April 25, 2012 Today everything was closed because it was a holiday. Today is Italy's independence day from when Mussolini died. Today we were at Zia Giovanna's house for lunch. Before lunch my Zio Gaetano asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. (note to self...a walk here is considered exercise with all these hills) It was windy and a little cold, but had I known the path we were taking as well as the distance I would have left my bulky jacket at home because I was already hot ten minutes into our walk. I am not complaining because it was a beautiful walk and something I wish we had closer to home. My cousin Vicenzo and I even talked about going to run down this path again a couple times before I leave. (I can't wait to go with him to run on the beach!) We saw a sign on a store that they are having a marathon here but it is only 7.5km I think that is probably 5 miles and it's free, so we might be doing that too. Hopefully if we start running all these hills will be getting me ready for the NIKE marathon in San Fransisco if I get selected.
I don't know what my fascination is with lizzards everytime I come to Italy, but I think it's because when I was 7 years old and my family and I were here my cousins talk my brother and I how to catch lizzards with strips of bamboo. Now everytime I come to visit I always look for lizzards and want to catch them. Yesterday on our walk I saw one sitting on a rock, so I tried to get as close as I could to take a picture since I only had my small camera with me. I screamed like a girl because that sucker moved so fast I thought it was coming at me instead it was chasing another lizzard off the rock and around the dirt path. That was the first time I screamed. The second we were still walking down the path on our way home and I thought I saw a lizzard or the shadow run by my feet. Not only did I scream, but I jumped and made my poor uncle stop and jump as well. we didn't manage to find anything to make our
lizzard catchers today, but I did try to catch one by hand and failed. Those little things run away fast. I remember not having any problems trying to catch them when we were younger. Good thing I have plenty of time left to try again!
After our little walk that ended up being two miles of mountain we returned to my Zia Giovanna's house for lunch, and all of her kids and grankids came over. These houses are so small here I wasn't exactly sure how we were going to fit everyone in such a tiny kitchen and around the small table, but by a little improvising and adding an ironing board under the table cloth made more room. I actually didn't even notice until later that evening when my mom had told me what they did. I thought they just added another leaf in the table. I know everyone knows that I do not have an inside voice...I can tell you now for sure that definitely comes from this side of the family. My little cousin Gaetano is shy and never wants to give me a hug, but his younger brother Giacomo wouldn't stop hugging and kissing me. To bad I can't just put all my family in my luggages and bring them home with me.
Today there was another soccer game and I really wanted to go, but my cousin Veruska had to take her son to his soccer tournament and then my other cousin Alfredo was going with his friends. After we were talking at the table about me wanting to go, but that I still did not have a ticket my cousin Antonio speaks up and says he is going to the game also. Vicenzo was going to go and I could have sat in the Curva with him, but I want to save that for the last game plus I like being able to watch the game and from there you can't really see what is going on. Finally after about 10 minutes of talking about getting me a ticket my cousin says that he could probably get me in for free! (he is a police officer here and has conncetions) Not only was he able to get me into the game he also was able to get me out on the field before the game while the team was practicing and after the game for pictures. I wanted pictures with the guys in their uniforms, but here once the game is done they all run into the shower and change their clothes, so we waited for about 20-30 minutes for Mariotti to come out. He is an amazing player and when my cousin asked who I wanted to take a picture with I said #2. It was funny because we had been waiting a while and a couple people went looking for him specifically to tell him we wanted a picture. He ended up being very nice, and while we were waiting I was also able to get pictures with the goalie and some other players.
After the game and getting all of our pictures Anotnio,Vicenzo, and I returned home to Zia Giovanna's house. After being home for a little and I found out that my cousin Massimiliano wanted to take me out for dinner, so I went with Claudia, Vicenzo, and Silvia to the park near my aunts house where they were going to pick up my cousin Alfredo. It is a huge and gorgeous park. They have animals, basketball courts, a bar (coffee)/resteraunt, giant play house for the little kids, and open grass areas and pathways for people to walk around and enjoy the day. Massy met us here at this park to pick me up. After I left with him we went to pick up my cousin Ivan. These two together means a lot of fun. Massy always jokes around and very rarely is serious...he always picks on my cousin Ivan too, but it is so funny because Ivan is so calm and doesn't care. The first two resteraunts he tried to take me to were both closed. We were in La Mezia, another city,so he had to call a friend to see what other good resteraunts were in the area. We found one and I finally got a real Italian pizza.
Buon Appetito!
No comments:
Post a Comment