Crazy

                                      View from the balcony outside the kitchen                                                         Sara in her Box                                            Federica's and Mine Room 

                                         Marco, Chiara, e Matilda making cookies  

I will just start at the plane trip from Atlanta: I heard Italian speakers all around me and it seemed to finalize the realization in my mind that this was the trip that would take me to Italy. I did not speak to the woman beside me until later in the trip, when I knew right away she was Italian from her accent. I tried speaking Italian to her. "Tu vuoi la luce?"  (do you want the light?) I asked. That part went fine- then she responded in Italian and I had to smile sheepishly and ask her to say it in English. She reminded me incredibly of Sara. We ended up talking the most when they served dinner, which I thought was sweet because food brought strangers together as if we were eating a meal over a dinner table. Her name was Daniella, which I did not find out until we landed. She was very kind. There was a mother with two little girls sitting in the middle of the aisle next to us. I could not help but think of her as my mom with Melanie and I as we traveled to Italy the first time, about 8 years ago. At one point the mother asked Daniella (in Italian, of course) to watch her youngest girl, who was probably about 2 years old, while she went to the bathroom. Daniella said sure, and the mother set the little girl in her lap, where she (the little girl) restlessly played with Daniella's purse. I thought the whole thing was rather funny and cute because they were all complete strangers! 

The airport in Milano was beautiful from the outside, covered in glass pannels. On the inside it was rather run-down, but it was mostly just a stark difference from the crazy Atlanta airport (where I rode an underground train for about five minutes just to get my concourse area!!!). Going through customs went perfectly fine, and after getting the first-ever stamp in my passport, I successfully got my luggage!!! yay! It took a while to find Stefano, but suddenly I turned around and he was right there and I gave him a huge hug, so relieved to see him! Sara and Stefano drove me to their house. It took an hour alltogether, about 40 minutes from the airport, then around the edges -"suburs," though they were all appartments- of Milano, and then about 20 minutes to Bergamo, where they live. Mostly the word for the ride was: industrialized. Stefano said this province of Italy, Lombardy, is the most industrialized in all of Italy, which means, not only are there the most cities and people, but also factories, which were everywhere I looked. The road was filled with very tiny cars and even tiny semitrucks- il cammion. 

Comming to Sara and Stefano's house was incredibly strange because it is the place I remember the most from when I came as a little girl. I do not recognize its surroundings at all, but once we actually drove into the "box" (Sara's version of garage!) it was all so familiar! I am staying in a room with Federica. They are expecting new furnature in about 10-15 days, so for now it is just two mattresses on the wooden floor, but the room has a door that opens to the little balcony, so I think the whole thing is rather pretty. 

I freaked out for a few minutes because I thought I had left my favorite (practically ONLY) pair of jeans behind, but then I found them in the emergency kit I packed, which thankfully I never had to make use of! I did forget my toothbrush. Silly. But they are going to get me one. I changed my clothes really quickly and then met Sara by the box and drove with her to the store-negozzio. We drove around the front of the store, which said "Superstore" across the front, and went down into a parking garage!- parcheggio. It felt so strange to be in an underground parking garage to go to the grocery store! Sara gave me one Euro (which, if you are like me and don't know for sure, is a coin), and after explaning, dropped me off while she parked to get a cart. The carts were in a line next to the wall, chained to a metal post. Each cart handle had a chain with a key-like metal piece at the end. This is very difficult to explain, but these chains connected each cart to the one behind it, so that they were all locked together. I put the Euro into a slot in the handle of the one on the end, and the little lock clicked and popped out, and the chain connecting it to the cart in front of it fell loose so I could take the cart! When we were done shopping, I brought the cart back, locked it back in the line with the little hanging "key," and the Euro popped back out! This system is so that people will return the carts and they will not be everywhere. "For order," Sara explained, "So everything stays...perfect." 

We took the cart inside some automatic sliding doors and squeezed into an ELEVATOR with about five other people and another shopping cart! We went up a level, the doors opened, and we walked out into the grocery store! Crazy. I thought I remembered the store but Sara said it is new, but very similar to the old one. We walked to a section that was for fruits and vegetables and Sara told me to pick out whatever I wanted. I told her to choose whatever they normally get, and just watched in awe. I didn't know where she had gone for a moment; she dissappeared and then came back, and kept moving around very quickly like everyone else. I didn't really get what was going on until she showed me. She had on a plastic glove- I soon noticed that everyone in this area did- and she would put the veggetable she wanted in a plastic bag and tie it, just like we would, and then she walked over to a little station where she put the bag on a scale and chose from a large board full of buttons, the little picture and number that corresponded to that item. The machine spit out a little sticker with the calculated price, and the sticker was plopped anywhere on the bag. This was how it went for every person in this area, hurring back and forth from the rows of produce to the little station where they pushed buttons, grabbed a sticker, and hurried on. At first I followed Sara back and forth with the cart (and by the way, the cart wheels rolled in all four directions, so you could push the cart from the side!) but I soon realized it was best to leave it in the middle of the little area, like everyone else did.  I became aware from Sara's actions that it was no problem to leave your cart unattended pretty much anywhere. 

