Part 2: Natale!!!!

After a long night of celebrating, we woke up to a lazy morning...a really lazy morning. As a matter of fact, we didn't really do anything at all. It was nice for a change since we have been staying up until the wee hours of the morning practically every single day this week. My host sister and my host father left at about 11 to go to a bar to eat breakfast. When they returned, all of us got ready to leave for lunch at my host mother's aunt's house. During this time, we also opened our presents. From my family, I received two longsleeve, turtleneck sweaters. They are deep purple and turquoise...two of my favorite colors to wear. Sidenote on fashion: the color of the year is purple. Everything is purple, and I mean everything! There are purple shoes, purple pants, purple belts, purple shirts, purple jackets, purple hats....you get the idea. There is purple everywhere. It is like Harold went a little too far with his crayon in every single clothing factory in Europe. Literally. Anyway, I also got a hanging doll thing from my Italian teacher at school. It is sweet. It says "amore" on it. Amore means love in Italian. My Intercultura Italian teacher/assistant gave me a cami to wear. Before heading off to lunch, my host parents got into a fight about something or other. Then, it evolved into an argument over where we were going to eat. My father had found out that my mother's father was not going to be coming to her aunts house. He insisted that we had to go there. In the end, we did end up eating lunch with my mother's father. He is bedridden, so it was a nice surprise for him. We had a lunch of the same crepe dish from the night before, insalata, sausages, and antipasti (cheese, salami, bread). For dessert, there was pandoro (the cake from Verona) and panettone...English style. The man who helps my mother's father lived in England. After we had finished eating and visiting with Roberta's father, we headed to Maurizio's nephew's house. There, we visited and watched tv. It was an interesting little interlude during the day. After we finished there, we headed to Milazzo to go bowling. Yes....bowling. Italian's pronounce it like "booling", so when the said that that was what we were doing, I didn't understand at all. We ended up bowling with twins from Agnese's class and their family. It was fun. I only bowled one game....it was pretty dismal. My head wasn't quite in it though. Yesterday was truly the only day that I have felt homesick. I hadn't realized how important spending Christmas with my family was to me. Plus, bowling is one of my family's Christmas traditions. It was kind of a difficult day. After the other's had bowled a second game, the men of the group decided that they wanted to play pool. As it turns out, they played three games. Three!!! It was pretty late by the time we left that place. For dinner, we all drove to a pizzera in Rometta, a city near Milazzo. We ended up eating at about 10:30. I wasn't that hungry because of all the food we have been eating, so thankfully, they had mini pizzas. They were named after Disney characters. I had "Topolino" a.k.a "Mickey Mouse". It was a basic little pizza with mozzerella. We left a little while after eating and came home. I immediately went to sleep. Staying up so late, so many nights in a row, takes its toll on me.

That was Christmas!!! Today, many people are still celebrating because there is a Catholic holiday of San Stephano....I think that was his name. We, thank goodness, are not. Celebrating is equivalent to more food and eating. Today is a day of recuperating. :) I will keep updating. I hope everyone is well and had a wonderful Christmas, or other holiday that is celebrated around this time.

