27....

Today is my birthday!!  It started last night/this morning by talking to Nick, and we were talking at midnight, so he was the first to wish me a happy birthday, in our time zone! :)  We talked until about 1, and then went to sleep!

My morning started off by getting ready for work!  I was so excited to wear my new birthday clothes, where are cuuuute red/orangish skinny pants with this sheer black top that is longer in the back than in the front.  I was SO bummed that it was a torrential downpour outside though!  Then, as I was getting my make-up on, Nick called!  So, I talked to him from then until I got to school later!  Anyway, so I had oatmeal, naturally, for breakfast, and grabbed my things and hurried to school!  About two minutes into my 7ish minute walk, my shoes were soaked, my socks were soaked, but I was enjoying talking to Nick as I walked!  When I arrived in class, Valeria was already there and the students had been worried that I was not coming.  Oops...I couldn't help my tardiness today; I got stuck behind quite a few people who were unsure of how to walk with umbrellas; that, and I was dodging huge puddles the entire walk to school!

However, I'd made it safe and sound, and ready to teach.  Valeria took care of housekeeping, and then we went to the lab for a lesson about civil rights.  It seemed to go okay, but there was a little bit of confusion about the words "freedom riders" and "freedom writers"!  They had heard of Martin Luther King Jr., and they were not aware of the fact that he was a minister.  Then they decided to find more information about him tomorrow and we will talk about his speech.  So, I felt good about how it went.

After this class I talked to Valeria a little bit about the Fulbright meeting and some other things.  Then, I was stopped by another teacher and she was speaking in Italian to me about meeting her daughter or something.  Rosina saw me, and in a very uncharacteristic way, she avoided me and scurried to her classroom; normally she would come up and pull me in the direction of the classroom.  So, when I walked towards the room, and then walked into the door, the class erupted into "Happy Birthday!!"  They are one of my favorite classes, and I thought it was so incredibly sweet!  I hate for people to sing to me, but it was so, so, so sweet!!  Then, one of the boys walked up and handed me a looooong stemmed red rose!  Rosina then handed me a bag which had two children's books by Italian authors.  I was so touched that she remembered me asking her about Italian children's stories, and she bought me two wonderful books.  I could not believe that they did that for me!  I kept thanking Rosina and the students, and she kept telling me that the students remembered themselves, and she had not reminded them!  I was so touched!

Then, I had a great lesson with them!  We did this thing that Myles suggested where you post a letter or a speech and have the students go up to memorize as much as they can and report it to their friends.  They write it down, and take turns doing this.  They are trying to recreate the letter/speech.  I used MLK's "I Have A Dream Speech" for this activity; however, I shortened it significantly.  So, I gave them the rules, and posted the parts of the speech.  They started the activity and it went REALLY well.  THey all participated...they did not cheat and quit like Lilla's class, and it was so much fun to watch them and encourage them as they went.  There were words they did not know, and they said it was hard to memorize parts to go back and write down, but they also said that it was more fun than just doing reading comprehension!  Friday we are going to look at words that they did not know, and then try to decipher the meaning of the speech (well, of the parts I used with them).  It was fun to watch their different techniques for memorizing as well.  Some had to put their fingers in their ears; some had to close their eyes and repeat it to themselves a few times before they went back to their friends.  It was so much fun to watch!  They were actually running around doing it, and telling each other where to start reading; they really seemed to "get it"!

So, I had them stop about 10 minutes early, and I wrote them a nice note on the board, and took pictures with them!  I do love this group!

After class was over, Rosina offered to drive me to the other school, but first took me in the teacher's room to have some sweets for a teacher's son who got married.  I had the best little tart thing with a strawberry on it!  I also helped some teacher with an application in English, and then we headed to Castrolibero.   Rosina went a different way to school, and gave me a tour as usual!  She is so kind.  She also accepted the extra time that I will be missing in February, so I am excited about this!

When I arrived at the school, I went to the teachers' room to find Virginia!  When she saw me, she got up to hug me and sang "Happy Birthday" in my ear!  Then I sat down to talk to her, and she told me that they were taking me to dinner tonight at some pizza place.  Lilla eventually came in and gave me hugs and kisses and wished me a happy birthday!  I talked to them for a bit, and then Lilla told me to come with her for a minute.  She took me into the class she was teaching, and they sang "Happy Birthday" for me!  So sweet! Then I went back to the teachers' room and talked to Lilla and Virgina for a bit, and one of the other sweet teachers Rosa came to tell me "Happy Birthday!"  It was fun to watch them all interact, and just listen to them speak in Italian.  I followed a good bit of it.

I was late for Francesca's class, but she then told them that it was my birthday and they all came up to give me kisses and wish me a happy birthday! Two of my class clown boys came back for seconds, and then tried a third time to get more kisses...but I caught them getting back in line!  Haha...it was cute though! Then we went upstairs to do the lesson.  They gave their short presentations on their famous dinner person, and then we did a few sentences to reinforce some grammar things like, "married TO not WITH"...you are born ON a date, but born IN a month or year...etc.