I wish I was able to describe clothes better because I was amazed and completely amused by the fashion of the shoppers! It is not that everyone looked like a model, but there was this indefinable sense of...FASHION! There were certainly a fair share of women shopping in high heels, but just the variations of outfits was amazing. I was also amazed at not only the amount of men at the store, but the amazing...sharpness of their look. Sharp is not a very good description, they just looked so well-groomed, their outfits as stylish in their own way as the women. I was quite amused by a long-haired Italian man in purple pants making a disgusted face at a looped rug he was holding up and inspecting.At the checkout line, two men set their vespa helmets at the end of the register table. No bags were distributed for the groceries; shoppers brought their own bag, and Sara had a really cool  (but soon really heavy) big one that had plastic handles that latched onto the edges of the cart, so it hung open in the center of the basket. 

Next, we went to pick up the girls from school. We drove up to what Sara said was Federica's school, a completely plain, gray cemement building with open windows that did not have any screens. The building was completely covered in graffiti, a sort of decoration that seems to cover a lot of things in this town. "That is Federica's classroom," Sara said, and as I looked, I actually saw Federica, looking out through one of the open windows. She saw us and waved. There was a little preschool right next door. The grafitti, though it carried the same stereotype in my head, did not have the same affect as it would in the U.S.- in the context of the colorful world of a preschool playground, the immense green of tree everywhere, the sidewalks filled with walking people, and the walls covered in political posters, it all seemed rather colorful, not too run-down. Federica didn't come out, but a whole crowd of other kids did. There were so many girls, I asked Sara if it was an all-girls school, but it turns out that boys just don't tend to choose to go to study languages, which is what this school is focused on. They all looked very American, really, wearing blue jeans and shirts of many kinds, carrying backpacks, listening to ipods. I was amazed at how many of them were smoking. By the time we picked up both Federica and Chiara from school, I had seen probably at very least, 15 teens holding a cigarette.  After the school let out, the streets were litterally covered with teens, all just hanging out, talking with friends, thronging at bus stops and riding off on vespas. Driving is fun and scary and a bit strange on the whole, given the general disregard of median lines and the distance between the very tiny cars and all other objects. 

Back at the house with Federica, Chiara, and Chiara's friend, Matilda we ate a long-anticipated Italian lunch: incredibly sweet melon, very thin strips of some sort of meat, deliciously soft bread, tomato slices, a sort of cabbage with oil and salt, mozzarella, a mayonaise fruit salad, and mineral water, followed by a desert of sour strawberries sprinkled with sugar. Stefano ate with us before going back to work. Matilda and I each sat at the head of the table. 

Walking to pick up Marco, I realized what a different lifestyle it makes to walk places. The whole community is filled with people walking and riding bikes, and it is really pretty and nice that way. I love how the windows don't have screens. It all seems clear and clean and simple, even though the house isn't as immaculate as I had expected (many things are displaced while they are expecting the furnature to come in). I wanted to take pictures of everything because I know they are more fun to look at than reading all of this. But imagine what a dork I would be, taking pictures of everything I see as I go to the grocery store! I'm trying not to stand out like a sore thumb, but when I talk or even listen, it's pretty obvious I know just about as much as a kidnergardner. Going to the store and the schools this morning made my head spin with how new everything was! It is wonderful to be here but I don't feel very happy. I think I am really just exhausted! I am very overwhelmed by the immensity of all there is to learn in this language, and I think I will be pretty worn out as I practically try to read blind. I hate the feeling of not knowing. It is easier just to sort of sit back and watch things happen, listen and understand what I can. It's just when I have to talk to someone and actually comprehend what they are saying in a way such that I can respond that I feel irritated and tired. My head has not stopped spinning for a while; i feel pretty dizzy. But I am so looking forward to sleep! And then I hope that everything will calm down a bit as I get more rested and am able to have more energy to face this language. I feel rather overwhelmed by how tiring this is going to be to interact with everyone, but really, I am thankful to be here for two months; I will eventually get the hang of things and have time to settle down better. It will probably be pretty hard for a while, but I do love it here. I hate not knowing the language, but I sure do love listening to it! It is just so cool to be in such a different, interesting, and good-natured place (people). 

Oh! and it is SO funny to hear all of the little things that have become jokes now because of our (Mine, Arelli's, Rachel's, and Andrew's) Italian video project! "Waaaaooooo" (for wow) makes me smile every time I hear it! 

Chiara is SO sweet and kind, and Federica is really, really sweet, calm, and grown up. Marco just keeps staring at me- he's so cute! And that little boy whose tantrum we beautifully modeled ("Mamma, PERCHE mamma!!!???") is now ten years old and his little brother, who was born while we were in Sicily last time, is Marco's age and they are the cutest little buddies. I can't wait for this dizzy thing to go away! If I can get through the day until sleep, I think I'll be just fine :) I love and miss you all and wish for your sake I could take pictures of every little detail that I love looking at. I'll do better with pictures, I promise.  Lots of love!