Ciao!!! Rebecca

Natale!!!! Part 1: Christmas Eve

First, I would like to say a Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad....to everyone. :) I don't know anymore languages...sorry. Yesterday was by far one of the longest days that I have spent here in Italia. It started with me waking up at roughly 9:00 to find my host mother already out of the house, my host father on the computer, and my host sister preparing to go to a bar for breakfast. I slowly took my time eating breakfast...there as no rush. Then, at about 10:00 or so, my assitant, Mariangela, called and asked if I would like to spend the day with her and her family. Um....yes!!!! I got ready as fast as I could without looking like I was overeager. By about 10:40, I finally managed to get out the door (It didn't take me that long to get ready though). The 15-20 minute walk to her house took more like a half an hour because of all the people milling about the shops, perhaps making last minute holiday purchases. When I got to her house, it was just her and me. Her husband was out doing something and her daughter was on the upper floor reading. We took this time to talk, seeing as she is my assitant. Her husband's sister eventually showed up and all I remember about the conversation at this time is that she had taken a trip to the United States. I remember that she had gone to New York and Miami. She had memorized prices of so many clothing and food items that she had bought and eaten. I think that it was because for them, the prices in the United States are low. It is not expensive for them to travel to the States. She described all the prices and a huge steak that she had at a steakhouse. Anyway, Mariangela's husband showed up. We talked for some more. People are constantly surprised at how much Italian I understand. They can talk at their normal pace and I can keep up. Eventually, the sister left and Mariangela, her husband, her daughter, and I all went to a different part of the city to pick up some chairs. In the car, her daughter and I, who have similar tastes in practically everything, talked about food, life here in Italia versus life in the United States, and music. We listened to anything from Queen, to music from the original Dirty Dancing, to older Italian music, to the music from Moulin Rouge. Both of us knew the words for the music to Moulin Rouge, so we were singing along. It was a lot of fun. :) At the home decoration store where we were to pick up the chairs, her daughter, Giulia, and I walked around looking at all of the items, sitting on the couches....you know...what you usually do in furnature stores. There was this electronic cube that somehow controlled the lights in a certain section. We couldn't figure out how it worked. When we left the store with the new chairs, we headed to a far part of the city in the opposite direction. More music listening time! We went to the house of Mariangela's parents. It was adorable. Their house was situated right on a little canal. It didn't feel like we were in part of, what appears to me to be, a big city. We had a big family lunch. For them, they celebrate Christmas with a lunch and a dinner on Christmas Eve and another lunch on Christmas Day. They stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve and then open their presents. I met relatives of theirs from Rome and had fun talking with everyone. The food was delicious as well. We had spaghetti with squid ink. It is literally spaghetti in a black sauce, so the dish is black. It is delicious. Then, we also had eggplants stuffed with something or other that was also delicious. There was also a fish dish with potatoes that I never tried because I was too full and a fried fish dish. These little fried fish were boned, but other than that, they were whole. I have never exactly seen that before. For dessert, there was a round of nuts (cracking open nuts and eating them), dried figs, and a Napolitean dessert. Something fried with kind of an orange sauce. I can't remember the name...it was in dialect and started with an S. Oh well. It was delicious though. :) We returned to Mariangela's house, where Mariangela, her husband, and I had a coffee. All of us, including Giulia, were falling asleep. Giulia doesn't drink coffee though, so she went and took a nap. After drinking coffee, Mariangela and her husband immediately started to cook for the dinner that evening. They said that they usually start way before that time so that there is more time at the end of the day, but this year it hadn't worked that way. Mariangela and I left to do some last minute grocery shopping for the meal. At the house, I talked with them, watched them cook (their kitchen was small, there was literally no way that I could help them cook), and flipped through one of their cookbooks. I even helped set their table. It was a lot of fun watching them cook and talking to them. They were having fun cooking, although it was stressful being behind. Eventually, at about 7:10, I walked back home because we were going to a relative's house for dinner. My family said that we had to be there by 8:30, but we were there more around 9. That is how it works here in Italy. :) It was kind of like a huge potluck, but more delicious. There was a lot of family; I don't even know how many people...maybe 20, 25. Maurizio dressed up as Babo Natale (Santa Claus) and brought presents to the three little ones. Two of the three were completely terrorized. They immediately started to cry. The older one, Costanza (3 years), was the easiest to pull back together. All she needed to see was that Babo Natale was actually Maurizio. The two babies stayed scared. They opened presents from Santa Claus that Maurizio had brought on Santa's orders. We all at antipasti, which included little salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, a plate of olives, cheese, meats....etc., bread, olive bread, crackers, dried figs....among other things. In the mean time, the little children played with their new toys and everyone talked. The rest of the food was ravioli, crepes (a bake with cheese, bechamel, and prociutto), a swordfish bake of some kind with eggplants, and a meat dish. For fruit, there were kabobs of various fruit cut out in different shapes and fichi d'India (prickly pear cactus fruit). Some decided to have their kabobs with carmelized sugar on it. For dessert, there was bianco e nero, a chocolate cake in the form of a tree, some kind of lemon cake, and a platter of various little pastries. This meal and social gathering lasted until 2:00 in the morning. 2:00!!!! I talked with some cousins and they said that at midnight, people go out and wish their friends a Buon Natale, play cards, go dancing at the discoteca...or go to mass. The members of this family were among the non-mass attending population. I recived a present too! It was a knitted black neck warmer and one of those hot water containers for keeping yourself warm...you know what I am talking about right? It is in the shape of a heart. Anyway, in the wee hours of the morning, we all came back home and immediately went to bed.

