Bologna

So now that I am in Bologna, I realize that it would be incredibly cliche and corny to make an attempt at an Oscar Meyer joke... so I will resist. However, it has got me thinking about bologna (the food) and how irritating it is to pronounce the word 'buh-lone-ee' in English. I want to know what kind of fool came up with that idea!?! I mean, really... I can over-look someone pretending like the 'g' is silent, but who would see the ending 'na' and decide that it should be interpreted as 'nee'. The world is a crazy and confusing place. The more of it I see, the less I understand. I think that is also what creates passion, though... searching and reaching towards something that cannot be completely in the realm of human comprehension.
hmmm... and now I have somehow managed to digress from bologna to passion... I must be in Italy!

It was sad to leave my family in Rho... they were so welcoming and I really felt at-home with them. At the camp's final show (My James Bond song and kick-line at the end was a hit!), the mothers of the host families presented the tutors with a bouquet of rosemary, which symbolizes remembrance. It was very touching. And my host sister is old enough to use facebook daily, so I can still easily keep in touch.

Arriving in Bologna was very exciting. I discovered that my new family (a young couple and their 8 year-old son: Vincenzo, and 2 year-old daughter: Francesca) lives in a downtown flat, a short walk away from the main piazza and sights of the city. Saturday night, I explored the city by myself, and Sunday I went with the other tutors. We toured the main sights: the leaning medieval towers, the '7 churches', and the famous statue of Neptune (Italians used to believe that the Pope ruled the land while Neptune ruled the sea.). The family (the Polizzi's) are very nice, but they are also very distant. They gave me a key to the flat and told me I am free to go wherever I want, whenever I want. They almost seem to pretend I'm not here, but I guess it's nice to have some alone time... I've been able to read a few hundred pages of my new book. And I have a computer with internet in my room, which is very convenient!

This camp is only a one-week camp and I have a small class of 7 ten year olds. They are so much better behaved than my other classes that it's almost eerie. I usually feel like I'm yelling at kids all day, but I have yet to raise my voice at them once! I have a handicapped girl in my class... which is a challenge. It's frustrating to be afraid to move ahead with the lesson because one person is having trouble, but the camp director told me not to worry... that she is just at the camp for the experience and opportunity to hear more English, not to try to understand all the concepts. With absolutely no disrespect intended, she looks exactly like a younger version of the character in the movie 'The Other Sister'... just an observation.

Unfortunately, with well-behaved classes comes fewer funnier stories... which leads to less humorous blog posts..(sigh).. I guess you can't have your cake (...or gelato) and eat it too!
I've really only had one slightly funny thing happen so far.

I was teaching body parts to my class of 10 year olds today (I'm sure you can already guess where this story is headed--pun intended [head is a body part]--), and I made a game where they threw a wad of paper at me.... and they had to name the body part that it hit ('ear, leg, shoulder, nose, etc'). Anyway, I don't know if they were doing it on purpose or if they were just really bad throwers, but almost every wad hit me right in the crotch. Clearly I can't be teaching them the words for the body parts they were hitting, so I kept having to pretend they hit my 'hips'... awkward.

Then, I had them complete a page in their work books, which asked them to draw a picture of themselves, then label their body using the words provided below. I thought it would be a safer activity since it provided the words for them; however, upon grading their books during break, I realized that almost all of them had drawn themselves without clothes. So I was sitting there staring at a bunch of self portraits of 10 year-olds wearing nothing but bikinis or tighty-whiteys. I wasn't sure whether it was less ethical to examine them to make sure they labeled correctly, or to just skip grading that page. I took my chances because I have a few little girls who get quite upset if they don't get a sticker on every page. As a side note, I also get complaints if I put two of the same kind of sticker on subsequent lesson pages: "Why does Alessandra have two different stickers in her exercise book, but I have two of the same... is she better than I am?!?!" Of course, this is a dialogue that I have loosely translated from a combination of rapid Italian and sign language.


Things I miss about home:

-Obviously, my family and friends.
-Speaking at a normal pace.
-Always having clean clothes.
-Chinese food.
-Waking up after 7am.
-Legitimate Singing (I think I sing more camp songs in a week than the entire Girl Scout Federation, but I really miss having a 4x4 practice module to sing how I should be. -- and no, Lindsay Keller, I have not lost my mind... I really do miss it (and I miss you, too!).


Things I will miss about Italy:

-Basically everything, I'm sure!
-And most noteworthy, eating 'meat & melon'. It sounds gross, but a common Italian meal consists of prosciutto (VERY thinly sliced ham) on top of slices of cantaloupe. It sounds bad. It looks bad. It tastes AMAZING!!!