A Very Bad Day

Yes. I am having a Very Bad Day.

Among other things, cell phone service in Italy is different. It's kind of like pay as you go, although there are monthly payments, too. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's kind of difficult to explain. I have a cell phone, with a sim card, and I put money on the card, to pay for my phone calls. It only costs to make calls, not to recieve, which is nice. But, there are hidden fees all over the place. For example, I have "free" texting, but only to Vodafone (the company) users. And I have to pay for the first text message I send every day. And to have this "free" texting, I have to pay 6 euros a month. Or rather, 6 euros are taken from my account, and if I don't have 6 euros on my account, the service stops. There are two ways to put money onto an account: you can buy a ricaricard, or you can go to a Vodafone store, pay there, and they'll transfer the money to your phone. I prefer to go to the Vodafone store, because with the ricaricard, there's a 3 euro service fee. So if you buy a 15 euro ricaricard, you get 12 euro on your account, and the other 3 euro go somewhere else.

I only had 6 euro left on my phone, so today I went to the store to put more money on it. I've spoken with the girl at the counter a few times before, and she speaks English. Today, however, we spoke in Italian:

Me: Vorrei mettere trenta euro per il mio telefonino. (I'd like to put 30 euro on my cell.)
Her: Solo poi mettere venticinque o cinquanta. (You can only put 25 or 50.)

Well, the bancomat (ATM) near my house only gives out 50 euro bills, so I decided to put all 50 on the phone. I knew I'd use it.

Me: OK, cinquanta. Il numero è...
And I proceeded to tell her my phone number, in Italian. She made the transfer, and handed me my receipt. I saw on the receipt that the number she transferred the money to wasn't my number.
Me: Scusa, il numero non è giusto. (Scuse me, the number isn't right)
Her: Mi dispiace, non posso fare niente. (Sorry, I can't do anything.)
Me (in English): Excuse me?
Her: Next time, tell me the number in English.
Me: Excuse me?
Her: There's nothing I can do, the money wen't to another number.
Me: So I just lost 50 euro.
Her: *shrugs*

I left, furious. I know I told her the right number. I practiced saying my number in Italian, for that very reason. But, I had to have money on my phone.. So I went to the bancomat, got another 50 euro, and went back to the store. What could I do? I have to be able to have money on my phone, at least for emergencies. I only put 25 on, the second time. I dont think I'll be using my cell phone much, anymore..

But honestly, how is it possible that there was nothing she could do? I wonder how often this happens. And I wonder who got that 50 euro. Grrrrr.

Well, the rest of my day wasn't bad. I got to school on time (a miracle!) and started the day with 2 hours of tutoring. I didn't make many mistakes, and my tutor was in a good mood, so lessons were more fun than they usually are. This week, I start a new schedule, where I actually have to go to classes and participate. So, after tutoring, I went to my first "real" class: geography, with the first year highschool students. The prof was nice, and the school's library had the textbook that the class is using, so at least I don't have to buy one. After that, I wen't to my usual class, and had a sort of free period. I stay in the class physically, but I dont actually take the class. It's physics. I opted out of physics. Can you blame me? And after that, I went to a fifth year classroom to help teach English. And finally, I had gym today, and as usual, we played volleyball. I've played volleyball twice a week for the past month and a half, but I'm still not any good at it! Gym is fun, though, because it's all girls, and I'm not the only athletically-challenged one.

I came home, and a letter from Kat was waiting in the mail! I made my lunch (pasta with ragù, and a salad) and read it while I ate. After eating, I cleaned up the kitchen, and decided to do the laundry..

Let me tell you, all you Americans, how lucky you are. In Italy, we do not use fabric softener. My jeans can stand up by themselves. We also do not use bleach. I have to scrub all of my white clothes by hand, with harsh soap, and a rough brush, and my socks still don't come out white. Also, we don't have a dryer. I have to plan laundry day very carefully, because it takes my clothes at least 2 days, usually 3, to dry. After scrubbing my socks for an hour, I decided to go on a walk. I was putting on my shoes when my host mother came in to tell me she was leaving, and that I had to stay to open the gate for the guy who was fixing the steps. So, I stayed home and did some studying, and opened the gate for the guy.. 2 hours later.

As he was leaving, my host father came home, so we chatted for a bit, and I left to go to put money on my phone.. and now I'm here, still feeling awful about losing 50 euro. That's almost 75 American dollars. My parents are being so generous with all of this, and I feel bad that there's no way for me to earn money for myself! That, and I haven't gotten anything from Rotary yet. So thanks, Mom and Dad, for everything that you've done (paid for) and are doing (paying for), and sorry about today.

At least Marta's here, and she's doing the cooking tonight. If anything can redeem this day, it's Marta's cooking. I hope everyone else is having a good day! And all you Virginians, enjoy the warm weather. It's something like 40 degrees here. Brr!