"When you get an idea in your head, you find it in everything." - Victor Hugo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

As previously mentioned I had been reading books by authors of the countries I have visited. Upon arriving in Paris I bought The Hunchback of Notre Dame for a very reasonable price. I read about half way before I lost it on the plane from Paris to Milan. I am very sad since I had gotten so many quotes that I liked. But moving on....

 I just finished my crepe and am still working on my iced coffee but I am currently sitting at a cafe in the Quartier Latin section of Paris listening to some accordionists play for the tourists in the street. Other than the language, I feel a bit French. The musicians just started playing in the street and I love it. I loved it so much I had to pull out my iPad to tell you all how much I loved it. 

Today I woke up, made myself a hotdog and brie baguette sandwich and was off to see Notre Dame. On the train, on the way there, I read the chapter of the book that breaks down the origins of Notre Dame and what the city looked like all those years ago. I think if I wasn't about to actually experience what Victor Hugo was talking about, I wouldn't have been as interested. I remember studying Notre Dame in high school. In 10th grade to be exact in my World Cultures class but I don't remember why it was so important. I remember learning about the rose stained glass window but don't remember why I had to learn it. Something to look up later. Anyway, to go inside Notre Dame is free. However to climb up of course it is not. Despite how much I wanted to based on the fact that I just finished reading the chapter entitled "A Bird's Eye-View of Paris" I am on a strict budget while I am still in Europe. I walked in towards the end of a mass and took a seat towards the back. As I listened in French (not understanding at all) I took a look around and liked it but didn't love it. Maybe if they had gargoyles inside as well as outside I would have loved it. But let's talk about those Gargoyles. They are super cute. I really like the one that looks pensively out at the skyline deep in thought. I have a postcard I sent home to remember it. Anyway, gargoyles=cute. 

After I went to Notre Dame I read the chapter in The Hunchback of Notre Dame about how the cathedral was filled with life while Quasimodo roamed the halls and rung the bells and (SPOILER!) when Quaismodo left, it was empty and the building itself was lonely. What's funny is that I thought that before I read it. The walls look empty, dark, lonely and maybe because of other cathedrals, the built in enclaves that line the walls are filled with rich stain glass windows or scultupres of scenes from the bible. I don't know waht the reason, but Notre Dame seems more sinister than other cathedrals I have visited.
 Then I went to the Quartier Latin section of Paris. The brochure from the tourist office sold it as an area for bookstores, shops and restaurants. Bookstores? I'm on my way. Uh....I haven't seen any bookstores. But what I did find, was food from around the world. Mexican food? Yeah, it's here. They completely sold it wrong. It should be shops, restaurants from all over the world and tourist items for sale. The area was developed by the university students and personnel who live near by. And it has that feel. I mean I love it and can probably stay here all day. But the area is small and probably won't be here more than a couple of hours. However, I decided to take a break and break my strict budget to enjoy  a crepe. I mean I'm in freakin' Paris. To not have a crepe here would have been stupid right? RIGHT! (and yes I did find a bookstore. I actually found the bookstore that caters to university students so it was fun to see their history books and how they viewed Americans through them. 

I also got caught out in the rain in a white tank top and purple bra so to not look like a slut, I sat on the steps of a church with this little old lady taking random pictures of the area in the different settings of my camera. I got some cool shots of the area and myself that way. 

Yesterday, I started my day by going to the train station at Chatelet Les Halles that I knew well as it was my primary station. I knew it was attached to a mall where there was a food court I needed to pass through to exit. I decided to go to this place that reminded me of Chipotle. It was decent but still not Mexican enough for me. But I did have rice which was nice overall. Anyway, I picked myself up a burrito and the plan was to go and eat it next to the river after I had walked to the Arc de Triumph. But from the station that I was at to the Arc it was SUPER far. However, I did walk down "one of the most beautiful streets in the world" per what the travel brochure said and reached the Arc at the end of it. I at my little burrito with the Arc de Triumph as my background. As I was enjoying my bit of food and relaxation this creepy young guy comes and sits down next to me. However, he ignores me and tries talking to the girls sitting on the bench behind me. His creepiness exuded from his pores and all of a sudden I felt like I was in Taken. I listened and watched the whole encounter just in case he was planning on kidnapping these girls. He soon left as they were ignoring him and the three of us watched him walk off and disappear in hopes that he went home and never showed himself to the world again. I promptly left after that. 

