A Little Bit of Everything

Here’s the second part of my giant blog! 

            Last Thursday, I was able to go to a Symphony with Nonno at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, which is a beautiful concert hall in Cagliari.  Ale and Nonno have season tickets to the Symphony, but Ale couldn’t go that day so I got to go in his place!  The music was great, and Nonno was so friendly.  He told me that the concert hall also holds ballets and operas, and that the opera Carmen will show soon.  I hope I get to go, because I have never been to an opera before.  And how amazing would it be to have seen my first opera in Italy!?

On Halloween, I visited my friend Natalie.  I met her host family, and I joined them for a lunch of Pasta alla Carbonara, a pasta dish that I have had on a few occasions with eggs, cheese, and pancetta or bacon.  Later, I helped Ale make a mad scientist costume for himself.  In our bedroom, we splattered ketchup on a white doctor coat to make it look bloody and dried it with a hair dryer.  I think even now our bedroom smells of ketchup.  Silvia splattered some nail polish on a surgical mask.  It turned out excellent!

            The next day (We had a mini fall vacation of Sunday-Wednesday), I was going to meet Christine, Matthew, Natalie, and Suzanne, a few exchange students at a certain piazza in Cagliari so we could all walk to one Christine’s host house to eat lunch and meet her family.  I waited for the most convenient bus by my house for nearly 20 minutes, but it never came and I never saw one passing in the other direction.  So I walked the 15 minutes to the other side of my house to catch the less convenient bus.  I had been waiting for 15 minutes when my host family drove up, on their way to Nonno and Nonna’s for lunch.  They asked me if all was well and I said I was just waiting for my bus.  It was a rather awkward meeting, because I could tell they were worried.  They left, and I waited for about 10 more minutes at the stop.  I was about to turn and walk towards the meeting place (a 45 minute walk more or less) when the bus finally arrived.  I rode that bus and got off to catch another.  I waited for that bus for nearly 10 minutes.  I usually don’t have to wait even that long for a bus, but maybe I have just had good luck with buses before this.  I finally arrived at the meeting place, an hour later than planned.  I apologized many times and we began to walk towards the house.  We finally arrived, much later than planned, and again I apologized many times this time in Italian to her host family.  We met her host parents, her host grandma, and we talked with her sister and her friend who we had already met.  We were given a tour of the house, which was extremely nice.  Christine’s room is a really cool shed (shed is such a negative term for what this is) on the roof! 

            Later, we were served a dinner of malloreddus (a dish of small grooved pasta with tomato and meat sauce; I recommend that you look it up, because I don't have any pictures), roasted lamb, salad, 3 types of cheeses, assorted fruit, finishing with tiramisù, 2 types of cakes including a type of raisin cake, and of course caffè.

From left to right around the table: Christine, Chiara (Christine's host sister), Natalie, Michela (Chiara's friend), Christine's host mom, Christine's host grandma, Me, Matthew, Christine's host dad

These pictures of this meal courtesy of my exchange student friends!

Variety of cheeses

bread served to us at lunch

Tiramisù

 

While we ate, the host grandma seemed to grow fond of Natalie and me.  Once, she grabbed my hands and said to me, “…che bel ragazzo!” which means “…what a handsome/great boy!” along with other stuff I couldn’t understand after I helped hand a tray maybe a foot to the host mom that she had been trying to hand to her herself.  Also, she called Natalie “dolce”, “carina”, and “simpatico”, which mean sweet, pretty, and nice.  Over the afternoon, Christine’s host grandma laughed at Matthew for saying “Chicago” in an Italian accent because apparently it sounds exactly like an Italian phrase pertaining to taking a shit (cagare is a vulgar verb meaning to crap or shit), she told me to be aware of the girls, she told Natalie to be aware of the boys, she told both me and Natalie to be aware of the bad people in the world, and she said that Natalie looks Asian (which was actually a joke between all of us before she said it, which made it all the more funny).     

Me and Christine's host grandma!

 

We said goodbye, got a few pictures with Christine’s host grandma.  After a few choice pieces of advice from Christine’s host grandma to me and Natalie, we left and were on our way to San Gavino!

            We had planned to leave after lunch for San Gavino, the village where Matthew is staying about an hour away from Cagliari.  However, we missed the last train, so is host dad picked us up.  We arrived in San Gavino, a town of nearly 9,000 people (according to Wikipedia) but I saw maybe 10 people in all.  We walked around later that night, seeing the small piazzas, churches, and stores.  We went back to Matthew’s host dad’s house, and we had a night of music, eating, picture sharing, and movies.  It was kind of like a self-organized exchange student camp. 

