I started out my day with breakfast, of course. I got dressed, and was excited to wear my wool socks. This meant that my feet were MUCH warmer; much cozier!
First up was Patrizia’s class. We had a “debate” about life in the south. I had them get in groups to do the pros and cons. The girls in the class have shown such an increased interest in English, and so they were really great at this activity. The boys, they are still getting there, but we are working on it! It is once again interesting to find consistencies between classes when asking questions such as this! See the pictures for more details! They didn’t do too much debating, but they did discuss a few points. They talked about the job situation in Italy, and it makes it a little more clear as to why some students do not find much motivation in school. This makes me sad for them, and yet gives me a better understanding of them!
For my hour break, I went to get coffee at the place near school that Rosina took me a few weeks ago. It was cheaper than the other place, and frankly, I thought the cappuccino was better. Then I went to the school to print some resumes, write April an email because today is her dissertation defense, and then I talked to Patrizia about some things. We talked about how there is no competition between students for getting into universities, etc. We talked about how there is little external motivation offered to the students, and thus there is very little to increase internal motivation. Nick and I had this discussion earlier. It was interesting to get Patrizia’s input. She was pretty convinced that there needed to be more incentive, but did not know the solution. We talked about how much cheating goes on in the classroom, and I told her about my boys making cheat sheets the other day! She said that it is up to each individual teacher whether there is punishment or not for cheating in school. Umm…WHAT?!?!? I feel like it is a blanket rule in the U.S. that if you are caught cheating you get in trouble. The severity of the punishment may vary depending on the teacher, principal, or student even; however, there is always punishment. Then we talked a little bit about the US system. It was an eye opening conversation, and it gave me some insight that was much needed. It was nice to talk to a teacher about these things. Then I showed her the mid-term report for Fulbright so that she would be informed about what I was going to be saying in Rome.
Next up was Linda’s class, and I was a little late. However, it did not matter because we were having an evacuation drill instead of me teaching. This was um…interesting. A student from our class was chosen to be the “lost victim” and so when the bells started going off we left her to be found by the evac. people. Holy cow this was a LOUD process. The students were SCREAMING, PUSHING, SQUEALING, RUNNING, YELLING, etc. etc. in the stairwells and in the hallways. This was utter chaos. This was NOT helping the headache that I had developed. Once we got outside it was warm and wonderful. The students were all standing out in the large median on a “busy” road. This was very different from a U.S. drill. Some of my students kept telling me that if this had been real, then there would be MORE chaos and all hope would be lost. They said it…When the “victim” student came out, all of my students were yelling and chanting! This was so strange to me. The students were just walking around visiting students from other classes, etc. There was a lady walking around with a megaphone which was not helping at all. We eventually got to go back in.
We had time to do some of the lesson. We had about 25ish minutes, and so we started talking about how Southerners use food, and this class agreed that they too take food to families who have just had a death in the family or a family with a new baby. They said they do not do it very much, but in the small villages it is more common. This class is so much fun! They were answering questions, asking questions, laughing, and we had the best time. I had to quit before we got to talk about language, but I did give them their homework about similarities and differences between “our Souths”, and I was glad that they have 2 ½ weeks to do it because I think it will be a great assignment for them. I got hugs from most of them, and then stayed late with MG to give her all of the scholarship info. This class is EXACTLY what I think Fulbright is about. I love this group of students, and I can see them becoming more involved in their education, and this is one of my goals for my students!
For my last one hour break I went to H&M to get another pair of wool socks. I talked to Nick, sat in the computer lab, but the computer was not really working, and then I helped the Spanish teacher with her English stuff a bit!
Rosina's class was good! :) It took us a few minutes to get started, but when we did, we talked about how Southerners use food! They said that they do NOT ever take food to families for funerals or for new babies. They said that if they make something special they will sometimes share it with neighbors, and when they go to someone's home for the first time they always take some wine, sweets, or something to show that they are grateful to be there. THe one thing that shocked me was that they do not think that feeding someone/sharing food is a sign/symbol of love in their culture, or in general. I was shocked by this because I think that it is. They said that their mom/nonna making them a big dinner or feeding them anything is not a way of showing their love. Rosina disagreed with them, and I agree with her. I have experienced this quite a bit though...food is a way of showing that you care about someone, or that you like/love them! I dont know what they are talking about; therefore, I respectfully disagree with them! They did tell me that when you do not eat ALL of something, your mom and/or nonna think that you did not like it! This I have DEFINITELY experienced in Italy!