Anyway, I started to walk down towards the Eiffel Tower and found myself at a fountain that sat in front of the Eiffel Tower. There were lots of people swimming in this fountain. I found a spot in the sun and filled out my postcards. I didn't go up the Eiffel Tower either. Mostly because my feet were killing me and I knew I would have to walk some more. I then picked a direction and walked and found myself a "la fromagerie". For those of you that don't know what that means, it was a cheese shop! Mmmm the land of brie. I bought some brie and a baguette and was ready to start living the French life. In Ireland my silly friend Kevin asked me "are you still obsessed with cheese?" Yes Kevin, I am and will always be obsessed with cheese. I went back to the Eiffel Tower at night because it lights up once an hour on the hour and watched it sparkle as I ate my brie and baguette. Oh the life! 

I also went to the Louvre. I spent all day there. ALL DAY. I even ate inside the museum to be sure not to waste time and see everything. The Louvre gives  you a pamphlet too with a map and the top 6 things to see in each section. I used that as my primary guide but saw most of the museum. Most of the museum you say? Yes, most of it but obviously not in great detail. My favorite parts were the sculptures, the French and Italian ones to be exact. I could have stayed there all day, just in the sculpture area. I got a picture with the Mona Lisa too and that was super crowded. However, I might be crazy but it wasn't my favorite thing. I think its another famous thing that I just don't get. Maybe because I think sculptures in general are just more beautiful and difficult so I appreciate them more but the Mona Lisa cool to see but....eh. 

I also went to Moulin Rouge. I did not get tickets to see a show despite wanting to because it was soooooo expensive but the area was fun if you like sex shops and random sexual art. There is also an exotic museum on the street (no I didn't go in) if you are so inclined. But if you want sex toys or films of any kind, they are there for you to choose from any number of stores. They are also gay and lesbian friendly which made me a little happy to know that they do not discriminate. 

There was so much graffiti in Paris by the way. I think more than any other city. I didn't see any in Ireland and if there was, it was not good enough for me to take a picture. I would complain to Kevin about it and he apologized for his country's delinquents and that they weren't delinquent enough. London there was none but I think that is because they cleaned it up for the Olympics. I also heard that they had graffiti parks too but didn't see any to confirm that all the graffiti might be in a park. 

Paris also has a basilica which isn't super impressive in the inside but I loved the outside and the surrounding area. The area is very artsy with people painting pictures of Paris or portraits for you to buy with restaurants and cute little shops. It was really cool to watch these artists work or to see their interpretations of the city in their art. I think that was my favorite part of Paris and made me feel like yes, this is the Paris that everyone talks about. That area and the basilica had some amazing views of the city. 

What the whaaaat?

So guess who was in the local Italian newspaper? Oh the answer isn't you. Yes, me Rachel, Marlena and Jaryd this giant of a man from South Africa were in the local paper with the kids. I had a photocopy and then my host mom gave me a real copy for my birthday along with a little book/beach bag. It's adorable.

I'm currently sitting on some stairs int piazza waiting for my fellow tutors relaxing and updating you. This week has been great. For the kids that stayed two weeks, I think they have gotten a lot out of it. They have totally opened up more and just trying do much harder. With the kids, as with most people it's hard for me to get to know them, so the extra week gives me that. I know I'm not the most fun, or silly but I think my strength is being the most supportive and after the first week, I think they see it and try harder. I have also learned that if they see me trying in Italian, they try harder in English and respond in English. I have a kid that has a headful of hair like a lion so I call him my lion. If I was a 10 year old girl I'd have the biggest crush on him. He is adorable. Then I have twins that look NOTHING alike. When I told the high school helpers they couldn't believe it. Different color eyes, facial features, height, everything. One reminds me of Scooter from the Muppets the other of nothing. But the first week I couldn't get a word out of them. Now they try so hard I want to hug them to death. So speaking of high school helpers, we have a bunch of high school kids that help with translating and bitch work when necessary. They are to practice their English. Most of the time they nod when we ask them to do something when they don't understand. Sometimes I want to yell at them it's ok to ask questions. Anyway, there is this 10 year old girl in my class who speaks amazing English. Better than the helpers. Her father is Engish and mother Italian. I like having her cause thn she can explain everything even to the helpers but the problem is because she knows everything she doesn't give the kids time to think. Double edged sword. So as everyone knows I like to nickname people. At camp we have this kid we call Rogue because he has a blonde patch of hair growing out of his head.

