I walked to school, talking to Nick of course, and Valeria's class was up first. They had some bureaucracy issues to take care of, and then we tried to go to the lab (closed of course), and finally ended up in the classroom. Thank goodness that morning I had asked Nick for some ideas just in case I was not able to use the lab. He and I talked about debates, and so, this is what we did. I had them get into groups and the topic was, "the internet." The groups had to choose pro or con, and we went from there. I know that some of them were not putting their all into it, but I do not know how to make them participate. Without Valeria there, some of them just REFUSE to do what I ask! They are not outright rude, but they just talk to each other, or study for other things, and do not do ANYTHING I ask. It is so frustrating. It was so hard to strain my voice over them! It was hurting my throat and my head, but every time I asked them to be quiet, they would do it for like 2 seconds. Needless to say, I was glad when this was over. We got a few good points about the internet. B., one of my best talked about how the internet can be bad because children are "exploited" by pedofiles; some students talked about it giving you headaches, etc. So, it was somewhat successful, but could have been better if they would all participate.
Rosina's class went really well. I gave them the option of doing a debate, or learning more about the south. They chose the debate. I also let them choose the topic; I told them they could choose anything. They chose "life in the south". PERFECT!!!! I was excited because it was still related to what we were talking about, but was something different! So, they divided into groups, worked on their arguments and then presented. We discussed some of the things, and it was really interesting. I thought it went really well. They seemed to enjoy it, but also did a lot of speaking and thinking in English! Yay!! Rosina disagreed with them on some things...so that was interesting to watch unfold! She really is so wonderful!
Rosina told me that she can drive me, but then asked if I had time to get a cappuccino! She said that she wanted to take me to a “beautiful” place. She started asking me about what I do in my free time, which I told her I fill my time with walking around or cooking or something. She seemed defeated and said, “oh, you are always busy!” Actually, I am not! I get the idea that Rosina wants to spend more time together, and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to do this! Rosina is so incredibly sweet. So, I made sure that she understood that I would love to spend time with her! She said that she would love to have me for dinner and such! Yes please; for many reasons. 1. She is so nice, and her family was so kind to me and Nick that night! 2. I would love to get to know her better. 3. Who turns down home cooked Italian food 4. A great opportunity to practice my Italian!
It turned out to be a place that she had pointed out to me one day when we were driving. The place really was a nice place. They had a lot of things to choose from, and she insisted that I get something. She had been teasing me about liking salt because I told them that I do not like the unsalted bread in Gubbio (a result of the Salt Wars/tax), and the ironic thing is that I really do not use that much salt when I am cooking! Anyway, I decided to get this tiny sweet thing that was AH-MAZING by the way. I also got a cappuccino with a bit of cacao on top! We sat down at a table and Rosina began telling me about the place. The guy that owned it started with a small place, and now it had grown to be this nice, beautiful, big room, which also has a downstairs. I was super impressed. They had some HUGE brioche and cornetti. Rosina told me that at night they have an even bigger brioche, which I swear that it must be a foot long based on her gesture (and later, the owner’s gestures). Anyway, so our coffee was delivered, and it was a wonderful cappuccino. Not too long after this, the owner came in! He spoke to Rosina from afar, but then came over to great us! She was very excited to introduce him to “the American”, and he was very sweet! When he went back outside, Rosina was telling me about how rich this guy is! No surprise! She also told me that he has kept his prices the same from the time it was a small store, until now! Well, I think we found one of the secrets to his success!!! When we were finished, Rosina was so sweet to pay for everything while I looked at some of the other treats. The name is baba’…the accent should be over the “A”.
When we got in the car, I was asking Rosina if she would consider giving me some cooking lessons. I told her that I wanted to learn to cook some different recipes. I explained that in Florence the family taught me to make ribolita and spezzatino! She said, “I don’t know how to make ribolita, but I can teach you to cook some calabrese dishes!” UM, YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow…I was so incredibly excited! So, I told her that I would love to come and cook with her, learn from her, and I would love to have the recipes written in her handwriting and I Italian/English! SO, I am excited to ask her about this again after I get back! This is going to be incredible! Then Rosina asked if we had time to stop at one other place that she wanted to show me! Sure we do! I had one hour, and we still had like 20ish minutes left, and were only like 5 minutes away from the school.
