I left Catanzaro Lido after a solid Pirates of the Caribbean show. But it was also the first time I'd left a host father that I'd gotten to know. Luigi spoke no English, but his wife translated and I understood about half of what he was saying anyway. I recorded him demanding that I eat, which he really enjoyed. When I left, he gave me a pen holder that is an old-fashioned carabinieri hat, to remind me of him and his family. I can't wait to have it in my room in Chicago. And this picture is from the night he cooked entire fish. I'd never had a whole fish on my plate, and it was a bit challenging to eat. I just copied everyone else at the table.
But now I'm in Sicily. The loooooong journey was hot and somewhat eventful. I successfully served as a translater between a British couple and an Italian woman. I was in a train on a boat for the first time. I used a toilet whose hole emptied straight onto the tracks (you could watch the ground below the train through the toilet...). And the Sicilian waterfront is beautiful.
Then we went into the island. I am in the middle of nowhere, and it is glorious. There are sweeping hills everywhere, and I am living in an ancient town on the top of a "mountain." The center of the town, Mussomeli, looks unchanged since medieval times. It's nuts.
Julia, my co-tutor, and I, are staying with families who are friends. When we got in, we sent to a family friend's 8th birthday party. It's my second straight camp beginning with a family friend's 8th birthday party. It was at my host grandfather's house, which he built after retiring from running a super successful bar in town that's been around 40 years. It has a pool and overlooks the castle here.
Sunday brought lunch with the whole family. But before that we lounged around in the pool and Julia and I had an epic water gun fight with a couple of the kids. They made me sit at the head of the table (capo) at lunch and as always, there was waaaaay too much food. And the baby in the family likes to eat to music, so they were blasting Bad Romance.
After lunch we went to the castle. It was a bit creepy because we were the only people there. Apparently back in the day a king went off to fight a war and locked his 3 daughters in a room there. He thought he'd be gone for 3 months, so they had a 3 month supply of food. But he was gone over a year. So they all died. One jumped out a window, one was found eating a shoe, and the other tried to eat her sister. This story was our welcome to Mussomeli. Oh and we exited the castle to "Californication" blasting from a garage band across the street.
This is the least English I've ever had in a host family, and Julia's family is no better. So we've had some quiet meals. Last night we went to dinner with the 13-year old daughters from our families, who are both in my class. The bar we went to had 30+ paninis named after famous actors, so I had the "Jonny Deep." But the meal was absolutely silent. I tried to start conversations but we ended up just watching music videos on the screen above the table (btw the Alejandro video plays on tv here).
Today was a great first day of camp. It's super relaxed, and my kids are quiet and clean up after themselves.without being asked to, which I've never seen before. Today's funny moment came during 2 truths and a lie. One girl said she a) lived in Mussomeli b) had 1 brother and c) had 2 daughters. I asked which was a lie and she said "1 brother." The assistant and I were like uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you have 2 daughters? She confirmed this assertion and then mimicked a turtle. Turns out she has 2 turtles... and 0 daugthers.
After camp our director took us for gelato and then it was back to the pool. I also starred as goalie in a 2-on-2 soccer game with 8-year old boys. The field was about 20 ft x 10 ft, and was in fact the tile adjacent to the pool (pool chairs = goal posts). But they play soccer ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE here.
But back to the famiglia thing. Both my host mom and Julia's are super super motherly. I went to Julia's for dinner tonight and her mom would not let me leave the house until I had given her my camp shirt to wash. It does not matter to her that my host mom also offers to do my laundry. She gave me one of her husband's shirts to wear for the rest of the night.
Our families trade us back and forth, and it's wonderful. Tomorrow is dinner at my house. And on Wednesday the whole camp is going to my host grandpa's pool for a few hours. It's gonna be a great week.
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