In our final show this week, we did Zombies vs. Assassins with a Sherlock Holmes wrap up. My show even got a few laughs and they even got the twist ending! It was so good, one of my better ones. I felt like a rock star after the show. All the parents wanted to come up to me and talk to me and thank me and if I was coming back I had 2 parents offer to take me in. Even the twins mom! That would be super fun I think. The more I think about it, the more I think its a good idea just to plan to come back.

My next camp is in Ivrea with high schoolers. I am a little nervous but an excited for the students to understand what I am saying most of the time. But with each city I have been in, there has been one over arching theme. Italians are super accomodating. Here are some examples. When I was in San Remo, a friend of our trainer opened his bar up as after hours as a favor and despite our directors saying 10 more minutes for 3 hours, the guy kept the bar open as long as we were having a good time. Another example is that I asked one of my host mom's where I could get a black leather jacket. She took me to a department store. And as many of my readers are suffering from the summer, Italians are too and so their leather items are not out on the shelves. But this guy took me upstairs to their stockroom and had me try on a bunch of jackets but unfortunately the one I loved and could afford was not in my size. Maybe fortunately because they are pricey. So pricey it might be worth it for me just to buy it in the states and focus on other leather goods. A third example is that another host mom bought a backpack for me after I told her that my camp bag was falling apart. Another, I used this awesome bug repellent. We think it is citronella in an oil form. It calmed my itching and no more bugs. I went to the lady who let me use it to get the name of it and she just gave me the bottle. The only problem is that I found out about this oil AFTER being eaten alive by I don't know what. In my professional housing opinion I would guess fleas because I even checked for bedbugs. Thank you Kimo! I am not as bad as I was in Ecuador but I could give my old self some bug biting competition. But I have come to the conclusion that Italians are very accomodating.

Yesterday I went to the mall. They had a Sephora. It was so random. But they also had a store that was more like a K-mart but I didn't go in but I really wanted too. I did a present for my favorite sister that was perfect (you are welcome). We had our final show as previously mentioned and then had dinner. I had carbonera which is a pasta dish, but with a rawish egg and bacon sauce. Rachel, two nights before had that and got sick, and Marlena the night before that had raw items and was also sick so I was a little weary when it was told that I would be trying it. But my host mom did cook it a little bit so it was safe to eat. The taste isn't that different but the sauce is more silky than anything I've had. It was interesting and of course good. Actually, although the food this week was simple and a lot of vegetables it was delicious as has been much of the food in Italy. After dinner, the tutors and assistants went out to get drinks as a final day of camp/my birthday celebration. I asked the assistants if they could see someone and just know they weren't Italian. Michele, the guy assistant said yes, for sure. So after our waiter left he said "he is not Italian, maybe Yugoslovian or Albanian." I looked at him and laughed and laughed thinking about Kiah calling Matt Albania. Our waiter looked completely like a Russian spy with really intense chiselled cheek bones and demeanor but we never asked to confirm. But I thought it was hilarious, so Kiah, not all Albanians look alike or look like Matt apparently.

Ok and so it is getting to the point that the pressure is on to get a phone but I don't want one. So I tried just getting an application to text internationally. Curse the whole world who makes apps. Do you know how hard that is? I can text from here to the US no problem but I can't text from Italy to another Italian number or anywhere else internationally because the world is difficult. I think I found one finally, but I am waiting for my international people to respond to see if it will work. If anyone knows anything please let me know! I need help.

6 more weeks. Gotta make the most of it.