            The next day, early afternoon, we left for the train station to catch out train back.  We bought our tickets, said goodbye to Matthew, boarded the train, and left.  We saw a few strange people along our journey home.  One man heard us speak English and as he walked by said “OK! English!”  Another man ran through our car at a stop, and we suspect that he wanted to get off without being caught without a ticket.  Regardless of the strange encounters, the trip was fun. It was only my second train ride.  It was beautiful watching the countryside as we headed for the city.             

On Sunday the 30^th of October, a few weeks before all of the previously mentioned stuff happened, I had gotten out of the shower and had just dressed when I got an email from my parents saying that they had to put down our Border Collie mix JoJo.  She was over 14 years old, but she seemed perfectly healthy when I left home.  It came as quite a shock for me, and needless to say I was and am very affected by it.  Apparently she had a tumor that was infected and getting worse, so my parents had to put her down on Friday the 28^th of October.  She lived a great and long life, but I really regret not having been home, regardless of the fact that I am having such a great time here.  I think it will take a very long time for it to sink in for me, especially because I’m not there at home.  My family has had her since I was 5 years old, so I don’t remember not having her.  I grew up with her.  She was a part of the family.  I’ll miss you JoJo.

I Nonni, Bistecca di Cavallo, in Giro, and Friendly Neighbors

I apologize for not having written for a while, and needless to say this is going to be an information packed entry! 

            It has been well over a month since my last entry, so obviously a lot has happened since then so I think I will separate it all into 2 entries.  As I try to remember it all, it kind of blends together, and it’s difficult to separate the activities into their respective days.  But nevertheless, I will do my best to recount the past month in as organized a way as possible, and I will try not to leave anything out!

            One Sunday in late September, Ale, Silvia, and I went to Nonno and Nonna’s house for lunch, the same grandparents that I had met at Geremeas.  I visited with Nonno, Nonna, and Zio Marco for a bit, and then I was taken on a tour of the apartment.  The apartment was extremely nice.  In one of the rooms was a very old and beautiful looking white piano, and I was told that Nonno was an excellent pianist.  The upstairs, which was almost separate from the rest of the apartment, is the roof level of the building.  It consists of a good sized room with two doors leading out to the roof.  The outside portion is filled with different plants, including small olive trees and other fruit plants.  The roof provided an excellent view of the city as well as a park across the street. 

            We washed up, and ate a giant and delicious lunch of pasta, roast beef, potatoes, green beans, a variety of beverages including water, coke, wines, and juices, and a dessert of gelato (I really need to start taking pictures of food – it is so good).  Afterwards I felt incredibly content, but also incredibly tired.  Ale and I watched a soccer game (Lazio played, but it ended in a tie).  After that first visit, I’ve spent nearly every Sunday lunch at Nonna and Nonno’s house.  They have become like real Grandparents for me! 

            After the game, I decided to go for a walk in the park across the street.  It was a very beautiful park, with ponds filled with different types of ducks, geese, fish, and turtles.  There were quite a few pigeons and stray cats, like much of the city, which is rather strange for me.  Nevertheless, the walk in the park was very relaxing and scenic and I hope to return again. 

            Later that week, I got the opportunity to help teach an English class at a local program.  So I looked up the directions, and left for my first real excursion in the city on my own!  It was an excellent way to get more familiar with the city, as well as to see parts of the city that I hadn’t seen yet.  Some of the streets that I walked through seemed to take me back in time, and I could tell they were built before cars.  It was absolutely amazing.  I finally arrived at the site, after having been a bit lost I admit.  I helped a girl around my age teach English pronunciation to a small class of mostly middle-aged women.  I was expecting to help teach a class of children, but it was rewarding and fun nonetheless. 

            Also, not long afterwards, our neighbor brought over some homemade sweets including crepes and some sort of Sardinian treats that resembled some sort of sweet cheese pastries that are usually served with honey on top.  The crepes we ate with Nutella (I am growing to love Nutella here) and, unfortunately we didn’t have any honey, we ate the pastries with sugar on top.  I was able to try them with honey on top later, and they were delicious! 

            Another night, Ale, Robbi, and I went to meet Robbi’s sister and her fiancé at a small restaurant.  Robbi’s sister and her fiancé were extremely friendly and fun and I enjoyed myself.  I also tried horse steak!  To me, it tasted a lot like beef steak, but much tougher.  It had a slighter different flavor which is hard to explain.  When I told them that it’s uncommon to eat horse meat in America, they looked surprised but also like they understood why.