That brings us to today, Christmas Day. Right now, it is about 9:15 and most of the rest of the family is asleep. We are opening presents today and I don't know what else. I will update more later about the actual Christmas Day.

Update on other things that I have done: I went ice skating. Yes, you heard right, I went ice skating in Sicily. In the fiera, they set up a small rink. When I went, it was melting and not flat...very dangerous. I have only ice skating once in my life before this and that was two years ago. Needless to say, I was terrible. The wooden rails on the edge were my best friends, and for good reasons too. There was a girl who feel and broke one of her front teeth out. There was blood and she was crying...it wasn't pretty. I didn't want to hurt myself. I went with my sister, two of her friends, and one of the friend's boyfriends. Her friends helped me out. :)

Anyway, more later on the rest of Christmas. Buon Natale!!!!

Ciao! Love, Rebecca

Vacanza!!!!

It is now officially winter vacation. :) For about the next three weeks, I do not have to go to school. That is pretty exciting. I can't believe that Christmas is already this next Friday. For the last day of school, my class, IV E, organized a huge party with III E and V E. Basically, almost every individual brought something to eat, drink, or eat with/on. For the first block, my class had to do a lessons of math. We weren't being quiet enough, so we had to sit through math that I don't understand at all. Then, for the next two blocks, we ate, and ate, and ate. There was so much food. I must say that Italians know how to throw a party at school. There were all different kinds of chips and bags of popcorn for the not-sweet foods. As for the sweet foods, there was pandoro (a cake thing from Verona-DELICIOUS), panettone (I still have yet to taste), two different types of biscotti (cookies), salumi di cioccolato (delicious), two different chocolate cakes, tiramisu (delicious), a cake made by a classmate of mine, bread with nutella (this loaf of bread was about as big as one and a half of me - I'm not even kidding!), a cake with little chocolate chunks, chocolate chunk muffins...I know that I am forgetting stuff. Basically, we were all eating for three hours. We celebrated the birthday of one of my teachers. He turned 50 on Tuesday and didn't want to celebrate it. We surprised him. :) After celebrating for three hours, we spent the last hour and a half at school cleaning the classroom, playing group games, and getting learning about the homework for Italian. Even after eating a good chunk of the morning, I wasn't full, so when I got home, I did manage to eat lunch. It wasn't big, so that was good. I spent a couple hours relaxing, and then at 5:30, I went to meet my classmates in front of the Duomo. In total, there ended up being me, Federica, Elisa, Rosaria, Rossella, Louisa, Alessandra, Francesca, and Alice. Alice moved to Spain earlier in the school year, so this was her last night in Messina. We all went shopping. I bought a new jacket, because it is kind of cold and I didn't have anything. I know...I realize that I am saying that it is kind of cold in December. :) That's what happens when you are living in Sicily. I also bought a new sweater. My friends gave me a new hat and a scarf as a Christmas present. It was really sweet of them. :) The rest of the day was me getting home, being alone for a while and just hanging out, then going to a pizzera for dinner. I must say that the pizza here is way better than any pizza that I have had in Oregon. How will I survive?! ;) Anyway, that was my last day of school. I'm not used to having huge parties like that on the last day of school, so it was really new and exciting.

Ciao! Rebecca

Already 3 Months!

