September 6, 2011

September 6, 2011

This morning we woke up, got ready, had breakfast and made our first of many bag lunches. The strike wasn’t happening until later in the day so we were able to take the bus to school. I had another wonderful day of Italian, learned more useful irregular verbs, having mock conversations, and beginning to use the past tense. That will sure come in handy at the dinner table. Right now, when we want to talk about things that happened in the past, we have to say “pasato” followed by what we did in present tense :P It sounds so silly. After class, I ate my bag lunch-a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, peach juice box and an apple. It was nice to have a pb and j after so much Italian food. I am DEFINITELY NOT complaining about the food but it’s so rich that it’s hard to eat for every meal. After that, I did a little bit of exploring around the school, went to the bank and got some gelato.

At 2:00, we had our first workday for work-study. We had to get all of the books from the ACM library that was in Jodi and Kate’s office into our ACM classroom. We made an assembly line and shelved all of the catalogued books. It was actually a lot of fun, and now I know what types of books I can find there which will come in handy. There are so many of them that it is hard to know what all they have. Now I have a much better idea. We worked for an hour so I already have an hour of work under my belt! We also wrote down the hours we are able to work so a schedule will be put together soon and we’ll have regular hours every week. It won’t be a lot of hours, which is nice because then I won’t be working on the side, just a little extra money coming in. Sounds good to me!

After that, Franzi and I walked home from school. It wasn’t actually very far and it was beautiful out, although pretty hot. We stopped at home, dropped off our bags, and then took our cameras and keys and headed out to a different park than we explored the first day. The park was only a few blocks away and in the neighborhood with all of the gated, huge villas. They are GORGEOUS. The park has a stunning view of all of Florence and is situated upon a hill. There is a big snake fountain that weaves its way down the stairs in the park, leading to the lower level of the park/garden that is beautiful as well. Such an incredible park. After exploring the upper level of the park as well as the community gardens, Franzi and I explored the neighborhood around the lower level of the park. We also explored the lower level of the park, which was beautiful, as well, and had a playground and a lot of open space. There were so many families out enjoying the evening together! After about an hour, we headed home. We did quite a lot of walking…I was pretty tired upon our return. Right now, Massimo is over again and Daniella and Andrea are watching Looney Tunes in Italian with him. It is adorable because Andrea keeps laughing in this big, jolly, grandpa laugh and both of them keep explaining in simple terms what is going on. I can understand it! I love that Massimo comes over so often. He is the cutest! Oh and, when we left for our walk, we went in and said bye to Massimo and Daniella told him to “say goodbye to [his] friends!” It was so adorable. Now we’re relaxing until dinner. I did my Italian homework at school so I didn’t have to bring my books home and now I might read for a little while. More after dinner!

Dinner was DELICIOUS as per usual. I was craving pesto all day and, what do you know, we had pesto! When Andrea brought it out, I said that it was my favorite so he gave me a double serving. Maybe I’m beginning to be able to eat like an Italian :P For the second dish, the rest of the family had chicken and I had a Greek salad with tomatoes, feta and olives that was wonderful as well. For dessert, we had fresh cantaloupe. So so so good! Today during dinner, we talked a lot about their old students from past years and saw a lot of photos their photo albums devoted to their host students. One guy from Carleton whom they hosted in 1997 came back last year on his honeymoon! How cool is that?? I will definitely have to keep that in mind ;) They really love photos so, for my mom (who has been begging me for a photo of me with my host family), I asked if I could get a photo with them. They were very excited that I asked and Daniella went and put makeup on (although she is closing her eyes in most of the photos haha) and Andrea turned on almost every light in the house. It was very funny. I love them so much. It was quite a big thing to take our photo.

Now we’re just hanging out and relaxing. I will probably study a little Italian and read before bed. There is a chilly breeze coming through the window, which feels wonderful after a hot and humid day. Much better sleeping weather! I had best wrap this up but I hope all is well back in the states.

All my love, Kari

BY THE WAY! Happy First Day of Senior Year, Sonja!!! I love you!!!

Daniella, Me, Andrea (Daniella couldn't keep her eyes open I guess)

Mia famiglia Italiana :)