            School is still a bit boring.  It’s quite difficult to pay attention when you can’t completely understand the language.  I can understand almost everything when I work at paying attention.  I tend to devote myself to paying attention and understanding for maybe 10 minutes into the day, then my mind begins to wander and I get lost in my own head.  Then I catch myself, and my mind snaps back to focusing on listening, and the cycle just begins again with my mind wandering a few minutes later.

            There are quite a few differences between school here and school back in Northfield.  Here, you stay in the same classroom with the same class of students all 5 hours of the day; the teachers move rooms.  Classes here consist more of the teacher simply lecturing, whereas in Northfield classes were more active and diverse day-to-day.  At Northfield High School, we would have days where we would do group projects, watch movies, or leave for field trips.  In addition, school in Northfield is much more social, or rather school is where the majority of socialization takes place or starts.  At NHS we have Homecoming week, Snow week, Prom, school sports and activities.  However, at school here, you sit through class and that’s all.  Here are a few other differences, big and small:

           

-          Here, when a teacher isn’t able to come to school no substitute takes their place, the class is simply cancelled.  So my class has had several days with either free class periods, early dismissals, or late starts.

-          Here, there is no soap or toilet paper in the bathrooms (or at least the boys’ bathroom).  You have to either ask a certain office near the bathrooms for toilet paper, or bring facial tissues, which is what a lot of the kids in my class seem to do. 

-          The subjects here are different.  I have never really studied philosophy and Latin before.

-          Here, after the third hour of school has started, you can’t get into the school if you are coming in late.  I learned this when my host mom and I had to do the Permit of Stay deal.

-          Here, almost daily, a chosen few of students have to go through what is called an Interrogazione, which basically involves the teacher asking 2-4 students individual questions about the material in front of the entire class.  At the end, the students are evaluated on their answers on a 0-10 scale, 10 being the best.  The score is pretty important because the only “grades” that are counted are those of Interrogazioni and Compiti (written tests or essays).  The first time I witnessed this, the teacher walked through the isles of the classroom deciding who to pick.  Even though I knew I would not be picked, it was pretty intimidating and stressful.  The closest thing we have to this in Northfield is class discussions, which really aren’t as big of a deal.  We do have teachers that ask individual questions, but it is definitely much more casual and it doesn’t put our grades as much at jeopardy. 

-          Here, homework as we know it at NHS (math problems, worksheets, etc.) isn’t given out as often.  Much of the “homework” consists of basically reading sections of the textbooks (with the occasional small bit of homework as well) similar to homework in AP courses at NHS.    

Regardless of all the differences, most of my teachers are fun, helpful, and enthusiastic.  One teacher in particular, the physical education teacher, has us do a sort of pilates everyday.  My first day of physical education class, she picked some thyme from a bush in the school yard, smelled it, and said, “It helps you wake up”.  So she proceeded to hand out bits of thyme for us to smell as we did our pilates.  She’s also a big fan of speaking English with me, which is very entertaining because she’s a very interesting person.  My Italian teacher is extremely generous, and has agreed to give me Italian lessons, which I have been doing for a few weeks now.  Also, when we take written tests, she writes a slightly altered version for me to take.  A few days ago, I was given a Latin test (she also teaches Latin), which I completed with some difficulty but learned a few Latin words along the way!  My English teacher is also extremely fun and helpful.  He likes to speak with me in English and looks at me whenever he mentions some sort of English slang (which is often British slang, which I have never heard) or other figures of speech that are more difficult to understand.  I really like his energy and his teaching style, as well as the material he teaches, but his accent is a weird mixture of British and Italian and it is quite difficult to understand sometimes.  I love my classmates.  They are all very friendly and inviting, and they invite me to events and just generally include me.  But, as I don’t quite completely understand the language and I can’t communicate very thoroughly, I’m afraid they will find me stupid, boring, or unfriendly.  However, as I get farther along with the language, the better it will get. 

            A great way to learn a language, I discovered, is watching familiar movies in a different language.  Since I arrived here, I have watched Forrest Gump, King Kong, Big Fish, I Robot, The Shining, The Gladiator, The Sixth Sense, The Village, Jurassic Park, Troy, Van Helsing, Cast Away, (I’m positive I am forgetting others) all in Italian.  I also watched one of my favorite movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, in Italian.  It was very interesting, but also very weird to watch.  The different voices were quite strange to listen to, having gotten used to the same voices of the same actors since the first movie.  Another strange thing was that the names of some of the characters were changed for the Italian dubbed version.  Albus Dumbledore was changed to Albus Silenzio, Severus Snape to Severus Piton, Minerva McGonagell to Minerva McGranitt, among others.  It’s strange watching dubbed movies, especially with movies you know well.  I can’t imagine Star Wars or The Lion King without James Earl Jones…       

Streets of Cagliari