Rogliano: Day 2

As for my second day with my family, I got up and met our program group at 10:30 in the center of the town so Ruggero could show us around. My host family walked me there, and on the way we stopped at a Sunday market to buy me a bath towel (I guess they didn’t have an extra?) Then after our brief walk through the tiny town Ruggero let us loose in the same market to explore for the remaining time… In the morning it was absolutely beautiful and sunny and warm, but by the time my host mom came to pick me up afterward for lunch, it was getting cloudy and ready to rain. We were hoping to go to the beach with Caitlin and her fam with the beautiful weather, but that got canceled. Instead we all went home for lunch, which was amazing home cooked pasta, chicken, peas and salad, finished with cut strawberries and bananas (which we topped off with some homemade limoncello). Literally dinner for lunch, which is how they do it here. I had to let my fam know that I don’t usually eat this much for lunch, and my stomach has to learn to eat like Italians. After I took an hour ciesta, and didn’t want to get up.

At 3 a neighbor boy who I met yesterday came over to try and make the internet work here. His name is Micro (though I’m not sure, and it’s pronounced “Meecro”) and he’s pretty good looking, but probably only 16 or 17. He tried for a while but ultimately couldn’t get the internet to work. Then some of his friends rolled up and he abruptly left. The boys here are like gangs, they completely remind me of the guys in A West Side Story. Matching jackets and all! Since there was still no internet, Marilena offered to drive me to the next town over, Marzi, where there is public wifi. The whole family went, and Caitlin and her family came too. We parked by the side of the road and I sat in the car and wrote my parents an email about how I have no internet at home. And as I sat in the back seat my whole family watched, and commented on how fast I type, it was all rather comical. Then they got bored and went outside for a smoke with Caitlin’s family. I felt bad for making them wait while I surfed Facebook, so I made it quick. That whole situation, parked in the middle of this town writing emails in the back seat, still amuses me.

Once finished we went as a group to the main city in the area, Cosenza. We walked around the historic center, which is exactly the kind of Italy that you see in pictures or calendars. Then we drove around the modern city center for a while and went back home. In the car back, they kept talking to me and I tried to keep up as best I could this time. Even so, today in the car, when I didn’t know what the Italian word for ticklish meant, Manuel finally smiled and said to me "non sai niente!” which means “you know nothing!” Yeah, after 6 months of Italian no kidding! Finally, once home I got all unpacked, which is a small miracle considering how much I brought and how much space I have. My tiny armoire looks so empty, I’m worried that in my editing I left 70% of my stuff in my suitcase. We shall see.


Alright, tomorrow we begin our actual classes as well as our internships teaching school kids English. My group of 5 is teaching 2 classes of first graders, not sure how it's going to go. I guess we'll just play a lot of Simon Says...