We were on the road I use to walk to the school in Castrolibero, and she said that I should stop at this next place sometimes and get things. It was a place I had definitely seen before, but had never gone in there. It was a macelleria e gastronomia (I think these are the correct spellings). Basically, it is a butcher and they also have some pre-prepared things like meatballs, eggplant meatmalls, etc. (polpette). Here I saw quite possibly the freakiest thing I have seen in all of my time living in Italy:
Yes my friends, it is the spine, tail, and ORIGINAL hair of the animal. Rosina was busy talking to the guy because she knows him, and then she was telling him about me. So, I snuck this picture, and then I asked if it was the original animal hair. They confirmed my worst fear! Then Rosina insisted that I pick something out! I told her that the polpette melanzane looked good, and she was so incredibly sweet to buy me some. She told the guy as we were paying that I would be back and to take care of me! Then she told him that he had to speak English! He told me that he studied English a little bit, but not a lot. I told him that it was okay, and I wanted him to speak in Italian! Rosina said that she wanted to make this a weekly habit: cappuccino/treat, conversation, and stopping to buy me something if I wanted! How incredibly kind is she?? I am so grateful to have these kind of people in my life! Then she dropped me off at school, and was on her way home to take care of her two sons who are sick. She took the rest of the day off to stay with them (they are my age…or older).
Francesca’s class: for this class I had prepared the units of measurement lesson so that we could talk about recipe stuff, etc. The lesson started with a slide about how the only 3 countries in the world that do not use the metric system are The U.S., Burma, and one other whose name I cannot think of! Anyway, this was the information that I found on like 5 different web sites. Not just Wikipedia, and I definitely did NOT make it up! So, I say this, and I am immediately interrupted by Francesca saying, in a not very nice tone of voice, “that is NOT true. Britain does NOT use the metric system!” Well, I was speechless. First, I was slightly offended by the tone, and then also upset by ONCE AGAIN being challenged in front of the students. I simply said, “Well, from the research I did, this is what I found!” She continued to press me on it, so I tried to Google it, but the stuff was all in Italian, so I just went back to the lesson because I was losing the attention of the students. I moved on and talked about things. Francesca was quick to think about asking them how to say, “How long is it?” etc. So, using my lesson to teach them how to ask certain questions! I cannot believe I forgot this in my lesson. I felt stupid, but was glad she thought of it, and it was very helpful! So, I will add it to the powerpoint! Anyway, from there I was just slightly grumpy and ready to leave. We powered through the lesson, and while it was not the most fun lesson ever…it was the last one I will do for a few weeks with this class. Oh, she brought this poster for her students and me to see:
Then it was time for me to go! I went and got on the bus and started talking to Nick, but we had to hang up because the students were being SO loud that he could not hear me AT ALL. I was eventually able to call him back while on the bus. Then I went to the grocery store, and then home for lunch! Lunch is always good! Haha…no, really! I talked to my momma while I ate lunch. Then I started working on things I needed to get done. I talked to April some, worked on Reggio stuff, talked to Mike a bit on facebook, and relaxed. My favorite thing I did this afternoon was make Valentine’s for tomorrow. I know it seems a bit silly, but I find these things to be fun! I made them for the three teachers at Fermi and the four classes I have there! I also made one for Nick! I had fun doing it!!!
Later I went out to buy thicker socks.
I looked in a few different stores, but ended up buying these two pair
from H & M because they were 1. On sale 2. Actual wool blend! So, I was pretty excited about my new socks
and the potential for warmer feet.
When I got home, I layered back up. The layers I had on were RIDICULOUS…nobody should have to live like this! I do not understand how they do it! However, I am learning to deal with the layers, but it is not very comfortable. Then I went to cook dinner! I was making cima di rapa again, and one or two of those eggplant “meatballs”. All of this really warmed the kitchen up, so I closed the kitchen door and enjoyed the warmth!! Dinner was amazing, and I talked to Nick for a while. **also to Matt a bit**
Then, the moment I had been waiting for all day, when I was going to get to talk to Erin! I was supposed to call her at 11:15 my time! So, I when she signed on skype and called me, I was SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED!!! We had like 2 minutes to get out, “I’m so excited…I just got home…omg I’m so excited to see your face..etc. etc.” before the internet quit working. Excuse me what??? I spent the next 20 minutes or so trying to get the internet to work again. Nothing. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!??!?!?!? Come on Italy! I am so tired of not getting to talk to my best friend! This is getting a bit ridiculous!! At least I now have internet on my phone, so I was able to talk to her on facebook chat for a few minutes and explain what was happening! I was so sad. This is SO NOT cool!!
Once I figured out that there was nothing I could do tonight, I turned off the router and went to bed. I talked to Nick on the phone until we fell asleep (old school cuddle puddle).
No comments:
Post a Comment