We finished the lesson by talking about the Southern dialect in the U.S. I did some research and found that we do actually have a dialect! The difference that I have found though is that the Southern dialect is still recognizable as English. Let me explain: In the U.S., most of our "dialects" are still English, meaning that the words we use are still recognizable as English words. People in the North will still recognize the word as an English word, but they may not recognize the meaning/the way we (as Southerners) are using it, and vice versa. e.g. Toboggan = hat in the south, but it = a sled in the North. e.g. Bubbler = water fountain in some states up North, but in the South we would not use that. However, we still recognize it as an English word. HOWEVER...in Italy, the dialects are somewhat unrecognizable to other areas of the country! There might be some areas where they can recognize/understand the dialects, but not all. e.g. in Cosentine dialect, adesso (now) = mo People from other parts of Italy would not recognize mo as a word in Italian. Now, they would probably assume that it is dialect, but they are not necessarily going to pick up on the meaning of the word just by hearing the word itself. For me, this makes the dialects very interesting. Andrea, the ETA in Rome, has a boyfriend who is from Verona. He was speaking in his dialect to a Roman guy, and the Roman could not understand ANYTHING he was saying.
My students thought the funniest thing we said differently was toboggan. They got a good laugh out of a toboggan being a sled in the North, but a hat in the South. They laughed at some others, and we had fun! It was the perfect ending to my last day before leaving to go to Reggio/Parma/Rome/Gubbio! As I was leaving Rosina gave me hugs and kisses and wished me safe travels! She is so incredibly sweet, and I love being around her!
B., my student that I nominated for the Fellowship, was waiting outside of the classroom to talk to me, so I walked out with her. She was telling me that she talked to the Consulate people, and it was now going to be a long process for the fellowship. As we were walking down the street, her brother almost hit us with his car trying to be funny. Not funny to me! Anyway, we kissed (cheeks of course) goodbye, and I wished her a fun/safe trip with the school to go skiing, and she wished me a fun/safe trip to Reggio, etc. I then stopped and bought a tomato, and headed home for lunch.
I talked to Nick on the way home...ate lunch...talked to my momma on the phone...did some packing...and worked on blogs!!!
The MOST exciting part of today was that it was April's dissertation defense day! I was not sure exactly what time she started, but when I called Mrs. Malissa, April was already in the conference room. So then I waited a while, until I thought it was over with, and emailed Mrs. Malissa to ask if it was over. April emailed me back from Mrs. Malissa's computer and said she had just gotten out and was waiting on them to "debate" all of the stuff. I emailed them back, but then decided that was stupid and called. WHen they answered, they said that they knew it was me! :) Of course it was me...my bestest friend just defended her dissertation...that warrants a phone call! SO then I got to talk to APril for about 15 minutes until Maria came out and April had to rush off, but not before I could tell she had passed! I could hear that she was about to cry, and I could hear Maria hugging her! THen I could hear all of them celebrating!! Mrs. Malissa came back to the phone to talk to me for a few minutes while Maria swept April back into the conference room! SHE PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! April is now officially, "Dr. Assistant Professor April Aprile \a Branton Kendrick Step-granmama". This is her official title, but for short you can call her Dr. April...or Dr. Kendrick. As for me..I'll stick to "Dr. \a" or just April! SO proud of my April! I KNEW she could do it...and she did! Hey April, where is my honorary PhD I was promised?!?!?!? ;)
Later I went out to buy a hairdryer, which I found in the electronics store for only 10 euros...it was on sale, and I felt really good about this! I talked to Nick the whole time, and that always makes me happy! I talked to Nick, then I talked to Maria briefly to gush about how proud we are of April, and then Nick and I did Bible study! :)
For dinner I decided that I wanted pancakes. I was sad that I did not have milk, but Nick reminded me that I could just use water. So, before I started cooking, I was talking to April on facebook and we agreed to skype. While I was waiting, I came into the kitchen to start my pancakes. When I took the eggs out of the refrigerator, I discovered....well...this
I had never really wondered what a frozen egg looks like, but I suppose now I do not have to ever wonder. This was my only egg, thus I had to run to get some. This was the exact moment that I was EXTREMELY grateful to live in Italy and know that I could just run downstairs and like 5 seconds away from my house is the macelleria, which has eggs for cheaper than the grocery store. I grabbed shoes, a few coins, keys, and ran. I told April that it would take me 8 minutes...no more, no less! When I got to the macelleria there was a HUGE line. I spotted the eggs, and the little boy that was there helping his dad. He let me just pay him the 1 euro and go! I ran back upstairs, and still had a minute or so to spare before April could talk!! I began making my pancake and talking to THE DR. APRIL KENDRICK!!! We talked, laughed, enjoyed our respective meals; ironically SHE was having wine and I was having fried eggs and pancakes...role reversal!After we finished talking, and she went to nap, I started packing some more. My suitcase was SOOO heavy and so I worked hard to downsize it! I downsized with some success, but not a lot. I then showered, dried my hair, wrote blogs, and went to sleep!!
REGGIO TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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