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 :)