Right..so that's not Italian. It does, however, kind of sort of fit my life at the moment. And I think it's funny...the theme of the camp is CRAZY CIRCUS, and the other tutors and I were trying to think of rap songs to change to a circus theme and that was one. So there ya go.
Anyways.
Ok people, here is the long awaited, extremely entertaining and more extensive blog post. I hate to admit it, but nothing too exciting has happened lately. So, I’ll just tell you about random things I find entertaining.
First off, I have been in Italy for two weeks now. Which seems crazy to me because I feel like I’ve been here for way longer than that. But, I’m having a good time and settling in. I have gotten used to the different keyboard, for one. I found the apostrophe, which made me extremely happy because it was really bothering me to send emails that were grammatically incorrect. It’s the little things really.
Camp is going well. I guess. I have kind of given up on actually teaching things and am focusing more on games, listening to High School Musical, coloring and dancing. This new attitude seems to be working better than teaching. Last week I made myself sick and got a sore throat from trying to yell and/or speak louder than the kids. I was obviously quite unsuccessful. I don’t think there are any people louder than Italians. I should have already known this from living with Ray for 10 years. Silly me.
And speaking of not feeling well…I seem to have picked up some strange ailments since I got here. First off, I have athletes foot. And it’s freaking itchy and disgusting. I’m kind of embarrassed of it…but I wanted to share anyways. Mainly because when I went to visit Davide this weekend, I showed his dad (he’s a doctor) and he gave me this cream to put on it. Only…the tube says “crema vaginale.” Soooo yeah. Not sure how that is going to work. Since his dad speaks pretty much no English, I gave up trying to ask for an explanation. I am just going to cross my fingers and hope that this “crema vaginale” will cure my athlete’s foot because I am getting pretty sick of itchy toes. I’ll keep you updated. Other ailments include being tired all the time (nothing new, really), not being able to stop myself from eating-even when I’m not hungry, being itchy all over, and having random sneezing fits at really inconvenient times. Like on the train, while an old woman is giving me the evil eye.
Oh yeah…the train. So that was an interesting time, going to Rovigo. First, it was 30 minutes late. Then, I get on and there are no seats. I was like, whatever, my ride is only 20 minutes, I’ll stand. I walk to the back and there are two nuns sitting in a row with an seat in between them with two bags in it. They don’t move it, so I just keep standing. But then this other woman walks back and asks if she can sit there. And the nuns say no! NUNS, people! I mean, what is that about?? And in Italy, home of the holy city itself. I was a little disturbed…and disappointed. I mean, if nuns won’t help you out, who will? Honestly. Then the woman was like, bitching to me about them, but in Italian so I don’t really know what she was saying. But I know she was mad. I told her, in Italian, that I didn’t speak Italian, but she kept on talking anyways. Finally she left and I guess the nuns felt guilty or something because they finally moved their stuff and asked if I wanted to sit down. I don’t know, maybe they asked themselves WWJD? or something and decided he would not deny a seat to someone because his bags needed a place to sit.
Anyways, moving on to Davide’s house. I forgot what a goober he is! It was super fun to hang out with him. I only got to see him for a little bit Saturday because he had to go to work. So then it was just me and the parents…which was kind of a challenge. With my limited Italian and their limited English, we had an…interesting…time trying to communicate. His dad can’t just sit either. They showed me a photo album of their trip to Sicily and he felt the need to not only explain the pictures, but also the historical significance of the things in the photo. The words needed for those kinds of conversations are waaay out of my Italian scope. I tried for a little while…but then it was making my head hurt, so I tried to look uninterested in hopes that he would stop. He didn’t. So I went to the bathroom for 15 minutes when we were finished with the album viewing. Then, thankfully, it was time for dinner. We went to the restaurant where Davide works, Pizza e Vino and had just that, pizza and wine. We had pizza with sardines on it, which was not my fave. I guess I didn’t notice when I was here before because I was in control of my food, but Italians freaking LOVE salt. And I can’t handle it. I try, but I’m done after a few bites. Anyways, we made it through dinner and even got to dessert and limoncello…yum!
Breakfast did not go as smoothly. First, they made fun of me for not drinking coffee. And when I said I just wanted water, the mom (Maria Chiara) was appalled and insisted I drink orange juice instead. Then, she asked if I wanted Nutella and toast, and of course I said yes, but I think we got our signals crossed because I ended up with a Nutella sandwich. Which would be fine, only it was an extremely large sandwich and she was piling the Nutella on. Seriously, it was like half the bottle. I mean, I love Nutella, but it is so bad for you! I’m sure it was enough calories for the entire week! So yeah, I’m definitely going to get fat here. Oh, and they also somehow thought I wanted mozzarella cheese as well, so I ate that, my Nutella sandwich, a banana, yogurt, cookies, and orange juice. I was pretty full. Then, his parents wanted to go to this art exhibit in town on Art-Deco…which was interesting, but we did this guided tour and of course I didn’t know what the guide was saying! Davide’s dad wanted him to translate everything, but she was talking way to fast…so we just wandered around by ourselves and I had another sneezing fit. Don’t know what that was about. Oh yeah, and his dad (Silvano) was sporting a fanny pack, socks with sandals and this fabulous Hitler-esque moustache. It was pretty entertaining…esp when he decided the museum hadn’t angled the lights correctly and started adjusting them himself. So funny!
Long story short, it was really nice to see Davide and his family again. Then I took the train home and decided I needed a Coca-Cola Light (Diet Coke) and went to the McDonalds in the Modena train station. McDonalds here cracks me up! Of course they have Big Macs, but they also have all these other crazy things like chicken sandwichs on foccacia bread with pancetta. So fabulous! Then I came home to my Carpi family and we ate mini paninos for dinner and they were super good. Seriously, I am going to gain like 50 pounds.
Ok, well this might be little much for one post, so I’ll stop for now. There is so much though! I would like to say though, that everyone here has been SO nice to me! It’s unbelievable! I don’t know how to repay everyone, but I am so so happy to be here with all these wonderful people. (That is excluding the punk Italian kids at camp...they can suck it). The next post will further discuss my Italian children and how they are crazy, annoying, and fabulous all at one time.
Ciao ciao for now! Baci per tutti! (Kisses for all)
PS-Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I am having some problems uploading them....I'll try again soon!
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