Life in Italy never rests. At least mine doesn't. I'm used to going home after school and not leaving the house until the next morning. That is so not what happens here. We are always out, but I'm starting to like the busy lifestyle. The downside is I never have time to blog! One blog post can take me two days to write since I never have time to start and finish all at once. Like right now I have to take a break to eat lunch... 1 hour later... Ok, I'm back. This happens ALL THE TIME. It's also why I don't care if the spelling in my posts are wrong anymore, because it takes so long. Ok, my rant is over, lets talk about Nova Siri.
Like all of Italy, Nova Siri is full of bad drivers. Yet there are never any car accidents! I finally saw one yesterday but I'm really suprised there aren't more. I don't even think that the cars here have turn signals, but they do have horns. I always get a good laugh out of the parking here. It's the worst that I've ever seen. Today I saw someone get out of the car before it even stopped moving. I've also almost been hit by cars at least twice a day. I think the reason that there aren't a lot of car accidents is because the brakes in the cars stop on a dime. We can go from 30 to 0 in .01 seconds in these cars.
The schools here are also completely different. School starts at 8:15 and can go to 12, 1, or 2:15. There is school on Saturday, but since I never know what day of the week it is, it's not really a problem. The teachers move classrooms, not the students which is ok but by the break I'm dying to stand up and walk around. None of the teachers, except for two, ever try to teach me anything so I've decided to start copying my English to Italian dictionary. The class is also very loud. There's always people talking which I'm not used to. The classes at my school in the US are usually quiet. The science teacher also hasn't been there so we've had a "free hour" when we are supposed to have science. Today they didn't let us stay in the room without a teacher so we invaded a class full of first years. This would NEVER happen at home. The teacher in that class just let us all come in and talk and she just stopped teaching. In America we all would have been told to be quiet and do homework.
Saturday night is the big going out night in Italy. We were gone from 9 to 1 and I had a lot more fun than I expected. We started out by going to a popular teen hang out and meeting up with some friends. The one boy who was there is in the Italian army and he asked me to hung the national anthem because he knew the words. As I was about to start humming I thought "how does it go again?" I forgot the national anthem! I know it I swear but in that moment I could not think of it to save my life. I felt like the worst American to ever American. And people always ask me about 9/11 and the war and Syria and I never know what to say... But back to Saturday night. After talking with friends a few if us went to a pasticceria and got Nutella crepes. They were heavenly. After that we went to a bar and all sat around talking. It's so weird to be able to be in a bar and buy alcohol legally. I thought it would be really awkward but I ended up having a lot of fun. Things are getting easier now that I'm starting to make friends and like I've said before, everyone is really nice.
Although everyone is nice, everyone also touches a lot. In America, you have your bubble of space and no one ever enters it. I knew that people liked to hug and kiss but I didn't realize how often I would be touched. It's not that big a problem but people always grab my left arm where I have a little rod implanted and I don't like the way it feels. Hugs and kisses are fine, but I don't like it when people are holding my arm or shoulder for entire conversations. And people are always touching my boobs. They dont mean to, but then they just act like it bever happened! My bubble has been burst. I'm really not used to it. I know it's a cultural thing but its going to take me some time to get used to it.
Last night when we were out we went and visited the local church. I met the three priests who were all very nice and they tried to speak a little English. The youngest priest then showed me, Velia, Angela (my classmate), and Angela's father a new building for the church where the priests will live and where people can meet and where plays can be performed. The building had a wood ceiling which was really pretty. The church itself isn't old or historic but it's fairly big and nicely decorated. Afterwards the priest have us a ride home. He knows everyone in town and was saying hi to everyone we saw on the streets.
Stereotypical names for Italian boys would be Luigi, Mario, and Giuseppe, and I've met no Luigis, one Mario, and about 50 Giuseppes. At least half of the boys in town are named Giuseppe Antonio or Antonio Giuseppe after the saints of Nova Siri and Nova Siri paese. Saturday night I was with a group of about 10 boys and 5 of them were named Giuseppe. I think it's so funny that so many of them are named Giuseppe. And no one is named that back home. If I don't know a boys name, I just assume its Giuseppe. I've even met a girl named Giuseppe! I guess it's kind of like how in the US a lot of boys are named Matt or Noah, but this is barely comparable to the amount of Giuseppe's I've met.
Lets talk a little bit more about food shall we? I am yet to have any pizza which is kind of a downer but when I finally have some I expect it to be amazing. I don't think I have ever eaten eggplant before coming here, now I have it about 2 or 3 times a week. In really starting to like it. I'm even starting to get used to carbonated water I'm still not the fizzy water's number one fan but I can drink it now without gagging. Lunch is the biggest meal and is a few courses. First is pasta, then meat and usually some kind of vegetable, cheese, and lastly fruit with every meal is bread and wine.
My posts have been so long lately and I still have only scratched the surface of what is going one here. There's so much to say in so little time. Once things become routine ilk try to blog once or twice a week but right now I'm just excited. Y'all come back now!
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