Fuck Austerity

I went to Bologna yesterday and saw several graffiti saying "Fuck Austerity", however they were mostly around the university. For those off you that don't know, the University of Bologna is the oldest university in the world. For that reason, I thought that it would be small thinking that much of the community grew around it making it difficult to grow as one identity. Oh no, it was bigger than I thought and parts of it reminded me as if walking through Brooklyn. I think it was the random trees in a sea of buildings and the graffitti everywhere.

So when you look up Bologna, or talk to others about it who have been there, one of the things it is known for is their food. Don't worry, we were on it. I went with Rachel and Marlena and we were happy to lounge around for the food. First, on the train to Bologna, we ran into one of our camp directors at the first camp. Random, I probably only know a handful of Italians in Italy and we ran into one leaving town. When we arrived, she happily pointed us in the right direction as we headed south from the train station. In July, almost all the stores in the country have a sale ranging from 30-50% off. On Saturdays too, Bologna has a street market as well so we were able to mill around and shop for things as we made our way to the piazza. We arrived at the piazza to find the Neptune fountain and took our customary pictures. I didn't notice it at the time, but all the women on the fountain are fondling themselves which makes it a little uncomfortable to see.

During July, Bologna has movies in the piazza which if I was staying longer I think it would have been fun to check out. From the center, we picked random paths and started walking down one. It was our food path. We walked down a street market of vegetables, fruits, desserts and delis. Lots of pictures were taken my friends. Also, we each bought a little thing of food to eat while walking. I got a big thing of roma tomatoes. Oh, eat your heart out they were so good. We then walked into a bascillca which as you can imagine was quite beautiful. No pictures could be taken inside. But I found out why....they didn't want us to know but one of the apostles is holding a light saber. Not a joke! It is bright blue and blends in with his garments but it is a light saber. I asked several people. And there are no post cards of that particular stain glass, but there were of the others. It is a conspiracy I tell you.

We then were on a mission to find food. Bologna is known for their tortellini and bolegnse (Bologna meat) sauce. After searching for what seemed to be forever, we found a decent little place and sat down. Our waiter was happy to have tourists and I think very happy to have a Canadian. We ordered a cheese platter (yum) with a local wine and snacked on that and relaxed. We then ordered meat tortellini with a potatoe and rosemary sauce and a pasta which was very thick, in a red sauce and shrimp and split it amongst the three of us. Delicious.

After our long 2 hour lunch, we walked by the university and happily headed back to our host families after our nice relaxing day. Although Bologna is small, smaller than I expected, totally worth checking out.

"Between two worlds life hovers like a star, twixt night and morn, upon the horizon's verge" ~ Lord Byron

I selected a Lord Byron quote for this blog post because I just came from walking by his house and the area that he used to live.

For more Lod Byron quotes, please look here. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lord_byron.html

I am currenly in the country. More in the country than before. As I write this, I am sitting outside as my host dad waters their gardens. I swear the flies here are ruthless and bite. Or if they don't, they leave mark on your skin letting you know they have landed there. I do not like these flies.

Yesterday I switched families but am still at the same school in Monselice. However, I am currently living in a house that isn't really in a city but is between two cities: Arqua Petrarca and Este where Lord Byron lived. My family now is a traditional husband and wife and 2.5 kids (the .5 is their dog). They are all very friendly and together we work hard to form coherent sentences so I understand what they are trying to say to me and they get what they are trying to say to me.

On my way over to my new host family, my old host family was having me listen to some music on the car ride. The music is cultural of the south and based on tradition and legend. So back in the day when the women worked in the fields, there would be huge spiders that would bite them. Because they didn't have medicine as an anecdote, they would have to dance to fast paced music to sweat the venom out. They have music that is specific to this. I forget what it is called, but will update when I have the information. Which is a solid week later. It is called Tarantella music. There are festivals dedicated to this legend.

The last week was rather successful. My kids were great and well-behaved and after Wednesday we fell into a natrual groove that as long as they tried to speak English, I would sit beside them for 20 minutes until they got it. On Friday we had our final show with my class doing Star Wars. One of my Princess Leia's couldn't make it so we had to have a last minute rewrite with me whispering the words to our stand-in but all in all a success, especially when my Darth Vadar unleashed his evil laugh that I had been working on all week with him that that was a mix between a good hearted chuckle and Santa. It was adorable. We also ended the week with a gift and each of us received little leather bracelets with a silver charm, (for lack of a better word) that is engraved with each of our names. We were very surprised to have received such a gift, especially when our work here is only half done.

