Switzerland and School

Forward: I am exhausted.

Italian Fact of the Day:
What is an aperitivo?

This tradition of the Aperativo, originating in the Lombard region (Milan), is apparently spreading throughout Italy and is becoming more popular. Every restaurant/bar lays out a gormet display of buffet items--cold and hot dishes, cheese trays, meats, bruschetta, etc, and this food comes free with a higher priced cocktail drink. When you pass by all of these places, you see the waiters preparing the food, and it seems like they all compete for their customers with their displays. Certain bars are know for their excellent aperativi, and the people flock to those places! Best during the warm-weather months accompanied by a food-scouting passeggiata.

I had a long day at school today, and thanks to a teachers meeting at 4:30pm, I succeeded in arriving home close to 7:30pm. I feel like I have had little time to do anything since I've been home except cook tortellinis in a pesto sauce.

Letizia, my Italian teaching cohort, was in prime form today ready to be less than cooperative with her English-speaking colleague. She is always friendly and cheerful,but she is not very open to the idea of preparation and working with me to create new exercises and projects that adhere to a clear skill development set. Given the fact that she is the one that insists that our lessons correspond, I find it humorous that she makes absolutely no effort to allow for preparation. Five minutes before the class, we talk about what we did last week, what we could do today, and what project we can assign as the students are settling in their seats. She says that "She likes to make her creative decisions in the field! So planning is impossible." Translated: I have done nearly the same lessons for years, and I do not want to rethink projects, create more complex (challenging/interesting) lessons, or let you share many ideas because this is my show. Patience. Patience and maybe slowly we'll work something out that feels more natural. I asked her at the end of our lesson if it was possible to find 5 minutes in the week to discuss our lessons for the following week, so as to give me the time to prepare my thoughts, discussions, or a proposal of projects/powerpoints. She said, "No, and went into yapping about how busy she was--that plus the spontaneous nature of her lessons." Thanks Letiz, your the best. Keep in tuned to my wooing battle versus the she-art-beast.


Despite her and the added discomfort of the collaboration, I love the students so far! I am very comfortable teaching them (as long as I'm sure of Letizia's instructions.) I am most happy when they are totally my ideas and assignments because I have the confidence in knowing what I want, what I'm teaching, and what I expect. Oh well. Let's give it some time. I do get free supplies--how cool is that??

On Saturday, Matteo and I decided to take a day trip to Lugano, in Switzerland. He looked at me in the morning and said--"instead of going to IKEA, lets go to Switzerland!" "You don't have to ask me twice!" I really like him, and I wish I could remember all of the sweet things he tells me. He now officially calls me, "Dear," because it is the direct translation of my name (before the noun). The other night I was explaining something over Skype, and he wrote a message to me (as I was speaking) that said, "You are so beautiful, Dear." He is considerate, and he is always the perfect gentleman. We had fun singing along to his i-pod mix of Italian, English and British music--with a surprisingly large selection from the 80s--in the car during our short "road trip;" he even agreed to talk for about 20 minutes with me in English, which was very cute. We had a fabulous and carefree day together; as we were driving in the car with the mountains outside our windows, I breathed in deeply as the breeze from the windows hit my face, and I felt pure happiness to be in that moment--completely content--for the day, for the weather, for good company, for everything. We ate creamy Swiss chocolate and Bretzels, we took a passaggiata through the quaint Swiss-Italian city. We then strolled through the park, hand in hand, walking along the lake embedded in the mountains.

The park was beautiful, filled with pristine and sculpted gardens, romantic trees cascading over the lake, and spots of shad and sunlight. As we were walking along the stone pathway, we saw something so utterly simple and fantastic that I won't forget it for a long time. There was a couple, a bride and a groom, dancing on a red park bench by the lake while a violinist played sitting at their side. They twirled around on this red bench in their own little world until the end of the song, as if they were on a mountain top. It was so adorable, Matteo and I both were gooing over the perfect ending to an American cheesy love story. Discussing it later, we even talked about the camera angles: the camera would circle around the couple, alternating between their gazes, with one circling their faces. He would say, "Who would have thought I'd meet you here, again." Camera zooms up in the air and you see them twirling around from the aerial view. The end.

We drove home around dinner time, and I cooked a very simple buy yummy pasta dish with tomatoe sauce while Matteo read aloud Newspaper articles from the NY times about Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. He is so cute when he puts on his reading glasses. I just finished reading the article he wrote questioning the feasibility of nuclear energy in Italy.

Okay..bed time. I have school tomorrow.