bring the Coke because we talked about how Italian coke uses real sugar, and American coke uses high fructose corn syrup. Here are some pictures:

Setting up

Homemade...I had the one on the far right (with the thing in the middle)

Her mom made them! 

We had the same treat!  I love S!  

An amazing group of students! 

So, we ate, talked, and just enjoyed our time together.  They were so excited to tell me that they bought me a gift as well!  One of my sweet students went and bought it, and they all chipped in.  They bought me some beautiful earrings!  I was so touched and surprised.  How amazing.  I thought that was beyond sweet of them to do!  Then, one of the ladies that works at the school brought a broom and dustpan so that we could clean up some when we were finished.  This turned in to a game of broom hockey, and then some air guitar!  It was SO funny!  Linda was not in the room most of the time; I am not sure where she was!  We took a ton of pictures, got a lot of hugs, and ate too much.  One thing I wanted to try, I just cut off a small piece and one of my sweet boys kept telling me to eat the whole piece because I was not eating enough of it!  So, it is NOT just the Italian women...it's the boys too!  So, there was hockey, air guitar, food, dancing (the girls), and an eventual countdown to 11:11, which is when they swore the world would end if it was going to!  They did not actually believe in all of this, but it was funny to watch them countdown!  

Broom hockey

Air guitar! 

Sweet girls!  

Countdown to 11:11

11:11....the world did NOT end!

So by this point Linda was back in the room and she gathered allof the students to tell them I would now give a speech in Italian!  HOLY COW!! I was so embarassed and never could really get the words together.  The students were chanting for a speech! I managed a "grazie per tutto!" to start with, and eventually, after trying to get my thoughts together, I told them (in Italian) that Nick and I were going to be speaking only in Italian (haha...for the most part) after my birthday, and after that, I would give them a speech in Italian!  They seemed satisfied with that!  However, after we started cleaning up and just talking, I did my best to speak in Italian, and they seemed happy about that!  So, I was able to show them that I do know some Italian.  I know more than I can speak!  After we cleaned up, and the math teacher had arrived (a while ago) and she had eaten, we started wrapping it up.  A lot of the girls gave me their cell phone numbers, and I will not lie, I am already a little confused about who is who!  I know a few of them for sure, but umm...Italian names are hard to learn !  I had SO much fun with this group!  We ran like 30 minutes over into the next class, but the teacher did not seem to mind.  She even gave me kisses and wished me a Merry Christmas before I left.  I got kisses from Linda, and then I was off.  

My second one hour break was almost over at this point, not that it mattered to me, and so I went to the other building, made copies (with a little bit of Linda's help), and worked in my Italian Verbs workbook.  

My last class of the day was Rosina's class.  I got a great, warm welcoming as usual, and they were counting down to the end of the world also.  I explained that my other class said that it was at 11:11, and the said, "nooooo 12:12!!"  Haha, so nobody could even decided on when the world was supposed to end.  I explained that in Japan, Australia, etc, these things had already happened!  They were so funny counting down to it!  They of course said that they do not actually believe in it, but it was an excuse to be silly!  Rosina gave me a sweet Christmas gift.  She gave me some of those gloves with no fingers, which I had ironically chosen to wear mine that I got for Christmas last year.  Weird coinky dink!  So, then we started the crossword, and Rosina left for most of the class time.  They were really good at the crossword.  Chimney was something I had to draw again...again, good thing it is not too difficult to draw!  THey were really engaged today; I think having activities like this are helpful!  My goal for the next few months is to incorporate more things like this!  We ended really early and just sat around and talked for a bit!  It was nice to just relate to them on a more personal level; something I really want to do!  They told me about the church service at 11 tomorrow, which someone had mentioned, but apparently one of my students, M. (who sang Mariah Carey), was going to be singing.  THey also invited me to the evening performance of the school band.  I was excited!  THEN...something uniquely Italian happened...Rosina gave one of the students kisses and apologized for her English grade, and then Rosina proceeded to read their grades out loud (they get a grade of 1-10).  This did not shock me as much as it would have if Nick had not experienced the same thing yesterday!  WHAT!?!? YOU CANNOT FIND THAT IN THE UNITED STATES!!  It was weird...but...it is the Italian way!  

So, with hugs, "merry christmases", and sweet kisses (cheeks), I was off to eat lunch at home.  I also sent out my Christmas card (if you are reading this, and did not get one...it is probably because I do not have your email address...soooo message me on facebook OR my email is Elyse.McLaughlin@gmail.com.  I worked on blogs, took a nap, and then later went out for a walk.  Corso Mazzini was kind of empty, but I walked, and enjoyed the atmosphere.  I also went to the grocery store, and I was able to sample one of the dialect treats that I had not yet tasted.  It is called pitta mbigliata.  It was SO good, and so I asked the lady how long it would stay fresh in the wrapping...1 year...done, bought one for when my momma is here in less than 2 weeks!  I was pretty excited too because this one was amazing, and it cost like 3 euros less than everywhere else I have seen!  I talked to Nick a good bit because he was on his way to Rome.  

I came home, ate dinner, worked on blogs, relaxed, talked to April, and then went to bed.   

I talked to Nick until ike 2 a.m. because he is flying out to the US tomorrow (Saturday).  

So, the world did not end.  Hmm...DUH! I saw someone's (Holly's I think) facebook status said that they cannot wait to tell their children how many times they survived the "end of the world"; MEEE EITHER!!