I celebrated my Fourth of July in Arqua Petrarca which is a small village with less than 2,000 people residing inside. The town is named after a poet named Francesco Petrarca lived the final 4 years of his life. His tomb is in the village center. When you hear the word village and an image pops into your head of what a "village" looks like, that is what this town looked like. They told me that there had been some movies filmed there and I totally believe it. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned. The walls of the buildings are high with slight curves not built for cars. Unless you live there, cars are banned on holidays and Sundays through the area. It is like walking into the past circa the 1300s. It is quite beautiful. For the 4th, we had pizza (sorry ladies, no photos) and I had a tomato, ham and mushroom pizza. Totally hit the spot.

Then we had drinks and I ordered a strawberry flavored vodka and lemonade so I basically had a fancy strawberry lemonade. But you know what the best part of the drink was? The ice. I have never missed ice so much in my life. My mom asked me what I missed most and I had originally answered Mexican food. (Kiah and whoever else wants to come, we have a date to get some Mexican food.) But when I finished my drink and started chomping down on some ice, that was it. I missed ice. And for those of you that know my habits, you know that I don't get a lot of my drinks with ice. However, in this hot, blazing, humid country, I miss ice. I miss it keeping my drinks a little colder for longer periods of time. I miss the option of saying "no ice." I never knew I loved it until I didn't have the option for it. Abscence really does make the heart grow fonder.

On Wednesday and today, I went to Este which is a city East of Monselice. This is where Lord Byron's house was. It was a walled city much like much of this area. There is a castle at the top with a great view. The town is small and quaint but not as adorable as other towns I have visited recently. However, the museum was super cool. My host mom works at the museum so I got a personal tour. Much of the artifacts in the museum were found in the area. Some of them are 6 to 5 BC old. Many of the items there were death ceremonial items. There were tombs of all different sizes but the tombs had urns of ashes and around the ashes were the ornaments (jewelry, money, knives, etc) of the deceased that denoted how rich or not rich they were. Some of the carvings were pretty intricate. The museum had skeletons of people still in the floor as an example of excavation finds. However, because everyone else was in urns, they believe that these skeletons were murdered and their bodies dumped somewhere else. After the urns, you got into more Roman pieces. My host mom said something along the lines that all the sculptures and things that are Roman, you'll see them all over Italy so we won't waste time with them. It's kind of true. However, what we did see was that there were writings that were found and an alphabet that deciphered all of it with the writing tools. That was kind of cool, you know to see the start of a civilization, the start of the modern world right in front of you. We also got to see a Roman coin that was gold and in very good condition. Apparently there are only three of those in the world. One in Este, one in Spain and one in Naples. There was also a room of items that were found while they were excavating a church. They were like miniatures of the people that went to go worship so by looking at the little statues, you could see how rich or poor the people were. I was surprised by how many of those miniatures that they found. I didn't expect to like the museum as much as I did. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned.

Monselice

Saturday I arrived in Monselice which is about 20 minutes South from Limena in the Padua providence and the region of Veneto where Venice is. We were greeted warmly as we always are but the directors had us choose our host families which was a bit awkward. I picked the woman with the fashion sense I most related to. We have now come to find me living with Cristina, her husband Sabrino and their daughter Maddelena who is 13.

On Saturday we walked around the town of Monselice for a little bit. It is a Medieval town like many of the towns in this area are. It has a castle and a moat surrounding the town. That night luckily was Notte Bianco which means that the stores are closed during the day because it is so hot, and open at night for people to shop and just go to town. Because everything was closed, we went back later that night. When we returned there was music about every other block and we stumbled on a Michael Jackson Italian tribute of dancing and jams. It was pretty fun. We also walked by this church that was being excavated. Apparently, many of the old churches are built on the remains of two other churches: one that was built before Christ, another built after Christ and then one built during the Middle Ages. Because of money, many of these churches aren't important enough to excavate. However, in Monselice, they found something important enough to bring excavaters around. Inside you got to see the different layers of the church throughout the time and how they were excavating it. Kind of cool. Also, inside the church, there was a random phonograph museum of recording equipment on how records were made to phonographs that still worked and playing.