This last Saturday marked three entire months here in Messina!!! :) I had been sick for most of the week before that. Unfortunately for me, I am very prone to sickness, whether I am an exchange student or not. My host mother had influenza, so naturally, I caught something. Anyway, it was gone by the time Saturday rolled around. On Saturday, the volunteers of Intercultura Messina organized a Christmas party for us and our families. It was at Halldis' house, the girl from Norway. Neither my brother or my sister wanted to come. They both wanted to go out with their friends. Once they got there though and started eating some of the food and playing cards, they seemed happy. This house that we were at has an outdoor, brick, wood burning oven to make pizza. There were all four of us exchange students, our families, volunteers, some of their families...basically, there was just a whole mess of people. We had a huge feast! There was pizza, focaccia, these tartes that Roberta made (with eggs and zucchini or with ricotta and artichokes), cheese, salami....you name it. It was a time for all of us to talk, have a good time, and celebrate Christmas all together. We ended up playing BS (bullshit - the card game) with Finnish rules. I have never played it that way and was very confused. The American way of playing BS is way easier. All of the Italians playing had to learn how to play and it ended up being really fun. Eventually, we had dessert. That consisted of panettone, chocolate cake, an apple cake, little pastries from a pastry shop, coconut balls that tasted exactly like macaroons, and gelato. :) We each got two Christmas presents as well. We got one from a volunteer, Giulia, and one from my assistant, who also happens to be our Italian teacher. The one from the volunteer was a Christmas mug filled with candy and marshmallows. The other one I have yet to open. I am waiting for Christmas day. :) By the time people started to leave, it was around 11:30 at night. Suddenly, my host father noticed that Taneli had brought his guitar. Stop!!! We all had to stand around and listen to Taneli play the guitar and sing. I ended up singing too. My host father was enjoying himself so much that he pulled me into the middle of the room and started to dance with me. I also played piano for them. I couldn't remember much because we don't have a piano at my house and I don't have music, but it went pretty well. It was a long, tiring evening, but it was fun.

On Sunday, the four of us met at a bar in order to meet an Australian girl who is going home early. She lives in the mountains here on Sicily, so we haven't met her before. Her program was going to end in January, but she wants to go home now. She has only been with her family for three weeks. Halldis and I each had a capuccino (YUM). I actually had to take a picture of my capuccino because the foam looked like a heart. When Tobias and Taneli finally showed up (they were a half an hour late), we took the girl around Messina for a little bit. We took her to the Duomo, where Taneli and Tobias convinced her to try a granita with brioche for the first time. Then, since it was midday, we watched the bell tower. By watching the bell tower, I really do mean watching the bell tower. The decorations move! By then, it was a little late, about 12:15 and we had to be back at the bar by 12:30. After we said goodbye to the girl and her family, we all walked around Messina. We went into a place that says it is an aquarium, but it really isn't. The only thing that even resembles an aquarium is a little pond with a bunch of fish and one koi. There were little kid games and a bunch of food items to buy inside of there. After finishing there, we walked to the cinema where we checked out the times for A Christmas Carol in 3D. We all split up to go home for lunch, and Tobias, Taneli, and I returned to the cinema to see A Christmas Carol. I actually liked it. Some people I have talked to didn't like it very much. I'm just glad that I can now understand movies in Italian now. :)

I just have to make it through this week of school and then I can relax during Christmas break. We really do have almost three weeks. It will be fun. I don't really know what we are doing, but I'm excited nonetheless. The past two days have been autogestione. Basically, we have gone to school, had the first two blocks of class, and then for the last two, we have done nothing. We have played games, read, and talked. Tomorrow everything goes back to normal.

Finally, I have news about the exchange week. It is from March 19-March 28. Also, one of my options is to go to Livorno to do a musical program. By choosing to go to Livorno and do the music program, not only would I see Livorno and participate in music in a well-known music school, but I would also spend a half a day in Pisa and a full day in Florence. You can only go to the music program if you can play an instrument or sing. Considering that I sing and I can play the piano, I am definitely qualified. It is going to be a tough choice between this program or another city that I have always wanted to go to. This will be my only opportunity to do this music program though. We will see what I choose. There is still time. :)

Ciao!
Love,
Rebecca

Oops! It's Already December!

