Sunshine and Hail

This is not only what I walked home from school in today, but is also a metaphor for my day!

So, I ate the last of my oatmeal yesterday.  The End.   Enough said about that.

I talked to Nick on facebook while I got dressed for work this morning, and then walked to work at the school here in Cosenza.

Valeria is in Bologna for a school conference, so I had her class all to myself.  Another teacher came in and took the role, etc., and then left us to our own devices.  I was really excited about this because it gave us some freedom!!  Another student, one who is really good at English (has been taking extra English lessons for years), had to finish the register as other students came in.  We talked about Christmas words, foods, and more.  It was a little hard to get them quiet at times, but overall it was good!  I was excited to learn new Italian words, and they even tried to help me learn the dialect pronunciations!  I do love my students, and I really love how excited they get when I attempt dialect!!  It is so sweet, and is the perfect picture of the Fulbright exchange.  In my original essay I wrote about how to teach is to learn; well, technically I am the teacher, but I am learning so much from them!  Here are some pictures from the first class, which by the way was helpful in other classes:

Next up was Rosina's class.  She decided to leave me alone with them today, which was really exciting for them!  As she was leaving they were all "jokingly" saying "vai, vai, vai!!!" Which means, "(you) go, go, go!!!"  Haha...she laughed because she knows that they still love her!!  So, we started to work on the recipes that they brought for me.  They had to go around and tell me the name, and spell it, as I made a list on the board.  Then, we went through and they had to give me the ingredients (in English).  We talked about who makes them (moms and grandmothers of course), and we talked about when they make them.  These are usually just Christmas treats, but I think a few things they told me are made other times of the year.

Then we talked about Saturday, the 8th, because it is the "Immacolatà".  I hope I spelled that correctly.  Anyway, it is the day to celebrate the immaculate conception, which I have recently learned is not considered to be Jesus in the catholic faith, it is actually Mary!  The things I learn continue to astound me!  So, most answered that they would just EAT!!! Others said they might go to church, etc.  I had so much fun with them today!  We laughed, learned, and just enjoyed our time together.  I told them that I had a friend, another Fulbright ETA coming to visit and one of my students, one of my fave students that always hugs me, said, "is he coming to visit you?!?!?"  Haha...I just laughed it off!!

Rosina then took me to Valentini!!
I tookmy break time to look at the versions of the Cosentine 'strina that my students had given me, and made some notes about other things.

Francesca's class was fine.  She insisted that we go to the lab, which made my, "I just want to have discussion with them" day much harder.  I wanted to talk to them about their favorite family traditions, but it was just all over the place.  I have to come up with a better approach to this, but I am struggling because I do not feel qualified to teach students who do not have the basics of English (especially 4th years who are now 4 years behind, and do not care...how do I make them care??).  The conversation is so frustrating for both sides because they do not understand me.  I had to translate verbs for them.  One boy kept messing with me and saying things about Auburn.  I told him, "NO!!" It was a little funny, and I think he was just trying to get me to laugh.  I googled some pics, and overall it was not terrible.

Angelino's class was NOT good though.  My favorites were excited to see me, but then they do not follow this up with attention and respect for my time.  I wrote some stuff on the board...Angelino had to leave for a bit...my athiest boy was very interactive though.  He wrote things on the board, and helped me pronounced dialect words, etc.  He remembered broccoli casserole, but was joking around about it in dialect!  It was funny!! There were many times I just stopped and did not raise my voice or even address them!  I refuse to let them get me too down, but it tends to happen!  The boy from Wisconsin was talking to me, so I just talked to him for a bit.  It helped a little when Angelino came back in, but not really!  They do not respect him either.  I left there annoyed and just ready to go home.

I walked home.  It was sunny, but I walked home in SO MUCH hail.  It was ridiculous. I talked to Nick, wrote blogs, took a "nap" (but not really), talked to April my love, talked to my daddy on skype, and booked trains and hotels.  The trains were a bunch of drama.  Within the time it took to refresh a page the price doubled at one point. I freaked out on poor Nick.  However, I waited and waited...eventually it corrected itself (of sorts).  However, it was so annoying.  I booked my Reggio hotel,and I am feeling good about things.

The evening was spent blogging, reading my Bible, and talking to Nick.

So, there was some sunshine...or happy moments of the day, but also, some hail...or really crappy moments of the day!