After that, I went to the castle. It was kind of cool, however only few things were the originals. A family bought the property and furnished it with items from all over Europe for the time period so you got a feel of what it was like, but nothing was really Italian in the castle. But they had a lot of armored suits and weaponery which was cool and unique. The fireplaces of the rooms though were my favorite part. They reached from the floor to the ceilings which were about 20 feet high and had the most fun designs and detail I have ever seen. Weird that fireplaces would be my favorite part? I agree.

I forgot to mention that between my trips into town, I was hanging out at the house and Cristina was showing me their land. She showed me her olive trees, her fig trees, tomato vines, and cherry trees. Oh and backstory, I was complaining that I don't like cherries because I'm lazy and I hate the seeds. However, straight from a tree and in nature, totally a different taste and energy about the cherries. I also ate figs straight off a tree, and never had figs before (because they looked weird) but these were really good. I think they look different from the figs in the US too.

Also, apparently having a mom from Ecuador is cool. Once I tell people that, they always want to know more and think it is so cool. Being from the US, and knowing first, second and third generations of people, I guess I take it for granted that having mixed blood is a cool thing. Sabrino, Cristina's husband, traveled to South America about 25 years ago and one of his stops was Quito, Ecuador and we bonded over that.

My kids this week are so quiet and tame compared to my kids from last week. I have 11, 11 year olds. They are warming up which is good. The turning point was when we decided to do Star Wars for our final show (completely their idea which I supported 100%!) Because we have 2 Princess Leia's one is asleep and the other is in a dream where Darth kidnaps Princess Leia and puts Lando under a spell and Luke and Lando fight and then Darth Vader fights Han Solo and Yoda. Uh....George Lucas, I have my screenplay if you want to see it.

The only thing I don't like about this camp is that there are so many adrogyneous kids that I have made a fool of myself more times than I would like to admit calling hims hers and hers hims. I'm happy that they don't have such strict gender roles here, but it threw me off! Oh tricky, tricky gender roles.

I'm getting married in a year!

Just getting your attention. But apparently the superstition goes that if you get hit by a champagne cork, you will be married in a year. Yes, I got it on my knee with a champagne cork (damn fine champagne too). This was of course after I got a tomato squirted out at me. Let me explain further.

Last Thursday we had a end of the camp dinner with all the tutors, the directors, the helpers and the host families. It was quite the shindig. We had the party at one of the houses of one of the host family's. There was a pool where the kids of the host families and the tutors all jumped in and splashed around although some people splashed and got splashed more than others. The food was amazing. One of the host mom's was a baker so she made like 6 different kinds of pizza, different kinds of bread, and desserts, another made a watermelon fruit mixture that was delish, another brought wine and beer, and another brought some pasta. I could not eat enough, yet ate way too much. I finally had my cantelope (which they call melon here because when I said cantelope they looked at me like I was crazy, and after using Google Translate came up with cantelope again decided to use Google images and found out its just melon) with prosciutto. Mmm mmm good. And then when it was over, towards the end of dinner but before dessert, they brought out the must beautiful bowl of tomatoes I have ever seen. I probably had 3/4s of them. They were so juicy that when you bit into it, it apparently went everywhere and luckily the first and last person to get hit was me. The end of the evening was toasted away (after of course I got hit with the champagne cork) as Italy beat Germany in the semi-finals and we were wished a good night.

Looking back, those two weeks were a great learning experience. I am thankful to the directors, my host family and most of all my fellow tutors for their humor and understanding!