When this class was over, I went to Angelino's class.  They saw me carrying my big bag of stuff and found out it was my birthday!  E. gave me a HUGE hug and told me that she loved me, etc.  They all started telling me happy birthday, and then we went in the room for the lesson.  It went well...I am still surprised at the way students act...and then he sent one boy out of class for talking, so he sat out in the hallway on his phone, which is exactly what the boy wanted anyway!  E. doesn't know it, but she gave away the fact that she knows more and is learning more than she lets on!  I LOVED it!  She is so sweet, and I can tell that she does care!  She also asked to go to the "toilet" at one point, but came back from the bar with a bag of cookies and a sweet note written on it, all because it was my birthday!  Sweet, sweet girl! 

 It was an okay class, and when it ended, I left to come home! 

On the bus, a group of students that I do not know started talking to me!  They wanted to know my name, and it was funny because they could not pronounce it when I said it, but when I changed it to the way my students say it, they got it right away! So cute! There was one girl that was the spokesperson, but they asked me "are you a boyfriend?" Umm...do I have a boyfriend?? Haha...yes....they asked about where I was from...where he lived...what his name was...how old I am (which was weird to say 27...)...they asked if I was in love...they asked about so many things!  Mind you this was from the front of the bus to the back of the bus!  It was sooooo uniquely Italian, but so much fun!  Conversation eventually died off, and then I got off the bus.

When I got home I got to talk to my daddy for a few minutes while I ate lunch...and then I talked to my momma for a bit while she drove to work!! I eventually talked to April on skype for a bit...Kelly on skype...Nick on the phone...Mrs. Malissa on skype...and it was great!! 

I eventually got dressed to go to dinner with Lilla and Virginia.  When Lilla came to pick me up, I put on my heels (my "Italian" booties that I wore for graduation last year), and "ran" down the stairs...haha...there was no actual running! 

When I walked outside, Lilla looked up at me and said, "Lilla Dwarf!"  I almost died!  She really was sooooo much shorter than me, which is not uncommon, but tonight she was particularly shorter than I was!  She kept saying it as we walked to her car, and it was just so funny to hear Lilla being so silly! So, Lilla drove us to a place near the school, and we parked so that we could walk to the corner where Rosa and Virginia were going to pick us up!  Then Francesca joined us.  Right before they picked us up it started HAILING so heavily that the ground was COVERED in it!  It was some intense hail FOR SURE!!  So, V. and Rosa arrived and we were off!  By the way, it is not a law in Italy that people in the backseat have to buckle up....however, I still ALWAYS buckle up.  Last night, this was not an option.  Can I just say that I was EXTREMELY uncomfortable being unbuckled, in Italy, during a hail storm...oh, and driving small, curvy roads??  Not cool...not cool Italy! 

So, we arrived at the restaurant, got out of the car, almost fell on the ridiculous amount of hail on the ground, and then had to get back into the car to drive around to the back, and then we went inside to eat! Before we ordered, Lilla gave me this beautiful necklace that we looked at months ago, and she even remembered that the crimson one was my favorite!  I could not believe she remembered this, and I thought it was so incredibly sweet and thoughtful! 

They also all signed a card for me!  It made me smile! We ordered pizza and appetizers, which did not arrive until after the pizzas were almost gone!  Virginia ordered some wine, but poured me a huge glass of it, and herself like 3 sips.  Nobody else wanted it, and Lilla had beer...so I could have done without it, but oh well!  The pizza was simply AH-MAZING, and I do not know how I will ever go back to eating American pizza, which by the way is extremely inferior to Italian (especially Napolitane) pizza. 

Not too long after we arrived, Virginia told me that th whole night had to be in Italian, which made me sad because I knew that I would spend most of the night in silence, and/or trying to follow the conversation, which would mean having to concentrate REALLY hard on what was being said.  I felt bad though because Rosa is not an English teacher and does not understand, therefore, I did not want her to be completely lost.  V. did use some English for me, and Francesca took pity on me as well at some points!  I followed some of the conversation, but I just cannot speak Italian in front of Virginia for some reason!  It makes me so incredibly nervous and I freeze, forget everything I know, and then sit in silence.  The conversation did pick up later, and I will just say that it was a very different side of Virginia!  It was funny, and awkward, and weird, and hilarious and so many things!  It was nice to see them all relaxed and in a different setting though!

Virginia made a cake and Lilla brought number candles like my momma brought with her!  They lit the candles, Virginia sang quietly because I had told her how uncomfortable it makes me, and then we ate some cake!  They were so sweet to me, and I really did have a wonderful time! 

Eventually (around 10:45), they paid and we headed home.   Lilla ran into a few of her students as we were getting into the car (ex-students).  Lilla and I talked about the lack of motivation among some of the students, which she agreed is terrible, and she also seemed to agree that some of it is rooted in the culture, the lack of job opportunities, and the lack of competition for Universities here in Italy. 

WHen I came home, I got ready for bed, worked on my blog, talked to Nick, and then at 12:51 a.m. my time, which was 5:51 p.m. Central Standard Time, I talked to my momma.  THis was the time I was born, and so it was important to me to talk to her at this time!  :) 

After that, I went to sleep!  Nick and I agreed that I could have my birthday on Seattle time as well, which meant that it was technically still my birthday until 9 a.m. here in Italy, on the 17th!  Haha...so I really did have an extended birthday this year...for weeks...and then a lot of extra hours!! 

All of my gifts!

Beautiful gifts from Nick