This morning, I woke up on time, but without the cheery feeling I felt yesterday. I was tired, and just wanted to go back to sleep.. But, the show must go on, so after a half an hour of hitting the snooze button, I threw off the covers, and rushed about, doing my things.
Marco took Matteo and Luca and I to school today, and I don't really remember the ride there. Actually, I don't think I was actually awake until intervallo today. The first hour, I decided to go with the English teacher to the second-year class. They were reading an article about a girl who had to leave Bosnia, because the Serbian forces invaded. She ended up in Great Britain, and the article described some of the problems and hardships she faced. One of the excercises in the book was to interview your partner, asking qustions as if the partner was a student in the same situation as the girl. Instead of doing the excercises with a partner, the teacher decided to have the class ask me questions. It wasn't terribly difficult to answer the questions, but my throat felt a little tight, when they asked me if I missed my family and friends. That class ended abruptly, and I went to help teach English in the fourth-year class. Nothing interesting happened there.
After English with the fourth-year class, I went to the first-year class for literature. I honestly don't remember anything that happened in that class. At intervallo, I walked around, ate a snack, and tried to wake up a bit. It didn't work. Finally, about 15 minutes into the fourth hour, I got a bit of energy. The students were talking about "To Kill a Mockingbird" which impressed me a little. The last hour of the day was English again, still with the first year. Did you know English is a really hard language to learn? I've realized that I can speak English just as well as anyone, but I've got no idea how to explain when to use the infinitive and when to use the gerund form of verbs. School ended, and I walked to the gym for my daily trot on the treadmill.
After I went to the gym, I walked to my little sister's school to help teach English, like I do on every Tuesday. I crept in the back door of the classroom, trying to keep a low profile, but when Bea saw me, she ran across the classroom and jumped on me. She asked how long I'd been gone, and when I told her I've only been away a week, she said "Oh, but it feels like a month.." It's good to be missed.
I spent most of the 2 hours there trying to teach the alphabet to a new girl. She got pretty much everything down, except "R" and "W". How in the world do you explain "R"? I tried "ruff! ruff!" and "Grrr, I'm angry" and "Arrr, like a pirate!", but all the little girl could say was "awww." She tried her best, though, which was satisfying enough. She left early, and I spent the rest of the class correcting test papers. These kids come up with some interesting ways to tell time in English.. for example "It's the eleven for six" (half past eleven.) I'm proud to say, though, Bea didn't get one single question wrong.
While I was living with the Cuccirelli family, I walked everywhere. Now that I live outside Gallarate, I have to ask for rides. Enza, Bea's teacher, told me she could drive me home, if I needed a ride. I took her up on that offer today, only.. I don't know where I live. Enza called her sister, who know's Cassano Magnago (the name of my new town) fairly well, and she gave Enza directions. Enza missed the road a couple of times, but we ended up getting here fairly well. However, before beginning the search for my street, Enza gave me "a panoramic tour" of Gallarate. I did see some parts that I've never seen before, but Gallarate is a pretty small city, so the tour was a little redundant. School let out at 4:20, and by the time I got home, it was 5:45. We didn't leave school right away, but I felt bad that Enza stayed out so late, after having a long day teaching a class of rambunctious 9-year-olds.
When I got home, I did some laundry, tidied up, checked my email (nothing from Mom, curses!) and puttered around. My host family got home at about 7:30, and we ate dinner at 8:15. I must say that dinner tonight was especially delicious. After the usual spaghetti al pomodoro, we had veal with pomodoro and oreagano. It was delicious.
Hey, this is my third post in a day! That must be a record!
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2 comments:
Dear Dori,
Nice to meet you; I am so happy you stopped by my blog. You are incredibly fortunate to be studying in beautiful Italy...truly, my heart is in that country.
My mother is from Verona; have you visited there yet? It's the home of Romeo and Juliet, and if you get a chance to attend an opera at L'Arena...I would highly recommend it.
Growing up we actually lived in Italy for a few years (in Vicenza, because my Dad was in the military) and I have so many wonderful memories of that time. My mother's relatives still live there, so we go back and forth pretty regularly. I was in Rome last May, then the summer before that my family, my sister's family, and my parents were able to spend two glorious weeks together in Tuscany. Talk about a family trip!
Are you learning a lot of Italian? My mother actually teaches Italian in the evenings at our local University, and at the end of January my thirteen year old will be taking her class. He is very excited.
Ciao and God bless!
P.S. My name is Maria...I was named after my Nonna. Ciao!
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