Venice-"A City for Beavers" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I looked up quotes for the title of this blog. I felt that a trip to Venice needed a quote to welcome you to this post. This one made me chuckle so hence the post. But I feel that:

"It is held by some that this word VENETIA signifies VENI ETIAM, that is, come again, and again, for however oft you come, you will always see new things, and new beauties." ~ Sansovino

was better to share how I felt. I loved Venice. I had heard differing opinions and is it my favorite city ever? No but I absolutely loved the history and beauty of it all.

http://slowtalk.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/5761018721/m/5821035281 (for other Venice quotes, click here)

I went with my fellow tutor Rachel's host family. We took the train in and got there at about 11. Just to let you know, try to use the restroom on the train cause at the train station they charge you to enter and there are only about 5 or 6 stalls to deal with tons of people. That line was deceiving and I waited a while in line. Anyway, when you get there, you are already greeted by the Grand Canal. Luckily, Rachel's host mom had a friend who was born in Venice, moved away and lives there again to give us a tour. So I was given a tour of Venice by a real Venitian. I totally thought of my friend Jeff, and how jealous he would be. So I hope he reads this. There water taxi's and buses are expensive. The chaepest is about 7 dollars one way. The glitz of Venice is mostly along the Grand Canal because they figure that is where the tourists will stay. Although, as we had a more personalized tour, we went all ni and out of the streets and around the different canals of the main island. (We didn't have a chance to get to any of the others, another day I suppose).

The water is a light cloudy green and yes I put my hand in it. But it wasn't as gross as people said but it wasn't clean. But, if you think of it as a road as what it technically is, then why would you expect it to be clean? Oh and apparently the men who drive the gondolas are millionaires. Why? They charge $50.00 a person for a ride. I would be a millionaire too. Oh and there is only one shop left that make gondolas. And then I wondered if they make them and ship them to the Venitian hotel in Vegas, or if Vegas has their own maker?

There is a bridge there which was known as the boxing bridge. People would box and then fall off and into the river. There is a railing now but footprints on the floor so you know where to stand as you wait in your corner. There is another bridge which apparently you and your lover put a lock on, and write your names on the lock and lock it to the bridge symbolizing your eternal love. Pretty adorable but I thought there would be more. And I didn't know about that bridge. Did you?

And because I'm a dork, last night I asked if they knew the building in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The people I was with thought I was crazy and didn't know. Our tour guide though took me there! I have a picture on the grate that Harrison Ford climbs out of in front of the building. Oh and you'd be surprised, not a lot of people knew the significance of that building. Pfh, some people.

We walked to Saint Mark's Square and were unable to go inside cause the line was crazy. There were tons of people there and the pigeons are aggressive. Because they know that the tourists will fed them, they will land on your hand and shoulder waiting for food. And they will crowd you and not let you go. They are crazy aggressive and fly right at you. I was scared for my face. Truly.

I didn't know that Venice is known for their glass. Did you know that? I didn't. And I knew they had the Venitian masks, but not the glass. But now I know, and you do too now.
The shops are lined with masks and glass, and yes, I did cave and buy some and bought some for a few lucky people as presents. Are you one? You will have to wait.

Last night they were wondering waht to do for dinner. I asked if there was a meal in Venice that they were known for that we should try. Yes was the answer. Sardines with onion soup. Uh...no thank you. They did have a similar meal with shrimp but we didn't eat in Venice so next time. They did have a special ice cream, or gelato if you will but I couldn't have it because the chocolate had nuts in it. I got strawberry instead. It was super refreshing and everyone should have been jealous. All in all it was a good day!

When I started writing this blog, I was in the kitchen waiting for the soccer game to start (Italy versus England) and there was what I thought was an infomercial for old 70s disco music but it was just bad clips of bad 70s disco music cut at really random times for bad transitions. It looked like bad 70s drag queen Kareoke or something worse.

Now to watch the game! Go Italy!

"A horse is a horse of course of course"

So in case you couldn't tell this is a food topic blog post. Today, I wanted to go to Venice or Padua to go check out the sights. I did neither. Instead this morning I went to a bakery but not the bakery I had been going to all week (who is the host family of another tutor so I felt like I was cheating on them) and then went to a meat market that ONLY sold horse.....For those of you wondering, horse looks darker than your average meat. It looks like the color of liver actually. Its a dark redish color. So they had sample horse meat....4 different samples....and I tried them all. Horse is saltier than I thought it would be and I don't know if its how they cured it or horse is naturally saltier but it wasn't easier for me to eat emotionally and physically. It wasn't bad, but it was like...oh, Mister Ed. Luckily my host mom bought the type I appreciated the most. I just don't know when I will get it in a meal now. Oh and it is expensive. I don't know how much exactly but I remember looking at the prices and thinking damn, that is pricey.