Wow, so the last time I wrote on here was a month ago. Life is just busy here. Plus, the internet connection is completely unreliable. For a really long time, I would get online and then a few minutes later, it would disconnect. That is what it is like a good chunk of the time. Right now, it is working really well though. :) So, I am sorry for the long break.

Well, November was wonderful! I think that one of the reasons that I didn't write anything was because the newness was kind of worn off, meaning that I really feel like this is my life now. It doesn't feel like I am living on a little vacation anymore. I have a family and friends; I am connected here. Italy is amazing and I couldn't wish for anything more than to be here right now.

Today is the first day of a four day vacation. On Tuesday, the 8th, Italians celebrate the immaculate conception. The only reason that we don't have school on Monday is because of ponte. Ponte is bridge in Italian. We have a bridge from the weekend to the actual holiday. Apparenly, it is a rather big to do, so I am looking forward to celebrating it.

As for school, it is going well. On Wednesday, in a way, I am moving schools. My school has two different buildings I guess you could call it. There is the main building which I have been in up until now, and there is Cristo Re. Cristo Re is a little ways away, maybe a fifteen minute walk. I am now going to be going there. The schedule also changes this day, but I don't really know mine because it depends on the schedules of many classes since I have a personalized schedule. We will see how this goes. The other day, I got a test back in Italian. I took it on the 28th of October and it was my first Italian test I have ever taken. I got a 6 1/2 on it. Apparently, that is pretty good, especially since I had only been here for about a month and a half. :)

My Italian is always getting better. I still have trouble with grammar and I definitely don't have all the vocabulary that I need, but I can speak it. :) What with speaking only Italian at home, speaking mostly Italian at school (except some English in English class), and constantly being surrounded by Italian, I have made leaps and bounds. The other day, I met one of my friends moms. It turns out she was born in England and speaks English. It was the weirdest thing hearing a person standing in front of me speaking impeccabely pronounced English. It didn't really feel normal. Haha. My English skills have gotten worse too. My grammar is not as good as it was and I have to think about how to spell words that usually don't take any thought.

My family is still great! Of course. :) It is a little difficult to be completely integrated because they all had their own lives and relationships before my arrival, but it is going smoothly. I love them all a bunch. My mom is teaching me how to cook. For example, last night, she showed me how to make stuffed artichokes. They were the most delicious things ever! Then again, I say that about practically everything I eat here. We will make them again and I will write down the recipe/how she makes them. They don't use many recipes here. I help my both my brother and my sister with their English homework and my sister helps me with my Itailan homework. She will look over my grammar and give me word suggestions.

The Italian post system is not the best. I have been waiting to get a box from my family in the States. They called last week to say that it would arrive on Monday and that someone should be home to receive it. We made sure that someone was home one Monday, but they didn't come. Then, when no one was home on Tuesday, they came. They left a note saying that we had to pick it up at the post office, but they didn't leave a number or say which post office to pick it up at. There are many, many post offices in Messina. On Thursday, we went to one closest to our house, but they couldn't find it. We returned after my Italian lesson, at 6 pm, only to find that it was in a distant part of the city. Now, we have to drive to the far side of the city to pick it up. At least I will get my box though.

Well, I will definitely keep updating this thing. It should be easier now that the internet connection is working better. Plus, there aren't many school days left this year, as in 2009. This next week is a three day week, but there is a possible teacher sciopero (protest) on Thursday and Friday. The next week is a full week, but it is the last week. So basically, there are only 8 more days of school until the Christmas break. We start school again on January 7th. The reason that Christmas break is almost three weeks long is because they also celebrate La Befana on the 6th. I will explain more about that then. Anyway, I will keep updating! Hello to everyone!

Ciao ciao!
Rebecca :)