Before Claudia took Silvia and I to Catanzaro Lido to have lunch at my cousin Nico's house we stopped at a cafè bar and grabbed a frozen coffee. When you say bar here you are reffering to a cafè bar or a tobacco bar where they sell coffee and tobacco. They also sell alcohol, but coffee and tobacco are the main items purchased in these bars. Unlike our Starbucks most of these bars do not have a place to sit. You order your coffee which is the size of a shot glass or smaller and drink it standing at the bar.
Finally when we were on the way to Nico's for lunch I took some pictures because I absolutely love the scenery and the bridge that goes from one side of my moms city to the other. My mom and Zia Pupa decided not to go to the ocean, so Nico gave Silvia and I directions and instead her and I walked down to the ocean by our selves. We walked along what we in America would refer to as the board walk and looked at what the people were selling. After we reached the end of all the tables we went down the stairs to the ocean. I wanted to walk in the water and see how cold it was. It actually was still to cold to actually go swimming in, but the weather is finally getting warmer and warmer each day, so there is still hope that I will actually get to go swimming before we leave and hopefully not return as white as I was when I left. I was wearing my flip flops when we were walking along the water and this beach unlike ours instead of sand is a bunch of tiny rocks. When we were walking in the water my foot sank in the rocks and my flip flop got stuck and came off. I quickly reached down to grab it before the ocean took off with it and luckily got it back. Not thinking my camera was in the hand I reached down to grab the flip flop with and got wet, but fortunately the case that I have for my camera is neoprene and the water did not go through. While Sivlia and I were sitting on the beach talking she was telling me that for school she has to learn the parts of the body in English and she wants me to teach her the words in English. While teaching her parts of the body I ended up remembering the song that we teach the little kids in preschool or kindergarten. Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes...(please ignore the horrible singing)
After a couple of hours Silvia and I returned back to Nico's and her mom came to pick us up. With her she had my two of my other cousins Gaetano and Giacomo. Gaetano is always shy and wants nothing to do with me. Giacomo is completely the opposite and is always hugging and kissing me.On our way to meet my cousin Antonio and his wife Simona (their parents) Giacomo was sitting on my lap and as usual kept kissing me and hugging me. Towards the end of the night when we were finishing our walk on the boardwalk Gaetano finally started holding my hand. He took a picture with me and after he was done ran to his mom and said " did you see how good I was?" she then asked him "did you give her a kiss?" She asks him this because here it is tradition to salute your family and friends with a kiss on both cheeks. Later when I noticed that Gaetano was finally talking to me more I told him to take a picture with me and kiss me on the cheek and then we will show his mom how good he was. After we left the boardwalk we all went out for dinner. I don't think I have ever waited so long for my food to arrive. This resteraunt was so busy on a Saturday night it was crazy. When we got to the table Gaetano said that he was sitting by me. I was so hungry when we got there and by the time they brought my panini they thought it was made wrong and I told them " give it to me, give it to me i'll still eat it" Of course they all started laughing, but my panini ended up being made correctly. While we were waiting for our food my cousin who is 6 years old leaned over and whispered in my ear "vero chè tu non vuoi Giacomo ancora?" (tanslation- "you don't want Giacomo anymore right?") I told him " Io voglio tutti due i miei cugini." (translation- "I want both of my cousins.") Funny how he got jealous so quickly, and a couple hours before wanted nothing to do with me. On our way out the door my cousin Antonio and Vicenzo asked if I wanted a
alcohol before we left. I had said no, but then noticed my cousin was drinking some Limoncello...now that I could not pass up. So they got me a shot of Limoncello, and it caught me off guard. It burned on the way down and made me cough a couple of times. It was definitely some stronger alcohol than my mom and her friend make at home. Regardless it still tasted good. One little shot and I had to roll down the car window on the way home because I was burning up. My cousin Claudia said that my cheeks were rosy too.
I am going to be going to Naples this coming week. I have always wanted to go, but my mom was always afraid to send me because they rob people a lot there and it is not a very safe place. I am going this week with my Zia Giovanna and my cousin Claudia, but it is not going to be for fun. We are going up there to be with my cousin Gaetanno and his family. When Gaetanno was born, he was born with heart problems and he has been through several heart surgeries to fix the valves in his heart. This week he will be having another open heart surgery to fix his valves again since he is getting bigger. Please keep him and my family (especially his parents and brother) in your prayers this week as he goes through this ivasive operation. The hospitals are very different here, so we will probably not be able to be by his side24/7. I know there will be some time where I will get to see a little of Naples, but that is the least of our worries. I am not sure when I will be able to get to a computer after tomorrow, but I will try to keep everyone updated as much as possible, and if not I will definitely be posting about our trip and his operations once we return. Thank you ahead of time for all of your prayers!
No comments:
Post a Comment