After the meat market we went to the grocery store. I really liked the experience to see what they had comapared to what we have. For starters, the shopping carts are all chained up but they each have individual chains. You put a euro in and it releases the chain so you can take the cart. Ater that, when you return it you get the Euro back. Very smart and they are not losing carts that way. Once inside, in the produce section, you have the bag where you put your fruits or vegetables but also little plastic gloves to pick said fruit to make it as clean as possible. The store has 2 different cheese sections. The first section are cheeses that are local growers. So all the chesses say the name of the cheese by so and so family and they were all really cheap, the cheapest cheeses I have seen EVER. The second cheese section are all imported cheeses and they were like 9 euro a whatever their unit of measurement was but that breaks down to about 13 dollars. No thank you imported cheeses, I will not be having any of you.

So then I came back and got an email from my fellow tutors about lunch. I went to meet up wtih them and we went to get pizza because that was the only thing open. I had a seperate menu from my friends. My menu had the name of the pizza, what it was in Italian and in English while my friends only had the Italian (keep in mind one of them knows Italian decently well). I ordered a brie mozzarella pizza with argula and cherry tomatoes. Yum. Robbie's was similar but better. Marlena got some other pizza that looked decent, healthy but something that I did not recognize on top. As the waitress put it down, Robbie who is our Italian langauge person says "cavallo"? Apparently it is shredded horse on top of her pizza! That was too weird for someone who even recently tried horse and didn't find it that bad. However, on the menu it was sfiliaccti (keep that in mind for those of you traveling in Italy) and it sounded ok right? No it was horse meat. We got that packed up for Marlena to take to her host family and ordered the same pizza without the horse meat. Luckily, Robbie was there and heard "horse" in Italian and saved her. It could have been bad.

We then walked around and hung out at Marlena's host grandmother's house talking or watching Robbie and Marlena bounce up and down on the trampoline. I enjoyed my pristine spot on the yard too much to lose it. Marlena's family apparently doesn't eat horse so they got a pizza without knowing what to do withit. However, it was so peaceful just to be there with nature on a beautiful not too humid day and just enjoy it. I was then dropped off at my home. Soon, I was invited to go eat with Rache's host family. Their neighbor came over and I don't remember what it was called but I rememebred what it was. For those of you that know me well, you know that I LOVE pumpkin. Well today, I had tempura flowers, but they were the flowers off the vine of the pumpkins. DAMN they were good. I asked for the recipe because I could have had the whole plate. I also had some cheeses, fruit, pasta and zuccini but the FLOWERS are what I will take away with from that meal. Can I have some more please? And with that, tomorrow I go to Venice. Apparently I have to get glass something as a present. Who knew about Venitian glass and how it was world famous? Not me. I missed that portion of my history class!

I cannot wait! More to follow!

Rabbit

...Today was a great, relaxing day. I got to sleep in until 9:30 which was a treat since all last week I have been waking up at 7. Walking out into the living room, the view that awaits me was row after row of corn fields and farmhouses in the distance. I could get used to this.

My host family belongs to a gym/country club of sorts. We went to the pool, went in and dried off by working on our tans. Apparently, you cannot go in the pool without a swim cap. That totally worked in my favor since my hair still has some brown in it. Hooray! After a full day of lounging around, we came back and as I prepared for my first day of teaching tomorrow, my host mother made dinner. I sat down and ate...and it was good. I thought it was tuna and pasta like a tuna salad. Little did I know, I ate rabbit. And you know what? It was good. It reminded me of tuna so much I would have thought forever after I ate tuna today. I also had the best peas I have ever had in my life. I am going to have them tomorrow too! They were delicious! Peas. Who would have known? My host family asked me if I ever tried horse. My answer was no. I think they are going to get me some....I think I'll be ok as long as they don't tell me before what I am eating. Tomorrow is my host mother's birthday. She invited her mother, her sister, her sister-in-law, her brother, etc. to celebrate. I am nervous! Ah! What do I wear? I hope I can find a flower shop to get her flowers on the way home. Also, I hope I don't get lost on my way to work tomorrow. That would be the worst. Wish me luck!